Under $20 Part One

Winter is approaching and I hate it, everything about the winter-other than the valid excuse to lay under a pile of blankets and read-stinks.  Short days, rain, gray skies, germs, the holidays-all just a pile of stress and blah.  So, instead of focusing on that, I am focusing on ways to be better prepared for winter for under $20, because with a broken retainer, 2 bad tires, 2 bad brake pads, 2 cavities and 2 birthdays distributed among the family to pay for in the next 3 weeks-I don't have a lot of flash cash.

I am starting with the house, because I am housecentric all season, I only go out if it's over 50 and sunny.

The best way to spend $20 and have a MUCH more cozy house is to buy 3 $5 tubes of 100% silicone caulk and attack your windows and doors from the outside.  Latex is cheaper and it will also fail when it's wet.  Get right next to the frame all the way around, fill in any soft spots and make a note of those to be repaired in the spring.  Fill in carpenter bee holes, tiny gaps-those tiny gaps let in COLD air and let your heat leak out.  If you have ladybugs (or other bugs/mice) IN your house, you have a gap that needs attention.  Spend the last $5 on that gap foam that expands and fill in every single one of those vent holes in the foundation, you know the ones if you have an older house.  The foundation is cement blocks and every so often one is flipped to expose the holes.  Fill those in.  Then open your kitchen sink cabinet and see if you can see daylight anywhere around the pipes.  Fill that gap up.  That's a mousey gateway and cold air.  UGH. We are avoiding that.  If you have any sealant of either type left, go in your bathrooms and lift up that little metal ring around the water line where it goes into the floor and fill that up, too.  Then put the ring back in place.

This will save you more than you spent, silicone lasts and last-but you can't paint over it.  So choose clear or white and when you use it, use it neatly.  Any smears will show up when you repaint.

One year, I am sure I have told this one before, but when I was 15 I moved in with my father.  We were completely unprepared for life as bachelors and winged practically everything via best-guess scenario.  I never had a house key, so I came and went through the kitchen window.  When my bedroom window frame rotted, Daddy had it replaced with sheet glass (MUCH cheaper!) and hung a hammer next to it in case of fire.

With no adult females around to hassle us, we managed with a single working stove eye and a microwave, I did laundry twice a month and mowed twice a month-not on the same weekend because that would be insane amounts of work.  ha!

The first winter in the house, a possum chewed open the area around the pipes and climbed in to live under the sink.  Daddy simply tied the knobs together with a rope and when the temps would drop, he angled a space heater at the doors so it would not freeze.  I occasionally cracked the doors and sprayed inside the crack with Lysol, eliciting a horrible hissing that to this day I can still hear when I spray the toilet, imagining the horrific death of so many germs.   It sounds like a gaspy 'heeeeeeeeeeeeee'.  You can sometimes make your cat make the same noise if you annoy it.

Sunday

Chan has been scarce, it's Nanowrimo month and I doubt I will see her until early December unless there's need for transport or feeding.  She's at rehearsals now, the play is in 5 weeks. I keep waiting for Suzette to go insane like every other director we have had.  But she's hanging in there and doing a good job all around.

The kids go in 2 weeks to audition for the next play they have decided they want to be in.  Thankfully, of course I mean unfortunately, the whole year has gone by without them being really interested in being in another play.  I know they really enjoy performing, but it's not their life's blood.  I think they just like being part of something and hanging out with other kids.  The behind the scenes dramatics and other kids being nice and then not nice-or flat ignoring them upsets all three of them.  Playing favorites and typecasting and letting certain kids get away with crap attitudes, it's like a zoo sometimes-or like public school.  If you are not an alpha, you are nothing and the unfairness of it eats at them.  Plus, the germs flying around and the silly crushes and the 'he said she said' makes the couple of minutes on stage not really worth it.  But they have had a long break away from the drama of the theater and are ready to at least try out.  Nothing saying they will even be cast.

I have been super busy with the house, getting things done, making my lists, hiding from ladybugs.  The Lackeys came to spend the night Halloween-it rained all night.  We stayed up watching scary movies (Gina brought us a little TV/DVD combo they were getting rid of!) and they headed out the next morning.  That night Chan went to a carnival with them and we have not seen her since.

I worked in the house most of the weekend, now both bathrooms have fresh caulk, repaired grout and are sealed with the 5-year stuff.  I have it marked to do again in 3.  All we need now is the new trim and a fresh coat of paint. I bought a bright blue and turquoise shower curtain for the hall, I think I am going to ignore the gray floor and go super bright.  That's what rugs are for, anyway.

Today I was ready to get out and stretch my legs, so we went for a quick hike at Hurricane Creek.  The fall colors are just amazing, I am surprised because it is REALLY dry.  Usually that means loads of dull yellow leaves that quickly go dull brown and fall off.  The climb out, I swear, nearly KILLED me.  I am not fully over this bout of pneumonia and it felt like someone was pressing my chest the whole walk and that rib I cracked a couple months back is still aching like I have been kicked.  If I had not just SAILED through a stress test, I would worry about my heart!  I can do 45 minutes on a treadmill with the incline going up and down and barely break a 100 heart rate.  I am not out of shape, I am out of breath capacity.  I SO want to be all well.

This cracked me up. 

He does this in the kitchen doorway.  Grabs it flips up and touches his feet on the ceiling.  I panic EVERY time.

One legged GeoSquatch

The week ahead is looking happily hassle free.  Painting and cleaning, I have a list.  I will probably be back on here by Tuesday afternoon bitching about how boring painting and cleaning are.  hahaha.  I wish I had some magic way to get the cabinet fronts all clean without scrubbing.   I need some kind of laser thingie.  Just zap it.  I tried using the new mop on them when I was scrubbing the floor last week, but it did not really help, I am going to have to actually apply some effort.  *sigh*

The Ball and a few updates

On the 26th, the kids went to the Masquerade Ball.

They had a blast, Jake said it was the most fun he's ever had.  I imagine Rho being there had something to do with it.  From the video I have seen, his dancing was...inventive.  When I popped in to check on theam at 11:30, his hair was plastered to his head with sweat and Chan had danced right through her stockings.  There were grown men dressed as Ponies...loud music and a good bit of Munchkin playing.  I imagine it probably was one of the best nights of his life.

House news-Matt finished putting down the flooring in the hall bathroom, I have scrubbed all the tiles and grout and repaired any little gaps and resealed the whole thing.  I pulled out all the tiles in the window and replaced some damaged wood in the frame.  I covered every inch of wood in there possible in 50 year silicone made for exposed outdoor/shower use, then covered that with a layer of waterproof flexible wood filler and then put the tiles back down and used silicone instead of grout to keep them in place.  I also put some glass tile squares at the edge of the tub, that's where the water was sloshing out with baths or getting out of the curtain with showers.  That's all nearly done.  I need to replace the quarter round and put a little more sealant around the toilet base and it will be finished.  The kids are going back and forth about painting.

Our bathroom is coming along.  He's leveled out the new shower floor so it drains much better.  I replaced a few tiles and cleaned the grout and it's ready to be repaired in a few spots and sealed again which I will do Thursday morning.  It still needs to  be trimmed out, but the trim is actually ON the front porch.  I have a feeling this may be the year.

We have a guy coming with a trailer-I hope, I have not heard from him all week-to pick up the dead TV and a few other things from the yard.  Dead mower, dead grill, dead fridge.

Saturday Jake is finishing the last little bit on the front of the house and that will be done.  It's coming along, we just keep having to spread it out to pay for everything and I imagine things will  grind to a halt over the winter.  Maybe we will tackle redoing that kitchen floor.  The scraped paint on plywood look is starting to lose its charm.  

