2021 Goals

 The different between a goal and a wish. A goal has a plan.

Goals 2021 "non SCA"

1. & 2. lose weight, gain strength (to better brace my joints)

"I don't always roll joints but when I do it is Usually my ankle"

I am using Noom and down 7 lbs so far. Also I am walking the dog when she lets me (she had her hip removed and didnt like the bitter cold anymore) but I walked with out her yesterday.

3. I am trying to not bite my nails a thing I have done since I was a toddler. so far so good. I keep a file and buffer in my desk draw.

4. Pay off debt. (I started officerly Oct 31 as my new years but unbeknownst to Jim I started in April) I have paid off 3 things and paying off a 4th this month. I am using the Snowball method. Making choices to do this was made easier by not having a student loan payment temporarily. I started with the use of Excel listing the debt the payment the interest rate. then I list what the snowball amount is. I also have have been putting money away till I had 1000 in savings for any emergences. on top of this I am paying for my daughters wedding as well it is in 2022 but by getting things and booking a site now we can get a place she wants and the things she wants at prices and eco conscience which makes both of us happy. This is helped also because of the next goal.

5. Minimal/ simplistic. I am cleaning and clearing my house. every time some one passes they cant bear to just give stuff to a thrift store. so I end up with it for one reason or another. when I move into this house I promised myself that things that came in would be intentional. but then I have things like moms books. Mom loved her books. I MEAN LOVVVVVED THEM! I am looking though the cook books picking the recipes and photo coping them and adding them to my cook book and releasing them. My goal is one shelf of mom cook books, and no more. I have sleeping bags. I don't use sleeping bags. "Going away they are. Why do I have 5 spatulas in the basement kitchen? GONE! " Clothes have gone into a quarantine bin and in the spring they will be looked at and if I do not intend to wear it they are going too. Pictures will be hung or they are gone. So on, and on. Shopping needs to be very intentional and it is more so. I am buying more from small business when I can and only things on my list.

making laudrey soap befor work

Time to make more laundrey soap.
I quickly though together my washing soda, Borax, fragrance crystals, while I was microwaving the cut up Felps soap bar a min at a time for 4 min in a 1200wat microwave. After the soap cooled I used my hands and powdered the now puffs of soap. Then added it to the mixture and stired till fully blended. I put it in my pretty washing machien box with the Table spoon measuring tool. I use 2 tablespoons of the laundrey soap for a load of laundrey.

off Topic- Food shopping

Randomness here. It is the Beginning of the month and it is time to go grocery shopping, as such I feel like rambling about it. There have been changes in my life non stop for the last 3 years. My husbands lost his job this lead to a major move and a change in status as he went back to school. Then to top it all off I have a two children at home one is 14 and one is 20. The 20 year old came home when he turned 18 between 14 and 18 he lived with his mom. The14 year old has eating issues and on top of it is fussy about what she likes and how she likes it. she get this mostly from her father. At the moment I am doing temp work. Temp work means I can decline work because I have Dr appointments for my DD or a different appointment with the DS. it means we live mostly on my Husbands GI Bill and student loans. I made about $6000 working last year. now we also have a support network of both our parents that have made this bearable. but all this leads me to Food shopping.
I have about 526ish dollars a month to food shop for all of us. I have finally giving in in some areas because it saves my hair from turning gray any faster. My DD should not eat some foods because they cause her migraines.  My son has no concept of portions, or price of food, he also lacks social skills in a lot of departments. I go out of my way to buy foods that the Daughter can eat and come in to find the son has eaten the whole thing in one sitting. I found a solution. I buy him his own food. it is not food I always think is healthy. but it fits how he will eat and keeps him away from his sisters food. any TV dinners on sale for $1 he can get 20 to 30 of a month.  Sausage links he can microwave. Chimmie Chongas, and Microwave Burritos. now I also buy Cereal, a super size box of Waffles, Meat patties, Hot dogs and the like (buns and breads)  I write the DD name on things that are just for her. and no one really wants the food I eat because i am on a low fat diet. the rule is he can have a sunny D knock off Koolaid add your own sugar or a generic koolaid with the sugar in, and one bottle of generic soda a month. The Daughter gets real juice, real Koolaid with the sugar in it, a Cereal she is not allergic too. I do cater to her needs but she is 14 and can't work. So far the 20 year old hasn't managed to find a job. He is doing temp work through the same company as me but he has less skills and doesn't drive. any how this is working. I still cook dinner at least every other night. and the DS will eat anything any one is cooking. On nights that I am eating extra low fat the rest of the family will eat something like perigees with fried onions. And most important the after school snack foods that are expensive for my DD are now safe. 
I also think he feels less like his sister is getting something that he isn't. He also cooks dinner on Tue nights. this Tue it will be Chicken Gnocchi soup my DD favorite. Next time I will tell you about Teaching him to shop we are making him a make believe budget per month and breaking it down to how much he has per meal then going shopping and having him figure out what he can buy that he will eat for a whole month. Wish me luck.

This is a wet bag. Not that it is wet mind you.
It is for wet dish towels and dish rags It is lined with more of that Air mattress that you have seen me use here before.  I make dish clothes and so when they need washing I don't have them sitting some wear getting moldy. then when I go down stairs to wash I just grab them all at once. We pull the wash clothes from the bath room and put them in here too.

Car stuff

Sorry I haven't Posted in a while May is very full for me.
This is a navigator holder for my brothers car I bought the sand at Michael's in the floral department.then used a drink lid for marking the center shape. the sand worked out to be the perfect amount. the sand was $2.99 but I had a 40% off coupons so it was way cheaper then the 24.99 they want for the ones you can by in the store.

Things I made ar Gulf Wars-3

A leather flask. This is really cool it took days to make. it is sealed inside and out with wax. The cool part about that is it is easy to fix if the seal is compromised. the trick is using vegetable tanned hides. I carved a strawberry on it as a makers mark. I love this I want to make more but that will have to wait for more planning. It will end up being a class I teach at some point in the future. BTW bottles like this sold for $45 The class was $7. it was sewed with linen waxed thread, using a saddle stitch.

Felted Dryer Balls

While on crafters stalking the "frugal living swap", Felted dryer balls kept popping up. So I went researching them. They sell plastic or Rubber ones but, every were I read about them they crack after 3 months of use.
The other thing I saw was that people just use wool yarn and make a ball of yarn and felt it in 3 different layers as they add more and more yarn to them.
I used a raw wool fleece that I hand washed with baby shampoo and removed the vegetable matter from the fleece and while it was wet I wrapped it with some blue wool roving that I have a pound of. In all the directions for making them they put them into stockings and washed them in the washer then put them through the dryer. I don't have any stockings on hand but I do have Nylon tulle so I used that and some cotton butcher twine to wrap them up before putting them in to the machines with the dirty clothes.
Now supposedly they help your clothes dry faster and they reduce static and make your clothes feel like you used fabric softener with out the chemicals. I made these for my sister Joanie because I love her :) I will be mailing them to her. I do need to make some for me. However my dryer decided to stop heating so I might have a delay on this. Lucky I live across the street from a laundromat. Any one now a good Dry repairman?