Newly Undeadity

The title is a stretch and not relevant, but it's a rambling post so nothing would be relevant.

El Kid is on his exchange program having arrived safely overseas. He'll be back in a year.

I'm moving out of the Spokane apartment which hasn't been too bad. Hot but not bad. Much of the furniture that doesn't fold is going to the next tenant. Very handy way to do things. If I thought it wouldn't creep her out, I would have offered to leave the 2lbs of cheese that weren't eaten. It's too much grease for the worms and too much dairy for me. I had to chuck it because a strange woman going door to door offering hunks of cheese is just not acceptable in our culture. I'm sure there is somewhere on the planet where that behavior would get me worshiped like the goddess I am. Perhaps Switzerland....they will tell tales of the cheese lady who comes in the day and gives you cheese.

Enough of that.

I'm taking the opportunity to purge quite a few belongings. I've taken two fullish subaru loads to charities. I don't need two households worth of sheets, towels, dishes, glasses, cups, mugs etc etc etc. So much is getting donated. It's about time for a magazine purge as well. The region's laundromats will soon be sporting out of date copies of very nice organic living magazines. I've read them, gotten the recipes and addresses I need so no need to archive the mags like some sort of weird library. And the worms don't like magazine paper. Newsprint yes, shiny paper not so much. They'll eat it, but I don't think it's good for them.

I've been trying to clean the apartment with mostly environmentally friendly products. The oven crud just wiped off with some citrasolve (a strong mix). I'll hit the floors with left over laundry soap and a vinegar rinse. It's organic non-phosphate laundry soap. And the tub will get the usual borax and vinegar scrub.

As of Sunday I will officially have only ONE home again. One rent payment. One set of utilities. One land line phone bill. Ahhh....so nice to have one set of payments again.

It does seem that I've got quite a bit of food to eat. I need to start making my own bread just to use up the flour! Seriously. I can't stand an empty pantry so when I moved that here, things got a bit full. I'm sure I'll get through it but the 15 boxes of tea...that could take a while.

How about a garden update: WE HAVE 'MATERS!!! I've been sampling the cherry tomatoes and they are delicious. My god. None have made it to the kitchen yet. I just eat them right off the vine. There are many other tomatoes but they haven't started to ripen yet. If they all come in at once the dehydrator will be smoking! Or I'll try that ketchup recipe I found.

Steady applications of stink-juice (the "juice" is the result of steeping rotting onion and garlic along with cayenne in a jar...pour into sprayer and add some water...it reeks) have allowed the carrots to at least grow respectable tops. No sign of actual carrotage though. The beans are coming along. I may get a cup of each type once dried. Not a great yield. Must try something new with the beans next year. The tomatillo continues to bloom and has some little lanterns which look like there should be a tomatillo inside but there's not. Empty. Bupkus. Oh well. onions doing great! The tops have started to dry and fall over. I need to read up on when to pull them. They look huge. I think more onions and some garlic for next year. Build on my success. What else is in there?
I have one respectable red lettuce going. ONE hungarian hot pepper. It's getting quite large but I think there should be more than one per plant. It got a whole square foot in the garden so one pepper is not appropriate. The jalapeno pepper in a pot is doing quite well. there are several tiny jalapenos on it. Even that plant looks stunted though. The marigold continues to struggle with big damage. Not a single bloom yet. Perhaps before I have to yank it one will show up. I can hope! And finally the basil plant in a pot...it's just two straight stems. Weird. I'm getting some basil off of it and will try to bring it inside for winter. I put a different shelf in front of the west window in the kitchen in the hopes of growing some herbs there through the winter. Which herbs like drafts and the occasional burning direct sunlight? I'll let you know.

I'll have some bits of wood and another shelf coming back from the apartment so I might try a bit of a cold frame. We'll see if I have the energy or ambition. The landlord had offered to rototill some areas of the yard for a garden but he's opening a shop now and may not have the time.

And now, I'm going to go home and try to eat (food poisoning last week has made eating something of a scary event...probiotics are helping).

Back From the Dead*

It's been quite a while. Things have been hectic and access to the interwebs has been limited.

So, I have the day off work to wait for a passport to arrive. Not my own. Anyway, it's not here and the fedex tracking number I was promised is not here. My head may explode.

To take my mind off the wait, I thought I'd mention the fabulous meta-thrift purchase I made last weekend.Value Village (that's "Savers" to some of you) had 2 books for sale that I've been wanting. Now if only the third would pop up somewhere. It is the "Tightwad Gazette" and the "Tightwad Gazette II". I'm pretty sure there is a TG III. I want it. These are hard bound editions. Interesting. Not a mark on them. Who ever bought them wasted their money so I was able to feel superior just by buying them. I got them for 3bucks each. They go for ______ on amazon.com.

I've already reworked my budget based on re-reading some advice (I've checked these books out of the library before...multiple times). I should be able to save 2000$/month once I'm back to a single rent. AND that is with 2400$/year for travel! Awesome. The only things I'm cutting back on are having a kid and paying a second rent. I've been splurging a bit lately on coffee and donuts (which is super obvious to those who see me live and in person since I'm fat and jittery). By saving that much, I basically earn one day of retirement for each day I work. Living on something less than half my takehome pay. Cool. There is cash in the budget for new tires, but not a new car or a new front end. If those things happen, they need to come out of the travel budget. DAMN.

I'm trying to figure out if I can live without a landline. The cell phone is more flexible so would keep that and kill the landline if anything. Have any of you tried life without a landline? More specifically, have any of you who can run your mouth as much as me tried life without a landline? I'm thinking of getting internet access at the trailer if I give up the landline. Would skype substitute for a landline? How does one skype?

So many questions. Anyway. Nice to see that if El Kid makes it to Japan (see above passport wait reference), I will be able to save some more money again. Land prices are pretty stable here and there are some pretty interesting pieces for sale. I figured if I can buy land without a loan and go live on it with no rent or utility bills, I can live on about 1/3 or even 1/4 my take home pay. I could quit working someday. That would be lovely. I did warn El Kid that upon his return in a year, if he lives with me it may be in a mud hut and pooping in a hole in the ground.

Maybe if I go lean on the front door with my forehead pressed to the window the passport will come faster.... Of course, there is a chance it hasn't been shipped yet. We have until 5am Thursday. Why panic at 1pm Tuesday?

*title is a Spinal Tap reference. I was not actually dead.

HOT HOT HOT

Guess what it is here...
HOT.
Like 100 degrees hot. Insufferably hot. HOT HOT HOT.
I hate hot. I hope tomatoes like it.

I'm watching a Russian film about a frozen island with monks on it but it isn't making me cooler. Still hot.

I tried lemonade and cookies but that just made me hot and sugared up and edgy. So here I sit in front of a fan. It's only like 85 or 90 in the trailer. I can barely go out and hang up laundry on the line. And I'm afraid the intense heat will shrink my clothes. HOT HOT HOT.

I hate hot weather. We've had this for like 2 weeks now and are looking at another week. Cripes.

That is my whine for the day.