160 - Stick a Fork In It

Today we canoed the Caney Fork. We thought we were doing a river run, but they put us in the lake and told us to meet them back at the dropoff point. So... we found a little cove and swam before heading to Doo Doo Island and then back to the van. Yes, I said Doo Doo Island... we canoed over to it and when we got out it was littered with poop, most likely goose poop. Geese are nasty in case you were wondering.

Since I'm worn out, this will primarily be a picture blog.

Thanks to SPF 100 I only burned in a couple of places, which is better than I usually fare... so I'll take it. It was definitely hot out there if you weren't in the water or in the shade.

So we have lots of moths. It's interesting to turn the kitchen light on at night and watch what lands on the window. Of course, sometimes they just land on the house. Mike caught this one the other day. I've never seen one like it, it's kinda pretty I think.

Caney Fork River at Silver Point, TN.

Believe it or not, Mike scaled that wall. I think he's part monkey. Or crazy. I'll let you decide.

The hubs shaved his head today. He's been flirting with the idea for a while now and decided to go for it. I thought the water spray was cool when he ran his hands through his hair.

Welcome to Doo Doo Island. I took the pretty pictures and left the doo doo out of it.

Big ass bird's nest.

And then we tried another Mexican restaurant. Disappointing. So there is nothing within a 30 min radius that's worth going to and I suppose that's a good thing, means we eat at home almost exclusively. Found a cheap grill at Target, $99 with a $20 gift card back and 5% off with my Target card. The one I initially wanted was going to be more like $300 so it was going to have to wait. The little one we have was great for the RV, but I like to grill and having to stoop over, or cook in batches because the grate isn't very big pretty much sucked.

And since we're already driving the credit bus off the cliff, I will be using my last line of credit to get a riding mower so we can mow down these weeds. A push mower isn't really feasible unless we're doing the immediate area around the house, and you can get attachments for this one to make it multi-purpose. We were looking at barter sites but no one wants our building just yet so we would have had to come up with cash. And really, you have to rely on people to be honest, which lately I'm having a hard time doing. Can you blame me? My house is still on the market so the scar is a bit fresh.

Anyway, the cash problem should be solved soon, Jason seems to be excited about the plan we laid out, and he already has plans to send Mike to training. I have a bunch of information to sift through to get the bid sheet ready to go... but there it is... we have jobs that we're excited about. We have a lot of catching up to do, but I'm so happy that things are starting to fall into place again.

Now if the house will just sell I can get a/c installed... or maybe we'll get some unseasonally cool weather. They keep saying it doesn't usually rain this much, so maybe the weather will continue to act oddly? I can certainly hope. I know people used to live without a/c... but they didn't live long!

159 - Frugality

So far being in the house has been everything I'd hoped, at least in terms of the kitchen. I've been able to implement all the money saving ideas I've been saving up for the past year and I'm loving the refrigerator, stove and microwave. Love the rest of the house too, but it's a work in progress. Once the boxes are gone it will help me feel more at home... I can't believe we're still moving in. Last house I had everything unpacked in two days, but I also moved from a one bedroom apartment to a four bedroom house... this time it was a four bedroom house and garage full of stuff to a three bedroom house with a damp basement.

Strawberries and cherries were on sale at Walmart last week, so we bought two containers of each. I sliced them up, froze them in a single layer on a cookie sheet, then put them in ziploc bags so that they aren't glued together in a big wad, and I can take out what I want for ice cream, pies, smoothies or snacks. Also did that for bananas that were on the cusp of becoming overripe, and I had apricots left over from the chicken apricot dish I made, so they will get sliced and frozen as well. Trying to let nothing go to waste. I also cleaned the celery and wrapped it in foil because I've heard it will last for weeks, and instead of letting the lettuce sit for too long and rotting, I cleaned it and tore it into pieces that are in my salad spinner. And the celery leaves are awesome in salads, so they are in a ziploc to be added to the salad mix.

Last night I roasted a chicken. Turned out MUCH better than the one at Christmas because I had time to defrost and brine it. The skin was sooooooooooo crispy and delicious. Last night we had a snack after it came out of the oven. This morning I shredded it and used the last of the pesto and Greek yogurt to make a different kind of chicken salad sandwich. Tonight we'll use the rest for burritos. I froze the liquid from the pan as well as the organ meats in case we feed the puppy a raw diet, and the carcass is in the slow cooker with some veggies to become chicken stock. Added a little vinegar to leach the calcium and marrow from the bones. I've read a lot about the health benefits of bone broth and we can use all the help we can get. I'm determined to get healthy again, to have more energy, to lose weight.

Also have a bunch of scraps to compost, just need a composting barrel. I'm afraid that if I just toss it all out and create a compost pile, it will attract animals to the yard and I don't want that. In the suburbs it's not as big an issue, but out here there are strays and all kinds of wildlife. Heard there was a mountain lion in Granville and someone shot a bear in Gainesboro last year. The mountain lion is verified, the bear is hearsay. Either way, I've only seen turkeys and rabbits out here. And the cows across the road with their cute little calves. And deer on the side of the road... taking a nap. They sleep with their tongues hanging out.

We met our neighbors. They're about our age, a little younger. The husband is in a band so they have get-togethers about 3-4 times a year. Even with the windows open we couldn't hear the music, so if for some reason we didn't end up over there, it wouldn't bother us. Met a few people and had a good time. Everyone here seems to be friendly, we've met about half the people who live on the road by now.

And I've found people who have worse luck than we do: Dream House: Log Cabin. Every time they turn around there is something else wrong. Wow.

Jason should be here tonight. Since our truck has no a/c, Jason is picking Mike up to take back to AL. Mike left a voicemail with our Dodge case manager since we've fixed the a/c twice now, it's getting to be ridiculous and we shouldn't have to pay anything more on it. Anyway, it'll be good to see my cuz and he needs a break, so we'll probably go canoeing and I'll make yummy food. And then in a day or two I'll have the house to myself. It's nice for a couple of hours, but I'm used to having Mike around and I kinda like him... so... We do what we have to do and I'm glad that he and Jason get along so well and can help each other out.

Anyway, gonna go do something useful. Just feeling good about being frugal and wanted to share.