[Zhoen]

SD- fingers crossed that you get past this latest hurdle quickly and it soon fades away into the general blur of “the remodel was stressful at times” that comes with hindsight being rose-colored… We have had only two light dustings this winter, guess all our snow went to you!

A co-worker is having a little boy in May, and work is throwing her a surprise shower on April 5th, so I am working on a baby blanket for her based on this pattern, but in green.

This is a blog, so there’s a lot of “I looked at x and y and kind of put the together, so figure it out yourself…” and I tried, but below is an example of what happens when I “figure it out myself”, vs when I find the link to actual instructions!

Bet ya can’t guess which is which! 🤣😁

At least I hadn’t done a zillion “figured” ones before I got good instructions. Now I just need 55 more of the derned things!

 

[dcompton]

I have to go to town this afternoon to finish off the taxes. I’ve ended up owing less than I - and the accountant - thought, so that’s good news. It’s still a bite I’m not used to, but not shocking. I’m just glad to have it done. The other annoying thing I have to do is go renew my driver’s license. Maybe next week. I’ll go to the town south of us rather than Shreveport where the DMV is always packed and a complete zoo. It can take hours there.

I didn’t touch the cross stitch yesterday, but need to buckle down to it when I get back from town. I need to treat it like a job until Easter, my switch off date. It will be better once I get past the phoenix.

 

[hikr00]

DC yes, I’m on the coast of Maine. Yesterday was a wild one! The snow came down fast and furious and there was a lot of wind so it was nuts out there. February is typically our “snow month” but this year March has taken the crown. We hunkered down and I read and watched a few of my shows and dh napped.

Marthamfi is your Mom ok? You mentioned a potential trip to the ER.

 

[renmerc446]

Grrr!! Several annoying things happening at the same time this week.

Hope the people who got the snow are doing alright. We had snow all day yesterday but none of it actually stuck on the ground in my area. The air temps were cold enough for snow but the ground was too warm for any accumulation. It was also windy enough to help the roads dry off overnight for the most part. No real icy spots.

Sigh. I did get a little bit done on my stash-gan last night. Finished off the partial skein that I started recently. Wasn't that big of a skein to begin with. Started the 1lb skein, only a few stitches but enough to say I started it. I "measured" it (against my bed) and I think I will need one or more skeins to totally finish the afgan.

 

[dcompton]

We will have bees! I see a good number of bumblebees and solitary bees, but not standard honeybees. Someone Sharon knows put a couple of hive boxes out here this morning far back away from the houses. She will bring the bees soon. I don’t know why, but that makes me happy. 😊

Time to get an early supper and start the stitching. I have to redeem yesterday’s supper. I made fried rice. I package and freeze all the ingredients, but fry and add soy sauce when I’m ready to use it. And did I add the soy sauce! I guess I was in la-la land because I just kept adding it. It was fried salt. Lol. I thawed another container overnight to add to it. That should make it about right. 😂

 

[marthamfi]

So cool Bees! We get a lot of different types here with my flowers. I hope everyone is ok after the snow storm. That is frustrating Spirit but at least you get a break now.

Thanks Hikr, yes she is ok ..has health problems but just here now it seems family docs are just go to ER for everything. Discovered she has an hernia and the rest ..usual test results in a few days. Told her about the email invite..she isn't into it ..just thought casual pop over not a only between this time to this time. only invited drive mom. sure sil knows she is not the rational person in anyones eyes cus brother doesn't have rights even as a roommate. Families.....can count on them being weird. Crochet the stress away!

worked , got groceries and did some of the hat. that is almost finished.. I skipped the extra row of double stitch they said to do for adults to make the pattern work better. first time I did it but not the same. Think I will do one more set like that. hopefully the weather keeps inproving so I can work in the garden and start putting out all that garden decor out I bought at auction.

 

[Spirit Deer]

Nice hives! I hope you get honey. The more pollinators, the better!

