Monday

My new blanket for the end of the guest bed arrived today and I'm very pleased with the color and it matching the pillows on the bed. I sent a photo to DD and told her it was regularly $120 at Kohl's and I got it for $20. She had the same exact thought I did when I saw the non-sale price: who in the heck would pay $120 for a blanket?!

Another 96 degree day. I finally looked up a recipe for chicken in my crockpot, so I can start using up some of this chicken in my freezer. I'm not turning my oven on 350 or 375 for 45 minutes to an hour to bake one of my regular chicken recipes.  The house gets way too hot and it's warm enough as it is.
Hopefully we like the recipe. It's most of the ingredients that I normally use. Chicken, rice, cream of mushroom soup, milk, etc.

I got a notice in the mail that I'm supposed to serve for jury duty in my old city.  Sorry, no can do. LOL. They had a place on their website where you could tell them why you need to be excused. DH got a notice for jury duty here - it's a YEAR long service here! He sent his card back in, but hasn't heard anymore. I guess there have been a few trials this month and a couple scheduled for next month. They all appear to be drug cases. Can you just see DH sitting on a drug trail?!! Guilty! He despises druggies and drug dealers.

I am not ready for it to be Monday already. This hot weather stinks. Another week coming up in the high 90's. Every. Single. Day. I've lost track of how long we've had these temps - at least a month now. The wild fire just keeps getting worse and they just keep bringing more people in to work on it. I think they are over 400 now.  DH watched the video of the community meeting they had last night about the fire.  That sheriff is such a pompous ass. I can't see how anyone can stand him. Honestly, at this point I would not be surprised if it gets the 2 miles farther and across the river to our property. They as much said so in the meeting video. Just this afternoon it has increased quite a bit of area. You can see a huge cloud of smoke from town now.

Yesterday we headed out about 8am for a long drive and went and picked up our sets of house and shop plans from the guy who did them up for us. We met him at a car show he was participating in, so we got to chat with him, look at some nice cars and get our plans. On the way home we stopped in the city to go to Target for some groceries and such and got some lunch. Then we stopped at our friends house for about an hour.

This morning our friends met us out at our property because friend wanted to see the site work done and DH wanted his opinion on a couple of things. DH also took his long wheel tape measure and carefully walked down the bank from the top edge of our property to the river edge. He's just been curious all along exactly just how far down it is! 185 ft. Yep we are high bank. LOL  That's ok, no chance of ever flooding.  We also found out that lot 7 (we are lot 3) finally sold. I think that guy has been trying to sell it for like 2 years. It was the first lot we looked at (it's 3 acres, the rest are 2) but it's a wierd pie shaped lot and the builder said it's really only about 1/2 acre of usable/build-able area, plus from that little 1/2 acre it was set back far enough you couldn't see the river.  Apparently a young couple bought it, but have no idea if they are planning to build soon or what.

A cleaning tip that actually worked

Well, what do you know. I actually found a cleaning tip that worked like they said it would!  This house has a white kitchen sink. I would never have a white one again. It has stains in the bottom that I have not been able to get out. That is until today and google

Here is a photo of my sink before

It's not the easiest to see the stains in this picture but it's the best I could get - but it had stains.

I sprinkled some dishwasher detergent and let sit a minute or so and then scrubbed a bit

 The detergent was left under the sink by the previous owner. She was moving into a camper trailer and I use dishwasher tabs, so it's still been sitting under the sink, just in case I ever ran out of tabs, I guess, haha.

Voila! Clean and nearly stain free, for the most part.  The instructions did say that if the stains were really bad, to do this as step 1. Step 2 is to then use a bleach spray and then use Bar Keepers Friend. Thankfully, the dish detergent did the trick, as that is the only item out of the 3 that I had.

TGIF

Good gravy! It's Friday already. Where did this week go? I slept terrible last night and I know I'll be ready for a nap this afternoon, which doesn't work too well when I need to be working. DH was having trouble sleeping too,after he came to bed, so he went and slept on the guest bed. I thought then I'd have a better night, but I woke up like every half hour, it seemed.

Payday is Monday, but since we have direct deposit the Monday checks hit my bank account on Saturday. I always like that, LOL. The end of  month is my favorite pay day because I also get paid from my side job.

I'm finally getting use out of my little Magic Bullet blender. I've been making us strawberry banana smoothies every day and the little thing works great and fast. According to a better diet for being "pre-diabetic" is more fruits and veggies, so we are working on the fruit part. That is easier - because they taste way better than veggies! Most dinners we have a veggie with it.....but with this ridiculous heat I haven't been cooking much of my regular meals. I've been trying to make salads with our meals. DH also likes cucumbers in his salad, so there's an extra veggie, too.

I'm having a good month using Swagbucks. My weekly online Walmart purchases (food and stuff with free 2 day shipping) were at a higher cash back percentage for awhile. I've landed some surveys and earned some bonus's from Swago and Spin and Win (which I wasn't aware of before). I earned double my next survey points and ended up with $3 from that survey. I also discovered I could get more points doing the Daily Discovers and have been working on making my daily points goals, so that I earn more bonus. I'm currently (this year) up to $110 with another $12 pending from purchases. I'm just looking at it like a little savings account and haven't cashed anything in yet.

99 to 102 degrees in the forecast for all next week. Good grief! Bring back the snow!

Neighbor relief

Knock on wood/keeping fingers and toes crossed, for the most part, our neighbors are behaving. They've cleaned up as much as they are going to, it appears. While it's not perfect, it's much better and acceptable (enough).  For some reason,  he can never start anything until after 9:30pm or later (half the time he doesn't even get home until then). For example, the other night he decides to change the tires on his pick up at like 10pm.  We went out for dinner Monday night and when we got back he had moved his little car trailer from the side of the house to the front of his garage and they had their garage door open (couldn't tell if they were unloading something or loading) and appeared to be getting busy to work on something. About half hour later or so (we had gone out to water) the mayor (she also works for the sheriff dept) drove by and went to the other neighbors house for a visit. What do you know - they closed up the trailer and garage and went inside LOL.  She should visit our good neighbor more often, haha! It's also been nice that most weekends they are gone most of the weekend.

It will be interesting to see what they do when school starts up in another month. The boy will be in Kindergarten (I guess he was in pre-k last year) and there is still the 3 year old who'd need watching. The wife seems to working anywhere from 2-4 nights a week. When the wife is at work the dad sometimes takes the kids with him when he leaves at 6am, meets the mom in the city at 7am, where she is just getting off her night shift and she brings the kids back home with her. Somehow she sleeps during the day with 2 little kids awake.........Or, she will leave for work, pack a bag and take the kids and is gone for several days, so has the kids being watched probably by whoever she is staying with. Obviously neither of these situations is going to work when school starts. The guy did say they found his 18 year old daughter that moved out in the middle of the night the minute she turned 18 - she is at her mom's in the city.

