250 - Date Night

BOOM! Knocked it out of the park - my wings AND my fries tasted as good as Wingstop tonight. Made half buffalo style and half a Michael Symon recipe that is hot but so delicious. Followed it up with chocolate milkshakes for dessert. Most of the days run together, but this Friday night was a date night. Country style. Now we're watching a tv series on Netflix and relaxing.

Other than that we've been slogging forward with the remodeling project. And bird watching.

Gorgeous female bird, who despite her muted coloring is still quite the knockout.

Her male counterparts is absolutely stunning. They are so incredibly blue.

And after I refilled the bird feeder this little guy showed up. Almost didn't see him hiding in the grass until his head twitched.

249 - Oh Deer

Ah the things you see when you go to to the bathroom...

First I saw just one... and then three... then five... then a sixth one popped up. So beautiful.

248 - Progress

We've been talking about how to solve our kitchen issue... the lack of a pantry, how closed off it is. Initially I wanted to put shelves in what is currently the mancave, but then I had an epiphany. The wall is offset where the chimney comes up from the basement, if we moved the kitchen wall out and made it flush, I could have a pantry in the kitchen where it makes a whole hell of a lot more sense, and we can use our dining room table as a countertop until we are ready to install something more permanent. It's not as open as we'd like, but it's a start, it gets us a pantry and a casual eating space/counter space and opens up the kitchen a bit.

We also need to add some shelves to the bathroom closet, rearrange the closets in the bedrooms, and add shelves to the basement so we can better organize our things. But one step at a time, the kitchen frustrates me the most and is a cheap fix. We've already scored some free pallets that I can use to make a decorative wall. Trust me, it'll be cool.

Anyway, we got started tonight. For about $100 we bought some lumber. The framing within the walls is also in very good shape, so if we can reuse them, we're even further ahead since that leaves the other lumber for the basement.

It may surprise you to learn that I didn't participate much in the demo. Mike was having too much fun and I'm still recovering from my cold. I helped clean up a bit, we'll finish that up tomorrow.

And, the job thing seems to be working itself out. That's all I know right now, but things look good and the happy feelings about the future that I experienced the other day seem to be bearing fruit. The fruit is always bittersweet, but at least there is fruit right?

Yesterday I made boudain. It wasn't the *best* boudain, but the fact that I made it was somewhat impressive and it looks like boudain. It's a start. I don't know how other people do it, but it took both Mike and I working together to stuff it into the casings.

I forgot to take a before picture, but this is about mid-demo on the living room side of the wall.

Kitchen side before... the wall heater has already been removed.

Mike working out some aggression.

Ta-da. Now we have to install headers where the pantry wall will go and remove the studs where the counter will go.

A mess.

So our plans are coming together. We have two versions, one where we have the money to do an addition, one where we make the most of what we have now with an eye to the future. They're both pretty exciting. Honestly, once we get our stuff out of storage we'll have two bedrooms so it won't seem as urgent to build a master suite... nice yes... eventually we want to... but for the moment we think maybe a half bath where the coat closet is, better storage options, get rid of some stuff, replace the windows, and we'll be on our way to living more comfortably. Mostly we just need to find a place for our things, to reduce the clutter, which will make the house feel bigger.

Being back on track feels nice regardless.

247 - Good Day

I didn't sleep much last night, my throat was bothering me and the air in the house is pretty dry, which I think makes it worse. So I'm a little foggy...

Because we need two vehicles, and the fate of the truck we have is uncertain, we got up hellishly early this morning to go look at a truck we could pay cash for. Truck number three for me; Mike went and looked at a couple without me. They've all been about two hours away and that gets tiring, though we have seen some interesting stuff and the drives are pleasant in and of themselves. Anyway, we liked this one, but we had a small budget, so after the test drive, the negotiations began. In the end, the guy came off the price enough that we felt it was worth it and truck number three (for me) became our lucky number. Mike was outside picking it apart all afternoon, hahaha - he has a project, which is cool. It runs fine but it's 23 years old and needs to be cleaned up, and Mike is something of a perfectionist.

