Dad’s doctor from his most recent visit to the Wound Care Center said that his leg should be healed completely within 2 months they think. This is good news. They are also pondering doing surgery on his leg again to remove some varicose veins which might relieve some of the pressure and improve the circulation to help prevent some of these ulcers. While I am not opposed to the idea, it always scares me when my dad goes into surgery. It hurts even worse when I see him waking up from anesthesia and he’s weak and disoriented. I think I cried last time.

House is doing well. I’ve got some razor blades so I can start tearing up this carpet in my room today and see what the entire floor looks like. If the whole thing is in decent shape, I’ll put down a natural finish and start moving furniture in my room finally.

The water softener acts up now and again. We’ve never had one of these before so we’re learning about them and how to maintain them.

Today is the first day it’s rained since our settlement. It’s usually a dry season around here in September/October though. I’m just glad to see the rain.

An semi-amusing story… dad was doing laundry and hanging clothes up outside on the clothesline. When they dried and he took them down, he laid the basket on the ground to go do something else before going inside. Our dog decided it was the perfect place to do his business. Dad was pissed. He had to wash them all over again and hang them up to dry. We don’t have a dryer hooked up yet because we need my cousin to come over and move the electrical hook-up downstairs. Right now it’s still in the kitchen. We have clotheslines inside the basement and outside between two trees though, so we’ll be alright without one for a while.

My uncle was supposed to come over to dig the footing for the chimney today, but can’t because of the rain. Thus the house is still cold, but I have an electrical heater for my room upstairs (where there is no heat at all) and it works perfectly. Actually it works too well because it woke me up from a dead sleep from being too hot.

My cousin Steph came over this week and brought over some old videos of my dad and I during Christmas that I need to get copies of. She also brought over a lot of old photographs of family that I have to figure out who they are. I’m working on scanning all of those in, but she wasn’t allowed to leave the videos, so I will have to borrow them again when I can figure out how to copy them. They amuse me because my dad looks like a big grizzly bear with his dark dark hair and full beard. I think I’m like 8 years old or so in them. I have to be 8 years old or younger because my parents are still together in them.

This weekend my friends CB and Tracey had an anniversary campout up at Highland Farms. They told us not to bring any booze or food, they would be supplying it all. Besides the cold, I had a great time with my closest friends. Lots of drumming, enjoying company (I don’t think some of my friends had such a good time though, I am unsure why), and being sure to celebrate how awesome CB and Tracey are and their marriage, which is the most important thing. (I also discovered what “skanking” was.)

I got home late last night, and the cold weather really bothered my knee injury so I didn’t go to the Grove today, but I made sure arrangements were made for someone to be there and open up. Next weekend we’re having a board meeting so I have to be sure and prepare for that.

Today I discovered the awesomeness of dishwashers. My mom had a dishwasher in highschool, but all my childhood and since moving out after highschool I haven’t had one. All dishes have been washed by hand.

Well I had packed a bunch of really old antiques of my fathers away when we moved, and I guess some of them weren’t all the way dry from my washing the dust and muck off of them before packing them away. They were rather moldy and stinky and gross so I decided to try them in the dishwasher. Wow what a difference! I’m amazed at how the dishwasher can make them shine and gleam the way they do. And it’s so simple to do dishes now cause I just load it up and let it do it’s thing. Granted it technically takes longer now, but just the way the dishes feel afterwards, all clean and well…clean. It’s a big difference, especially for hard to clean items like vases. Needless to say, I lurve dishwashers now.

This morning when I walked out to my car, I was greeted with Charlie hanging out by my car door. He had escaped from his fenced in temporary home in the yard and was chillin. I moved him out of the way and put my stuff in the car so I could try and figure out how to put him back. I was in my work clothes so I couldn’t very well pick him up and carry him over. That and he likes to peck me for some reason.

I got a rake and proceeded to herd him towards the fence, which took some effort because he wasn’t very cooperative. After about 20 minutes of avoiding him trying to attack me and trying to convince him that the fenced in area was for his own good, I held victory over Charlie.

Sorry mate, but at least you aren’t target practice.

(for those interested, a video of Charlie when we first got him)

I sent off my first mortgage payment today, even though it’s not due till November 1st. It was actually very painless. I’ve already got two months of mortgage payments saved up in a separate savings I have for mortgage, so I just put it into my checking and had ING mail off a check for free. And I’ve already got next months mortgage payment sitting there, so that suits me just fine.

I convinced my grandfather not to charge me the full month for the storage trailer, since we only had it for 6 days in October, so that saves me some money as well.

I also paid off what was left on my credit card from house supplies because the interest on the credit card is higher than the interest on my savings account. I figured instead of making payments, it’d make sense just to get rid of the bill entirely. That also feels good.

Today was payday at work and I had an extra $55 on my paycheck due to being switched to PA taxes instead of MD. I guess they take out less taxes up here, which is fine with me. The extra money will be useful

I’m sorta anxious for tax season now, as I want to get the car paid off ASAP. That’s going to be such an amazing feeling. I can’t wait. I’ll literally have no debt except the house and what’s left of my friends loans after that. Granted I’m going to start taking on my fathers two debts after that, but they aren’t -my- debts.

My total Debt:
Car Balance: $6,923
Friends Loan: $5,775
Mortgage: $159,344 (not counting todays payment, and not really counting this towards “current debt”)

Total current Debt: $12,698

My dads total Debt:
Beneficial Loan: $5009
Medical Bills: $1300 (I don’t have the exact number, but this is around the right amount)

Total current Debt: $6309

Time to start researching 0% APR for 12 months balance transfer cards to tackle my fathers debt.

Courtesy of Mother Earth News. The green one sounds nummy

Talk about perfect timing. Just as the weather is getting cooler and we’re approaching dry-skin season, Mother Earth News reader Pamela Koontz sent in a few of her favorite homemade skincare recipes. As she pointed out, when compared to commercial products, homemade skincare can save you money, is often easier on the environment, and makes it easy to care for your skin naturally. So, go ahead, “whip one of these up and let nature do all of the work!”

Farmer’s Wife Secret Mask
2 chilled egg whites
1/8 tsp cornstarch

Whip the egg whites until they form peaks; then slowly add the cornstarch. Apply the mixture immediately to your face, leaving it on for 20 minutes. Rinse face with cool water.

Bumblebee Facial Mask
1 tbsp dried milk
1 egg yolk
1 tsp honey

Mix honey with the egg yolk and then stir in the dried milk powder. Mix into a paste and apply. Remove after 20 minutes with cool water.

Glorious Green Face Mask
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 smashed avocado
1/3 cup of honey

In a bowl, mix smashed avocado with the honey, then continuously add oatmeal. When all ingredients are mixed well, apply to face and relax for 15-20 minutes. Remove with a splash of cool water.

No Monkey Business Mask
1/2 banana
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp sour cream

Smash the banana and add the honey and sour cream. Apply to face and leave on 15-20 minutes. Gently wipe off with a damp cotton wash cloth.
Pamela Koontz
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Oh yeah, Palin supporters are so classy. They’ve convinced me. [/end sarcasm]

People like this actually scare me. This is a perfect example of 100% plain ignorance. I did not hear one valid excuse to hate Obama in this entire video. What I did hear was a lot of foundations towards hate crimes. Coming from people who live in the “State of Independence” that hold the Liberty Bell, I call foul.

I contribute a lot of it to the riot mindset that make people do and say things they know is wrong and stupid and mean and cruel, and then the other half is just ignorant stupid people. I fully support people who favor Obama and people who favor McCain, so long as they have a reason. There’s no reasoning here: