Welcome to Gaia! ::

I've been a bit of a busy bee heart I made my pickles; 5 jars of dill pickles (plus one jar that broke when I put it in the hot water bath crying ) and one jar of my mom's sweet pickles.

I spent most of the weekend at the Ball 3nodding And today, college classes started. I've got my first physical class on Wednesday, Alternative and Complementary Health Therapies. I'm taking one online class and one physical class, so yay.

@ Dragon: Thanks for the link! I hadn't seen that one, just a couple other ones on Facebook. I'll keep looking.
Sorry about all the cleaning that doesn't show.....nothing like working your fanny off, and nothing to show for it!
Loved your post! Still praying for rain for you!

@ Mystic: Sounds busy there! Pickles and school sound great.

@ Teh_plague: One of the best burglar alarms I ever had was a set of camel bells that hung on my back door. EVERYTHING made them ring! Look around there, maybe they blew up where you are!

Today I spent way too much time trying to get goats back into the pen, then trying to find out where they got out! They are so lucky that they're cute!

@sunset: unfortunately where i currently live i can't have any dog over 40 pounds without paying obscene amounts of money to he landlord. Even a small dog requires an additional 600 dollar security deposit and an extra 65 a month which is absolutely unacceptable. The exterior doors are actually those cheapo composite hollow core doors that they use as bathroom doors in most places so they're useless. No locks on the upstairs windows. Its just pathetic. I also don't currently have enough money in my emergency fund to be willing to remove several hundred for a gun because then if there were a car problem or emergency need i'd be screwed. My solution right now has been to install door chains and deadbolts on all doors, was thinking about sensors on the windows and door because i can buy all the do it yourself pieces for the security system for around 110 bucks that includes a keypad the plugs into the phone line, a buzzer/alarm siren, 12 sensors, 3 keychain panic buttons. The garage i've also decided to reinforce the windows by installing brackets on both sides of them attatched to tripled up studs that i slipped 2x6's into so you can't push the windows in (thats the only way to open these) unless you can break through all the lumber first. My ideal security system would be a couple of large dogs properly trained and several guns, plus camera's/motion sensors and an alarm on every door/window of every outbuilding i just don't know if i want to spend the money on the system because i might have the opportunity to move in the spring and then i would have to uninstall it all so that i could reinstall it all plus repair all of the holes and pull all of the wiring out for it. Thanks for the advice...i require windchimes that are very loud and sensitive. Might have to look at the flea market next time i get a chance.
wow this got long fast.

@dragon: I know some thieves are extremely efficient and quick with their work but i only work 2.5 miles from home and the system i'm looking at automatically calls up to 10 pre-set phone numbers any time the alarm is triggered and the code isn't punched in within 30 seconds. So i could be home in under 5 minutes which means i might actually see them leaving and considering my valuables are very heavy tools odds are good i would see them attempting to drag them/load them which would provide ample opportunity to stop them. My neighbors dog barks like crazy whenever anybody walks past the house but i can't hear their dog when i'm in my basement or the garage working on stuff. I'd say i wish their dog were louder but that would become annoying lol. I wish i had a local landlord or property manager. Our townhouse that we rent is just owned by some big real estate corporation that owns like 4 square blocks around here and there isn't really anyone ever on the properties because tenants are responsible for all maintenance.

