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We’ve made some progress on the floor despite everyone being afraid of heights and we’re almost at the halfway point. Our internet and home phone went down, so we’ve had to change to our off grid network. I’m still knitting, crocheting and working on repair stuff. Some days it seems overwhelming.

We have made some progress, but the removal of the floor hasn’t happened as there were more “but first” things to be done.n
One of the support beams is in and a wall for the out side access closet. The bathroom is mostly gutted. We’ve had to haul off more garbage because the owner can’t keep up. That really cuts into work progress. A past tenant knocked a hole in the tub and patched it badly. So that will need to be replaced. Can’t say I’m sorry about that, the tub was gross.n

Pet me!n

Yes, that’s itn

Wait!n

Where are you going?n

The house needs lots of TLC. Desperate times call for desperate measures. n
We’ve gotten the moldy wallboard removed and next is taking out the upstairs floor. There is a very pungent presence of rat up there. There were two dump runs today while I plugged up holes to keep the critters out. Can’t have them coming in while we try to repair the place. There are cats and dogs coming in and marking our porta potty, as well. The photos below show the gutting and some of the rotten siding.n

We’ve finally found a rental, (it needs a lot of work), that will help us transition out of here. It has low rent and rent /work exchange! n

Radar has adjusted and he’s getting on with everyone reasonably well. Here he is being cute.

The little man has been with us for a mere three days. We had a lot of adjustments to make. Apparently beards were an issue and he’s not the least bit house broken. Today he’s actually playing. Where are the girls now? They’ve been trying to get him to play and all he wanted to do was sleep when they were here.

The mask I wore must not have been sealed, properly. We have a different plan for picking Radar up on Monday.n

It seems that everything I order these days has some amount of synthetic fragrance on it. Most of the time, it’s the scent from the person who did the packaging, irritating but fairly easy to deal with. But, with increasing frequency, it seems that the actual product has been washed, spayed or treated to smell in some way, and that is not so easy to deal with. My new towels are on their second wash after having soaked in a milk bath to remove the laundry fragrance that should not have been present. Also, each time I have to check to see if a treatment has been successful, I get re-exposed. Headaches, wheezing and digestive issues ensue.n

Well, I’m going to try to convince my body to relax and let the toxic crap flow through, no stopping to irritate.

We went to meet a puppy 🐶 yesterday. The mask didn’t protect me from the HUGE amount of fragrance in this place. The woman said she was sensitive to fragrance, well no wonder! There was Fabreeze in the bathroom, strong disenfectant fragrance everywhere and there was fragrance in the laundry.n
I have a migraine, the phlegm is pouring down the back of my throat in thick sheets, it’s gross, all of it.n
We’ll have to bathe the puppy first thing when we bring him home😡😩 and I get to wear that mask all the way back.n

Will anyone ever figure this crap out? Stop using synthetic fragrance!😡🤬😤😭😳🙁

Catherine and I finally got some tinted nail polish put together. My ability to apply it needs some work, but the polish itself is pretty cool. I enjoyed that the only smell was that of rubbing alcohol. I applied 4 coats and used the heater to keep everything warm enough to cure. The hard part is not messing it up over the full cure time, ie while I’m sleeping. So now we need to experiment with buffing and repair coats.🙂 if I had a low impact life, this could be done in the morning and then there would be more hours before sleep damage, so that less would occur. We’ll figure this out, because I love it, it’s probably the way it used to be done, and it has a truly no voc off gassing issue. n

I wanted to list my crochet and knitting patterns on the LoveCrafting web sites. When I began the process, I discovered it was mandatory to have a PayPal account. This is abhorrent. I’m disgusted to find out that such a dishonest financial institution is my only option. As a result, I will not be listing my patterns with them. when they are able to offer other options, I will reconsider. In the mean time, my crochet patterns continue to be available on Etsy. I will consider Revelry, but I fear they too, use PayPal only.n

The truck is running! It still has some work that needs to be done, but seats are in and it runs. n
I’m working on patterns again and I’ll be listing all the knit and crochet patterns on Love crochet/knitting at the first of the year.n

We had a lovely solstice dinner, gaming and gift exchange and we wish all of you a festive holiday season!

I’m almost finished with my projects! Catherine and I will start the decorating this week. Moths got at my little feather tree, so I need to rebuild it and we can’t seem to find the tree stand for the big tree. This is where having owned a store front comes in handy. We have back up trees 🌲 😃

We’re working at one quarter speed today. Probably have been all week. 😔 Right now I’m sitting here half dressed and trying to figure out what to do next. We got some unexpected trick or treaters last night and their fragrance cloud invaded the living room which sent me scurrying while the kids tried to clear the air. I wasn’t good for much that required thinking after that.n

I’ve been contemplating stop motion filming for a while now. Wondering if I can pull it off. It would be great for marketing more patterns. Still just gathering info on it.

I’m up, yet again, struggling to breathe. n

I’m still missing Princess. We had already started looking for a new puppy before she became so ill, but cash is an issue. Even the shelters want $300 for their dogs with issues. And I don’t like the individuals selling on Craig’s list, it’s always suspect and you need to rush to be the first or they’ll be gone. n

Yule projects are coming along, and I’m back working on the seats for the truck. The wiring is almost done and then there’s? Mechanical or windows or something.n

I’m struggling to keep hope alive over here. I hate knowing that where I live is keeping me really sick but the longer I’m here the harder it is to move out. I’m bad enough now that we can’t put the house on the market because I can’t handle people walking through with their synthetic fragrance. I don’t have enough brain function to make patterns right now, so I can’t increase the likelihood of more cash flow. Really sucks.

I’m not sure how to turn this into lemonade. It’s time to put Princess down. I wanted her to die naturally. Not as a result of my decision. But …. needs must.

I have been avoiding blogging because I don’t like converting my photos. 😔n
So, a lot has happened since the last entry. Catherine came up with a natural nail polish using shellac, a secretion of the lac bug, and alcohol. Shellac.net has a lot of info on using it in the context of finishing furniture. She added eye shadow from Addictive Cosmetics to tint the polish and, voila, nail polish. Truly nontoxic! If you use foodgrade alcohol it’s even better. I’ve posted photos on instagram, and I’m really happy with the results. I think she may have just reinvented the original shellac for nails.🤗n

I’ve done a lot of crocheting of late, most of it for the dog. Unfortunately, the dog is not doing well. I don’t think she’s long for this world. ☹️ I’m trying to make peace with that.n

I need to get on making those Yule presents 🎁 😊😁🎉☃️🎅