June 2, 2010
I’m posting this a little out of my normal travel order because I want to get it down while it is fresh in my mind.
Yesterday started off with whirling near thud and went downhill from there. I was awakened with the feeling I was falling off the bed—a neat trick in a camper bed for certain. When my eyes flew open I realized I wasn’t falling but having a pretty good bout of vertigo. “Not today!” I moaned and closed my eyes with the hopes if I laid there for awhile the dizziness and accompanying nausea would go away.
We were suppose to move camp yesterday which meant there were a series of chores I needed to do, plus we would be traveling the twisting back roads from Branson, MO to Eureka Springs, AR and to be quite honest I have battled motion sickness all my life. I’ve not had any since we sold the last big van we had and moved to the dually truck. I am MOST thankful for that.
However, the dizziness I was already experiencing had me concerned enough that as we hit the road I had a plastic bag lined trash can between my feet in the front floor board. I am VERY happy to say I did not need it.
Gary and I figure I had a touch of some 24 hour bug because by evening I was recovering nicely. It’s what went on between the beginning of the day and the evening that made Murphy think he had us.
Gary did most of my chores to break camp while I clung to the sofa to overcome the dizziness and he drove gently as we traveled. Him watching the road closely, me with my eyes closed.
We listened to Dave Ramsey on the XM radio, first on channel 165 and then on channel 158 as we traveled. DR served as a great distraction for me as I listened to his 5 day a week broad cast.
About two hours into the trip I announced I needed a bathroom NOW! We were just outside of Berryville, AR at the time. Conveniently there was a large parking lot at a stockyard that Gary could easily get off the road in and I could run back to the camper quickly.
As we headed back out on the road from the pit stop I once again had my eyes closed and therefore did not see the large DEEP hole that was on the passenger side of the drive. Unfortunately neither did Gary and the thump that followed made both of us gasp.
Gary pulled back into the parking lot to examine the damage. One of the trailer tires was flat and the steps into the camper were a bit cockeyed—a whole lot cockeyed, as in unusable cockeyed.
So there we were in heat that registered as 104 degrees on our truck thermometer in a stockyard with a flat on a fifth wheel. Gary of course declined calling AAA—even though we have coverage for such service he says it takes them too long to get there. It’s an ongoing argument we have, but that’s neither here or there.
Instead he proceeded to prepare to change the flat the way our “angel” told us to many years ago. We don’t know the man’s name that showed us this trick, he appeared from nowhere one day as Gary struggled to get a flat fixed on our old fifth wheel in a parking lot near dark. He arrived without a vehicle or noise, he was just suddenly there and as soon as Gary got started on the suggested way to change the flat we both turned our back for a split second and he was gone, nowhere to be seen, and he made no sound as he left. Ever since that day over a dozen years ago we have referred to him as our angel. Because he certainly was a Godsend that day and several flats since then. RV tires are notorious for going flat because of the way they are made and the weight they carry.
For those of you that don’t know how a 30 ft fifth wheel tires are set up it’s a simple alignment of two tires on each side in or near the middle of the trailer. There is generally less than a foot between the front and the back tire. This sometimes makes changing a flat awkward. It is hard to get a jack on the framework just right without doing damage.
So here’s how we now lift the offending flat tire off the ground safely without using a jack. Anyone who camps a lot has leveling boards and/or Lynx blocks (imagine giant Legos, which is what we call the two sets we have) for setting their camper level in not so level campgrounds.
The angel suggested we create a ramp using those levelers to where we ran the good tire up the ramp just far enough the flat tire was safely lifted off the ground. Since the trailer is attached to the truck, which is then in park and with chocks behind the wheels there is no danger of the trailer rolling back down the ramp. It takes far less time to do this to change a flat than to dig out the jack, find the proper location to put it on, jack it up etc. It’s a lot easier too.
So Gary prepped the ramp and had me stay in the truck with the air running, something about I didn’t look good in the shade of green I was wearing on my skin at the time.
Only this time the ramp didn’t work because of the location of the now messed up steps. So As I dozed in the truck waiting on him to get the thing prepped he removed the steps and put them in the back of the truck. Then woke me from my upright slumber to back up the ramp. Once the tire was on the ramp it took him less than five minutes to change the flat.
Only by then I needed the facilities again. OOPS no steps to get into the trailer!!! So I’m standing there doing the pee-pee dance as my kids use to say and we are laughing at me trying to get up into a doorway that’s threshold is above my waist.
I am NO athlete, I am overweight, 5’1” on my tall days, 60 and have no real upper body strength. What I do have is a marvelous little collapsible folding step stool that we carry under the back seat of the truck so Gary got that, well that got me up about 8 inches, still not a doable situation. As we laughed harder Gary got the 4 X 4 boards we put under the front jack stands of the trailer and put them under the step stool.
I climbed up on this make-shift set of stairs and got one leg up in the trailer, but for the life of me could not get that other leg in. So now I’m hanging onto the door handle for dear life, one leg up in a trailer and the other one dangling in mid-air and it will NOT co-operate. I’m stuck!
I’ve now got the giggles pretty bad and Gary is laughing nearly as hard. He grabs the non-working leg and gives me a boost that nearly throws me headfirst into the recliner by the door.
Just as I finish the purpose of my visit I hear Gary inside the trailer and uttering one word “sh—“. I knew immediately what had happened.
“Did you knock the step stool over when you came in?” I innocently asked.
“Yes, we’re stuck, what are we going to do now?” he responded, as he laid down on his belly hoping to be able to reach the step stool, of course there was no way he could.
I went to the camper pantry and got a second folding stool out of it and handed it to him, saying “don’t drop this one too.” With a big grin on my face. He muttered something about me being a smarty pants.
He managed to get the step stool set on the two boards, but for some reason from the inside of the camper it looked a lot further down than it looked coming into the camper. We both mulled this over for a bit.
Gary is 62, and while he’s lost about 40 pounds this year he’s still overweight, so the idea of slipping and falling was not one we cared to entertain. Finally he sat down on his bottom and scooted out the door like a small child bumps down a flight of stairs. His legs were long enough he could get is feet squarely on the makeshift set-up and get out safely. He’s nearly 6’2”. This was not going to be as easy for me. Gary told me stay put while he reset the boards with both stools and created a small set of steps for me. WHEW! Made it out safely!
When we called Sean and told him about it later he said “you kids I can’t let you out alone any more.”
Once back on the road I said “That’s our one boo-boo with the camper for the year, we’ve got it over.” Gary said he hoped I was right. We generally have one incident each summer, so that is it I am certain. Fortunately this one isn’t going to be as costly as some of the others have been.
Once we finally chose a campsite and got set up at Parker Bottom Corps of Engineer campground on Beaver Lake in AR near Eureka Springs, we discussed going to purchase a 3 step-step stool to use until we could get new steps, or the steps repaired, because obviously we could not continue to get in and out of the camper in the afore mentioned manner.
In fact I told Gary once I got in for the night I was NOT getting back out until I absolutely had too. Which would create some problems with our four day stay scheduled for here as there are no sewer hook-ups at this campground and total use of the camper facilities will only make it three days. We had camped next to the campground facilities and planned on using them for most of our needs in order to make it the full four days.
Gary decided instead to see if he could fix the steps. Good old American ingenuity kicked in. Using leverage, a sledge hammer, and bolts and screws from the tool kit we carry the two of us worked the steps back from the trapezoid shape they were in to the rectangular box they should be.
It was one of those few times having a little extra weight on my body paid off. More than once Gary would use a lever while I applied my body weight to the opposite side of the steps. Quite frankly if you didn’t know they had been bent you couldn’t tell it now. They do need to be taken off and spray painted when we get home to keep them from rusting, but it was getting time to do that anyway.
Gary has suggested trying to beat out the bent rim for the tire too, because that is why we had a flat, but I worry it would be out of round and ruin tires, so we agreed to use the emergency trailer repair fund to purchase a new rim, and a tire if the tire is damaged instead.
We did all this labor in 90+ degree heat, so needless to say Gary really wanted a shower and headed for the shower house as soon as all the tools were put up. He said the perfect ending to his day was being in a shower house all alone in the middle of the piney woods after dark and the lights going out! He entertained thoughts of Freddie Krueger for a split second until he realized the lights and fan were on a motion detector and he'd been standing just letting the water flow over his aching body so long the lights thought he'd left. As soon as he moved around a bit the lights came back on. Still he was glad that our camp was just a few feet away as he headed back through the darkened campground to the camper, where I had securely locked myself in. He made the short walk a little quicker than normal I might add.
So despite the ups and downs of the day we settled into a nice campsite for a good night's sleep pretty early last night knowing we were okay.
This is where I have to sing the praises of Dave Ramsey, prior to going on his Baby Step program of the Total Money Make Over, we would not have had that emergency fund and we would have had to drive home on an iffy spare and then been stuck at home, unable to travel and make money, until we had enough cash to pay for the repair.
Following his budget suggestions we budget so much each month for this fund, we have a similar fund for household repairs, and truck repairs as well. These are over and above the emergency fund of baby step #1 in his plan.
This budgeting is what allowed us to be in a stockyard in Green Forest, AR laughing at a situation rather than sitting beside the road and crying.
It combined with using our brains, instead of our emotions is what allowed us to tell Murphy to take a hike. So as I set here safely in my camper, with newly mended steps I suggest everyone check out Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover book so you too can laugh at Murphy when he comes to call.
Jan who will be purchasing a new rim with CASH (no credit card stupid tax for me) this week while she’s still in AR
Showing posts with label Visits from Murphy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Visits from Murphy. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
THE PRINCESS PLAN BASICS
Changing all aspects of our lives from living like paupers to becoming royalty.
December 31, 2009
Occasionally I have mentioned that I am working on the Princess Plan. Some of you are very familiar with my Princess Plan, but others have never heard of it. Since it is the beginning of a new year everyone is making plans for what they want to accomplish in the New Year. Myself included. I’ve drug out the Princess Plan and dusted it off. I had started it this time last year and was doing so very well on it until we got the BIG HIT from Murphy in late February, I think it’s still a good plan. So here are the basics of it.
The premise of the Princess Plan came from my realizing that clutter in all avenues of our lives was making us live like paupers. Think about it. If your home is in a mess you can’t find things, so you purchase another item to replace the one you can’t find because it’s easier. You can’t find a bill, you clutter your finances with late fees. How often has clutter caused an item to be ruined?
No menu plan, you tend to eat out and clutter your finances more.
Financial clutter aka: debt causes you to have cluttered emotions, which will clutter your relationships with friends and family it’s all connected and as a result you live like a pauper in at least one area of your life. I’m tired of being a pauper, I want to be the princess my Papa always called me. So I developed this plan and as long as I stick to it I find that we are slowly working our way toward living like royalty in all aspects of our lives.
When I set it up I used the Royal theme to help title and give substances to each aspect. You can use different titles or whatever. This is my personal plan and how I set it up.
I tend to work in twelves when making lists so I started with twelve basic goals. As always in my life this is NOT a to do list, but a goal list. I am not a person who works well with demands, a list that is titled “TO DO” sounds like a demand to my brain, so I set goals. The world will not end if I don’t get a goal done, but I will be very proud if I do.
I am a list person, meaning I work better if I have a list to follow. Some people hate lists, so they would just forget setting up the outline as I have it. And just work in general, but for those of us who need a list Here’s how it goes.
Twelve works well for the Princess Plan because then I can work some on each of the 12 main goals a month.
So I took those original twelve goals and broke it down to a certain amount to do each month for 12 months. In my example I will take the goal I have to “totally clean and organize the whole house.” That is an overall goal and looking at it in that HUGE lump is pretty daunting. But when I break the house down to twelve areas to work on solid one area a month it becomes a little more manageable. So the CASTLE segment was born.
Once you have determined the 12 segments for your house then break those 12 segments into four parts per segment—one for each week of the month.
