THOUGHTS FOR TODAY

[The WE2's]

SATURDAY; Ran usual errands yesterday so decided we'd take a "day trip" in Elvira today. Menard's had their "Sack Sale" of 14% off of anything you could get in a paper sack. So...they had cases and cases of Hormel Chili w/Beans. I took a bag & Mountain Man took a bag and we both filled it up with 24 cans of the chili plus some other things that were on sale...large sized vacume seal bags for clothing, more toothpaste that was $1 a tube, 2 bottles of Palmolive dishwasher gel, and some other odds & ends. Sometimes we just have to bit the bullitt & buy stuff because it's so cheap. Went to one of our favorite "plain people" stores and picked up a dozen more of their jar lids with the gasket in it (white, not the 2 piece) because I love to put our 2nd helpings in my canning jars & put these lids on them & put them in the frig for another meal. Also picked up some cinnamon sticks (supposed to be good for scrubbing your teeth), another gallon of coconut oil (I just love it for cooking & frying), and a large box of wood toothpicks (also good for scrubbing in between your teeth) before we called it good :-) Finished off by visiting Aldi's to pick up some empty flats to put on my shelves in the pantry here. Tired of everything falling over. My can organizers etc., are all at the Little House pantry (where they should be). We only keep a couple of weeks worth here. Finishing up watching videos on the Survival Summit. So many have been so very good! Mountain Man's enjoying the "techy" stuff and I'm enjoyiing the cooking & gardening stuff. These guys have worked very hard to put this all together. Sure glad we registered and then actually tuned in.

[The WE2's]

MONDAY; cold & breezy but no snow. This is a "to do" day and then I'll go to mother's and get her cleaning & laundry done. Even more important now that both of her wrist's are messed up. Her doc seems to think it's gout, but he hasn't put her on anything except pain meds...grrrr! I suggested she start taking baking soda since it got rid of it for Mountain Man. All he does now is mix up a glass full every few days now that the initial events have disappeared. His meds are still in the medicine cabinet & we have it on auto-refill so we can "prep" it. Still looking around for natural alternatives to low thyroid "that work" and aren't just quacky things other's are suggesting "might" work. Low thyroid can cause heart attacks and all kinds of negative things. I never realized how important that particular gland is to our bodies. When they took my reading for the "T"s .. it was just about zero. The doctor was surprised that I could still function. Mountain Man's still got work which is wonderful, we're thanking our Lord every day for it especially since he's working for a local pastor. He really enjoys working for this fella and the pastor says he won't have anybody do any work for him from now on because Mountain Man's the only man he's met that does quality work at such a reasonable price. Integrity...that's my man! LOL I know I've never done anything to earn God's gift of him to my life, but I'm sure thankful. He's made my life "sweet".

Edited January 27, 2014 by Philbe

[The WE2's]

Whew...where did February go? it's sure left behind alot of snow and ice and now March is starting off where February seemed to leave off :-( It's dreary outside, cold and we have about 1/2 inch of "fuzzy" ice. Not really the sheet-type but it's still pretty slick outside. We're just kicking back and hibernating :-) Mountain Man's taking a nap in his recliner with his book unattended to in his lap :-) Both of us slipped on sweat suits, socks & slippers after our morning cleanups. Abby-girl is kicking back too, sleeping at the foot of the bed :-) Pretty shortly I'll head for the deep freeze etc., and see what I think needs to be canned to make room Nice day to add heat to the house and put more canned goods back. Looked at more "scrub" land yesterday. The area we'd like to find land in is not only scrub land but doggone it, it's on steep hills which would make it very difficult to get our storage sheds etc., in and located. But...we'll keep looking. We'll find what will work perfectly when the time is right. Thinking about going ahead and buying the Zoom rocket stove we want, but...just thinking. It would be perfect for the retreat...when we find it, and nothing's going to get cheaper. Also going to pick up some more meats to get canned up...but not today :-) Mountain Man doesn't have any work projects this next week (so far) so that will be the time for us to really "haul the mail" on some of our projects.