We see no signs of them preparing to move.  Last week they hauled out a sofa bed or something. Sunday they came home with what looked like living room furniture, a sofa and chair that they moved in the house. The chatty 5 year old hasn't mentioned that they are moving again.

DH needed something to do today. He was so bored yesterday. He can't go out exploring the hills - too much fire danger time and it's too hot to do anything outside anyway. The wild fire is now within about 2 1/2 miles of our property and growing daily. About 50-60 homes closer to the fire have now been told to evacuate. There was also a notice that they will be monitoring the area near our property on a regular basis for any fire starts, as wind blows embers. There was another community meeting this morning that DH decided to go to. We haven't gone to any of the others, but since it's getting closer in, he wanted to attend and see what info they give. His neighbor buddy across the street should also be home today for his 2 weeks home from work, so that will give DH someone to chat with off and on.

DH got back as I was typing this. He decided not to go to the meeting, at least as long as it's not directly affecting our property. He stopped by for a visit with some people that live just down the road from our property. We had met them once, when we had brunch at our property neighbors house. They have a business at their property, do DH offered up his help with anything should the fire get that far. He said the wind has carried rock sized chunks of burned bark onto their property, but nothing burning. The site work guy still has his backhoe at our property (he's been too busy working the fire to come pick it up) sitting on the side/grassy area. DH moved it to the middle of the property where it's all cleared and just dirt. If the grass/trees caught fire at least his backhoe would be out of it directly.

DH emailed with our builder - just updating him that we got some site work done and the plan was still to try to get started next spring, if that works for him. He said he's never been so busy as he is this summer building houses, but has us "booked" for next spring/summer. He said he even bought a small camper trailer that he would like to stay in on our property (he lives about hour and 20 min away), while building, if that would be ok with us. DH said absolutely. Plus if he's basically living there during the week, that means he'll be very focused on getting our house done, I'd think.

The propane confusion

Ok, I think I have this propane account figured out.  The "Prepay Cap Contact" is an option I can choose, rather than the "auto-fill" option I am currently on. The Prepay cap contract states it is is for pre-purchasing your Winter propane (by August 31) and is for delivery between October 1st and March 31st (at a rate of $1.55/gal). Well, I just filled up my tank (at auto fill/low summer rate of $1.19/gal) and this will last me well past those winter months. I shouldn't need to get filled again until sometime next summer. I have already paid for my "winter" propane when I paid the bill that they gave me on the fill up a couple of weeks ago. The tank got filled last August, shortly before we moved in and lasted a year (we still had 30% and this would stay at that until we start turning the heat on - which isn't anytime this summer, that's for sure)

I see no need to sign up for this Prepay Cap contract and send them another $310 to just have sitting on my account as a credit for the next year.  If no gallons (or the 200 gallons they want me to pre-pay) are filled between Oct and next March, then I just end up with a credit on my account to be used later.  Whew! I'm glad I figured this out and didn't send $310! I was able to set up a login online to my account (it's a very low-tech website LOL) and see that it shows my balance owing on account as zero, so that also tells me this "contract" is just an option type of billing. They also have monthly budget billing. I would imagine many customers probably can't pay for a full years propane at one time, so they have these different options available. I know our renter neighbors had them come during the winter and add propane.

My free gift from those promo points through work arrived yesterday.  Looks like a nice dart board in a solid wood case. I also had about 400 points left, after choosing that, so I used them up to get some leftover containers, as I'm getting very low (don't know how they seem to disappear over the years) and that arrived too.

This weather just won't quit and the nearby wildfire just keeps getting larger and larger. Smoky air, too. There are about 50 homes in the area of the fire that are on alert to possibly evacuate. They didn't put out the fire right away because "they thought it was remote and wouldn't cause any problems". Well,  now it's like 2500 acres and ya..ya think?! of course it's a huge deal now. I don't get the thinking on it all. There are now over 300 people involved with dealing with it. In 9 days it has cost over 3 million dollars to fight this fire and they say they won't get it out, it will burn until the end of fire season now. Why not put it out when it was 3 acres and use that f-ing $3 million dollars for some other much needed things this county needs.

My DD cracks me up. She was apparently texting me last evening while I was outside watering my flowers. I get back inside to the first text is a picture of her (white!LOL) legs with a bunch of bug bites that she got over the weekend doing yardwork. Then a text asking me if she should be concerned with how red a few of them, close together, look. Then another text about them itching. Then another text "helloo??!! MomMD - what if I'm dying here and you aren't answering me?!"  I told her to put itch cream on them (she has been), take some benadryl, if she has time to sleep for awhile and maybe try a cold wash cloth to maybe help with the redness. Then I texted back "oh ya, you don't have any washcloths" (that drove me nuts when I've stayed with her) and she replied back "you bought me some last time you were here, remember?!" LOL

They are having some house guests for a week. They got to be good friends with the 2 girls who lived in the apartment next to them, when she was going to school. The girls just bought a house, but it won't close until mid-August and they don't want to pay another month's rent, so they are staying at DD's place next week, then house sitting somewhere for a week, and then a few more days back at DD's until their can move into their house.

She's also applied for a job with the (huge) company her boyfriend works for. Some kind of analyst position. She still hasn't gotten a raise yet and when she asked about it again, she was told it would be on her mid-August check, but her boss doesn't know how much. She did up her resume again and had me proof read it. I told her if I ever need a resume (knock on wood I do NOT) she's going to do it for me. Her resume was really good. Her BF showed it to his boss (who's been with the company like 30 years) and he was so impressed with her resume he said he'd hire her and told him to tell DD she could use him as a reference.  BF, based on the job "level" said it should be a $50-$60k a year job, so it would be a good salary increase for her. Hopefully she at least gets an interview, but if not, she's now got her resume all updated and can start applying for better jobs, as she sees them.

This and That Tuesday

DH was on my nerves yesterday! mostly because he decided to camp out at his desk, in my office, most of the day, watching videos on his computer. One he was watching was our recent town council meeting. They mentioned some state notice about water rights that went out to all property owners and how everyone was confused and calling, even though it came with a pretty straightforward instructions/questionnaire type thing on if you needed to apply.  I went through the questionnaire steps and got to step 2 answer and it said no further action needed so I tossed it.  Seemed to have to do with irrigation rights or something and the use of over 35 gallons per minute (not us).

