Domestic Geek

I haven't accomplished much today and it felt wonderful!

We got into Keystone after 2 am last night. I really tired to get out of work by 3 so we could hit the road at the start of rush hour, but of course that didn't happen. I got off a little after 4, then forgot it was rent day, so I had to go to the bank to deposit my check. Then there was a couple of things I needed from the store as well as a Chipotle stop for dinner. Fortunately, we had packed almost everything the night before, so we got on the road a little before 7, but traffic still sucked. Between coffee, 80s on Eight on Marcus' Sirius radio and my Kindle app, I did manage to stay awake for the whole trip (I usually zonk out between Cheyenne and Wheatland). We rolled in a half an hour later than expected due to the large amounts of deer on the sides of the road between Edgemont and home. The last thing you want to ruin your vacation is hitting a stupid deer. After getting all our gear into the house and unpacking the cooler, I think I conked out about 3:30.

It was no surprise then, that I didn't wake up until 11 this morning. It is so quiet here that I sleep amazingly well. Since it is not tourist season, there wasn't even an 1880s Train to wake me up. I fixed some coffee and bagels for us to eat for breakfast while Marcus took T out.

I puttered around for a bit and sometime around 1 (I think), I took the Kindle to bed to read and next thing I know, it's 4. I've been battling something viral for the last 3 weeks and my typical insomnia and I think my poor body just needed rest.

I had grand plans of doing some design work for Marcus and getting some stuff here unpacked, but none of it happened. I did make a pot of potato leek soup for dinner and baked Marcus some oatmeal raisin cookies, but that's about it for the day. Oh, I've read a bit more of book 3 of the Game of Thrones series.

We were visited by some deer this afternoon while I was making the soup:

I hope that's what South Dakota residents call themselves. I searched online and didn't find anything similar to the disagreement as to what those in Colorado are called (I myself prefer Coloradoan, but I digress).

The week prior to Memorial Day, Marcus and I made another quick trip up to Hill City, South Dakota. While the previous trips have all been about sight-seeing and biking, we had another agenda. Marcus wrote in great detail about it on his blog.

A quick summary: we may soon move our house to Hill City.

Why now? Well, the park owners are threatening to raise lot rent again (under the guise of high water usage). If such an increase goes into effect, the lot rent will be more than the house payment. Also, with the construction going on around here with the Fitzsimons complex, traffic is going to increase substantially. Access to our street was cut off by something they're doing over there, so the park owners converted the empty lot next to us into a street. Also, Aurora has made it no secret that they want to do away with mobile home parks. It's probably only a matter of time before we'd be forced out anyway. Finally, it's even getting harder to put an older manufactured home anywhere, even Hill City. If we don't do this now, we may never get it onto a permanent foundation.

Anyway, we'll know by the end of the month if we can do this. Sadly, we'll have to treat it as a vacation home at first. While I can probably find something up there to replace my pitiful salary, it won't be so easy for Marcus. First things first, though.

So, here's a little sneak peek of our (hopefully) new home:



Keeping fingers, eyes and toes crossed for the next three weeks...

My whole life I've believed (brain-washed, more like it) that the products made by corporations had to be better (better than what, I didn't know). Ever since a friend of mine opened my eyes to the dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and having read the corporate lies/justifications as to why they use them, the wool started coming off my eyes. With the relatively recent introduction of genetically modified foods into our systems via the lovely folks at Monsanto, I'm trying to give big corporations as few of my hard-earned dollars as possible.

A few years ago, I figured out that commercial cough syrups did nothing more than keep you sick longer. I found a home-made cough remedy that really works for me. More recently, I found that a simple mixture of apple cider vinegar, baking soda, water and sugar did wonders for heartburn (stuff that Tums or Rolaids couldn't quickly relieve). I quit buying commercial cleaners for the toilet and the shower. Turns out white vinegar & baking soda works wonders there, too. I've still been buying Formula 409, though, and realized I really believed it was the only thing that would cut through the grease on my stove. Well, guess what? I used the vinegar/baking soda solution on it today and it worked so well, my stove actually squeaked it was so clean.

A few weeks ago, I made the yummiest fajitas for dinner. Not only were the ingredients all-natural and organic where possible, I even made the seasoning from scratch. No more need to buy those super-expensive seasoning packets that have a lot of unnecessary crap/sodium in them.

So, do any of you reading this have any tips for commercial product replacements that work really well? I'd love to hear them!

