Tomorrow I will come to the end of the 10 inflatables that were at the rodeo. They have all been covered, from top to bottom, in this fine sandy dust and full of dead grass. Today I did two of the three pieces of the Gauntlet and it kicked my butt.
This is the Gauntlet. I did the two identical side pieces.
I didn’t have the foam steps to climb into the holes. I forgot, when climbing out, that it’s a much steeper step out. Let’s just say that if I were a guy I probably wouldn’t be able to have children.
I have a little shop vac that I use to vacuum out all the grass and sand. I had unplugged it from the extension cord. I thought that the cord was a lot further in than it was so I yanked it. It came flying out, over the wall, smacking me right in the mouth. I thought I had broken my teeth. Then I felt the blood. I walked into the warehouse to get a paper towel and the owner thought I had fallen out on my face. Nope, just got punched in the mouth by the end of the extension cord.
So between 2/3 of the Gauntlet and the dual slide I did yesterday I am beat.
Just one more day of being covered in dust. I can do this. Might not be able to walk on Saturday, but I can manage 3 hours tomorrow. At least that’s what I’m convincing myself.
You can see the dust even though I vacuumed my leggings off.
And we are saying a fond farewell to Sugar Shack. You may have only had a 12″ opening and an embarrassing picture of me was taken when I accidentally dumped a whole bucket of soapy water in you that turned into a bubble fiasco, but you were cute, colorful and easy to clean. I’ll miss you, sugar shack.
A new haircut just makes you feel better. I’d been wearing my hair up all summer because it was just too hot to wear down. I hadn’t realized how long it had gotten. I never really pay attention to the back of my head. I just knew that it was too long and heavy. So this is the before.
Luckily Desiree had an opening that fit in perfectly with my schedule between work and picking up the kids. She is the only stylist I trust with my hair and she made me feel like a new person.
I also dyed my roots. It always lightens up a lot after a few washes because my natural color is lighter.
i cannot sing her praises enough.
I also got another item checked if my to do list.
If you have solid wood furniture and it gets dry, rub it with coconut oil. Leave it for about 20 minutes, then buff. It’s natural and works so well. It’s like lotion for wood.
What a difference!
Now I’m going to go finish my book. It’s so good. If you like James Patterson, I highly recommend it.
Every city we have lived in I have what’s called my circle of convenience. What this means is that I have a radius in which all the stores and places that I need to go are close by. Take Drug Emporium, for example. It’s .3 miles away. Aldi, Big Lots and Marshalls are 1.2. Donny and I both work exactly 2 miles away. The mall is 3.1 miles away. You get the idea. I dislike driving. I don’t mind going out of my, basically, 5 mile circle oof someone else is driving, I just like to keep things close.
i try to do errands all in one day. Today the list wasn’t too bad. I left TJ Maxx off because I was going there for a couple of anniversary gifts for Donny and my lists are right by the side door.
The day was so cool that it warranted a long sleeve T-shirt and a cardigan. I love our few weeks of autumn.
Can we get an amen for this weather? 🙏
Today, however, my circle was not circling. I started off by going to TJ Maxx. I’m frugal. I try to go in and just get what I came for. I did except for that other stuff they had next to what I came for. Why, TJ Maxx, do you put all the fun stuff by the registers so we all have to look at it when we stand in line? So, needless to say, a few extras came home with me.
Kitchen scrubbers that match absolutely nothing in my kitchen, although I did kinda need these because mine have seen better days. Did I need baby blue ones with deer??? Strong no.
Candles! Did I need them? Nope. I just bought two at different craft fairs. Do I love nutmeg scents? YES! And the lavender one will smell great in our bedroom. I am the world champion at rationalization.
I then ran to Sally’s Beauty, a little off the beaten path, but not by much. Gotta do them roots.
My plan was then to go to Aldi and Drug Emporium, but my bladder said that would not be in my best interest. So I went home and got some stuff done there. Jack was getting out at the normal time, 2:15. Hannah was taking her TSI test so I didn’t know when she was getting out.
i left the house with plenty of time to get to, first drug emporium then Aldi. I forgot. Even though it’s cooler outside, I still had to go by home Depot that’s on the way to the school and I had cold food from Aldi. So back home it was to put away the cold stuff. I threw my purse on the patio chair when I went in the house. This is important later.
Got back in the car to rush into Home Depot to get my paper towels. They are the only ones I like to use. I had about 4 minutes to get in and out and not be late picking up Jack. I grabbed the rolls, scanned then through self checkout and went to get my wallet out of my purse. Except there was no wallet. I told the woman attending the self checkout that I left my wallet in the car. It wasn’t in the car. I just knew I’d left it at Aldi.
i sped to get Jack, rush back home. No wallet. We look all over the kitchen and as I’m calling Aldi, Jack finds it under the chair on the patio.
