Day #61 – New Chapter

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I am beat. I think I was as nervous as the kids were for their first day. We’re still trying to get the rhythm of how our days are going to be. I am always the first one to wake up. I need my early morning alone time go out and feed the animals and then have coffee on the patio. I go over everything that I need to do that day.

Jackson woke up and I made him breakfast and then I woke Hannah up because I was taking Jackson first since Hannah didn’t have a class until later. This is going to hopefully change when she goes to see if she can get her schedule changed.

After I got everyone off I came home to prep dinner, clean the house and then get ready to head back to Kilgore. I was so happy to hear that they had run into their friends. Jackson and his best friend found the coffee shop in the student center, which he was impressed with. Hannah was with one of her best friends. They actually all hung out together. Hannah and Jackson have never had a class together and now they have two, which I think is going to be a very good thing.

They are excited about school. They love the campus. I called my sister because she was a cheerleader at KC and she’s thrilled that they are both going there. We even sang the fight song over the phone because we are complete dorks. I hope that once all of the assignments start coming up they will still love it. I think they will.

Jackson is already contemplating where he wants to go once he finishes at KC. SFA is number 1 on the list right now.

Day #60 – Slinky the Incontinent Skunk

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I feed the night critters (and the day ones also). We have a sweet little skunk that either got hit by a car or was born with a defect. He cannot walk so he slithers. It’s almost like he’s partially paralyzed. The problem with that is that it makes him incontinent. I was putting the food bowl on the patio until I realized that he cannot help it when his “stink” slips out. So now I feed him in the grass away from us.

We try to be mindful of him. It takes him almost an hour to eat. The other night I thought he was choking and could just see myself trying to dislodge the food. Luckily he did it on his own. We have two younger skunks that will come up and eat, but I have noticed that they treat Slinky with respect and let him eat without bothering him. They will fuss among themselves though. One night I want to follow him (he’s a slow slitherer) to see where he goes.

We have also started feeding more of the stray cats. Our neighbors across the street were feeding the ones living on their side (it’s like west side story turf war between the cats) but they have started all coming to eat around dusk. I have to keep O’malley inside because, although he too was street cat with them, he’s very protective of his home base now.

Tonight I finally got to touch the grey and white one who we call Fidget. She is getting braver and walking up to me. The two little black ones are newcomers.

This is Mr. Whiskers. He’s always let me love on him and is very protective of the other ferals. I need to get him fixed because I have a feeling he has fathered most of the ones that come to eat. Someone put a flea collar on him, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t belong to anyone.

Oh and I colored my hair today and I’m posting it so I can remember when I did it. I didn’t have a hair bag so I just wrapped my head in Saran wrap.

I have been using the Wella color from Sally’s and I really like it. I use medium intense blond with a 30 developer. It’s so close to my natural color so I’ll take it.

The kids start college tomorrow. I think I’m more nervous than they are.

Day #59 – DIY Face Cleanser & Body Oil

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I woke up without a headache today. Thank you generic Tylenol PM. I decided to get a little crafty. I am almost out of my Mad Hippie Cleansing Oil, so I decided to make my own. I had seen a recipe that called for castor oil and olive oil. I personally don’t like using olive oil on my skin. I had some liquid coconut oil so I decided to use that instead.

It’s just 1/4 cup castor oil

1/4 cup coconut oil

Then I added 6 drops each of Lavender, Frankincense and geranium

To use it put about 1/2 in your hand and rub it into you face. Wet a wash rag with the hottest water you can stand and drape the wash rag over you face for a minute. Just wipe your face off when you’re done. I used it today and it made my skin so soft.

I love body oil, especially right after I get out of the shower. For this one I used grapeseed oil. I added frankincense, rosemary, geranium and lavender.

I just put it in a pump bottle I already had and I’ll keep it in the bathroom. The longer they sit, the stronger the essential oil scent will become. They both smell really good.

