Domestic Geek

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.

Ok, since I can't seem to get myself to blog on a regular basis anymore, I'm giving myself a little assignment. Every Monday I'm going to log in here and doing a recap of the week before (going off my tweets and Facebook statuses). Maybe that little bit of effort will develop into a blog writing habit again (because the inability to blog lately is just that I've gotten out of the habit).

Last Monday I took myself on a little road trip since I was feeling the need to get out of the house. I had been looking for some orange cotton yarn to make the Pumpkin Washcloth on this page. I was having a heck of a time finding a pumpkin orange, though. That's one thing I really hate about trends in crafts...sometimes its hard to find what you want. I decided to head up to Boulder and see if the store up there had any. Well, they ended up having a burnt orange (not quite what I wanted), but it was more money than I was willing to spend for a washcloth.

Feeling a little defeated (since I've looked at all the yarn stores around me, as well, with no luck), I decided to treat myself to lunch. I had received a freebie card from Larry, the owner of Tokyo Joe's, during a little promotion he did on Twitter/Facebook. I stopped at the location in Louisville and then was going to go up to the quilt store in Lafayette since I was in the area. I thought the card got me a free bowl or something. When I fished it out of my purse, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it entitled me to an entire comped meal. WooHoo! So, I went ahead and ordered a big steak bowl, sushi and a drink. I tweeted my thanks to the owner while I was eating and got a reply back. I'd love to meet Larry one day. He seems like a really cool dude.

I had decided to check the web site of the quilt store to make sure they were open on Mondays before I headed North. Good thing I had, they were closed. For good. I was really bummed. That was such a great little store and though I couldn't visit often, it will be missed.

A friend suggested (via a Facebook plea I made) that orange cotton could be obtained at Wal-Mart. I didn't really want to go there as I had decided earlier never, ever to shop there again, but I was weakened by my disappointments earlier in the day and just wanted to get the darned washcloth cast on. I stopped at one on the way home and they did have some. I thought about picking up some other stuff, but I stuck to my intent and left with two balls of cotton. I decided to stop into the Hobby Lobby down the street to kill some time as it was now rush hour and I am really hating driving in Denver with a passion anymore. I was looking at the Halloween and Christmas decorations. I don't know if it is my want to simplify my life or if stuff out anymore just sucks, but I was not tempted to buy one single thing. I did grab a skein of brown cotton that was on sale. Maybe I'll make a turkey washcloth to go with the pumpkin one.

Tuesday night I went to my knitting group in Parker, but I was the only one that showed up. I'm a little bummed, because it appears for all intents and purposes that the group is dead. It's not the first time I had been the only one or it was just me and one or two others. There is a group that meets there on Wednesday (and I did go this week), but it is only two hours and sometimes it is a royal pain to fight rush hour traffic to go down for a two hour group. Plus, I work early Thursdays and sometimes I have stuff I need to do. I really wish there was a group that was closer to where I live, but there is not.

Work was slow this week. I didn't put in a full 13 hour shift any of the 3 days I was scheduled.

Thursday, I won a free dinner for two at Tokyo Joe's from a contest that was on Facebook. I'm on a roll!

Thursday was also when that whole Balloon Boy hoax nonsense started. What a crock. Then I saw a tweet from one of the local news stations that David Layne (the Ward Churchill attorney) was going to represent the Heene family. One attention whore representing another. These people are real pieces of work. This is what this whole reality TV insanity creates. I really wish people would stop watching this garbage.

Friday I got permission to leave work early (not hard when there was little work) and attended a class on starting an embroidery business. Marcus got me a machine two years ago and frankly, I've been scared to learn to use it. It's insane the little games I play in my head, but I think I'm finally ready to give this a shot. One thing the instructor said that really rang true with me is that sometimes we have a hard time giving value to what we do. We think that because we can do it, why couldn't somebody else? Why would they want to buy something I make so easily? I have this problem with my graphic design skills, too. I'm going to head over to the sewing store either later today or first thing tomorrow to see if I can find someone to teach me to run my machine. Today, though, I need to clean the craft room so that I can actually get to the machine. It is a disaster area and I literally can't get in the door. The woman that taught the class owns an operation in Chattanooga, TN. In February, she's going to start allowing people to come to her for 3-day seminars to learn all they can from her about the business. I really want to go as I believe the experience would be awesome. Starting to save up my money to go now.

Yesterday (Sunday), Marcus agreed to go the the pumpkin farm with me. I'm wishing I hadn't asked him to take me. I knew from news stories that the hard freeze we had a couple of weeks ago did major damage to the pumpkins in the fields. Together with the wetter than normal spring and the cooler than normal temps this summer, the crops weren't very good this year. I was still cautiously optimistic that I would find some decent pumpkins. Yeah, not so much. First, the crowds were bigger than I have ever seen. The pumpkins were tiny compared to previous years and mushy from the freeze. Plus, they were still charging full price. I asked Marcus to take us home and apologized profusely for dragging him up there. Oh, well...next year. Fortunately, Target is having a sale on pumpkins this week. I picked up a couple of nice ones for $2.99/ea. They're better than nothing.

We've been lucky this year as far as wasps. Yesterday, our luck broke. When I opened the door to see what the weather was like, wasps were swarming like crazy around our front door. Looks like there might be a nest up the light pole. After we got back from the pumpkin farm, I set about baiting the wasp traps. Looks like I've caught quite a few already today. Man, I hate wasps.

Today I've got several projects on the agenda. Besides housework, I'm working on a sleeve for my Macbook.I want to finish my pumpkin washcloth. I've got a quick graphic design project for a friend that I need to complete. I have to paint the trim on a tile floor Marcus build to put under the rabbit cage and I need a nap. Also, now that Marcus upgraded our webserver so that my craft blog no longer crashes php like it has been doing since January, maybe I can finally finish up my craft blog design and start the reworking of this site.

There. That sums up last week. Let's see if I can get back into the blogging habit.