Those four parts get broken into seven goals, one for each day. With details on EXACTLY how I want to do that day’s jobs. It sounds hard but if you set it all down to paper in an outline format you’ll see it’s “just a little” each day. Like I said I’m a list person, so I include EVERYTHING in my overall master goal list, right down to how I will dispose of the clutter I find as I go DAILY. As each of the sections is completed then it’s just a matter of keeping it picked up daily after that segment is completed to get to my goal. Being the S.H.E. (Sidetracked Home Executive) that I am I know that I will tend to put up just a few things in other areas daily too so by the time I get to the last area it will be fairly simple to do.
Just as Dave Ramsey suggests starting with the smallest debt and snowballing up to the largest to keep giving yourself a reward of seeing accomplishment to encourage you to move on to the next one I suggest starting with the easiest area to fix first, say your cleanest or smallest room and then trying to take care of removing 5-10 items daily from the remaining areas of the original 12 so by the time you get to the room from HELL there will be so little left in it you will find it a snap (after all you will have removed permanently 240-480 minimum items from that room already).
Here’s the outline I mentioned I use.
THE ROYAL CASTLE: goal to totally clean and organize it by year’s end.
I. Kitchen by the week
A.-D Break the kitchen into four segments to do one segment a week
1-7 Break the week segments into 7 parts (One part for each day)
a. Break it down into EXACT steps of how you will do that day’s goals, remember to include taking 10 items PERMANENTLY out of each of the remaining areas.
II. Master bedroom by the week
III. Repeat with the other segments for the year in this category. So you will complete one area a month.
Now go down your original list and do a similar outline for each of the other eleven areas. So you will actually be doing 12 different small type segments a day. The 12 items might be finances, exercise, cleaning various buildings, preparing for Christmas/birthdays whatever the “clutter is in your life.
My annual list? It’s below. If we do #7 like we want then my outline will need to be adjusted accordingly because it’s a little hard to clean at home when you are three states away. #12 is going to be the hardest to do with our current state of employment, but remember this is a goal list. The world will not end if it doesn’t happen. It would simply be a wonderful reward to work toward, we all LOVE Walt Disney World and haven’t been in four years, we miss it deeply.
It will of course not happen if our finances do not improve, it is a reward goal. The apple hanging from the string so to speak. We all need a reward to work toward. It will get the exact same type of monthly, weekly, daily breakdown the other areas will get, but they will be appropriate for it. Money will only be put back for the trip AFTER we are actually doing great on our finances again. The only money in the beginning that will be put back will be the change from our pockets once a week. If we see we are not going to be able to make the December 2010 trip we all desire all the put back money will make a great snowball payment. (which is what will most likely happen).
Annual goals:
1. Totally clean and organized the house—THE ROYALS CASTLE
2. Sell off all excess items, vehicles, critters, etc. THE ROYAL TREASURERY
3. Garden year round successfully HER MAJESTY’S GARDEN
4. Preserve all excess foods, get to the point that we only grocery shop for the very basics we cannot produce ourselves.THE ROYAL PANTRY
5. Clean, organize, repair, and paint the garage THE OUTER KINGDOM BUILDINGS
6. Clean, organize, repair, and paint all out buildings, pens, and porches THE OUTER KINGDOM POULTRY
7. Mystery shop five days a week, traveling whenever we can. THE ROYAL TREASURERY
8. Take all excess weight off of all three of us THE ROYALS
9. Lay in two years worth of firewood HEAT FOR THE QUEEN/DRAGON’S BREATH
10. Reduce our debt by at least one half THE ROYAL TREASURERY PART II
11. Go to entirely scratch cooking THE PANTRY OF THE ROYALS
12. Go to Walt Disney World on a cash basis PARTY TIME!—THE ROYAL BALL!
So that’s the basics of the Princess Plan, will we accomplish it all? Not if Murphy has anything to say about it, but then Murphy can be defeated it just takes an “I can” attitude. I am realistic about this, finances being our biggest problem right now, but as I tell myself and the guys “this too shall pass”. After all we are so much better off than others we have blessings galore and most important, we have each other.
So, now I challenge you to make your own Princess/Prince plan. What are your goals, what will you achieve in 2010.
Jan whose family is so much closer after the BIG Murphy visit and who wishes you a Happy New Year in OK
December 31, 2009
Occasionally I have mentioned that I am working on the Princess Plan. Some of you are very familiar with my Princess Plan, but others have never heard of it. Since it is the beginning of a new year everyone is making plans for what they want to accomplish in the New Year. Myself included. I’ve drug out the Princess Plan and dusted it off. I had started it this time last year and was doing so very well on it until we got the BIG HIT from Murphy in late February, I think it’s still a good plan. So here are the basics of it.
The premise of the Princess Plan came from my realizing that clutter in all avenues of our lives was making us live like paupers. Think about it. If your home is in a mess you can’t find things, so you purchase another item to replace the one you can’t find because it’s easier. You can’t find a bill, you clutter your finances with late fees. How often has clutter caused an item to be ruined?
No menu plan, you tend to eat out and clutter your finances more.
Financial clutter aka: debt causes you to have cluttered emotions, which will clutter your relationships with friends and family it’s all connected and as a result you live like a pauper in at least one area of your life. I’m tired of being a pauper, I want to be the princess my Papa always called me. So I developed this plan and as long as I stick to it I find that we are slowly working our way toward living like royalty in all aspects of our lives.
When I set it up I used the Royal theme to help title and give substances to each aspect. You can use different titles or whatever. This is my personal plan and how I set it up.
I tend to work in twelves when making lists so I started with twelve basic goals. As always in my life this is NOT a to do list, but a goal list. I am not a person who works well with demands, a list that is titled “TO DO” sounds like a demand to my brain, so I set goals. The world will not end if I don’t get a goal done, but I will be very proud if I do.
I am a list person, meaning I work better if I have a list to follow. Some people hate lists, so they would just forget setting up the outline as I have it. And just work in general, but for those of us who need a list Here’s how it goes.
Twelve works well for the Princess Plan because then I can work some on each of the 12 main goals a month.
So I took those original twelve goals and broke it down to a certain amount to do each month for 12 months. In my example I will take the goal I have to “totally clean and organize the whole house.” That is an overall goal and looking at it in that HUGE lump is pretty daunting. But when I break the house down to twelve areas to work on solid one area a month it becomes a little more manageable. So the CASTLE segment was born.
Once you have determined the 12 segments for your house then break those 12 segments into four parts per segment—one for each week of the month.
Those four parts get broken into seven goals, one for each day. With details on EXACTLY how I want to do that day’s jobs. It sounds hard but if you set it all down to paper in an outline format you’ll see it’s “just a little” each day. Like I said I’m a list person, so I include EVERYTHING in my overall master goal list, right down to how I will dispose of the clutter I find as I go DAILY. As each of the sections is completed then it’s just a matter of keeping it picked up daily after that segment is completed to get to my goal. Being the S.H.E. (Sidetracked Home Executive) that I am I know that I will tend to put up just a few things in other areas daily too so by the time I get to the last area it will be fairly simple to do.
Just as Dave Ramsey suggests starting with the smallest debt and snowballing up to the largest to keep giving yourself a reward of seeing accomplishment to encourage you to move on to the next one I suggest starting with the easiest area to fix first, say your cleanest or smallest room and then trying to take care of removing 5-10 items daily from the remaining areas of the original 12 so by the time you get to the room from HELL there will be so little left in it you will find it a snap (after all you will have removed permanently 240-480 minimum items from that room already).
Here’s the outline I mentioned I use.
THE ROYAL CASTLE: goal to totally clean and organize it by year’s end.
I. Kitchen by the week
A.-D Break the kitchen into four segments to do one segment a week
1-7 Break the week segments into 7 parts (One part for each day)
a. Break it down into EXACT steps of how you will do that day’s goals, remember to include taking 10 items PERMANENTLY out of each of the remaining areas.
II. Master bedroom by the week
III. Repeat with the other segments for the year in this category. So you will complete one area a month.
Now go down your original list and do a similar outline for each of the other eleven areas. So you will actually be doing 12 different small type segments a day. The 12 items might be finances, exercise, cleaning various buildings, preparing for Christmas/birthdays whatever the “clutter is in your life.
My annual list? It’s below. If we do #7 like we want then my outline will need to be adjusted accordingly because it’s a little hard to clean at home when you are three states away. #12 is going to be the hardest to do with our current state of employment, but remember this is a goal list. The world will not end if it doesn’t happen. It would simply be a wonderful reward to work toward, we all LOVE Walt Disney World and haven’t been in four years, we miss it deeply.
It will of course not happen if our finances do not improve, it is a reward goal. The apple hanging from the string so to speak. We all need a reward to work toward. It will get the exact same type of monthly, weekly, daily breakdown the other areas will get, but they will be appropriate for it. Money will only be put back for the trip AFTER we are actually doing great on our finances again. The only money in the beginning that will be put back will be the change from our pockets once a week. If we see we are not going to be able to make the December 2010 trip we all desire all the put back money will make a great snowball payment. (which is what will most likely happen).
Annual goals:
1. Totally clean and organized the house—THE ROYALS CASTLE
2. Sell off all excess items, vehicles, critters, etc. THE ROYAL TREASURERY
3. Garden year round successfully HER MAJESTY’S GARDEN
4. Preserve all excess foods, get to the point that we only grocery shop for the very basics we cannot produce ourselves.THE ROYAL PANTRY
5. Clean, organize, repair, and paint the garage THE OUTER KINGDOM BUILDINGS
6. Clean, organize, repair, and paint all out buildings, pens, and porches THE OUTER KINGDOM POULTRY
7. Mystery shop five days a week, traveling whenever we can. THE ROYAL TREASURERY
8. Take all excess weight off of all three of us THE ROYALS
9. Lay in two years worth of firewood HEAT FOR THE QUEEN/DRAGON’S BREATH
10. Reduce our debt by at least one half THE ROYAL TREASURERY PART II
11. Go to entirely scratch cooking THE PANTRY OF THE ROYALS
12. Go to Walt Disney World on a cash basis PARTY TIME!—THE ROYAL BALL!
So that’s the basics of the Princess Plan, will we accomplish it all? Not if Murphy has anything to say about it, but then Murphy can be defeated it just takes an “I can” attitude. I am realistic about this, finances being our biggest problem right now, but as I tell myself and the guys “this too shall pass”. After all we are so much better off than others we have blessings galore and most important, we have each other.
So, now I challenge you to make your own Princess/Prince plan. What are your goals, what will you achieve in 2010.
Jan whose family is so much closer after the BIG Murphy visit and who wishes you a Happy New Year in OK
Friday, December 25, 2009
CHRISTMAS 12 YEARS LATER
CHRISTMAS 12 YEARS LATER
December 24, 2009, Christmas Eve
Twelve years have passed since that first Christmas here. Much has changed, we have suffered the loss of many of the characters, both human and animal, since then. As the sleet falls heavily outside I think of them.
Gone are Aunt Evelyn, Grandma Felicia, my father in law Alvin, and both the beloved granddoggers Katie and Mr. Erik they are all sorely missed. My mother in law now lives with my sister in law and the bad roads will keep us from seeing her for a few days. Her gift is purchased, but I have yet to wrap it. I’ll do that tonight when I am wrapping the homemade gifts for my husband and son.
On that Christmas 12 years ago the house was heavily decorated both inside and out. We’ve not done that this year, none of us had the time or the mind set to do it. The lack of decoration is not a new thing, slowly as time has progressed over this dozen years we’ve put less and less into our decorating. Often not returning home from a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida until just before Christmas, so it was just a rush partial put up of the tree. We had discussed doing it tonight, but the idea of chancing the icy walk to and from the garage to get it seems too dangerous. We do not need a tree to celebrate Christmas, all we need is each other.