[The WE2's]

SUNDAY: Didn't get much accomplished this weekend at Little House other than getting grout into the newly ceramic tiled wall. The walls around the top of the shower/tub enclosure, around the washer dryer area etc., already done. Tiling just takes time...if you want it to look great & not just "ok". Friends were all suffering from cabin fever (as we were also) so wanted to go "play"...and we did. Friday night 5 couples of us went dancing & boy did my muscles let me know we'd been off the dance floor for awhile. Then Saturday neice came down to show off new baby girl...what a cutie!!!! Then Saturday night joined another couple to visit another VERY small town about 1 1/2 hours away for their monthly "get together". People come from miles around to this little community & meet up at the convention center to play their guitars, banjo's, mandolins, dulcimers, and fiddles while the children and adults square dance; the dosey doe type but also the Virginia Reel. Sooooo good to see such clean fun, and the children right in amongth the adults. Thoroughly enjoyed it. While Mountain Man was doing the grout work I was able to stuff 54 rolls of toilet paper into our new big flat topped trash barrel/can...and there's room for about that many more. We wanted the flat tops so we could set these bruisers on top of one another...or drape a nice table cloth over the top of each of them and put something "pretty" on top like an artificial plant with a Bible or ??? Would just look like a table??? Either way, I was surprised that I was able to get that many "squashed" rolls into one barrel with still more room. Also took time out to take a walk in the woods nearby & let Abby-girl get a good run in. She's been suffering from cabin fever just as much as we have. Mountain Man got a pretty good report from doctor; blood pressure is back down in normal range and he's lost 10# in one month...go MM!!!! We've cut just about all salt from our diet, lowering the carb intake, and cooking/baking at home (of course). Both of us had elevated triglycerides so we've also cut fat from our diet; using only a little olive oil or coconut oil. Started centering our breakfast around a big fruit smoothy and accompanying it with a small piece of homemade bread toast, 2 eggs and a small piece of turkey ham. It takes time getting all the ingredients into my blender but it's worth it. I'm using the "artisanbreadwithsteve" breads, so that saves me alot of time with my bread making. We love artisan-type breads. Picked up some ground sesame seeds and ground flax seed at our favorite Amish store a few days ago, so we're putting a little of the flax in our smoothies and using flax & sesame as a topping for the some of the breads. Also got some more wheat berries ground up last week to make some wheat-mix breads. It's a bit of a pain stopping by grocery to pick up fresh fruit every few days but that's what needs to be done. We ran into a great way for Mountain Man to perhaps add money to our income using his love for wood. We'll give it a try & see how it works. We've also pretty much decided that when we find the parcel of land in the boonies we want, we'll be naming it "Hillbilly Acres". It's fun to dream together...and hopefully, with God's grace, watch those dreams materialize very soon (since we're not getting any younger). Very frustrated with Mother, she got shut offs on all her utilites because she was just setting her bills aside, thinking she'd paid them, and then spending the money on kitchen appliances that she doesn't need. So...in addition to cleaning, doing her laundry, cutting her hair & mopping...I now have to take over the paying of her bills. I took her a plastic file to put all her mail in for me to look at when I go to clean. Then I'll write out all the checks, put them in envelopes, get them stamped and in the mail. Told her she's NOT to withdraw any money from the bank unless I tell her she can because she'll be overdrawn and her checks will bounce!!! I'd love to pay her stuff online but I don't think her computer is that secure and stable and I don't like her bank!!! They tried to sign her up for $9.95 a month and they'd give her safety deposit box (which she doesn't need!), free checks & at the end of every year a "rebate of $40"....hmmm...$9.95 x 12 = 119.40??? I really raised HE.. with them & made them stop it immediately. I'll be taking her down before long to get my name on her checking account for her safety. Decisions, decisions, decisions...

[The WE2's]

TUESDAY: Had absolutely beautiful weather yesterday, but spent the whole day taking care of Mother's financial biz. But, it's done and everything's online now so no withdrawing all her cash and trying to pay bills that way :-( And no more shopping sprees at WM for every kitchen gadget that's interesting, so it can be put into a closet.