Anyhow DH got all in a little panic about what it might be and if it affects our land and ability to drill a water well. First off it's part of a subdivision. A well and a spot for the well has been approved/assigned. I  highly doubt this "water rights" thing has anything to do with it (rolling my eyes) but ok, I'll check. I found the notice and questionnaire online and printed it out so he could go through the question steps himself.  Then I found a nice little online brochure/pamphlet about water well drilling in our state for the prospective well owner. Pretty straightforward. It even says in bold words "be aware that most subdivisions that have been created in the past 2 decades have a specific well location where the well is required to be located".  You don't even need a permit to start drilling.

He's still unconvinced, so one of these days soon I will have to call the Dept of Nat. Resources and get the answer that yes, we can drill a well on the property we bought.

Over the weekend we had free premium movie channels (remember, I recently dropped HBO and Showtime) so I was happily able to watch the first 2 episodes of Game of Thrones. Of course they were so good...hopefully they'll be some other free way to watch in the near future, so I can get the rest of the season at some point.

Beings it was too hot to do anything outside we had to spend the weekend indoors so watched some movies. Some old one's we've seen before (like You've Got Mail and Fried Green Tomatoes) and a couple of new ones. Deepwater Horizon was ok, but seriously, can't they just hold the camera on a scene for more than a split second? Drives DH nuts to try to watch a movie where the camera shot is changing every second. Plus we had the volume up really loud and still had trouble hearing what was being said....not sure if we are just getting that old or what, LOL, but it seemed like they talked so fast/mumbled or in the Louisiana accents we just weren't catching it all.

We also watched Sea of Trees, which was on Amazon Prime (I share with DD). Kind of a depressing movie that took me awhile to get into. I almost changed it to watch something else.

The site work on our property got done last Wednesday, but we haven't received the bill for it yet. The guy has been busy with the forest fire nearby (he helps cut in roads into the fire) so he hasn't been able to get us the bill yet. I'd like to know for sure how much it ended up being! I don't like not knowing. Based on the time it took them DH is estimating $3000 at the most - this is almost half what another guy (brother in law of our friend) quoted him to do it.

Part of the driveway cut in ends up with a banked area near the house, which DH wants to put in a rock wall. Friday afternoon we drove to another town (it was about a 45 minute drive) to check out a rock landscaping place. Beautiful rocks, but way too pricey! $200 a ton! The estimate to rock what we'd need would be like $8,000- $10,000. Not happening.

Plus, DH had in mind something a bit more "natural" looking than this stuff, not so blocky looking. Though it did give us some ideas that we might like the flat rock for our back patio.  DH actually found what he was looking for near town, yesterday, he's just not sure if they have enough of it. He didn't get to talk to anyone at the little rock quarry (again, another one out helping with the wild fire) but I'm sure it's probably at least 75% cheaper, plus it's nearby and won't cost and arm and a leg to have delivered.

We contacted the engineer guy who drew up our house plans last Spring. We needed the house plans flipped (because of where we have to put our drainfield) and a couple of changed DH wanted on the shop. Plus, he's now doing the actual set of working plans for us. Turns out he had a car in the town car show we went to in early June and we didn't even know it was him. LOL. He lives in the city for us to pick them up from him. Since we are in no hurry to get them, he mentioned he will be at another car show south of the city about 30 miles on Saturday, so we might just take the drive there Saturday morning, pick up the plans and take in a car show.

New week

Not a whole heck of a lot going on around here. Just trying to get through another week of temps in 90’s and near 100 some days. No end in sight on it yet, either for the 10 day forecast. DH says if we wanted this kind of heat and summer we could’ve moved near his best buddy, who lives in Texas now!

There are a couple of wildfires nearby for the past week, growing in size by the day, even though crews are working them. First they had a temporary set up for the crews in the grade school, but now it’s all at a big tent city set up in a field about 10 miles from here, across from the fire that is up in the mountains. Smokey smelling near our property, but it’s blowing the opposite direction from town, so we are not smelling it much. So far the big fire is about 2000 acres.  I think they took care of the other one, for the most part.

Did I mention about DH getting his Rosuvastatin (Crestor) prescription and feeling sick every day he was taking it? I had called the pharmacist at CVS in the city to find out the mfg of what they use. Then I called the pharmacist here in town and it was different. Both pharmacists say it’s possible that with different mfg’s they use different inert ingredients and that could be causing this change. He stopped taking it last week and immediately felt better. The pharmacist here is town had mentioned he might be able to get it from the same mfg CVS uses, so I called him up this morning and he said he could and will have it in tomorrow.  Hopefully this will take care of the problem. 

I’m so confused about our propane billing. We are on an “auto-fill” type of account, which I took to mean they monitor and refill when it gets down. But there was a notice in the paper about the “summer fill” and to call by 7/5 to get in on the summer fill appointments. I called to get it all clarified. She explained we get the summer rate at any time during the year that our tank falls down to like 25% and they come fill on their schedule. She also mentioned a bill just got mailed for the annual $75 tank rental. I said ok, I understand it now, I just wanted to figure it out and we were still at about 30% left.  She then said since we were down to 30% she’d let the delivery guy know.  I got bill in the mail the next day for the $75 and a few days later the guy came and filled up and gave is a printout type of bill for 200 gallons at 1.19/gallon and an envelope to mail it in. So, I mailed a check for $313.  Saturday I get an invoice in the mail for a “pre-pay cap contract” for 200 gallons at $1.55. I think this is in addition to the $313 I just paid? The fine print says “contracted gallons will be filled from October 1, 2017 – March 31, 2018.  I’m so confused on how this all works! So, I’m now assuming if I send in a check for $310.00 that covers our next fill up and if we only need another 200 gallons next summer, I won’t get a bill for that fill up? I’ll just pay another “prepay” amount next July/August? I guess I'll have to call for yet another explanation of how this all works.

More online shopping

As part of my deal in buying the bar stools from Kohl's last week, I received $20 in Kohl's cash, but could not use it until yesterday. I've hardly been shopping online with Kohl's anymore because of the minimum order amount to get free shipping is usually more than what I'm looking to buy (and I just haven't been buying "stuff" for the most part). But this month is a free shipping code (FREE4JULY, when you use your Kohl's charge card) and my Kohl's cash became available to use today. Plus the 30% off code (BBQ30 - again have to use your Kohl's card) is still good to use.

I've been wanting a "burnt orange" colored blanket to go on the end of my guest bed and matching the burnt orange throw pillows (got cheap at Walmart awhile back - like 2 for $15). In my "new house stuff" budget, I had budgeted wanting to pay no more than $30 for the blanket. I haven't found anything the right color or that cheap yet. Blankets can be pricey!

