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Monday, August 4, 2014

July Recap


  • I took almost the entire of July off from blogging. I did not intend to be gone so long; but, it was a very good and much needed break. I just did not feel like blogging due to things that cropped up in life. I intend to slowly return to blogging.

  • Savings

    Previous Balance 756.00
    Week 23 (07/7)
    +56.00
    812.00
    Week 24 (07/14)
    +58.00
    870.00
    Week 25 (07/21)
    +60.00
    930.00
    Week 26 (07/28)
    +62.00
    992.00

  • Book Finishes
    • #16: The Graveyard Book by Neil Galman.

      This is a (paranormal/supernatural) fantasy written for youth (ages 10 and up). I had purchased this book at a deep discount quite some time ago simply because it was a Newbery Medal winner in 2009. This book has 4.09 stars on Goodreads and 4.5 stars on Amazon.

      It was an interesting read. It is about a boy raised in a graveyard by ghosts with a guardian that is neither living nor dead. He has to stay hidden from the man who killed his family when he was just a toddler. This book is unique in that it draws you into the characters and the story line. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.

  • Projects
    • My room: We are making slow but steady progress in my room. We are gradually getting the desk and crafting station set up. We have not figured out how to safely hang up the garage sale cabinets yet; but, once we do, we will get those hung. Cheap paneling is being added to the closet at this moment and once that is completed, the closet will basically be completed. All that will need to be added are shelving and lighting. We will need an electrician to help us with the lighting situation(s).
    • Unpacking boxes: I have unpacked a few boxes doing the usual keep and purge routine until I came across two more medium sized boxes labeled “fabrics”. Needless to say, I was surprised because I thought I was done with them! I am now going through those boxes. I have already done the keep and purge routine. Of course, I did not purge a lot! Ha! I am now putting fabrics onto “bolts”.
  • Other

    • Dan took Thursday off before the Fourth of July. We took our time traveling to my brother’s lake house for a small family reunion.

      We stopped at Junk Gypsies in Round Top, Texas. I watch the TV Show and am a fan. The second series is actually airing on GAC.

      The last time I was at this store, I wanted an item; but, it was already sold. This time, there was absolutely nothing I wanted. Well, I purchased a T-shirt for cheap; but, other than that, nothing. I do enjoy looking at everything and it was cool to see some items that I saw on the TV show in the store.

      We had a wonderful time visiting with family, swimming, playing games and just being lazy. They even shot off some fireworks. I say “they” because I went off and hid due to the fact I do not like fireworks. (I am too sensitive to loud noise.) Anyway, A fun time was had by all.

    • When we got back from the lake, Chessie needed to be taken into the vet as her tiny lump had exploded. The vet originally wanted to just keep an eye on about a year ago. We scheduled to get the lump removed (7/14). Her blood work is fabulous for a 17 year old cat. However, he was not able to remove the lump completely. The lump was sent out to be tested. It is cancer. Specifically, a fibrosarcoma. Hers is thought to be inflammatory reaction from a sticker burr.

      At this moment, she is doing so much better and seems more like herself back in the old days of her youth. We are going to spoil her and let her live out her life until she wants or needs to be let go. We are taking her for a consult with a cancer specialist so that we can learn more about this type of cancer and our options. But, I have to confess, I do not want to do anything traumatic to Chessie. She is amazing and a survivor. (She survived a stomach blockage and pancreatitis way back in 2007. For those of you who do not know, pancreatitis for cats is usually a death sentence.)

    • The A/C has stopped working twice since our last incident. Once due to ants which are attracted to electricity. Ugh! Dan managed to get the A/C working again after it stopped the third time and we know it is not due to ants. We have a guy coming out Saturday Aug, 2nd to check over the A/C and see if he can figure out why it stopped working.
    • I have been going outside a lot these days. We have Cardinals nesting in a Crepe Myrtle tree out back. They were hatched between the 19th and 22nd of July as I snapped a picture on the 19th and there were eggs in the nest. When I snapped a picture on the 22nd, there were babies in the nest. I have been keeping an eye on them.

      The crazy Cardinals are doing wonderful in this horrid heat. I did put out a feeder with sunflower seeds one morning because I thought the Daddy bird was struggling. He had taken off in flight after feeding the babies and just struggled (with flying). After I put out the feeder, I watched for a bit. He chomped away at a few seeds and then flew to a smaller Crepe Myrtle tree located directly across the back door window where I was watching. He looked directly at me as if he was saying “thanks” all the while working away at a seed. He rested for a bit and then took off flying and his flight was so much better! Not long afterwards, the Momma bird also ate at the feeder. She is a lot more skittish than the Daddy bird. I was worried that they would eat from the feeder too much; but, I did not have to worry. They are rarely at the feeder. Smart birds!

