All Ready For Christmas

Our tree. Usually we go to a local tree farm Dad worked at when he was young, but the prices have gotten a bit steep for our budget, so we cheated and went with fresh from Menards. Surprisingly, this tree has lasted longer than either of our farm trees. We are slowly building up our homemade ornament collection, but in the meantime we make sure to use plenty of lights and tinsel (the downtown Salvation Army had tons of tinsel cheap!) so she sparkles. Try not to focus on the laundry and gifts in process on the counter behind the tree.

We tried a new setup for the kids' trees this year and all of us really like it, plus it makes the main living area feel even more festive. Each of their little (artificial) trees is put around the living room. They get to decorate their trees, and their gifts from us (Mom and Dad) are put under their own tree. I also decided to make new stockings for everyone, though only Lovely G has one of the new ones for this year (the green one in the middle). The previous ones I had made from felt, but was never happy with. These new are knitted and I love them, so far.

Here is Lovely G's tree and the Advent calendar. This year rather than put the surprise in the pocket for each day, just the bible verse is there, then after we've read it for the day the kids get to each have one candy cane from one of the trees. It has worked out really well. I also snagged a bunch of  99-cent poinsettias from Home Depot on Black Friday since it is right next to JoAnn's, where I was loading up on fabric for the year (which I didn't get nearly enough of-next year!). They are all over the house.
I am down to just a couple gifts left to make, most baked goods and one to buy after I decided I just didn't have enough time to sanely complete their handmade gift. I love this time of year, but have been busier than usual so changed things up a bit to relieve stress.

The Last Week...

We got our new Sleep Number Bed:

 

 

Went to run some errands and ran into a car show:

 

 

 

Finally experienced garlic scapes (my hardneck garlic never "scaped" last year and this was my first year planting a softneck variety. YUM!):

 

Finally found a use for that extra long, extra wide hallway in the basement and a permanent, proper home for my ever growing book collection (putting in the shelves will be a several day task, though, since the home stores keep running out of materials):

 

Me at 6 months. I made this skirt using a combination of tutorials- Here for the tiered skirt formula and Here to adapt it to a maternity skirt (though the band can easily be folded down for use at non-preggo times). Fabric is a clearance buy from Hancocks and the top knit is old stuff I had kept of Grandma Vivian's:

I plan on making several more of these as they are, by far, along with a pair of gaucho pants with a similar style band I picked up at a garage sale, the most comfortable maternity items I own for the lower half. Think I'll do the A-line version today.

Living Room Glimpse

We are waiting on our new couch, ordered custom made from an Amish furniture store in Southern Iowa. We were tired of messing with the stuff you can get at your average furniture store and decided we wanted something made of solid wood (not particle board or plywood) and beautiful, that could be potentially handed down to our children. Hoping it gets here before Pony Gal's birthday, as there are few places to sit in the living room right now. I am still in the process of hanging pictures, too. In the pic is a shot of our curb-picked leather wing back recliner. I love, love, love it. Someone paid a lot of money for it, and I am glad we found it. So comfy with the perfect amount of aging to the leather. You can't see the antique rocking chair in the other corner. Once the room is complete, I will take a tour of pictures for you all. In the meantime, we are making progress! I think once we're back from vacation things will be closer to getting done. We need a break, for now :)

Peninsula upgrade

We intend to replace the countertops in the kitchen next year. In the meantime, a serious eyesore has been the ugly fake wood paneling that is on the outside of the bar. We decided to do an aged painted wainscoting over what wad there, which will both look one hundred percent nicer and reinforce what we found when we thought we'd take off the ugly paneling-terribly thin cupboard backs that barely hold up the shelving within. Here are the pictures of the work so far. I will be putting an aged finish on later once we renew the dining room wall color.

Home improvement woes

We know from owning what is now a one hundred year old house when we lived in our first house that no home improvement project is as simple as it seems on the face. That being said, improving the five year old home we currently live in did not seem like it would have too many twists, since we had the house built to our specifications. Let no one tell you a new house is any less work than an older house. The difference in craftsmanship from a hundred years ago to now have no comparison. Cheaper, faster have overtaken pride and longevity. I did not expect to have any less work owning a new house versus an older house; owning any house takes continual maintenance.

