Time to March on…(or so long February)

February has now come to a close.  I for one am grateful and have high hopes that March will be huge improvement.

It’s been a rough month at work and home.  It’s been one of our most expensive months as well.  Being the shortest month it has created quite a bit of turmoil at the Unknown homestead. 

So with high hopes I look toward March, it’s time to start thinking about my fantasy garden and hopefully I will be able to bring some of it into reality.  I have plans to use part of the front yard for herbs and I want to use a lot of containers. 

We will have to build a new fence this month and I guess I will have to face doing the taxes and keep my fingers crossed that we won’t have to pay much or at all.  So there are some obstacles to contend with.  But with Spring on the horizon our grotesquely huge electricity bill should decrease and I have plans to decrease some of the other monthly bills. 

So I have hope.  I think that’s important, it would be so easy to just give up but I can’t.  Too much is riding on me keeping it together.

Well wish me luck that March doesn’t turn out like its predecessor February. 

So long February I’m not sorry to see you go.

Talk to you later.

It’s another Monday

Let me think…where to begin…Well it’s often good to start at the beginning.  I woke up and managed to get the kiddo up and out the the house with minimal issues.  As the car started I realized that I needed gas, so after dropping the boy off at daycare, it was straight to the gas station.  While there an epiphany occurred it was cold and they have hot chocolate.  So I got a large hot chocolate.  Not a terrible way to start the day.  Once I arrived at the lighting Mecca of Dallas I wandered around to the passenger side and “oh Crap” I had a flat tire.  Great.  I should tell you that my inspection sticker is a bit out of date and I’ve been putting off getting it because I needed two front tires.  Of course the flat tire wasn’t one of the tires that was scheduled for replacement.  That meant I needed 4 tires instead of 2.  A bunch of poop.  So this evening I spent a good bit of time at NTB waiting on them to replace my tires.  I did get to work on my knitting a bit.  But as I was leaving I noticed two lights that were on that weren’t there before.  Oh and the car was jerking forward and the breaks didn’t want to work.  Dooky times 4.  So immediately I turned around and went back to the tire shop and they fixed what was screwed up.  Somehow a piece of plastic got in somewhere and started making the car go amuck.  That happens when you open the hood and all I asked you to do was change the tires.  So finally I was on my way home and as soon as I get home I noticed that our friendly neighborhood code inspector had visited us again.  Apparently when he was here two months ago (twice in 4 days) he missed our fence leaning.  Apparently it leans in a way that offends him.  I’m starting to think this person has something against us.  He’s been hanging out in our alley which backs up against a metal fence.  Nobody behind us for us to offend but we seem to tick this guy off for some reason.  So tomorrow I’m going to call this annoying pest of a person and question his motives in attacking our home.  He’s ticking me off and I want to know why I feel like we are being targeted.  The guy next door had a broken old cabinet in his drive way for two months and nothing.  We had bushes (that’s being generous, more like shrubs) that had been there for years before we moved in and they weren’t far enough away from the alley for his liking.  I’m less likely to offend this person tomorrow than the hubby so I’ve volunteered to call.  Problem is I’m extremely annoyed and might not keep my temper in check, hopefully I’ll keep it civil.  So all in all and extremely expensive day.  I’m going to binge on chocolate chip cookies and try to stop thinking of the running commentary I’ve got running through my head of what I want to say to “the man”.

Talk to you later the cookies are calling me.

 

 

Bad to the Milk Bone

I took Zsa Zsa our 14 year Shih Zhou to the vet today.  She has been having trouble getting up and has also been having potty issues.  She’ll get up to head to the door and go to the bathroom before she gets to the door.  Once she’s finished she keeps going to the door like she is going to go outside to potty.  So we’ve let this go for a while but finally decided to make the trip to the vet.  We had a hard year with pets as we lost our buddy Luther last year and then Jimi had his issues (which seemed to have straighten themselves out) as well.  So anyway we have been putting this trip off because we were afraid of the bill and the outcome.  After all she’s 14 years old and I fear her time might be coming.  It will be a particularly hard friend to lose.  My hubby has had her since she was a puppy and it will be devastating to lose her. 

Anyway off to the vet I went.  When we got there one of the first things that happened was they had me muzzle her.  Did I mention she’s 14 and I’m not sure she has all her teeth.  They took her temp and then the Dr. came in.  We have a great vet, he will go to great lengths to save an animal.  Of course it’s often at great expense as well.  He sees sucker written on our foreheads and we do pay these extravagant fees.  After looking at her he let me know that her back knees won’t stay in their sockets, she’s obese (I figured that one out already) and that’s she’s most likely senile.  He ran some expensive blood work and informed us that the rest of here was fantastic, which was good news.  I have anti inflammatory meds and senility meds to give to her.  And I’m a bit lighter in the wallet, but not as bad as it could have been.

When they took the Zsa Zsa away to do the blood work I knitted.  I heard a dog in the back making a large fuss, it sounded as if it was crying and putting up a fuss.  For a minute I thought it was baby girl, but discarded that idea as crazy.  So I knitted for a bit and they brought her back, and I knitted some more.  One of the girls came in to see if I wanted some water while I waited and we talked for few minutes.  She’s been working there for a long time and remembers our hoodlums vividly.  She remarked that Zsa Zsa looked tired after her ordeal.  Apparently that was Baby Girl making that racket.  At that I was informed that Zsa Zsa has a note in her chart to muzzle because she tries to kill them every time she goes to the Dr.  What’s more our cat Snoopy has the same note.  Apparently our animals are a menaces to society.  It cracks me up that our animals are considered dangerous.  With Snoopy there’s good reason, we’ve always had to pay the “bastard fee”  I’ve never noticed it with the dog though.  Well I have to go let her outside.  Here’s to hoping that the drugs work fast.

Talk to you later.

Eventually we start to turn into our mothers.

When I was in the third grade my mother taught me how to cross stitch to earn a girl scout badge.  She was very adamant about the back of the design to look as good as the front. It was a pain in the butt but I did it and my little owl cross stitch was a masterpiece.  So much so the scout leader felt my mother did the work.  I wasn’t well thought of with most of the troop leaders, being a tomboy who didn’t care to wear the ugly green uniform.  But that’s another story.  The point is my mother taught me to take pride in my work and to do it right, even if you have to undo that that which has been accomplished. 

I started my zig zag poncho late Saturday night and worked on it quite a bit all day yesterday.  Last night I took a look at it and noticed several mistakes.  I pondered over them most of the night and thought I resolved myself to live with it.  I figured that it was a first attempt and there will be mistakes and I will eventually get better.  But today at lunch I was looking at it and was thinking about all the issues that I’ve been dealing with and made the decision…I don’t have a lot of control at work or home but I do have control with my knitting.  So my mother's lessons took over and I frogged the entire thing and will start again maybe tonight or tomorrow but I will be proud of the finished object whenever it happens.

Thanks mom.

Talk to you later.