But Kohl's has one on sale for $60 (reg $120 - good grief!), the color is "Spice" (and I'm hoping it matches well enough with the pillows). Because Kohl's let's you stack up to 4 coupon codes, I was also able to take advantage of the $10 off $50 home purchase coupon code, as well. I noted in my budget/paycheck for the end of this month to log in and pay off the Kohl's balance I charged on the card.

$10 off, then $20 Kohl's cash off, then 30% off the remaining balance brought it down to $20.99 and also free shipping. I also went through Swagbucks site and got another .84 cents cash back (4%). I'm pleased to get another item on my "house stuff list" that is under my budgeted amount by 33%.

One set of the bar stools showed up already yesterday. We haven't opened up the box yet, but we will to make sure it's all there and nothing broken. The funny FedEx guy told DH "it's official - you are regular-regular's now, instead of semi-regulars" LOL. I laughed and told DH that means there are other people who order more than me, haha!

Cheers

As we spend more time around DH's friend who lives in the area, we are coming to realize he may have a drinking problem. Not that we ever see him really drunk, but just that he always seems to have to drink - no matter what we are doing or time of day, it seems. We go to a car show in the later morning and by noon he's having some beer coolers he brought in a cooler in his trunk. We stop by for a visit or dinner at their house and he's always having a drink. We met them last Saturday at the restaurant and from photos his wife put on Instagram he was drinking as they floated the river and then he had a drink at the restaurant. They go camping on weekends a couple times a month and I know they drink the whole weekend.

I'm sure that is most likely causing a lot of the marriage/family problems he is having. How could it not? She seems to drink too, but since we don't spend quite as much time around her, I'm not sure how much. I know if we are having dinner with them she will have a drink and she will  post on Facebook going out for drinks with her girlfriends quite often.


It just seems like a person should be able to go do something for several hours in the morning/middle of the day and not have to drink alcohol. Plus then he drives! DH has said to him that he's really putting his job on the line (he drives a truck for a living) to lose his CDL license if he ever got a DUI. Many people in this part of the country still do a lot of drinking and driving, it appears.

I'm pretty sure he comes home from work every day and have drinks. (I've seen their booze cabinet!) Of course, who then would feel like dealing with problems/family when you've had a few......

I just find it sad that he feels he needs that so much.  There should be more to life than always have to have a drink every day.

Just watching the progress

Not much has been going on here, other than DH has been spending quite a bit of the last few days at the property. The guy should be done by mid day today. When he got done yesterday he told DH he just had a couple more hours of work.  It appears we will come in at or maybe even under budget with this project, which is very nice.

This picture was taken standing at what will be the master bathroom tub window, looking out toward front of property/road

Of course it will look different with landscaping and lawn. That bank area to the right will be a rockery type wall. If we have some money left over from this project, DH might get started on that project.

With the extremely hot weather there was some lightning Sunday night causing some fires in the area. We just have a volunteer fire dept so they have been busy up in the hills. They have headquartered and the 2 helicopters come in at the little airport a few miles from us. On Monday, after I got done working, as we were going out to the property so I could see it, we stopped in town at the grocery store and bought some ice cream sandwiches and put in a cooler of ice. We stopped at the little airstrip and dropped them off to the fire fighter guys. They seemed appreciative of the gesture and I'm sure was nice to have something cold to snack on.

It's been really nice having DH out of the house for part of the days this week. The weather is cooling down a little bit. 90 and low 90', though I'd much prefer about 10 to 15 degrees cooler!

Let the work commence

Sunday was more of a rest/take it easy day. Since the weather was still on the cool side in the morning, DH went out and mowed the lawn while I dusted and vacuumed inside. Later in the afternoon the guy who is doing our site work called and was taking his backhoe out there to drop off and wanted to see if DH could meet him out there again to go over some details. The guy decided to start work on it and end up doing 2-3 hours of work getting some dirt moved and a small grove of trees removed. DH took pics and it's starting to look a bit different already!

While DH was gone I watched a movie on Amazon. Tom Hanks A Hologram for the King. I'd never heard of it before. It was an ok movie. I enjoyed the taxi driver's humor. I can't imagine how that country (Saudi Arabia) gets anything done with the way they do business. LOL.

Here's a picture I took on Saturday, from the front of property, showing the trees that were going to have to go (because that's where our driveway and house is going). We were able to leave the pine tree in front and I think the one right behind the grove of trees, not sure about the pine tree right next to the grove. I know DH was going to try to keep it. I think the driveway will bend around in between the two pines.

Here are a couple of pictures I took yesterday. That clear spot was where that group of trees had been and the other is our driveway rough cut in

The guy told DH "you watch, now that this will be all cleared and ready for building, someone will offer to buy it from you". DH was like ? why is that? He said it happens all the time. Most people see property that needs work and can't envision how it would look once all the dirt is moved or fill brought in, so they don't want the property. But once it's been prepped then they are like "oh, that's a great piece of property!" LOL

DH was stressing over the county drawings that show where the drain field and well are supposed to go. They have the drainfield right where just about anyone building here would decide to put the house. It's back up away from the bank edge (they'd prefer you didn't build right on the edge) and no one would want to put their house down in the low spot next to the road! Obviously you still want to see the river. Plus they they have the drainfield in the highest spot of the property. DH went and talked to the county planner guy. He agrees it doesn't seem to make sense and would run out there to take a look at it in person with DH. The county can authorize to move the drainfield for us, but if the drainfield gets moved the well will have to be moved and apparently that takes more bureaucracy and will probably cost us about $700. Whatever, just figure it all out. At the high spot we'd have to put in a pump type septic, rather than gravity fed, so we'd eat up that $700 and more by having to have a more expensive septic system.

The planner went out there mid day yesterday and agreed with DH. Said the way DEQ had drawn this out what the stupidest he'd ever seen LOL. He also said don't worry about moving the well. He'd approve it and we don't have to pay the extra $700. 

It's noisy and dusty and we got the perfect days to cause as minimal disruption to our neighbors as possible - they are out of town for at least a few days.

Speaking of neighbors. Our renter neighbor must be having an affair, but I do not know how his wife could not know. The kids know she's there and this is of course a very gossipy small town. DH says maybe she doesn't care. That woman with the two little ones, who always shows up at night (great mother to haul two babies around at 10 or 11pm and then back into her car at 2am or whenever she leaves), when wife is at work.....well, wife went to work Saturday evening (it appears she usually works 3-4 nights in a row and stays in the city). Girlfriend shows up later and spends the night. Sunday he, his 2 kids, the girlfriend and her two kids (a baby and approx 4 year old) all leave in his truck Sunday morning. Gone all day and get back early evening. About half hour later she loads up her kids in her car and DH had just gone outside to move a sprinkler and sees the guy leaned over at her car window - giving her a hug and a kiss.  Wife gets home from work the next morning. What a bunch of whackos. They give me the creeps just having them next door. LOL.

