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It looks like 2025 is going to be an expensive year for me, so I've had to implement some cost cutting measures.

First, I lowered my cable bill, I had to reduce the internet speed to do it, which was not a big deal since it was more than I needed anyway. Sadly though, I am going to have to let the tv part go at the end of this month. It was one of the first things that I got after I started working, so it's not going to be easy. I've held onto it as for long as I can, but I don't really have a choice now, it's just too expensive, I am replacing it an antenna, a streaming box and Sling for now. I also finally let my father's phone line go last week, I didn't want to do it, but again the money is needed elsewhere. I still have a couple of other services that I will be cutting back on later this year as they come up for renewal.

I have also implemented some strict rules/limits for buying food and other general items. If I need it okay then I get it; if I just want it then no, I won't get it, the exception being some DVD's and books that I might want and even then, I have rules/limits for purchasing them. If I need to replace something expensive, I am going to check the thrift stores first and then compare the prices to buying it new, my friend bought a nice tv for $50 at one near his house a couple of years ago and it is still going strong. As for the food part, I will be making a list and sticking to it, also I'm going to try and use coupons when I can and visit the dollar store to buy snack items.

Hopefully one day soon, my financial situation will return to normal. Until it does, I'll make things work, and when it does return to normal, I will keep some of the changes as they needed to be implemented anyway.
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Well, I finally beat my phobia, I have had a fear of being seen barefoot my whole life. I was never without my shoes and socks, even when sleeping.The only time I have ever been barefoot is when I was at my friends beach condo, and then only because I didn't want to seem weird, I was uncomfortable doing it though. Just the thought of being seen barefoot terrified and embarrassed me. It was the reason I never learned how to swim.

A couple of weeks ago I was lazy with the laundry and I ran out of clean socks, I thought I would use a pair I had already worn, but the smell put an end to that. So, I decided to not wear any that night. The next morning I woke up and my feet felt really good, so good in fact that I sleep barefoot now. This got me to thinking that maybe it was time try and get rid of my phobia. I thought about it for a while and finally came to the conclusion that, feet are just feet, almost everyone has them, and nobody is going to care or notice if I'm barefoot or not, I shouldn't be afraid.

Next, I decided to go and buy a pair of good flip-flops from my regular shoe store. I went in and told the fitting specialist what I was looking for, she made a recommendation and went in the back to get my size, it is a size smaller than my regular shoe size. I sat down on the bench and when she came back, I asked her if I could try them on, I took off my shoes and socks in front of her with no thought or hesitation, my first success and it felt good. I bought the flops and the next day I wore them to a big store and there was no feeling of fear or embarrassment, this was a really big test for me and I passed it. I plan on going tomorrow and getting a better pair of sandals to wear, the cheap ones I bought from WM last week tend to rub the top of my foot a little more than I like, though I do like my feet feeling cooler and my toes not being scrunched up. I'm looking forward to working with Margie again to find a decent pair of sandals.

Today was a really big step for me, I went to a Nail Salon and got a pedicure, it was a very pleasant experience for me and it felt really good. The reason for getting one was mainly because I can no longer contort enough to cut my own nails anymore, I made a mess of them the last time I tried to cut them. I liked Kim the girl who did my feet, she was very good at her job. My feet have never looked this good or felt this soft, I am definitely going back every 3-4 weeks.

I feel so much better after defeating my silly ridiculous phobia. My feet feel better and I feel so much more free now. I may even take swimming lessons next year. I'm happy!