In our case the house was built with such cheap materials in some places and by such unskilled help that within the five years we have been here, a number of things need all out replaced. We tried to repair and hold out where we could, but there is only so much you can do with bad stuff. Our laminate countertops are falling apart...we warranteed them while we were able to, but their fix didn't really help. So, they are on the multi-year list of items to slowly replace. Recently, DH decided he could't take the very, very poorly installed carpet any longer, and so we went about getting real, hand finished wood flooring installed throughout the first floor, with the exceptions of the bathrooms, kitchen and laundry rooms as I do not feel comfortable with devices that hold water living on wood, no matter how vigilant I may be in keeping things dry. We will put tile in those rooms to replace the crappy vinyl in a few years.

As we dove into the wood installation we decided that we disliked the color of the woodwork enough that while so much of the trim was off, we would replace it with new wood trim in a color that matched the floors, and from there slowly replace the rest of the trim work in the house with better quality and color. Slowly. That was all good, then last night happens. We had been fairly dry the last week while the guys were working. The advent of a rainstorm brought on the new found knowledge that the West door in the house was leaking A LOT of water in, and that water was seeping up through the newly installed wood- something it couldn't do when vinyl was there. Out came the wood, a tarp went over the door, the front door was checked, and off I go first thing in the morning with two whining kids in tow to search for doors. Thing is, we DO NOT want to do this again, like, EVER, so we decided we would spend whatever it cost to get quality. The caveat was that we needed the door sooner rather than later. So, we went to every home improvement store in the metro area to find that they all stock their own crappy store brand, and special order the nicer brands, which take two to four weeks to come in. That wasn't going to cut it, so finally I ended up at Gilcrest Jewett and spend a boatload of money, but get super high-quality doors from people who knew what they were doing, and we would have them in five days total, and not sooner only because I was an hour too later for that day's order to come in, plus they would deliver the same day they came in, which was a better deal than the home stores. The kids were ready to explode (okay, Superboy did strip his pants off while we were checking out at none homestore where we purchased new storm doors and handles for the entry doors), but after four hours, we got it done.

Now waiting for the next major addition to the growing list of unplanned improvements this go-round. It will be beautiful when it's done. That is what I have to keep telling myself...

Change and Age

You know, through the years I have always enjoyed change. I like to change paint colors, change arrangements in the garden, change recipes and menus, change places we camp. That was then, though. Apparently as I get older (I am not getting old by any means, just getting older or growing up a bit), I find that I am changing, and my stance on change has changed. Now, it seems I am not so fond of it, which is news to me.

I think really this has to do with a lot of major changes at once. We found we were expecting in February, we reunited with some family we had previously been estranged from (and were more than happy to be able to do so), we decided to remove all carpeting from the house and install real, hardwood flooring, which involves moving everything from the first floor to the basement and living there for awhile. We usually live down there in the summer to avoid using the air as it maintains an ambient temp all summer long. We do not, though, move everything we own down there. Just clothes, really.

With the advent of baby and moving clothes we are examining what life has been like the last five years and finding lots of changes that will make life easier and help us prepare for baby, but are big changes in the way things are around the house. Different uss for rooms, adding furniture, taking away furniture, painting rooms, moving plans for a library and office around. All that is starting to make me suffer mini-anxiety attacks like I have not dealt with for a very long time-though that is mostly due to the fact that I know my stressors and avoid them. It is just a lot to take in. The worst part is that I really am happy about what we're doing, and will love my "new" house, but in the meantime cannot handle the stress of it all.

On top of that I have my usual pregnancy worries and have been thinking a lot about running the farm at the best of my game, plus keeping a large house and homeschooling kids, plus starting over with another little blessing, and I think we will be making a few changes. I don't like to do things halfway, and I currently feel like that is where I am at with a lot of the farm stuff. I just have to decide how much to change, and any change anymore seems to be a difficult decision.