Metal detecting

It turned out to be kind of an exhausting, too hot, day Saturday. DH wanted to go back out to our property, with the metal detector he borrowed, and see if he could locate the 2 front property pins. We got out there about 9am, so the weather wasn't too warm. No luck getting the detector to beep where he thought the pins should be. He went to the next property over and found theirs. The detector wasn't a very expensive one, so it wasn't going to read down very far at all, we determined. Apparently just best used to find something you lost in the grass/ground or maybe just under the surface.

Then he took his weed eater out of the back of the car and cut the grass down so he could get the detector closer to the ground. Still no luck. We had some measurements of the width of properties and from the one we found on far side of neighboring lot, we took his long tape measure and marked out where the corner of our property should be and then again across our property (168 ft). Both spots were where DH thought the pins should be. They must have gotten buried (or taken out) when the road and utilities were put in, he guessed. He started digging on the corner between us and the neighbors that have a house there. This dirt was definitely fill and not native, so he kept digging and was down almost 2 feet and did see a piece of the broken off marker stick that had been in the ground. Neighbor got home as we were doing this and came out to chat with us. Love that guy. By then the weather was getting pretty warm. We chatted with him quite awhile and then he headed back toward his house. DH dug one more shovel full and finally found the pin! Found it! He yelled over to neighbor. So then neighbor came back over and DH told him how he was going to put a piece of plastic pipe down in the hole, over the pin and then fill it back up and we'd always have an easy way to locate it.

DH sent me back home to pick up the pipe he had. He hadn't been expecting to have to dig 2 feet down and hadn't brought that with him. I grabbed the pipe, made a quick lunch and brought another water and pop to him. By then it was hot out and he drank those right down and I finished the water I had left for me. Then the guy who let us borrow the metal detector was driving by and saw us, so of course he had to stop by and chat. That was probably an hour of getting nothing done. And getting hotter out! It was 90 by then. This guy used to actually own this 15 acre lot way back and sold it (to put his daughter thru college) and then it got subdivided and developed.

After he left, DH measured across the found pin 168 ft and quickly found the other pin, it was just a few inches under. Of course right where we had been looking all along. Then he wanted to do some measurements and marking with construction spray paint, for the site work guys. So now they'd know exactly where the edge of shop and house would be, where driveway should be, etc. By then I was getting way too hot and no water left. Neighbor guy had said feel free to come over and use the bathroom or get water if needed, so when we got finished we knocked on his door (his wife is out of town) to beg for some water!  It was so nice and cool in his house as I went back in with him to get some glasses with ice and water.

As we stood outside talking to him he left their door open and one of our dogs decided this was the best spot to be!

We got home around 2:30 (what a long time out there!) and were both exhausted from being out in the heat. I went to take a nap and DH was fiddling around with his drawings of the property. Our friends texted him that they were floating the river and their stop point was a restaurant about halfway between where they live and where we live and did we want to meet them there for dinner around 5:30. That sounded good and I'd still get my nap in. I finally doze off and the dang doorbell rings and woke me up. It was some guys selling satellite and internet service. So much for my nap.

We hadn't been to this restaurant yet. We both ordered the beer battered fish and chips and it was delicious. We'll definitely go there to eat again, it's only about a 15-20 minute drive away. They also had some live music, which was good to listen to, though a bit loud in trying to have dinner conversations.

Got home around 8:30 and as we are getting close to town we notice the road is wet! It  had rained! Finally! We were both tired and really didn't feel like having to do our nightly watering of the lawn, shrubs and flowers. It even rained a little more after we got home and the temp had gone down to 73 (the night before at this time the temp was still 98). It's cooled down to 85 the last couple of days. I'll take that over the 103 it was on Friday, that's for sure.

I drive myself nuts

One of the things I often times dislike about myself is my ability to make a decisions when it comes to purchases. I over think them to death - especially with trying to get the best deal. Then when I do come across a great deal, I question if it's the style or whatever that I really want, yada, yada, yada.

So, I've been thinking it would be smart of me to keep my eye out for great deals on things we would need for the new house. I said to DH that I sure wish we had some storage space because I'd like to spend the next year buying things for the new house if I come across a really good deal (like I did on the xmas tree awhile back) and he said to just buy the stuff - he will make room (he's a master organizer). We also have some storage room in the crawl space under the house we could use (and it was like 50 degrees down there all winter) Like we will need some bar stools for the bar counter between kitchen and dining room. Bar stools seem to run at least $75 for good ones (and of course on up in price). I really don't even know for sure what style I want......or what height I will end up needing - bar stool height or counter height.



But, I came across a really good deal through Kohl's - making the bar stools $28 ea, plus I'd get 4% in Swagbucks and 1% in debit card rewards back, making them $26.60 ea.  I like the bar stools just fine. They have wood, metal and a neutral color seat cushion. They are regularly priced $150 for a set of 2 (I will need 4) on sale for $90, plus the coupons, etc. The reviews are good on them. They would look perfectly fine in my new home.

We aren't going to have a huge budget to furnish this place. I want to bargain shop on anything I can. I even have a list I  made of each room and stuff I will need for it and estimated costs. This purchase would save me $150 from what I budgeted ($300 for 4 bar stools).

But I've kinda had in mind something else....bar stools a bit more rustic - all wood and with no backs. They have those, but at twice the price as the great deal on the one's with the backs. Plus the one's with the backs are adjustable height when you put them together. And since I don't know yet if my island bar seating area will end up counter or bar height, this stool would be good.

But if I bought a different one and went ahead and got bar height, I could always return them if my mind changed down the road. I looked up Kohl's return policy and it says they can go back 36 months and credit your Kohl's card.

So while I typed this, looked at the different bar stools some more, typed this some more, went to dinner (cuz it's 103 freaking degrees out and I'm not cooking!), compared stools some more, and then back here typing this......I'm wearing myself out! Now I'm kind of liking the ones with the back better. Ok, I've decided...... I think........I'll get the cheaper/best deal ones. They'll be kept in a box until we get our house built and if I change my mind I can return and exchange for something else, right?!

 Besides, $26 for some nice bar stools is a darn good deal.