Bad Hood

Feb. 10th, 2023 02:44 pm
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I went and checked out a house in another part of town today. The house itself was okay, but the hood that it is located in is worse than where I am at now. No Way!
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Well, I've got everything planted and the cages are nearly complete, they are functional enough to keep the critters out, at least for the moment anyway. Now all I have to do is water and maintain the plants and I should be okay.
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Last week on April 13th, I bought the plants, soil and pots for the garden. Saturday, I cleaned out the garden beds.
Yesterday, I filled the pots with soil, and placed them in the garden.
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Well, I bought the tomato and cucumber plants today, along with top soil, potting soil, fertilizer and pots, I still need some bone/blood meal and lime, also some black-cow for the cukes. Hope I can pull this off without my father around, it won't be easy, but I'll try.
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I think that I'm doing okay, I'm not sure anymore, sleep has been hard to come by, as I haven't been able to get to sleep any earlier than 3:00 A.M. and have to try and get up at 9:00 A.M., (when I can), for the past 3 months. Maybe, I'm just tired from the repetitive grind of everyday life, the last time that I had a real vacation was when I went to visit with some friends in Biloxi, MS in 2017, it's way past time for another one.

What have I been up to lately, lets see.

I bought a Go-Pro 9 from Costco a couple of weeks ago, the camera's touch screen is a little difficult to use because of it's size, but I plan on getting a stylus pen which should solve that problem. Basically, the camera works great and I think I'm going to like it once I learn to use it properly, maybe it will even give me a reason to use the big computer next door.

The cats have had their kittens. I really need to get someone out here to do TNR, and I wish there was an organization close by that could re-home them as well. I care about them, and even love some of them deeply, but I don't know how much longer I can keep feeding and caring for them. I have been taking care of them continuously since before I retired in 2016, and for the past couple of years my father has not really been able to help me with them, I am nearing complete burnout.

For Father's Day, I bought my father an Insignia 24" TV for his bedroom, and so far it is doing good.

The search for a new place isn't going well. As I feared, the price of land has went up and there aren't many places left, good or bad, that I can afford. My father finally started searching, but what he found was as bad as or worse than where we are now. Thankfully, I have the internet to do the research on what is available out there, otherwise, there would be a higher chance of making a very expensive and hard to fix mistake.

May have gotten some bad gas in the Subaru a couple of weeks ago, it is sluggish and getting some of the worst gas mileage I've ever gotten out of it. At least I'm hoping it's just bad gas, if not it means a trip to the dealer for repairs and if that is the case, I will be glad that I have the extended warranty on it.

I ran into an old friend at B&N a couple of weeks ago, she had worked in the music and video dept. there for as long as I can remember, and she retired when the corona virus hit. It felt good to see her again, it gave me a chance to say see you around, even if I don't see her again, I guess you could say it was a form of closure, I don't get that very often anymore.

Well, that's enough of my ramblings for now. Later!
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Well, here is a general update on what's been going on in my life so far this year.

I've been busy with injured cats recently, that has been time consuming and expensive. Luckily the vet has been working with me to keep the costs down. And, since I can't get the local organizations to help me, probably because of this being in the hood, I am going to start trapping and getting the cats in the colony I take care of spayed and neutered on my own. Not going to be cheap or easy, but I need to do it.

The natives around here have been restless, there may have even been a killing across the street, the cops were hush-hush about it though, and nothing about it in the news anywhere, but at least one good thing did come out of the situation, the ones that were staying there moved out, that makes things a little quieter. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of thugs in the rest of the hood, that have boom cars blaring their loud and rattly jungle beat noise at all times of the day and night, and it sounds like their damned POS cars are going to fly apart. In fact right now,as I type this, I can hear one booming from 5-6 houses away. I hate this place.

We got our tomato, bell pepper, and cucumber plants planted, now we just have to maintain them and wait.

Also, I have a new hobby, I am now fooling with cast iron cookware. I plan on keeping things affordable, so I am starting with just a couple of skillets and a grill pan, all made by Lodge. I also plan on adding a deep frying pan and a dutch oven later on, after I get used to cooking with what I already have. What I get after that will depend on how well my cooking skills progress.

My DVD hobby is in the process of being shut down, I'll buy a few more to complete some collections, and other than the occasional movie, that will be it.

My comic collecting is also going to start slowing down, my interest in the hobby is waning, I've been at it since 1986, and there is so much out there now that I just can't keep up with it anymore. It is nearly time to let it go.

