I Felt the Earth Move...

Day three of kooky sleep patterns... not cool. Been falling asleep easily and soundly, then waking up about 2-3am and tossing/turning for hours.... usually falling back into real sleep right around sunrise. You know, about when it's time to get up. Not sure if it's because of the crazy-bright moon, some anxiety about the house, or some residual soreness in the arms... or a combo of all three. I'm guessing the latter.

Regardless of the cause, today is going to be Self Care Day for me. Charlie's headed to Missouri for the weekend with his mom to see his uncle(s)... I think I'm going to run a load in to the scrap metal place in Murf, pick up a few comic books w/the scrap metal money (yay, getting rid of junk *and* getting comics in return!), do a bit of grocery shopping... then call it a day on anything productive. Except maybe sew a bit/get some faces ready.

But hey, look! Bulldozing is done! (I don't know why I call it "bulldozing" when it's "backhoe-ing" but whatever) Now it's all about figuring out where the pylons are going to go and digging the holes for them... and pouring the concrete into them... and building the subfloor.... and.... putting up the walls.... and... andddd. (did I mention I'm having house-building anxiety?)

I need to try and remember to share more of the items in our "benefit" Etsy shop here... I forget to do that a lot. What can I say? I'm horrible at promotion. So, on that note....

This is "Grain of Fabric" a mixed-media piece that I did over the winter. It can be found here: Grain of Fabric

How to get really sore arms in three easy steps:

Step 1) Replace the cord on the weedwhacker with the blade from a circular saw. Proceed to clear out the hillside of brush.

Step 2) Remove the overly-attached [come would say codependent] joins from old section of house to new section of house.

Step 3) Move 300lb wood stove into the bed of a truck.

Ta-da! Soreness achieved!

In other news, we're now 100% ready for the bulldozing to start tomorrow.


Charlie surveying the damage....

On Prostitution

Chainsawing of trees completed today. A small bit of cleanup to complete over the weekend... then it's on to bulldozing on Monday. Yikes.

Having a bit of "financial panic" as we look at the costs coming up... just how fast the money is going to go away. At the moment, we have $16k left of the original $30K in our "construction savings." (both of our "personal savings" are obliterated. Completely gone.)

It's funny how at one point in my life, I would have considered $16k to be an *extraordinary* amount of money... now it seems so little. Well, it would still be an extraordinary amount, if it were just random savings, really. But when it comes to construction costs --even doing it ourselves/with friends-- it's not that much. $400 at least goes away come monday.  A very basic model propane fridge is going to start at about $1,200. Then there's the stove at $500 - $700... and all the wiring... and the plumbing... and insulation, drywall, water heaters, windows, doors, etc.  And we still have about $1,000 left to go on the solar system. (but YAY for having electricity soon!!)

Oh, and of course there's the actual lumber to build with.

Well, you see where the panic starts to set in. Not to mention that once this is done, there ain't no "nest egg" or "safety net" money left, and it's unlikely to be replenished any time soon. But, you know, we have to have these things.These things so many take for granted. Running water, the ability to cook and shower in our own home.

Thinking about having a "Buy a doll, help build a wall" sale at the upcoming gathering. And prostituting myself... a different kind of "buy a doll."

$400 an hour (or a hot water heater)....  get it while it's good!

Wednesday Randomness

1) Have to figure out something to say about a solo show next July... but need to do so now, as it's going out to a magazine shortly. Problem? I don't know exactly what I'm going to do, theme-wise.  Guess I'll write something that's a little "open for interpretation."

2) Found myself feeling nostalgic about some aspects of our days working on the road. Mainly, the cross-country driving. I always enjoyed those trips from one place to some far-flung other place. Omaha to Tennessee... Miami to Tennessee.... Arizona to Ohio... wherever to wherever. I don't miss the work, but I miss the road, and I miss our little community of fellow travelers/coworkers.

3) Speaking of far-flung places, I must be missing Florida as well, as I've been on a boiled peanut kick lately. Made a batch over the weekend that were okay... they didn't get a chance to boil long enough before we devoured them, but have another batch going now which have had a full 24 hours to boil. YUMMISPICYNESS.

4) Whoa Realization that winter is approaching. So much to do before then... including getting busy on this line of scarves I have an idea for (time to break out the serger again) that I hope will provide some extra income.

5) Speaking of income creation (something which is on my mind regularly these days, as we've gone from a two-income household to a zero-income household with mega medical bills) I have a new batch of Travelers up, as well as some Groot-inspired "Treeple"...

They can be found on both my Etsy site, and the Traveler-specific sites here...Travelers and www.charliesspot.etsy.com

That's all... Happy Wednesday, y'all. Be good to yourselves.