https://www.redbubble.com/people/crnbrryctg

I have started a new venture with alcohol inks. Will be adding products as I create them. The first one is just a trial and error experimental image, so it isn't quite up to snuff.

Have been having a lot of fun with it.

Changes!

So many changes since I wrote last. I keep meaning to write, but life gets in the way.

I finally bit the bullet and got my floors done. I am so very happy with the results. I splurged and bought some new pieces of furniture too. I have a couple more home projects and I will be done for a while.

I'm just loving my new floors. It gives the place a whole new feel. It still kind of surprises me when I walk in. 😊

I disconnected the OTA antenna from the TV.  It couldn't keep a channel and it tethered the TV in one spot. I have gone back to my AppleTV and can put the TV anywhere in the house. I bought a new stand for it, new feet, and I'm liking it. I also bought a new table and chairs and I'm liking those too. Sold the old set.

I ripped out the carpet myself, along with the lower half of the built in corner cupboard. Mark did the floors, and while the washer was out, replaced the hoses, and had to replace the shut off valves, so that should be good for a while. The valves had seized up and wouldn't turn any more. 

Ripping out that carpet was a nasty job. So glad Mark warned me to wear a mask. I filled the dustpan with fine dirt that had found it's way thru the carpet and the padding. Ugh! Next time I will pay someone to do it. It wasn't fun. Gained quite a bit of floor space by removing the corner cabinet. 

The upper cabinet is coming out as well, but I think I will let Mark do that. I have been having some shoulder pain and I don't want to make it any worse. I need my shoulder for work.

Speaking of work, our assistant manager got herself fired. I was offered the position and accepted it this time. I am now the new Assistant Manager at Dollar General Quartzsite. It means a small pay increase and a lot more to learn. But I think Brett and I will work well together. The cashiers were all rooting for me and it gave me a warm fuzzy. :) It's a job. I will do it as long as I can physically, but I am not getting any younger and it is physically demanding. My hours will be changing, hopefully to more days. Last week and this I am working all nights. Once Brett gets back from his week away, I will have to dig in and learn the job. Right now we will muddle through the best we can. Team work. 

I am having Mark do a bit more work inside the house. I spotted this online and am having him do this to the backs of my kitchen cupboards on the living room side, both top and bottom. The bottom will be about eight inches deep and the top about three inches deep. I have had to clean out cupboards and get rid of stuff, but that is OK. The bottom cupboards are pretty much a black hole. Things go in and never see the light of day again. Time to get rid of a bunch of stuff. 

I just love this. Once all Mark's work is done, it will be time for me to start resurfacing the cupboards. I have a plan....we'll see how well I do. One door at a time. I also will be putting bead board wall paper up on the lower half of the bathroom and will paint the upper half. No deadline, will work it as I have time. The cupboards and woodwork are going to be white. No more of this light oak crap. To me they just look yellowed and dirty. And I HATE that wallpaper. That is what is in the bathroom too.

I have picked out new door handles and have the bead board wall paper and lattice trim, just need to get started.

This is the look I will be shooting for. There are a lot of doors and will take a while. I will probably start in the bathroom since there are only two doors in there. 

The gardens have been neglected with all the inside work being done. I need to spend some time out there, reseed a bunch of stuff. The tomato plants are going nuts, some of the perennials are doing OK, and I was given a couple of large geraniums that I love. I keep trying to start stuff from seed, but not having a lot of luck. But here are a few pics from last week.

The kool tub has been up for about a month now, but I have only used it a few times. The nights are still cool, so the water hasn't warmed up enough. But it is there and ready when I need it. 

Cold

Winter is back, or, winter is here. It turned cold again about a week ago. Nights in the low 30's, days in the 60's. Just after I planted. Seeds aren't doing much of anything. I hope I haven't lost them all.

Started my geraniums indoors this year, and it has been too cold to put them out during the day and they are all leggy and some have died.

Even the enclosed garden is suffering, have lost several tomato plants.

Yesterday was just nasty. Cold, windy, cloudy. We got some sprinkles for about five minutes, but that was it. We didn't get our usual January rain, so the cactus bloom this year isn't going to be as good. Won't be much green in the desert at all.

My job has been frustrating. Lots of people calling in sick leaving us short handed. HUGE truck deliveries, so we are also way behind in stocking. Constant stress the minute I walk thru the door. I just discovered that my 20 hours vacation time isn't on my pay stub. Should have shown up at the end of the year. We get 20 hours for every six months, and the end of December would be a year and a half. It should show 20 hours vacation time. That will probably be a fight.

Monday was a sad day. It was the anniversary of Jake's death. I just started my ninth year without him. Hard to believe it has been that long, I still miss him each and every day. I guess my grief has reached the point where it is as good as it is going to get.

Today I am not feeling all that great. I think I am coming down with something. Last night I woke up off and on, either too hot or too cold, then too hot and then too cold. Funny taste in my mouth. Not really hungry, but needing to eat, and my coffee tasted terrible. Hopefully I will kick whatever it is trying to grab me before it gets too bad.

I finally made it over to the Farmers Market yesterday and was very disappointed. Only two vendors, fruit and honey, and no customers. I didn't buy anything as I still have grapefruit and don't use honey.  Went from there to the Salvation Army as I haven't been there yet this year, and there were no parking spots, so I just drove thru and came home. Wasn't worth getting showered and dressed. A wasted trip. Keith and I were supposed to go out to eat, but he started coming down with something and canceled. I ended up just putting my jammies on and tried to get warm. I had gotten chilled and couldn't get warm.

So this week I am a bit low.  Not happy with my job, no prospects in sight, not happy with my life as it is right now and not happy with the weather. I am discouraged and a bit depressed. OK, a lot depressed. It will pass. Always does.

Pruning the grapefruit tree

I finally got the grapefruit tree pruned. It had a good run this year, lots and lots of grapefruit, mostly on one side, but they sure were good. I picked the last of them yesterday.

Gave a few away, and will eat the rest of them. I seem to be loosing weight a bit faster when I eat one per day. I will be sorry to see them go.

I didn't take a before pic, but there were three and four foot or more suckers growing at the top, those are all gone along with some shaping and cut back the sides to stay within the generous drip ring. It looks pretty sad right now, but will look good in a couple of weeks as it is already starting to leaf out.

I would have liked to have taken more off the top, but my pole pruner won't cut thru the thicker branches and I can't reach them with anything else, so this will have to do. Will have to make a trip to the landfill sometime soon to get rid of the brush.

When putting the ladder away I discovered this. Mourning doves will nest just about anywhere. 

It is a good thing I don't use that clothesline or clothes pins much. Too much of a pain to get wet clothes back there and I don't hang my work clothes out in the sun. I always hated hanging out clothes and then having to go take them off the line. Now I just hang them indoors. Same process, just easier. Sometimes I even use my clothes dryer.

Planted a few more seeds yesterday. Pulled up the overgrown mesclun mix and planted three types of lettuce. Also started the coral vine seeds indoors and discovered my geraniums and gazania seeds have sprouted.

Hope they all survive. I have probably lost the annuals that had poked their heads above ground, the tub they are in were iced over this morning and we went below freezing last night. Our one week of winter is late this year. Sigh...I didn't cover anything, probably should have.

Back to work today. My two days went way too fast.