Katey's dress

Here are some pics of Katey and her new dress. These pictures were taken by my oldest daughter Holly.









   

Dress was made from a tutorial found here. http://www.gingerhendrix.com/wiener_dog_tricks/patternless-baby-dress-tutorial.html

Lost in my own world

So I've been a little lost in my own world for a couple of days. Remember I warned you in the beginning that I wouldn't promise to write every day or even every week I get side tracked by life and projects. Like I stayed up ALL night last night a sewed Katey a new dress. No pics yet, but will try and get some when she comes home from school. She loves when I make her things. First thing out of her mouth this morning, Did you finish my dress. Yup, sure did and a matching hair flower too. I have also been working on a secret jewelry project. Can't tell you about it yet. I have also been crocheting a baby cocoon. Kinda like a blanket that is already wrapped. I  think you have figured out that I have a problem staying on task. I like to start lots of things. I think it is because I get these ideas for items and I just run with them. I mean I had no intention on making Katey a dress last night. I was online and looking for something else and this tutorial popped up for an easy dress. I just HAD to make one for Katey. So............ I did. That is how it happens. I really need to finish a few of the other items I have already going and that is for sure on my list of things to get done.
Well, on the life note, we lost a bunch of stuff in a house flood. Wanna hear the Reichard curse strikes again funniness of it all, the stuff wasn't even in our house. See a few months ago we were suppose to move. We got involved with the program that was intended to help people get back on their feet. Goodness knows we have needed that since my accident, anyway one of the things they do is pay your rent for a year. Since our house is like falling down around my head we thought this was a GREAT idea. We began to look for a place to move. Sounds simple, right? NOT! They give you income guidelines and to us they seemed big, but then again we have been living in the same mobile home for 15 years. We had no idea how much it would cost to rent a house. We looked and looked and looked. We spent every spare minute to searching the newspaper, the internet, driving around and looking at houses. We either found ones we LOVED and couldn't afford or ones we hated and would never work for us. I really wanted either a one story house, or one with a potty downstairs because of my bad leg. I was afraid I would have one of my bad leg days and not be able to get up the stairs and where would I potty, or I would have a bout of bad depression and decide that I just couldn't take the risk and would stay in bed and not get out. The other problem was finding someone who would let us have the "boys" (dogs). There was no way I was giving them up. Finally after 2 months of long, hard looking we settled on a place. Not ideal. It was a second floor apartment, but I could have the boys.That was very important to me. It had 3 huge bedrooms, a nice living room , a small kitchen, but we could work around that. The guy was very, very nice and said I could put the boys out front to potty, so I didn't have to walk down the outside stairs. We told the guy we would take it and we were so excited to be able to have our search over and finally move. This all happened on a Friday. That Saturday we received a notice that we were not eligible for the program. You see in order to be part of the program we had to meet certain guidelines.
1. Be homeless or about to be homeless.
This was going to happen because C&Y told us to allow our mobile home park to evict us. We later had to pay almost $3,000 out of our income tax to be able to stay since we had no where to go. Came right down to the day before they were going to lock us out. C&Y are supposedly here to help us because our house is in such bad shape, but if anything they have made things worse. $1,100 of that money was in late charges and court costs we would have never gotten if we had paid the rent.
2. Be eligible for section 8 (HUD) housing.
Filled out the application 2 months prior to finding the apartment.
3. both have jobs or enroll in program to help us find jobs.
In Bill's case he is working and they  couldn't hope to find him a higher paying job. For me they were going to have me evaluated by OVR. Plus I had already filled for Social Security, again.
4. Be enrolled in a program to improve our credit.
We were happy to do that since we have so much debt from my accident.
All of these things had to be met to be in the program, if just one thing fell out of place then we would not be eligible. Well, after more than 2 months we were sent a letter stating we were not eligible to receive section 8 housing. You see when I was 18 and pregnant with my now 19 year old boy we lived in low income housing. We lived there about 2 years give or take a few months. They did inspections and we failed one of them. I am a terrible house keeper. I admit it. I can always find something better to do than clean. I also have a very bad habit of dragging things out to look for something and then getting tired and not putting everything i dug out away right away. That was one of those times. I had taken everything out of our little storage area under the stairs and dug through everything and then it got late and I figured I could put it away later. Well little did I know the following day they came to inspect and the house was a mess. We got evicted. That would be about 18 years ago. Because of a mistake I made when I was 18or 19 we are black balled from every federally run program that has to do with housing. Now, if we would have run out without paying the rent we could have paid the back rent and everything would have been fine. The fact that I am a messy housekeeper obviously is unforgivable.  So no move. We had packed up our entire home when we first started looking 2 months previous. We each had 4 sets of clothes, were eating off of paper plates and plastic silver ware and put all of our possessions in storage. Some was in our personal little shed, some in a rental shed we share with my parents and the new(really used, but new to us) furniture for the move and the rest of our items were stored in the heated basement of Bill's Mom's house. We put sensitive items down there. Video games, the kids' Wii my precious sewing machine my parents gave to me, pictures, lots of them, books, VCR tapes, DVDs, the new beds and mattresses, a TV and many other items. Well, here is where the curse part comes in, a pipe in the ceiling/floor or his Mom's house burst right over our stuff. I mean our stuff was in one little part of the basement and there are pipes all over down there and one broke, right over our stuff. Come on. Well, anyone who knows us knows this is how things work for us. So we went and scoured through the stuff and brought home what we thought we could save and bagged the rest up for garbage. My sewing machine, after 3 days of drying and lots of oiling seems to have survived. The kids' Wii we still aren't sure about. It turns on, but the remotes don't seem to be working. The pictures, lost some, many others are spread through the house drying. My son's Nintendo 64 we are still unsure about. The unit turns on, but again the remotes don't seem to be working. Well, nothing to do, but move onward and upward. Oh, forgot the good part, all those clothes, the ones we didn't keep at the house, the ones we put in storage so I would have them ready to go when we move, yup you guessed it, in the basement. 14 bags of clothes. My washer and dryer has been running nonstop for 3 days now and I am not sure I have even made a dent. LOL! Well, I wanted to sort through them again, so now is the time. What I don't want I will donate. So this is what I have been up to and why I haven't written in awhile. I will try and get pics of Katey in her new dress. But, today is Girl scouts and tomorrow Boy scouts. 2 more busy days. Hope to see you all soon!

