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Winter weather drink recipes favorites: Hot Toddy & Egg Nog

RecipesOctober 20, 20121 Comment

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When I think of the holiday season and drinks of the season only two come to mind and I’d like to share them with you today.

No holiday season is complete without Eggnog in our house! Starting at thanksgiving I get cravings for it. I usually like mine nonalcoholic but on a cold winters day some spiked eggnog can totally warm your bones!

Normally I’ll just buy the nonalcoholic stuff from the grocery store but I am also a sucker for making stuff from scratch. Here is my recipe to make Eggnog from scratch if you are feeling up to it:

Eggnog Recipe

I found via this source.

4 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon

1 pint whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

3 ounces bourbon

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

4 egg whites

First, beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until it is completely dissolved. Add the milk, cream, bourbon and nutmeg and stir to combine.

In a separate bowl take the egg whites and beat till soft peaks form. Gradually add the 1 tablespoon of sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.

Whisk the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Chill and serve.

For cooked eggnog, follow this procedure: Beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until it is completely dissolved. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, over high heat, combine the milk, heavy cream and nutmeg and bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and gradually temper the hot mixture into the egg yolk and sugar mixture. Then return everything to the pot and cook until the mixture reaches 160 degrees F. Remove from the heat, stir in the bourbon, pour into a medium mixing bowl, and set in the refrigerator to chill.

In a separate medium mixing bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add the 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Whisk the egg whites into the chilled egg yolk mixture.

Hot Toddy Drink Recipe

This is a drink recipe perfect for my mother and mother in law. You see my mom loves brandy and my MIL loves tea. A hot toddy combines both brandy and tea to make a warm, festive drink. To make this drink you’ll need:

1 tbsp honey

3/4 glass tea (fruit flavored tea is good)

2 shots brandy (fruit flavored brandy is my choice)

1 slice lemon

To whip up the drink simply brew tea and fill a tall glass 3/4 full. Mix in honey and brandy shots. Then garnish with a lemon slice and enjoy! Super easy to make and will be sure to warm your bones in no time.

What are your favorite drinks of the season?

For more drinks of the season check out these posts: More Drinks of the Season Recipes

Reflecting on the past then looking forward and planning ahead

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There are only 4 months left in this whirlwind of a year! Remember all that madness? Need a recap?

Last August we were living in Flagstaff, AZ and N proposed to me on the top of the San Francisco Peaks. Then we packed up a moving truck, the RV, said goodbye to all our family, friends and we drove cross country in our RV with our zoo of animals. N got a new job and we relocated.

Once we got here we settled in and less than a month later we learned of our surprise pregnancy. We had been trying for almost 2 years before relocating with no success. We were planning our wedding when we discovered I was pregnant, I had just purchased my wedding dress.

Once the pregnancy was confirmed we shared the happy news, postponed our wedding plans and headed to the court house to become legally married (for insurance purposes). Once insured we found out we were expecting a baby girl.

We dealt with a moldy inhabitable rental home, broke our lease and moved to a new home (that we agreed to buy), I was 8 months pregnant. Now our adorable baby girl is here and she’s almost 3 months old.

It truly has been one jam packed year for us. Lots of ups and downs but we ended up way better off than when we started and we’ve achieved just about everything we were aiming to.

Things are finally getting all boring and calm again so we are looking forward and planning ahead now. We only have two major things we are tackling right now.

We are gearing up to apply for a mortgage on the house we are living in right now, we have until April to close on the house or we forfeit all the money we paid upfront when we agreed to the contract sale. Although we would love to close before the end of the year so we can take advantage of the first time home buyers tax incentives.

We also need to get our “good car” repaired so we have a safer ride for Everly. It is back in Arizona so once it’s fixed we’ll need to fly out there and drive it back. We are saving up for this right now. Fixing it is still cheaper than getting under a new car payment, especially since we are getting ready to take on a mortgage.

N is on contract for another 2 years and has yet to see the anchor time he was promised upon accepting the job. Hopefully he’ll be on the anchor desk more in the next two years otherwise…. Well you know the drill.

Exactly one year ago we were looking to the future wondering when engagement, marriage and kids would be in the cards. It is crazy how fast life changes! It’s been a crazy ride so far but I love my life and have everything I could ever want.

How does the garden grow: a photo essay of my backyard May 7th 2009

Life in Evansville personal stories pictures say 1000 wordsMay 9, 2009Leave a Comment

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I was out feeding the critters and the sight of my blooming rose bush caught my attention. I wanted to take some time to photograph the yard of our new place and to explain each photo a bit for those of you who were interested in seeing how it is all looking.

Here is the view to the left just as you enter our gated yard. There is a perennial bed filled with mums, hydrangea, creeping virginia, day lilies, peonies, oriental lilies and a few other unknown bushes.

Dixie (the dog) likes to lay and dig in the bed so we have placed pots over all the empty spaces in the bed, it discourages her from getting in there. Sure it looks odd but it will be fine until we are able to buy some garden fencing to keep her out of there.

Then we have the wall to wall wood deck just beyond our front door. It is still cluttered with stuff, we aren’t even close to being totally moved in to the new place yet. We are taking it slow.

Beyond the deck is more garden beds and a lawn.

This is our front door that is in the back yard… I guess technically it is a back door then huh? We have no front door then… Allow me to illustrate.

Here is a look out our gate at the street we live on:

The gate is the only way to enter the house, unless you open the garage door and come in through the garage.

Here is the path from the gate to our front door.

I guess the good thing about having your “front door” behind your back gate is that the dog keeps unwanted visitors away. Don’t need a no soliciting sign but it does make package delivery difficult.

Okay, so here are some shots of the plants we have growing right now:

In the pots we have lambs ear and garlic growing. In the ground you see day lilies and a few tiny peonies.

Here you see some mums, a potted coral bells plant and some virginia creeper filling the space.

Here you can see more mums and virginia creeper but in the upper right hand corner you will see hydrangeas. I am super stoked to have hydrangea growing in the bed. They are such pretty bloomers! Just below the hydrangea is a potted stone crop plant.

I transplanted some of this purple ground cover. Not sure what the name of it is but it produces some pretty purple stalks of flower and spreads quickly.

I am actually not sure what this bush is, have any idea? It was already planted when we moved in.

Here is a full photo of the garden bed:

Then there is my lazy doggie:

Just beyond the deck to the right there is a rose/ berry bush bed. You can see it in this photo. That is our outside cat, Hailey, hanging out in the grass there in case you were wondering.

Here is a close up shot of the rose bush.

Then there is potted yarrow right next to the rose bed. It was a native plant of Flagstaff, AZ that we loved. It made the cross country trek with us when we moved.

We brought this potted geranium along with us when we made the move too. It has the most vivid bluish/ purple flowers and is super cold hardy! N also got me some pink geranium and some dark purple that I’ve also planted in the pot with the existing geranium.