Good lord - and I'm going to put myself through all this for just about every purchase? EEK! Oh, and the coffee maker I was thinking about with the  points promo through work, where I would get it free? Well, I think I've changed my mind altogether again. One of the items to choose is a nice wood cased dart board. We would love to have one of those in our bonus room over the garage. DH thought it was a good idea to get, too. Something for the house we could use  - and free! I'm not a major coffee drinker and if/when my Keurig (I had rec'd as a gift) dies I'll get something cheaper. I think this points promo deal through work is an annual thing so maybe next year I'll get some more points to get a coffee maker.

Medical issues

When DH went to the new doctor/PA last week, he got his rosuvastatin refilled and they sent it to the little pharmacy here in town. Pills look the same, but since he started taking them he's feeling sick to his stomach all the time now. I called our old pharmacy (Target/CVS) to find out the mfg of what they use. Then I called the pharmacist here in town to see what they use. It is a different mfg. I asked if this could be causing the problem and he said it is possible.  Mfg's use different inert ingredients to make up their pills and could be causing an absorption issue with his stomach. He suggested taking with food, if he's not, or vice versa if he has been taking with food. If he's still having problems this pharmacist can see about getting it through that same mfg Target uses....or I can just start getting the refills back at Target.

DH is very grumpy and frustrating. Of course it has to be me that calls and tries to figure this out. Certainly not something he can do himself. And then when I give him the info he just says he's not going to take it at all anymore. "So, what I can maybe live a few more years?". It doesn't matter what I say or do this week, it's wrong or my fault. I'm the one that told the nurse - and then the doctor - that I wanted to use CVS (while DH is saying "oh the pharmacy in town is ok") and then the dr. walks back in and says she filled it in town.

Plus last week the nurse left a voicemail about his lab work. It shows he's pre-diabetic and should walk (because she knows he can't exercise as much as possible). Well, that is pretty hard for him to do very much of (though he does walk quite a bit when he feels like it) since his muscles hurt most of the time. So, of course when I told him about the lab results he was upset about that too. He doesn't understand what exercise has to do with it. I've tried to tell him the online research I then did about it and exercise being very helpful in diabetes. Lots of fruits and veggies are also helpful, I read, so we can definitely do that more.

They also just emailed me a login where I can read his labs. The glucose level was 103 and should be between 65-99, so at least it's on the lower level of being over. She didn't mention his cholesterol on the voicemail. Well it's 304. Last time (about year and a half ago) he went in and had it checked it was higher (like over 250) so dr. upped the crestor to 10 mg....DH took it that first week and didn't feel well, so ended up going back to the 5mg.....obviously that is not doing enough. He did go a week without anything prior to this appointment last week - he ran out and they ended up postponing his appt for another 5 days.  It's also been said by this dr. and his previous dr. that his high cholesterol is most likely "familial" and not so much diet related. I'm sure though that diet and not being able to exercise is part of it, but he needs the meds.

Anytime he gets bad news from a doctor then he just wants to shut down and not do what they say or go back anymore. I'm sure he'll calm down about it all and be logical. I usually just have to let him have his fit and then he'll think about it and realize I'm right.  It's just very frustrating. I said sure, you might not live a few more years, but you also might have a heart attack and cause me 10's of thousands of dollars in the process.......

This morning I walk into my office and there is a rotting banana peel left on my oak desk that he apparently left there from last night. His "desk" is right next to my desk. His desk is really an old lower cabinet the old owner had used as storage in this office room (they left me the oak desk too). It has a counter top like our kitchen and bathrooms......wouldn't that have been the better place to leave a banana peel laying? If I had left a banana peel to rot away all night on his desk he would have had a total fit!

Coffee and espresso brewers

I've been trying to decide what to use my points on that I earned at work with one of our manufacturer's promo's. My Keurig is about 5 years old. Not sure what the life span is on these things. I know for some reason I can't use pods anymore, it clogs up and I get about 1/3 of a cup. Which isn't a problem because I stopped using the expensive pods a long time ago and use an adapter with my own coffee. Much much cheaper.

My options to choose from are are Ninja Coffee Bar 5 Brew types......this guy:

it's a pod free single serve system with frother. Makes hot and cold drinks

or there's one from Capresso

I really don't know anything about either one, but apparently both can use your own coffee. But does this 2nd one even make a regular cup of coffee?  I've never had the capability to make "fancy coffee" for my home made coffee - just a regular cup of coffee with some sugar and vanilla creamer in it.....but when I got to a coffee stand/shop I usually get a white chocolate mocha or a caramel frappaccino. White mocha's are my very favorite and if I could have/make something like once in awhile, I'd love it. But, I'd still like to be able to just make a regular cup of coffee. I don't need anything really that makes more than a cup at a time. I can only have one cup a day (due to my caffeine reaction) and DH doesn't drink it.

I'm thinking the Ninja coffee bar might be more to my liking. Does anyone have either of these machines?

I really don't know what else to get with the points. They have luggage with the spinning wheels, which would be nice when traveling (my wheels are one direction) but my suitcase is fine and I'll maybe fly once a year. I don't need pots and pans or hunting or fishing gear. I imagine my Keurig has less life in it than more life left.

Pondering another expense item and construction

Another expense I am wondering about is CO Q10. DH's doctor told him to start taking it when he went on a statin med, several years ago. My doctor never said anything about it when she put me on statin. When I was reading up on it it says that it's common to have your natural coQ10 depleted by statins. But how do you really know it is? I started taking it several months ago, because it seemed like probably a good idea, but how do I really know I really need it? Apparently there isn't a way to check. But it's also another $9 a month I'm spending that who knows if I really need to.......or is it just another thing promoted by the makers of this kind of stuff that makes you think you need it? I'll keep DH on his still, but ask the doctor next time I go in about me needing to take it.

DH needed a new pair of tennis shoes. He likes the New Balance brand. He has one older pair for working out in the yard, etc and another pair for nicer wear. As his old ones wear out, he rotates in the nicer one's and gets a new pair. The cheapest I could find was $52 on Amazon. I did my best to search for a better deal, using coupons, but then the shipping (like Kohl's and JCP) made it higher.

We had our propane tank filled up yesterday. The summer rate is $1.19 a gallon. I think we paid .99 a gallon when we paid for the prorated propane left in the tank when we purchased the house. Apparently we have a 500 gallon tank, but they only fill it 80%......and then the guy told DH since it's so hot out, they will only fill it 72% full.  Anyhow, he put in 200 gallons to fill us up. The previous owners filled it up last August and then when we closed on the house first of last October, we paid for the gallons left in the tank at that time. I also have an annual $75 tank rental that is due this month.