Can't believe what time it is!

Wow! Have you ever started working on something and then look at your watch and realize HOURS have gone by without you even noticing it? Well, it happened to me tonight. I always was and probably always will be a late owl. I love the quietness and knowing my family is all snug and tucked into bed. It is like I am watching over them as they sleep just in case there really are monster that come out in the middle of the night. Well, I was up and working on  my computer as usual and I got this bright idea to tweak my blogs a little. I just want them to look nice and be easy for people to view, move around in and to find the other places I am at. You know, my Facebook page, my other blog. My Mom doesn't get this whole blogging thing. She asked me the other day why would you want someone reading your diary? I tried explaining it to her, but I think after some soul searching I have found out MY reason why....... to know I am not alone. I suffer from depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and both of those things tend to make you draw into yourself. This is one way for me to be out in the open without having to worry about not wanting to leave my house. Anyway, I got off track, see how that happens? LOL So I am tweaking my blogs and my alarm on my phone goes off. It is 4am and time for my hubby to get up for work. He is the polar opposite of me. He like getting up early for work. Don't ask me why. He is just weird. Anyway, I am too involved in what I am doing and covered with yarn, scissors, a computer and a cat, also just to dang lazy, to get up and shut the phone off. It rings several more times. Finally I wonder to myself, why hasn't he gotten up? I go back and yup, still sound asleep. I look at his alarm clock, and I bet a bunch of you already know what I am going to say, it is an hour slow. The computer changed itself, the phones changed themselves, but those dang, lazy alarm clocks never change themselves.I wake him up and he runs around getting dressed so he can leave. He gives me a kiss and out the door he goes, after asking me, Aren't you EVER going to bed? I assure him I will go, in a minute. Aren't those famous last words. So here I sit at 6:11 am, not having gone to bed yet. I will wait now and get the kids up in a little while to get ready for school and then I will take the dogs and we will sleep. While everyone else is starting their day, I will end mine. When everyone else is winding down, I am just getting going. My strange sleeping habits have bothered my Mother for years. I always told her, someone had to work the night shift. Some of us are just born for it. I can stay up for a long time. A lot longer than most. I think it came from all the years I spent working double shifts when I was a nurse's aide. I just heard my first bird singing. Sun will be up in a little while. Guess I will finish up here and watch a TV show on Netflix before I have to get the kiddos up. Good night all, or good morning, which ever you prefer. :)

It's 3 am

It's 3 am and all is quiet and good in the Reichard house. The kids are all sleeping, including the fur kids, except the cat, she is prowling. The drip, drip dripping has finally stopped. Thank goodness. My eye lids are getting heavy and sleep is calling me. I am just sitting here reflecting on the day. It was a good one. I spent time with my Mom, I got a great surprise from a good friend, I cried happy tears, the kids kept the fighting down to a minimum, I played a game with a great friend and had some good conversations and the roof lasted through yet another rain storm. I am glad for the roof, I have left, over my head and I am grateful for my family and friends. I am especially grateful because those of you who know anything about PTSD, feeling worthless and invisible is always a problem, but today I feel like I am wearing bright pink and I am being seen. What a great feeling! To be seen. To KNOW you are loved and wanted. To feel needed. Everyone needs that. I know I have said it before, but Thank You Melissa for helping me to be seen.

