Hmm? I'm getting to it.

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A good sleep, an easy right waking, and then more.  I ran a fresh rinse for the dishes and started a load of laundry first thing.  A cup of coffee, blogging, "news" (what of that is available), after setting a timer for an hour.  It seemed as if I had just settled down when the alarm went off.  I thought about just turning it off and going back to my attempts at gather information and waking.  I knew what would happen if I did that.  Actually just realizing what would happen is an improvement over some times.  More, when I realize that doing nothing leads to nothing, for shame I cannot just do nothing.  So, I dried the dishes, and set that up, and a few other things.  Laundry should be ready... oh... wait... there are clothes in the dryer.  I will run that for 20 minutes, then put the new wash in to dry while sorting the dried clothing.  Bleh.

After that?  I am not sure what today will bring.  I will do what I can.  I have a couple of smaller jobs and several larger tasks, from the old list.  I will just have to consider what I can do, and when.  Hmm...  I am hungry, so I may put out some meat to thaw.  At some point I need to refresh some of my stores.  I have been using much of what I buy for shorter term stores.  I haven't been turning the grains over, yet.  I can't really do that until I purchase a grain mill.  Oh, yes, that is coming.  I do get lost in this and that and forget.  I will be checking my account balances shortly, and figuring out when to order that.  If all is good, I may do that at the first of the month.  I just need to make sure I have enough for the hog, and that bit for a side of beef, or at least a good start to a savings for that.  I really have been doing better about finances.

Let me just suggest, to any who are considering buying a house... save about 20-25% over what your payments are going to be, and assume that when you buy a home, you will be spending that money on your home.  At the very least, the first five years will be filling items that, as a new homeowner, you will need and want.  Items you do not consider, as a renter, necessary or useful.  These items can be anything from tools to minor improvements.  Further, after you have many of the minor things you need and want (want is sometimes... not as it would seem, even if true in a basic way), you will want to keep that savings going for other things dealing with your home.  A new furnace?  Air conditioning?  But on into new siding, lawn care, water heater, electrical repair and upkeep, and on and on that list will go.  While you don't want to bury yourself in your home, you do want to maintain value.  Yeah, I probably am not doing that as well as I should, but...  A home is a continuing cost and investment.  Then again, for me, it is a simple place to live where I don't have to deal with others about it quite so directly, or at their whim.  I mostly assume what I am putting in is lost.  Much as those who buy gold and silver in a prep scenario.  They aren't buying it to have it's value increase, according to a dollar, yen, pound, or such, but as a value when there is no real value to the coin of the realm.  Further, how valuable a home, gold, silver, or the rest will really be is anyone's guess.  I suppose it comes down, to some degree, to what you can take with you, at various stages.  In the end, you take what you were born with, if there are intermediary steps of loss, and gain.

Sort of along the lines of some recent purchases, prepping, and home life, I have been thinking of other items of use.  I have wondered about long burn candles for some time.  Buying them is expensive.  Future availability is also questionable.  I like the idea, but I have reservations about purchasing a stock of candles.  I want a couple for the vehicle, more so in winter months.  A small shelter, or vehicle, with a bit of venting, can turn a candle into a lifesaver.  And they certainly aren't bad to have around the home, for similar and different reasons.  Light, heat, and perhaps more.  I just happened to notice a video about making inexpensive long-burn candles at home.  So I thought I would share it.

I wonder if old lard would work just as well?  I may be putting this to the test soon.  I simply need to find base candles that I trust.  Unscented.  The thing about lard is, as she suggested in the vid, it might draw animals.  In a home that probably wouldn't be a problem.  In the woods, even in a car, in country where there are larger predators, that might not be such a swell idea.  Down in the valley I think it would be fine.  But up in the mountains, it might draw in just the wrong kind.  Animals are vicious when hungry like that.  And winter is the hungry time.  Still, for around the home, and in the car for now, I think this idea would work.  Hmm... not sure how well it, or regular candles, would work in the high heat around here, in a vehicle.  So much I simply do not know.

Hmm...  I best get the dryer going.  Later.