I just expended one of the garden beds out by our back fence. It is pretty swampy out there and I ended up getting some flag iris’ off freecycle which love the moisture. I also got some toad lilies from N for my birthday that also have high moisture needs so I made a little “high moisture bed” out there for these guys. Here is what it looks like.

Weekend #2 in our new place, it's been busy!

outdoor pets personal stories pregnancyApril 20, 2009Leave a Comment

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I’ve got 3 posts in my saved drafts that I’ve been working on. I’ve written them pretty well but cant seem to actually finish them. They are even decent writing pieces that focus on specific topics rather than my usual “here are the updates” posts like this one.

I’ve been trying to bust out some posts in advance that I’ll schedule in June to keep the blog fresh while I am away from the internet waiting for Tater to come. That is the idea at least. If anyone wants to guest post here just sign up as a user and I’ll get you all hooked up to be a contributor.

Okay, so over the weekend we did get lots done, as usual… For starters we wrangled the freecycle dog home through our back gate so now Dixie has an even nicer shelter to enjoy. Problem is Haily, the outdoor cat, is smarter than Dixie and she manages to take over the dog house every time. Dixie refuses to fight for it and just sleeps out on the deck.

Mind you Hailey has her own house that we built but she refuses to use it unless absolutely necessary. So when we go out and lure her out of Dixie’s home, Dixie can use it but it seems every time the rain starts to fall or when it gets windy Hailey is in the dog house and Dixie is outside… I give up! If the dog doesn’t want care to fight for her home that is her bad, right?

We also went by the old place to do some deep cleaning. We spent 3 hours there doing the kitchen and basement. We’ve only got a few rooms left to do now and then we’ll be totally done with that shit hole. Yay. Oh and while the cleaning was happening guess what we discovered growing on top of the basement carpet and up the outside of the wood paneling in the corner…

MOLD!!!

Yep, you can see it with your own two eyes just growing right on top of all the carpet and wood siding. We had a freestanding shelf in that corner holding my business stuff but once we moved all our things out of the basement and began vacuuming we spotted the fairly big moldy corner. N took some photos of it on his iPhone. I’ll share them soon.

It’s been over a month since we met with the slumlady and started the ball rolling on having them sign our mutual release letter. They’ve been avoiding us now for over a month and N has begun the harassing phone calls to them again. We’ve not paid them April’s rent and are trying to set up a meeting time to turn over the keys and complete the final walk though. It seems they could care less, still.

Last night N put the freecycle crib together in Tater’s room. It was an interesting process since it’s an older crib that needs work, plus the assembly instructions were nonexistent so we were winging it so to speak. It is now pieced together, just needs some wood glue and some screws tightened. We’ll buy a crib mattress for it sometime after Tater is here if we still haven’t found anything better/ safer.

We spent Sunday thrift store hopping. We were window shopping for a washing machine since come May 1 we will have no way to wash clothes (other than a laundry mat), we also thought we would keep our eyes peeled for some necessities for Tater while we were there. Things like cloth diapers, receiving blankets and a variety of sized onesies.

We managed to find some clothes and a few receiving blankets that we spent $6.00 on. We didn’t see any pack n’ play’s or newborn sleeping solutions and we didn’t see any washing machines either. We plan to keep looking, hopefully we’ll find all that we need in due time.

It’s was a windy, rainy weekend but we still managed to get some good progress made! We even found a work around for our failing external hard drive (I’ll post more on this later) and N painted my toenails for me since I can no longer reach them. Isn’t he a trooper?

We took my blood pressure at the grocery store and it was 108/70, I am still not swelling or having any heart racing or blood sugar issues. I haven’t weighed myself since we moved in, the scale is still missing but I feel like I’ve gained a few (5 or so) pounds. LOL. What do you think?

We’ve got a shower in our honor taking place in Phoenix, AZ courtesy of Krystal on May 2nd that we are getting excited about. We’ll be there via video conference to talk to and enjoy everyone’s company. If you are going to be out that direction and haven’t already received an invite shoot me an email and I’ll hook you up with the details.

We’ve also got a web baby shower going on right now and a live shower chat scheduled courtesy of another bloggy friend, Maiden53, that you can check it out here.

Don’t forget to put your dollar in and place your baby weight bet! Remember 2 winners split the pool of cash so the more people who enter the better it is for YOUR pocket book, lol.

Okay, I am off to try finishing those 3 blog posts and I’ve got to feed the animals and such. Have a good monday everyone!

Oh, and if you aren’t afraid to see how an actual homebirth was featured in a commercial check out this video. Thanks Ryan and Kari for blogging this! Don’t worry it is peaceful and beautiful. Just graphic, shows nudity and you know a baby coming out from down there:

Assvice: Lets talk baby play yards for a second…

Life in Evansville parenting parenting advice pregnancyApril 8, 2009Leave a Comment

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You guys are so helpful with the mommy assvice advice! I can’t call it assvice because really I do appreciate hearing all the good info about those useless things that new parents often get sucked in to buying. My eyes have been opened, thank goodness! Gives me less to stress about, lol.

So, we figured since Tater’s room is down stairs from our bedroom and since she’ll be so small… having an alternative sleeping area for her up in our room, for the first 6 months or so would be smart. Now, we’ve started thinking that a play yard (aka. a pack n’ play) is a good way to go.

Problem is I am having trouble making sense of all the subtle little differences in the models. Like, does a vibrating option really make a difference? How important is storage space on those things? Did you find the changing table part useful or a waste?

For us the changing area is important because we’ll want to use the play yard for both baby sleeping space, plus as a changing area until we are able to get a crib and a real changing table. The play yard will be our “all in one” sleeper, changer and play area until we can get the other stuff.

I found this one I like, the Graco Moderne Pack ‘n Play Playard with Bassinet & Changer in Zur ich. I like it because of the added storage space on the side of the changing table, plus the changing area seems sturdy and it also pivots to allow easier access to the inside of the play yard.

The one thing the Graco Moderne model doesn’t have is one of those removable bassinets like the Graco Pack ‘n Play Playard with Newborn Napper in Broadstreet. The ones with the bassinet (aka. the newborn napper) seem to have less storage space and the changing area looks like it is not adjustable.

All of the play yards seem to have wheels on one side and are easily collapsible. Some have shade covers, mobiles, dangling toys, music players, vibrators and so on. So, which features really mattered to you?

Bring on the assvice, lol. I am sitting here in the new place scratching my head here wondering what is and isn’t really important…

See, here is my little work area in the corner of the new house:

Today my job is to unpack as much stuff as possible so that we have less boxes to manuver around come this weekend when all our furnature will be moved in. Yep, you read that right! We’ll be all move in to the new place this weekend. Can’t wait!

25th week prenatal appointment updates and brain dump.