One kind act changes lives

I have been rambling on for days about my friend Melissa's give away on her blog. I was super excited to be asked to donate something and participate. I went outside my comfort box and made a beautiful bracelet and earring set in bright cheerful yellow and green spring colors. I was so happy to hand it over to her today and overwhelmed with anticipation to follow the give away. But Melissa had an even bigger surprise. She fibbed a little and snuck around a little and decided to use what had happened to me years ago to help my family. I just can't stop crying over my feelings of surprise and gratitude that some one would do something so nice for me. Thank you Melissa and please know that your act of kindess means everything to us! Go and visit her blog at http://www.lifewithlissy.com/ and tell her she is AWEOME!

Water heater update

Well my wonderful husband managed after 4 days to get the water heater installed and to get all of the pipes to stop leaking. After he was all done I insisted he be the first to get a nice hot shower. Well he wasted most of the hot water trying to get the air out of the lines and his shower turned cold before he was done. Some reward. LOL! I am very proud of him though for sticking with it and getting it done. As I sit her now listening to it rain on the inside of the house, I am reminded that he still has a lot of things that need fixed. The roof is next and for a man who doesn't like heights to be up on a rotten roof he must really love us. I know he will probably never read this, but if he does, Thank you Bill for all you do. I know you are tired from getting up early and working all day and then you are lucky enough to come home to a wife who suffers from depression and PTSD and isn't always the most pleasant person to be around, but just know I love you and thank you for putting up with me.

4 days, 6 trips

It has been a long 4 days here at the Reichard castle. We had to replace our water heater. We were not looking forward to it because we don't plan on being in this mobile home any longer than we have to be and the thought of putting money into a house we aren't staying in just burns me. We bought the water heater and my DH goes about installing it. Well the first day, Sunday he goes to the local hardware store and buys all of the necessary fittings and pipe. he returns home and gets to work only to discover he forgot to buy a piece. Well we live in rural Pa and everything closes around her very early on a Sunday. All of the stores that would carry this item are closed. So day 1 down the drain. Day 2 dawns with about 8 inches of fresh fallen snow. It is Monday and a normal work day for my DH but because of the snow and the fact that the old water heater had fallen through the rotten floor he calls off to work on the Water heater. he goes and buys the missing part assuming that once that is on all will be good and I will be taking a hot shower in under an hour. He installs the piece and can not get the fittings to stop leaking. He takes them back and trades them. That is trip 3 to the hardware store. He comes home and installs the new parts. He gets the water heater to stop leaking in that spot, only for it to begin leaking in another spot. Trip 4 to hardware store to buy plumbers tape and cement. After much work he finally gets all of the pieces to stop leaking. The better part of a day is gone and still no shower. He turns the water on and there is no pressure plus he can hear running water. He climbs under the trailer and there is a geyser under there. One of the pipes has burst. The local hardware store is closed so he must drive a half hour away to buy parts. An hour and a half later he is home with yet more parts. This would be trip 5 to the hardware store. He climbs under the trailer and puts the piece on. He comes in the house around 10 pm to tell me it is still leaking and he has had enough for the day. Dawning of day 3. A work day. He comes home early and starts working on the pipes under the trailer right away. First fitting no good, second fitting still leaks. Goes to hardware store for trip 6. He buys another fitting. He comes home and puts that fitting on and finally gets it to stop leaking. It is after 9pm. My DH wakes up at 4am to go to work so by now he is tired, hungry and frustrated. He comes in and slams his pliers on the table and states he has had enough. The pipes have started leaking in yet another spot. So begins day 4. He is now as I type under the trailer in the cold, rain and dark trying to fix the pipes. He HATES plumbing. He always has, but he sure does after all of this. I am still hoping for that hot shower. The kids have been bathing at my Mother's thank goodness. I hope today ends the saga of the water heater.

