First thing that happened was my daughter's stomach decided it was going to start cycling starting Friday night so we were battling her stomach all weekend. I kept her home today just to recover a bit before she had to go back to school as she was pretty wiped out after the entire thing, poor little thing.
Then there were multiple things going on in the area. For one the state was (and is on and off still) getting hammered with high winds from the typhoon hitting California this weekend, so we were dealing with 50 mph gusts (or higher). Then a fire started a few towns over and started burning through the underbrush like mad. They know it's human caused at this point, probably due to some moron deciding to burn a burn pile in high winds (and believe it or not they've had to yell at a few other people since the winds started to NOT do that...really???) and is up to 300 acres burning. The poor fire fighters are having a heck of a time containing the fire with the freezing temperatures, dry conditions and high winds. Luckily it started in a pretty uninhabited area, although the way it is spreading that might change. The results for us, thus far, is that we were getting smoke from the fire traveling on the wind all weekend.
Between the things burning and traveling in the smoke and just general allergens blowing around my son's eczema didn't so much flare as explode. The poor kid is now head to toe eczema again and itchy miserable, so he's home today too so I can keep giving him medicine right on time and hopefully kill the reaction enough that he can go back to school tomorrow.
Then we ended up, unexpectedly, chicken sitting (seen up top). My friend is trying to sign on a house and is going through all the hoops to do so, but it is going slower than she thought. She bought some chickens from a friend and had them sitting in her friend's coop until she signed, but her friend suddenly decided that my friend needed to come and get her chickens. In the middle of high winds and everything. My friend texted me in a panic and asked if she could house her chickens in our rabbit hutch/pen we'd been given until she signed on the house (hopefully in a few weeks). I told her sure (see, not being able to afford a rabbit yet worked out), which resulted in my husband, my friend and I moving the rabbit hutch into our barn (bless my husband as he had to cut wood slats and cut away some pieces of the bar to fit the hutch into it and things) to help protect the chickens from the wind and then my friend and I spread straw and set up the feeder and everything. So, anyway, I'm watching chickens for a bit. Luckily they are a cold weather hardy breed, so they seem to not mind the cold much at all and seem to be adapting to their new surroundings rather well. Since the hens are layers if they get comfortable enough I'm hoping they'll lay a few eggs for me before they leave as any eggs they lay are mine as a thank you for watching over the little feathered friends.
We went to Value Village over the weekend, which I took a side course and got the yeast I've been needing from the European Market (they are located in the same mall). At Value Village I had some good fortune by finding a mermaid costume for my daughter. It is a Barbie mermaid costume, but for 5.00 I wasn't going to be too picky and she was happy with it. I have been worried that I wasn't going to be able to find time to get her costume done with the way things have been happening lately, so I was thrilled to take that off of my "I need to get this done NOW" list.
The gift itself cost me .25 for the panel at a yard sale a few years ago. I used some left over all natural cotton batting I had left from making my daughter a quilt a few years ago, so the only thing that cost me money was the panel itself. Not too shabby really.
Oh and I did find room for my Amazon.com order and managed to get the food storage out of the den.
So, yeah, the weekend went by too fast and was super busy *laugh*. I have to say my arm hurts after doing all of that, but I was really expecting to be crippled for a few days after everything we got done and overall at least I can still move it okay.
So, onto this week's goals!
Cleaning Goals:
- CLEAN THE HOUSE! My son has destroyed it over the last three days as we were busy doing other things.
- Move dressers around into closets and things.
- Scrub walls and other surfaces as I go.
Sewing Goals:
- Work on Christmas Gifts
- Mend daughter's spare winter coat
- Mend daughter's pants
- Sew slip covers for love seat and couch cushions (I'm waiting on tacks to repair the back and arms, so I figure I can at least get the cushions done).
General Goals:
- Keep on top of sleep center about bill and see how that will resolve.
- Felt wool for Christmas gift projects.
- Keep chickens alive and happy (I always get nervous about watching over other people's things).
- Finish last few days on menu plan for the week.
So I found out there's some massive rearranging in church callings, and I am being asked to leave my class, and take the sunbeams. I had agreedmto take them next year, but I am needed sooner. Thats the class my baby should be in, but he goes with me to Val 8, but they are wild, and loud and terrible in there. Ok, to be fair, just two of the 6, both belonging to ditzy moms with far too many kids. Our bishops son is in there too, and I feel horrible for him. So maybe it will work out ok if I am there. As a mom, maybe it will go better. Anyway, I had just finished making my 7 Val 8s scarves for christmas, but in a few weeks I will be switched. I still plan to give them, but now need to switch to high gear to make more for the sunbeams.
ReplyDeleteI also need to get a ton of errands done, and my husband is not thrilled the pantry is spilling out and toys are all over but as soon as I pick up, it all comes out and I am so tired. I wish I had energy like I did in my 20s
Feels like a busy week for me this week. I'm trying to get more canning done. Today I made and canned 5 pints of raspberry applesauce from the bushel of apples we bought a couple weeks ago and some raspberries that had been in the freezer a bit too long (daughter thought it tastes like jam and spread it on bread...which I hope means she will eat it in her school lunches). I want to make strawberry applesauce tomorrow, if possible. I'm going to be making apple jelly from left over apple peels and cores (already cooked and strained peels/cores from today's applesauce). I still have more frozen berries to make into jam as well.
ReplyDeleteI was part of a play at my work last month, which we have been asked to do another performance for this week. Tuesday we have a rehearsal and Thursday is the performance, so I'm busy with that.
I need to contact the school, as I received my daughter's IEP for school, but I requested to be part of the meeting. I have things to discuss with them, so I still want a meeting.
Of course there are the unexpected "surprise" things that come up on a regular basis, plus the usual grocery shopping, errands, appointments, etc. So overall, a pretty busy week!
Hope you are able to accomplish most or all of your list this week, Erika. Good luck with the chickens, too.
Seems like I'm always chasing my tail. I'm past 50 and every time I read a post of yours it seems like you have so much energy. LOL. Guess that's why we have kids when we are younger! You accomplish so much.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about something I made for my kids one year and thought I'd share with you. I had an old folding card table and even though I didn't sew much got out my machine and cut a square a little larger than the top of the table attached sides and left a slit (hemmed) in the middle of one side. It slipped over the top of the coffee table like a fitted cover and made the neatest fort. And the fort stayed intact unlike a blanket which would have been slipping off. My kids loved it and played in there for the longest time. Also I could just fold it up and fold the table and stash them away. Might make a good gift for someone who has a card table.
Take care.
Wow! You got a good deal on that cabinet; so much storage space.
ReplyDeleteYou might like raising chickens when you see how much fun they are to watch. They just love kitchen scraps and bugs. After they have been in the cages for a few days, you can let them out in the evening and they will search your yard for any bugs. Start with letting one out at a time. When it starts to get dark, they will return to the other chickens in the coop. We had chickens for years and they really made a difference with the bugs. It was a hoot watching one chase a mosquito. Cheap laughs.
Jeannie
Erika, I'm sure you already did this and maybe already posted about it but did you call your insurance company directly to ask about the sleep study bill? We recently (last week) got a three thousand dollar bill from the local hospital for when my husband was in the ER. After calling our insurance company to see why they weren't paying any if the bill we discovered that the hospital never billed the insurance company! The bill now been sent to our insurance company and we should be getting a much much lower bill shortly.
ReplyDelete