      I calculated that the babies will be kicked out of the nest around the first of August and will then take flight around the ninth of August. But, they took off early. One of them left the 30th and the other left the 31st of July.

      I pretty much left them alone and I have not let the cats out back once the babies were hatched. Instead, they were let out front in the evenings whenever they beg desperately to go outside. They are definitely happy to be going out back once again now that the babies are gone.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

June Recap


I am briefly breaking the blogging break to post this for posterity sake and then it will be back down the rabbit hole from whence I came.
  • Savings

    Previous Balance 506.00
    Week 23 (06/2)
    +46.00
    552.00
    Week 24 (06/9)
    +48.00
    600.00
    Week 25 (06/16)
    +50.00
    650.00
    Week 26 (06/23)
    +52.00
    702.00
    Week 27 (06/30)
    +54.00
    756.00

  • Book Finishes
    • #11: Good Call by Jase Robertson.

      At the time of this writing, this book has 4.12 stars at Goodreads and 4.9 stars at Amazon. It is still fairly new; so, I am sure the ratings will change over time. Unlike the other two Duck Commander books, I gave it four(instead of five) stars. It is still a good read; but, I felt like the author was filling in the gaps with lots of words and whatnot. The other two books were written by seniors (Phil and Uncle Si) - they had a lot of living and memories. Jase is the son of Phil Robertson and, if God is willing, has a lot more living to do to get a decent memoir. That is just my humble opinion for what it is worth. FYI: If you're anti-Christian, then this is not the book for you.

    • #12: A Promise in Pieces by Emily T. Wierenga.

      This is a book I won recently in a giveaway. It is a Christian fiction written in a first person narative. This book has 4.72 stars at Goodreads and 4.8 stars at Amazon. I gave it four stars on Goodreads. The only reason I did not give it five stars is that I felt it was not a book I would keep and reread. Other than that, it was an excellent read and I enjoyed reading the book.

    • #13: The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.

      I have heard of this book for years and finally decided to read it when I found it for dirt cheap. Why did I wait all these years to read this book?

      I have never been a fan of memoirs dealing with wars and atrocities. The Diary of Anne Frank, which I read eons ago because it was a required reading, was really a good book; but, I hated it at the same time. I think this is why I avoided reading The Hiding Place. Once I picked it up, I could barely put it down. I read this in a total of two days. Yes, two days! I most likely would have read it in one day if I had not forced myself to put it down about half way through the book.

      This book has 4.40 stars at Goodreads and Goodreads and 4.9 stars at Amazon. I gave it five stars at Goodreads. It is about a war (holocaust/World War II) through a Christian perspective experienced by a Christian woman (and family). I would read this one again and am planning on keeping the book.

    • #14: Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.

      This book appeared on many "must read" lists that I added it to my list of books to read. It is written for the young adults. It has 3.63 stars on Good reads and 4.4 stars on Amazon. I gave it four stars on Goodreads. It is a survival story of a young boy stranded in a wilderness with only a hatchet his mother gave him along with the will to live. It is very repetitive; but otherwise a good read.

    • #15: Cat Daddy: What the World's Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love, and Coming Clean by Jackson Galaxy.

      This book has 3.92 stars on Goodreads and 4.5 stars on Amazon. I gave it four stars on Goodreads. I first heard of Jackson Galaxy from watching a TV show called My Cat from Hell on Animal Planet. Jackson Galaxy has a lot of wisdom and common sense about cats. It still amazes me that so many people out there have cats and have no absolutely no understanding of their nature and personalities. Those people want to give up on them rather than take the time to figure out what makes them tick and why they are behaving the way they do. Jackson Galaxy (via the show) just cinched my philosophy on cats and made me realize that I am not the only one who feels the way I do. When I saw this book on discount, I had to pick up the book to read.

      The book was completely different from what I expected. This man went through hell on earth via a variety of addictions. Also, the book was not all about Benny (the cat that helped Jackson Galaxy). It was more about Jackson Galaxy and how he came to be the man he is today with the help of Benny, luck, and a few good people. And, this book made me cry like all books with animals dying do.

      I do have three warnings concerning this book. 1) Language (f-word used quite a bit in the beginning), 2) in my humble opinion, it is not a book for children due to adult topics such as addictions to drugs and food along with sexual matters, and 3) if your sensitive (empathetic) like me, it will be a tough read. I am having to stop reading books for a few days to simply recoop and regroup my psyche.

  • Projects
    • Worked on the Den. I went through all our DVDs, tossed approximately twelve of them into the Half-Price box, and organized the rest. When we first moved, we just tossed all the DVDs and video games into the specially built cabinets that Dan made. Now it is much better than it was before!

      I removed the TV trays. We no longer use them to eat in front of the TV. Why hang onto them and just create more chaos and clutter? So, I talked with Dan about getting rid of them. We decided to put them into the garage sale stuff because they just do not serve their purpose and become hot spots when we do use them temporarily.