It will be interesting to see how these next few months play out. I am really looking to the small respites we get from camping every couple weekends. It gives me a chance to clear my head and separate from the chaos that is currently living on the banks of Sugar Creek, as much as I love it here. I need that refreshing...change and I are not getting along all that well these days, yet it is necessary, really, all of it, and it is going to take all the healthy coping skills I can muster to not break down over the summer.

Meal Planning and Monthly Shopping (long post alert)

This new approach has been working out wonderfully-which is great. I have tried for YEARS to get a meal plan that fit our family. The weekly thing wasn't working-for one the more time we spend in the store, the more we buy, which is not out of the ordinary, it seems. I also tended to stray from the weekly meal plan, a lot. I tried doing a different theme each night to make it easier to fill in the blanks, or thought it would be easier to try new things since we had planned them. Yeah, not so much. I also hate having to shop several different places to get a bargain, or to just get all we need. I am not a very good coupon clipper. I clip some every once in a while, or use them for going to eat pretty well, but for groceries it didn't work. One big reason for that is that I am not a brand slave. A few items we end up buying brand name, like the occasional Reece's Peanut Butter Cup, as Dad insists all others will not suffice, but for the most part I want cheap, but quality. I am in the middle of doing a bunch of cost comparison between the places we have frequented in the past. So far, with the cost of membership added in for Costco, Aldi is winning the race. I have to look at my data for Fareway and will need to stop by Sam's Club, but my educated guess is that Aldi will end up winning. With having to basically re-distribute my purchases from bulk clubs to make them flow with our routine, time is an issue as well. One plus of not shopping there is that my items come in all ready-to-use sizes. I like being able to buy a lot of some items. I think I have gotten past needing to do this at bulk stores, and rather, am starting to build our pantry and emergency food storage through just buying a little extra each month, and watching sales.
Though I fail at couponing, I do do pretty well at watching the circular ads I get in the mail to see when super deals pop up. Recently that meant running to HyVee outside our normal in-town days in order to take advantage of a deep sale on chicken and pasta sauce (I only had stewing chicken left in my freezer from our own birds), both things that will store well in the freezer and pantry. I bought as much as the ad would let me, and won't have to buy either for months now, helping out the monthly grocery budget. It also helps me build our emergency pantry, and all it takes is reading the ads, which come in our mail once a week, for free. I keep track of what the average cost of what we usually buy is on top of that, so I know when something is on-sale for just a little less than we usually pay, and when something is on sale enough to warrant a special trip and special deviation from our usual grocery budget.
Our newest venture in the shopping arena is to only shop once a month. This takes planning on my part-I need to know what we eat for snacks, meals and little extras, and estimate how much we will need in a month by looking at previous months. Whoever said running a household was easy stuff didn't take their job seriously :) From that I generate our grocery list, divided into sections for pantry, refrigerated, meat, frozen and fruits and veg. This list should not change month to month, with the exception of months when fruits, veg and our dairy animals, are in season. In those months I make a point to preserve what we aren't eating fast enough for use through the winter, and so far each year we have canned just little more than the last, and we feel the help it gives in the grocery budget. For pantry items, even if we do not need the amount put on the list, I buy it anyway. My grocery bill remains the same each month (for the most part), so I can budget that out, and I build our pantry storage by just buying our usual items. We just don't always go through everything. There may be a birthday or anniversary dinner out that saves that dinner's items. We may have a spontaneous breakfast out on a weekend just for fun. We may entertain guests and use a little more. I think many people are concerned with not spending too much each month on food, but not enough are concerned with not spending enough. That little extra is better spent on a little storage and meal insurance than it is on something else. Don't get me wrong, we are working on wittling down debt, but that happens by cutting other areas, and by shopping smart in the first place, not cutting our food back to nearly nothing. During the summer when fresh produce will be coming straight out of the garden, I will still spend the same amount on groceries-just on items we can stock up on like grains and sweeteners. I think the biggest thing is looking at the big picture and having a plan-then sticking to it. It is different for everyone, this is just what is working for us.
So, all of that leads to our meal plan and grocery shopping list. This is what we have so far, though we are still tweaking everything. We find a meal that just isn't flying with everyone or a new favorite that needs worked. During the summer fresh produce will be added and some meals adapted for outdoor cooking.