The wall is done, and I'm proud of it. It looks very professional IMO. We will have electricians tomorrow but no carpenters, so it's good I volunteered to DIY it because now it can be wired. We just tagged it using deck screws because I'm not sure how they want to permanently fasten it to the floor. They can do that next week.

My new saw went a long way toward paying for itself the past 2 days. It took us 7 hrs to build our ½ wall, but of course we work much slower. If our guys had done it in 3, it would have cost us $600 in labor. That pretty much covers the cost of the $400 saw and its $170 stand. This is a perfect example of why I don't mind buying tools instead of paying contractors, where feasible. Materials only cost us about $60 for 2x4s and maybe $10 for a couple lbs of screws. Nice bargain! 🙂🙂 Of course it still needs wiring, Sheetrock, cap rail, and trim, but at least we saved some significant money on the framing. It was mostly fun, too.

 

[hikr00]

Zhoen, that is a really cute pattern. I love how the border kind of mimics the blocks albeit smaller. Really pretty.

DC hope the drivers license renewal doesn’t take forever. I dread doing that. It doesn’t matter whether you walk in and there’s fifty people waiting or two waiting it still takes forever. One time I walked in and one person was ahead of me. I got cocky and thought “I’ll be out of here in fifteen minutes”. An hour and a half later I made it out. Sigh. I am excited for your bees! My dear friend in Texas has several bee boxes (pretty sure that’s not the name I mean to say?) and she just loves watching them flit around collecting and bringing back to the boxes and then harvesting the honey. Fried salt sounds like an interesting meal. Lolol. Happens to us all.

renmerc446 great progress on the stash-ghan. So close to done!

Marthamfi I’m glad to hear your Mom is ok. Families can definitely be weird. How are your temps holding out? Will it be garden time soon? With all the snow we had the last day or so that’ll push us back another couple of weeks which makes me frustrated. But it’s Maine and this is normal for here.

SD great job on the wall! The whole project is zipping right along. Exciting to see.

it’s sunny today. Dh still needs to get out and snowblow so we can get out of here. I need to make a run to town for meds and to check the mail. The rest of the time I’ll get some house chores done, stare at the AG and do something with the stash.

 

[dcompton]

This is going to be a very expensive week. After paying taxes yesterday, today or tomorrow I will be paying a plumber. 🙁 My toilet is resisting flushing somewhat erratically and it has to be fixed. The washing machine has also started making unsettling glug glug noises at the end of a drain cycle. These are the only days I miss the apartment. Well, and maybe grocery days. If I still lived in town I could have them delivered. Still, this is better.

I’ve cleaned the bathroom but the rest of the day is going to be given to the cross stitch. I’ve sort of hit s wall and did nothing on it yesterday either. I think once I actually get started again it will be ok.

 

[hikr00]

DC sorry to hear it’s going to be an expensive week. Plumbing issues are no fun. I hope it turns out to be an easier fix than it seems. We can’t get grocery delivery here either from the local grocery store. What’s weird is there’s a Whole Foods store about 45 minutes from here and I could order stuff from there on Amazon and they’ll deliver it to the us the same day. The local store is 4 miles from our house so I can’t figure out how come they can’t deliver here.

 

[Zhoen]

I miss my bees!!! 😭 Out failure rate here is over 50%, so I was basically shipping them in from wherever to die each year… There is a nature preserve not too far from here, and on warm days you can hear all the wild bees doing their thing… I like to believe that they are all the grandchildren of the bees that ran off on me …

 

[Contrary Housewife]

Today was pretty much a wasted day. Heavier rain moved in right around when I thought I'd go check and see how wet it was out back. Too dark to sew, then I got a headache. Temp has dropped 20F and still going down. Meeko was wandering around meowing all day, we could not figure out what she wanted. She got food, water, cuddles, cleaned litter box, more cuddles, etc. Finally fell asleep under the quilt on the couch.

My friends downtown with the neighborhood orchard tried bees last year. Vandals kept knocking over the hives, so the owner took them away. Such a shame.