House cleaning will be started again real soon, I am looking forward to getting rid of some more junk from around here.

I'm right at 200lbs. and I really need to lose about 15-20lbs., so I've started trying to cut back on snacks and eat a little healthier overall. I am finding a lot of good stuff to replace the chips and onion rings, in the produce area of the grocery store. It's always been there, but I've never been interested until now. I have also found a simple recipe for homemade soup, it was on the back of a bag of frozen vegetables that are especially packaged for making soup. The result is it tastes way better than the canned stuff, and as an added bonus, my father actually loves the stuff. He usually hates vegetable soup, but this is different, he will eat all of it and usually wants more later. I will admit that I substitute beef for chicken broth and add stew meat to it for him, but still he has never really liked eating any kind of soup before, so this stuff is amazing. The next time I am in the store, I need to look in the frozen vegetable section again to see what else I can find.

Well, that's enough for now.
Later!
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Well, I got my car inspected today, so it's good for another year. My father got his car inspected as well. Getting that out of the way is a big load off of our shoulders, even though it doesn't involve a lot of work, it's such a pain to have to do it, especially with our 2 older cars, that tend to have more troubles as they age.

I also got some much needed banking done, had to close an account that was no longer working out for us. I still have a couple of more accounts that I need to close, but doing it one at a time makes it easier for me to keep track of everything.

I've been planning on slowing down a bit this year, I am cutting back on my trips to a couple of stores, B&N and comic shop will be every 2 weeks now. I am sad about this, as I love those 2 stores, but there is just too much that needs doing around the house right now, and I just don't have the energy to run that kind of schedule anymore. Maybe, I can go back to normal once I finish working on the house stuff.

My father is planning on looking for some land starting about the middle this month, he finally realized that things are going from bad to worse around here. This revelation came after he found out that a neighbor down the street, someone that we thought would never move is moving out, when it gets that bad around here it's time to leave. Whether or not father goes through with his plans remains to be seen, but at least something finally got his attention.

New years eve, was interesting, never before have I heard so much ammo and money being wasted. While I don't like what they were doing,it did have one good result, the idiots are now out of ammunition, and it is very expensive to replace right now, that is if you can even find some to buy. It has been quieter than usual around here since that night.

So, that's how my new year is going so far, nothing big going on good or bad, I'll take it, I can use a moment to catch my breath right now.
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Well, here it is almost the end of the year and I am ready for it to end. This year has been both expensive, rough, and sad for me. There were a few bright spots, but for the most part this year has sucked, especially the past 6 months. This has really caused me to reflect on my life as a whole, about where I've been, where I am right now, and where I might be going in life.

Last week, we took some gifts to a dear friend we haven't seen in a long time, she was happy to see us and we were happy to see her. After a few minutes of visiting, we said our goodbyes and went home. She is into chickens now and her story about her rooster acting like a dog was too funny, it made my day.

Christmas was quiet for the most part, we had chicken and potato salad for the dinner, my father doesn't like anything different, so I kept it simple for him. But, I on the other hand would love something better, I love cornbread dressing, but haven't had any for years, as most store bought stuff doesn't measure up, and being unable to trust my oven, it is older than I am, I can't make any from scratch, or even a good mix since they stopped making the Ballard mix years ago. Oh well, I'm still searching and maybe I'll get lucky and find some decent dressing for next year. At the moment though, I would love some pizza from either Fleur De lis or the Past Time Lounge, that would taste so good right now.

I now have another cat in my house. A couple of weeks ago, one of the younger cats that had been getting close to me, but would not let me pet it, started rubbing on me and wanting petting, as well as insisting on going in the house, it would not take no for an answer. Me being the softy that I am let her in. The other cats aren't happy about it, but they haven't really attacked her either, so that is a good thing, they'll get used to her eventually. Since she is inside now she has a name, my father named her, Joanna. I really didn't need another inside cat, but what could I do, she worked really hard to get in.

