Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Tuesday, Financial monkey wrench...

No spend, Steak, green beans, yellow squash, cucumber salad, cucumbers for dinner.  I have some ground beef thawed out and I need to come up with something for dinner.

     I also need to pay bills and I have no money, well that is not completely true, but I have very little and I need some cash for our getting together with the kids next week.  So I am monkeying with my finances to see what I can do to get this done.  I need to sit down and balance both check books.  Figure out what bills I can pay and what can wait.  I love my life.  But I also refuse to put everything on hold when I can enjoy time with my girls.  Just have to do it on the cheap.  I also need to make sure I can come home and pay what is due.  Like the dang house payment, it seems like it is always due.

     I did a great deal of sewing yesterday and have  much to do today.  Big goals.  I need money.  I also need to clean the house, get some laundry done and the ironing is mocking me from the corner of the shop.

     Out My Window:  It is still hotter than Hades outside.  My flowers are gasping.  The garden is loving the weather.  Well as long as I keep the water on the plants.  It was 102 yesterday when hubs drove into town at 4:30 p.m.  So a little cooler.

     I am going to get busy, until I melt that is.......

Have a great and productive day!

Kim

Monday, June 29, 2015

Monday, look at the time?

     Dinner will be what ever I can find that is not too hot to prepare. We have an abundance of cucumbers coming on in the garden and I have one tomato that is turning ripe.  Soon we will have all we need for salads.  I picked several small cucumbers and will put them in salt,pepper and vinegar on ice.  I also picked several small yellow neck squash and green beans that I will fry in a little olive oil salt and pepper.  Yum.  Our neighbor brought over several dozen apricots so we are good to go on fresh things to eat.

     Just in case you did not know it is HOT here.  Now I love the heat.  It was 110 at our place yesterday.  I tried to put makeup on before church and it slide into my neck creases instantly.

     Saturday was very hot and I was not feeling well at all.  I think it might have been dehydration although I tried to drink, drink, drink.   I actually had the chills about 9 o'clock Saturday morning at the yard sale.  I laid down on a sofa covered up with a blanket and  slept.  I had to drag myself around all day acting chipper.  It was an act. I don't like people to know when I am going down physically because then they get fussy about my working and I feel like it is my responsibility.  But I truly hate it when I am sick and have to act like I am okay. The only time I felt good was when I was eating ice cream.

     We did not do as well on the yard sale as I would have liked. I wanted to make enough to pay the rent next month.  We came just in under that figure of $643.00.  This will catch up the remainder of Junes bills and I was so hoping for about $1500.00 to $2000.00  I realize now that this was unrealistic.  But I am positive because I received such good help from booster parents who were willing to work, bring in things, set up and tear down.  I do not feel so alone in this process and next month is next month.  My mind is a wash with other ideas to earn a few pennies for this cause.

     I really tried to drink a variety of things on Saturday, but by late Saturday night I was so sick and in the bathroom off an on all night. Sick again before church, then hub's brought me home after Sacrament and I was sick, then slept for 4 hours, hub's woke me up, sick again and I had the most awful headache.  I drank water and liquids until I was sloshing and finally felt better about midnight.

     Hub's tried to cook yesterday but too hot.  We ate tomato,onion and cucumber salad.  Cantaloupe, crackers,cheese and dried salami, corn on the cob.  We boiled the corn outside.  All of my flowers are stressed even though I have watered and watered them.  They look how I felt yesterday.

     I did a secret shop for a bank this morning and our youngest daughter was down for the night.  She thought if she came home it would be cooler.  What a joke.  I sent her in for an eye exam this morning and she needs to get her teeth cleaned.  I just keep saying 6 more months and we are done with school expenses. 

     There is plenty to do in the shop and it is the coolest room in the house so I am going to spend the rest of my waking time in there today.


Have a great and productive day!

Kim
 one more year

Friday, June 26, 2015

Friday evening, tired

No spend, leftovers.

     Thursday evening I had a bride pick up and fitted two bridesmaid dresses then ran to the studio to help set up the yard sale.  We had a huge amount of stuff and many parents there to help.  At about 10 everything was set up and I went to the store and picked up soda, water and donuts to sell.  Got to bed about midnight.

     Up at 6 and we all know I am not a morning person.  The sale was not very busy today, so I am praying it is busier tomorrow.  There is so much stuff there and I hate to have to box it all up and take it to Good will or wherever. I was home by 12:30 to meet another bride.  I had not really gone through my house for things as I have been so busy with brides this week.  So after my afternoon appointments I started to clean the shop closet and go through closets and drawers upstairs. 

     It was 105 here today so blistering hot and will be hotter tomorrow.  I filled our large dumpster and have a car load for the studio tomorrow.  I also have 3 large bags of extra trash that would not fit into out garbage bin.  My shop closet is clean for the first time in forever. I was able to get rid of an extra hanging rack and get everything into the closet.  I have a long table for cutting out that is almost always full of product and we took that to the yard sale.  Under that table was two set of dishes I brought back from my mom's over a year ago.  They have been stacked in china wrappers and were very dirty and dusty.  I really have wanted to get them off the floor and onto the top shelf of the shop closet.  So I went through patterns and consolidated down to one box from four.  Then through old fabric from past costumes that I have been saving and bagged that for the Sr. Citizen quilters.  I created such a mess and I was so tired.  Luckily my ballet mistress and renter came home just as I had created the worst of my chaos and she helped me wipe off all the china wrappers and put it all on the top shelf.  She also helped me load up the car and put the large rack I have been using in the shop into the truck to take to the studio.