Life in Evansville personal stories pregnancy UncategorizedMarch 13, 2009Leave a Comment

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Yesterday was my 25 week prenatal appointment with the useless OBGYN. Got the all clear on mine and Tater’s health. Things are still going normally and are on track. I weighed in at 123.5 lbs which is 4.5 pounds more than last checkup. That is perfectly normal when you remember the recommended weight gain during the 2nd trimester is 1 to 1.5 lbs per week.

I got my dreaded Glucola drink for the next appointment in two weeks. They are doing my blood glucose test and will also be running my blood work to check for any antibodies that may have been developed during pregnancy. I hate having blood drawn, remember how I passed out at our first prenatal appointment? I hope there is no repeat of that incident at the next appointment!

I am now on 2 week visits as opposed to once a month visits which means the fun with our useless OBGYN is about to get even better! She’ll be out of the area for the next appointment though, thankfully I’ll get to deal with another doc instead. But she’ll be back for the following visit…

The frequency of theses visits it just a bit overkill for me. I mean seeing her once a month is already pointless and now we will get to see her every two weeks for a while… We are firing her right before my once a week visits begin since we’ll be down in Tennessee with The Farm midwives watching over me at that point (only 13 weeks to go till we are at The Farm waiting for Tater to come!).

N and I are revisiting whether or not we’ll consent to the RhoGam shot. They usually administer it at 28 weeks but since my blood/ glucose test hasn’t been run yet I’ll be due for the shot at 29 weeks if we opt for it. We are going back and fourth weighing the issues, it is quite a hard decision and finding the complete information on the pros and cons has been difficult.

When we asked our useless OBGYN to explain the reasoning behind giving the shot during pregnancy as opposed to just having it after delivery her response was “we give it to everyone that is rh negative as a precaution”… That was the end of the discussion. Helpful huh?

I am leaning towards not having it while pregnant, all the information I’ve found makes it seem like it is an unnecessary intervention done “just in case” but it actually carries more risk than benefit in my eyes. When I deliver I’ll totally get the shot if Tater’s blood is Rh positive I am just not convinced of the safety and necessity of getting the shot while she is still inside me…

We met with the slumlord “slumstress” this morning to turn over a rent check and to take the next step in officially getting out of our lease. Nothing is officially signed yet as her signature is invalid since it’s not on the original lease. Her husband has to sign the release, then we will and it will be done. So we are still waiting to seal the deal on that one.

We’ve made good progress on packing and cleaning. I’ve done tons of budget figuring and basically we’ve spent our income tax return on buying this new house. We haven’t stretched ourselves too thin but we also wont have any extra money for things like Tater’s nursery furniture or our Nissan repair. We are still saving for our out of pocket costs to birth at The Farm. Once the birth is done and paid for we’ll just shift our saving focus to the other stuff.

Eventually we’ll save enough to pay for all the stuff we need, it is just going to take tons of time. It would be nice to have it all immediately, you know instant gratification and all but that is not the way life goes.

So don’t ask me about photos of Tater’s nursery okay? It wont be set up or complete until about 6 months after she arrives. She’ll be sleeping in our room at first anyway.

Well I think that is it for the latest news… I am tired/ fatigued and have been over the last few days. I think it is because Tater is having a growth spurt so I am off to nap some. Happy friday the 13th everyone, have a great weekend!

Um, hi! Can you spray your germs somewhere else, please? [warning graphic snot pic ;-)]

funny posts Life in Evansville personal stories pregnancyMarch 11, 2009Leave a Comment

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As you know we’ve been busting our butts to get stuff done these days. Yesterday we had my chiropractor appointment, talked with our slumlords on the phone (and got out of our lease), then we went to the bank per their request to place stop payments on the 2 checks we sent them for rent but they never got.

At the bank we got the really old and really slow teller lady who was oozing of germs. We explained our situation to her and asked to have the 2 stop payments processed, then we were planning to have a cashier’s check cut in place on the 2 stop payments. Easy enough right?

Well for starters the old teller lady was hacking up a lung the entire time we were trying to tell her what we needed which didn’t help her hear or understand what we were wanting.

I was sitting right across from her trying to hold my breath while she coughed and sneezed her germs all over us.

We explained it all about 6 times before she got a grasp of what we needed so that meant more coughs and sneezes for us to enjoy!

N was getting pretty annoyed and on edge about it all too. The whole time she was handling our documents her nose was running and she was casually wiping it with her sleeve and breathing/ coughing on her pen (that she later passed to us for use).

Normally I am not a germ freak and I have a pretty strong immune system but I am freaking pregnant folks! And I refused the flu shot (which I do every year) and any other shots that expose myself and baby to unnecessary things. So I am not loving this germ ridden encounter with really old, slow and very sick teller lady!

N wanted to ask for someone else to assist us. He also wanted to tell them to send the poor sick woman home already, she needed to rest and recuperate… She probably would have been offended though but what are you supposed to do? When I was a retail worker I remember a few times where customers spoke up for me and I appreciated it… N bit his tongue though and let her keep helping/ germ assaulting us.

I only ever get sick once a year, max and I don’t take pills or get shots to prevent illness. I sometimes have allergies or headaches but full on flu or other sicknesses skip me somehow (knock on wood). Still, your immune system is weakened by pregnancy and being sick while pregnant can be a pretty uncomfortable thing since you aren’t allowed to take anything. I haven’t been sick yet and want to keep it that way!

Anyway, I got assaulted big time with germs at the bank yesterday, now I am chugging OJ! Thought I would share that with you.

Today we’ve been pouring over legal documents and I think my eyes are going to bleed. We are on round 3 of the lease/ purchase agreement for the new house. I just typed up 2 different mutual release documents to get out of our lease, one of which will be signed and executed Friday when we meet with and pay the slumlords.

We are also reading up on tax and home buyers intensives in addition to researching IRA funded home purchase rules, mortgage options and Indiana closing cost info. Fun stuff huh?

But hey, we got our house and we are so outta this shit hole! Now that bank teller better not have gotten me sick…

Birthday month and demon possessed kitchen electronics…

Life in Evansville personal stories UncategorizedMarch 4, 2009Leave a Comment

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Some of you already know that March is my birthday month.

My birthday is also typically considered the first day of spring, it’s March 20th.

Sunshine over at … and the pursuit of happiness is linking to all the March bloggy birthdays over on her site and she gifted me with this nifty button to spread the word about my birthday and I thought including it in this post was the perfect way to “spread the word”.

I am not particularly excited about the coming birthday (which annoys N) but I know he is making an effort to plan something simple and enjoyable while we are down in Tennessee for our prenatal appointment that weekend.

If you feel so inclined you can buy me a nursing top from my target baby registry or a shaved ice maker for when I am in labor or something pregnancy/ mommy related, lol!