This Christmas things are even more different, we agreed back in November that all gifts had to be homemade from things we already had on hand, the only exception to the rule were two gifts I had purchased earlier in the year, that totaled less than $15. Finances are tight, but our faith and family are strong.
I set a budget for Christmas to total less than $50 including the meal and the two gifts already purchased. I have came in under budget because of a very good deal on both the turkey and the ham. The two of them total less than $15 and I already had all the makings for the rest of the meal in my food storage. I’m pretty proud of how well we’ve been doing up to this point with Gary’s early “retirement”. So far we are still current on all the bills, that has been a true blessing, something to celebrate at Christmas.
In the kitchen the dishwasher is humming, on a half load of dishes. Murphy has visited yet again and for some reason anything put on the top shelf of the dishwasher does not come clean. So we don’t even bother to load that part right now. Gary and Sean will tear the dishwasher apart soon to see what the problem is and hopefully fix it.
Gary has the house warm and toasty with the last of the firewood he cut before Murphy took the big chainsaw away. Hopefully this sleet/snow storm will not knock the power out because any firewood cutting we have to do must be done with the tiny limb cutting chain saw until the big one is repaired. Gary thinks it’s a fuel line that will need replaced and the roads are bad, so that will have to wait. Thanks Murphy, you've been so generous this last few months.
Outside the new sump pump is working, after Murphy pulled another trick earlier this week and killed the old one. This seems to be a recurring Christmas theme. The water only got to 1” this time before it was discovered and the pump replaced.
Murphy, the old Grinch, has been trying hard to steal our Christmas this year, but we Patterson’s are not quitters.
We’ve kept the computers and printers humming to create one of a kind Christmas gifts for each other. As I type Gary is finishing up a super-imposed collage photo for Sean. It is an 8 X 10 photo of his cat Murray Mugillacuty “dreaming” about the other pets on the ranch. I’ll add a copy to the blog when I post this. It will probably be hard for you to see because there is so much on it, but I’ll tell you who is who anyway.
Of course the center figure is my grandkitty, Murray. Starting at the top left and moving clockwise is Lizzie, Magellan Goose with Mama Amy Kitty under him, grandkitty Gypsy Skeeter, Drifter Moon, Jolie Marie, Greystoke Goose, Jellybean and last but not least Misty Georgia. Gary is framing it for Sean’s desk at work. Sean is very fond of all the critters so I think he’ll like it. He’s been mentioning he needed to take photos of the critters to work for his desk.
With the help of a “must purchase” full reimbursement mystery shop I spent no cash to purchase Sean a battery for his X box controller. It was kind of a cheat, but the deal was we could spend no cash and technically I didn’t. He has not been able to use that controller for more than a few minutes for at a time because its battery is worn out. He’s been grumbling about that, so it should bring him some enjoyment.
Sean and I are working together on a gift for Gary, who is trying to teach himself to play bluegrass music on his acoustic guitar. I located free sheet music and companion mp3 files on the internet as well as how to instructions and downloaded those at the library. I’ve printed all the sheet music and will bind it in a decorated 3 ring notebook from my stash of scrounged notebooks. The cover is “scraps” of torn sheet music done in a random way with the words “BLUE GRASS” cut out of card stock on it.
Sean is burning the mp3s and lessons to cds and dvds for me. He’s designing the cover for the the jewel cases and printing those as well. He found some how to videos on line that he is putting into format for Gary’s Ipod from him. He is also giving him his hand exerciser and music stand to have as his. It’s a re-gift of sorts, but a good gift. Before finances got tight Gary had talked about purchasing these items for himself.
Along with these gifts we’ll be giving Gary the $10 guitar stand I caught on a great sale in the late fall. That was one of the two things I had caught on sale.
The two men will share the long cuffed fireplace gloves I caught on another sale before the agreement. They are both always getting soot on their clothes or worse yet burned because their work gloves are too short cuffed for the job.
We’ll see what their imaginations have came up with for me, tomorrow. Both have been working very secretly today.
These are all simple gifts, but they are gifts from the heart, which is what we all wanted this year.
For the dogs I have pigs feet from a butchering thawing for them for a Christmas gift. A couple of minutes with fabric scraps at the sewing machine and there will be five new catnip toys for the cats.
Tonight’s supper will be our traditional Christmas Eve We started this a few years before my father in law passed. Alvin always said that by Christmas he was tired of traditional holiday meals of turkey and ham, that he’d much rather have Mexican food. So we had started having him and my mother in law over for an enchilada dinner on Christmas Eve each year so they could visit on Christmas day with some of the other kids.
Tonight’s supper menu is: (recipes to follow)
Cheese and Onion/Dairy-free Chicken and “Sour Cream” Enchiladas
Refried Beans
Mexican Rice
Tossed Salad
Iced Tea
Sopapillas and Honey
Please note that I do use canned enchilada sauce because I simply have not developed a good homemade one that can be made as cheaply as purchasing a can YET. If you have a good enchilada sauce recipe please post it in the comments section below.
I am sorry but this is a meal I basically cook by feel, so all measurements are sort of guess work.
CHEESE AND ONION ENCHILADAS
Corn tortillas
Cheddar Cheese, grated (you can use dairy free cheese for these if desired
Onion, finely chopped
1 can Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce
Cooking Spray
Cooking oil, optional.
Before you start have all your ingredients ready. I set them up in the order I will be using them.
1. A plate to nuke the tortilla on
2. A shallow flat dish (I use a pie plate) in which I have poured the can of enchilada sauce. This needs to be big enough you can put the tortilla in flat and then turn it over to coat the tortilla
3. A plate to lay the tortilla on to fill it and roll it up with the cheese and onion sitting next to it.
4. The baking dish.
Spray the baking dish on both bottom and sides. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
To soften the corn tortillas you have two choices. You can either heat the optional cooking oil in a skillet and then dip the tortilla in quickly to soften it to continue to the next step. OR you can simply microwave the corn tortillas approximately 15 seconds to soften it. Either way you need the corn tortilla to be pliable. It is best to do the tortillas one at a time.
Cook the tortillas by the method of your choice (I nuke ours to help cut the calories).
Place the soft tortilla in the enchilada sauce then turn it over quickly to coat both sides of the tortilla.
Place the tortilla on the next plate and place the desired amount of cheese slightly off center (remember you are going to roll these up and you want to capture the filling inside) sprinkle a little of the chopped onion on top of the cheese. Then roll the tortilla up to where the cheese and onion are captured inside the tortilla. Place seam side down in the baking dish.
Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top of the pan of enchilada, top with more grated cheese and bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until all the cheese is melted.
DAIRY FREE CHICKEN AND SOUR CREAM ENCHILADAS
Using the same method to do the tortillas as above I fill them with a combination of the onion, dairy-free sour cream (I use Tofutti brand), shredded cooked chicken and onions, sometimes with a little chopped black olive) then continue as with the cheese/onion ones either omitting the grated cheese on top or using dairy-free cheddar or pepper jack cheese.
JP NOTE: ds does not care for onions so I leave those out of his and mark his by sticking a tooth pick in the no onion ones for him to eat.
REFRIED BEANS
4 C cooked pinto beans, mashed with a small amount of the bean soup liquid
Cumin, Chili seasoning/powder, garlic (either powder or finely minced) onion (either powder or finely minced) all to taste
Enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of the cooking skillet to about 1/8 inch.
Heat the oil to “sizzle” in a skillet.
While heating mix the remaining ingredients together well in a bowl.
Once the oil is hot (375 F) place all the bean mixture in the skillet at once and “fry”, stirring constantly stirring the oil into the bean mixture. Cook until the desired consistency.
MEXICAN RICE
4 C cooked cold rice (I usually have cooked “leftover” rice in my freezer just for this purpose—well and for fried rice meals too)
Cumin, Chili seasoning/powder, garlic (either powder or finely minced) onion (either powder or finely minced) all to taste
Corn if desired
Chopped bell pepper if desired
Enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of the cooking skillet to about 1/8 inch.
Heat the oil to “sizzle” (375 F) in a skillet.
While heating mix the remaining ingredients together well in a bowl.
Once the oil is hot place all the rice mixture in the skillet and stir fry until hot.
SOPAPILLAS—MASTER MIX
7 C all purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
8 teaspoons baking powder
4 teaspoons salt
¼ c shortening.
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well. I use a wire whisk for this job. Cut in the shortening until it is well mixed in. Store in a labeled and dated airtight container in a cool dry place. Best if used within 10-12 weeks.
Uses
BUTTER STICK SNACK
¼ c butter
2 c sopapilla mix
1 ½ tsp baking powder
Approximately 2/3 c milk
Coarse salt
Preheat oven to 450 F Melt butter in an 8 inch square baking pan while preheating the oven. Watch closely so it doesn’t burn, remove from oven as soon as the butter melts.
In a medium bowl mix the mix and baking powder together well. Stir in just enough milk to form a soft ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knewad 8-10 times. Roll out dough to an 8 inch square, which should make it about ½ inch thick.
Cut in half. Cut each half into 4” x 1” strips. Dip each strip into the melted butter. Place in the pan with strips slightly touching. Sprinkle with the coarse salt. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
FRY BREAD TOSTADAS/TACOS
2 c sopapilla mix
2/3 c water
Oil for frying
In a medium bowl combine the mix and water to form a ball. Adjust water or mix as needed to make the dough ball easy to work with. On a lightly floured surface knead the dough 8-10 times. Divide into 8 pieces. Roll out each piece to a 6 inch circle. Set aside. Cover with a cloth to keep from drying out to much. If using for a taco you may want to form the dough to a slight bowl shape before frying. You could to this by forming it over an upside down bowl.
Heat frying oil to 375. Fry the totada/taco bowl until golden brown on both sides.
For tostada top with heated refried beans, grated cheese, shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, black olives or topping of choice.
For tacos use your favorite taco fillings, we use the Moo-Gurgle filling I’ve previously posted.
SOPAPILLAS
2 c sopapilla mix
About 2/3 c water
Oil for frying
Powdered sugar for garnish
Honey if desired.
In a medium bowl, combine mix and water. Mix until dough clings together, adjust water mix ratio if needed. Knead dough 8-10 times on a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. Roll the dough out very thin then cut into 3 -4 inch squares. Heat 2-3 inch deep oil in a frying pan or use a deep fat fryer to 375 F. Fry until golden brown on one side, then using tongs turn over the sopapilla and continue frying until golden brown on that side as well. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve hot with honey if desired. Makes about 20.
Christmas Day:
We slept in, with no little ones in the house and over a foot of snow outside we all decided this was the thing we wanted to do. We slept quite late. Then exchanged our gifts. The guys did quite well by me.
Dh remembered I had a large collage frame that I purchased a couple of years ago that I had been wanting to fill with various photos and hang over the tv. He found all the photos, printed and mounted them for me. It was a big job. He promises to hang it this next week. I’m thrilled with it!!
Ds gathered how to videos and sheet music to match up for me to learn to play the Dulcimer that I traded for many years ago but never learned how to play. He would like for us to start a new family tradition of the three of us playing music together on the holiday. So I have 1 year to learn at least some basic Christmas tunes. LOL! He says he’ll tune it for me. I think it will be fun to learn.
After a very late traditional breakfast of biscuits and gravy we realized that by the time I cooked the turkey that was not quite thawed it would be very, very late in the evening. So a vote was taken and we all decided we wanted to be total bums for at least one day. The turkey went back in the refrigerator to cook tomorrow.
We’ve had a very relaxing day of the guys playing video games together, me cheering them on while working on my garden plans for next year. A very unique Christmas I know, but it was so nice to just relax and not stress.
Outside over a foot of snow lays on top of 2 inches of ice, inside the fireplace is warm and cozy and we are all content. Snacking and relaxing as Christmas movies play on the tv in the evening hours.
