It's Getting Closer!!

My friend Shelly in Wisconsin saw some Robins and I have seen a few flocks of Canada Geese flying over. We actually made it into the 40's today and now things are a muddy mess, still lots of mounds of snow but getting better. I keep looking at my Daffy Dill bed and trying to see if anyone is peeking up. Have planted more flats in the basement, some spinach, cabbage and bell peppers. Will be planting tomatoes soon, hoping the seeds I saved from last year will come up.

BARBARA CLARK - ARTIST

HANDPAINTED SHIRTS FROM YOUR FAVORITE PHOTO!
This is a shirt I painted as a gift for a friends husband for Christmas last year. She is such a sweety and posted this picture on her blog. I really love doing things like this and wish I could do more. I keep working on my space and trying to make it calm and organized as when things are crazy I just find it so hard to create. His puppies are just so cute and I am so glad he liked the shirt I made for him. They are such a wonderful couple, loving and supportive of each other and just all around good friends.

All is well with the critters, oh and we have another one show up a beautiful little gray tabby with green eyes. Such a lover but have no idea where he came from. The dogs are a muddy mess and keep me busy sweeping up after them and washing their blankets. I try to dry them off when they come in but with Gretel that is an exercise in futility. Here are the 3 babies being abused,lol.

So best to all, keep your eye out for Spring and send it my way!

Spring?? hummm not here,lol

Jim moved my other computer up the my office so that now I have two monitors to have info up on while I work. The picture is not completely accurate as I had Jim move it around again but you get the idea. This will allow me to keep my maps and some other sites up on one and the business items on my business computer. I am trying everything to make this all work. I so hate having bills hanging over my head and hope this will aid me to be faster and there fore make more money.

We had a couple of days of warmer and you could actually see the grass and then yesterday afternoon it started to snow again and all is covered again. Just a few inches, nothing major but makes spring seem even further away. I was surprised to see Red wing blackbirds at my feeders, that's a first. I also have far too many grackles which I dislike as they chase off my other birds. It always seems as if Winter lasts so long and the Spring and Summer zip past.

Right now it seems like every thing zips,lol. Must be the age thing, I know I got a medicare card in the mail and that put a damper on things, was not ready mentally for that. Just saw that a friend from high school lost her husband and he was my age. Last month received a phone call letting me know another old friend died. A tad depressing! Not a whole lot one can do other then try to take care of ourselves and keep plugging.

I think I have decided on a color for up here, right now it is a grayish blue which was fine for a boy but kind of gloomy for me. I am leaning to a cream color that will make it lighter and brighter up here, think that will work. I will go from top to bottom as this will be the easiest to paint, will have to keep my eyes open for some mistint in the right color. Can usually pick up 5 gallons for only a couple of bucks.

Hope all are well and enjoying life. Renie posted some pictures of her daffydills on Facebook which was a pretty site. Spring is slowly working it's way up.

Be Well all,

Barbara

February

I promised a few friends that I would get back to my blog. I guess I am always surprised that anyone reads it or wants to see more so kind of let it slide. I think of things all the time to share but then sometimes I feel as if I am in a rut. So, here I am back again with same old things and new things and life goes on.

Jim seems to be enjoying his job, working with a great bunch of guys. What I like the most is that he is out interacting with people and also getting great workouts. The place is huge and he does a lot of walking which is wonderful for his health and something that I could not get him to do on a voluntary basis. I know he is sleeping much better no thrashing around, so I am sleeping better also,lol.

My job has slowed down a bit after the holidays and no bad weather in my area. I feel much calmer and confident most of the time, what I struggle with is to be faster on the phones. It is hard for me to be curt and cut people off which I think is how lots of the people manage to be so quick. I usually try to find them the phone numbers they are looking for or help them as much as I can. I do now try to direct the conversation to the facts and not let them rattle on about the whole situation. I hate to do this, but am tired of the notes that I am not fast enough. I am keeping my eyes open for another client that might be more along the lines of Lands' End where you are not penalized for trying to help people.

The chickens are thriving and with the warmer weather laying more. The young ones will start laying in a month or so and the egg business will increase. I had to raise my prices a bit as the feed prices are going up. My plans are to take them to a farmer's market this summer where I will be able to get a much higher price for them. Hope to also have herbs, peppers and some produce to take also.