Not enough hours

We had so much to do this weekend

and there just wasn't enough hours in the day. My youngest DD had a Girl Scout event to attend, so we started our weekend with that. It was at the mall and they walked from one table to the next doing crafts.  Our oldest DD went as well. When we were finished there we went and got some lunch and then went to the thrift store right next door. I had asked for some soda tabs on Freecycle for a craft project I am doing and we needed to run and get them. After that we came home in the hopes that my DH and DS could get on our roof to do some repairs. We live in a mobile home that is in very bad shape.  Due to some unfortunate events that have happened in the last couple of years we could not afford to keep up the repairs on our home nor could we afford to move into another home or a rental house.  We have gotten some materials from Freecycle that has enabled us to start doing some repair work on the roof. At the time being we have a 3 foot hole in our roof. We have put metal and plastic over it, but all that has just been temporary fixes. The plastic ripped away during the last storm we had and the metal sheeting didn't work as well as we had hoped. Anyway when we got home our DS had run into town with a friend and was not home and did not return home until it was too late for DH and DS to get on the roof. Of course it started to rain. Isn't that Murphy's law? We have quite a few buckets and bowls catching the rain at the moment. I think we may be just as wet inside the house as it is outside. Well, this project will have to wait unti drier weather. My DH and DS decided that they would begin on the next project needing done. They went and purchased a new hot water heater. I decided I needed a nap. I was just so tired. My DH and DS arrived back home around 9pm. We had planned on going out for a drink with a friend so I got up and decided to get ready. We went out for a few drinks and ended up getting breakfast before returning home. We hadn't been out like this for a very, very long time. It was very relaxing. It was very late when we got home, or early depending on how you think. It was about 3:30am. I went almost right to bed and slept like a log. We woke up this am and ran to get the parts for the water heater we bought yesterday and needed to be put in today. We grabbed something to eat and picked up some more shingles we got off of Freecyle. In case anyone is interested you can find your local Freecycle at http://www.freecycle.org/. After getting home my DS and my DH went to work on the old water heater. It had been leaking and had almost fallen through the floor. Now we have a big hole in the closet floor. My DH is just going to lay a board over the old floor because we do not plan on being here longer than another year and really don't want to put any more money than we have to into the house. I am hoping they will at least get the water heater in before tonight. Must try and find those missing extra hours or learn to slow time. Maybe split ourselves in half. Until any of this is possible we will make the best out of the time we have.

P.S. As I was finishing this up my DH came to inform me he needs another part and all of the stores are closed because it is sunday. No hot water tonight, no water at all. One more project left undone. He will have to get the part after work tomorrow and finish it up then.

She's 13

Today my oldest DD turned 13. How time flies. It is like you blink and they are all grown up. Now I have 2 teenagers. My DS turned 19 last week. I was 18 when he was born.
My husband and I decided to go to McDonald's. Our DD's had been given coupons for there at church. I stopped by the grocery store and bought a cake. My friend and her 2 DS came along. A good time was had. Especially when my friend started shooting spit balls and flinging icing at my husband because he had fallen asleep. So see we really never do grow up!

A bead kind of day

Woke up this morning and was suppose to help my sons friend Andrew find a job. He had other things to do so I decided to call a friend, go for lunch and stop by my local bead store called Ellacinder's. I swear this is one of my most favorite places to go. I love all of the colors and the intoxicating sparkle of the Swarovski crystals twinkling from across he room. The beads seem to talk. They have a language all of their own. You have to listen closely to what they say and if you do they have a lot of stories to tell. The other reason i love it there is because of the 2 wonderful women who work there. They have become such good friends to me. They have listened to my many stories and the ups and downs of my life. They make going in there an experience you will never forget. So friendly and helpful. I went in with the intentions of re-stringing 2 bracelets. One I had made for my friends sister and the other was one my friend had bought that needed to be made bigger. While there some beautiful purple beads called to me. They spoke in a low voice and said that they were meant to be mine. I picked up the cup they were resting in and picked a few up and let them rest in my hand. Yes, they would be mine, but i didn't want them to be lonely and I knew that gemstones loved the company of Swarovski crystals. They also liked to hang around with silver spacer beads. These beautiful stones would make a statement as they hung around my wrist. I went and got their friends and put the cups on the table and told them in a soft voice to be patient that they would all be united soon. I restrung the 2 bracelets and then set forth making my purple bracelet. I LOVE purple! I also then turned my attention to some other beads that were screaming at me. I bought the ones I could and brought them home. I could only rescue a few, the others will have to wait until I can return. I promised them all that I would try and return as soon as I could. I know that there will be others who will come that can hear their voices and they too will rescue what they can. Now to unite these beads together so I can send them all to a new home.