 

ps...TWO customers called for Mountain Man to come do some more carpentry etc., for them...PTL! Then, we got an email from a friend who lives in the state next to us saying if Mountain Man would come do some work for people in their town, they'd pay him plus pay for an RV space for our travel trailer. Sounds interesting enough...sort of like a "paid vacation"? LOL Could work during week, leave trailer there, drive to Little House to work on weekends, check with family etc., and then drive back to travel trailer. We'll see. Father God never ceases to watch out for His own, so we'll just wait and see what He has for us!

Edited March 12, 2014 by Philbe

[Jeepers]

It was a nice day here today with a high in the 50's. Looks like spring is finally here.

 

Never mind. I just looked at our extended forecast. Rain, sleet, snow and ice possible for tomorrow. Low around 4 with a wind chill of -12.

[The WE2's]

I don't think spring has sprung here yet either! LOL But...still having a bit of the "hitch itch" for our travel trailer and motorcycle.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Philbe

[The WE2's]

TUESDAY: It's been awhile since I've slowed down long enough to truly reflect what our lives have been like :-) All is well though, which is a praise report! As many of you have noticed, I've changed my profile to "The WE2's" to reflect an update in our lives. We've developed an online presence/profile in a couple of other web sites and I'm going to try to learn to develop a blog site...wish me luck (using WordPress)! We made "some" progress at the Roost (formerly known as Little House) but not nearly as much as we'd like. Seems like "life" always gets in the way. God has given MrWE2 a fairly stable work flow, of which we are truly grateful, so we only have Fri, Sat & Sun (as usual) to work and/or play. Sometimes we just gotta break free and go play. Abby-girl is becoming more beautiful every day and now weighs 87# according to her annual checkup a week or so ago. We were so very proud of her Saturday when we took the van in to have some work done on the a/c and ran into a dog trainer (we had her with us) that just couldn't resist "working with her" out in the parking lot. Everybody was pretty much in awe and The WE2's sure wish she'd behave like that for us! She heeled, turned, sat, trotted, and walked like a pro and the trainer told us "I love her!" Made us pretty proud humans :-) She's been getting a lot more exercise now that warmer weather has arrived, and as always...a tired Abby is a good Abby :-) Had planned to go camping with some friends this coming w/e but the forecast calls for rain 4 out of 5 days, so we'll wait a bit longer. We did "flush the pink" (rv anti-freeze) from all the lines & tanks and then refilled the white tank & added a bit of bleach and let it sit over night to sanitize everything. Drained it all again & refilled, so now we're ready to go whenever we want to. I'm still resisting the weight gain, and only managing to sustain :-( Thyroid is such an onery little part of our body! We did a large "job" a couple of weeks ago and are very thankful for the nice $$$$ that God shuffled our way. Lots of hard work, but that's not unusual for MrWE2's type of work. I am absolutely thrilled that CrabGrassAcres has found her "retirement" homestead and we're looking forward to taking a trip to meet her and offer some unpacking assistance. She's on the opposite corner of the state as we, so it's a real "trip" consisting of several hours but still looking forward to meeting her and her daughter. Also feel so thankful that Twilight was able to step in and offer her the HUGE helping hand of taking her to see her new hometown. I'm asking God for a nice, sweet blessing to be poured out on her...SOON! I'm still cleaning etc. at Mother's once a week and cutting her hair once a month, but had to step in and assume her finances too. Went to the bank and set up online banking so I can do it from my pc or from hers. She had gotten herself in quite a pickle and was overdrawn and had shut off notices on her utilities etc. Little brother went to hospital and took care of the $1100 hospital bill that her Medicare & Medicaide didn't pay, so than I just had to put a real "clamp" on her spending sprees. So far, she understands that she no longer has money to just throw around on kitchen gadgets etc. and knows she's not to use her debit card on anything except absolute necessities...of which I check each week, along with her keeping ALL her receipts. Life is sweet with MrWE2...he's so tolerant of my family. Daughter still doesn't speak, email or return calls. Not sure why, but that's ok. She hadn't seen he daddy in 2 years when he passed away. I have a feeling my sister blabbed & told her that her portion of our will is $1.00 since she's been so loyal to me all her life. But again, that's ok. Too many times kids think they're entitled to a lifestyle that we've worked all our lives for. Parents my age started out with 2nd hand furniture, 2nd hand cars, hard work, skimpy groceries and lots of other struggles and they think they should reap all the rewards of being debt free etc. She's made it very clear on numerous occasions " I don't want anything you have, I have what I need" and "I have taught my kids not to expect anything from anybody except us, their parents". Nice attitudes to instill in your children huh? Oh well, rant over :-) The bleeding stopped long ago. The florist called today and we'll be delivering flowers again on Mother's Day. We truly enjoy delivering flowers on special occasions, it's really a fun time for us. Joined several friends Saturday for a hot dog roast and it was a blast. Also took some long motorcycle day trips to sort of develop our "iron butts" for the summer. Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Easter celebration!

