It was very mild in December & January, cold enough for a fire in the fireplace, but we ran out of wood, and then it was warm enough out to run the heat a little and get by. Why fix a leaky roof when it’s not raining, right? Same thing with wood. Wood runs out, it’s warmer though, don’t need to go get more wood, right? Suffer later for such thoughts and lack of action.

It’s been colder the last fews day/week. Cold enough to wish to go to bed and stay in bed longer than usual. Cold enough to not get out of bed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Our system has something wrong with it. Our master bathroom only gets warm if the day is warm and sunny. The heat doesn’t go in there even though there is a fully open vent in there. The bedroom does get hot at night if we leave the hallway door shut. Go to bed cold, wake up at 2am suffocating from the heat. Have to open the door to let the heat out, and that regulates it a bit, but still, the bathroom, left shut or open, remains cold. This house has always been quirky anyhow, this is just a bit different.

We have many house projects to tackle still, and I’m hoping we’ll actually get some of them accomplished this year. Sliding door in kitchen, deck redone, window in kitchen, floors in kitchen/livingroom. Just that stuff need done terribly bad. Then also the cabinets finalized, really truly installed and counters, island created with downdraft and bar.

Things are in such a nothing-ever-changes mode it’s depressing.

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I wanted to get a family snapshot taken on Monday or Tuesday, but it didn’t happen, now hubby isn’t here until Friday night, so it’s a no-go … I could take a picture of just the children, but that’s not really what I wanted to do. Then on to printing it, I have an Epson picture printer, 4×6 size. It hasn’t worked well for me always, really wastes ink IMO and it’s only worth printing at all if you are printing a lot at once. I did have something installed on a computer once that allowed me to manually control “what it thought the ink levels were” but that’s long since gone since I mostly used it with my Epson All-in-One that was crazier than my Picture printer and I got sick of it and threw it away. Upgrading and new computers … it was either on my Desktop which is re-invented since, or my old laptop which was re-Clean-Installed since as well.

My picture printer has been sitting around for many, many months so I have no idea if it can be counted on or not. So not is my guess, since it’s a crap shoot as to how many photos it will print.

The other option is to print onto cardstock or vellum with my HP Laserjet … which does make a good looking black and white image on regular paper and such just fine, it’s just not “photo-ish” it’s more “newspaper photo-ish” which is good, but different than usually used in cards.

I used vellum to print a large photo for my youngest’s first baby scrapbook page with the HP Laserjet. It’s kind of cool, very, in fact. It’s just not a full fleshed image like is expected, it’s very subtle, soft, gentle. Therefore interesting, so now I have convinced myself it’s not so bad to use such for my Christmas card either, probably.

A 3rd option is to get a picture taken and upload it to Costco to have printed, or another place. Since it’s so late in the season though, it’s not a good idea necessarily, plus it’s something I’d best do at home since Friday night or Saturday late morning is the first time to get a full family picture taken, so it’s just something I need to figure out here, children or entire family, & then print it how.

Meantime I do have to come up with a Christmas list. I have no address book available. I’m Out-of-Touch with most everyone, not sending Christmas cards for a long time, though I have attempted, but I don’t know where a list is right now. As the years have gone by most people have stopped sending me Christmas cards, which makes it impossible for me to send THEM Christmas cards. I am still here where I’ve been since 1997. Actually, the cards coming to me dropped off before I stopped sending them. So it’s not fully my fault at how I feel about it. I don’t know what’s the what, guess my generation just doesn’t do much. I don’t write Christmas letters, feel weird doing so, like I have to have something spectacular happen to write one, like in 2007 I had a baby, but then I had trouble getting birth announcements out, finally did 3 months later, not in a mode with 3 other children & a baby again to do anything for a Christmas letter/card anyhow.

My sisters don’t always send something, my in-law relatives either. I mean cards or letters.

I have good intentions. I do, always have. I just haven’t functioned well enough to follow-through. It’s easier to make a blah card and send it out, or to make a great one custom for one person for no good reason any other time of the year.

I love my Cricut & new Gypsy. I have many ideas I can implement, but it’s really the thing about why: I don’t have a good place to work on these things. My scrap stuff is in my bedroom piled up, and also in an old computer armoire, all piled up. No desk or table for crafting available. It’s frustrating to use the kitchen table, can’t leave a project out. Worse to use the bed, way worse, but better in a way, but still NO PLACE TO LEAVE A PROJECT OUT, something that is in stages of putting together. No place in this house. This house is too small in regular living in fact. I’m stir crazy from that, and not productive therefore. I try, and fail. I’m trying, finding it hard to get anything done in this realm.