     I got the tax boxes for the last two years put away.  Then I emptied a hall closet upstairs that we have never really used since we bought the house.  It has slowly filled with the girls prom dresses.  I emptied at least 15 one of a kind design dresses, shoes and purses.  All are going down to the yard sale.  I kept my wedding dress, Hub's wedding suit.  Not that I will ever be able to get into the cummerbund as it is 10 inches too small.  I weighed all of 98lbs when I married.  I also saved daughters doctoral robes and one dress she asked me to save.  The closet is now empty it also has a shelf.  Funny that you could live someplace for 16 years and never see the floor of a closet.  I was even able to put the large steamer for my shop into the shop closet.  So nice.  I have a large closet under the stairs that needs to be cleaned out.  We have way too many suitcases and I need to just get rid of crap.  Where does it come from?  I see my self as pretty neat and organized but from the looks of what I pulled out of my house today you would beg to differ.

     Tomorrow I have to be at the studio at 7 again.  Yikes!

Have a nice evening and pray that I sell lots of crap! :)

Kim

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Thursday, this is how my day started.

No Spend, chicken salad in low carb tortillas with fruit on the side.  Left overs tonight.

     This morning I am in the bath tub having just done a root touch up on my hair.  I need to wait a 1/2 and hour.  The front door is open (I know, I know, dumb), the dog is standing guard.  She starts barking like crazy which means a customer is here.  I am pretty strict about my business hours especially in the morning, but every once in a while you have an early bird.  You will always have an early bird of you are naked and covered with root touch up.  Getting a visual yet? Well stop it, because is is not pretty.  Anyway I hear a very old man's voice.  "Is any one Home?"   I realize it is Walt one of my long time customers.  He is 91 and should not be driving.  He also lost his wife of 70 years last fall.  He is a character.  Some how he has made it up the steep front steps of the house.  He has his cane and he is bent in half like a toothpick. 

     I had taken a shirt in for him as he has lost so much weight.  He has it on and it is bright red.  He also has on bright red long shorts.  He has on a blingy bejeweled cowboy belt and a red painters cap.  Oh and to complete the outfit he has his wife's purple flowered cane and his bed room slippers.

     I get dressed in my robe and go out into the living room with my roots a muck.  If the old guy could see he would have been turned to stone but lucky for all of us, I think he is blind, and driving.  He has 10 shirts in the car that need alteration.  "Walt did you walk up all those stairs by yourself?"  Reply, "yes and it wasn't easy."  I say, "Can you get back down them?"  "I don't think so."

     I bring him all the way into the house and we decide that he can go down the basement steps with help as there is a rail.  So I am holding on to the back of his belt( yes my hand was slightly down his pants back) and we descend the stairs.  The light is burned out over the stairs so it is  dark.  He can see nothing, but he drove here in a burgundy tuna boat Cadillac.  Get him down stairs and out the door of the basement and he shuffles out to get his shirts.  The beginning of my day.  It can only get more interesting from here.

     Had a bride pick up her dress I saved from a botched job and then she calls me last night at about 7 to say the zipper just broke.  Back it comes for a new zipper.  This dress is now a comical situation, but I had it fixed in a few minutes while she waited.  It is beautiful and I am sure it will be okay.  So many things have gone wrong with that dress nothing else can possibly happen.

     Well I need to go dry my hair, water my flowers in back, water the garden, get some laundry started and attack another wedding dress. Actually I think this next one will attack me, it is like wrestling a cranky 3 year old.

     Tonight I have to be down at the studio as our big yard sale starts tomorrow.  I am excited, but I have a lot to do tonight.  Then I have to be down there at 6:30 tomorrow morning.  I am not a morning person.


Have a great and productive day!

Kim

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Wednesday, it is snowing in my shop.....

     $65.56, soda, veggies, cheese, yogurt, fruit, hair dye :)  Prescriptions.  Dinner was taco's and I plan on making chicken salad for dinner and serve it in low carb tortilla wraps with fruit and salad.  Hub's is getting a little tired of salad so I have to get creative.  Green beans and lettuce out of garden.


     I am done with one big wedding dress and I just have to steam it.  I was also able to complete two bridesmaid dresses and boy are they ugly.  Is there any such thing as a tasteful bridesmaid dress?

     Today I have  another bridal dress to conquer and 3 zipper replacements, 3 shirts to shorten sleeves.  It really never ends. 

     My house is kind of trashed and I need to show it some love.  The laundry is creeping out of its pile as I have ignored it and laundry does not like to be ignored.  It has sex and duplicates itself in the dark.  Trust me.  There are seed pearls all over the family room.  Every table is covered with sewing notions for hand work.  I think the dog got sick on the carpet upstairs.  I know she chewed up a pine cone in the front room. Someone ate pistachio nuts while reading a book last night and thought they were hitting the trash can and nary a one did.  Hmmmmm who could that be?  Looks like a bird lived in the spare bedroom. Hub's has gone through all of his pants that fit and don't fit and has them piled all over our bedroom.  I don't think he knows he has a dresser and a closet.  For some reason they have alluded his sight line, much like the trashcan.

