Well L brought the dutch oven over and the thing is monstrous! I cant fit it in the oven. Can't find the glass loaf pan either. Im suppose to work 12hrs tomorrow and now there is talk of having the get together at our place as its suppose to be cold and wet. So I may have to break down and buy something. We ran out of the store bought laundry soap and now are completely on the homemade stuff.

Earthquakes and bakes

So I get online about 9pm or so Tuesday and the first thing I see is that Britain had an earthquake and I'm all in a panic. The second thing I see is that my friend Matt (who lives there) is on my yahoo messenger. So I'm blazing up an IM to know that him and his are all ok...they are thank Gods. So it got me to thinking that I really need to show and let ALL my friends know how much they mean and have meant to me even when I don't see them that much or in this case, at all. I've known Matt for many years but I've never actually met him. I actually "met" him online via my ex husband and an online game called Everquest. Anyway, over the course of time Matt became a great source of friendship and sanity for me when everything went to hell in a handbasket. Sometimes we'd lose track of each other and what we were doing for long periods of time but I still consider him a my friend, and that is a rare thing in my world let me tell you. It's kinda funny how life is. So I have a project in my head to go with "I need to let my friends know I care" kind of thing.

In other news I have a dutch oven that I'm borrowing coming tommorow and I am going to attempt to do the "No knead bread" recipe that was featured in Mother Earth News magazine.
It will be my first attempt to make bread. I am also trying to find my glass bread pan to use for when I attempt "normal" loaf style bread..I have no idea what I'm doing on bread stuffs.

Buying a house sucks

I packed a little the other day. A friend of S's brought a load of nice boxes (she works in a bookstore) to help us out. I got everything done on my list Monday. So my homeowners insurance will be $400 a year. Taxes should actually be the same amount as well. I go through State Farm and I need to pay them the first year up front but we STILL don't have a solid actual date for closing.. The house is a major cause of stress and Bill and I are really feeling it. I'm feeling like I'm getting screwed by the banker guy as he hasn't been knowledgeable on the Rural Development loan I am going with. Bill is not pleased with him or the situation either and has voiced his opinions thereof to me. I'm the one that's dealt with the banking stuff, me on my own(As I am the only one on the paperwork), and now I worry that I've put us into a bad situation somehow or that we are about to be royally screwed. I do not know how I can rectify this situation /this nagging feeling of not having a clue of what's going on. I am going to call banker boy in the morning tomorrow and also see if there is someone in Rural Development that I can talk to so I know what the hell is going on or what my options are.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming

Serendipity stepped in again as 3 other girls I work with are going on South Beach which is what I had in mind to attempt. So there's that.

In house news I got a call that said we should hopefully close in a week and a half. I have to #1 see about home owners insurance, #2 find out how much money out of pocket Im gonna need for escrow (that I didn't know about til tonight) and #3 find out if the guy I'm buying from turned off the propane which heats the house. If those pipes freeze I will sue him. He was told by the house inspector that he CANNOT leave the house without any heat ( that was before we got hit with 2 ice storms) Bill says he just doesnt want to have to pay to refill the propane. Dana the realtor was the one who told me about the propane thing, she was suppose to call and find out what he actually ended up doing.

So lots of call to make Monday after I wake up. Im setting my alarm for 9:30am. We'll see how it all goes. It's so close it's scary.

Whats sticking me

Like I said early I haven't been in the best of moods the past couple days. This is a "pissy" rant and you can skip it if you like. Im just trying to sort through my head and once I get it out I know I will be better off.

The combination of Winter blahs and stress sometimes puts me in a fair downer. Sometimes its just the fact that I realize I am not doing things that I need to do (I'm talking about myself, not chores). I have great intentions; actually, the best intentions and I even plot out and plan and stuff and the next thing I know...nothing happens. I, for whatever reason, don't follow through. Or I say, I'll do it later, I'll make it up somtime, etc and eventually forget that I even had a plan. Until it hits me like a slap in my face. Then I get moody and grumpy, very down on myself and the world goes to pot. So thats been the last week or so.

So let me get to the point and quit being so flowery. I posted the other day about my T-shirt adventure. I had a great time, still love my shirt. What I really hate is the picture of me that was taken showing off the shirt....to save you from flipping back here's the pic.
At first I didn't notice it, I think I was still in the euphoria of t-shirt creation. Then I actually went back over posts and was like, "Ah hell what was I thinking posting that pic?! " I look horrific, to myself, and it was a reminder.