As Marcus and I were discussing the amazing amount of junk we've accumulated and what the heck we were going to do with it all, I brought up the fact that we haven't moved in 8 years and haven't done the ritual purging one must do when a move occurs. For the first 10 years of our relationship, we moved every year or two. With each successive move, though, the home got bigger and therefore, less stuff had to go. Also, Marcus probably won't admit to it, but we're both packrats (well, he'd admit that I am one - LOL) The result is we've got TOO. MUCH. STUFF.

We had originally only intended to be here a year or two. Then land got unbelievably expensive. Marcus changed jobs. Then the screen printer I worked at went out of business and then I got laid off my my next job. I realized my time on the job I'm currently at (and only planned to be there a year or two) will hit the 4 year mark next month. It's time for a change.

Since the lot rent shot up yet again, we vowed we will not be here 9 years to see yet another one. Things are starting to fall into place that we're pretty sure we can make this happen. Also, I'm sending out resumes. I'm tired of prepress work and really want to go back into design. I got a lot of great experience that makes me a better designer, for sure. It's time to move out of my comfort zone.

OK, back to purging. When it does come time to make the move, I don't want to be purging and packing.

I change my own oil. Yesterday, I decided I had better get an oil change done before the snow moves in later in the week. Usually, it is a pretty hassle-free process. Yesterday...not so much.

First, we're technically not allowed to work on vehicles where I live. I usually get around this by doing the work on Sundays, but it was raining/snowing this past Sunday. I waited until about 5pm to get started (after owners/manager/maintenance go home for the day). It was still relatively warm outside at that point and I had at least an hour and a half of daylight left.

I gathered all of my supplies (oil filter, oil, air filter, blue towels), my tools (breaker bar, sockets, screwdriver, oil pan, funnel) and set to work. I changed the air filter in no time at all. Usually, I have a devil of a time getting it switched out because the Subaru Baja has the air filter in a really stupid, no easily accessible place. Next, I crawled under the car and removed the plastic panels that project the undercarriage. I then realize that I had forgotten that I was not the last one to change my oil. I went ahead and had it done while it was being serviced for something else. Damn, it wasn't one of the Fram filters with the rubber grip that are relatively easy to get off. It was also on there really tight. I was going to go ahead and get the oil draining while I was under there. Of course, the 17mm socket that I needed to remove the drain plug is missing from the set. I clean myself up as best I can and head back into the house to find a 17mm socket and to see if we have a fuel filter wrench. After much search, I can not locate a wrench, so I call Marcus and sure enough, we don't have one. I tried to use a pipe wrench, but there wasn't enough clearance under there to get it around the filter.

I got in Marcus' Escape and trekked over to Advanced Auto Parts. Why are auto parts stores always understaffed? It was a problem when I worked at one and is always the case still. I found a wrench I thought would work, stood in a line for a really long time, finally paid for it and got back home. Too small. Damn! I package it back up, go back to Advanced, exchange it for the next bigger size (after standing in line forever again) and went back home. At this point, it is dark, so I went inside to find my mini LED flashlight that I really like because I can clip it onto things. I had lent it to Marcus the day before and now I couldn't find it anywhere. I had to call Marcus to see where he put it. After the flashlight is found, I go back outside to try it again and now this one is too big. Are you freakin' kidding me?! I almost started crying at this point. It was dark and getting cold and I have tools scattered all over and I just wanted to be done with it. I got back in the car again and went to Autozone. They didn't have a strap wrench that seemed like it would work, so I went with a different kind of tool (kind of like pliers). I stood and waited to be checked out yet again, picked up a couple of tacos from Taco Bell because I was starving and my dinner I had prepared before starting all of this was now ice cold and had to be reheated, got back home and tried again. The damn filter still wouldn't come off. Did I mention that whoever put it on last put it on tight? Jerk. I went back in the house, found some duct tape, wrapped that around the filter and tried again. After a bit, it finally came off.

The rest of it went pretty quickly from there. I was so cold, though, that I spilled oil trying to get it from the pan into the bottle. I gathered up all the tools, took my garbage to the dumpster, ran my car for a bit to get the new oil flowing and went inside to take a shower. Damn, I totally forgot that the handle on the shower broke the day before. Now I had to go find some teflon tape to make a temporary repair so that I could clean myself up.

So, that's my sad, sorry tale. A quick oil change that turned into a 3 hour ordeal. At least next time, the filter will come off easily and now my car has shiny, new oil before it snows tonight.