We Need a New Dryer :-\

I'd say altogether, I slept about 8 PM to 5 AM, except for the times I had to get up and use the bathroom, and about 10:00 PM to 12:00 AM where I had Tricity laying at the end of the bed and we spent that time talking about all sorts of things. I miss sharing a room with her and talking about stuff all night. We used to do that all the time, but since we moved to Marble Hill, she's off in her own room, so the only time we've really been spending together is when we're watching something. It was What We Do In the Shadows, and now it's South Park. My Mom and I used to lay and talk all night like that, and I miss it, too. I'm glad I can still do it with Tricity sometimes. I hope she'll always know that she can come talk to me any time she wants to. Any of the kids, really. I hope they all know that they can come to me any time at all.

My eye wasn't hurting so bad this morning. Just a little. I think my contacts were causing strain for some reason? I got the kids up and ready for school. The day started off with Tricity breaking her glasses, and I don't have any super glue or anything that can help... so I tried using some thick packing tape in hopes that it will hold throughout the day until we can take her to an eye doctor again.

Adam didn't have to go to dialysis until 9:00, so he tried sleeping in until about 7:30 and then he got up to get ready. While he was still sleeping though, I made myself some salmon. I love salmon. I always bake it with just a bit of lemon pepper seasoning, and some salt. I learned that paying a little more for better quality salmon makes a difference, too! Sam's Club salmon versus Dollar Tree salmon makes a HUGE difference in texture, flavor, and probably nutrients, if I'm being honest.

Then I wrote down what I ate in my Fitbit app. I'm going to TRY and log my food. Usually I don't worry about it, but I want to make sure I'm getting my 90 grams of protein a day, and try it to keep my calories around 1,200 like they told me at my appointment yesterday. I also want to get out and exercise more (sans the hard labor doing stuff to renovate the house because that'll definitely be happening either way) as well. I'm probably feeling this way because of New Year's resolutions, but I'd really like to make my goal weight by the end of the year! Then I can have the excess skin removal surgery, and once I recover from that, I can get a job again. I just can't work right now because then I'll lose my Medicaid and won't be able to have my surgery paid for.

As much sleep as I got, I was still exhausted, and I slept from about 8:30 to noon! After I woke up and finally got going, I decided to watch The Biggest Loser on YouTube while cleaning. They only really have one season that someone posted (that I can find) and not even all the episodes are on it, but that show always gives me inspiration :-D haha Eventually, I'd like to find the box with the Wii in it, and play my old Biggest Loser Wii game! That's how I'd like to exercise while it's winter time. Then when we finally get another trailer to add onto this one to extend our house, I'm going to strip out the kitchen and turn it into the home gym for all my exercise equipment (I have an elliptical, stationary bike, trampoline, stair stepper, punching bag, etc.) I just have no place to put all that stuff right now, so it's out in the storage building covered with boxes.

I wasn't going to spend the day cleaning since I hadn't felt good, but their Grandma Cheryl wants to visit, and because the kids had been home for Christmas vacation, the place isn't exactly tidy right now. As much as I love having them home, it's been a little crazy, and I just wanted a few days to relax and recover first since they are back in school now. But if she's going to visit soon, I don't want it to be messy, you know? How long does it take someone's blood to replenish, anyway???

I cant wait to find out the results from my bloodwork. I'm a little nervous sine there were quite a few days where I kept forgetting to take my pills, both my medicine and my vitamins. I finally decided to do the smart thing and set alarms on my phone every 3 hours to take my pills, from the times of 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM. I have a doctor's appointment next week, and they're supposed to take my blood too, so I wonder how different the results are going to be in-between a week's time? This time I'll remember to eat first!

While I was cleaning and Adam got out of dialysis, he called and asked how many cans of beans it would take for me to make my homemade deer chili. Back during the day after Christmas, we had gotten some deer meat and other fresh meats from Judy and Al (they get their own cows and pigs butchered, and he goes hunting), so we were excited to finally have deer chili again. We hadn't had any since moving away from Perryville, because we used to get it from the food pantry. I thought we were going to wait until grocery day though, but I guess he really wanted some today! lol  I said we needed 4 cans of light red kidney beans, and 4 cans of dark. He said "8 cans?!" I said "Yeah, it takes that many to make a full pot. AND a big can of tomato sauce." He said "Tomato sauce???" I said "Yeah, that's how it's made." He seemed a little offended, but as me and Khloe agreed, we're a big family, I'm a good cook, and everybody loves it so much, so it takes a lot to feed everyone and have some for seconds!

I guess the dryer isn't working right. I didn't even like it to begin with. It's one of those with the lint trap on top. It's super long, and you have to slide it up and down, but by the time you get to the top of it, the lint falls back inside. It was getting so bad that it took 5 rounds and the clothes were STILL not dry. It ended up being about 8 altogether, taking 2 days just to dry one load of clothes! I went online and looked up some of the closest rent-to-own places to see what other options there were with the kind of dryer I like with the lint trap in the front. I found one, but I'm still waiting on Adam to get me the "ok" to order it! lol

When the kids got home from school, they helped clean. They took out the trash, cleaned their bathroom, and did a few other odds and ends. When I went to take care of my birds, I noticed how beautiful the sunset is as the last of the light shines against the trees in the hill, so I got a picture of it. It's such a beautiful place out here. I'm so in love with the land! Pictures can never do it enough justice, though...