I did get a new thing at Costco this year, recently too, that makes wrapping presents much more pleasant. It’s a SnapWare Gift Wrapping station. It’s plastic with metal folding legs. It holds several rolls of wrapping paper, ribbon, tape, scissors, etc. Neat thing to hold stuff while working on wrapping, channels in surface to follow with scissors to cut paper. I wrapped daughters birthday presents this Nov. with a happy heart the whole time. It went smoothly. Christmas wrapping has been great too. I’ve wrapped a lot in the last few weeks, a ton, but it’s not as bad past years using the bed, the floor, or the kitchen table. None of them work because they aren’t like the new wrapping station I got. It’s wonderful.

The wrapping station is something that shows what a good crafting area, a dedicated area, would do for me. It’s a wonderful template to apply to life in every area, what works best is a good kitchen, good bathroom, good living room, good vehicle. The right size & tools for the job, the right space, all works together with a human to do their best and enjoy doing it more than if they had to do it with lesser.

So I hope I can manage to send something out. I am trying.

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I’ve noted while looking out the window that wind is actually starting to build more in the last 10 minutes than before all morning, so the event has started. The sun is out a bit, but has been rather blah looking, until just recently, the sky is all blue and sunny with some stretched-out clouds on the skyline North-ish to the horizon there.

I’m trying to get more into the holiday mood. Already have any presents that we’ve bought wrapped up for several days. We’ve done more ahead of time than usual. We have more to get, but have to wait for Dec. 15 pay day to do more. Also, now that the septic tank was a forced issue we will be behind more than we anticipated and so my main Christmas present will probably not happen.

Hubby would say I got mine early anyhow, but it’s a different one than was planned (yes, I know what it’s supposed to have been, nothing is a surprise some years, such as this year is.) I got a Cricut “Gypsy” on Black Friday, with Michael’s having the best price “239.99″ plus a $100 rebate to use on cricut.com. AThey also gave a car-charger and lanyard as a gift after purchase. (car-charger was $24.99 alone FWIW)

Besides the septic thing we also have something extra from a problem hubby is having with his a former contract he had, the which is suing the former head of that company and added my hubby to the suit for no good reason but thus far haven’t been able to get out of it, so $$$ to lawyer for working on it …. no Christmas cheer for me due to that. I am able to do some things, but there is the “decide what we need in the kitchen (food) for the rest of the year. Then it’s Pick One from: get a Christmas tree, or firewood, or get the milk we usually buy from the farm in SC. But, it’s all “in the future” as we are pretty much out of money until payday, then not much to use for what needs done, so it’s a picking game. ;

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A chart online about septic tanks says for 6 people using a 1000g septic system it should be pumped every 1.5 years. For 5 people, every 2.0 years.

We lived in the house from Nov. 1997 to Aug. 2003 … with 2 adults & a toddler, then a baby in late 1998, then another baby in 2000. By the time we finally had the system pumped we had a 7yo, 4yo, & an almost 3yo, plus us adults, the parents.

From then to now, over 6 years ago, it’s the 2 adults, plus a now 13yo, 11yo, 9yo, & 2yo. It makes sense that we have filled it up, maybe others would have done so sooner, as we don’t all take showers every day like many do. I’m believe in conservation and try to keep consumption of water down where I can. That does help with a septic system.

So the next pumping should occur: August 2011. Before or after a bit would work.

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No showers, no washing machine use, no baths, no dishwasher use.

I am would love to use our gray water differently, and if we did, it would put a great prize into the yard, & take away some of the septic overload. But we aren’t set-up for that (though it could be accomplished.) If we were right now though, showers and baths would be do-able at the least.

Thing is, this situation is so very tedious just washing something in the sink sets the drains bubbling & gurgling, or tilts the balance of things & water starts rising again. It could be worse, I know that. It’s just plain bad enough. Really bad in how I estimate this process of waiting so long to get it done that it takes quality of life, puts it in a holding tank where we can’t access it.

We last had the system pumped August 8, 2003. Too long ago. Certain maintenance things are not followed around here that need to be and as the house gets older it’s becoming an issue.

This is one that could be a costly issue, maybe, maybe not. We won’t know until the septic people arrive & open her up.

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I’ll add some pictures here later.

11 years ago I was in the hospital, induced to give birth so that I didn’t go into labor over the holiday [rolling my eyes] which is a ridiculous thing, but ok in the end.

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Thanksgiving Day is two weeks from today. We haven’t yet found where we are getting a turkey from. I should make some bread to cube for stuffing, put it in the freezer. I love my Thanksgiving stuffing. I use walnuts & raisins & apples usually, with a basic bread, onion, celery, sage base (from my pantry, not from a box!)

I like using a couple types of bread cubes, usually something dark & something light. So in this case I’ll make a white spelt bread & a whole grain spelt bread, maybe put some organic blackstrap molasses in it.