As we drove home, the sun was shining and I felt... good. Not physically, but mentally. I realized it's been awhile since I've felt this way. I actually came home and did some chores. They hadn't been done partly because I wasn't feeling well, but also because I just didn't feel like doing anything. The house feels so much better without the clutter of laundry and full trashcans.

I have started promoting my business, left some business cards at a local restaurant. Just need customers. I have faith that they will come. And I am in negotiations with a film producer to edit some of his proposals. It's not much, 2-3 pages a month, but it's my foot in the door to maybe sidelining as a professional editor. I have a couple of other things in the works, my goal this year is "multiple revenue streams."

Mike also has a couple of irons in the fire, one which looks promising. We should know soon, and if it comes to fruition he would be starting soon. I don't want to go into detail because that always seems to jinx things.

In the meantime we have come up with some low-cost projects around the house. A way for me to have a pantry and something of a start on the kitchen remodel. We only need a little lumber, and we're going to temporarily use the dining room table as a countertop/table. It'll make more sense when it's done. And I want to put chain link around the patio so that we can let the cats out and give Bo another place to stay besides the basement. It'll be less expensive than fencing part of the yard but it's something that we need. Storage and organization is the basic goal... maximizing the usefulness of the space we have since we won't have any more for a while.

Anyway, pictures. Mostly Bo. Go figure.

Bo picking up the leash to let me know that I should follow.

The side of the house.

More leading, but impatient.

The truck. Another Dodge, but old school, with parts Mike can doodle with.

One of my new favorite pictures of Bo. This is his alert face.

Relaxing...

246 - Drive

Took a drive today. Lots of icicles everywhere, really pretty. Of course Mother Nature doesn't account for the needs of a photographer, she never quite puts the really pretty stuff near a pull-off spot. But I think we got some nice shots.

Reminds me a bit of Dunkeld, Scotland.

Really pretty blue bird (not a "bluebird" but a blue... bird...). I was trying to get him while he was on the ground but as my shutter snapped he took flight, which I think is pretty cool.

And then he flew away...

245 - Happy sailor

I glanced out the window and saw an amazing sunset, so I picked up the camera and headed outside to take a pic... then I turned around and realized that sometimes in focusing on one thing you miss something even more amazing. Life lessons, they happen when you aren't paying attention.

This is what initially drew me out

And this is what I saw when I turned around

I didn't mess with the color or anything, it was just that vibrant.

Mike went to help direct traffic around an SUV that flipped so I watched a couple of girly movies to bide my time. It's too cold to do much else and I'm still under the weather. I don't feel bad, I just don't have a lot of energy and my voice is all but gone. Should be a little warmer tomorrow, high of 25, but from there it gets warmer for the rest of the week.

244 - Blah

Losing my voice... been a couch potato for most of the day but I did make chile cheese fries earlier because they sounded tasty. Last night we had dry soup and cornbread - nothing better than fresh cornbread, hot out of the oven. It's not quite the same the next day, but it's probably what I'm having for dinner anyway.

We just took a walk because it's nice out, almost 60 degrees. Tomorrow and the rest of the week will be in the low 20's. Crazy.

Bo did good. Mike let him off the leash as we headed home, and while he took off like a jet, he did come back when we called and went straight to the door. We've been letting him out to potty off leash for the last few days and he's done really well... weather helps, when there is snow or rain and it's cold he tends not to linger. The whole process makes me a little nervous but I do want him to learn to come back when he's called, to build a little trust.

Begging for alms again.

Telling mom to stop being such a workaholic and pet me.

Playing with effects.

Checking out my macro capabilities (the obsession continues)

Another filter and a nice shot of Bo

Hay

Looks like some futuristic catastrophe scene but it's just the sun and some chem trails... no biggie.

The Bo

Prickly buckeyes. No fun to walk on. Trust me.