End of the deer hunt

Tom is home without a deer.  No one in the whole camp got any and Tom didn't even see a buck, only a couple of does, which are out of bounds in that county due to low deer population.  It's been years since anyone in the camp has gotten a deer; they don't even seem to see them.  I asked him if it made more sense to go hunting where the deer are from now on...like here.  I think he might stay home next season as he has someone to hunt with now.

At least he had some time away from work though, and he really needed that.  Unfortunately in addition to the extra money for the trip and expenses, the fuel pump went out in the truck, costing about $400 to repair.  I kept a straight face when he told me because it was obviously not something he could have prevented, but I kept thinking that was the same amount as the prosthesis I couldn't afford.  What can you do though?  It just seems like we can't catch a break though.  Heck, we can't even keep treading water.

I finished up the mittens and bought some red, white and green Sugar & Cream to make my mom a Christmas dishcloth.  Then I'll package everything up and send it in time for Christmas.  From now on I knit out of the stash though.  Can't afford to buy any more yarn for a long time.

I washed a load of clothes today but haven't gotten them on the racks yet.  I bought a retractable clothesline to put in the bathroom but I'll let Tom handle that.  It's a ten minute job he can do before he leaves for work tomorrow.  I need it in spite of three racks and a folding wall rack under the heating vent in the kitchen, for socks and undies so they're not in the living room where anyone who comes over can see them.  Drying the clothes in the dryer for a few minutes got rid of the lint on the clothes and kept them from drying solid so I'll keep up with that practice.

I should go fix supper but I'm tired and I'll just wait another half hour or so.  Just got back from the store, which while nearly empty was still exhausting.  Probably pizza casserole for supper.  And a salad.  I'm not too ambitious tonight but I must be more attentive to the food budget in the future.  It's the only thing I've got that is flexible.  Although keeping the thermostat down helps somewhat.  I've been keeping it around 56 during the day and 48 at night.  If we get too chilled, though, I will crank it up to 60.  I found a pair of fleece sleeping pants for Zach (Mario themed) on the sale rack for $5.50, which was half the price of the other sleeping pants and they are nice and warm, like wearing a blanket so that should keep him toasty during the evening hours when the thermostat is down.

I keep looking for some men's pajama tops.  I wear layers to bed so I can peel them off as I warm up under the covers and I like wearing pajama tops over my many layers but mine were threadbare and ended up ripping at the elbows so I threw them out.  I'm going to check the thrift store tomorrow because I don't need the bottoms as I have several pairs of sweat pants I wear to bed.  And we each have our own hot water bottle to put in the bed to warm it up.  I've got an extra set of flannel sheets for a single bed for Tom to use but he usually toughs it out with the cotton.  There is no heat upstairs aside from a oil-filled radiator that he only uses to warm up the room before bed so I can't figure out why he doesn't want flannel sheets.  But he loves to sleep cold.  And he's got a sleeping bag he uses for a comforter so I guess he stays pretty warm with that and the hot water bottle.

I need men's pajama tops because of my big arm from the lymphedema.  Both because my arm is huge and because I wear bandages at night to push the lymph out of my arm.  Takes up a lot of room and makes my arm even bigger.  Women's stuff for some reason assumes our arms are tiny even when we're not.

Off to start supper now so I can crawl under the covers and knit.  I spent the holiday period reading more than knitting and now I'm ready to get back to it.  I'm nearly done with the afghan.  Okay, I'm more than halfway done, but I'm getting there.  I've got plans to make lots of little things that I might end up selling if I can find a venue.  I've got some ideas for jewelry and pagan crafting stuff but I need to get busy on them.

Not to mention getting busy on doing some deep cleaning on the house.  Surface cleaning is all I've gotten done lately, although I did manage to get rid of the dust elephants and we're down to dust mice now.  Give it a week and the elephants will be back though.

I can hear Zach's stomach growling and since he's feeling puny (probably has that flu Tom and I had) I should probably feed him.

TTFN