It’s been a very good holiday.
Jan who thinks this non-commercial Christmas was a very good idea in OK
December 24, 2009, Christmas Eve
Twelve years have passed since that first Christmas here. Much has changed, we have suffered the loss of many of the characters, both human and animal, since then. As the sleet falls heavily outside I think of them.
Gone are Aunt Evelyn, Grandma Felicia, my father in law Alvin, and both the beloved granddoggers Katie and Mr. Erik they are all sorely missed. My mother in law now lives with my sister in law and the bad roads will keep us from seeing her for a few days. Her gift is purchased, but I have yet to wrap it. I’ll do that tonight when I am wrapping the homemade gifts for my husband and son.
On that Christmas 12 years ago the house was heavily decorated both inside and out. We’ve not done that this year, none of us had the time or the mind set to do it. The lack of decoration is not a new thing, slowly as time has progressed over this dozen years we’ve put less and less into our decorating. Often not returning home from a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida until just before Christmas, so it was just a rush partial put up of the tree. We had discussed doing it tonight, but the idea of chancing the icy walk to and from the garage to get it seems too dangerous. We do not need a tree to celebrate Christmas, all we need is each other.
This Christmas things are even more different, we agreed back in November that all gifts had to be homemade from things we already had on hand, the only exception to the rule were two gifts I had purchased earlier in the year, that totaled less than $15. Finances are tight, but our faith and family are strong.
I set a budget for Christmas to total less than $50 including the meal and the two gifts already purchased. I have came in under budget because of a very good deal on both the turkey and the ham. The two of them total less than $15 and I already had all the makings for the rest of the meal in my food storage. I’m pretty proud of how well we’ve been doing up to this point with Gary’s early “retirement”. So far we are still current on all the bills, that has been a true blessing, something to celebrate at Christmas.
In the kitchen the dishwasher is humming, on a half load of dishes. Murphy has visited yet again and for some reason anything put on the top shelf of the dishwasher does not come clean. So we don’t even bother to load that part right now. Gary and Sean will tear the dishwasher apart soon to see what the problem is and hopefully fix it.
Gary has the house warm and toasty with the last of the firewood he cut before Murphy took the big chainsaw away. Hopefully this sleet/snow storm will not knock the power out because any firewood cutting we have to do must be done with the tiny limb cutting chain saw until the big one is repaired. Gary thinks it’s a fuel line that will need replaced and the roads are bad, so that will have to wait. Thanks Murphy, you've been so generous this last few months.
Outside the new sump pump is working, after Murphy pulled another trick earlier this week and killed the old one. This seems to be a recurring Christmas theme. The water only got to 1” this time before it was discovered and the pump replaced.
Murphy, the old Grinch, has been trying hard to steal our Christmas this year, but we Patterson’s are not quitters.
We’ve kept the computers and printers humming to create one of a kind Christmas gifts for each other. As I type Gary is finishing up a super-imposed collage photo for Sean. It is an 8 X 10 photo of his cat Murray Mugillacuty “dreaming” about the other pets on the ranch. I’ll add a copy to the blog when I post this. It will probably be hard for you to see because there is so much on it, but I’ll tell you who is who anyway.
Of course the center figure is my grandkitty, Murray. Starting at the top left and moving clockwise is Lizzie, Magellan Goose with Mama Amy Kitty under him, grandkitty Gypsy Skeeter, Drifter Moon, Jolie Marie, Greystoke Goose, Jellybean and last but not least Misty Georgia. Gary is framing it for Sean’s desk at work. Sean is very fond of all the critters so I think he’ll like it. He’s been mentioning he needed to take photos of the critters to work for his desk.
With the help of a “must purchase” full reimbursement mystery shop I spent no cash to purchase Sean a battery for his X box controller. It was kind of a cheat, but the deal was we could spend no cash and technically I didn’t. He has not been able to use that controller for more than a few minutes for at a time because its battery is worn out. He’s been grumbling about that, so it should bring him some enjoyment.
Sean and I are working together on a gift for Gary, who is trying to teach himself to play bluegrass music on his acoustic guitar. I located free sheet music and companion mp3 files on the internet as well as how to instructions and downloaded those at the library. I’ve printed all the sheet music and will bind it in a decorated 3 ring notebook from my stash of scrounged notebooks. The cover is “scraps” of torn sheet music done in a random way with the words “BLUE GRASS” cut out of card stock on it.
Sean is burning the mp3s and lessons to cds and dvds for me. He’s designing the cover for the the jewel cases and printing those as well. He found some how to videos on line that he is putting into format for Gary’s Ipod from him. He is also giving him his hand exerciser and music stand to have as his. It’s a re-gift of sorts, but a good gift. Before finances got tight Gary had talked about purchasing these items for himself.
Along with these gifts we’ll be giving Gary the $10 guitar stand I caught on a great sale in the late fall. That was one of the two things I had caught on sale.
The two men will share the long cuffed fireplace gloves I caught on another sale before the agreement. They are both always getting soot on their clothes or worse yet burned because their work gloves are too short cuffed for the job.
We’ll see what their imaginations have came up with for me, tomorrow. Both have been working very secretly today.
These are all simple gifts, but they are gifts from the heart, which is what we all wanted this year.
For the dogs I have pigs feet from a butchering thawing for them for a Christmas gift. A couple of minutes with fabric scraps at the sewing machine and there will be five new catnip toys for the cats.
Tonight’s supper will be our traditional Christmas Eve We started this a few years before my father in law passed. Alvin always said that by Christmas he was tired of traditional holiday meals of turkey and ham, that he’d much rather have Mexican food. So we had started having him and my mother in law over for an enchilada dinner on Christmas Eve each year so they could visit on Christmas day with some of the other kids.
Tonight’s supper menu is: (recipes to follow)
Cheese and Onion/Dairy-free Chicken and “Sour Cream” Enchiladas
Refried Beans
Mexican Rice
Tossed Salad
Iced Tea
Sopapillas and Honey
Please note that I do use canned enchilada sauce because I simply have not developed a good homemade one that can be made as cheaply as purchasing a can YET. If you have a good enchilada sauce recipe please post it in the comments section below.
I am sorry but this is a meal I basically cook by feel, so all measurements are sort of guess work.
CHEESE AND ONION ENCHILADAS
Corn tortillas
Cheddar Cheese, grated (you can use dairy free cheese for these if desired
Onion, finely chopped
1 can Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce
Cooking Spray
Cooking oil, optional.
Before you start have all your ingredients ready. I set them up in the order I will be using them.
1. A plate to nuke the tortilla on
2. A shallow flat dish (I use a pie plate) in which I have poured the can of enchilada sauce. This needs to be big enough you can put the tortilla in flat and then turn it over to coat the tortilla
3. A plate to lay the tortilla on to fill it and roll it up with the cheese and onion sitting next to it.
4. The baking dish.
Spray the baking dish on both bottom and sides. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
To soften the corn tortillas you have two choices. You can either heat the optional cooking oil in a skillet and then dip the tortilla in quickly to soften it to continue to the next step. OR you can simply microwave the corn tortillas approximately 15 seconds to soften it. Either way you need the corn tortilla to be pliable. It is best to do the tortillas one at a time.
Cook the tortillas by the method of your choice (I nuke ours to help cut the calories).
Place the soft tortilla in the enchilada sauce then turn it over quickly to coat both sides of the tortilla.
Place the tortilla on the next plate and place the desired amount of cheese slightly off center (remember you are going to roll these up and you want to capture the filling inside) sprinkle a little of the chopped onion on top of the cheese. Then roll the tortilla up to where the cheese and onion are captured inside the tortilla. Place seam side down in the baking dish.
Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top of the pan of enchilada, top with more grated cheese and bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until all the cheese is melted.
DAIRY FREE CHICKEN AND SOUR CREAM ENCHILADAS
Using the same method to do the tortillas as above I fill them with a combination of the onion, dairy-free sour cream (I use Tofutti brand), shredded cooked chicken and onions, sometimes with a little chopped black olive) then continue as with the cheese/onion ones either omitting the grated cheese on top or using dairy-free cheddar or pepper jack cheese.
JP NOTE: ds does not care for onions so I leave those out of his and mark his by sticking a tooth pick in the no onion ones for him to eat.
REFRIED BEANS
4 C cooked pinto beans, mashed with a small amount of the bean soup liquid
Cumin, Chili seasoning/powder, garlic (either powder or finely minced) onion (either powder or finely minced) all to taste
Enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of the cooking skillet to about 1/8 inch.
Heat the oil to “sizzle” in a skillet.
While heating mix the remaining ingredients together well in a bowl.
Once the oil is hot (375 F) place all the bean mixture in the skillet at once and “fry”, stirring constantly stirring the oil into the bean mixture. Cook until the desired consistency.
MEXICAN RICE
4 C cooked cold rice (I usually have cooked “leftover” rice in my freezer just for this purpose—well and for fried rice meals too)
Cumin, Chili seasoning/powder, garlic (either powder or finely minced) onion (either powder or finely minced) all to taste
Corn if desired
Chopped bell pepper if desired
Enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of the cooking skillet to about 1/8 inch.
Heat the oil to “sizzle” (375 F) in a skillet.
While heating mix the remaining ingredients together well in a bowl.
Once the oil is hot place all the rice mixture in the skillet and stir fry until hot.
SOPAPILLAS—MASTER MIX
7 C all purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
8 teaspoons baking powder
4 teaspoons salt
¼ c shortening.
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well. I use a wire whisk for this job. Cut in the shortening until it is well mixed in. Store in a labeled and dated airtight container in a cool dry place. Best if used within 10-12 weeks.
Uses
BUTTER STICK SNACK
¼ c butter
2 c sopapilla mix
1 ½ tsp baking powder
Approximately 2/3 c milk
Coarse salt
Preheat oven to 450 F Melt butter in an 8 inch square baking pan while preheating the oven. Watch closely so it doesn’t burn, remove from oven as soon as the butter melts.
In a medium bowl mix the mix and baking powder together well. Stir in just enough milk to form a soft ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knewad 8-10 times. Roll out dough to an 8 inch square, which should make it about ½ inch thick.
Cut in half. Cut each half into 4” x 1” strips. Dip each strip into the melted butter. Place in the pan with strips slightly touching. Sprinkle with the coarse salt. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
FRY BREAD TOSTADAS/TACOS
2 c sopapilla mix
2/3 c water
Oil for frying
In a medium bowl combine the mix and water to form a ball. Adjust water or mix as needed to make the dough ball easy to work with. On a lightly floured surface knead the dough 8-10 times. Divide into 8 pieces. Roll out each piece to a 6 inch circle. Set aside. Cover with a cloth to keep from drying out to much. If using for a taco you may want to form the dough to a slight bowl shape before frying. You could to this by forming it over an upside down bowl.
Heat frying oil to 375. Fry the totada/taco bowl until golden brown on both sides.
For tostada top with heated refried beans, grated cheese, shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, black olives or topping of choice.
For tacos use your favorite taco fillings, we use the Moo-Gurgle filling I’ve previously posted.
SOPAPILLAS
2 c sopapilla mix
About 2/3 c water
Oil for frying
Powdered sugar for garnish
Honey if desired.
In a medium bowl, combine mix and water. Mix until dough clings together, adjust water mix ratio if needed. Knead dough 8-10 times on a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. Roll the dough out very thin then cut into 3 -4 inch squares. Heat 2-3 inch deep oil in a frying pan or use a deep fat fryer to 375 F. Fry until golden brown on one side, then using tongs turn over the sopapilla and continue frying until golden brown on that side as well. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve hot with honey if desired. Makes about 20.
Christmas Day:
We slept in, with no little ones in the house and over a foot of snow outside we all decided this was the thing we wanted to do. We slept quite late. Then exchanged our gifts. The guys did quite well by me.