I still need a basket for Donny’s gifts so I run to the thrift store around the corner. I do find a basket, but y’all, I’ve seen this “artwork” sitting on the shelf for months. And today I bought it. And I hung it up. And I’m going to tell everyone I painted it. Hold onto your socks and please take a look at the lambs face.
I don’t think Donny has noticed it hanging in the hallway yet.
i did end up get my paper towels after I picked Hannah up. But I am tired. I do not like running in all different directions. I normally have a set plan. Not today. Hopefully tomorrow.
Here are the paper towels in case you see them in home Depot. They are 98 cents, thick and super absorbent.
Today was Donny’s early Saturday where he gets off work at 5:00, so we decided to catch the tail end of Oktoberfest in Kilgore. The historic downtown is only 10 miles away and it’s such a fun little area when they have festivals going on.
There was a band playing some good German music.
There was a pretty big crowd sitting under the tents listening to the music, eating and drinking.
Unfortunately almost all of the food was already sold out. We managed to get a chicken schnitzel sandwich and some elote corn, not exactly German, but both were very good.
We found the beer tent and grabbed a cup.
Our son, who hates having his picture taken, made it into half the picture. It was so windy and this was right after my plate blew away.
We found the Texan theatre where there is going to be a film festival next month that we’re excited about going to.
There were a lot of craft booths. My favorite was the soy candle tent where I picked up an apple harvest scented candle. It smells so good. Donny got a car air freshener, which I thought was a little strange for him. He immediately put it in his car when we got home and I swear that something has died in his car. He says it’s from a spilled water bottle, but there is no way. I’m going to be investigating that tomorrow because we have to figure out what’s causing it. It’s bad. I also picked up Hannah a bath bomb since she had to work and couldn’t go with us. It was a lot of fun and hopefully we’ll be going back next year.
Now for a few random things. Have you tried the Fusia frozen sushi from Aldi? It’s surprisingly good. I’ve found everything this brand makes is quite tasty.
Also Donny is the chicken whisperer. The chicks just love him and yes, they are still in our living room, but they are getting their feathers finally.
Our cat, Monkey, gets very jealous when we pay attention to the chicks and must curl up on my lap.
And last, but not least, my friend sent me this picture of the eclipse that his granddaughter took with her iPhone. How cool is that?
Wednesday evening I had the bright idea to take everything out of my side if the closet and start switching out my Spring/Summer clothes for my Fall/Winter ones. Donny and I share a very small closet so there’s not room for both warm and cold weather clothing. Well, today I finished.
Since I’d gotten that far, I decided to deep clean our bedroom. We’d been living in complete and utter chaos for 2 days and I just couldn’t take it anymore. Here’s the fruit of my labor.
We always keep a “cat” blanket on our bed because of this.
Our bedroom is small and storage is an issue. A $5 garage sale bookshelf, that I painted, works great in this space between the doors.
My $12 dollar thrifted small chest of drawers, that I stripped a stained, is where I put on my makeup.
Reclaimed wood and some IKEA brackets hold some plants and special treasures.
We needed a bit more storage on Donny’s side, than a regular nightstand would give. We found these crates in an old barn at an estate sale for a dollar each and they fit perfectly in the space.
And that’s pretty much it. Our bedroom is not fancy, because we’re not fancy, but it’s colorful and cozy and the TV is too big for the space, but that’s okay too. I don’t follow trends, I just find what I love and use it.
Also, today my dad would have been 98. He was so dearly loved and I miss him, still, every day. Happy heavenly birthday, Daddy ❤️
On March 21st I found this little guy who had fallen off his mama.
Unfortunately, Mama opossums don’t come back for their babies if they fall off. He was too little to be on his own. I gave him a bath, fed him puppy formula and put him in a cage with a heat lamp.
He thrived and even learned how to use a litter box. He loved hamburgers and just about all food.
He was a male and we named him Ollie. He would cuddle for maybe a minute then wanted to get down and explore.
He loved hiding in the couch cushions and we worked with him on climbing and finding food. The plan was never to keep him, but when he got big enough we’d let him go in the woods by the trail.
This was the day we let him go. It was sad, but he was ready. When we opened his cage he sniffed around then took off into the brush and trees. I left one of my T-shirts by one of the trees because I’m weird and thought it would give him comfort. I realized after the fact that it was one that I dye my hair in and the stains on it could be mistaken for dried blood. I really hope no one picked it up and thought something bad happened out there.
Today Donny and I went walking the trail. I always hope I’ll catch a glimpse of Ollie when we’re out there. If I were an opossum that’s where I’d want to live.
There’s a creek that runs through the area.
I’m sure he’s very happy, living his best life.
