254 - By the fingernails

Today was just one of those days...

Mike worked on the truck and Bo was inside with me... 98% of the time he is adorable and well behaved. Today was the other 2%. It was a gorgeous day so he wanted to be outside running around, but we still don't have a fence so I can't just let him run as he pleases, every time we try to let him have some leeway, he runs up the road and doesn't come back until he's good and ready. It's too dangerous for him to be on the road because people don't slow down, and there are other dogs out sometimes... never know how that will go. He was pacing and whining at the window... pacing and whining. I'd take him outside, he wouldn't do anything. And then, I found puddles. After seemingly finding our groove, the last couple of days we've had issues again and I JUST mopped yesterday. So I took him outside and put him on the leash out there with Mike and got dressed to go out.

Long story short, I had something of a Ya-Ya moment and needed to get out of the house, so I went for a drive. I don't really get much opportunity to just leave without being on the clock as it were. When Mike and I leave together, Bo goes in the basement and it's either been cold and I worry about him being warm, or we're gone for a while and I worry he might run out of water... it's just always kind of hanging over me that we need to pay attention to the time. Not to mention that he hates the basement and I don't blame him. In general I'm a homebody so it doesn't bother me, but every once in a while I just want to escape. Mike has search and rescue to get him out of the house... he goes hunting... I don't have anything. No respite, no friends to call, as much as I love it here, sometimes I feel trapped. And as much as I love spending time with Mike, I occasionally want to run around on my own and be selfish, to shirk responsibility and just go and have me-time outside of the house. So I did. I drove around the area and explored. I considered a trip to Murfreesboro or Lebanon but decided to just see what's around here... honestly I haven't really explored near the house. I have about 20 minutes of time that I can leave Bo in the house without coming home to a mess, so I usually only have time to run to the bank or the local grocery store.

It's interesting that I didn't use my GPS to guide me but ultimately ended up making a large circle. Well, circles within a circle. There's some really nice stuff and some really crappy stuff out there. Ultimately the ride did what I needed it to do, it relaxed me and gave me a break and I came home in a better mood.

I've been stressed lately. Part of it is life in general, part of it is the clutter as we remodel. I am not good with clutter. I can stand it for a day or two, but after that it wears on me, and the longer it's there, the worse my mood gets. I'm ready to get stuff where it needs to be and frustrated that I can't make it go faster.

Last night's moon. Harvest moon? Was huge, but even with my new lens I couldn't get close enough.

Messy bird knocking all the seed out of the bird feeder.

Camo barn.

Sunset

Sunset mode on the camera. Makes it more vivid. It was pretty vivid on its own but not quite so electric.

I have bad days like today but most days I can find something to be excited about. Yesterday I got my seeds planted and into the greenhouse, I dusted our room, I mopped most of the house, I finished the laundry I'd bagged up... yesterday was alright as far as days go. Maybe tomorrow will be alright, too.

253 - Officially Redneck

Last night we thought we were going to a party, but found out we had our weekends mixed up. Mike thought he had a plan B, so I finally went to the local video store, and grabbed movies for a girl's night in. Well... me and Bo, who is pretty metrosexual and doesn't mind girly movies. Guess Mike's plan fell through, so we watched Haunter, the least girly of the movies and ended up going to bed early because we were worn out.

This morning Mike went on a rabbit hunt. If we weren't currently out of propane I'd fry it up on the stove, as it is, somehow our propane is gone so we're contemplating frying it in the turkey fryer instead. Ultimately we decided to hold off on the rabbit and we're grilling potatoes; I pulled some of our yummy smoked brisket out of the freezer yesterday... we're having bbq-baked taters. Lemonade from lemons.

Yeah, so Dec 27, I was chatting with Mike and mentioned that I checked the levels while we were walking... we had 50% of the tank left. Today Mike happened to check and it's at 0. Either the tank itself is leaking or the heater installation caused an issue. Or perhaps the gauge is busted, but I tapped on the side of the tank and it sounds pretty empty. In any case, it's no good... It's a lot of money that we don't need to spend. As usual. I'm so tired of bullshit.

I decided to try a homemade dusting recipe this afternoon. It's a mix of olive oil, lemon juice and lemon essential oil. It worked GREAT. The wood looks beautiful, it smells like Pledge, it's cheap, non-toxic and it was handy... I already had the supplies.

And my big accomplishment for the day... I looked up planting dates, put everything into a spreadsheet and organized my seeds. We bought a $25 greenhouse at Tractor Supply the other day and I have seed starter trays that I got from TS and Dollar General. I am ready to garden. Tomorrow I'll start filling up some trays and by April/May the seedlings should be ready to go into the ground. Maybe by then I will have caught up on my gardening lessons. I got off track with the cold weather, but the gardening bug is back.

And I got my camera lens. It makes a huge difference - I love it. So all in all I am happy with the outcome. My camera is awesome. The flip screen would have been cool, but I can live without it. Now I'm browsing Overstock to see what to spend my credit on.