     So obviously I have things to do today.  I also must get ready for a big studio yard sale we are having Friday and Saturday.  Important that my sewing is caught up so I don't have to worry about that while I am selling rummage.

Out My Window:  It is beautiful in the yard and all over the valley.  There was a bad fire last night at the Engineering lab so I think I need to go read the newspaper.

Have a great and productive day!

Kim

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Tuesday, Bride dresses are taking over!

No Spend on groceries that is.....  I did make two trips to the fabric store for items I needed for shop.  I also purchased 3 old wedding dresses for their lace at St. Vinnies.  You can't buy lace like this for under $500.00 a yard maybe more.    Tonight we are having taco salad.  I need to go pick green beans in the garden and get some chicken cooked for tomorrow.  Okay that is done.  Decided I had better do that before it is too hot.

     Had a wedding dress come in yesterday that was almost ruined from the another alteration shop out of town.  What a mess.  I worked on it late into the night and bride will be over this afternoon to see it.  I hope she likes what I am doing.  It is a work of love I tell you.  I have two large dresses in the shop that need to be tried on and finished, the shop looks like a snow storm.  I am going in there to clean a little and then get to work on a couple of bridesmaid dresses I want to get out today.

     The smaller easy piles of things are gone and I am left with the tough work.  Yikes!

Mom was really sick yesterday, I called her this morning and she was better.  I know it is because she had the real estate sign put up yesterday and signed some papers.  She says that is not the reason, but when ever she is faced with something that really bothers her she is sick.  Sick enough that she has lost 60 lbs in the last three years.  But then the last 3 years have been real hell for her.  Most of it her own doing by living with my brother who by any ones standards is a very bad man.

     I just got a phone call for army patches it is an emergency job, oh goody, that means he waited until the last minute.  Surprise!   My life is just full of those kinds of surprises.  I am blessed with work.

     Out My Window:  Cooler but a hot spell is coming, I hop to be out of town when it hits.

I need to get to work.

Have a great and productive day!

Kim

    

Monday, June 22, 2015

Monday, a litle catch up:)

     Friday I went out on a dance out with the young girls taking a workshop at the studio.  They were so sweet and excited.  They performed at a rest home.  The workers brought in a younger woman suffering from Alzheimer's.  Her head was down and her eyes were closed but the minute the Giselle music started she lifted her head and started to sing along in a high nice voice.  It was so sweet.  This is why I love performing at these venues.  It is good for the girls and good for the patients.

     I then went and purchased pizza for between performances and returned home to sew.  Thursday's meeting went great and I hope to have many more meetings like that one.  Some really good things and some bad things. 

     We have a big yard sale this Friday and Saturday and that should keep me busy.  We will set up Thursday night. I need to sew like a banshee these next three days.  I also need to do laundry.... blah.

     Saturday I took hubs out to buy new work pants and a few inexpensive shirts for the woods.  Ones that he can get paint on and I won't scream at him.  Then D#2 and I went around town to thrift stores to look for crap for an upcoming event.  Hub's and I went to help celebrate one of my little dancer's birthdays and had such a good time.  It is nice to be with people who have the crazies like you.  You just fit.  I came home a finished up some curtains for a trailer camper.

     Sunday we went to church and took a long nap and then had a nice dinner with daughter and hubby.

Out My Window:  Very dry here although not too hot today.  The garden is great and I still have weeding to do out front.  

I need to get busy in the shop, like right now, NOW.

Have a great and productive day!

Kim

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Thursday, dodged that bullet!

No Spend, Low carb blt's fruit salad for dinner.  Tonight I think chicken and salad. Need to get chicken out of freezer.

     Plumber came about 2:30 and it was a clogged sewer line under the house, caused by old pipes and dental floss and other things.  Talked to renter about the floss.  I knew never to put dental floss down old pipes but she had not.  Anyway, now I am in the clean up stage.  The basement once again smells like a wet dog and I am going to have the carpets cleaned next week. We are also having the toilet replace downstairs with a handicap toilet that is higher.  Where is this money coming from I don't know?  But I feel blessed that I won't have to pay for this last little fiasco.


     I also was able to finish the ironing yesterday.  The shop floor was such a mess and I just needed to get something done.  I had a bride come in and I bustled her dress and she left with it, which is great one less large object in the shop. All the towels from the flood are washed and I need to do a little organization in my sewing room.

     Had a meeting with board President to hash out things to discuss tonight.  He had some radical but interesting ideas, that had been going round and round in my head.  We will see where they land.  Our real agenda for this evening is the yard sale next week at the studio.

     Hub's mowed the front yard last night and the lower back so we did not walk.  I weeded one of the front beds.  Still need to weed other beds out front and I will soon.  I think? Maybe today if it cools off like it is supposed to and I can get some sewing done.

     Well I need to get busy no one is going to do my work for me.  Drat!  Any volunteers?  I read Sluggy's blog and she was out buying a mop.  Can't let her get ahead of me.  Hey Sarah where are you?  Drinking diet coke from McD's and ignoring the rest of us?  Get with the program.