[Ambergris]

Lots accomplished. What do you call "long" trips?

[The WE2's]

Ambergis...usually consists of a 6 hour day from start until we get home. If we're camping it's 3 or 4 days, if it's a vacation a couple of weeks. :-)

[The WE2's]

SUNDAY...lots of thunder storms throughout the day. We were just about at The Roost when the sirens went off so we backed the van up to the back door, MrWE2 unlocked the door, and me & Abby-girl headed inside and I turned on the radio. He stood at the back door until he couldn't keep it shut without locking the deadbolt. Guess that convinced him he should come on inside the house (we have an enclosed porch with a steel door & deadbolt) with us. He said it was "straight line winds" and sometimes they can do alot of damage also. He had to put another coat of "mud" on the joint between the new sheetrock and old in the new bathroom, so we didn't make much progress. I told him once "it's hard to make much progress when we keep stopping to have fun" :-) We'll go back to check shingles on the roof. Nothing seemed to be going on here except some rain, didn't see any tree damage or anything. Looked at the weather channel maps and the storms were quite sporadic and spread out. Forecast is for more this evening, but so far all we've heard is thunder to the north of us etc. Hiding out in our Moses Pattern :-) He can't resume his project for the church pastor because he had to dig a large hole along part of the foundation (rain water was leaking in) to fill the prime and seal the crack and wait for it to dry...covered it with sheetrock & tarping but he'll probably still have to pump the water out before he can finish the job. Another client has several projects she's needing done and has already purchased most of the materials, so she's been very patient. I think most of them know his work is #1 and his price is so cheap they're content to wait. I've heard them say "you're worth waiting for" :-) Am i giving MrWE2 a "shout out"! :-) Oh well, you all will just have to bear with this bragging wife. Mother's back in hospital again, the usual, COPD etc. May get to go home tomorrow or Tuesday. Been mapping out our trip this coming weekend to the Holton, Missouri prepper expo. It's several hours away so we'll bug out Friday morning and take our time...as usual :-) The expo is a small one and only on Saturday, but we have a friend that just settled in Holton and she'll be joining us along with a friend of hers. Don't hitch up for just one day, so make our plans accordingly. Hoping all have a great Sunday...

[The WE2's]