I know I was happy because the air was a crisp 74 degrees and it smelled amazing walking in the forest. Please excuse my no makeup and scraped back hair look. We’re been busy all day taking care of stuff at home. It’s good to get out and breath fresh air a little every day.
A year ago August I went to the doctor because of a stopped up ear. As we were finishing up the appointment, I randomly asked if I could have a blood panel done. For some reason or another, I hadn’t had one since in years.
The next day I get a call telling me they need to see me in the morning to go over my blood work. I was a little worried because it had taken me almost 2 weeks to get an appointment for my ear and now they wanted to see me the next morning.
When I went in, I was told I had Hashimoto’s disease, which is basically hypothyroidism. Your thyroid controls so much in your body. Because mine was so low it had also caused a high cholesterol level and pre diabetes.
Let me explain why I didn’t realize something was going on in my body that was much worse than what I thought it was. The symptoms of hypothyroidism mimic being perimenopausal.
i was experiencing hot flashes that were out of control. In fact, at Hannah’s first scout meeting almost 4 years ago, in August, in an unairconditioned 100 year old cabin, I had one so bad the other parents thought I was having a stroke. They were nice enough to plaster me with wet paper towels and cold water bottles. Great first impression.
My skin was dry. Desert dry. My eyes were puffy and I noticed I was losing hair, not only on my head, but my eyebrows were non existent.
i was gaining weight, especially in my mid section. I was eating healthy and exercising, but it was a huge struggle to lose any weight.
i was tired. It was weird because it came in cycles. I knew that once I felt that tiredness it was going to hang on for at least 2 weeks. The first time I really noticed it was when we moved here, to Longview. I thought it was just the stress of selling our home in Baton Rouge and the job of having to unpack and get settled, but it kept happening. I’d be okay for about a month and then, BAM, it would hit me again.
And I would get moody and crabby. I also had memory fog.
All of these symptoms are menopausal. When I had my hormone blood work done at my gynecologist, everything came back completely normal. This was after my Hashi’s diagnosis.
it’s been over a year. I started off on 25mg of thyroid medicine, then 50, then 75, then 88, then 100. I have to do blood work every 3 months. I just had my doctor’s appointment yesterday and my blood sugar and cholesterol are fine, but my thyroid isn’t. I’m now on 112 mg. I can tell that I was having a Hashi flare up because I didn’t feel like myself. I was moody and experiencing the thyroid fog. This is something I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life, but hopefully the new dosage will be that magic number. We’ll see in 6 weeks.
We woke up to temperatures in the mid 40’s. It’s amazing how cooler weather lifts your spirits. Our chickens were loving it.
Our teenager chicks inside were getting cramped in their pen so it was time to add another wall to their enclosure. We have two that are very brave and love to chicken fly around the room when they get a chance.
They are finally too big to fit through the openings and are actually calmer now that they can see what’s going on outside of their pen.
They are cute, funny and very chirpy. I cannot wait to get then out of our living room. Only a few more weeks until we can start introducing them to the flock.
Did you know that coconut oil can be used to condition wood? I used it on the chair I refinished and it made such a difference. I still need to start on the matching chair, but I’m pleased with how this one turned out. I’m still searching for just the right fabric to recover the seat in.
Getting all that paint off is hard work.
We try to buy from small business whenever we can. Today was the local vendor fair around the corner from our home. It’s grown so much from when it started.
A company that sells French frozen yogurt made with sheep’s milk was doing a buy one pint, get one free. Hannah got a free sample of their chocolate dipped bars and said it was really good so we decided on the vanilla and strawberry flavors. Delicious! You should really try this brand if you see it in your stores.
There’s no way we can pass up smell goods, especially handmade ones. There were so many booths that had some really awesome soaps, lotions and candles. I think we found two of the best booths. Hannah and I both picked up lotion and I found a cinnamon apple pie soy candle that we both decided smelled like Fall. It really does because I lit it as soon as I got home.
And as an ode to this wonderful weather, I made Mexican Soup. I’m going to link the recipe. You can change it up and make it to your liking. I add corn, green chilies and have shredded chicken on the side for whoever wants it. It’s so good with shredded sharp cheddar and sour cream.
When I woke up this morning it was in the 50’s! Fall is here, at least for the next week. The wind was brisk, the sun was shining and it stayed cool all day long. The weather called for sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt. Thank you cold front.
Our seeds are sprouting getting ready to be potted in the greenhouse.
Every single year, on Halloween, I watch the original Halloween movie. None of the streaming services we use have it this year, so when we went to Walmart, lol what I found.
This is at the very top of my favorite scary movies! If you haven’t seen it in a while, you really need to watch it again. Or just come on over on Halloween and bring some popcorn.
and just because they’re so cute, here are my cats who have been extra cuddly today. I think they’re feeling the Fall vibes too
The Funky Frugalista 