12-1-12

8:55am

This morning my carpal tunnel started acting

up out of the blue.  I haven't had a problem with

it in awhile.  Very sharp pains in my right

arm awoke me.  The only way I can describe it is

it's like having a charlie horse in your hand and forearm.

Not fun at all!!  It hurts A LOT! Now my right hand feels like

it is asleep and very cold.  

I'm trying to sit down and figure out bills this morning

and my hand keeps falling asleep.

I'm still not out of the woods yet and are still

playing catchup with my bills trying

to figure out what to pay, what to not pay, what to short, and so on.

Tax time keeps getting closer and closer

and I hope to have everything caught up then.

I have extra bills this month on top of regular bills

so that's where I'm struggling.

There's a water bill due. My car insurance still

shows an extra vehicle on it I have to pay for

even though I sold it earlier last month.

Still have to pay it til they prorate my next bill

and give me a refund.

Got a mail order prescription balance to pay for.

And of course there still is a past due balance 

owed on my electric bill from shorting it

due to not having enough money.

And my electric bill increased $10 since last month.

And of course there is Christmas not far away.

So at the moment I look like a clown

in a juggling act with a limp hand trying to figure it all out.

10:10am

Bills are done and in the mailbox ready for the mailman.

Had to get them done today since there is no mail tomorrow.

11:05am

Getting ready to go outside and unhook the solar heater.

I need to get the wood painted on it because

they are calling for rain this upcoming week.

This will be fun with a hand that doesn't want to work right.

The only paint I could find that we already had that

was for indoor and outdoor use was a partial

gallon of Kilz.  So that's what I'll be using.

Then once that's finished and dry I want

to move the solar heater up by the house

under the window.  Right now I'm trial and erroring

with it to get it at its peak performance. 

12:05pm

I got the solar heater all painted with a couple

coats of paint.  Now awaiting for it to dry.

Believe me, all that painting didn't do my arm and hand

any justice!!

Hubby got the kitchen cleaned up and dishes loaded

in the dishwasher.  He ran across a couple casserole dishes

I had the french toast casserole in saying he couldn't get

them clean with hand washing and using a scratch pad.

He thought we were going to have to throw them away.

I ran down to the basement and got a couple dryer sheets

to put in both casserole dishes with hot water.

Hubby's eyes rolled and he laughed at what I did.

I told him it was supposed to help get stuck on food

off.  He still thinks I'm nuts.  And if you don't believe

me check it out for yourself HERE. 

Now hubby is working on untangling some blue icicle lights.  

His boss gave him three bags of these lights for free.

Hoping to get them put up on the house this weekend.

I have no idea what happened to the lights we did have.

Still searching high and low for them, ahhhh!

Doesn't it look like he's having fun, LOL.

1:00pm


12 year old neighbor kid to the rescue again.
Is it not sad that I have to rely upon a 12 year old boy
to fix computers for us, lol.
He better not ever move away!  LOL.
The free computers we got from hubby's work
needed some tweaking.  For starters they were set up
as business/office computers and had blockers in them
to keep you from downloading anything
plus there's some passwords we didn't know
saying you needed to be the administrator for the computer.
Computer boy came to the rescue and redid the 
computer like it was new from the factory.
Everything works like a charm now.
Now I can install the disc for wireless internet.
We couldn't get internet on it before that.
I found out it has 1 GB RAM
and a 80 GB Hard Drive &
DVD-CD drive

So it should be good enough for my son to use.
You can't beat a free computer!!! Well other than I had
to purchase the wireless internet adapter to be
used on the back of the computer.
We already have the wireless router to use with
our other computers.
That was $6.99 at Microcenter
along with a usb keyboard which was $4.99
because we had an old keyboard with a round end.
It was cheaper to buy a new usb keyboard than the adapter
which cost $6.99.
So total spent was $12 for a free computer! 
Merry Christmas sonny boy.  Hope you enjoy
your "new" desktop computer you wanted!
This computer would have cost $129 + tax from Microcenter.

I probably should find or make a desk for him now
so he doesn't have to use it on the floor, lol.

4:35pm


It's 58 degrees out.  I turned the thermostat down
to 70 degrees this morning from having it at 73 degrees overnight.
The furnace never kicked on since then
and it has stayed 72 degrees in here all day.

For about the past couple of hours me and hubby's
been working on the solar air heater some more.
We changed out the window insulation panel
and made one out of wood so it was more
durable.  We fixed a few vents/ducts in the window wood
piece that didn't seem very sturdy and would fall out
due to the weight of the ducts with insulation around them.
They won't be falling out no more because
we added screws to them!
I still have the piece of foam insulation (carpet padding)
that I took off the other piece to glue back on to 
this piece of wood.  Still need to put silicone back
around them on the outside.
It's a work in progress still til we get it right.
It's not like I have any experience making one of these
so it's all trial an error til we find a way that
makes it work 100%.

The ducts aren't hooked back up just yet.
I have to cut them down to size to fit
and then I'm gonna wrap them in heavy duty
trash bags to make them waterproof.

By putting the solar heater up near the house
I'm going to lose some morning sun hitting it
BUT the heater duct will be less than 2 feet between
the house and the solar heater to vent more
heat in without as much heat loss as before.
And now I won't have to go outside to hook
up the fan (by way of a cordless drill battery)
that's inside the solar heater.
I will run those wires directly through 
the board or duct in the window.
That will be nice on a snowy, rainy or cold day!

 My arm feels like it is burning and on fire.
I should be resting it but I have so much to get done.


5:30pm


Oh goodie, now I've got neighbor kid spending the night.
He's never spent the night here before.
I said yes because I never thought his dad would let him.
LOL, I was wrong.  My bad.
I shouldn't assume things, right?
Oh well, he's been here most of the day anyway.
I got paid $20 from the neighbor kid's grandma Friday
for taking her grandchild to and from the bus stop
so I gave hubby $10 and asked him to pick up
a couple $5 pizzas from Little Caesars.
I spent another $7 and change from it on 
the tool cookie cutters Friday.
The last $2 will probably go towards
someone's school lunch money next week.