FRIDAY...Been busy!!! Rained pretty much all day yesterday, but only periods of heavy rain, mostly a spinkling. Thursday night was a real toad strangler though. They're still calling for heavy rains in the area where CGA's new homestead is located so we couldn't hitch up and go as planned. It's so frustrating sometimes when you're working with our schedule for vacation/doctor appointment & surgery, the CoOp's schedule, the lumber yard's schedule, the post office's schedule, and then...fitting CGA in there to move :-) We're trying to keep her move as free of stress and confusion as possible and try not to make any more errors in judgement than necessary. Phil rescheduled his doctor's appointment until after we get back from vacation. Juggling all these dates is mind warping sometimes :-) Keeping a close handle on our calendar :-) Mother spent a few more days in hospital again last week, the COPD fires up more frequently it seems. Dad was in hospital the week before to have another heart stint put in & he's home doing better. Somewhere in all this, the lady who wants to buy another load of Alpaca fiber is trying to work her schedule into ours :-( That would be a nice infusion into our finances. The work at the Roost is pretty much on standstill (except mowing each week, and the tile cutting he did last week) until probably sometime in September which means we probably will NOT get moved from here to there this year :-( If the lady doesn't come for the Alpaca fiber Saturday we'll probably try to take a day trip and go to the Jacob's Cave Swap Meet again. We're wanting to keep track of what goats, rabbits, chickens & guinees are costing. It's a great place to buy just about any homestead animal (except horses, cows or pigs) one could want at a pretty reasonable price. I want Buff Orpington hens & Checkered Giant rabbits for our homestead...when we get this place sold! Not sure what kind of goats we'll be wanting. Any color of guinees will be ok except white...too easy to see & get caught by their predators :-( Put the new Serta-Rest gel pad mattress topper on our bed here (and one on the camper's bed too) and boy does it make a difference on our joints! Even though we have a fairly expensive memory foam/pillow top mattress it was still taking it's toll on both of our shoulders, since we both pretty much sleep on our sides. Got all my "wifey" duties done yesterday in anticipation of our Friday-Saturday-Sunday time, but MrWE'2 working, so...I've got a bit of time to pittle. I may look at some options for crocheting some of my alpaca fiber that's already spun & in skeins. I have a nice box full of patterns to browse through :-)

 

 

PS...lady is coming tomorrow to pick up the rest of the Alpaca fiber! :-) So...no Jacobs Cave Saturday and we don't usually go on Sundays because so many vendors start breaking down. They usually set up on Thursdays so the best days to go are on Friday's and Saturday's.

Edited June 6, 2014 by The WE2's

[Twilight]

Jacob's Cave this week end.....?!!! Never been , never think of it at the right time. Have you been there? How much walking from the parking lot if there is one? How big is the area? Someone said people would drive through........ so fast....

[The WE2's]

Jacob's Cave this week end.....?!!! Never been , never think of it at the right time. Have you been there? How much walking from the parking lot if there is one? How big is the area? Someone said people would drive through........ so fast....

 

They have it 3 times a year...spring, summer & fall. We nearly always go to at least one. You can find it online, just type Jacobs Cave Meadowlands into your browser and their web site with it's dates etc. should come up. It's about 25 acres just for the vendors. Parking is also about that, so yes...there is a lot of walking, but the handicapped parking is closer. The only vehicles allowed in the actual vendor areas are the vendors themselves and/or 4-wheelers, electric wheelchairs/scooters etc. that other people bring. None are allowed to drive fast and there's more people than vehicles :-) Funny how some people interpret things differently :-) Like I said, we go at least once every year with Abby-girl on leash and walk our tails off and love every minute of it. We just step aside when vehicles are coming by.

[The WE2's]

Goody-goody! PTL! Lady is coming tomorrow to pick up the rest of the Alpaca fiber that we set aside especially for her because it's top quality! :-) We still have a lot of 2nds and shorts that we'll take south to the open air market we go to when we have things to sell. We set up our 1stUP canopy with some of our tables, and we're ready to go! Can take the travel trailer too if we so have a mind! So...no Jacobs Cave Saturday and we don't usually go on Sundays because so many vendors start breaking down. They usually set up on Thursdays so the best days to go are on Friday's and Saturday's.

[Jeepers]

Woo-hoo on your alpaca fibers! I had a slow day doing errands etc. I was gone most of the day and when got home I had a delivery from Honeyville. Boy, they ship fast. But the Fed Ex guy sat the box on the edge of the porch with the big "Honeyville" lettering on the box facing the street. Grrr. I couldn't get that box in the house fast enough!

[The WE2's]

LOL...probably most of your neighbors don't even know what Honeyville stood for. They probably think you ordered a case of honey

[Jeepers]

Ohhhh, that's a good one. Yep, that's what it was...honey.

