*knock knock* Oh, you don't want to come in.

My neighbors have been having some stuff redone in their house, so the sounds of construction in the morning aren't too odd.  This morning it sounded oddly close though.  At one point I thought I heard someone knock on my door.
I went to a window and saw someone on a ladder with a guy right near my window.  Before anyone worries about me, he was banging on my front porch awning/balcony/thingy.  I had called and got a few quotes for it to be repaired and last week picked someone.  Turns out they are starting this morning.

 I had meant to get a good 'before' picture of what it looked like.  I totally forgot to do that.  I had thought I was going to get a call before they came out to figure when to start.  Seems I got a text message telling me they were on their way.  Oh well.  This gives you a better idea of how bad it was getting under the layer of paint.  The corner closest to us was just a hole.  At one point a bird had made her nest there.  You can also see the cute little weed growing out of my gutter... they are here to take care of that too.
Now we have not talked about what I want in it's place, but I'm hoping that when I said I just want to replace it that they will just make a new one that is very similar.  My main concern is that they keep the brick work at the bottom, I really like that part.  When I was talking to him before, it made it sound like we are just replacing all the wood bits.  There are some details in there that I like, but if I don't have them after this, it won't break my heart or anything.  At least, I don't think it will, I sometimes get overly attached to things.  Also, it would not match the other white long bits on my house.

I tried googling to find a picture of my house but instead I found some good looking recipes.  That is probably mostly because I live on a street named after a food.  Butternut Squash Risotto Sugared Walnuts sounds amazing, though Roasted Poblano Chiles Stuffed with Cheesy Butternut Squash Quinoa + Pepita Crema doesn't sound too bad either.  I am going to have to put those into my recipe folder to dig out later.  This one, Oatmeal Butternut Squash Cookies, also caught my eye.  I have made cookies with odd things in them before, but this sounds interesting.  Since I'm on a roll here; Butternut Squash and Brie Galette, Black Bean & Butternut Squash Soup, and 31 Delicious New Ways To Cook Butternut Squash are going to be linked here as well.  Here is one more for good measure, Double Stuffed Butternut Squash.

I also checked my bank site and it looks like the lady was right.  The two charges that were tried on the 9th have gone away.  There is still the one I tried on the 10th there, but I'm not worried about it anymore.

Here is what I came home to.  I was not given a time frame, but I think they got a bunch done.  I talked to the guy a bit before I left and he knows how crazy my homeowner's association is and will remake what was up there.  Looks like I don't have to worry if I can or can no live with silly details.

Because I like making people jealous, here is my dinner.  I will do my best to idetify things starting from the top down and left to right:

• Gimbap (aka kimbap: 김밥)
• Japchae (잡채)
• meat and veggie nugget (I could not find these online, I will change this if I find them)
• Jokbal (족발) and the sauce for dipping
• Jumukbap (주먹밥)

I found out something that was not so awesome today.  I might have found out before now, but I only went to go check today.  Since I work retail it never hurts for me to have anti-bacterial things with me.  I really don't like how most hand sanitizers feel.  Even with the little moister beads they usually have in them, I don't feel like my hands are very softened.  To me, it also feels like there is a layer of something icky feeling left on my hands.  I feel the need to wash my hands after using hand sanitizers.  This would be hard to do while I'm at work.  I was given a bottle of HandiBac from Bath & Body Works at some point last year.  The person did not like the lemon smell.
I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a try since I didn't pay for it and I like lemon smelling things.  I fell in love.  It has all the sanitizing benefits and none of the icky after feel. I also felt like it did a pretty good job at moisturizing my hands.  I bought a few different smells and was so happy.  Last year the most I got was a scratchy throat and the sniffles.
The cold weather is slowly coming in so I knew it was going to be time to look into getting more.  Since I dislike mall parking lots so much I like going on a store's website to check out things before I go in.  That way if they don't have what I want, I can skip the trip.  I went to their website and I can't find any HandiBacs.  I even did a search with just their name and HandiBac.  I got a lot of "nothing in this collection" and "Sorry! We couldn't find any products associated with 'handibac'. Try a new search."  I have sent them an e-mail, but I fear for the worst.
I have a few ideas, but I don't know if any will work or not.  The two options are to either make my own or to try and fudge something.  Most of the recipes to make your own are to make the regular hand sanitizer style stuff, I totally don't want that.  I found this DIY Hand Sanitizing Lotion recipe.  I was thinking of maybe substituting one of the cute smelling hand sanitizers for the rubbing alcohol.  If I wanted to get even more DIY I would try something more like this Hand Sanitizer Lotion.  Again I would have a change I would make to this.  Instead of making the lotion part, I would just use my favorite super cheapy unscented lotion.  It would also help the fact that I have been trying to find rosemary scented things lately.  I already have rosemary and lavender essential oils laying around.  I used them when I made my own sore muscle salve.  Though I might try my own blend with 8 drops rosemary essential oil, 5 drops lavender essential oil, and 3 drops sweet orange essential oil.  If I really like it, I will use it for the body spray I am going to make.
Target also has some cute containers I could put my new lotion in so it will fit in my pocket easily.  It seems random parts of my hands are getting more dry earlier in the year.  The ring and pinky finger knuckles on my left hand, and between my pointer and middle finger on my right hand.  More lotion wouldn't hurt.

Today at work there was a lady going through the bin of fall flowers we have left.  When I asked why she was buying all of the flowers she told me that she was making flower turkeys.  Too cute! 

I need to get to bed before too late.  They will be back to make more hammering and sawing noises in the morning.


Today's count: 1,309
Monthly count: 18,096
Prompts used: 13
Pictures posted: 2 (counting only finished objects)