The site work guy finally called DH back, so DH went out to the property to meet up with him and get his estimate. He didn't have a good solid estimate from him yet. The guy doesn't have a dozer, but does have a backhoe. He knows another guy who has a dozer, who could probably come out and do that part, while he does the rest with the backhoe. He didn't think it would take much more than 2 days work (ok, so let's estimate 3 days) and at about $1000 a day DH is thinking $3000 max.  The guy called back last evening and confirmed he can get the dozer. Hourly rental on each machine is $100 (that is a good rate) and estimating at around $3000, which is what DH thought, maybe $3500, so if they come in under $3500 we will be happy. The brother in law of DH's friend estimated more like $5000-$6000. Plus this guy is more experienced and can get started pretty soon and I have that much money, no problem. Then we will continue saving for getting the well and septic paid with cash. Might have to do those next spring, when I hopefully get my second half of the bonus at year end.

It will be nice to get some work done on the property and feel like we are actually making some progress now towards building a house, rather than just sitting here waiting for the bankruptcy to be 7 years past. We filed end of August 7 years ago and discharged December 1, 7 years ago. When I was trying to apply for a construction loan everyone kept telling me we needed to be 7 years past. I'm sure now they'll have some other criteria, my luck.

Extra money and trying to save more

My boss is mailing me my bonus check. The company always does bonus checks live, rather than direct deposit. Wanna know why? Goes back many years to several employees not wanting their significant other to know they got a bonus and wanted a check they could deposit, rather than direct deposit. Been there done that myself! So DH wouldn't spend it on crap.

The even better news? It was more than I expected after taxes taken out. I'm not sure why, but the 25% federal tax rate wasn't used. It has always been used for bonus checks in the past (and I hate it) so I was very pleasantly surprised that the net check was $653 more than I was expecting! More money towards my savings for doing the site prep work on our property. Initial estimate was we need about $6000 and I have $5,000 (with bonus). By the end of July paycheck I will have $6500.  DH called another guy up to give us an estimate, but of course, as with everyone around here - it either doesn't happen or takes forever for them to get back to you.

I learned something about ticks. Ticks are new to us, didn't have them in our old area. I didn't realize they were a seasonal thing - at least they are here. The heat by mid July takes care of them, but our neighbor friend said it was more like end of June this year. I give my dogs Advecta (comparable to Advantage) but realized it doesn't protect against ticks, so last month I bought some Frontline, which is much more expensive. I was about to order some more, so I'm glad I found out that I don't need the tick protection for now. It's just a late spring/early summer thing. I think I paid $42 for a 3 pack of Frontline - $14 each application and I can get a 4 pack of Advecta online for $18 - $5 each application x 2 dogs is $18 a month savings over what I thought I was going to have to start forking out. Prices for Advecta at Walmart at Target are $32 for a 4 pack. Much cheaper through Amazon. I'll just have to remember to use something like Frontline for a few months when tick season rolls around again next year.

Speaking of flea treatments - is it really necessary to give in the very cold winter months? I wouldn't think we'd have fleas around when there is 2 feet of snow on the ground for several months. Just trying to figure out if I can save a little there........We previously lived where it was pretty mild temps all year, so I always gave the flea treatments year round.

I give our older dog Cosequin for his joints per vets recommendation before we moved. For awhile last month I was started giving it to our younger (now 5 years old) dog, but I stopped. They are expensive and if he's fine with his joints, there is no reason to. He's very active and doesn't seem to have any problems with his joints. A 30 day supply is costing me about $14. I thought I had found a better deal on a bottle of 250 (same brand but different formula I guess) but in looking at the dosage, I realized you had to give two pills, rather than the 1 pill a day of what I am currently buying - negating the savings.Oh well. I tried.


DD and her co-workers are very sad. A co-worker had been missing for the past 2 weeks was found dead. He worked in a different department and she really didn't know him, but very sad deal. No details yet on what might have happened.

We get one more "cooler" day today at 85. It really makes a difference, rather than it being 100 or more. Back to high 90's and 100 the rest of the week. I would love for a cool rainy day! I do miss my rain.

Out of the mouth's of babes

DH was outside watering last night and 5 year old neighbor was outside. This is what DH learned: Their dog has fleas, they are moving, not sure when, but maybe to Texas where they can do what they want, but they'd like to stay here in this town and do what they want, too.

All my Texas friends.....sorry! LOL.

Speaking of their dog - that poor thing has been getting left in their house for 15+ hours at a time. It's making me so mad. Wife left with the kids on Thursday and hasn't come back. Guy left for work 6am Friday morning. Got home 9:00 Friday night. Did let the dog out for 2 minutes and then he left again. He left for work 6am Saturday morning and didn't get home until like 9:45pm. It's 100 degrees outside. Gotta be at least 85 inside their house. Even with our little a/c unit, by evening it still gets 80 inside our house.

Sunday afternoon guy left for a couple of hours - returned with his 2 little kids, no wife. He doesn't work Sunday or Monday, so he must have to "babysit" today. She and the kids must be staying with someone in the city, while she works, since she works nights/he days and we don't think the car she has to drive is too reliable to drive 110 miles a day (not to mention in over 100 degree heat).

This heat is ridiculous! Today and tomorrow we get a break at 87, but then back too 100 for at least another week. I looked up average weather in this area - it's supposed to be 86 in July and August. I don't even want to see my next electricity bill, having to run this a/c unit all day and half the night.

I'm back to work this morning, only I can't get logged in remotely for some reason. My boss had told me that Friday before that they were moving my computer to another spot, so I emailed her this morning to let her know I can't log in and was it possibly because of my computer getting moved and she said they didn't move it. So now I'll probably have to spend the next hour or two getting our IT company to handle that. I emailed my boss back "is my computer turned off?" as that is the first thing that needs to be checked.

Well, that's strange. My remote log in is set up with my name/DESK. I used to log in with an IP address and a few of the ones I've had to use over the years are still saved in my remote desktop so I tried the most recent one and that worked. Wonder why my name one isn't working. Oh well, I'm in...so back to work!!

More vacation week activities

It's been a busy couple of days. Let's see........first we had an earthquake! Measured 5.8 at the epicenter. We were over 100 miles from that, but sure felt it. It woke me up. DH was still up watching tv when it happened.