One Month Meal Plan~
I keep all of this in a binder divided into each week, with the recipes for that week put in behind for easy access. Recipes that are used more than once are placed at the front of the binder in a "basic" area for easy reference. I also keep my recipe for our gluten-free flour blend and a few easy desserts for family nights or when we're entertaining here, too. I have a whole other binder for other recipes that we aren't using all the time, but are ones we want to save for special occasions. Also housed in that are recipes we want to try. I flip through them from time to time and pull a new one out. Otherwise, I've found our plan works best when we stick to tried and true family faves that I am comfortable cooking-especially after a busy day of errands.

Basic Recipe Section:
Banana Bread
Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
All-Purpose Gluten Flour Blend
Gluten Free Thin Crust Pizza Dough
Pancakes
Waffles
Potato Farls
Gluten Free Artisan Bread in 5 Brioche
Apple Crisp

Week One:
Sunday-Breakfast is potato farls and eggs;  
Lunch out, most likely visiting great grandparents;  
Dinner is Wisconsin Swiss Potato Soup
Monday-Breakfast during the week rotates according to the kid's desires from scrambled eggs, cereal and toast with nutella and fruit;  
Lunch is homemade lunchables (all reference to lunchables throughout is homemade-crackers, cheddar or colby cheese, sliced, and lunchmeat-ham or turkey, plus fruit and veggies) and fruit, eaten in the truck since we run errands this day and  
Dinner on Mondays is our chance to try new things, though I have standbys planned many nights in case we just don't feel like it. Right now this Monday is open.
Tuesday-Lunch is tuna melts;
Dinner is Broiled Chicken Thighs with Peach Salsa with a tossed salad, cottage cheese and some pickled veggie
Wednesday-Lunch is Ham and Cheese sandwiches and
we share dinner with our fr-amily the Reids, otherwise if we have to cancel for some reason, I pull out a freezer meal
Thursday-Lunch is lunchables in the truck again for art class and errands, and
dinner is Tacos. Thursday is Beef/Goat/Lamb night.
Friday-Lunch is leftovers/pasta.
Dinner is pizza with tossed salad. Every Friday night is pizza night at our house.
Saturday-Since Dad is home we have big breakfasts on the weekend. Waffles and turkey/beef bacon. Lunch is Dad's signature sandwich, potato panini with chips, veggies and dip, and
Dinner is Meatloaf, cooked in the crockpot.

Week 2
Sun: B-Bacon and Cheese Casserole
L-Out or with Grandparents
D-Great Lakes Salmon Chowder (this is a new recipe we haven't tried yet. It may get changed)
Mon: L-Lunchables, out running errands
D-something new
Tues: L-leftovers
D-Chicken Tortilla Soup
Wed: L-Leftover or Mac and Cheese
D-With the Reids or Freezer Meal
Thurs: L-Lunchables, art class
D-Steak night with tossed salad and cottage cheese
Friday: L-Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
D-Pizza and salad
Sat: B-Pancakes and bacon
L-Potato Farls
D-Taco Salads (meat cooked in crockpot all day)

Week 3
Sun: B-Eggs, Bacon and hashbrowns
L-Out or with Grandparents
D-Beef Stew
Mon: L-Lunchables
D-Salmon Patties or something new
Tues- L-Ham and Cheese
D- Tortilla Pie with Chicken
Wed-L-Leftovers
D-Reids/Freezer Meal
Thurs-L-Lunchables
D-Beef Stroganoff Stuffed Potatoes
Fri-L-Pasta/leftovers
D-Pizza and salad
Sat-B-Waffles and Bacon
L-Potato Panini/Sausage Kale and Potatoes
D-Chili Dogs with salad and chips