I’ve got the links to all three of our baby registries right there on my sidebar under the baby development widget (especially for you Krystal, added the furniture one ;-P). See ————->

Anyway, the chuckle worthy tidbit I wanted to share today is actually not about my birthday, it is about the crappiness of this house (big surprise huh?). Right now the wild birds are pecking away at things in the attic and it is making lots of noise but that is not the doozie. This is:

Yep, we had to move a lamp to the bathroom so we could shower and pee with some light!

The electricity is off in the bathroom, the dining room and also one plug in the kitchen. We had to flip the breaker off when the garbage disposal wouldn’t turn off this morning. *sigh*

At this point I am just laughing at every new crappy thing we are having to deal with… It is good blogging material but we just want to be done renting already, good blogging material or not!

The Filter Queen, a cute country home and more landlord drama…

Life in Evansville personal stories product/ service review recommendationsFebruary 28, 2009Leave a Comment

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Today was an early and productive day for us. We woke up and headed to our bank to discuss getting some legal documentation against our landlords.

You see they closed their accounts prior to the beginning of February and our electronic bill payment to them (for rent) wasn’t paid since their account is no longer… So we needed to get some proof of our payment being sent and thus returned as a result.

I know it just keeps getting better and better with them huh?

Anyway, we spent like 30 minutes at the bank tracking down some proof about our payment. Then we pushed off to the post office to get our certified letter in the mail to them detailing why they have broken the terms of the lease. We also included our March rent payment in the letter, who knows if they’ll pick this certified letter up…

Then we went by the freecycler’s house to pick up that older vacuum that was offered up the other day. We also got a stack of cute cow plates and bowls from another freecycler for my cow kitchen obsession. Sometimes freecycle is so great!

The real focus of the day was to tour a slew of rental/ lease purchase homes though. We saw 3 homes today 2 rentals and one rental with a lease to own option. N and I fell in love with one of the rentals. Here is a photo of it.

We love it because it is on five acres of wooded land, it has an old country house feel and just seems like it will be a good fit for us. We weren’t able to see the inside of the home today as the owner was away but we did peek in the windows as the owner suggested and looked around the property.

It has some real potential with it’s garden beds, planted bulbs and even some fruit bushes and tress. Deep down we are both hoping it works out as a rental and is something we can maybe buy later down the road.

We are excited about the house but know we’ll just have to see how everything pans out. If it’s meant to be it will be.

Oh and by the way that vacuum we got free today freaking rocks! It looks old and beat up as you can see from the photos but works great.

It is a Filter Queen (model number 937241) and apparently it is a work horse and was/ is a pretty expensive vacuum (you can read more about it here)!

It is over 20 years old and still works great as opposed to our newer Eureka Altima Upright vacuum that was just over a year old and melted itself up. Oh and did I mention it has more suction and better filtering than the Eureka?

We are pretty impressed with the vacuum and can’t believe someone gave it away for free, how fortunate were we? So, now we can have clean carpets again.

We do want to try replacing the hose on it since it’s currently wrapped in duct tape… It still works great just looks a bit ghetto. N was even thinking of trying to donate our broken, crappy Eureka to a vacuum repair place in return for a discount on a new hose for the Filter Queen, barter style. It’s worth a try.

So all in all we had a super productive day and are pleased with all the progress we made. Tomorrow if we get a wild hair we’ll take the blanket from Tater’s bedding set and go compare it to the furnature we liked at Baby Depot to see if it goes. Window shopping could be fun if we have the energy. We also hope to see the inside of the cute country home too, if possible.

Slumloards, credit scores and a prenatal chiropractor [in a pear tree]…

Life in Evansville personal stories pregnancyFebruary 23, 2009March 8, 2018Leave a Comment

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Being all pregnancy slackerific the majority of the time means that when the energy does actually come in spurts we have a crapload of stuff to accomplish all at once. Thankfully as a team N and I have managed to continue getting everything dealt with that needs to be. It is days like today that make it all possible.

I had N get me up early today so I could get busy taking care of some Custom Gifts by Talina duties… Things like bookkeeping, taxes, order processing and all that fun stuff. While I was in business owner mode N was dealing with our February rent check saga on the phone.

You probably can recall all the ridiculous landlord drama I’ve already shared here but I am pretty sure this latest development takes the cake. It requires a little back story though… Feel free to skip the back story if you already know it.

When we first signed the lease with our landlords we were provided with their mailing address for the rent payment. The lease also stipulates that we can make payments directly to the landlords checking accounts and it lists the banks they use. We were also provided with several deposit slips from their bank for depositing the rent checks.

Up until November the address and banking information they provided us with was correct. In November we sent out that certified letter detailing our issues with the safety of the home and we also included our December rent payment. Well, the certified letter was never picked up by them and was eventually returned to us.

Conveniently enough the landlord showed up at our door while our certified letter was in limbo land. She had new bank deposit slips and a letter explaining that they moved residences and also banks… Now our payments should go to their new address or deposited to their new bank account, more deposit slips were provided.

We also discussed our issues with the leaking basement/ the mold and were assured they would come out to take a look at it all after the holidays and make necessary repairs (it’s February now and no landlord has been here to inspect or repair anything).

We paid our December and also January’s rent with one check that was handed over to the landlord the day she stopped by to give us a dehumidifier for the basement after our discussion. We refused to make out another rent check until the first one was actually returned to us… That is the back story in a nutshell.

Well we just attempted to pay our February rent via electronic bill payment and have been waiting since the beginning of the month for the funds to leave our account. At first we thought it was an issue with our own banking facility as they did not process the payment electronically, they sent a paper check instead…

We’ve been worrying that our check is lost in the mail or stolen and have been upset that our bank didn’t process the payment electronically as we had requested.

I was just sure we were going to have to pay about a month in late rent penalties to the landlords and have been waiting to find out exactly what happen to our rent payment.

Today after more digging N found out that our landlords account was closed before our rent payment even went out. We’ve not been notified of a third new account or a new address to send payments to, the info they (the landlords) have most recently supplied was the info we were trying to use.

When N called their bank to try and figure out where our rent check is today the bank representative said she wasn’t allowed to say more about their account but that it had been closed and that our rent payment would have been returned to our bank…

So now we are waiting for our bank to provide some sort of documentation of the check being returned to them as a result of the payees account being closed.

The documentation is important proof of our attempt to pay rent on time and in a timely manner (so we aren’t evicted or charged penalty fees for late payment). We’ve never had a landlord who was so difficult to pay rent to!

The even better part is the landlords are delinquent on the property tax owed to the city on this place, they have been since July 2008 and also have penalty fees and money owed from 2007 on this property (it is public information) and also on all the other 40 properties they owe…

The thing with property taxes here is that if you get severely behind on them the city/ sheriff can auction your property to recoup the owed money… So we are particularly interested in finding out more about the tax situation as it could result in us having nowhere to live. We are also wondering if they are even making the mortgage payments on this property, if it is foreclosed we’ll also be out on our ass so to speak…

Good times huh? Isn’t it amazing how all this randomness and drama just finds us (or do we find it? Never mind don’t answer that…)

In other news, I saw a prenatal chiropractor on Saturday because my pelvic pain was getting so bad I couldn’t sit or stand for longer than 30 minutes. Turns out my tailbone/ right pelvic bone was jacked up. It was stuck between a standing and sitting position which is why only laying on my side made me comfortable.