Day #58 – KC

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To some KC means Kansas City, but around here it stands for Kilgore College. Today we had to run up to campus to make sure all of Hannah’s finance was in order and register her for 2 more classes. Jackson is taking 16 hours and Hannah is taking 12.

I thought school started on the 30th. I found out it actually starts on Monday. The kids are excited about this new chapter of their lives. We had to walk across campus to talk to their advisor.

It’s such a great little school which I think is going to be perfect for the kids. Jackson’s best friend said he saw us, but was busy moving into his dorm. I asked Jackson if he wanted to live in the dorms, but he said he’d rather live at home which is fine by me. Hannah also still wants to live at home.

If you hadn’t noticed, Kilgore was once a booming oil town and you can see pumper jacks all around.

My sister actually went to college here when I was 4. I still remember the fight song (she was a cheerleader and although we lived in Corpus we came up when we could). I’m the only one impressed that I still know it. I hope we get to go to some of the football games this Fall.

Jackson had a doctor’s appointment to get his meningitis shot later in the afternoon. I hadn’t realized that we can see the newly painted water tower from the parking lot. Cut me some slack, it’s a big deal here.

We went to Walmart as a family. You kinda have to take what you can get as far as outings go. Hannah, who normally dresses up and wears heels, decided she needs to rethink her footwear after walking around campus. We found the cutest sneakers at Walmart. Hannah is not into fancy brands, she just likes what she likes.

I think they will serve her well. Plus we were impressed with some of their clothing selection even though we really prefer thrifting because fast fashion is not good. However, sometimes when you need something in particular you have to actually go to a big box store.

And can we say an Amen that my hair appointment is on the 29th? I need my layers cut so badly.

Yeah, I don’t know what the whole bang area is doing. Eek.

It’s only 9:00, but I’ve had a headache all day. We picked up some Tylenol (fake brand) pm so I’m going to take that and try to sleep. Hopefully I’ll wake up feeling so much better.

Day #57 – 5 Years

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Since we have a lot of running around to do tomorrow today was our “lazy” day. I decided to go through my phone and delete pictures that were just taking up space. I found the pictures from the listing of our house. If you have read here for long, you know that we moved in the middle of quarantine and that there were only 2 houses for lease in the school district that we needed to live in.

Our first impression when we walked in was “no way can we live in a house this small”. It really didn’t help that there was brown carpet everywhere. But like I said everything was shut down, they were raising our rent by a whole lot at the other house, we had no idea what the economy was going to do so we decided that we could just make it work. The biggest pluses were that the landlords were so nice and the rent was so low I thought the house must not have a/c. (it does lol)

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We put in the flower beds. It was basically just a white box.

I got permission to paint the shutters (I want to repaint them again) the door and the trim. I think it just has so much more personality now.

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Just the basics. There were only 3 pictures on the listing. This one, one of the hallway and the bathroom.

It’s still very small, but now it has some love in it. I hope when people come over they feel like they can make themselves at home.

We were going to buy here a few years ago, but there were some problems right at the very end. I’m glad because it was a rushed purchase and I’m pretty sure this isn’t where we want to live for the rest of our lives. I’m still voting for New Orleans.

Day #56 – Avocado Seed Liniment

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Since I made some guacamole I decided to go ahead and make some more of the magic avocado seed liniment. I spent most of my day like this.

I am sore from head to toe from all the yard work I’ve been doing. I’m pretty sure I have a pinched nerve in my shoulder so I’m trying to ease that with my TENS unit. My lower back and legs are sore and for that I’ve been using the avocado seeds.

I had three avocado seeds and that’s plenty.

Chop them up. The “skin” normally just falls off, but if it won’t come off it’s okay.

You just fill the jar with 91% alcohol and let it sit. The one on the right is my older one. When I need it I just dip and cotton round in and rub it on the part of my body that’s sore. You can also put it in a spray bottle. Avocado seeds are known to reduce inflammation and I’m here to say that they absolutely do.