Speaking of molasses, my eldest was speaking of flies, my third eldest said something then, and we got onto the topic of Shoe Fly Pie and what it was, which made both me and my eldest have mouthwatering thoughts about Shoe Fly Pie. Maybe I’ll have to take the tradition of Shoe Fly Pie in Summer & put it to Thanksgiving/Christmas in our house. As traditional in summer as it is, I haven’t made any for a long time, not this year or the last, or probably even the one before that.

For planning purposes I’ll put down what I’ll make for Thanksgiving this year:

Thanksgiving Dinner 2009

• Turkey w/stuffing
• Gravy
• Mashed Potatoes
• Cranberry Sauce
• Green Olives
• Green Bean Casserole
• Baby Peas
• Cauliflower w/cheese sauce
• Sweet Potato Casserole w/marshmallow top
• Pumpkin Pies
• Shoe Fly Pie

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It’s been a fight to figure out what to do with this house. Really the main floor is so small & it’s use-ability is pretty much decided from there. For a small family it might work, but not for a medium size one like ours. 4 children & 2 adults in a less than 10×10 area for all meals? No way. So the “living” part of the main floor as it’s “supposed to be” has been less than work-able for us as the years have gone on.

We moved here in November of 1997 with one child, 1 1/2 years old. By one year time in the house we had two children. By two years after that we had three children. We had different furniture then, and got different things here and there, but all in all it was that every couch or couch-like thing we got just felt too big, but wasn’t big enough for us.

We ended up getting a 2×2 corner couch from Ikea finally. It was pretty much large enough for us, but even it’s smaller feeling type of big couch furniture didn’t feel right in that space. We had that couch in that room and moved it to the “basement” and back up and down I don’t know how many times really. But all in all it was nice for awhile, but it got raggedgy eventually and we never got another slipcover set for it, and the arms broke down and one seat fell through nearly, so I took one of the sections and threw it out so now we have a very long couch with one flattened arm and the other side isn’t an arm, but the old corner’s back. We’ve lived with it in this “living” space for a few months & it always felt just too much. Everything has been just too much since baby #4 has come to be, & is getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger … while everyone else is getting bigger too.

So now that monstrosity is in a better ready for us basement family room, ugly as it is, it’s OK for now. There is another thing, an Ikea chair to move down there, and an end table, then the “living” area will be re-organized as more of our “dining room” –which I did do some time in the past once, the area is a glorified entry/sitting room, not suitable as a true living room or family space for TV, games, etc.

Our kitchen is STILL in transition, and eventually MAYBE we’ll have a small eating area on the side of the kitchen opposite where the old eating area was. We had a small 4-person seating table when we moved in here and it fit fine there, adding a larger table was uncomfortable and it’s only ever felt right since that purchase to have it in front of the fireplace. The entry for our house leads right into that space directly. There is no wonderful entry hall of any sort. So having a larger family is just too much for this house. I’ve known it for years, hubby has known it too, but I feel it more, no doubt, since I’m here a ton more than he is.

We need to build shelves and such next to the fireplace. We have a wonderful space on both sides to use to make a very classic built-in flanking thing and I’ve had many stylistic ideas and my non-natural-handyman husband struggles to see how easy it is to build nearly anything we want with just some good old fashioned work with the tools we already have and the wood & MDF and such we can get at Home Depot just a few miles away.

One of these days we’ll have the money for me to say, “this is what we’ll do this weekend,” and just do it.

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1 lb. ground meat (i.e. beef, bison, etc.)
1 med. onion, diced
Garlic, minced (2 or more cloves, as much as desired, I use 3-5 usually)

Cook the above on medium heat until the meat is browned and the onions are soft. Then add:

3 Tablespoons Chili Powder
1 Tablespoon Cumin Powder
1 teaspoon Oregano
1 teaspoon sea salt

Stir the seasonings into the meat mixture well. Then add:

1 can of diced tomatoes (14.5 oz. or equivalent of freshly diced tomato)
1 cup water

Stir everything together and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat just enough to keep the mixture gently simmering until the sauce thickens to desired consistency (10 minutes or so.)

Use to fill hard taco shells, soft taco shells, use with nachos, burritos, and so on.

This is what I’ve developed over the past few years. Tweak to your own taste.

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In any case, we brought the whole family back on Sunday afternoon. I wanted them to get to see the Monet exhibit now, not have to wait until someday we were somewhere in which it could be seen. I enjoyed all the views I had of it on Saturday, and really enjoyed it again on Sunday. We started Sunday with Monet and then looked at other things, and then went back to the Monet Exhibition again to end the outing.

It was spectacular to be in the rooms with the huge paintings that Claude Monet himself actually painted. I took one of them and made that my phone background, and another and made a background for my Twitter page. I’ll get the photos organized and onto my Flickr pages and then hopefully be able to post about it better another time.

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