[The WE2's]

Lady came and went with the alpaca fiber, she got a good deal (it was some absolutely beautiful roving) and we've got another couple hundred to add to our vacation funds :-) God is so good to us we both have to shiver :-)

[The WE2's]

Friday 7-11-14 It's been a REALLY long six weeks for us, and we've still got some to go. Expenses are running high right now but God will see us through. He's always been faithful to us. I've been trying to get everything laundered, cleaned & prepared since we came back from our vacation so MrWE2 doesn't have to much on his plate after my surgery. Getting all my house dresses laundered & ready, figuring I'll want to be comfy for a week or so. I'll probably be on a light menu for a few days so I want to prepare a menu for him to cook for himself. He was a bachelor for over 20 years so he's acquainted with cooking "something" for himself :-( I cleaned the travel trailer when we left the Moose Lodge's camping hospitality, so that's done and we won't need to worry about that. Cut mother's hair and got her bills paid when we got back, but I'll need to get her laundry & other cleaning done first thing next week. Then MrWE2 will have to pull double duty for me and her. Have I mentioned how much I respect, honor & love than man! A friend called today for him to do some plumbing work so that put a few $$ in his pocket for spending money. He enjoys having some cash in his pocket :-) Then our pastor friend has work for him starting Monday so he'll work until the 29th then hang around here for 10 days or so, and resume. We still shake our heads wondering "when" we'll ever get the Roost done enough for us to move there and get this place sold and out of our hair. Utilities for here and the Roost, and taxes and insurance on all three properties eats our lunch. Son pays a small monthly rent so that helps a lot with the taxes & insurance on the one he and mother occupy...as long as there's no unexpected expenses. We've had to put our foot down for every little whim, reminding mother that her lease says "anything under $500 she is responsible for". She's not so quick to call repair people now. MrWE2 got the roof repaired himself, we haven't heard any complaints about any leaks. I got her finances straightened out and now that I pay all her bills online things are much better. She knows she can't just run out a buy stuff she sees at WM or on tv :-( She had about every gadget you could think of for cooking etc., and some had never been out of the box and is still boxed...in her "pantry" room that we fixed up for her. Tomorrow we got a long day also as well as mowing at the Roost. We did have to get the mower there repaired. We loaned it to a neighbor (young military couple) and he broke it, tried to fix it, then just put it back without a note or anything. So we just put it inside the enclosed porch after MrWE2 bought the new part & got it running again. It's been 3 months so we're thinking he's borrowed it long enough and should have been saving back some money to buy himself a mower. Last time we mowed there, his lawn hadn't been mowed for some time :-( Well, I've rattled on long enough. It's late and I've had a full day.

[The WE2's]

Another yucky day. Seems i have a good day followed by a tuff one. Had checkup Wed & GYN says I'm probably expecting too much, too soon. Due to the huge blood loss & needing 2 units to pull me back to life it's going to take awhile. Says the "imported" blood dies off faster than my own so I'm having to make up my own to replace it. The weakness just aggravates the poo out of me, and then the nausea, indigestion & gas make it even more uncofy. But...I will overcome! I'm in bed using my notebook so the keys & monitor are very tiny so excuse typo's etc. Just wanted to let all know I am in the land of the living, just not up to myself YEt!

[Twilight]

I sorta know your feeling........after losing a lot of blood yes it took me a while to re-coop.......

 

All I can say it will be worth far more to take care of yourself now than to over do and maybe

pay for it the rest of your life. Some things can not be hurried.

 

Wishing you the best in healing.

[Ambergris]

Thanks for checking in.

[MomM]

Take care and allow your body to heal. It seems to take me 6 months to recover from surgery. So give yourself time. (((((WE2)))))

[Annarchy]

The several major surgeries I've had, aggravated me so much because of having to be 'dormant'. The one I did not allow myself to recover, took 10 times longer to recover from. Learned my lesson real quick.

 

you feel better soon.