Have a great and productive day.

Kim

     

    

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Wednesday, under water so to speak.

No Spend, Diner was salad, bacon and tomato sandwiches in low carb tortillas.  Delicious!  Will repeat that menu this evening.  We need to eat up some fruit that is going to go bad so salad it is!

     Started two loads of laundry yesterday and noticed an unusual noise leading from the toilet in spare room bath.  Of course I was sewing and it just sounded like gurgling.  I continued to sew and soon realized that water was coming in from the floor drain into the shop.  A shop with 5 wedding dresses in it!  The water was also escaping into the bathroom.  I realized it was clean water from the washing machine.  So we have a clogged floor drain.  Great.  I have suspected that there was a problem there and I know our renter has had problems with that toilet.  I also know with the new sewer line it is impossible to have a huge back up.  This is a recent problem.  I have long suspected my little friend is bulimic and I have talked to her about it quite a bit.  Without going into detail  we have also been having back up problems at the studio where she spends a great deal of time.  I know she knows this is an issue caused by her.  Acid and food in large quantities can clog a system fast and there have been repeated problems in the down stairs bath for the last few months that I can see.  This issue will have to be dealt with and soon.  I don't want to go into more detail as others read this blog and this is her life not mine.  I don't have the right to air her dirty laundry.  I too had problems with this condition when I was dancing. Now I am 40 lb's heavier:)

     So long story short, plumper will be here this afternoon.  It is okay as I was thinking of having a handi cap level toilet put in for mom and was going to have to call one any way. I just can't have water leaking into my shop.

     I am having lunch with the board president today to hash out upcoming meeting and figure out how to run the studio.  Not that I haven't been running it, but to get some other perspective and get some help.  I just need help so badly.  The responsibility is killing me and my joy in running the dang thing.

     I was able to get one bride dress out yesterday and quite a few other small jobs.  I have a boat load left to do today and I hardly touched the ironing which is now taking over the shop.  I mean truly it has taken on a life of its own and is slowly creeping across the floor.

    I have a another bride dress coming in late this afternoon.  So hopefully the plumber won't make too much of a mess.  Ha ha!  Oh, by the way I have a $228.00 credit with the plumber so I am not worried about the bill too much.
 
     Last night after dinner Hub's and I took an hour long walk with the dog she can't do the loop is is too far then we rushed home to watch his cousins three little boys 2-10 while they taught a wedding dance couple down at the studio.  They were cute and fun.  I entertained the little one by turning on the hose and letting him drag it around trickling water so he could water to his hearts content.  One happy wet baby, but it was still 88 out so he was fine.

  After my meeting I am going to sew and iron and maybe pick some beans out of the garden.  I bought 6 books while I was in Twin Falls and I have finished everyone of them.  So will have to go on a cheap book hunt.  I am a never ending reader.  Books every where.

Have a great and productive day!

Kim


    

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Tuesday, today I WILL work, maybe?

No spend, left over meat, salad, green beans and sprouts for dinner.  We have a ton of salad left over for this evening and I think I will do more corn as we need to use it up, not sure what to do for meat.  I know a bacon and tomato salad or sandwich with salad.  We ate the first of our green beans and will have plenty more where those came from.  We also will have summer squash by the end of the week.

    I was a lazy daisy yesterday.  I balanced the accounts and robbed every account I could to make the house payment.  Then I came home and I started to sew but ended up in the backyard reading a book in the sun.  I don't know how I got there.  Total mystery.

     Hub's was out in a helicopter yesterday looking for bug kill acreage.  A fire was spotted so he and his companion were dropped off on a meadow high in the mountains, no food, no water.  He was able to text me from the spot so that was surprising.  The copter wanted to get a small papoose bucket hooked up immediately to set on the fire before the wind picked up.  The text I got gave me his location and that he hoped to be home in the p.m.  That was it.  It used to be his secretary would call and say he was dispatched and I would hear the horror stories after.  Now I get to create my own until he gets home.  He was home at his normal time, so all was well.  We are really short of rain in June here so the fire season may be a bad one, every one is on edge.  Some are on the edge of a mountain.

     After dinner last night Hub's and I left the dog at home and walked the loop which is 5 miles.  It is lovely and cool by the river even thought it was 93.  There is a subsidence wind that comes off levy and it is nice.  It took us 1.5 hours.  Hub's walks a lot slower than me and that is an aggravation I hope as he continues to lose weight he can speed up.

     Just want you to know I did absolutely nothing constructive yesterday in the shop, yard or house.  Now I have to pay the piper.  I will soon be out of clothes to wear as the laundry is growing larger and the ironing is taking over.  There are two wedding dresses in my shop due out by the end of the week and two more coming in today.  You mean I have to do something?  I can't lay around the back deck drinking soda and reading a novel?  But why?  Say that in the whiniest voice you have and it will not come close to my whiny voice.  I have mastered the whiny voice.  I learned it from my kids. Blah

so........

Have a great and productive day.

Kim
    

Monday, June 15, 2015

Monday, my 3rd week of summer!