I found out the other day that one of my favorite people,that I've come to know and consider as a friend, is going to be leaving his job in a couple of months, that made me kind of sad, I understand why he is leaving, but still, I get used to seeing certain people over the years and when they are gone I really do miss them terribly.

A couple of my other,much older friends are not doing very well right now. I know they don't have much longer and it hurts knowing that. They have been so good to me and I can't imagine life without them in it anymore, just seeing them going down has been hard, they were always so happy and active, even going to movie is a chore for them now, and they used to love that.

My health is holding steady at the moment. I am rather exhausted from not getting a break from my daily routines though, and I don't know how much longer I will be able to hold out without taking a real vacation, and if I don't get one soon, I think I am going to crash hard in some way or another, and it won't be good if that happens.

As for life in general, I have been trying to keep things simple and enjoying what few moments of happiness and quiet that I can. It's not always easy to find those moments of peace around my place, but they are there if I slow down enough and look for them.

I know it is just a concept, but I am hoping the new year will be better, at least a little bit anyway.
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Well, it's the day after thanksgiving and I feel so-so about the Christmas season. Christmas music playing anytime before the week of Christmas has annoyed me for the past few years, but this year I don't care, it is just background noise to me, I'll take that as an improvement in my mood.

As for everything else relating to the holiday, I am going to keep things real simple this year.

I am only going to watch A Christmas Carol, It's A Wonderful Life, and maybe Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story this year. And, for animated specials Charlie Brown will be about it.

For the dinner, I will be keeping that simple as well. I'll probably get something from Dairy Queen that we don't usually get, just to make the meal a little bit special. I am also going to try and get some donuts from Krispy Kreme in a couple of weeks, that way I can make my favorite donuts again, I really missed them last year.

Presents are going to be simplified as well, mostly a few clothes for me, and whatever my father wants I'll get him. I just don't really don't see anything exciting that I want this year.

I may try and watch church services on Christmas Eve. Not sure about that one yet, it will depend on my mood at the time.

Thinking about it, I think my dislike of Christmas time started in 2010, that was my first Christmas without my mother, it really hurt then and it still does today. I used to love the Christmas season and I really want to again, it was my favorite time of the year until then. I know I need to move forward with my life, but it isn't easy, time is healing that wound way too slowly. Sometimes, I look around and wonder when my, Clarence/Angel is going to appear and show me what kind of "good life" I've had, I could really use it right now.
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Well, breaking things into 2 posts, the good and the bad, the last will be hidden.

Well, the new bank is doing fair, not great, but maybe it will get better soon enough.

Finally got to see Scoob on DVD, I actually liked it a lot. Hope they make another one, or even release this one in the theater sometime, I would like to see it on the big screen as it was originally meant to be seen.

Finally got my teeth cleaned yesterday, they had an opening and I took it before things close down again. All was good, but I will be getting an old filling replaced at the end of August.

Comic shop is slowly returning to normal, as is B&N. It makes me feel a little more normal again myself.

The I-pad is working out well, I am using the chromebook less and less lately, mainly for typing intensive things only.

The garden is just about through, but we did get a lot more stuff than we did last year, the set spray worked.

I've been away from social media a fair bit lately, not a good or bad thing, just a thing I needed to do, and I'm feeling better now.
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Well, B&N opened back up today. I went there and boy has it changed, not for the better though, the new layout is confusing, and they don't seem to have as big of a selection as they did before the shutdown. Still, it was nice to see a couple of familiar faces, and more will be returning as soon as they can. Also, the DVD section seemed to be not as disturbed as the rest of the store, and I look forward to going back this weekend, when I won't be as rushed as I was today.
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I've been feeling a bit down the past few weeks, I just had to get past one very hard week, and now I am slowly starting to feel better. The shutdown was a hindrance and made things worse, as I had nowhere to go and get away from the house, which was something that I very badly needed to do.