Dh remembered I had a large collage frame that I purchased a couple of years ago that I had been wanting to fill with various photos and hang over the tv. He found all the photos, printed and mounted them for me. It was a big job. He promises to hang it this next week. I’m thrilled with it!!
Ds gathered how to videos and sheet music to match up for me to learn to play the Dulcimer that I traded for many years ago but never learned how to play. He would like for us to start a new family tradition of the three of us playing music together on the holiday. So I have 1 year to learn at least some basic Christmas tunes. LOL! He says he’ll tune it for me. I think it will be fun to learn.
After a very late traditional breakfast of biscuits and gravy we realized that by the time I cooked the turkey that was not quite thawed it would be very, very late in the evening. So a vote was taken and we all decided we wanted to be total bums for at least one day. The turkey went back in the refrigerator to cook tomorrow.
We’ve had a very relaxing day of the guys playing video games together, me cheering them on while working on my garden plans for next year. A very unique Christmas I know, but it was so nice to just relax and not stress.
Outside over a foot of snow lays on top of 2 inches of ice, inside the fireplace is warm and cozy and we are all content. Snacking and relaxing as Christmas movies play on the tv in the evening hours.
It’s been a very good holiday.
Jan who thinks this non-commercial Christmas was a very good idea in OK
Monday, November 9, 2009
PAINTING AND MURPHY PUTS IN LINOLEUM
Part 3 of the Hot water Tank Saga
A pattern continued throughout the week. Sean would go to work, I’d go mystery shop and run errands and Gary would stay home laboring on the “weekend” job. Stopping the poor connection leak and removing the pan he had placed under it earlier in the week. During the evenings Sean and I would cook dinner, do the farm chores and help Gary.
Slowly progress was made. I love the wallpaper border that is in this room so I wanted to keep it. That meant it had to be blue taped off, so did all the dark woodwork.
While we were waiting for the floor to finish drying I decided it was a good time to take advantage of super easy access to all four cupboards in the room and dumped them all out. Remarkably I put back everything we were keeping and I did so in a totally organized, INVENTORIED fashion. Ahh the Princess Plan rears its head.
Unfortunately it also meant more going into the living room, bedroom, kitchen and utility room, plus now things were starting to move to the stair well to make the trek upstairs.
I found things we’d been looking for and had given up on finding, (isn’t that always the story?) things I didn’t even know we had ( a huge roll of paper I can use for rubber stamping and to make patterns out of) things to discard totally and things to sell.
I also found I was out of certain things I thought were in that cupboard, so the “to buy” list grew. One of which was the Murphy’s Oil Soap I use to wash woodwork down with. I picked that up just yesterday while out doing yet another mystery shop. The woodwork still needs a good scrubbing.
By Saturday the walls were finally all taped off, this room has LOTS of angles—the whole house does, and that is one of the reasons I love it so much. Parts of the room are 8 ft tall, others are 9 ft and the wall paper border follows all the turns and angles of the room. So it was a whole lot of blue tape.
Once the tape was finally up the painting went amazingly fast. I had chosen a light spring green to match a color in the rooster border. It was so light as it was going on it was actually kind of hard to tell where we had painted and where we hadn’t until the natural darkening set in.
Of course Murphy had to make tracks through the paint and the original off white color popped up in places after the paint dried. Quick touch ups solved that problem.
He also made tracks in the wood putty we had filled the knot holes on the subflooring with and the white Kilz primer we’d put on the now well deodorized and sanitized no-no kitty and mildew spots in the form of foot prints from one of the four adult cats.
Luckily the paint and putty were dry enough they didn’t track it to other parts of the house. So no real harm was done, Murphy just got to smile as we added more putty to fill in the dents made by the fat cat.
Rather than sit and watch the paint dry, which we were so tired we could have easily done, we pulled the blue tape off then retired to the over-crowded living room for a little tv time last night.
During one break Sean decided to go ahead and feed the dogs for the night and bring in the meat to thaw for Sunday’s dinner. He turned on the overhead light and suddenly it went out along with every outlet on the outer walls in the sunroom!
For the next three hours the two men armed with volt meters, and other tools threw breakers, checked voltage and much more to try to figure out why we had no power in that room or any outside wall of the house, except the one the camper was plugged in to—which we KNOW is on the same breaker. They never did.
My freezer and spare refrigerator are on the outside walls. So out, with only a nearly dead flashlight, because all but one of the porch lights didn’t work as well (why did that one work?—Murphy was playing games of course). Gary and Sean went to the camper and garage and drug in heavy duty extension cords for a temporary fix.
The brooder full of the three day old ducklings was also now without warmth, so another extension cord was put into play there.
Problem solved on a very temporary basis we all collapsed into our chairs again, but were too tired to watch more than 30 minutes. Sean said good night, retrieved his kitten from my room and went to bed.
Gary and I were following suit when I noticed a puddle of water on our now dry floor just under the wall that had JUST been painted. Okay Murphy, ENOUGH!
After a bit of discussion Gary mentioned how Sean had told him that he thought he might have a leak under his bathroom sink which is directly above that wall. Depression was creeping up on me when I noticed the cold water hook up for the washer was slowly drip, drip, dripping. Now it has a plastic catch basin so Gary had ruled that out as the source. He even said if it was going to leak, it would have done so before he cleaned the lint off of it earlier that day. I looked, Jackpot! A small hairline crack. The faucet would not turn all the way off, so we wedged a plastic cup under the drip and went to bed.
This morning I awoke to the roosters having a crowing battle that sounded remarkable loud until I remembered we have been blessed with very warm weather and were sleeping with the windows open.
As I mentioned this house is all angles, there are no straight shots through any two rooms to a third. Today we were going to lay down the linoleum and move the washer and dryer back in. I was so excited. I NEEDED to do laundry so bad.
Last night Murphy had whispered in my ear ”How are you going to get a 12’ X 9’6” piece of linoleum in to the utility room and cut it right without damaging it?
“Go away Murphy!” I moaned.
Our back deck, the one just outside my bedroom is in BAD shape, It was scheduled for replacement this last summer, but money and time had been tight so it wasn’t done. It’s bad enough I worry about the birds and dogs getting on it. But the only way to get that linoleum into the house easily was through that bedroom door.
Next thought was where in the world were we going to cut all those angles to make the linoleum fit. The bedroom floor was the only space that was near big enough. Only we had been filling that already cluttered room up all week. GROAN!
First thing this morning, while Sean slept—he was nearly out of inhaler, his “overnight” shipment ordered a week before still had not arrived, and the dust we were stirring up was giving him some problems. So we told him to sleep in and keep his kitten up there with him so we could have the bedroom open to “empty the bedroom—Gary did morning chores and I started emptying the sitting area in the bedroom into the living room and kitchen.
As I went I actually “cleaned and decluttered” filling one feed sack with odds and ends that had gathered here and there. Mercilessly boxing up magazines and books I had decided to cull from the shelves and were stacked here, there, and everywhere.
Gypsy wouldn’t let Sean sleep very long, so he soon joined us. He handed her off to me to hold while he got breakfast for him and her because. Lizzie is till determined this kitten is NOT staying the other three totally ignore Gypsy Skeeter now. Mama Amy has even gone so far as to play with her and groom her some, but we can’t let Lizzie near her. The fur flies when she does and Gypsy is terrified of her.
Sean brought Gypsy’s food in through the living room and placed it where he’s been feeding her safety zone in my bathroom. Before I could stop her she jumped down and headed for her chow. Lizzie was on her before any of us could stop her. Only this time Gypsy didn’t run. Oh the fur flew, but when it was all said and done, it was dilute calico fur, not the darker grey of the younger dilute calico that lay on the floor. It was also the bigger cat who had a new “beauty mark” on her nose.
Just as I had predicted the kitten had her fill of being attacked. Even more amazing, Sean’s cowardly cat Murray Mugillacuty ran in to protect his baby sister. Him with no front claws. Jellybean set and watched and Amy went to protect her new “baby”. While I grabbed the water bottle to squirt Lizzie for being a bad girl.
Lizzie’s nose was out of joint all day. It was late evening before she came to me wanting petted. She stalked the bedroom and bathroom doors where the kitten was locked up all day—we have no delusions the war is over—but her pride was definitely hurt today.
Soon afterwards furniture was moved to the living room and the far side of the bed. My huge plant was moved to the porch, the vacuum was ran and the plywood sheets from the living room floor were moved to the bedroom to use as “cutting mats” to protect the carpet. We didn’t trust Murphy, so we took precautions.
Using the old saying, “measure twice, cut once,” the guys set to work marking the linoleum to cut it. Because I tend to be over cautious and sometimes tick the guys off during such projects I left the room and went to the kitchen to see if I could perhaps figure out a way to cook a meal despite the mess in there. I also worked hard all day on cleaning and sorting, after all I was suppose to be able to start putting things back later on today.
On and off all day I cleaned and cooked, between kitten sitting and helping where I was needed. By the end of the day we had roasted chicken, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, iced tea, Caramel Fudge Swirled brownies, and Cherry Mash Candy (recipes will be posted as the final post on this saga . I had culled more stuff from the house, burned trash, and had done a bunch of dishes.
The “quick” installation of the linoleum of course didn’t go quick.
My guys are both draftsmen, when they build something it’s square. Even if it has angles those angles are “square”. A room is the total same width at one end as it is at the other. They expect other people to build the same way.
We already knew that the people who built this home didn’t own a level. We now know they didn’t own a straight edge or a t-square either. We discovered this AFTER the linoleum was cut.
Sean later said we should have made a cardboard pattern, but of course Murphy blocked that intelligent thought from happening before they cut the linoleum. So there was a little piecing that had to happen. Murphy giggled.
Luckily Gary is GOOD at matching up patterns, and it was a simple pattern (rectangles) to match. The piecing is totally unnoticeable and it behind the washer and dryer, and in a small niche at the far end of the room. So no traffic on either area.
The type of linoleum we are putting down is the type you tape. The roll of tape said it was enough to do the utility room and the bathroom. It LIED.
We had no plans to do the bathroom today, we had the simple plan of getting the linoleum in the utility room down and the washer and dryer back in. Then tomorrow Gary would work on the bathroom, where the carpet is still down. Followed by the two steps, down into the kitchen, which also still have carpet on them as well.
There was just enough tape to put down from the back wall to just past the washer and dryer. So that’s what he and Sean did. Next was to put the mop boards back on—NO finishing nails, Murphy stole them I’m certain.
They tried taping the boards up, nope. Sean made an executive decision. It was after 10:00pm and he had to get up early because he has to work tomorrow and they are starting road construction on highway 75 in the morning, so he needs to leave early to take an alternative route.
He said “Let’s set the machines, I need work clothes for tomorrow.” Then once we have finishing nails we’ll move them out from the wall, put the boards up and put them back.”
So that’s what they did, once again using the shoulder dollies—we really love those things.
Gary and I have stayed up late to do Sean’s laundry and a load for Gary while I typed this.
We still have to clear a path to and off the bed. Gypsy is sleeping in our room tonight because she won’t let Sean sleep. He had taken her up with him, but she was so keyed up with all today’s activities she wouldn’t settle down so he asked us to baby sit her for the night. He’s really not feeling well without his meds if they don’t come tomorrow he’ll call his doctor and get a one time RX so he can breath.
Luckily the shops I had scheduled for tomorrow are flexible days, so I can possibly sleep late and do them on Tuesday and Wednesday , if Gypsy will let us.
Gary just came in from feeding the dogs and accidentally discovered all the electric is back on out there. Funny Murphy, real funny. Now I’m worried about an electrical short!
Our plan for tomorrow. Get the finishing nails and tape we need, check under Sean’s bathroom sink for a possible leak—just in case, do laundry, finish the utility room, check the outlets and such again—we have to find the source of the problem and then move on to the steps and bathroom.