Day #55 – Kitchen: Ambient Lighting, Helpful Hints, New Curtains

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Yesterday I thrifted the new lamp for the kitchen. I also went back that same day and picked up this owl light. It used to be a wax melt warmer in it’s heyday, but since the bowl part didn’t make it to the thrift store, it’s now just a cute little owl light.

It’s made a huge difference in our night time kitchen.

Since I had moved the elephant lamp to the top of the cabinets, I put the little lamp I got yesterday in its place.

I was getting tired of the battenburg lace curtains on the dining nook’s window. You can see a part of them above. I remember that I had seen some lace ones at the thrift store while I was shopping yesterday. I grabbed Jackson and we went to see if they were still there. They were, but I knew I’d have to cut them off to get the right length. I cannot cut a straight line to save my life. Low and behold, right next to them was a lace tablecloth. I knew I could make this work better. I just folded it in half and draped it over the jute rope I had been using for the curtain rod. Curtain rope?

So much better because more light gets in. I would have never put anything curtain-wise if we hadn’t put the chicken coop right in front of the window. I’m using “we” loosely here.

I do think the creamier color is just better suited more than the stark white.

Since we have such little space I needed to ways to help with some of the issues I was having. I hated the recycling just sitting on the table until someone decided to take it out to the bin.

I just put a washtub on a plant stand and now we just carry the whole tub to the bin.

I use a new kitchen linen everyday. It would either pile up by the sink or pile up on the washer until I did the next load. It would drive me crazy.

Just nail a basket to the wall and problem solved.

I’m pretty sure I have the Chicken Fried Rice recipe in one of the other blogs. I made it again tonight because It is just that good. Gavin, Hannah’s boyfriend, had dinner with us. I doubled the recipe and we have leftovers to eat on tomorrow. I’m already thinking about it.

Now I’m going to go finish cleaning the kitchen and then finish reading my book. It’s so good and I now I want to read all her other books.

Day #54 – Fall Prep + Thrift Haul

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Because the heat index was supposed to hit 105 today I decided to get an early start on prepping for our fall garden. Technically, this is Donny’s garden. Mine is at the end of the front flower beds, but I guess we are now sharing the big enclosed one. It was a mess! We had neglected it once we realized that our huge tomato plants were only going to give us the two tomatoes we had already picked.

I just knew I was going to find a snake, I didn’t though. It took a lot of elbow grease and sweat but I finally got it cleaned out.

I did keep two of the most promising looking tomato plants. They have some blooms on them but if they don’t look like they will be growing any tomatoes, they’re out.

I had a HUGE weed pile and luckily was able to fit it all in one of those big yard waste paper bags.

After a much needed shower we had a unexpected, yet wonderful, rain shower. It cooled things off considerably. I decided I needed to get out of the house so I drove around the corner to Big, our favorite thrift store. I actually took my time today because the kids were busy doing something or other and wanted to stay home.

I have no idea why this is so blurry, but it’s a gray tank top type shirt. It’s the kind I just love to wear on hot days.

Another wonderful blurry pic, but it’s a lacy tank top that will go perfect with this gauzy peasant skirt I have.

They were just putting this out and I grabbed it because it will be perfect for fall and winter. It’s by Steve Madden, in excellent condition and I just love it. Especially because it was only 4 bucks.

Cute little candle holder.

I needed a small lamp because I love the ambient lighting I’ve been seeing in kitchens lately. Of course it was too big to go on top of my cabinets so I just switched places with a smaller one I already had that did fit.