I went and got a haircut today for the first time in over 4 months, and boy does it feel good to get the hair off of my neck and ears.

I'm thinking about getting a new gun. Will I actually buy anything? I don't know, but at least I am interested in one of my old hobbies again. Part of the fun of the hobby for me, is that while searching for the one that I want, I get to look at so many others that sometimes I find something I wasn't expecting to find, a special gun that I wouldn't have found if I hadn't been looking for my original choice, it always makes things sweeter when that happens.

The garden produced it's first tomato yesterday and it was so good, I hadn't had a real tomato like that in a long time. This year we still don't have many bees, and while the set spray we bought does seem to be helping, I won't know for sure how well it works until the end of the season.

So, at the moment life is okay. I'll take that.
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Except, for my sinuses and a strained muscle in my back and side, things have been going well for me overall lately. I do miss going to B&N to just relax and eat the flatbread pizza there.

Went to Calvin's today, and saw a memorial for Mr. Ezan Morrison. My heart was instantly ripped out and broken. I've known Mr. Ezan for years, and he was always so nice to me. He was only 66, and appeared to be in great health when I last saw him a couple of weeks ago, when he gave me Mrs. Dee's phone number. He died on Saturday March 28 of a heart attack at home. I wish I would have had a chance to go there Thursday a week ago, maybe I would have seen him one last time, but the stupid virus stuff had things too crazy then. I am going to miss him badly, the store felt so empty without him there today.
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I have been trying out a air-fryer and a vertical waffle maker, both seem to be extremely versatile and have worked well. This has expanded our limited menu a little bit and that is a good thing, as my father is so hard to feed. He eats mostly meat and very few vegetables, not a good situation at all as I prefer vegetables. If I don't eat the same thing that he does at lunch or dinner, he will pout and not eat anything. At least now, I am not scarfing down all of the unhealthy oil regular frying has.

So Far...

Jan. 8th, 2020 04:44 pm
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...I can see that it is not going to be an easy year for me. A lot of small, but aggravating, things are happening already.
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Well, it's Christmas Eve and I'm about to start fixing dinner for tomorrow. Pork Roast and potato salad are the main dishes, everything else is a quick microwave deal.

I have enjoyed finishing my shopping early, it still feels weird not going to my grandmother's this year though. First year in 15 years, I haven't had to buy fruit for Christmas presents.

We went to lunch with a friend yesterday. She had on a nice red sweater, and was very happy to see us. She will be retiring soon and is ready for the freedom. Sad part is, her husband lost his job, so money will be a little tight for them until he gets another job.

I still have to deliver a couple of presents to some friends, but I can do that later this week.

My b-day went well, everything was quiet, and I got the air fryer, will have to try it out next week.

That's all for now.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!
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Not going to say much, but for a change, the thanksgiving meal went off without a hitch and everything actually tasted good. That's a first for me since I took over doing the meals in 2010. My father actually cleaned his plate for a change, he hasn't done that in a while, he even ate the green beans and corn, he never finishes those. I kept it simple this year and used a new seasoning salt, it made a small but noticeable difference in the taste of the food.

Now, on to Christmas.
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I have been too busy lately, but I've got to do, what I've got to do.

Our summer garden didn't do well, I guess it was a combination of the weather, old fertilizer, and a lack of bees. We might try a fall garden, if we get the time, since we know what went wrong and can fix most of the problems fairly easily.

I've been cleaning out a shed/carport area the past week, it has been a lot of work, I've hauled some really nasty stuff out front and I'm not finished yet. I'm never going to let things get this bad again. After I finish the shed, I'm going to start back on the house again, I have decided to get rid of everything that is not needed, it's been way past time to declutter this place.

Another part of my youth is gone, the last retail shop in Cortana Mall closed on July 20th. I had a lot of great times there with friends. I'm going to miss going there and just walking around reminiscing about the past, but with the last store gone it is time for me to let go, I will still have my memories.
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