      It has been sort of frustrating to work in the den (living room) because some of the items are my childhood chairs and tables and my Mother's childhood chairs. I have always dreamed of giving them to my own children; but, now I do not know what to do with them because we do not have kids. Some of these items are designated to go into the future guest/gaming room. In the meantime, they are temporarily ensconced in the den.

      Also, the garage sale stuff is piled up along one wall. There is not much we can do until we have the sale (which is planned for September). We also decided to get rid of Dad's lazyboy. The thought of that makes me very sad. Abby absolutely loves that lazyboy; but, it no longer has a purpose or designation in this house. It needs a lot of love (reupholstery) and I do not have the time or inclination to fix it up. I am certain someone would be more than happy to take it and fix it up themselves. There seems to be a lot of DIYers around this area. As much as I hate the thought, the best thing to do is to let it go as we really do not have the space.

  • Other

    • Dan managed to get a Friday off and we went to Garner State Park to meet up with some family for the day. I had a wonderful time visiting with family, holding my adorable grand nephew for the first time, and swimming / tubing on the Frio River.
    • We have been making slow progress with my room (the garage conversion). We would paint this or that and would have to wait for it to dry. Same with gluing. We have lots of projects going.
    • We discovered that the main A/C unit was leaking water. I do not know how long it was leaking; but, the underlayment underneath the flooring in the hallway was completely soaked. Squish, squish, squish went the flooring with every step. This means that the flooring itself is ruined. In fact, the flooring in the extended pantry already shows signs of warping. Anyway, we got a A/C guy to come out and fix the problem for us. This is the second time we have used this company and they are absolutely wonderful. I am glad we have at least one reliable company to call upon around here. We are a little poorer but very relieved to discover it was not major. In other words, we did not need to replace the A/C unit itself which would have cost an arm and a leg.

      We did start the process of filing a claim with the house insurance. We are waiting for them to come out and do an estimate on the damage and determine how much they will cover/fix. We are not sure if the whole hallway and den needs to be replaced. If they will only do the hallway, then it most likely will not be worth the cost of actually filing the claim, We will instead pay for and do the work of replacing the flooring ourselves.

    • In looking at our finances and whatnot, I realized a certain company has NOT sent us bills since April. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper and we will not be doing business with this particular company again. It was a subtle unethical if not illegal thing they did. I decided to pay them off in entirety to avoid crap in the future. This meant that we had to dip into the funds once again. It was related to the house and this means the house fund is now totally depleted.

      I am feeling tons poorer with the fact we bought a new vehicle with cash (depleting that particular fund) recently along with having to dip into the emergency and house funds. We now need to focus on rebuilding the emergency and other funds. This means tightening up our belts once again. We have been needing to do this for awhile now anyway but were lazy and lax in this area. I am glad we are doing the savings challenge now because it is getting me back into the Gazelle Intensity frame of mind to rebuild the funds we established. I have also rebuilt our budget. We are not on a no-spend period; but, we are going into an extreme frugal mode.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Blogging Break

We discovered that the A/C unit is leaking water. Who knows how long that was happening. It most likely was a couple of days. It has soaked the underlayment underneath the hardwood flooring in the hallway and extended pantry. This means the flooring is ruined. We are going to have to rip up and replace the flooring those areas.

There is a distinct possibility we will have to replace the entire den area too. We will not know until we get the flooring up in the hallway.

Anyway, I am needing to take a break from blogging to deal with this problem.

To be honest, I do not know when I will return. I am depressed and discouraged with this setback because it is taking our attention away from the garage conversion. I am sure that when I do return, I will have plenty of stuff to share with you all. I will be way behind in newsy news; but, that is okay, correct?

Thank you for your loyalty (readership), patience, and for hanging in there with us.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

20th Anniversary: Fredericksburg {Part II}

{Part I can be found here}.

On the second day, we attended the Texas VW Classic. Let me tell you, I was in Bug Heaven! I have always adored the VW Beetles and Buses. I have never seen so many bugs and buses in my life! I was overwhelmed! Below is only a small portion of the somewhat large event.

Bunches of Bugs (or Beetles)

I found Herbie! Ha!

Actually, he was one of a few at this event. You can see another Herbie to the left of this one. The old look is my favorite.

Buses!

Cars, cars, and more cars! All VW classics.

More Bugs (or Beetles)

I believe this was one of my favorites at the event. Why?

Because I fell in love with the matching barbecue trailer!

More Buses!

We did not see very many of these VW buses or pickup hybrids. Very unique.

I had a blast exploring this event and even picked up a souvenir t-shirt. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Macro Monday {Eight Spotted Forester}

Eight Spotted Forester; Alypia octomaculata

This is an unusual moth in that it is a day flier. This is also a rare capture as it is tough to snap a decent picture. At least, it is for me because every time I try, it moves too fast.