Jan who steals a quote from Red Skelton when she says “Good Night and may God bless.” In OK
A pattern continued throughout the week. Sean would go to work, I’d go mystery shop and run errands and Gary would stay home laboring on the “weekend” job. Stopping the poor connection leak and removing the pan he had placed under it earlier in the week. During the evenings Sean and I would cook dinner, do the farm chores and help Gary.
Slowly progress was made. I love the wallpaper border that is in this room so I wanted to keep it. That meant it had to be blue taped off, so did all the dark woodwork.
While we were waiting for the floor to finish drying I decided it was a good time to take advantage of super easy access to all four cupboards in the room and dumped them all out. Remarkably I put back everything we were keeping and I did so in a totally organized, INVENTORIED fashion. Ahh the Princess Plan rears its head.
Unfortunately it also meant more going into the living room, bedroom, kitchen and utility room, plus now things were starting to move to the stair well to make the trek upstairs.
I found things we’d been looking for and had given up on finding, (isn’t that always the story?) things I didn’t even know we had ( a huge roll of paper I can use for rubber stamping and to make patterns out of) things to discard totally and things to sell.
I also found I was out of certain things I thought were in that cupboard, so the “to buy” list grew. One of which was the Murphy’s Oil Soap I use to wash woodwork down with. I picked that up just yesterday while out doing yet another mystery shop. The woodwork still needs a good scrubbing.
By Saturday the walls were finally all taped off, this room has LOTS of angles—the whole house does, and that is one of the reasons I love it so much. Parts of the room are 8 ft tall, others are 9 ft and the wall paper border follows all the turns and angles of the room. So it was a whole lot of blue tape.
Once the tape was finally up the painting went amazingly fast. I had chosen a light spring green to match a color in the rooster border. It was so light as it was going on it was actually kind of hard to tell where we had painted and where we hadn’t until the natural darkening set in.
Of course Murphy had to make tracks through the paint and the original off white color popped up in places after the paint dried. Quick touch ups solved that problem.
He also made tracks in the wood putty we had filled the knot holes on the subflooring with and the white Kilz primer we’d put on the now well deodorized and sanitized no-no kitty and mildew spots in the form of foot prints from one of the four adult cats.
Luckily the paint and putty were dry enough they didn’t track it to other parts of the house. So no real harm was done, Murphy just got to smile as we added more putty to fill in the dents made by the fat cat.
Rather than sit and watch the paint dry, which we were so tired we could have easily done, we pulled the blue tape off then retired to the over-crowded living room for a little tv time last night.
During one break Sean decided to go ahead and feed the dogs for the night and bring in the meat to thaw for Sunday’s dinner. He turned on the overhead light and suddenly it went out along with every outlet on the outer walls in the sunroom!
For the next three hours the two men armed with volt meters, and other tools threw breakers, checked voltage and much more to try to figure out why we had no power in that room or any outside wall of the house, except the one the camper was plugged in to—which we KNOW is on the same breaker. They never did.
My freezer and spare refrigerator are on the outside walls. So out, with only a nearly dead flashlight, because all but one of the porch lights didn’t work as well (why did that one work?—Murphy was playing games of course). Gary and Sean went to the camper and garage and drug in heavy duty extension cords for a temporary fix.
The brooder full of the three day old ducklings was also now without warmth, so another extension cord was put into play there.
Problem solved on a very temporary basis we all collapsed into our chairs again, but were too tired to watch more than 30 minutes. Sean said good night, retrieved his kitten from my room and went to bed.
Gary and I were following suit when I noticed a puddle of water on our now dry floor just under the wall that had JUST been painted. Okay Murphy, ENOUGH!
After a bit of discussion Gary mentioned how Sean had told him that he thought he might have a leak under his bathroom sink which is directly above that wall. Depression was creeping up on me when I noticed the cold water hook up for the washer was slowly drip, drip, dripping. Now it has a plastic catch basin so Gary had ruled that out as the source. He even said if it was going to leak, it would have done so before he cleaned the lint off of it earlier that day. I looked, Jackpot! A small hairline crack. The faucet would not turn all the way off, so we wedged a plastic cup under the drip and went to bed.
This morning I awoke to the roosters having a crowing battle that sounded remarkable loud until I remembered we have been blessed with very warm weather and were sleeping with the windows open.
As I mentioned this house is all angles, there are no straight shots through any two rooms to a third. Today we were going to lay down the linoleum and move the washer and dryer back in. I was so excited. I NEEDED to do laundry so bad.
Last night Murphy had whispered in my ear ”How are you going to get a 12’ X 9’6” piece of linoleum in to the utility room and cut it right without damaging it?
“Go away Murphy!” I moaned.
Our back deck, the one just outside my bedroom is in BAD shape, It was scheduled for replacement this last summer, but money and time had been tight so it wasn’t done. It’s bad enough I worry about the birds and dogs getting on it. But the only way to get that linoleum into the house easily was through that bedroom door.
Next thought was where in the world were we going to cut all those angles to make the linoleum fit. The bedroom floor was the only space that was near big enough. Only we had been filling that already cluttered room up all week. GROAN!
First thing this morning, while Sean slept—he was nearly out of inhaler, his “overnight” shipment ordered a week before still had not arrived, and the dust we were stirring up was giving him some problems. So we told him to sleep in and keep his kitten up there with him so we could have the bedroom open to “empty the bedroom—Gary did morning chores and I started emptying the sitting area in the bedroom into the living room and kitchen.
As I went I actually “cleaned and decluttered” filling one feed sack with odds and ends that had gathered here and there. Mercilessly boxing up magazines and books I had decided to cull from the shelves and were stacked here, there, and everywhere.
Gypsy wouldn’t let Sean sleep very long, so he soon joined us. He handed her off to me to hold while he got breakfast for him and her because. Lizzie is till determined this kitten is NOT staying the other three totally ignore Gypsy Skeeter now. Mama Amy has even gone so far as to play with her and groom her some, but we can’t let Lizzie near her. The fur flies when she does and Gypsy is terrified of her.
Sean brought Gypsy’s food in through the living room and placed it where he’s been feeding her safety zone in my bathroom. Before I could stop her she jumped down and headed for her chow. Lizzie was on her before any of us could stop her. Only this time Gypsy didn’t run. Oh the fur flew, but when it was all said and done, it was dilute calico fur, not the darker grey of the younger dilute calico that lay on the floor. It was also the bigger cat who had a new “beauty mark” on her nose.
Just as I had predicted the kitten had her fill of being attacked. Even more amazing, Sean’s cowardly cat Murray Mugillacuty ran in to protect his baby sister. Him with no front claws. Jellybean set and watched and Amy went to protect her new “baby”. While I grabbed the water bottle to squirt Lizzie for being a bad girl.
Lizzie’s nose was out of joint all day. It was late evening before she came to me wanting petted. She stalked the bedroom and bathroom doors where the kitten was locked up all day—we have no delusions the war is over—but her pride was definitely hurt today.
Soon afterwards furniture was moved to the living room and the far side of the bed. My huge plant was moved to the porch, the vacuum was ran and the plywood sheets from the living room floor were moved to the bedroom to use as “cutting mats” to protect the carpet. We didn’t trust Murphy, so we took precautions.
Using the old saying, “measure twice, cut once,” the guys set to work marking the linoleum to cut it. Because I tend to be over cautious and sometimes tick the guys off during such projects I left the room and went to the kitchen to see if I could perhaps figure out a way to cook a meal despite the mess in there. I also worked hard all day on cleaning and sorting, after all I was suppose to be able to start putting things back later on today.
On and off all day I cleaned and cooked, between kitten sitting and helping where I was needed. By the end of the day we had roasted chicken, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, iced tea, Caramel Fudge Swirled brownies, and Cherry Mash Candy (recipes will be posted as the final post on this saga . I had culled more stuff from the house, burned trash, and had done a bunch of dishes.
The “quick” installation of the linoleum of course didn’t go quick.
My guys are both draftsmen, when they build something it’s square. Even if it has angles those angles are “square”. A room is the total same width at one end as it is at the other. They expect other people to build the same way.
We already knew that the people who built this home didn’t own a level. We now know they didn’t own a straight edge or a t-square either. We discovered this AFTER the linoleum was cut.
Sean later said we should have made a cardboard pattern, but of course Murphy blocked that intelligent thought from happening before they cut the linoleum. So there was a little piecing that had to happen. Murphy giggled.
Luckily Gary is GOOD at matching up patterns, and it was a simple pattern (rectangles) to match. The piecing is totally unnoticeable and it behind the washer and dryer, and in a small niche at the far end of the room. So no traffic on either area.
The type of linoleum we are putting down is the type you tape. The roll of tape said it was enough to do the utility room and the bathroom. It LIED.
We had no plans to do the bathroom today, we had the simple plan of getting the linoleum in the utility room down and the washer and dryer back in. Then tomorrow Gary would work on the bathroom, where the carpet is still down. Followed by the two steps, down into the kitchen, which also still have carpet on them as well.
There was just enough tape to put down from the back wall to just past the washer and dryer. So that’s what he and Sean did. Next was to put the mop boards back on—NO finishing nails, Murphy stole them I’m certain.
They tried taping the boards up, nope. Sean made an executive decision. It was after 10:00pm and he had to get up early because he has to work tomorrow and they are starting road construction on highway 75 in the morning, so he needs to leave early to take an alternative route.
He said “Let’s set the machines, I need work clothes for tomorrow.” Then once we have finishing nails we’ll move them out from the wall, put the boards up and put them back.”
So that’s what they did, once again using the shoulder dollies—we really love those things.
Gary and I have stayed up late to do Sean’s laundry and a load for Gary while I typed this.
We still have to clear a path to and off the bed. Gypsy is sleeping in our room tonight because she won’t let Sean sleep. He had taken her up with him, but she was so keyed up with all today’s activities she wouldn’t settle down so he asked us to baby sit her for the night. He’s really not feeling well without his meds if they don’t come tomorrow he’ll call his doctor and get a one time RX so he can breath.
Luckily the shops I had scheduled for tomorrow are flexible days, so I can possibly sleep late and do them on Tuesday and Wednesday , if Gypsy will let us.
Gary just came in from feeding the dogs and accidentally discovered all the electric is back on out there. Funny Murphy, real funny. Now I’m worried about an electrical short!
Our plan for tomorrow. Get the finishing nails and tape we need, check under Sean’s bathroom sink for a possible leak—just in case, do laundry, finish the utility room, check the outlets and such again—we have to find the source of the problem and then move on to the steps and bathroom.
Jan who steals a quote from Red Skelton when she says “Good Night and may God bless.” In OK
Sunday, November 8, 2009
LIKE FALLING DOMINOES, MURPHY KEEPS ON KEEPING ON
Part 2 of the hot water tank saga.
November 8, 2009
It’s now 8 days later and visits from Murphy keep popping up, bless his little pea pickin’ heart.
Prior to the discovery of the wet carpet I had been working my way back into my Princess Plan. For those of you who aren’t on de-cluttering lists with me I’ll give you a quick explanation of the Princes Plan.
It’s a system I’m developing to help people come from being paupers enslaved by clutter and debt in their all aspects of their life to being the royalty they truly are. I plan on finally being the princess my Papa always called me.
I had started the plan on January 1, 2009 and was doing pretty good on it with the help of Dave Ramsey and with working out a system that was greatly improving the look and feel of my home and ranch.
Then the surprise unemployment hit and I hit the road, things not only backslid as far as the clutter department went they had worsened. Only our basic finances had continued to improve, albeit slowly and not the gazelle intense like I had planned, but we were current on all our bills and had even paid off four small ones in the last eight months.
Then this series of Murphy’s visits started hitting and things went from bad to worse real quick.
When last I left you it was Halloween and the day after. We were starting to empty the utility room. Now what comes out of a room in any home has to go into another one somewhere in the house.