Hope everyone has a better day tomorrow.

 

[renmerc446]

dc - nice on the bees! The local living history farm has kept bees on the farm for years. They recently moved the location of the hives from near the creek that runs through the farm and closer to the barns. They've had issues with bears knocking over the hives for the honey on several occasions. But I think the main reason why the hives were moved to the new locations was because the creek flood a year or so ago during the hurricane and either took out or nearly took them out. Still, the honey is a good source of income for the farm.

Did my taxes today. I think my days of being able to use the tax software service I've used for years for free are over. Sigh. They have paid services, which I ended up having to use due to my inheritance last year. Finally figured out how to import my tax information into the forms, so that's something. I pretty much evened out on my returned - I get a refund on federal but have to pay state takes and they come out roughly even. The biggest difference is due to having to pay for the tax software.

 

[marthamfi]

Maybe spring fever with Meeko? My cats are starting since time change. Well I now know why I was extra cranky sigh too old for this! Honey places rent their beehives out here. There used to be a neighbour who had a beehive in their garden. Getting warmer in the 50s today and sunny but ice on the car this morning so not quite there for gardening. Suppose to be the hottest day so far this year tomorrow. Cats will be happy.

Hikr 4hrs after my mom came home the er doctor was calling after 7 saying she left before all the tests. and why didn't she answer the phone. I said did you leave a message no ..said well lots of scam calls etc and in the kitchen so phone back. You can tell the younger generation lol My mom was well nurse said get dressed and you can go so she did. Don't know what the tests were but not major cus she was back home again soon enough after dh took her. Needs more blood tests but she is always going for that thyroid etc.

yes my sil is fake vegan etc. snob for no reason. can't cook doesn't work doesn't do anything for my brother yet he wasn't allowed to use his own washing machine. I mean we have tried but seems to get upset if we even have similar interests. Well at least only see couple times a year. think very insecure only her in her life. Weird if fine fake well lol
Watching the first season of brokenwood mysteries on roku while puttering. made the regency apple tart. almost finished the hat and feel like another scarf and hat set.. so pulled out a bag of yarn from years ago..the pound of yarn bags white/rose/green mix. never figured out which brand it was. Michaels for a time had just bins full of the pound of yarn bags and I used to find lots of ones that were only sold in the states at the time.

 

[Spirit Deer]

It was a long day, after no sleep last night. Insomnia sucks. I was so tired I fell asleep in the rocker while Husby was removing Sheetrock by pounding on a pry bar with a hammer. I still don't believe it because it was LOUD. Electricians were gone at the time, installing a new hand dryer at Dairy Queen. They still had time to finish all the rough wiring including the new wall. After they got back, they put in 6 wafer lights in the kitchen, and a temp light in the LR, so we have light in every room now. It's been pretty dark with no lights in the kitchen or LR, so the light is very welcome. R didn't know when they would be coming back to work in the basement.

It started snowing at 10 AM. I think we only had about 3" before we left for home at 5:15, but we knew the driveway would be bad with greasy snow over ice. Didn't think it would be quite this bad.

Complete loss of control. Scary. The truck was supposed to be making a left turn instead of veering to the right and heading for the cabin. I think we hit a raised flowerbed which stopped us from hitting the post, and we didn't end up in the rock pile in front of the cabin. That was good news at least. The truck was able to claw its way back into the space by the trailers about halfway up the driveway, also good news because now we can at least turn around to get down the hill.

We're not sure our plow guy will be able to plow without hitting our truck though. We were lucky this time. It's been worse in the past. This time, it was only an inconvenience. We're happy to be able to stay home tomorow. We're expecting another 9" of snow from this storm. Yippy skippy.

 

[renmerc446]

SD - glad you're ok making it up your driveway.

I haven't been sleeping well this past week. Just a lot of frustrating, annoying things going on this week. But at least my taxes are done and on their way (and weren't as bad as I thought they'd be).