I wasn't always this big. Before this system of mine went wacky I was 160 and a size 13/14, not bad for my 5 foot 9inch frame. That was back in 1998. In a little over a year and a half I was up to 276 and a size 22. It was miserable to be me then. I was miserable and at the time no once could figure out what was going on. Then thanks to a magazine article my mom spotted and a lot of bloodwork and ultrasounds later we finally got a diagnosis. Polycycstic Ovarian Syndrome. So I learned about my new enemy, what it could and would do if left unchecked and what I could do to fight back. Problem is is that my counter attack has been pretty half assed. PCOS helped pack the pounds on, but my lack of will power to stick with my plans has led me to only knock 36 pounds off in the past 4 or 5 years since my diagnosis. Basically the fat picture is my own damn fault.

So right now I'm in that "what am I going to do now" mode. The two things I know I have to do is the exercise and diet change. I know what medicines Im suppose to take, though I loathe the Metformin as it is NOT kind to me. I am not diabetic.....yet. Actually my blood sugars are normal...its my insulin level thats high, like 3 times higher than most people. The high insulin sets off a chain reaction of endocrine/horomone problems. Metformin helps me utilize it the right way. Then eventually (in theory) I can get my metabolism and endocrines to work normal again as long as I watch what I put into my system. I would think that my abhorration of needles would be enough but here I am, not doing right by myself.

Taking care of myself is the greenest thing I can do. Eating better with less refined carbs and all the other junk that modern day eating entails will be better for me. But I have to get rid of as much of that junk as I can. Easier said than done as I do live with the Teen, who is whiny and myself, who can be uber lazy (especially in the cooking department) So we'll see. I'll plan, buy and prepare, adapt and overcome..... hopefully.

Sorry but I decided to be lazy for a few days. I've not been in the best state of mind the last couple days. But here are the pictures from our 3 days of icey goodness.

This is Bill trying to chip out a path through packed ice that is not snow my friends!

In a way it was pretty, there is still tons of the plowed ice on the ground in heaps here and there, what was actually snow did finally melt off.

Ice

So we got hit with an icestorm Monday and early Tues. We had the "Great Thaw" today. But its suppose to snow Friday :( Im being lazy and going to bed but I wanted to let everyone know that despite a short 3 hr power outage we are all ok. I will post more and pictures once I get more sleep.

Took a day to ourselves

I took a personal day and Bill had to call in to work. We both needed a break. Since this whole house thing he hasn't been sleeping even 4 hours a day. He works at a factory and I've been quite worried about his lack of sleep. Exhaustion is a mild term to use. He needs to really watch that as he is also a diabetic. So we spent the day talking, eating, laughing and resting. Teen came home and we had really good family time with Bill's famous salsa and a red beans, rice, hamburger and kielbasa mixture I made for dinner. He laid down for a bit and I intend to let him sleep for a long while.

Last night in my boredom I decided to make some iron on transfers and today I made 2 t-shirts. (Teen didn't care for one) I had some first time mistakes but this was fun so I'm going to try some more. So here are my pics.

The design printed "flipped" ready to iron on

The ironing process takes 3 minutes

When it cools you then peel off the backing

Up close shot, now it needs to be washed.

Washed, dried and just a touch faded

New layout,More pictures!

Messed around with templates and contents. Yeah I figured out the badge thing for my Flickr account. You may browse at my shots listed on the right side. I also added a "Current news article" on the side as well. Not sure if I'm feeling that though. Feel free to comment.

Storms

Tuesday night through a bit of Wednesday predawn we had a really wicked storm system run through. The front yard flooded, roads flash flooded and tornado sirens went off several times. So what was I doing? I was enjoying it from my windows until I got a call from Teen and her friend telling me that they were closing the school function they were at early and to come get them.. I try to leave and step out on the front porch only to realize I can't even see my car! Four minutes later the rain eased up to where I could see said car but the tornado siren went off. So Bill jumps up gets dressed and decides that he needs to drive with me to get the girls. It took forever with a few times of me thinking my car was going to either stall or get swept away. But we got them, took her friend home and Teen and I finished the evening watching the polls of Super Tuesday with me trying to explain the signifcance of said event. I am horrible as I did not vote. I don't even think I know where my reg card is. Bill ended up taking my car to work as his circuit board for his windshield wipers is starting to go and it was still pouring when he got up for work. He also took it tonight, I mean, it is better gas mileage than the truck and I'm not going anywhere this late if I don't have to.

