Shootin', breakin', relaxin', growin', learnin'.

Well, two weeks ago, we went shooting again. We had a blast!

We took Niceguy's uncle and a close friend out in the woods, did some shooting, roasting of weenies, and relaxing. Fun was had by all, and we got some decent pictures this time too.

Niceguy taking aim after readjusting the scope for the 300th time.

Roasting weenies for the guys.

I am attempting to look calm and comfortable with
a 9mm in my hands. I fail miserably, I know. lol

Our friend attempting to figure out why it isn't

working. He forgot to load a round in the chamber.

Afterward, we'd all decided it would be fun to venture up the logging road we were on, since the GPS said it popped out on the highway, 15 miles closer to town. 3 hours, and $120 later, we've replaced our first flat tire on the new truck. Oh yay.....

A testament to Fix-A-Flat, we had POPPED our tire, not punctured it. Very grateful we had two cans of the stuff in the emergency kit in the truck. It got us off the logging road, and the 45 miles to the repair shop, with just minutes before they closed for the holiday weekend. Don't get me wrong, the tire guys hate this stuff, because it is a royal mess, but I'm very thankful for it.


The next week brought more sporadic sunshine, with the promise of 80+ degree days over the weekend. With the tire replacement, we are broke. Very very broke. So there would be no outings or trips to the park for a couple of weeks. In preparation for being stuck at home in the heat, we decided to put the air conditioner in the window.

This is a fairly simple process. Remove screen, put in air conditioner, hold in place, put in braces under the front, slide window down over ledge to lock in place, put cardboard over hole, plug in, turn on. Simple right? Apparently not. We got to hold in place, when the air conditioner slipped out of Niceguy's hands, and all he had was the cord. Oh heavens. Leaning heavily out of the
window, he attempted to reel it in, and the cord slipped in his hands, swinging the air conditioner widely, and slamming in to the downstairs neighbors' window. With a crash, and a fairly abrupt moment of silence before the string of swear words that flooded from Niceguy's mouth, he reeled
it in slowly while I laughed hysterically on the other side of the room.


The neighbors were very nice about it, as was the maintenance guy. And now, we are broke again having to save for the window replacement that we owe the apartment complex. They still haven't let us know what the cost will be. They told us the window would be replaced the next day, and here we are 10 days later, and it's still broken.

Still, it was an experience, which ended with us enjoying the odd heat in cool comfort for the entire weekend before the 50-60 degree days came back.

Plus, being stuck in the house, finally gave me the time and focus I needed to tackle the kitchen. With the dishwasher having been broken for the last few months, we've been lazy about the dishes. Only rinsing, and then washing what we need when we need it. I spent two whole days
doing dishes, but I can confidently say, it's all done, and I've kept up with them. Never will that
mess happen again.

My boss, was very nice, and brought in some of his Tomato starts for me to try my hand at. I have never grown tomatoes before, so this has been a learning experience.

The day he brought them in, Niceguy and I went to the store, and bought each plant, nice big pots for them to grow in to. Literally overnight, the largest plant, doubled in size. The others weren't far behind though. I wish I had a before picture, but I can tell you that all four plants fit very well in a grocery bag. Now they cover my stove and counter-top. They are normally outside, but we had to bring them in due to a wildly rare thunderstorm that blew through here and tried to kill them.

And now, 5 days later....

Really excited about these babies! If I get tomatoes, we're going to start growing our own herbs. Can't do much for fruits and veggies in an apartment, but we use a lot of fresh herbs in our cooking, so homegrown would be wonderful and save some money. =)

With being broke, we've had to be creative for lunches and dinner. Trying new recipes and reinvigorating old ones. I just happened to have enough money on my credit card to make one big grocery trip two weeks ago. We've managed to stretch $186 worth of food, through the whole two weeks, and aside from milk, have enough for another two weeks!

I made creamy chicken and dumplings from scratch(sorta, Thank you Campbell's soups!), we're doing chili today(yes, from scratch), and we've made some wonderful pasta dishes. Costco saved us a fortune on chicken too. $20 for 10 lbs of REALLY good chicken! Just awesome!

I've been working on my new Caterpillar beanies, and these are literally flying out. One hat takes me approximately 3-5 days to complete, while working on them at work in between calls as well. I have orders waiting, while I save up to order more yarn. At $45 a piece, they are keeping us afloat while we scrimp for cash in between bills.

One made for a friend in a bold blue, very bright green, and black.

Red and black with a bit more length for full ear coverage.

Red, olive, and black with even more length for additional ear and neck coverage.

Child size, would go for $30, but I made it as a gift for a coworker who has been my sole support line at my awful awful job. Using the same green from above and black, the stripes reverse as the pattern progresses. My coworker couldn't make up his mind on the pattern he wanted, so I made it up for him. It was a huge success, and they are very happy with it. =)

I apologize for the blurry pictures, my phone has a horrible camera that seems to get worse with time, and since these hats are no longer in my possession, getting a better picture has been challenging.

Anyways, need to get to the laundry, vacuuming, and then wash the truck.

Love to all!
~~~