I finally found a butter bell! I have been wanting one for a while now but I just didn’t want to pay full price. The color didn’t come out right, it’s actually mustard yellow which fits perfectly in our kitchen. It was on $2

I love background instrumental music. I found this flute album for 50 cents and it’s beautiful music. (I already tried it out) The kids get restless when I’m looking at book so today I got to peruse the bookshelves to my heart’s desire. I found some good ones, I think. I have already started reading Big Woods. When I was ready the synopsis I saw that it’s set in Longview. I’m 42 pages in and don’t want to stop reading it. I googled the author and she wrote Hunting Wives. I haven’t watched the series on Netflix yet. The funniest part is that it’s about Longview. I found it in a Longview thrift store, but it’s from Eastlake Public Library in Eastlake Ohio. So bizarre.

Now I’m going to clean up the kitchen and get back to reading.

Day #53 – Putter Around Sunday

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Yesterday the heat wiped me out! I was going to take today off, but there were some things that needed to get done. I had notice that the shelf I made out of the sign was pulling apart at one of the edges. A little e6000 and a heavy cookbook will hopefully take care of that. It has to cure for at least 24 hours though.

Donny makes fun of me because I have one laundry basket that is fine and normal and one that has cracks that pinch you if they’re not taped up. I like having two if I have a lot of laundry because it makes it go faster on all the transfers. Who cares if it has tape on it, they stay in the laundry room when I’m not using them. We had this conversation because I was taping the broken one up again this morning. It still works fine.

I have started writing all my recipes that I use often in my recipe binder. I’ve just been using an old scout notebook of Hannah’s.

I made a really good recipe tonight called Mission Trip Breakfast Casserole.

I did not use 2 pounds of cheese. That is a lot of cheese. I used two 4 oz blocks of sharp cheddar. I would also probably add 1 1/2 – 2 rolls of sausage. I only used 1 and I think it was a little sparse on the meat. Here’s what it looked like all stirred up.

After baking.

I think it was a hit because we only have 4 people in our family and I only had one small bowl of it and this is what is left.

I also left out the tomatoes. Jackson is not a fan of them.

In other cat news, Milo only will drink out of a glass whiskey tumbler. Since he has a large head, when it gets about 2 inches low he knocks it over. I tried to keep up with filling it up but it always ended up spilled. I found a bowl that he’ll drink out of and not knock over.

Baby Ruth is probably not going to let Hannah use her backpack because it’s her favorite place to nap.

Monkey found the plant water even though her water gets changed every morning.

Cats are so silly.

I also have a Wrigley update. They still haven’t given him shade, but I went out to play with him and he’s so clean. He hadn’t had a bath in 5 years and he’s like a different dog. He’s so energetic. It’s amazing what being clean and unmatted will do for a dog.

Day #52 – One Thing Leads to Another

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I knew when I woke up that I was going to get the weed eater out and finally get the front done.

I wasn’t planning on doing the back, but Mr. Laurence was outside doing the neighbors yard so I decided to go ahead and do the back side of the house, around the shed and around the coop. I guess I never realized how much of an arm workout that is. I figured I’d go inside after that, that is until I realized I had never cleaned out the deck box.

There was so much stuff that needed to go into the shed. We had just gotten lazy and instead of walking it back there we just tossed it into the box.

I still have some solar lights that I’m not sure where to put yet. I moved all the car cleaning stuff in here. I also moved the potting soil and some extension cords. After toting all of that stuff to the shed I decided to clean off the patio of all the random garden tools and pots that we weren’t using. I swept and wiped down everything because even though they are finished with the road there is still so much dust.

I cannot wait to start having dinner out here again. It’s just been so darn hot.

Monkey’s food and water stay on the table because she is so finicky and likes to eat by herself.

We always keep a gap on the plant tables because, well…..

I got some more pothos propagated. I’m hoping they do okay. The sun in this area isn’t bad until about 4 pm and then it’s like a Lazer.

One plant we have no problem growing is grain. This fell from the bird feeder. We thought it was corn at first. We’ve just let it grow to see how big it will get.

Since it was an excessive heat day, I’m exhausted and am going to watch a movie, fold some clothes and just relax. I hope everyone had a good Saturday. Sometimes I feels good just to get outside and sweat.