Remember the “Uninvited Guest” story, well we still have all the dining room stuff in the living room. Now the utility room items needed a place to park. Some went to the overstuffed sunroom, more went to the living room and some went to my bedroom. The clutter was deepening. Small paths were starting to form through the lower level.
My kitchen cabinets are now covered in small appliances, which in turn makes it FUN to try and cook in there.
So let’s flash back to last Saturday.
As soon as he could Gary turned off the hot water tank because the leaking was pretty bad. Not only was it making a mess it was the hot water that was leaking so the electric meter was doing a boogie dance on the back porch while the water meter readers were rubbing their hands together with glee as the meter spun gallon by gallon.
This meant no hot water in the house until the floor dried. You know the one that was absolutely sodden. As Gary labored to get the tank drained I continued to fold the laundry I had done earlier that day.
Sean has a lot of allergies, dust and mold being two biggies so pulling up wet starting to mildew carpet was something he could not do without risking a severe asthma attack, so he took over farm chores when it came to that job and Gary pulled the carpet up by himself Sean helped drag the dripping carpet and pad to the “non-burn” area for things that will go to the dump on the next run there. He of course started wheezing.
While they did this I cooked dinner.
This brought up a slight problem. Dishes, no hot water—oops! Gary cheerfully loaded the dishes in the dishwasher and assured me by the next afternoon the hot water would be back on and we’d be fine. Does that man live here? Has anything ever gone as planned on this ranch?
The next morning I went to the camper and brought in a large supply of paper plates, plastic cups and silverware. I am the more realistic of the two of us on things like this. I KNOW how things happen around here. It’s called life and it happens to everyone.
We seldom use paper and plastic when camping so this was an unusual thing for the guys and I so we periodically forgot and still grabbed dishes out of the cupboards and drawers out of habit. So we added a Murphy expense by using paper and plastic instead of the usual wash and reuse.
All day Sunday Gary and Sean worked on getting the floor dried out, while I ran and did a single mystery shop and picked up more supplies for the project.
When I got back home I discovered the two of them had used every single towel in the house trying to soak up water so the floor would dry quicker. EVERY single one, including my cream colored ones!!! I was not amused, but hollering would not have solved anything. They were trying to fix the problem. They had drug the dripping towels across the carpet that was still down in the bathroom and placed them in the shower stall. Gary promised he’d put them on the line the next day while I was gone so they’d at least dry and not sour.
They had made some progress, there was no longer standing water from the hot water tank, and the mildewed sheet rock no longer existed. A large hole in the wall, with a small one a now nearly 10 week old kitten could have easily gone down under the house through had taken its place. Thankfully Gypsy was locked securely in my bedroom.
I pointed out that Lizzie B was only slightly bigger and she might just take a trip (or an opossum come in) through that gaping wound so they blocked it temporarily at night with heavy plywood to prevent this. During the day there was always someone in there working so the board was removed to aid in the drying out of the lower wall studs and insulation. Yep all my interior walls are insulated, luckily the mildew had been limited to the outside of the sheet rock, there was none on the interior of the walls. .
I suggested fans and a small heater to speed up the drying process as Sunday passed into Monday, still no hot water.
Gary had already winterized the camper since we knew we’d be home for a month or two and now he had to un-winterize it because for some strange reason Sean and I thought we might need showers before going to work on Monday. Luckily they had forgot the towels in the camper when they were mopping water up. So we were all blessed with nice hot showers and the world was a safer place for it.
Dishes were starting to be more than the dishwasher would hold. Enter the boiling teapot into the daily scenario. I’ve done many a dish by heating water on a campfire at rendezvous (pre-1840 Fur Trade Era re-enactments), so this was no biggie.
Monday I mystery shopped, picked up more materials, did a few returns while Gary stayed home and took things down off the wall to prepare to paint the room. Sean went to work of course.
While I was out I picked up paint chips for both the utility room walls and the dining room wall that would need painted when we got back to it
Tuesday, still no hot water, but the wall studs were finally dry so Gary put up the new piece of sheet rock, and then had to take it back down because he forgot to put the mouse/rat poison down the conveniently open wall and under the house. Luckily I reminded him before he taped and mudded the wall or Murphy would have gotten a giggle I’m certain.
When you live in the country you take all the precautions you can to head off rodents. I cannot tell you how much money we’ve spent due to rodents over the years everything from fifth wheel and vehicle repairs to a whole new re-wiring of the landlines in our home, so we are very cautious about them. We have mousers inside and out of the house. We put Just One Bite (a vet recommended mouse and rat poison) any where we can that we know for CERTAIN our animals can’t get to it and if we notice a mouse dropping we set traps. Again where the pets can’t get to them.
That evening the guys thankfully slid the new hot water tank into its place. Only the connectors and plumbing didn’t match! Murphy snickered.
While I was out the next day doing mystery I picked up the right parts. That night we all did a jig, and then the water line started leaking!! Dang it Murphy I needed to do dishes!
While I was doing the mystery shops I checked the discounted returns and mis-mixed paints at all the stores. At the very last one I found the exact colors I wanted at half price!!! That’s one for the good guys, finally.
Jan who will post this and move on to part three of the saga in OK
November 8, 2009
It’s now 8 days later and visits from Murphy keep popping up, bless his little pea pickin’ heart.
Prior to the discovery of the wet carpet I had been working my way back into my Princess Plan. For those of you who aren’t on de-cluttering lists with me I’ll give you a quick explanation of the Princes Plan.
It’s a system I’m developing to help people come from being paupers enslaved by clutter and debt in their all aspects of their life to being the royalty they truly are. I plan on finally being the princess my Papa always called me.
I had started the plan on January 1, 2009 and was doing pretty good on it with the help of Dave Ramsey and with working out a system that was greatly improving the look and feel of my home and ranch.
Then the surprise unemployment hit and I hit the road, things not only backslid as far as the clutter department went they had worsened. Only our basic finances had continued to improve, albeit slowly and not the gazelle intense like I had planned, but we were current on all our bills and had even paid off four small ones in the last eight months.
Then this series of Murphy’s visits started hitting and things went from bad to worse real quick.
When last I left you it was Halloween and the day after. We were starting to empty the utility room. Now what comes out of a room in any home has to go into another one somewhere in the house.
Remember the “Uninvited Guest” story, well we still have all the dining room stuff in the living room. Now the utility room items needed a place to park. Some went to the overstuffed sunroom, more went to the living room and some went to my bedroom. The clutter was deepening. Small paths were starting to form through the lower level.
My kitchen cabinets are now covered in small appliances, which in turn makes it FUN to try and cook in there.
So let’s flash back to last Saturday.
As soon as he could Gary turned off the hot water tank because the leaking was pretty bad. Not only was it making a mess it was the hot water that was leaking so the electric meter was doing a boogie dance on the back porch while the water meter readers were rubbing their hands together with glee as the meter spun gallon by gallon.
This meant no hot water in the house until the floor dried. You know the one that was absolutely sodden. As Gary labored to get the tank drained I continued to fold the laundry I had done earlier that day.
Sean has a lot of allergies, dust and mold being two biggies so pulling up wet starting to mildew carpet was something he could not do without risking a severe asthma attack, so he took over farm chores when it came to that job and Gary pulled the carpet up by himself Sean helped drag the dripping carpet and pad to the “non-burn” area for things that will go to the dump on the next run there. He of course started wheezing.
While they did this I cooked dinner.
This brought up a slight problem. Dishes, no hot water—oops! Gary cheerfully loaded the dishes in the dishwasher and assured me by the next afternoon the hot water would be back on and we’d be fine. Does that man live here? Has anything ever gone as planned on this ranch?
The next morning I went to the camper and brought in a large supply of paper plates, plastic cups and silverware. I am the more realistic of the two of us on things like this. I KNOW how things happen around here. It’s called life and it happens to everyone.
We seldom use paper and plastic when camping so this was an unusual thing for the guys and I so we periodically forgot and still grabbed dishes out of the cupboards and drawers out of habit. So we added a Murphy expense by using paper and plastic instead of the usual wash and reuse.
All day Sunday Gary and Sean worked on getting the floor dried out, while I ran and did a single mystery shop and picked up more supplies for the project.
When I got back home I discovered the two of them had used every single towel in the house trying to soak up water so the floor would dry quicker. EVERY single one, including my cream colored ones!!! I was not amused, but hollering would not have solved anything. They were trying to fix the problem. They had drug the dripping towels across the carpet that was still down in the bathroom and placed them in the shower stall. Gary promised he’d put them on the line the next day while I was gone so they’d at least dry and not sour.
They had made some progress, there was no longer standing water from the hot water tank, and the mildewed sheet rock no longer existed. A large hole in the wall, with a small one a now nearly 10 week old kitten could have easily gone down under the house through had taken its place. Thankfully Gypsy was locked securely in my bedroom.
I pointed out that Lizzie B was only slightly bigger and she might just take a trip (or an opossum come in) through that gaping wound so they blocked it temporarily at night with heavy plywood to prevent this. During the day there was always someone in there working so the board was removed to aid in the drying out of the lower wall studs and insulation. Yep all my interior walls are insulated, luckily the mildew had been limited to the outside of the sheet rock, there was none on the interior of the walls. .
I suggested fans and a small heater to speed up the drying process as Sunday passed into Monday, still no hot water.
Gary had already winterized the camper since we knew we’d be home for a month or two and now he had to un-winterize it because for some strange reason Sean and I thought we might need showers before going to work on Monday. Luckily they had forgot the towels in the camper when they were mopping water up. So we were all blessed with nice hot showers and the world was a safer place for it.
Dishes were starting to be more than the dishwasher would hold. Enter the boiling teapot into the daily scenario. I’ve done many a dish by heating water on a campfire at rendezvous (pre-1840 Fur Trade Era re-enactments), so this was no biggie.
Monday I mystery shopped, picked up more materials, did a few returns while Gary stayed home and took things down off the wall to prepare to paint the room. Sean went to work of course.
While I was out I picked up paint chips for both the utility room walls and the dining room wall that would need painted when we got back to it
Tuesday, still no hot water, but the wall studs were finally dry so Gary put up the new piece of sheet rock, and then had to take it back down because he forgot to put the mouse/rat poison down the conveniently open wall and under the house. Luckily I reminded him before he taped and mudded the wall or Murphy would have gotten a giggle I’m certain.
When you live in the country you take all the precautions you can to head off rodents. I cannot tell you how much money we’ve spent due to rodents over the years everything from fifth wheel and vehicle repairs to a whole new re-wiring of the landlines in our home, so we are very cautious about them. We have mousers inside and out of the house. We put Just One Bite (a vet recommended mouse and rat poison) any where we can that we know for CERTAIN our animals can’t get to it and if we notice a mouse dropping we set traps. Again where the pets can’t get to them.
That evening the guys thankfully slid the new hot water tank into its place. Only the connectors and plumbing didn’t match! Murphy snickered.
While I was out the next day doing mystery I picked up the right parts. That night we all did a jig, and then the water line started leaking!! Dang it Murphy I needed to do dishes!
While I was doing the mystery shops I checked the discounted returns and mis-mixed paints at all the stores. At the very last one I found the exact colors I wanted at half price!!! That’s one for the good guys, finally.
Jan who will post this and move on to part three of the saga in OK
BEING TRICKED AND THEN TREATED BY MURPHY
BEING TRICKED AND THEN TREATED BY MURPHY
October 31, 2009
I’m a follower of the Dave Ramsey plan for financial security. We started the baby steps of his program in January this year and were making great progress right up to the day the guys lost their jobs. Through the following months we put the “snowball” in the freezer for a while until we got things worked out on how to meet our monthly obligations. I’m proud to say we have actually paid off four small bills and are back to snowballing a small amount despite the unemployment.