 

[dlrcpa]

SD just amazing that you have been able to complete so much work in the dead of winter.
Bees are really cool, I have thought about them many times. Hubby is not a fan. It takes a lot of patience and attention (like dogs) so there's a clue.... VA Dept Agriculture has a yearly drawing for a free hive "kit" but you have to buy your bees/supplies and demonstrate you started the hive within a year. Keep pondering what to do with backyard. Woodpeckers constant problem on the cedar siding so can't really encourage other birds. Deer roam through eating whatever they want and too shady for any vegs and many flowers. But bees could work, and I would have to be the sole caretaker. Think I'll stick to knitting instead. Sure am thankful for all the donated yarn, keeps me busy.

 

[dcompton]

R - My days of free tax filing are over too, also thanks to that inheritance from my grandmother. There is no way I could have done it. Of all things, it’s oil and gas royalties which apparently get complicated fast. I know exactly nothing about it. Last year I got the accumulated backlog, but ongoing it’s very little, a dribble that might just about support my audiobook habit (don’t start thinking of me as a high falutin’ heiress 🤣) and I’ll still have to get a professional to figure out the taxes. Big sigh. I’m conflicted about it too. Climate change is my big issue, but a little bit of free money is helpful too. Another big sigh. I guess the pittance that is my share isn’t contributing much to destroying the planet, but I can’t help feeling a little hypocritical about it.

I’ve decided it isn’t the Chinese Garden in general that’s making it so hard to work on, it’s the dang phoenix. The tiny stitches and hard to read pattern is making it a hard slog. I can’t believe there are three more to go after this one. The sewing thread is working for the backstitching and my ridiculous stash is finally paying off with lots of choices for substitutions. I’ve used two metallics on the phoenix and will probably use a third. I’ve decided that after I finish the top all the way across, my goal will be to do at least one page a month. I need to think of it as small chunks, not a huge overwhelming whole.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

Yeah, our taxes are too complicated to do on the free software. Multiple sources of income, across state lines, investments, etc. DH hasn't even started yet. Just had yet another "important tax document" arrive this week.

It's very sunny today. We have a thin crust of frozen snow on the ground but not in the street, so business as usual. Don't need to go out, have no big plans for the weekend. Should get some sewing done if I can gather the energy. Hopefully everyone else is making progress on their projects, no matter how slowly.

 

[Spirit Deer]

It's because of it being the dead of winter we're getting so much done. That, and throwing tens of thousands of dollars at the various projects. We know we're going to lose these guys very soon, as soon as spring hits which could be another month or 5 minutes from now. Then, there will be no hiring anyone for anything till next winter. We have our foot in the door now so will be shoehorned in for crucial smaller projects when they have time though.

We're still under a winter storm warning but B called and woke us up this morning to see if we could come into town right away so they could get started on Sheetrock. It was snowing, we weren't sure if we could get the truck off the hill, the roads were terrible, we were exhausted, the house wasn't ready AT ALL, so of course we said yes. 🤣🤣 We know the clock is ticking, and any day they can be here, we're going to make it happen unless there's a dire emergency. I spent the morning clearing the decks (So. Much. Shuffling. 😳☹) while Husby dealt with the snow, then I started replacing insulation the electricians ripped out yesterday. Husby ran down to the local lumber yard and ordered the needed 4x12 Sheetrock we needed, which was delivered and in the house within a half hour. We have 4 guys working today so things are going fast. They're almost done with the north end, which includes the ½ bath, 2 closets, bedroom, and sewing room. Things should speed up after that because the rest is mostly filling in where headers were put in. They plan to be here Monday, too. The timing is working out nicely except for the storm, but that's what 4WD is for.

Today is country music day, and these guys know all the lyrics. Sometimes they make up alternatives, always hilarious.

Hope our plow guy has been there before we get home. Otherwise we'll be parking by the road tonight. It's another good reminder why buying a house in town and easing into moving is a good idea.