Untitled (I just couldn't think of a good title for this post!) :-)

Yesterday I was on Pinterest and saw the most gorgeous olive colored chicken eggs (for which I aim to obtain someday soon!) .  I went to the blog site of one of the pictures.  Nice blog.  Great pictures and interesting reading.  But the author hadn't updated in months.  From blogging very regularly to nothing.  No explanations.  Just nothing.  It's not the first blog that I've visited that's been that way.  I always wonder what happened to cause that person to not post anymore.  A death in the family?  Too busy?  Tired of blogging?  Did they not post for so long that they just don't know how to start again?

Busted!!  Guilt!!

There I sat, thinking about how many times I've done the same thing.  I don't go months without posting but I've gone quite a few weeks too many times.  I confess that many of those times I've just been in such a funk about our circumstances that it's hard to think of anything "worthy" to post.  You know, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"?  And so it's been these past few months. 

I dwell upon (in no particular order of importance)...
Our financial circumstances continues to deteriorate.  We've went from almost nothing (very little income) to almost nothing-er.  Things are so tight that I've cut my last two convenience/luxury expenses of paper towels and paper plates out of our budget.  We do continue to count toilet paper as a necessity though.  ;-)

The weather has been cold and gloomy and that affects my mood more this winter than it has in previous years.  I long for spring but fear another horribly hot and deathly dry summer.

Our renovations to our ancient, tiny mobile home are going much slower than we had anticipated.  It's hard for DH to get much accomplished with his back always hurting and I'm certainly not skilled enough to do much of it.  We have gotten our new kitchen cabinets stained and the first clear coat on.  DH works on sanding them so that we can apply another clear coat.  They are beautiful and I cannot wait to get them installed!!  Oh, I'm so impatient!!

Our little ancient car has been giving us a lot of trouble and has broken down several times.  Today it broke down when I went to the bank and is, in fact, still sitting in the bank's parking lot.  DH has to tow it home tomorrow (it was just too cold to do anything with it today).  We have access to DH's father's van but I hope that our car can be fixed quickly and cheaply. 

Stuck on the side of the road in December about an hour from home!!

Daughter #2 thinks everything is a photo op!

I still can't find my camera and I fear that it is truly gone.  I just cannot remember for sure what happened to it that last day that we used it--Halloween when our little Dachshund Uno had an allergic reaction and we took pictures of his poor swollen little face and body.  Did we take it with us and leave it in the car and it got stolen?  Did it somehow get thrown away?  It certainly wouldn't be the first time that something valuable ended up in the trash!  Did it get stuffed in some little hidey-hole somewhere that I haven't searched?  I feel lost without it!!  And I certainly can't afford to buy a new one!!  I borrow Daughter #2's camera but it isn't as good as mine is and the pictures end up disappointing me.  :-(

Is it just me or is does it seem like the world is going a bit crazy?  I really like a calm, stable, loving environment and all the crazy stuff going on in the world gets to me sometimes.  Crazy weather, earthquakes/volcanic eruptions, government corruption/debt, little children being sexually abused or shot and killed in school...  And the list goes on!!  Jeepers!! 

In a nutshell, I'm a bit worn down by the cares of this world right now and don't feel that I have very much to offer. 

On the bright side...
One of my New Year's Resolutions this year was to craft/create more.  I've been crocheting most evenings and have a few projects that need just a bit more attention to be finished.  I'll try to post some pictures when they're complete.

We've been getting a fair amount of schoolwork done for a change.  Daughters #2 and 4 recently enrolled in the Penn Foster High School program (Daughter #2 is a bit late but has firmly decided that she wants a diploma--not a GED--and worked a housekeeping job at a resort last summer to be able to afford to enroll).  Both girls finished their first unit and received 100% on their first test.  Yay!!

I'm perusing garden catalogs/webistes and planning this year's garden.  I hope that the weather is much more cooperative and not so hot and dry.  I have lots of ideas and there are tons of seeds I'd love to buy.  So far I've ordered...

Amish Paste Tomatoes

Yellow Sweet Spanish Onions

I have a few simple projects planned for this spring.  One of them I am working on now.  I'm saving my yarn scraps to put in a suet feeder to hang on the fence for the birds to build their nests.  You can read about it over at Juniper Moon Farm...

I have a few other things on my mind as well but I'll save those ideas for another post.

I hope that I can post more frequently again.  I do enjoy blogging.  :-)

Until next time...