I’ve got followup appointments scheduled with the chiropractor to check my pelvic alignment and to keep me in check, since the insurance covers 80% of it. We figured it couldn’t hurt to relieve my pain and to keep my back and pelvis in proper position especially since I’ll be having Tater in about 4 months!

For those of you (who have commented) who are also pregnant and having tailbone, pelvic or back pain I would strongly recommend finding a prenatal chiropractor and having them take a look at you.

It made a huge difference for me! I thought I was having circulation issues, possibly getting hemorrhoids and having back pain as a result of the weight of my growing uterus. Turns out all my complaints were resolved once the Doc got my right pelvic bone back in correct position. Amazing!

Oh, and look what just arrived in the mail. It is even cuter than we thought!

We love it even more than we thought we would. The green and blue are so vivid and cheerful and the fabric is super soft with adorable designs and fun textures. Happy day! We even found the perfect way to include just a splash of pink in the room, see:

We also heard back from the mortgage lady today and got the news we expected. Once the disputed items on the credit report are resolved and once the student loan status is changed from derogatory to “in good standing” (in 2 months) we’ll be approved for a mortgage. It is just a matter of going up 18 points credit score wise…

In the meantime N is going to get more answers from his employer about the future of his on air career. Buying a home might not even be something we want to do in this particular city, especially if N’s career growth is limited. Once he knows more about the employers plans for him we’ll be able to decide about our home buying saga.

Basically we’ll either stay here through the remainder of our lease (late august 2009, if the house isn’t auctioned out from under us before that) then we’ll buy something or we’ll move from here ASAP and get in a nicer rental home that we can STAY in for the remaining 2 years left in N’s contract.

*sigh* explaining all this has sure made me tired, are you tired after reading it? I guess that means it is time to move from the office desk to the bed and resume my pregnancy slackerific ways for the rest of the day. Ooo, here are some belly pics (one in undies and bra and one in clothes) since so many are asking. These were taken 3 days ago. Now go place your baby weight bet okay? You could win cash!

Yep, we are moving AGAIN… Shoot me now!

Life in Evansville our economy pregnancyFebruary 10, 2009Leave a Comment

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Did you watch Obama’s thing last night? I did because N and I are all opinionated about the government and we’ve been looking real hard at the governments ideas to help the housing market.

We’ve officially come out of our state of delusion and are actively looking for a new home that we want to be in BEFORE Tater Tot arrives (it is our perfect world goal but we’ll move after the baby comes if we really have to). Unfortunately this is dependent on several other things like getting out of our current lease… can we buy a home, will we just have to settle with renting, etc…

One specific tax incentive has us looking for more info, it is the home buying one that is proposed to be included in the stimulus package. The house passed a version of it that few republicans supported and now it is being messed with and voted on in the senate today.

Personally I don’t prefer to keep offering incentives and tax breaks to those who already have money and are doing fine. I am hoping that we’ll get something in place that will actually help middle to lower class families. We don’t need more investors or multi home owners to buy right now we need to get non-home owners and first time buyers in homes they can afford.

I am sure many of you remember how often we’ve been home hunting. We have actually been in the market to buy for several years but because of economic reasons and lending practices we’ve been shut out.

We have a hefty down payment in an IRA for our first home purchase and we (as a couple) have less than $8,000 in revolving credit card debt (unlike most Americans). We aren’t making a car payment and the only other debt we have is N’s student loan that we are paying as agreed. Still we couldn’t get a mortgage to buy a decent home in Arizona when we tried.

Now that we are in a different housing market we are gearing up to try again for a mortgage, we’ll see though. It would be nice to be able to finally get in on the real estate market without overextending ourselves. It seems for many in our age group this is just not an option though.

In other news I am still eating conversation hearts like crazy and Tater is kicking me as a result. Tater is going to be a sugar addict before even coming out of the womb thanks to valentines day candy, the OBGYN would be so pleased…

Speaking of the OBGYN we are going in for our rescheduled ultrasound appointment Thursday. Oh and I gained another 3 pounds in 2 weeks briging my weight to about 115 and my waist is measuring at almost 29 inches so growth is still not an issue here. That is 25 pounds of gained weight and almost 5 inches in waist growth (that is not even the biggest part of my belly!). Now go enter your baby weight guess and get in on the betting pool guys!

So what are your thoughts on the stimulus package and all the stuff going on in the house & senate right now?

Weekly Winners January 12th- 18th

craft businesses funny posts likes very moist soil protect from frost recommendations sponsored info summer flowering technologyJanuary 18, 2009Leave a Comment

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Here is this weeks Weekly Winners post, as with last week all photos were captured using my new Kodak Cd-1013 Digital Camera.

Here is Alexandria-Maybelle, the bunny. We have had her since way before the move to Evansville. We ended up buying her at the feed and tack store one spring while my mom was visiting us in Flagstaff. We had a bunny, Baby Bunny, prior to Alexandria-Maybelle but because of living situations (the landlord forced us to remove our unauthorized pets from the rental) we had to send her and the cats down to The Ranch to live with my mom for a few months.

Anyway Baby Bunny died (from eating apple core and seed we suspect) and we went several months, almost a year, without a bunny in the home. Then we spotted Alexandria-Maybelle. Here she is in the bottom of her giant cage near her litter box. We aren’t sure what her breed is, probably mixed.

Well, N has been talking about this bunny that was found hippity hopping through the grocery store parking lot that someone he worked with had taken in but could not keep. They were keeping it in a plastic storage bin like this oneand were not able to keep it.

It caught his eye because it was a lop ear and he has always wanted one, plus they weren’t providing it with proper living conditions. Oh and we are also suckers for rescuing pets…

We make our pet decisions together normally and during last week he brought up taking the bunny in again. I was trying hard to not get sucked in to the cuteness of the bunny or any of that because once you do you are screwed.

Don’t get me wrong having a bunny isn’t that difficult, the key is providing it with the proper cage that will both keep your home clean and also keep your pet healthy and safe. Bunnies are cute and cuddly and appealing which is why so many people try to keep them as pets. The thing is they are also animals with needs and should be considered life long additions to your family if you choose to adopt one.

Sometimes bunnies can spray pee outside the sides of a typical rabbit cage, which can in turn stain carpet or dirty walls. Plus, they need a means to get exercise if they are solely indoor rabbits and a cage should provide that unless you plan to take your bunny out of the cage every day and let it play and run. Oh and you’ll also need to supervise it while it is running the house it to insure it doesn’t chew through any power cables on on your walls or something. Lastly, just because they were once wild animals does not mean you can just leave them outside in freezing or smoldering temperatures to fend for themselves, this is just cruel.

So when N brought up the bunny thing I explained that there was no way we could afford another $100+ multilevel cage for a second rabbit. Besides sexing young rabbits is hard and putting two together that are not the same sex (and also unfixed) is just bad news. Every heard the phrase humping like rabbits? They are prolific breeders folks!

I told N that if he was set on taking the rabbit in he would have to construct a cage for the thing that was sufficient for indoor use and also that allowed for exercise. And that is had to be done within days of bringing the new bunny home. Well, let me introduce you to Boner, the bunny.

You are probably wondering “well how does she know it is a he if sexing rabbits is so hard?”. Let me just say that we slowly introduced the two rabbits yesterday and he climbed right on top of Alexandria-Maybelle and started humping her head. When I grabbed him off her his penis was hanging out which very quickly told us he is a male. Plus he has these, balls.

Young rabbits are hard to sex but once they become sexually mature it is a bit more obvious, as you can see. So Now we are keeping Boner and Maybelle separate to avoid baby rabbits, we’ll also have Boner fixed when we find a vet and get some extra money. In the meantime the rabbits will just stay close but be kept apart.

Oh and all the household members are now friends with Boner, here is a video of everyone hanging out last night. Crazy huh?

In Indiana breathing mold is okay but home birth is not, just an FYI.

Evansville Indiana Alternative Birthing Options & Research home birth advocacy Life in Evansville personal stories pictures say 1000 words pregnancyDecember 19, 20088 Comments

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Yeah I know the title seems kind of odd huh? I have been tying all sorts of weird things together these days like posts about a ladies hoo-hoo’s and mold. This is just the way my brain is working these days… Hopefully it is mildly entertaining for you cause this mold thing is making me beyond pissy! This is a pissy post by the way.

Yeah, so in Indiana having a baby in your home with certain midwives is bad news but you can be exposed to any level of mold spores by your landlord because there are no defined limits on mold here! Nice huh?

Yep, I found out that there is no regulation on mold growth here. We talked to the Indiana department of health about it today. Really just goes to prove how much the laws truly protect us.

DEM (direct entry midwives) and CPM (certified professional midwives) are not able to legally practice in Indiana simply because their training did not include licensed nursing. They are thoroughly trained and know their trade but they are considered unlawful by the state, the reasoning is that law is “protecting us”.

Yet mold safety limits are not set in Indiana and the presence of mold is not a health department or code enforcement issue (we’ve called both organizations) here despite the CDC’s statements that “If you can see or smell mold, a health risk may be present.” and that all forms of mold are bad and should be removed. Where is our law that protects now? *scratches head*

Oh and our landlords did allow that certified letter and rent check we sent to get returned to us. The post office held the letter and left them notice to come pick it up, the letter waited for for 18 days but the landlords just couldn’t be bothered with it… So now we are waiting for it to appear back in our mailbox so we can determine what to do now. Good thing we wasted like $5.00 to send it. I am just so damn mad about all this rental drama today!

Thanks for all your well wishes. Yesterday I was feeling a bit better but today I am back to feeling like a cold is coming on. We have our air ducts in the bedroom closed off and I have a humidifier with vicks vapor stuff in it that makes my breathing less painful but my head still aches and so does my body (like I am running a fever).

It is confirmed, I am breathing in mold while in the house, the mold tests are beginning to show mold growth on them so that proves it. Now we just need to see if the mold presence on the indoor tests proves to be more that the control test we were instructed to run outdoors. The tests have another day to incubate.

If there is more mold in the house than there is in the air outside that is considered bad news. I am certain the air quality is impacting our health and the health of the pets since we are all having respiratory issues.

Here is what those petri dishes are looking like today:

This first photo is of the outdoor air sample, the control test that determines what amount of mold growth is normally in the air surrounding the house. Click on the image for a larger view.

The next photo is of the basement test. This one was placed on the floor near the area that water seeped under the bar and in to the tiled area of the basement. Click on the image for a larger view.

So far it looks like more mold was present in the basement air test that in the outdoor air test. Just to be sure we did a second basement test today and N is also planning to run a HVAC mold test to sample the quality of the air from our heater and AC unit.

Honestly I am at a loss as to what the next step is. I do not have the physical or emotional strength to move right now nor do I think I will throughout the course of this pregnancy.

I know we are going to have to either way as our lease expires before I am due. Obviously we don’t want to remain in a home that has moldy air while I am pregnant and I am certain we can get out of the lease if we want to despite the lack of mold regulations in the state…

We are looking for a place to buy right now because quite frankly we do not want to be moving every year for the next 3 years while we are here for N’s job, especially with a child. But buying a home is also something you don’t just rush in to. If we rushed we might end up owning a dump that also has mold issues except we would own it and have to spend a ton fixing the issue.

I am just exhaused and can’t find a solution. In a perfect world we would already own a home, I would be decorating the baby’s nursury, things would be calm and I wouldn’t face heath risks as a result of my home’s air quality… Reality has presented me with the exact opposite of perfection and we’ll just have to find a way to make it work, as usual. That just pisses me off today, I am going to eat a corndog now.

We trimmed the holiday tree, have you?

UncategorizedDecember 3, 2008Leave a Comment

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Normally we apply for a permit and venture out in to the forest to cut our own tree down, this year since we just barely moved to our new hometown in September we didn’t have time to put in for a permit so we resorted to buying a tree instead.

A local boyscout’s troupe was selling holiday trees just around the corner from our house so we stopped by to check things out on Sunday afternoon. They had quite a selection of various trees in all shapes and colors.

We found a full one that was a greenish/ blue color. This is something we are not used to seeing as in Arizona all the pine trees are a plain green color.

We spent $45.00 on the tree which is funding the boyscout’s trip to Washington D.C and we headed home with our purchase.

After N drilled the hole in the bottom of the tree and got it standing up straight I took a photo of it in the bay window of our rental home. I even hung our new and fun stockings!

The tree came from Michigan and it is pretty! You can’t really see the unique color in the photo because I used the flash and it washed everything out a bit.

Next we hauled the boxes of holiday decorations that we could find up from our flooded basement and we started decorating.

What holiday season is complete without a struggle with burned out and tangled lights? Somehow we have like 4 strands are are dead now, luckily we had enough to decorate the tree…

Once all the found decorations were hung on the tree the cats began playing with the tree skirt and messing it all up. I suppose it is better than them climbing the tree and destroying everything right?

So here is what our finished and decorated tree looks like, we still can’t find the tree topper yet…

Again the flash washed all the color and glimmer out of the shot so I tried a few close up shots of the ornaments to share with you.

Have you started your holiday decorating madness yet? We usualy try to get our tree up as soon as possible since we are so quick to take it down after the holidays. Plus a fresh tree just makes the house smell so amazing!