Week 4-
Sun-B-Egg Casserole
L-out or with Grandparents
D-Hot and Sour Soup; this week we'll be with the Reids for the Superbowl, though
Mon-L-Lunchables
D-Spaghetti Pie
Tues-L-Ham and Cheese
D-Chicken and Ginger Stirfry over rice
Wed-L-Leftovers/Pasta
D-Reids/Freezer Meal
Thurs-L-Lunchables
D-Beef Enchiladas
Fri-L-Leftovers/Pasta
D-Pizza and salad
Sat-B-Pancakes and Bacon
L-Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
D-Goat Posole

Then we start over after four weeks with another trip to the grocery store and new rotation of the weeks. I keep things like grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas and hamburgers on hand for those nights when we just run out of time, or are really tired or just don't want to eat what is planned, which doesn't happen often.
So, that leaves the shopping list. I came away spending $160, plus I had to pick up chocolate milk mix (ovaltine or Nestle) elsewhere. I also am a member of our local food buying group, and try to purchase local goods through them when we can. In the deep of winter in Iowa, choices are limited. I have memberships to a few natural goods mail-order groups, too, where I get random items that are hard to find or hard to get at good prices here, like the specialty flours I use for my gluten issues and spices/herbs and beauty supplies. I don't order there more than once every month or two, so it doesn't add too much to my bill. I will work on the master list post later, as this post is pretty long. I have list that lists what we need to have on hand all the time, then there is the list that is store specific. I also try to stop by Fareway once every week or two and check out the scratch and dent shelf, as well as produce clearance. I make some great finds there.

Homemaking is an ART. Don't let anyone else tell you differently. Each area of the home has specific needs and to do it well it takes time, practice and patience. Each family will find what works best for them, or suffer through chaos. My mind functions best when things are methodical, and so planning and having lists to work from makes me comfortable, just like clearing clutter and having a routine does.

Pictures!

I haven't fiddled with these yet, but this is what I caught last night...
Superboy helping make the bed

My beautiful girl riding Pocahontas

Update on the new routine and cookbook project

So, the first week of running according to the new routine to schedule in rest went pretty well. I had a bit of meltdown on Friday, but I think I am learning something here. God knows how stubborn I can be, and it is definitely taking some refining to mold me into the sort of mother/wife/sister/daughter/friend I should be. I am starting to see the benefits already, but I am having to learn to let go of certain ideas I hold about my house, schedule and the like. I think cleaning just certain areas each day will work well, but in the meantime I feel like the house is a pit. A lot of that is due to the fact that I haven't gotten done with a lot of deep cleaning and decluttering, and only letting myself work on certain areas each day to do that means it is getting strung out a bit,but I am not nearly so grouchy and tired at the end of the day. I still feel like making a big dinner and spending time with my family. Meal planning is working out pretty well. I can always tell when I start to let it slip, because our grocery bills skyrocket. It has been interesting seeing what Andrew and Liv pick for their dinner days, and I am excited to see what Asher chooses, when he is old enough. I will plan the new revised plan for this week at the end of the post. I saw a few areas that could be improved upon, but altogether it looks pretty good. May marks our first month with only one debt payment-the mortgage-which is awesome and I am excited to see how our budget works out. I do know we have a bad habit of eating out too much, but the meal planning should help that some. I think we are going to make Sunday evening a night with Harold, which will serve both the purpose of spending time with him, easing our grocery bill a little, and giving me a break on Sunday, which is the plan anyhow. The cookbook project is coming along-I do make more than I often remember, and will definitely benefit from space being freed up and all my favorite things to make in one place. I am wittling away at the pile, and thought I was making some serious progress until Asher found a stash of books I had forgotten about in the kitchen...oops :) I am also getting better about keeping my palm pilot charged, which greatly helps with remembering tasks and being able to still keep up an internet presence when I am trying to limit my time sitting down at an actual computer. So, in all, it looks good, but will be a long process of incorporating new and forgotten habits back into my everyday. But I like all the skills involved in doing so, so it will be fun as well as challenging, which is always good.