In house news, we met Dana the realtor to sign the paperwork regarding the demands and we are trying to get the FHA inspector to get out there and do her thing. Feels like this is taking forever. Ya know that whole time is realitive thing.

To Unusually Unusual Farmchick

Here's the link to my flicker page which has the picture.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/15040672@N04/2245504679/
Blogger is not letting me put it up at the moment, we're having storms and my internet is being really slow and timing out sometimes. Bill said it should work

House part 2

So I call the realtor today, cuz we are so NOT patient enough to wait. The seller countered and we accepted. Also found out that he also now has a second offer. That makes me nervous as hell. So now all that we are waiting on (again the waiting bs) is on the appraisal and RD/FHA inspection. I'm soooo close to this thing that it's seriously making me sick some days. My stomach has been in a wretched state leading me to get sick several times, my lovely coworkers have gotten to see me pace a lot lately trying not to be ill with it and one was ever so nice and gave me a bottle of chewable papaya papain that seems to help quite a bit with the stomach problems and keep me from puking anymore but I left that at work which sucks I like them better than Tums :(

Ok help me out

Just for fun I read over my archives and saw the progression of my life to this point. It's kinda cool to see the changes that happen in only 4 months time and all the stuff I've actually done...as evident by my ever growing list off to the right of the page. It's also kinda scary to see things go as quickly as they have. It also reminds me of things that I still need to do or to finish such as:

• Clean the craft room out again, especially since J has moved out
• Redo the budget
• Take my lunch to work more often
• Tackle the bread baking fear I have

I have some ideas for taking up challenges and some new goals -like the bake my own bread thing- but haven't really decided what to do next while Im waiting for this house thing. Any ideas you guys have or challenges I will definitely consider. I seem to do better when I know other people are also going to hold me accountable.

Its my weekend and I am beyond bored. Im sick to my stomach with this house thing. Today was the last day for the sellers to make a decision and I haven't gotten a call from the realtor. So I will call tomorrow and inbetween I guess I will pray, clean and take a lot of papaya papain.

In other news today the high was 68 degrees, the area surrounding the trailer is swampy which makes for messy floors at the front door, cuz some people dont know how to wipe their feet. Grrrr.

Ok peaceful thoughts.....let's see....the breeze is really nice tonight, I have my window cracked open. I bought some Seventh Generation dish detergent that was on sale at the Co-op. Which reminds me I have a parmesean peppercorn roll waiting for me in the fridge. But it can wait Im not hungry at the moment. Oh and I don't owe any taxes which is always good. Ahhh, that is better.

Happy Imbolc!

Happy Imbolc to the Pagans and Happy St. Brigit's Day to my Catholic family :) Happy Groundhog's Day to everyone else :)

So Thursday we had a few snow storms come through with freezing rain mixed in. I was at work until midnight so my drive home was fun. But I didnt land in the ditch at least, just a lot of sliding. Friday we were suppose to get more but didn't. Here's the aftermath around the trailer and our park.




I did however talk to the Dana the realtor and the owners are still going over our (for lack of better word) "demands" for the house that we put up to them since the house inspection came back with a couple problem areas. So they have til Monday to make a decision. Im hella nervous, we REALLY want this house. I almost, almost wish we wouldn't have asked for them to fix anything and just dealt with it ourselves this was the right way to go. As for the Rural Development inspection Dana knows the lady and say she can be kinda slow...not good to hear. Bill is extremely agitated though understandably so, we all hate being at the mercy of others. On a pleasant note. He is quite proud of my laundry soap experiment :D and has asked if I can find a good recipe for liquid dish detergent.


On the home front, things are starting to settle down and I finally got my W-2. Bill and S talked about the power bill. Since we already pay the lot rent AND pay for the cable, internet, phone combo he is only asking that we chip in $60 for the power. Not as bad as the half we were led to believe that we would be paying. So now that that is out of the way I feel way better. Saturday I have to do some grocery shopping tomorrow and I have to take a trip to Du Quoin before I go to work. I plan on going to the Co-Op to price hunt on some liquid dish detergent to tide us over.