What a crock! Walmart Canopy Memory Foam Mattress Topper Review

pregnancyNovember 9, 200837 Comments

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[POPUP=IMG1] At the furniture store we started drooling over the amazing memory foam mattresses. They were great to lay on and we thought they would really help me sleep more comfortably when the pregnancy weight sets in. Besides our mattress is older and is becoming a bit uncomfortable these days.

Speaking of pregnancy weight today my pants were on the brink of not buttoning. Usually my stomach is about level with my hip bones. I am still measuring 25 inches around the smallest part of my waist but when we measure over the largest part of my stomach it is 30 inches.

Here is a photo of the belly, it is my first “belly shot”.

Now get busy placing your vote on the Talina’s Baby Weight Contest okay?

Okay, back to the memory foam mattress now. At Sam’s club we spotted at $150 mattress topper that looked pretty nice but we opted to not spring for it at the time. Today at Walmart we spotted a similar mattress topper and ended up buying it. It is a Canopy 4” Hypoallergenic Memory Foam Mattress Topper. There were also 1 and 2 inch toppers for cheaper but we figured the thicker the memory foam the firmer it would be.

Turns out despite us buying the 4 inch mattress topper we only actually get 1.5 inches of memory foam material the other 2.5 inches is simply “base foam” which is just plain squishy and does not support you at all.

We are pretty peeved. Plus the size we bought was “queen” but the actual foam topper is really an inch short on each edge so it does not cover the mattress fully.

Needless to say we are not 100% pleased with this particular purchase. We’ll be sleeping on it tonight just to make sure there is no chance it is “the amazing mattress topper” we thought it was. Then we’ll be returning it.

Oh, wait! The insert that contains the directions advises of the “newness” scent of the memory foam. They say to air the mattress topper out for 8 hours before use. They also say that some consumers may be especially sensitive to the “newness” scent and may have to discontinue use and return the product.

Well, since I am a pregnant lady with a highly sensitive sense of smell the “newness” scent knocked me off my ass. I am sure it is some combination of toxic chemicals because the “newness” is burning my nose! Time to get the dang toxic and useless mattress topper off the bed and out of the house. So much for comfortable sleeping huh?

Anyone have a good memory foam mattress they want to recommend or all they all crap?

Remember when…

Arizona to Indiana Road Trip Job Searching Life in Evansville Moving out of state personal growth personal stories pregnancy wedding planning Wordless WednesdayOctober 22, 2008Leave a Comment

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Remember when I outlined all N’s job uncertainty in this post back on May 2008? Back then we still had no idea where his job search would take us and we were pretty worried that we would end up stuck with the status quo if no better offers came along.

We were barely making end meet, were financially frustrated, itching to start a family, had no chance of buying a home and were ready for a little more job security. Too bad my lady doctor said I was not fertile because of my low weight and N’s job told him they really valued him but could not increase his salary from here on out. That was 5 months ago…

Can you believe how much has happen in 5 months? Holly crap! N got the job in Evansville, IN so we started planing our cross country move. We got engaged 7 days before we were scheduled to move. We made the week long cross country move with minimal drama. We were in our new home for 3 weeks, were planning our wedding for July 2009 then we found out we conceived our first child! I just did the bills and we actually have several hundred dollars left over after everything was paid oh and houses are damn cheap here!

That really is a ton of stuff that fell in to place all at once for us. I guess it makes up for the 3 years we spend in limbo land huh? I almost can’t believe all has worked out for us in such a freaking short amount of time.

Now I just need to master taking photos of water already (I didn’t forget Wordless Wednesday, just a bit late) Lotus says anyone can do it and my camera has a freaking macro setting but my water photos suck big time. I guess you can’t have it all huh? Here are my crappy attempts and a funny video!

Someone leaves the island…

Animals & Pets funny posts personal storiesOctober 12, 200810 Comments

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Yeah, strange title. I am weird creative like that! It is 11:16 pm Indiana time and I am 3 hours away from winning a David’s Davids Bridal Felina Longline Bra off eBay. It was the special bra they put me in the day I visited Davids bridal and tried on dresses, it was amazing. Just not amazing enough to fork out $80 for a freaking bra. I figure getting if for under $45 and paying shipping is a good deal so I am camped out with my laptop watching the auction.

Last night at about 2am I woke to an Elizabethan collar banging against the bathtub, yeah Hailey is in one again. This time it is because she is missing the huge patch of fur under her chin. We have been applying ointment, we tried covering her neck with a bandage also. Unfortunately nothing has succeeded in keeping her from scratching her flesh open where this patch is healing. So we busted out our trusty Elizabethan collar again.

After waking to the sounds the collar clanking against the bathtub I began to analyze. Did I leave the bathmat down after my bath? When you do that it gets pooed on so after each use we hang it on the side of the tub. If the bathmat is up where it belongs then that means SOMEONE is pooing in the laundry hamper by the bathtub. Either way pooing was taking place, I was sure of it. The poo is just sending me over the edge guys!

So I throw the covers back and tip toed to the bathroom where the suspected poo shinanigans are taking place. I enter the bathroom, flick the light on and low and behold, it is Hailey squeezing one out on the bathmat! I yelled, grabbed her and placed her in the litter box right in the middle of her dump. Now I bet you guess what happens next… She wont finish pooing!

We have two litter boxes (one on each floor), we buy the expensive litter and I scoop the box every day so there is no reason for the cats to be boycotting the litter box. That hasn’t stopped Hailey from pooing wherever she wants.

Now I know that she is just going to go finish her pooing somewhere else now that I have interrupted her and confiscated the bathmat for washing. Like I said before I am at my limit with the inappropriate pooing. I don’t want her to leave us a present somewhere else in the house so I sit there in the closed bathroom trying to encourage her to finish her pooing at 2 am. She refuses so I lock her in the bathroom after removing the laundry basket and the bathmat, then I crawl back in bed.

Hailey stayed locked in the bathroom for an hour. She refused to finish her pooing and she proceed to annoy me by banging her collar against the clossed door and scratching the hell out of the door.

By 3am I was decided, she was so voted off this island! I asked N if the garage windows were all closed, he muttered assurance so I grabbed Hailey, put on some shoes and found the flashlight.

We make the trek out to the garage where I dumped her off for the night. We now have ourselves a garage cat. The great thing is she has an entire world to poo on now, not just my bathmats and carpet.

A functional desk makes for a productive day, right?

UncategorizedOctober 3, 2008Leave a Comment

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We have been in our new home for about a month and I just now got my desk items unpacked and sort of situated. It is amazing how much more productive and motivated I feel now that I am up off the futon and away from the TV while working on my laptop.