Monday:
*Dinner-Liv's Choice: Portabella Burgers
*Three loads laundry washed and hung out
*One load dishes washed, yesterday's put away
*Vacuum, pick up living room and dining room; dust, mop front entryway
*Feed and water chickens, gather eggs
*9:30 chiro visit
*Bank
*Post Office
*Library
*Lunch with Andrew
*Asher naptime: general decluttering
*Put folded clothes in rooms
*Take out trash
*Make bed

Liv Duties: Make bed and put dirty clothes in basket

Tuesday:
*Dinner: Andrew's Choice-Hot Sausage Bread
*One load dishes washed, yesterday's put away
*One load laundry washed and hung out
*Feed and water chickens, gather eggs
*Playdate with SWG in town
*Babywearing group
*Put clothes in rooms
*Take out trash
*Make bed

Liv Duties: Make bed, put away dirty clothes

Wednesday:
*Dinner: Swiss, Potato and Sausage Soup (since I forgot the Swiss last week...)
*Groceries
*One load dishes washed, yesterday's put away
*Three loads laundry washed and hung out
*Vacuum, mop and pick up kitchen
*Vacuum, mop and pick up master bed and bath
*Feed and water chickens, gather eggs
**Possible visit to Ebersole Ranch if it is raining and chores get done
*Take out trash
*Put clothes in rooms
*Make bed

Liv Duties: Make bed, put dirties in basket

Thursday:
*Dinner: Pizza & Salad
*Two loads of laundry washed and hung out
*One load dishes, put away yesterday's
*Vacuum Liv and Asher's rooms, hallway and main bath. Mop floors, wipedown surfaces, clean toilet
*Wash all slept in bedding
*Feed and water chickens, gather eggs
*Take out trash
*Put clothes in rooms
*Make bed

Liv Duties: make bed, put dirties in basket

Friday:
*Dinner: crockpot night-Pulled Chicken Tacos
*One load dishes
*One load laundry hung out
*Feed and water chickens, gather eggs
9:30 chiro visit
*Garage sales with Auntie
*Nice weekend, may camp
*Hiking
*Take out trash
*Put clothes in rooms
*Make bed

Liv Duties: make bed, dirties in laundry

Misc: talk to local restaurants about composting chickens idea...will post about this later if it pans out

Saturday:
*Catch up
*Dinner: grill out-burgers
*Make bed

Liv: make bed

Sunday:
*Rest
*Dinner with Harold
*Sample Sunday in Woodward
*Catch up on checking accounts, blogs and internet stuff (cause I can sit down and I like to do it...)

In Full Spring

Just as a quick update....
*The house is in a shambles as I go through all the closets to purge and reorganize what gets stuffed through the winter. Holy moley did we ever stuff this year.
*We are buying less and less processed (albeit organic) food and making more and more from scratch, more locally.
*I have seedlings coming out of my ears. Well, not literally, as that might be odd, but there are so many they may end up being our first marketable item of the year.
*Despite said seedlings, I am behind due to wet weather and cannot get a whole lot done outside.
*The grape juice I made from free grapes last year is freakin' awesome and I have been buying grapes up to start a small vineyard in order to perpetuate the growing addiction.
*We have just under 75 chicks at different stages in the garage, 9 more coming in for my mom's order from Shanen, about 9 year old roosters and 6-7 2 year old layers going to the butcher on Wednesday for our freezer, at least 25 birds for the Reids and ourselves coming in May and I think I am crazy. I need to build a chicken tractor for the 4 week olds as they will be moving out once it gets warm enough.
*I keep looking at sheep. I want them this year. I also looked at llama/alpacas. I am trying to decide which to purchase first, but have to hold out for now either way as I won't buy them until I have the shelter up in the back pasture.
*We still need a barn for the goats. I will be ordering that sometime this week. They will be living at my mom's for around a month until the fencer can make it out. I have also been considering getting a nanny this year to jump start since these babes won't be ready for two years. We'll see how ambitious we are.
*I set up blogs for Pony Gal and Superboy's homeschool journeys to aid in meeting requirements. I will set their links in my blog list in case anyone is interested, though I doubt they are too exciting and will be littered with labels for ease of seeing that we do do a lot of "schooling".
*I still have yet to get Grandpa H's dryer moved upstairs and the indoor drying lines up downstairs. Everybody's vehicles have decided to break now, so I am at the bottom of my husband's list as far as the things I need done. I am going on strike soon if something doesn't change.
*We scored about 10 puppets on the side of the road for the kids' puppet theatre they got from their auntie at Christmas. Dad also got a couple tool boxes for the home garage, one of which is filled with old tools just for Superboy to "help".