When Adam got home, he had the stuff for the chili tonight, but he also surprised us by getting some BBs for our Red Ryder BB guns that we got for Christmas. Tricity, and Devin loaded up our guns and set up some cans and bottles and stuff to shoot for a little bit. I shot one of the old pumpkins that had been sitting outside (still hasn't even rotted yet, surprisingly!), and I didn't even know if I hit it or not until I looked close. Adam said the BBs didn't even go in, that they bounced off because the guns are so weak. We mainly got them to start learning how to aim, shoot, and be responsible with guns. Yes, even me. I've never shot a real gun that I'm aware of, so I wanted to practice, too.

After I came in, I finished cleaning what I had been working on for the day, and started making the chili. It's really simple, I just cook the deer meat, add the spices (mostly consists of cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, ground red pepper, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and sugar), drain the beans and add them, add the tomato sauce, the secret ingredient, and that's pretty much it! Just adjust the seasonings to your desired taste, and it's good to go.  I don't know if you can tell how much I had to make, but imagine the size of the pot in comparison to the size of the spatula.!

I wasn't going to spend the evening cooking since I needed to clean, but they really wanted it and so did I! I'm happy to be getting these special requests! Usually I ask "What do you want for dinner tonight?" And the answer is "I don't know", but the other night Adam requested my fried chicken, and my chili tonight. I must be able awesome cook! lol

While I was cooking, my head and neck started to hurt, so I took a Tylenol. I felt much better after dinner. I don't know if it's because of the Tylenol, or maybe it was actually because I needed to eat something. I've always noticed that there are 5 main things that will give you a headache.

1. You're dehydrated

2. You need to eat

3. Stress

4. Lack of sleep

5. Physical injury

After dinner, I tracked my food for the day and I ended up with over 100g of protein! I'm so glad to know that whatever I'm doing is working. But as I said, the bloodwork tests will give me the real results. After logging my dinner, I started working on my vlogs again until Adam went to bed, and then Tricity and I started watching South Park as usual here lately.

Adam decided to get back up though, and I was in the middle of holding the baby kittens. Khloe and Tricity were in here too, and we finally decided on names for them! There are 2 black ones and 2 tabby ones. One black one has a white stripe across the nose, and one of the tabbys has darker cheeks than the other (who is the one born 2 days late), so we chose these:

Black with no white stripe: Sphinx

Black with white stripe across the nose: Luna

Tabby with light cheeks: Stella

Tabby with darker cheeks: Max

We still don't know if they're boys or girls yet, but we feel like the names will fit either way. I really should write my speculations down so when they get older, I can have more experience in sexing kittens to know what's going to be what!

To my surprise, Adam actually held one! I'm not allowed to take pictures when he does cute things like this, though... but it was adorable! For someone who says they hate cats, he's not mean to them or anything; he just ignores them completely. He held Sphinx, though. It was so cute! He's actually really nice to Kuma, too, though he doesn't pet her or anything, but he lets her sleep on the back of his chair. He booped Zoozy on the nose before, too.

After we put the babies up, I continued to work on my blog, until Khloe took Lilith out to go to the bathroom again. I checked on her. She keeps licking her would. I tried looking up how I could make my own cone at home to help keep her from getting to it, but instead I got this ridiculous idea. Has anyone ever actually tried this? And if so, how did it go? Did it work? Apparently you can make them a sort-of necklace out of pieces of pool noodle, and it's supposed to act the same way as a cone? I didn't want to try it, as funny as it would have looked. I just hope she doesn't get infected or anything, and that it'll heal up well. I know there will be a nasty scar and no hair will probably grow there, but I hope it'll heal soon.

Before bed, I checked on her one more time, when I heard something drop that she was trying to eat. I saw her dive for it again, but she wasn't able to grab it this time. When I got closer, I saw what looked like a dog's tooth. Sure enough, when I opened the cage to see for sure, that's exactly what it was! Lilith lost a puppy tooth! I took it and put it up in case Khloe wanted to see, since Lilith is pretty much her dog now. Then I went to bed for the night.

I didn't go to sleep until about 3:00 AM, and I was worried about staying up so late because we had to go to Tricity's appointment tomorrow for the ear, nose, and throat doctor, but it was around that time that I decided to check Twitter. Checking Twitter and playing my Merge Magic game always helps me unwind for the night and it helps me get sleepy. Some random thought I had though when I saw an ad for clothing that looked like it was all torn up and worn out... I probably just have an old soul, but I never saw the sense in buying clothes that already look like they're torn up... Why pay a lot for trashed clothing? Even thrift stores have clothing in better shape! If you're going to pay a lot for clothes, buy something fancy, or a well tailored suit, you know? I never understood why THIS was considered fashion...

And then of course to add to my lack of sleep, I had to find cute baby goat pictures, which sent me on a search for more. WHY do I love baby goats so much? Adam's Mom Vicky has a little dwarf goat, or a pygmy goat, whichever it's called, and she's the cutest! She used to hang out with me when I was building my quail coop over there, and she would jump up on top of it like she thought she was doing something when I was taking breaks. They're just the cutest little things!!! So here are some cute baby goat pics to brighten your day :-D

Finally, I had come to the end of the night where I found a post from our local news station that said to be sure to check the webpage for the latest school closings. Sure enough, our school was on there! I knew I wasn't going to be able to receive any calls about it from our school because we don't get cell reception where we live, but I didn't think to look on the news page or the school's facebook page. Sure enough, I went to Facebook to check, and they had posted about it around 7:30 this evening. I could have known a loooot sooner... Ah, well... Feeling content knowing that tomorrow was a school day, I finally went to sleep.