The office area is pretty much together, still some more filing to get done, I have tons of papers to go through, I am making up for years of shoving things in boxes and moving them from spot to spot. Now I will finally be able to clear so much stuff out and it will feel so good. I am also making progress on the craft side of the room,have even come up with what I think will be a nice color scheme. I am thinking cream colored walls and some sort of border. It currently is a bluish with a baseball border so need to cover that. Of course once again all this depends on Jim getting the roof sealed and a new ceiling in. I have so many plans and it drives me crazy to have things all up in the air. With no place to put things and clutter everywhere it keeps me off balance and cranky.

I am determined that this is the year things are going to get done, I hate to be a nag but will if that is what it takes. Jim just has no interest in things being organized, he is a piler. I clear off tables or counters and he busily fills them back up. I keep tearing out pictures of colors and curtains etc. If need be I will pay someone to come in and patch holes etc so I can paint and paper. Having grown up with women who made a career of nagging I will not be able to do much of it as it makes me even more upset.

I have been busy planning out the garden, so many catalogs coming in I want it all,lol. We have a larger area planned and that should work out very well this year. Piles of compost to use and I think it will be successful. Time will tell.

My goal is to make this all come together and be successful. I also have help coming in the Spring so that this will also be the year my shop gets done. I have quite a few people who want to have me teach them and also others who want to work with me. I am going to make this happen so that we can back on track with the finances. I am going to be smarter about things and not try to do it all myself as I have in the past. Watching the cake shows has really helped me to plan things out better, all of them have several people working with them that do the "grunt" work. At my age I need to be more in the planning and less in the physical. With very little overhead I have a real shot at making this work and being successful. My job will provide the money for supplies and also I need a bigger mixer. My two Kitchen Aids are very old and have done a wonderful job but I know they will not last forever.

So plans are made and God willing and the creek don't rise it should all come together.

Love to you all and thank you for all the wonderful comments, they mean so much.

Barbara

Happiest of New Years!!

Greetings of 2011!! Another year gone and a new start , new opportunities abound. Jim is once more employed which is a very good thing for his psyche. While having him home allowed many things to be repaired I do not feel it was good for him to not be able to find anything. He is working for Winnebago in the maintainence department, much like he has done in the past but this time as a mechanic rather then in management. In some ways this may be a relief for him , he will be able to go in work his shift and leave with no worries other then doing what is assigned.

I am still working at home and it is going well, there is quite a bit of pressure more then I anticipated. They want talk time down but require you stay on the line for transfers etc so it is a constant battle to be within the guidelines. You also have the uncertiny of who will be on the phone and what the problem will be. I am thinking that when my 6 months are up I may look for something different. In many ways it is easy so we will see, I am not a quitter so tend to stick with things maybe longer then I should.

Jim was able to get many things done around the house over the past year, things like redoing all the old windows. He took the glass out, put new caulk and points and now the windows are as good as new. People keep saying "oh, you need to put in new windows" wrong! The few windows that were replaced by previous owners are terrible. I read in This Old House that the older windows properly maintained are just as energy efficient at the new expensive ones. So here is proof, windows that going on a hundred and now have no leaks or rattles.

We had a quiet holiday, just enjoyed each other and the critters. The tree and outside lights were were up, not as many as I wanted but still pretty. That is one of my favorite things about the holiday all the twinkling lights. I do not miss all the pressure or the feeling that I need to buy tons of stuff, couldn't anyway,lol.
We did what we could and sent out love which has no price.

So again I wish you a wonderful New Year and hope to spend more time in blog land in this exciting new year. Here is to our goals being met and our understanding that "things" do not bring happiness we do that for ourselves.

Best to you, Barbara

November Snow

We went from having some lovely weather to snow, which is pretty and we knew it had to show up sometime. Just never quite ready for it , unlike Spring which never seems to come soon enough.

We continue to plug along, Jim has another job interview on Tuesday so we will see how that one goes. I am getting the hang of my phone job, more information is seeping into my overwhelmed head. I have had some good feedback recently which has really helped. For the most part the members are very nice and helpful, with the occasional bad egg. The kind you want to reach through the phone and smack!! The ones who think they are the only people on the planet who matter and the rest of us are only on the planet to make them happy. Thank goodness they are in the minority.

The baby chicks are growing so fast, we brought in a small size water tank to transfer them to, it has high sides so they are not able to jump out. We will be moving them to it in the next couple of days so they have a bit more room to move around. Jim has been working on getting the barn closed up for the winter, our panels were a hit last year. Jim is refurbishing them and making some improvements to them to help the critters be comfortable.. Last year I covered a couple of the windows with plastic and chicken wire but the goats were still able to tear the plastic off. We fooled them this year by putting Plexiglas pieces over the openings. We have a couple of back up heaters and heat lamps if the temps dip really low for very long. Each year we learn a bit more.