We've been meaning to go to our town museum, which is only open two days a week from 2-5pm, so we did that Thursday afternoon. As we were driving over to the museum we noticed the little antique shop was open, so we stopped in their first. The poor lady - her a/c was broken. She had a fan going, but it was a bit warm in there. She was so nice. I couldn't resist buying this little find:

For some reason I keep finding myself attracted to the old wood duck decoys, like this one:

Boy, are some sure pricey! like $200 or more. I guess I'll just keep admiring them, haha.  The other thing I like are the old antique telephones. Those seem to run $250-$350. At least by looking, I learn what prices are, in case I ever come across a good deal on one.  We are still looking for an old hand water pump to use as a yard decoration.

Yesterday we decided to take another drive up into the mountains (there are so many logging roads up all these hills). To appease my unease at driving up there (and all the different cut off roads to take) we first stopped at the ranger station in town and picked up some Forest Service maps. We didn't use them yesterday, but I felt better having them, just in case ;) 

First stop was an old ghost town, where in the late 1800's over 3000 people lived for awhile, during the gold mining rush. All's that's left is this old jail

Then we drove further on up to an old mining camp. The lady that gave us the museum tour (she was in her 70's) owns this mine. Her dad built it in 1929/30 and they have kept it restored as much as possible. She was up there doing some work, when we got there, so she gave us a wonderful tour, full of history. Several old buildings - the "cook house" "the tool shop" "the drying house (where the guys cleaned up before coming to eat) and a "bunkhouse".  What a hard life those people lived.  Our dogs had fun running around with her dog. No electricity there, of course, but they did having running (cold) water system set up from the creek.

Then we ventured further on upward. Went across a little "pass" at the top. Down again the other side and up another mountain where we came to another pass. Turned around there and drove the 22 miles or so back to our house.

Our poor neighbors across the street - they just bought their first ever brand new car the other day. Went to take it for a drive and first got a rock chip on the windshield from road construction on the freeway and so they pulled off to come back a side road........ran over a BEAR! Messed up the front spoiler and dented the passenger door! She brought the car over to our house Thursday night to show us. Crazy! Her hubby had been trying to bear hunt during late spring but never found one. I said "who knew all's you had to do to get a bear was buy a new car!"

Weather is still unbearably hot at 100 degrees and not letting up any time soon.

Mid week on vacation

We're not big fireworks fans, so it was a much quieter 4th of July living here in this small town compared to what we've lived with the past years. Previously it was like being in a war zone. Non-stop from every direction until like 2am. M-80's going off days before the 4th. Here was a little bit of fireworks noise and much nicer!

We took a drive in the afternoon, heading up another logging road up into the mountains we hadn't been on yet. The day before, when I was driving home from the city and about 15 miles from home my tire pressure alert came on my dash. Nothing seemed amiss, though I slowed down and stayed behind a truck the rest of the way and told DH about it.  I assumed he went and checked it out - apparently not!

As we are several miles up this logging road (and going down the other side of the mountain) when the tire pressure alert came on again and my left rear tire was reading like 24 pounds of air pressure and kept going down. We turned right around and started back up and when we got to the top it was down to 9 pounds. DH was trying to get up to the top, to change it. It had a bolt in it. He put on the little donut tire and we drove back down the few miles to the bottom and then the 10 miles back to our house via a side road, rather than getting back on the freeway.

This morning DH went to go over to the tire guy's place nearby and before he left he sees that the other back tire also has a bolt in it! Hmm....what are the odds of that? Seems a bit suspicious to me.......DH then had to leave the whole car at the tire guys place, rather than just drop off the one tire to get it fixed, so he walked home (just a few blocks). Later we walked back and got my car, $40 poorer.

After we got back home our neighbor lady friend across the street was walking by and we talked to her a bit and told her our car had bolts in both back tires and we just had gotten it fixed. She was like "hmm...that seems a bit suspicious" and I said that's exactly what I thought! I could see running over one bolt or nail somewhere, but not two at same time. She was suspecting our crappy neighbors, too. Who knows how it happened, but I guess we'll have to keep an eye out in our driveway before we leave anymore, just to make sure nothing is there.

We decided to go do a little antique store shopping. There's an antique store here in town I've been wanting to go to and just haven't stopped in yet. Wouldn't you know it was closed today, for some reason. There is a big antique store in neighboring town so we drove over there. So much neat stuff, but so much of what we like is like at least $300. I ended up spending $18 on two old books and a rusty old metal teapot. We were looking for an antique hand water pump, but the only one they had was really big/tall and $175. I wanted something smaller sized. We saw the neatest wooden box that was a case for cards, dice, poker chips, etc. and all the game stuff inside it was antique too. It was the neatest thing and we both loved it, but $355. Someday, maybe LOL

On the way back (we had the dogs with us) we stopped at the boat launch in town. That part of the river was calm and I rolled up my capris and waded in and got the dogs to come in. They have never been in water, but I got them to walk around in it a bit. Older lab seemed to enjoy it more. It was 98 degrees today and the water was way warmer than I expected it to be. It felt so nice and cool. We were going to go eat dinner at the restaurant after we got back home but nothing sounded good to either of us, so we had a bowl of cereal instead. Too hot too heat up the house even more with cooking.

The Project #1 completion

DH has (finally) gotten my requested sofa table done!! This was my initial inspiration on Pinterest that I wanted something like:

My new sofa table doesn't look a whole lot like this one LOL - but it's beautiful, I think. And one of a kind, unique.  First off, it looks different because DH came across some live edge lumber and decided to use that. I love it - so much more character to it.  Second off, I wanted the table top to be a bit narrower (which worked out perfect for the piece of wood he got). He made the base/feet wider, but I also think my table might be a bit longer than this one and he wanted a sturdier base.  Plus, he decided to change the legs design a bit. And the piece of wood going across, underneath the middle? Well, he had a piece for that (cut from the top length slab) and that was a lot wider than the pinterest one, but had so many neat knots and live edge bark on it, that we decided to use it.

Here is my new sofa table

When DH saw this wide piece attached underneath  he thought it would sure look neat with a mountain carving on it! So he did it! He just sketched a mountain scene in pencil and grabbed his router and within minutes had it carved out! I LOVE IT!

The stain I picked out was Red Oak, to match some of the bark....the only problem that didn't turn out quite like I had envisioned was, while he didn't stain the bark parts, with the rest of it stained and it's almost an exact match in color, the bark doesn't stand out as much as it did/would have if we had used a bit lighter stain.

We are still learning about applying stain and had never used a poly coating, so that was a bit trial and error. When he applied it on top, he realized he didn't sand it enough, as the sanding marks showed, so he sanded it all off, sanded it smoother and then reapplied the stain and poly and it turned out much better.

It totally has the rustic feel I was looking for.  I added my Ross decorating purchases on top (didn't photo that, as I wanted to show the whole top in the photo) and it looks really nice.