      It was a beautiful weekend.  Hot and a little breezy.  I have officially finished the back yard.  Of course it will need upkeep and I have to give the deck a second coat of paint in spots but everything looks so nice. Tonight we will have salad from the garden, fried string beans from garden and parboiled sprouts baked in olive oil for dinner.  With left over steak.  Then we will either bike or take a walk. 

     I must take hub's bike in for a tune up sometime today.  So I think we will be walking.

     Hub's is doing so well on his diet.  It is so weird to see him portion control and avoid carbs.  To actually read the calorie content on his dressing and be careful about food.  He is rather a glutton and will just continue to eat.  He actually stops himself and save part of his steak for the next day.  He has dieted and lost weight before but he was never sent to a nutritionist before.  It is like her word is gold.  I love it!  Even though he is hungry he isn't taking it out on me like it is my fault.  It is so nice not being the diet monster.

     Hub's and I worked in the back yard on Saturday and then took a big load to the dump/ land fill.  We did a little garden shopping but could find nothing we needed.  I will be picking string beans today and salad.  Then I will water before I hit the shop.

     I also must pay the house payment today but don't have quite enough.  I will have to borrow from saving and then return the money.  It is always" robbing Peter to pay Paul here and Paul is broke "as my mother would say.

     Hub's and I took a long bike ride on Saturday and it was so nice, but his bike is having problems so he has it loaded in the back of the truck and I will take it down to the shop when I go to pay the house payment. Sunday evening we took a long walk on the levee it was so nice.  Then he went to quartet practice and I practiced the piano for an hour.  I also was able to get a mass mailing on the Dance Studio's yard sale out and contact board members for the meeting Thursday evening.  So with that not hanging over my head I feel pretty free as long as enough money comes into pay the bills.

     The shop is full and I have two wedding dresses and more coming in.  Also bridesmaid dresses and lots of other things to do.  I will be busy today.  Between ironing, doing laundry, beds, sweeping, shop work and garden I should have little time to sit on my behind.

Out My Window:  Beautiful day.  The front yard flower beds need weeded desperately and cut back.  Hub's also needs to mix up a spray to help me out front keep the weeds down in the street and driveway.  He was supposed to do that Saturday but the day got away from us.  My goal this week is to get the front done.  It is not nearly as much work as the back.

Have a great and productive day.

Kim
.

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Saturday, Beautiful day!

 Took hub's out for pizza.  Groceries, 112.15, Gas 37.49

     It is so nice out.  I am in my jammies and I am going to get dresses, brush my teeth and hit the backyard
in broad daylight!  I am so excited.  I am not going to sew or do house work.  I am going to play outside in the sunshine.  I may take a bike ride later.  I may sip a soda on the deck.  Just a day to do whatever I want.  Yippee!  How often does this happen?

     I am not going to stress about bills, or the studio or what needs to be done I am just going o do what I want.  Did I say I was going to do his in the sunshine?  Did I say that?  I sure did!

Have a great and Sun Shiny day and it doesn't have to be productive although I am sure mine will be in some way.

Kim

Friday, June 12, 2015

Friday, Nice week.

No Spend.  Made hub's a Mexican omelet for dinner with a low carb tortilla. Tonight I think we are going to go out.  Both of us need a break.

     I was able to get to sleep by 2:30 last night so gained half an hour.  Is it going to be like this forever?  I don't know.  I was able to get quite a bit of sewing done even though I was interrupted by an old Irish dancer that has gone into professional competition.  Her skirt was too short on a costume I had designed a while back.  Even though she is doing well and going up in trials a couple of judges have commented , so we put an identical skirt on it just a little longer.  She was so tired when she hit my place that I made her go to bed, while I sewed and then got her up when I was done.  She had to drive to a competition and I thought she needed the sleep.

     My mom was called by a scammer yesterday.  She still believes that the person she first talked to on the phone was her nephew.  He cried and cried she keeps saying.  It gave her nightmares.  I get nightmares worrying about her doing something stupid.  Those guys that scam old people are really good.

     Last evening I was able to clean around the pond area.  I still have a lot of debree to pick up.  It is pulled but it was getting dark so hard to see what I was doing in the shady area.  I am hoping to have the back all done this weekend.  Then onto the front which won't take more than a couple of hours.

     I have some studio book work to do today and a pile of sewing to get done by noon.  So I had better get busy.  I only have a couple hours.  Ugh!

Have a great and productive day.

Kim

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Thursday, still not sleeping

$8.92  block of cheese and sour cream,  Made low carb burritos for dinner with cantaloupe and blueberries.  It gave me a stomach ache.  Dinner is finish up the taco meat in a salad. Hub's is down a little over 20 lbs now and I am very proud of him.  He has been taking long walks at night and as soon as the yard will allow I will be able to join him.

     Well I was asleep by 3 instead of 4 so maybe that is progress.  Tried to play a game with myself to get more done and not just sit in a daze.  Every time I sewed a piece of clothing I had to iron a pair of shorts and a top.  I also finished the laundry in this manner.  The ironing pile is still very high.  At least I felt like I was getting some where.

     Made 70.00 more toward house payment.  Don't know if I am going to make it.  Today will be critical.
I will continue to get things done in the shop and tackle the never ending pile of summer ironing.  What a boring life.