There is just something about “wife swap” on lifetime tv that keeps me from being productive and motivated in my writing endeavors. Oh and that show makes me feel like I am a useless bump on a log for not cleaning my house for 5 hours every day. I have no children to chase after so it makes being a stay at home gal feel ridiculous too.

Anyway, now that I am out of the living room and at my desk I feel all professional and motivated again. Oh I sold another article to an online publisher thanks to a publisher I am already writing for (if you want me to send you an invite so you can write for them too email me). I am also in the process of getting a guest author thing set up with another online publisher so my writing is really keeping me busy.

I even partially got dressed today even though all I do is sit in my home with my laptop, working. This is just more proof of my productivity thanks to the desk! I have a decent top on and I am even wearing eyeliner and mascara! Too bad I am still wearing my light pink cow PJ bottoms…

Sure it seems like being able to spend 5 days out of the week at home in your PJ’s or bathrobe is great but in all actuality it just makes you feel like a hobo or a shut-in. Sure I shower every day and wash my clothes but not actually getting dressed and put together for the day takes it toll, trust me.

Tonight N and I are going be strange and visit the local super walmart after he gets off work at 11pm. Back in the day doing our grocery shopping in the middle of the night was the norm. I worked 3rd shift and he worked the 2nd shift so that was the crazy schedule we were on. The stores were quite too!

After last weekends shopping hell we vowed to try shopping when less people were in the stores, that means midnight super walmart shopping tonight! We’ll let you know how it goes.

Anywho, I have gotten way off topic here! What I was actually trying to get at in this post was my desire to see YOUR desk set up. Yes I do want you to post a photo of your desk in action. Now don’t go straightening it all up, I want to see it in all it’s functioning glory!

If you are brave enough to participate just post an un-staged (no cleaning or straightening first!) photo of your desk on your own blog (you can link back here if you want to). Then leave me a comment below with the link to your post so I can check out your desk. Your work space says so much about you and I am just too freaking nosy curious!

Now here is my photo:
See my sewing machine and the unfinished T-shirt quilt behind my MacBook? I sew and write and love plants!

And the photo of N’s desk:
It is a dresser actually because we gave his desk away to save on moving costs. We are going to buy a new one someday, just haven’t done it yet.

P.S. I wanted to give some linky love to Donna B for her snort worthy caption she left for my Wordless Wednesday October 1st post. Thanks Donna you totally made me laugh!

Road Trip Day 3 – Logan, NM to Dodge City, KS

Arizona to Indiana Road Trip Moving out of stateSeptember 4, 2008Leave a Comment

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First off I want to let you all know that yesterdays blog post did have photo issues, it was not your computer. I am using Qumana to write my blog posts offline and then when we get to a WIFI spot I upload the post to the server. Yesterday it appears the post uploaded but the photos did not.

When we got to our overnight destination last night I attempted to upload the photos and found out that my September image folder on WordPress is not writeable or something, so I had to upload them to my photobucket account instead. If you click back to yesterdays post you’ll now be able to view the photos. Sorry about that.

Okay, so on to the updates on day 3! We went from New Mexico, through the top west corner of Texas and Oklahoma then entered the southwest part of Kansas.

We awoke after staying the night at Ute State park in Logan, NM. When the sun came up we were happy to see that our site was right by the lake. We headed out to get a group photo with the lake in the background.

The morning started out with us visiting the campground bathrooms for shower time. It was sure eye opening! The showers were button operated and there was no temperate control so that was the first odd thing. Once we got undressed and in the shower we were unpleasant sprayed with what felt like a power washer. I couldn’t believe how painful the water pressure spray was and it was not warm either.

My mother and I were cursing and going on about the painful experience. My nipples practically sprayed off and to top it all off the water would turn off every 10 seconds so you had to press the on button repeatedly while trying to rinse your hair and body. It was the most unpleasant shower experience ever!

If you are staying at Ute State Park in Logan, MN I would not recommend using the site showers. It think a sponge bath would suffice or you can just stay dirty. The pain is not worth it, trust me.

The entire day we were quite chilly and bundled up, it started with the cold showers and continued with the overcast weather. We did not encounter any real weather but we sure had to use blankets to keep warm while in the RV. We also didn’t have too much planned for sightseeing but we enjoyed visiting things we spotted along the way like the “Back At The Ranch” Antique shop out near Dumas, TX where my brother got his girlfriend some cute earrings.

We were planning on stopping in at a starbucks to get our WIFI fix along the way but as fate would have it actually finding the hidden starbucks locations was not happening. We ended up driving down a residential street and “WIFI jacking” some persons unsecured wireless internet. We needed to map out a gas station and we were also on the hint for a Walmart so we could buy sweatshirts to keep us warm.

We were planning to hit the Dorothy House in Liberal, KS but failed to consider the time change between states therefore we arrived in Liberal about an hour and a half after they closed so we sadly missed that attraction.

Our evening destination was the Watersports Campground in Dodge City, KS which was also on a very pretty lake that we were able to enjoy. We treated ourselves to a dinner out at Casey’s Cowtown Club where we enjoyed some fabulous Kansas steaks.

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We pull out tomorrow…

Arizona to Indiana Road Trip Featured Moving out of state personal storiesAugust 31, 2008Leave a Comment

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The truck is pretty much loaded and we are just trying to get through the night of sleeping on the floor with practically nothing in the house. We pull out tomorrow at about 11:30am -12 pm, directly after our landlord inspects the house.

We have had a hay day packing the truck and installing the tow bar on our vehicle. We also had some drama with the propane tanks on the RV today.

We have reworked and reloaded the moving truck at least 20 times just trying to find the absolute best fit for everything we have. It’s been lots of lifting but I am happy to say we have successfully loaded all our stuff in 13 feet of trailer space. We had to go up to 13 feet instead of the 12 feet we booked because the load bar tracks were not spaced 1 foot apart, they were spaced every 2 feet.

That meant we could load the truck up to the 11 foot mark or the 13 foot mark. We surely could not come in under 12 feet so we just loaded it to 13 feet. We’ll see if they charge us the extra $130 for filling the trailer an extra foot. We put a call in to the company to discuss this.

The trailer hitch thing was also interesting. We actually had grown men standing on the pipe wrench trying to loosen the ball nut thingy and it would not budge. We tried using WD-40 and a whole slew of other things but nothing moved the nut. We had to take it back to home depot and get a new one, it works fine.

The last drama was our propane tanks. Our mechanic initially told us that they had outdated valves and would need to be replaced. Then we took it in for the work and he informed us they were actually not outdated and did not need to be replaced after all.

Today when we tried to fill them we were informed that filling those was against the law and were refused a refill. We ended up buying a new tank and dropping $50.00 on that.

All the little issues weren’t really all that bad, they were the source of some heated moments but those are behind us now and we are ready to get the show on the road tomorrow afternoon!

Here are some photos of the progress:

Check out the next posts in the series:

or you can checkout the previous posts in the series:

We pull out tomorrow…