Jim continues to work at caulking and stuffing insulation where he can. He found and sealed a huge leak in the dining room. He removed some drywall and found that there was no insulation behind it. I am constantly amazed that this type of work has not been done before living in this temperate zone you would think it would be a priority. We had some pretty high winds which aided in identifying where some of the major leaks were, they also showed what a great job he had done on the windows. Not one of them rattled or leaked, great!! He is also making huge strides on his shop area, finally going through and organizing tools and parts. When he is done he will have a wonderful area to work on anything.

I have started dragging out Christmas stuff , with Jim here to help me I can do much more this year. This is one of my favorite seasons with all the decorations and good food. I have been baking lots of cookies and scones and checking out recipes. I was watching an infomercial for the Cricut cake machine and learned a few things that I am going to try. I was so depressed when I was unable to go to the Wilton School I just kinda packed everything away.

I am hopeful that in a few more weeks I will have the job down pat so that I am able to make a decent amount of money to help us out. Then when Jim gets back to work and we get everything caught up I will be able to buy things for my shop and get it open. One step at a time,lol.

Best to you all and have a wonderful Turkey Day!!

Barbara

The babies are here!!

Jim picked up the babies and they are installed in the basement for the time being. They are so small and so cute!! We have the cage all closed in to keep the temps up, supposed to be 90 at first and then slowly open it up more to lower the temps. By the time they are a couple of months old they will go out to the barn. Jim has been working on a nice place for them until they are big enough to run around more. He will also begin work on the larger coop for the older ones.
All of the chickens lay the brown eggs that people really seem to like. From what I have read with the chickens being pretty much free range the eggs actually more nutritious. As I mentioned previously the brown eggs go for more, so thinking next summer will be making a bit more, yeah!!

Hard freeze last night, no more maters from the garden all froze!! With the work Jim has been doing to the windows the house seems much snugger. We have had some really high winds and not a window was rattling or curtains blowing as in the past. Temps are still modrate compared to how low they are going to get, but I am pleased. He keeps finding new places that need insulation , he finally calmed the windstorm in the dining room which is more then good. Little by little,lol.

I am off to my nest as tomorrow will be a pretty long day, will be on the phone for most of the afternoon and early evening. If you know of anyone looking for something to do from home, have them get in touch.

Best to you all,
Barbara

Wild weather all around!! Thought the moon looked rather Holloweenie, wish I could get a shot that shows the face but have not figured out how to get it. Another challenge!! Lots of wind the last two days which in some ways was good, Jim found lots more leaks to fill in and stuff insulation in. The current puzzle is how to cut out the draft in the dining room. Jim finds it a real challenge to get insulation into some areas due to the construction of the house. He took some drywall down in the dining room and there is no insulation in the wall behind it, just lots of boards. All this is the upside to him being out of work, so much is getting done around the house. He has taken out and recauked all the old windows and done any repairs needed to them. When reinstalling them he is moving the molding over slightly so that the fit is tighter and hence no more rattling windows. Right now he is out putting our panels back up in the animals building to close them in and keep everyone warmer.

Tomorrow morning we go to pick up 20 more baby chicks to increase our chicken herd. Jim finished the new area for them so they will be toasty warm. At the rate the eggs are selling we figured it could not hurt to purchase some more. Buying them now gives them the winter to grow and by spring they will be laying also. As I mentioned before I plan on finding a larger farmer's market where I will be able to charge more for the eggs. Around here I only charge $1.00 per dozen which is very reasonable considering that in the stores brown eggs go for $3.00 plus a dozen. I have people showing up and buying 15 dozen at a time because they like them so much.
We went to the Fall festival and took a couple of the bigger pumpkins, didn't win but it was fun.
I really like the type that did win and want to grow some of those next year, they were so pretty. An other project,lol.

Jim went on another interview and all were impressed with his skills and all the certificates he has for different classes, that is the upside. The downside is the constant comment was "over qualified" , grrrr. He explained that we do not want to move and he is trying to find a job within driving distance so he does not have to live away from home again. They are supposed to make a decision by next week so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

We are putting up fliers all over the place for "Rent my Hubby" and Jim is picking up a few small jobs here and there. I am counting on word of mouth to spread his fame and bring in a bit more to keep us afloat. Never hurts to try.

I am trying to pick up more hours with my job to help, just so hate being in this situation, but very glad that with the help of friends and family we are surviving. Trying very hard to count all our blessings. Best to all, Barbara