     Still looking for some bright blue Lobelia at a good price for my boxes and then they are done.  After I get the back yard in order I must move to the front.  It just needs to be weeded and a few holes filled in where Perennials are over grown or did not make it through the winter.

     Out My Window:  It is very warm in the 90's.  I can only work in the yard after supper.  Last night I got a late start but with the long evening I was able to get the garden weeded.  It was a long and arduous job and also will never end like the ironing and the bills, and my whining:)  Tonight I hope to get all the refuse bags to the truck and get the pond area done, then it is just a little clean up in the upper back, painting and of course maintenance.

This blog is boring and I like it that way.

Have a great and productive day.

Kim

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Wednesday, Insomnia is my friend, and procrastination.

     No Spend.  Did not cook dinner, hub's ate left overs.  I laid down with bad headache, mostly because  of sleep issues I am sure.  Tonight I will do a taco salad in fact I have a ton of ground beef to fry up and will then freeze what we don't use.

     Having sleep issues again.  Two nights in a row I saw the sun come up and then I sleep like a log from 4 until 9.  I just hate it and it is frustrating.  I get so tired around 3 in the afternoon.  I am not allowing myself to take a sleep medication as it is very addicting.  A med that the doctor gave me 3 or 4 years ago and said it wasn't addicting turns out to be very addicting.  Now I only take is when I am really stressed and busy, but I am not now and I will not take it.  I need to learn to get to sleep myself and quit relying on medications.  The heat is not helping.  Have any of you had sleep problems or taken sleep medication?

     Not sleeping well affects my whole body.  I ache and I have a dull ache behind my eyes.  I have never been hung over but I imagine it feels like this.    I do not get as much done, I tend to vegetate.  I get done what I absolutely have to but nothing else.  Some one needs to come over and kick my butt.  Then again who says I have to be a ram rod of doing every single minute of every single day?  Well the bills do.....

     Did a little laundry, will do more today. Did a little ironing, I will run out of summer cottons soon.  Did a little sewing, will do a LOT today.  Did not cook, I will today.  I only have $100.00 toward the house and you know where the rest will have to come from if I don't get busy.  The savings!  No, No not the emergency fund.  This is not an emergency.  It is hard to get motivated when you feel punk.

     I am not going to be a procrastinator today.  I will not put things off that need to be done.  Slump.......

     On a better note, hub's is continuing to lose weight down another pound.  He also is getting a raise in July.  I am sure his last one.  It is small but every penny counts right? He wanted me to go on a bike ride with him last night, but I said no as I wanted to work in the yard when it was cooler.  Then I feel guilty as I know it motivates him when I go with him.

     Out My Window:  It was 96 yesterday so a little cooler.  I was able to get a lot of cleaning and weeding done.  There are several bags of yard waste and a couple of large containers to take to the land fill. I still need to finish weeding the garden ( a never ending process) and clean around the pond area.  The porch needs some touch up painting where we replace boards.  I still need to add a few more flowers to boxes but I am waiting for them to go on sale. I have weeding to do in the far back beds and then need to figure out what to do around chicken coop.  So I have plenty to keep me busy.  Even with the heat I seem to find the energy at the end of the day to be outside.

Have a great and productive day.

Kim

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Tuesday, I don't want to say it is hot....

 Groceries, $85.16  Dinner tonight will be burgers, salad, corn on grill.  

     Hub's is down another 2 lb's, it is so hard for him to lose weight.  Having dinner waiting for him when he gets in is the best thing I can do.  He is ravenous. I am thinking by the end of summer he will be under 200 if he keeps working like he has been.  I will be a rake with clothes on if I can stay away from chocolate.  Okay that is not going to happen.

  I am behind on the laundry, so that is a burden for today and I have ironing up the wahzoo.  I need to switch my clothes around between closets.  Summer clothes for winter.  Right now everything is a mess.  This is where I get rid of things I did not wear or am not going to wear.  Hub's pants need to be gone through also.  Right now he has his new pants in a pile on the floor by his dresser.  Men.

     There is a ton of sewing to do in the shop and I had a great deal of small easy things come in yesterday.  I hope today is as busy.  I have $ 80.00 toward house. Now I need that times 10 to get through the weekend.

     Updated my totals and I was not really impressed.  Travel back and forth to mother's, studio sewing, B's college class have all taken my money.  It is frustrating, I just remind myself that it is not forever.

     Out My Window:  HOT, like record breaking HOT!  101 yesterday.  Of course I loved it!  Waited until after dinner to work in the yard.  I did get impatiens planted and Ivy trimmed.  Was able to get hub's to help me nail up some flower boxes for me.  Pond plants are in for the year.  I did some more trimming, but I have a real mess to clean up in the back.  Will work on it tonight.

Have a great and productive day!

Kim

Monday, June 8, 2015

Monday, Let's start summer!

     I have no idea what I will cook.  I know I will do salad and asparagus.  Hub's will want some meat so I had better start to forage.  I think I will do salmon portions.  The garden is producing salad like crazy.