Anyways I'm still looking at options and debating cost. I just got home from work where we had a double batch of price tags because prices in my store run on a 10-12 week cycle and certain things stay on sale all summer or all winter depending on the product. Unfortunately that means that every 10-12 weeks instead of our normal number of price changes that we have to do we get roughly double or triple that sometimes. Normally its like 3900 price tags last night it was slightly over 7000. My fingers hurt from peeling stickers off of shelves and sheets of paper and my eyes hurt from reading little size 8 font all night. Gotta go buy more epoxy because the clear epoxy is useless and i require the stuff that turns black because i've always had good luck with it. Stuffs called Jb weld anybody ever needs to fix just about anything and jb weld is the stuff to do it. I attatched pyroceramic glass on to pieces of steel with the stuff to have a smoother surface on my grinder to get cleaner lines when i work on knives and i've ground out half a dozen knives and sharpened a few dozen on there and had no problems with it yet. Speaking of which the word is out to just about everyone at my work that i sharpen knives and tools and a surprising number of people are asking me how much i would charge for this or that. So i need to find out what the going rates are for sharpening of things like chainsaws, chisels, scissors, lawnmower blades. Knives are easy i can either do 1 dollar per inch of blade or just a 5 dollar a knife flat rate. I've only done a few lawnmower blades and that was for family and i didn't time it so i dont know what to charge. Scissors i'm not sure about how safe i feel doing because high end sewing scissors are expensive and i would hate to have to replace a set if i messed up even a little.

Ever have your scissors or tools/knives sharpened? if so how much does it cost in your area.

Well, my day was mostly school and soreness today. But I discovered that the lead singer of Godsmack has a solo album and it's awesome. :]

Today I decided to drop off my paper recycling someplace different, and discovered that the different place also collects plastic for recycling. Yay!

@teh_plague:

I asked a relative here who works at a mower shop that sharpens blades. $6 if the blade is on the machine (includes balancing), $3.50 if not on the machine. (He also told me to tell you that all lawnmower blades must be balanced or the lawnmower will vibrate and blow a bearing and seal. There is a cone-shaped blade balancer which in our area is around $5. He also says make sure to keep square blades square if the corner breaks off. Some Honda lawnmowers have two blades, so double the price for them.) $3.50 for any knives, shears, shovels, chain saws, other tools (regardless of size). He said prices are a bit lower here because of the amount of competition and that if you are in a more rural area you can probably charge more. If you have any questions you want to ask him, lmk: he'll talk my ear off if I let him. wink

As for the scissors, I agree with rilsin-b. There are some extremely expensive sewing scissors out there, and sewers/ crafters are very particular about them. Besides, some fabric stores (at least in my area) will sharpen them for free.


Today I helped someone move. It is definitely an inspiration for me to cull my own clutter. It seems everyone I have helped move has tons of stuff that they don't use, don't remember they have, don't need, etc. *Sigh*

I noticed a couple of oranges on the satsuma are starting to turn yellow. I think it might be from the drought, though. I didn't expect to see any signs of ripening until October. We had more fruit set on it this year than ever before. The tree is showing obvious signs of distress, though. If it starts looking any worse I'll have to go take the fruit off early to give the tree a better chance of survival. I sure hope the little tree can hang on!

It tried to rain today, but it just dripped for about a minute... We have a 40% chance for tomorrow so send us your rainiest thoughts! ninja

Oh jeez, way to go Falcon! I wish I was that motivated sweatdrop


I have to admit, I've been a fuddy duddy this past week. I've been fighting off being depressed to no avail, so I've barely gotten my schoolwork done. We did go camping this weekend, though (well, yesterday, last night, and part of today). Came home early because of complications with my fiancé. However, on Tuesday I did make pickled okra ^^ I don't like it, but my fiancé and his mom do, so I made it for them because we have tons of it and I've already battered and frozen two 1-gallon freezer bags' worth, not counting what I've frozen and then later eaten already. I may end up making okra, pickles, sweet pickles, and jellies for friends and family for Christmas, since I seem to be a dab hand at this canning thing whee I doubt it'll be appreciated, though, my family aren't exactly foodies.

@Udofalcon: OK, I'm officially jealous. mrgreen

@Mystic: Your posts are going to put me in a food coma! Lol.

@Pirhan: I love bears!!! (Then again, I may be biased.)

Today I woke up to a smoke-filled city. From the freeway, I could see the smoke from the fires (which blew in from Magnolia) on the Houston horizon. It is a bit difficult to breathe outside. Everything here is so dry. One spark could set my whole neighborhood on fire. When I hear about the fires, I just keep thinking that it could happen here, too. Please send me your rainiest thoughts and prayers.

I spent a ton of time clutter-busting today. I'm on an absolute tear! rofl