Two weeks ago the wiring harness and the U joints went out on our truck. I had an emergency fund put back and we covered it. I was very proud.
As the old saying goes, pride goes before a fall. On the Dave Ramsey group they call little extra expenses that pop up as Murphy, as in Murphy’s Law. Today is Halloween and Murphy started early for the holiday he crept through our back door into the utility room and snickered as he knocked the bottom out of our 22 year old hot water tank. We didn’t find until the utility room carpet was well soaked. It had apparently been leaking slightly for a while because mildew was already starting to form on a nearby wall.
I am not a fan of carpeting in any room that you cook or use a lot of water in. We had been planning on replacing the dark blue indoor/outdoor carpeting that was in there from the day we moved in 12 years ago. We’d already pulled up a piece of it in the kitchen and replaced it with floating vinyl flooring two years ago. It had been one continuous piece from the narrow kitchen through the utility and into the little 4’ X 3’ bathroom just off the utility. This is our heaviest traffic area in the house, we come in and out that door from tending to the ranch critters several times a day.
As I sniffed the air and smelled mildew, and looked at the mess I made an executive decision. The carpet was going NOW! Drying it out would take days and the idea of a moldy carpet just did not please me at all. Only there was the cost and how to cover it. We had very little emergency fund left to do it with and the hot water tank would not be cheap.
Then I picked up the mail and an unexpected small royalty check was there, would it be enough? I checked the price of the flooring we’d put in the kitchen online we had a small amount of it left—nope not even half enough.
Then I thought “How about linoleum?” The more I thought about it the more I thought linoleum made the most sense. It would be a continuous sheet and this is the room where the litter boxes are, Miss Amy is missing the boxes more in and more as she ages. I love her too much to get rid of her, but I won’t tolerate the smell either. Linoleum would definitely be better for that problem.
So I went back online and found for less than $100 (far less than the check) We could in fact do the utility room AND that tiny bathroom in matching linoleum, plus have enough money left over to take care of the mildew on the wall and paint it. So off to the local Lowe’s we went. They had a great paving stone look linoleum that I really liked so we are spending Halloween fixing Murphy’s Trick.
The “treat?” Hey, after 12 years I’m getting rid of that dark nasty carpet and making my utility room and bathroom will look great and be a LOT easier to keep clean in all circumstances. Plus I finally get to paint the wall some color than the basic white that’s on it.
Sounds simple right? Anyone that has ever read my stories knows there is NOTHING simple about life here on the Rock ‘n Tree Ranch. This two small room project ideally should be able to be done in a week end right? Again, have you read my posts?
We started “preparing” last night. Gary made a list of all the “parts” we’d need. When we went to check on the fittings on the hot water tank the lights wouldn’t work in the utility room—Thanks Murphy. We added fluorescent bulbs to the list—no biggie other than we would now have two long tubes to get rid of safely. We headed for Lowe’s so we could get an early start on the project first thing in the morning.
At Lowe’s I found the linoleum I liked immediately, the hot water tank was a no brainer. It had to be a 50 gallon electric one (we are total electric) and it had to fit through the 24 inch door opening of the hot water tank closet. There was only one choice. Of course we didn’t know all the measurements and such right off so we had to call Sean at home numerous times to get various measurements—including the length of the bulbs before we finished our shopping trip.
Lowe’s was closing as we left, they locked the door as we went out. A few minutes later Gary remembered he needed a hacksaw blade. We stopped at Wal-Mart where I picked up a couple of things we needed for the weekend and out of the sale ad.
Once home Murphy snickered again. We had purchased hoses with the male ends on them because that is what the box said. Turns out we needed female ones. The new bulbs didn’t fix the light. It needed something called a starter to do the repair. Then he had only got one compression fitting and we needed two.
Sean needed to go pay his car tag so they left had to go back to town this morning after all. While they were gone I did morning chores, laundered three loads of clothes, ran the dishwasher, and started emptying the utility room. How can such a little room hold so much. I also removed items from the bathroom and started clearing an area in the sunroom for the appliances.
After several “paper or plastic” calls from the guys they called to say they were on their way home so I started lunch, tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Finally at 2:30 pm our early start happened.
Donning the shoulder dolly harnesses the guys moved the soggy footed washer and dryer into the sunroom. Jolie, the Aussie Collie mix gave an exasperated sigh as if to say “What MORE of YOUR junk in MY room.” We assured it would short lived. Yeah right!
A quick word about Shoulder Dollies. They are one of the best things I've ever purchased for the ranch.There are various brands and such out there. The truly do work as well as the commercials say they do. The guys use ours a lot to move heavy awkward appliances and other items all the time. I can even help with big things like upright freezers using them and I'm only 5'1". Back to my story.
When Gary went to drain the hot water tank so it could be moved the valve was plugged, Murphy grinned. When Gary started talking about just poking a screw driver up the faucet to remove the sludge that was blocking the opening I mentioned the water coming out would be 120 degrees and then made my fast exit to go try and fold laundry with a hyper-active kitten pinging around the room and the bed that I was folding the laundry on.
Gypsy Skeeter is a huge help in such chores. She lets me get a lot of practice in folding, by unfolding things for me and then racing off with loose socks and wash cloths. She's a mess and Lizzie Borden still gives her 18 whacks whenever she can.
At one point I heard Sean say “Warm up the truck, Dad’s got an idea, St. Francis here we come”. I just folded faster, St. Francis is the ER we use and I wanted no part of going there tonight, I hollered back “We can’t afford it, I’ve not paid off the tree limb idea yet, RE-THINK!”
They did and Gary realized if he released the pressure on the tank the thing might drain. He did and it did. Take that Murphy!
Next blog, the saga continues in “Like Falling Dominoes, Murphy keeps on keeping on.”
Jan who says “Nothing is ever simple on the Rock ‘n Tree Ranch” in OK
October 31, 2009
I’m a follower of the Dave Ramsey plan for financial security. We started the baby steps of his program in January this year and were making great progress right up to the day the guys lost their jobs. Through the following months we put the “snowball” in the freezer for a while until we got things worked out on how to meet our monthly obligations. I’m proud to say we have actually paid off four small bills and are back to snowballing a small amount despite the unemployment.
Two weeks ago the wiring harness and the U joints went out on our truck. I had an emergency fund put back and we covered it. I was very proud.
As the old saying goes, pride goes before a fall. On the Dave Ramsey group they call little extra expenses that pop up as Murphy, as in Murphy’s Law. Today is Halloween and Murphy started early for the holiday he crept through our back door into the utility room and snickered as he knocked the bottom out of our 22 year old hot water tank. We didn’t find until the utility room carpet was well soaked. It had apparently been leaking slightly for a while because mildew was already starting to form on a nearby wall.
I am not a fan of carpeting in any room that you cook or use a lot of water in. We had been planning on replacing the dark blue indoor/outdoor carpeting that was in there from the day we moved in 12 years ago. We’d already pulled up a piece of it in the kitchen and replaced it with floating vinyl flooring two years ago. It had been one continuous piece from the narrow kitchen through the utility and into the little 4’ X 3’ bathroom just off the utility. This is our heaviest traffic area in the house, we come in and out that door from tending to the ranch critters several times a day.
As I sniffed the air and smelled mildew, and looked at the mess I made an executive decision. The carpet was going NOW! Drying it out would take days and the idea of a moldy carpet just did not please me at all. Only there was the cost and how to cover it. We had very little emergency fund left to do it with and the hot water tank would not be cheap.
Then I picked up the mail and an unexpected small royalty check was there, would it be enough? I checked the price of the flooring we’d put in the kitchen online we had a small amount of it left—nope not even half enough.
Then I thought “How about linoleum?” The more I thought about it the more I thought linoleum made the most sense. It would be a continuous sheet and this is the room where the litter boxes are, Miss Amy is missing the boxes more in and more as she ages. I love her too much to get rid of her, but I won’t tolerate the smell either. Linoleum would definitely be better for that problem.
So I went back online and found for less than $100 (far less than the check) We could in fact do the utility room AND that tiny bathroom in matching linoleum, plus have enough money left over to take care of the mildew on the wall and paint it. So off to the local Lowe’s we went. They had a great paving stone look linoleum that I really liked so we are spending Halloween fixing Murphy’s Trick.
The “treat?” Hey, after 12 years I’m getting rid of that dark nasty carpet and making my utility room and bathroom will look great and be a LOT easier to keep clean in all circumstances. Plus I finally get to paint the wall some color than the basic white that’s on it.
Sounds simple right? Anyone that has ever read my stories knows there is NOTHING simple about life here on the Rock ‘n Tree Ranch. This two small room project ideally should be able to be done in a week end right? Again, have you read my posts?
We started “preparing” last night. Gary made a list of all the “parts” we’d need. When we went to check on the fittings on the hot water tank the lights wouldn’t work in the utility room—Thanks Murphy. We added fluorescent bulbs to the list—no biggie other than we would now have two long tubes to get rid of safely. We headed for Lowe’s so we could get an early start on the project first thing in the morning.
At Lowe’s I found the linoleum I liked immediately, the hot water tank was a no brainer. It had to be a 50 gallon electric one (we are total electric) and it had to fit through the 24 inch door opening of the hot water tank closet. There was only one choice. Of course we didn’t know all the measurements and such right off so we had to call Sean at home numerous times to get various measurements—including the length of the bulbs before we finished our shopping trip.
Lowe’s was closing as we left, they locked the door as we went out. A few minutes later Gary remembered he needed a hacksaw blade. We stopped at Wal-Mart where I picked up a couple of things we needed for the weekend and out of the sale ad.
Once home Murphy snickered again. We had purchased hoses with the male ends on them because that is what the box said. Turns out we needed female ones. The new bulbs didn’t fix the light. It needed something called a starter to do the repair. Then he had only got one compression fitting and we needed two.
Sean needed to go pay his car tag so they left had to go back to town this morning after all. While they were gone I did morning chores, laundered three loads of clothes, ran the dishwasher, and started emptying the utility room. How can such a little room hold so much. I also removed items from the bathroom and started clearing an area in the sunroom for the appliances.
After several “paper or plastic” calls from the guys they called to say they were on their way home so I started lunch, tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Finally at 2:30 pm our early start happened.
Donning the shoulder dolly harnesses the guys moved the soggy footed washer and dryer into the sunroom. Jolie, the Aussie Collie mix gave an exasperated sigh as if to say “What MORE of YOUR junk in MY room.” We assured it would short lived. Yeah right!
A quick word about Shoulder Dollies. They are one of the best things I've ever purchased for the ranch.There are various brands and such out there. The truly do work as well as the commercials say they do. The guys use ours a lot to move heavy awkward appliances and other items all the time. I can even help with big things like upright freezers using them and I'm only 5'1". Back to my story.
When Gary went to drain the hot water tank so it could be moved the valve was plugged, Murphy grinned. When Gary started talking about just poking a screw driver up the faucet to remove the sludge that was blocking the opening I mentioned the water coming out would be 120 degrees and then made my fast exit to go try and fold laundry with a hyper-active kitten pinging around the room and the bed that I was folding the laundry on.
Gypsy Skeeter is a huge help in such chores. She lets me get a lot of practice in folding, by unfolding things for me and then racing off with loose socks and wash cloths. She's a mess and Lizzie Borden still gives her 18 whacks whenever she can.
At one point I heard Sean say “Warm up the truck, Dad’s got an idea, St. Francis here we come”. I just folded faster, St. Francis is the ER we use and I wanted no part of going there tonight, I hollered back “We can’t afford it, I’ve not paid off the tree limb idea yet, RE-THINK!”
They did and Gary realized if he released the pressure on the tank the thing might drain. He did and it did. Take that Murphy!
Next blog, the saga continues in “Like Falling Dominoes, Murphy keeps on keeping on.”
Jan who says “Nothing is ever simple on the Rock ‘n Tree Ranch” in OK
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)