     I am so excited about summer.  I just feel so good not having the studio hanging over me.  Well it still is as I have to figure out how to pay the bills, but I am concentrating on getting the non profit and board busy this month.  That is my #1 goal.  The workshop we are sponsoring right now will pay for this months rent and a few odd bills I forgot about at the recital.  I am planning on having a huge rummage sale at the end of the month at the studio, hopefully will make enough to pay July.  We used to have incredible sales with my drill team years ago.  Trying to be positive.  Negative Nellie never gets anything done.  But she lives inside me and rears her ugly head every once in a while.

     I have to pay bills and do my accounts this morning and then I will update my totals.  If Sarah does not get on the stick I will soon pass her.  I am throwing out the gauntlet probably not a good idea as she is tricky.
I have a few more snow flakes to put towards the car and then have to figure out where to get house payment money.  Robbing a bank is not an option.   I swear life is bills. There is a lot to do in the shop and I have had 4 customers here already this morning so more coming in all the time.  I need to work!

     Out My Window:  I want to get some weeding and cleaning done this evening around the yard.  If I can get the garden area done and trim back all the ivy, then get all the cuttings picked up and plant the rest of the impatiens I will be happy.  We will see.

Tomorrow I start to write again!

Have a great and productive day, I know I will.


Kim

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Sunday, back in the saddle

     It is so nice to be home.  The house was spotless when we got home, my Ballet Mistress had cleaned and organized everything for me.  She is a dynamo.  We have a workshop starting tomorrow, and it looks like we will have an average enrollment so that is good.  I have plenty to do on my to do list and the shop is sure to be busy this week.  It needs to be as I have a house payment to make and I need about $600.00 by Friday.  Yikes.

     Hub's and I made really good time getting home yesterday.  We left at 9:30 and pulled into our driveway at 4:30. Our kitchen sink was clogged and he worked on that and then I went and bought groceries.  I also worked in the garden for about an hour.  I really need to spend several hours out back.  I have a made a list and I am ticking it off but boy is there so much to do.

     Hub's made dinner tonight, he grilled corn and steaks and we had salad.  Then I did the dishes and weeded and sprayed and cleaned off the deck and the two patios.  I am going to try and do a couple of things everyday so I am done with the back by the end of the week.

Out My Window:  The garden grew so much in a week I hardly recognized it.  It is also supposed to be 90 tomorrow.  How did summer get here so fast.  Where have I been?

Have a great evening.

Kim

Friday, June 5, 2015

Friday, heading for home

     Hub's and I will be heading home tomorrow. We have really enjoyed the grandson and of course the kids.  It has been a nice break but I will be glad to get home and get a summer schedule started.  I have a mega load of yard work to do and I am really going to concentrate on getting the board and non-profit lined up for some fund raisers to help pay summer bills.

     I have a ton of yard work left especially in the back yard and a garden to tend.  Mom called the realtor yesterday and she is due at mom's house with paperwork today.  I am shocked.  I just get the feeling the house will sell right away. Mom did look at one apartment but it was too small.  I have a feeling I will spend much of my free time in Missoula this summer.  If mom is going to live alone (which she thinks she is) she might as well stay in the house, but she also realizes that my brother will try to gravitate back.  If not my brother than his son or my other brother and his wife and kids.  As long as she has that big house she is a magnet for the users of the world.  She will never be able to say no to the boys and their kids.  The only way we can protect her is to get her out of that house and control her spending on them. 
     Grandson woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.  I just have to laugh at him.  He is so much like his mother.  Now he wants to make a cake!  I am going to look for recipe's.

Have a great and productive day.

Kim

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Tuesday, back in the loop!

     A run down of the last few days in case you are interested.

Thursday afternoon, found myself and ballet Mistress at the Junior High school with my truck loading and moving umpteen flats out of a storage closet.  These flats were built by me about 23 years ago for a gymnasium set so they are taller than standard stage flats.  Still they were awkward and heavy.  Especially when they were so long and there are over 25 of them.  I only want 9 so we had to move and find the ones I wanted.  No easy task.  It was over 84 degrees  and about killed us.  We loaded the ones I wanted and strapped them down then she followed me slowly to the high school two blocks away just in case they decided to fall off and stop traffic she would be behind me.  We unloaded them into the hallway in the back of the theater.  Thank goodness my friend the drama director at the high school had already taken down the brick flats that I needed and had those in the hallway ready.  If I had had to climb up into the loft and hurk those puppies down into Ballet Mistresses arms I think I would have flattened her.

     Then I ran and grabbed a pizza I had a secret shop to do so killed two birds with one stone.  Who can say free pizza and get paid $18.00 to boot?  Got myself back to the studio at 6:30 and we loaded the floor and all other set pieces and props.  Back to the high school where we waited for a private school that had rented the facility to be done.  We tore their things down(i didn't want to wait for them to puts through it) about 8:00  and set out our floor, taped it and then put up the risers and flats.  Pulled all the set prices I did not have from the green room, fireplace, furniture, etc.  Left the high school about 10.  Hub's, a dad, my friend the director of the high school productions and a kid that needed community service hours helped and it went a lot quicker than I expected.  Both myself and my friend Beth took nasty falls on stage.  We have been working together in theater for about 27 years now and neither of us has ever fallen.   I told her she just couldn't stand the fact that I rolled out of my fall with such finesse.  Both of us sported great bruises Friday. Went home and collapsed, thinking how can I do the next two days?

