Seems like forever...

Seems like forever since I have written anything, here or anywhere else. That's what happens, I guess, when I get stuck with 4 days in a row of work, closing the store. I get stuff DONE in the morning then it's time to go to work and when I come home after a night on my feet I am dead. All I want to do is take decongestant (I have been having nighttime congestion that kept me awake most of the first night of the 4-day work session and that set it all off on the wrong foot, mainly the TIRED one.

Next night I downed a kids decongestant, tylenol for my aching body and a short drink and slept great. But that doesn't make up for lost sleep.

Also the first night or so, I happened into the master bath (you know the one... on the west end of the trailer, facing the prevailing winds...) during a major wind storm and noticed the inside panes of the windows around the tub (a set of three tall and thin, non-opening windows set up like a bay window) literally flexing and bowing as the wind pounded outside and the breezes whistled around me inside. Finally, a light bulb went off in my brain and I guessed that at least a large part of why that room always feels so darn cold was (TA DA!!) the wind blowing in from outside around those windows (and the others as well... but they are less easy to fix... and as I found out later, blowing in through the not-really-sealed joints in the pre-papered wallboard as well.) On one of my 4 workdays I didn't have to be in until 4, so I made a flying trip into the city to get more caulking and a replacement for my caulk gun (which, of course, went missing exactly when I needed it... after it had been kicking around for months, being used for a little bit here and there). That night when I came home I put caulk around the window frames (outside, where they join to the wall) as well as around the glass where it meets the frame. I use the term "meets" loosely, as most of these joints had a good 3/16 inch gap to fill! I did not do anything like a "good" job, but since the whole room is slated to be redone, I am nt worried.

Actually the entire house needs to be re-sheetrocked, have new "real" windows, and likely more insulation. Eventually...

But for now, I have filled the worst of the leaks and am looking at some touch-up likely in the near future and it does seem less like going on an arctic expedition when I go in to feed the kitties or -- Gods help me, get up in the middle of the night, crawling out from in a warm bed, under a blanket of kitties -- to pee. BRRRR!

And then today, my first day off in a bit, I had to get going early to accompany K to what was supposed to have been a counseling appt 45 min away -- but turned out to be mixed signals. Not fun when you close the store the night before... but the rest of the day was a bit more productive as we finally managed to make the trek to Remy's in Dexter (a discount/odd lots type store that we had heard of, but not yet visited.) I had been told they had good prices on snowshoes and have been needing a MODERN pair (as the free ones I got a bit ago are great to look at but have been repaired -- I suspect not too well -- and I was worried about using them at my current weight. We found the store -- it is much nicer, cleaner and better organized than the other local institution of that type, but the prices were not quite as low as we had been lead to believe. Nevertheless I got the shoes and K found diabetic socks for a VERY good price, so it was a good trip.

The rest of the day was mostly spent getting us set up to finally be fully and completely almost legal Mainers. That is to say, now that K finally got his drivers license here, he was ready to get the vehicles insured and licensed and inspected in Maine. Which we have done... sort of. Yes we have insurance. And yes, we have plates BUT the gals in the town office suggested that if we made our registration effective Friday, they could give us renewals in 2010, which is what we opted to do. So for tomorrow, when I go to work, the car will be in an odd grey area. Not that I am worried at all... It still has its NC plates but were I to get stopped, I would have to show ME insurance... And there is a new place here in town that does inspections but they are new and just certified and don't have their stickers yet, so that will need to wait for next week.

Not that that is all a big issue for the truck -- which will now be sporting FARM plates -- as it won't be going anywhere until the driveway is clear enough of ice for me to get to the tire store. After I get it started...

Also picked up to holiday packages from my kids... this is photo year it seems.. as I got a neat framed montage of grandkid photos from my youngest and this from my eldest. You can be sure it will be hung just as it is... a most creative solution... and a new frame will be found for the photo when it arrives.

We got an inch or so of snow today and likely a bit more tomorrow. I will most likely break in the new snowshoes taking the kitty litter scrapings to the back field to scatter them on Thursday, which I DO have off.

My new years eve plans are pretty much as they always are -- make sure the house is clean (I'll just have to sweep and mop and do whatever dishes) and go to bed. After working in a store that sells wine, beer and the hard stuff until 9 on the eve, I doubt I'll be fit for much else.

Am thinking about Enchiladas for dinner on Thurs, changing the calendars and maybe starting to assemble a rack I have designed to hold my (interior) hex paints.

Despite the downturn in the economy and various other frustrations and traumas along the way 2008 has proven to have been a pretty good year. I'll have to look back and stuff I wrote this time last year, but looking back at the moment highlights include:

• getting laid off, which was a good thing because then
• I got unemployment which made it possible to
• move to Maine earlier than I thought and even though the first one ... and the second one... ad nauseum... petered out we
• bought a home on
• a few rural acres and
• I found work (several times) (several ways) and
• the hex business is growing and
• the design business refuses to die
• about 2 acres are tilled and some berries planted and
• plans are in the works for more planting and
• I have an official farm truck
• the space in which the sacred grove will be planted has been found and agreed to by the Gods (just today... a crow... another story)
• the Gods continue to lead me on the Volva path
• K is getting decent health care and
• I am excited to see what the next turn of the wheel will bring.