Telling my story

For the past couple of nights I’ve been reading his :http://www.barackobama.com/displayer/pages/econ-stories.php

I think it’s time to tell you how the economy has affected me and mine.

Last month some very close friends finally came to the conclusion that they could no longer afford to live to live in the home they purchased several years ago. The main financial provider is in business for himself and that’s not doing so well right now. We gave up a few weekends to help them pack up the family ranch house about a hundred miles away, send it all off to another family in need, watch their beautiful girls while they packed up their home before putting it on the market and then yet another weekend trying to get them settled in the country. They are adjusting well considering the circumstances.

Not too long after that we found out that the Mr. will lose his job effective the 27th of February. The big computer company he works for in Austin (not Dell but the other one) decided to shut down their graphics department and forward all the work to another location in New York. His last day in the office was today as he has some PTO to use up. We are trying to stay to positive as we have much more than some in our situation but don’t know how long it’s going to last.

We decided we needed to get away and spent a long weekend at a family members’ B&B in San Antonio only to hear about how others in their business haven’t seen a guest in several weeks. Luckily they are fairing well and able to hold their own with a loyal client base.

All of this is hitting just a little to close to home.

The Flu really sucks.

Had to pick up E early from school on Friday when the nurse reported a 100.3 temp. She woke up Saturday morning around 5:30 with 103.5. That’s a little high for me to try to deal with so we gave her some ibuprofen sent her back to bed for a little while and then it was off to the urgent care clinic around noon.

She tested positive for Influenza A. I was told at the drs office that is the most common strain this season and didn’t respond to the flu shots or tamiflu. Not that we get flu shots but I found it interesting nonetheless.

Once home I immediately got in the kitchen to make her some chicken soup loaded with veggies and made by me stock, gave her a nice big glass of Emergency C and sent her to back to bed. Wouldn’t you know it…..around 6:00 my head & throat started to hurt, took my temp and 99.9. Crap! Went back downstairs made some ginger tea, poured a little hydrogen peroxide in the ears and laid right next to her for the rest of the night. The Mr. slept away from us downstairs but I noticed he felt a little warm when I kissed his forehead good morning.

He is now in the sick room with us. I need a bigger bed.

My house smells better than yours

There’s just something about spending a whole weekend in the kitchen that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. So far I have managed to churn out:

12 – 1lb packages of summer sausage. The meat for this came from a doe hubby shot last weekend at the Ables Family Ranch. FYI – It takes a long ass time to make sausage and don’t think I would recommend it to anyone. I was lucky enough to have my friend & neighbor here to help me along the way but it still took most of the day butchering, grinding, seasoning, grinding again and then stuffing. We’ve also yet to try it because it has been smoking all day and then needs to spend another night in the fridge. Ugh. I hope it’s worth all the work that was put into making it.

A huge pot of venison chili (same doe) for dinner Saturday and then to freeze for another meal.

Couple loaves of Honey Whole Wheat Bread for lunches this week.

Couple loaves of Cinnamon Swirl Bread for breakfast.

3 dozen PBOCC cookies.

E tells me that she would really love some homemade French fries to go with the ribs that have been smoking/baking all afternoon…….So back into the kitchen I go.

Ok. That’s better.

I have been avoiding this room like the plague. Well, except when the girls come over a couple of weeks ago and went through my stash. I desperately needed to get rid of some fabric that was purchased by me, gifted to me and some that I have no freaking clue where it came from. I will spare you the before pictures.

This room is real hard to keep organized since it’s shared by two of us. What you don’t see is the other side that belongs to hubby. He has a desk all his own with computer, book shelves and plenty of toys. When we get busy it becomes kind of the catch all room. It’s so easy to just walk by and toss something in there that you’re not quite ready to deal with.

I spent most of my long weekend folding, deciding what to keep, what to donate and refolding. It’s amazing what a clean workspace can do for ones craftivity. I felt a surge of energy once everything was nice and neat. I even managed to put together two small quilt tops from a couple of charm packs the mother in law gave me. I’m really trying hard to use what I have but need some batting to get these in the shop before I lose interest and they end up in the UFO pile. Hopefully I can get in & out without anything extra.

Thank you.

Finally getting around to really looking and learning about all the wonderful gifts I received this holiday season. I never ever ask for anything but my family knows me so well that I ended up with all of these wonderful books. Where do I start??

I have gone through many reading phases over the years. King, Koontz, True Crime, Biographies and lately my favorite is all about food –growing and eating. I think there a few in that pile that will satisfy.

I don’t want this to become one of those “look at what I got” posts but I would like to share that hubby gifted me a subscription of National Geographic. This is something we have been thinking about getting for a while but put on the back burner for some reason. Well, wouldn’t you know the cabin we rented in Ruidoso for Thanksgiving had a very small collection from 2006? I read every single one cover to cover. I was in love. Kicked myself for not getting them sooner and swore to subscribe once we got home. He beat me to it. They did not offer a card or printable something to wrap so he found one from the month & year I was born. Thank you Mr. S.

Calendar Woes

I rely heavily on pen and paper to keep me organized. You won’t find a crackberry in my handbag or even Outlook being used on my laptop. I like a good old fashion date book and really enjoy sitting down to put in writing all of our upcoming events. It’s not like we’re jet setting across the globe or have business meetings back to back. We are talking about regular everyday kind of stuff. A birthday, wedding of friend, family gatherings and school related events for the daughter. That kind of stuff.

Every year I have the same struggle. Usually starting mid November when I need to start adding events for the upcoming year. I have been to every book, office supply, and discount store in my area with not much luck. I did find a very wrong for me style of calendar in a beautiful metallic purple cover that I had to have so, picked it up and am currently searching for a new inner that will fit in the cover. I really need lines to keep my chicken scratch looking neat and tabs to make flipping through easy. This has neither of those things but that cover just got me. We will be doing a little shopping down South today so I might get lucky.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.