     Friday got up and did a little house work as I was expecting company the next day.  I also completed the 7 hats and coat I needed for the show.  Then I had time to lay down for an hour, but my ballet mistress came upstairs and said a young doctor was in my shop and very upset.  ?????  Well here is this newly commissioned intern who just moved here to work at our emergency room.  He has dress blues and has to be in Helena Montana next week for ceremonies.  You know what that means.  I took his uniform and told him he could pick it up Sunday morning when he got off his graveyard shift.  After all I have nothing else to do.  Left for the high school at 2:00 we got there and put everything out.  Of course the awards assembly went over 1.5 hours and we were not able to get on stage until 4:00 &^%$#@.  Dress rehearsal was its usual disaster mess.  Again not the dances but the scene changes and lights and tech crap.  We were home by 9:30.  I had a few things to fix.  Ballet Mistress was in a foul mood.  She is young and when you are a young artist you take everything personally.  Every mistake made is your fault.  You should have seen it coming, you should have planned better. It is a reflection on you.  I am long over that.  The average age of my students is 9.  I work hard with them.  I yell, pray, love, inspire, threaten, kiss, hug, yell some more and by the time the recital comes, I have done everything I can do the rest is up to them.  They never disappoint me.  This roll with punches attitude takes years to learn some never learn it. Went to bed.

    Saturday, Showtime.  At the theater by 10 a.m. to run scenes that needed love.  The first show had a few glitches, all tech stuff. Dancers were great.  Well accept for the advanced girls.  I swear when kids hit about 13-14 there brains turn off and you have to escort them onstage with a personal invitation.  The little ones never miss a cue, you have to hold them back from the stage.  I sometimes think I need a piece of fencing and a cattle prod to keep the little ones back.  (That is an idea.)  Took the crew out for Chinese between shows.  Back to theater.  Second show was perfect.  Well attended.  We were out of the theater by 10.  Parents really helped clean and put away so many hands make light work.  Home to collapse.  Ballet Mistress really excited about last show she was all keyed up and we talked until about 1 a.m.  I could not get her settled down.  I had the officers uniform to complete anyway.   She told me that people take too much advantage of me and I know that, but don't really know how to stop it.  Must think on that one.

     Sunday up for church.  Thank goodness Ballet Mistress ran by house I was so groggy and tired.  She whipped up breakfast for my relatives while I slept.  We just went to sacrament,relatives got on the road and Ballet Mistress packed up Mom while I paid bills and did deposits.  Show was able to pay up all waiting bills, and do payroll for May.  Now I will have to figure out how to pay bills for the summer.  I will have to get the board to do a couple of fund raisers.  Hubs and I packed up with Mom and headed to Missoula.  Got to Missoula, helped mom unpack.  Checked in with Bill on the Hill who was watching mom's place.  Mom agreed to put the house on the market this next week.  I about died when she told me.  She will either get a smaller apartment in Missoula in a 55 and older complex or move in with me.  There are things she will not part with.  Her baby grand will replace mine if she moves in with me.  It is in better condition than ours and Hub's and I were going to replace it when we returned from our mission.  Right now things are up in the air because of mom, plans will change but I don't care.  Family first.   

  Monday :  Hub's woke me up at about 8 and said he was going to go on a walk toward the highway to pick him up on my way out of town.  Well I fell back to sleep.  I am laughing while I am typing this because I would have killed him if he had done this to me.  Anyway 1.5 hours later he is well out of town and he calls my cell and I am still asleep.  He walked about 7 miles before I picked him up.  We gassed up the car in a town 11 miles out well 4 miles out for hub's:)  Took off through the Bitterroots.  It rained the whole way.  I found a cut off on the map I wanted to take.  I had heard about it.  It takes about 70 miles off the trip as you pass straight from Mount Borah to Sun Valley.  The map was not to scale so when I thought we had missed the turn off I turned around and back tracked for 10 miles then realized map was not to scale so turned around and went back to original turnaround spot.  Again something I would have killed hub's for doing to me.  ( By the way he has done this to me numerous times in the past so it was his turn)  Well the reason this road is not advertised is that it is closed in the winter.  It also floods easily.  It was almost to flood stage at certain points in the Little Big River Gorge. It was paved for about 17 miles then went to graded dirt.  When we finally were out 20 miles it went to a sharp steep mountain logging road that was one lane with turnouts.  Steep drop offs where you had to hug the mountain like a pack mule.  We had to go down in 2nd gear.  After 7 miles we were back on pavement and 3 miles out of Sun Valley.  This is not a road for the faint hearted or those without a standard transmission and 4 wheel drive capability.  Arrived at daughters at about 5 p.m.  It was one of those trips  where you hate each other by the end of the trip and then you also hate yourself.  Grandson was adorable so worth it.

   Tuesday: Daughter took day off as she had no court and we took grandson to a nearby hot springs.  Spent about 3 hours in the pool it was so fun, I am going to be very sore tomorrow.  Bought a few books on sale and also bought grandson a light saber, very necessary.  Made shrimp pasta and sald for dinner.  I have a had a very relaxing and fun day.  I am going to reads my books and I can't wait to start working on my story again.  I also need to catch up on everyone and comment on all of your antics.

Have a great evening.

Kim