That's what's on the list for now. Oh, and I can't Flylady. She just doesn't get things done at hte pace I need. I do like my shiny sink, though. :)

The Greeniness Continues

So, to explain the corny title, my dryer, which has been slowly taking longer and longer to dry clothes (equals more and more money), finally crapped out yesterday. It is not quite season for outdoor drying, so I am left trying to get my clothes dry without a dryer. I have Harold's downstairs, which I will use for now. My in-laws mentioned bringing his up and just replacing ours with his. Cost effective enough, but I wanted better. We thought about all our options, about how we knew we would eventually get solar and wind power run to the house but the big word there was EVENTUALLY. Not now. So in the meantime, do we get another gas dryer or an electric in anticipation of the eventual free power. My answer? Neither. A while back I was reading an article on a couple who had done what we have been in the process of-built a house new, with what they could afford, then turned around and started greening it out as things needed replacing. They mentioned indoor drying systems in that article, which picqued my interest. I am taking my dryer puking to take that plunge. I ordered two indoor retractable clothes lines from Sears last night. They will come to 120 feet of line when totally strung out, and with room in both the laundry room and the basement, I have areas that can be converted, especially when they can be retracted whenever not in use. It helps keep clothes from wearing out as quickly, and adds moisture to the air during dry winter months. And the continuing cost? NOTHING. Yay! I am excited for their arrival. The nice thing is that I am really not happy with them, I can easily just go ahead and use Harold's dryer, or purchase one for me and the amount of money out is minimal. But I don't see that happening. With such a huge house, it only makes sense to make use of more of the empty spaces.

Mopping

I love the smell of Murphy's Wood Oil Soap. I do not mop nearly as much as I should, but for whatever reason managed to do some today. I find reasons to walk through the kitchen. I also found out Superboy is afraid of the mop. The vacuum doesn't phase him-he used it to learn how to walk by steadying himself on the canister, but the mop freaks him out.

Moving On

We have been slowly trying to figure just how low we can go on the thermostat before it is too cold to function without being grumpy. That is how our day started-grumpy. Now, overnight isn't too bad as with three of us in bed, and Pony Gal sufficiently bundled, we can slip down to 62 (though with as long as our house is we know that our bedroom is cooler). I thought we could do 65 or so during the day, but I wasn't paying attention when I set the thermostat and it was 62 about mid-morning-which was too cool. Superboy was grumpy, Pony Gal was obnoxious and I was chilled. I threw on the fireplace and cranked up the heat. It is looking like 66 may be our magic daytime number. So far, everyone is happy. I managed to get the hallway painting finished, which I feel great about. Pony Gal and Superboy have been playing well.
On another topic, the TV situation is still an issue. We get channels 8 and 13. Now, I would be fine with two channels-but they need to be 8 and 11. So, the hubby is off to try another setup. We have a giant antenna in the attic, which he will try to rotate a bit this evening. We know we can get all channels if he stands out in the yard with a multi directional dish style antenna. But, I kind of like him in the house, and I am kind of picky about defacing the front of my house, even if we do live the country. He won't attach anything to the roof, so we have some dilemmas. Hopefully the multi-directional will work in the attic and he split the signal so we can get at least channel 11 added to the lineup. Otherwise, I am not sure what we will do. It's not that we can't live without TV, it's the timing. Winter is inside time and we do rely on some daytime and evening vegetating in order to relax.

Aaah, home improvement

I have a list about a page long hanging in the kitchen of projects I would like to complete within the next year. I have slowly been working on it, and managed to complete two yesterday-Asher's curtains are sewn and rods are hung (the rods need to be longer, so no pic there) and I finally painted the rest of the living room, which made me love my house again, at least for a little while. It seems dark paint was all it was missing.