Anyway, just wanted to update-keep a record somewhere of our progress.  And put the ball photos somewhere more permanent than Facebook, I tend to delete date-specific albums after a couple months.

Fall...

It finally feels like fall around here.  I had to put on a sweater to go feed the cats this morning and I dragged the dog bedding out to hang to air.  I doubt they care it smells a little musty being stored all summer, but...one does what one can to be civilized.  hahaha  I will get them a snug spot to lay, one that will likely be infested with cats within 10 minutes.  It's okay if the dogs are there first and the cats come snuggle up.  But Kuma can't lay down with a cat on purpose.

It's going to get into the 30's tonight.  Upper 30's, but that hardly makes any difference, it's still too cold.  I was hit in the back of the head with the first ladybug of the season as I was making hot tea this morning.  Time marches on, but dang.  Cold and bugs, I don't care for either.

Matt and Kuma are walking around with the same bright-eyed bushy-tailed look of happy wonder on their faces.  They LOVE the nippy weather, Kuma can run for hours and Matt revs up into Prospector Mode, wherein his face gets bushy and his stops shaving his head.  He wears a light jacket when it's 12 degrees out and complains about how the heat dries out his contacts.  I bet he will say that 45 times before the end of the year.  I will keep count.  It's like he has no idea the vents angle or that he can use eye drops or just wear his glasses.  But, he has LOADS of body heat, so I have to keep him around despite the eyeball issue.

Since getting back from Cayman, we have gotten into gear with the house...some.  Matt has about half of the hall bathroom tiled.  I did a spot in front of the front door to keep the winter mud at bay.  I have the WHOLE porch covered in 2 mats and a full carpet where we walk in and the doorway had its own mat and the carpet under there was still filthy.  So I pulled it out and I added a muddy shoe tray inside and out.  We'll see if that helps!  I have gotten more painting done, that's going slowly, though.  Maybe we can get a burst in this week and have it nearly finished in the cool dry weather coming up.

We made plans with friends-pontooning the lake to see the fall colors, grilling out, bonfires, sleepovers, hikes.  Chan is busy with a new play, the music director encouraged her to try out for a lead role that had already been cast before she joined in, but the girl has not pulled her weight.  So, that might go from a minor blip (once a week rehearsals, YES) to a major one as she takes on the lines and songs.  She would get a solo!

It feels like we are...cocooning or something similar.  Surrounding ourselves with friends and enjoying the kids and our pets.  Trying new things and making bigger plans, gathering ideas and wool.  Getting the house cozy and tidy and in good shape, even making it more a reflection of us now.  I love this house, I am glad we are putting in some time and money to keep it healthy and whole.

Speaking of friends and gatherings, yesterday we went to Kurt and Katy's for Inde and Alex's birthday party.  She's 5 and he's 14, we had a blast!

Matt...not sure what he and Gina were talking about:

some kids.

The patio expansion, I love it!

Jake loves rainbow cake!

Gina has long wanted to try ziplining, so Kurt set her up last night!  I think she enjoyed it!

This is a new thing...I think it's funny how I am trying to sort MY feelings about HIS feelings.
At least I really like Rhoen and they seem to be taking things slowly.  AND she griped about his awful spelling and he's been working on that double time. I knew it was going to take a girl to get him to shape up in that arena.  

Hanging out waiting for a zip!

Gina was lei'd!

Delicious spice cake

Muscadine moonshine, it was 120 proof.  I could only smell it.  WHOOOOO.

Drink ANYTHING from this company, it's all good.  I tried whiskey, gin, absinthe and bourbon.
I stopped sampling around 8, we left after 11.  I may have loosened up, but I have not gone nuts.  

Jake and Rhoen chatting.

Everyone dancing on the deck.

It was a great evening, we had such a good time just hanging out talking and laughing and munching on yummy things.  We have another bonfire at the lake and then it's my turn to host!   I am excited!