I don’t just write in Nebraska: Annette Snyder

Yep-it’s me.  Creator of 50 Authors from 50 States blog, writer, wife, mom, landfill worker, handyman-er-person.    A Jill of all trades and master of some.  I can do a lot.  I’ve only just discovered I’m able to change faucets without making too big of a mess.  Who knew that was possible until I YouTube-d it.  I YouTube a lot. 

I have a regular job that I love, working in an office doing, well, whatever my bosses request, within reason and I work at a bar on Friday nights doing-same.  I run this blog.  I write a lot in between—I’m just finishing up my third novel in my Packard Family Series.   Intimate Flames, the first, was a finalist at EPIC.  Drive Thru was second in that contemporary series which centers on a family and also scored some awards.  Going Twice is the name I’ve given the third book.  I have plans to write about all seven siblings from the Packard family.

When I’m not doing ‘D-All of the Above,' I work on the family home.  My husband and I purchased a 120-year-old house from my Great-Grandfather’s estate way back in 1988 (that rhymes! Who knew!) for nine thousand dollars and we’ve been plugging money into it ever since.  At first it was to keep a roof over the heads of our four great kids but now it’s a labor of love. 

About 15 years ago we replaced the cast iron sink and counter top in the kitchen and this year,  I replaced the kitchen faucet myself!  HA! HA! I paraded around the house saying, “HA!” for several hours after finishing.  I’d never attempted faucet replacement before and was sure I’d have water everywhere.  YouTube guided me.   If I’ve never attempted a project, I hit YouTube and see if it’s possible for me even start or if I need professional help.  And yes, my family says I need professional help.   The old cast iron sink is missed but and long gone but I love my new faucet.  It’s got a pull down water sprayer!   I know most won’t be as excited about that as I am.  Anyway, that’s phase-one in my kitchen self-remodeling project.  The kitchen cupboards and counters are next—someday.

It takes me a while to get to projects because I’m determined to accomplish the jobs by spending as little money as possible.  My husband occasionally calls me a hoarder because of the things I collect for future plans.  A tin ceiling tile I pulled from an old building a block away before the owner destroyed the structure about ten years ago is piled in the attic of my garage and I’ve just now started to use it.  I redesigned my bathroom vanity and used ceiling tiles for drawer fronts (and replaced the faucet—HA!) 

For a couple years, I had a stack of Italian marble bricks behind the shed.  A truck driver told me a story of his family house and the fireplace inside.  They sold the house to an eye doctor and the doctor was tearing it down and I said, “What a shame all that marble is going to be destroyed.”  The driver gave me the doctor’s phone number.  I called the doctor…and the doctor said…sure, you can go in and take that marble out of the house.  So I involved my son-in-law and we reclaimed. I drove home in a way overloaded pickup-think driving uphill 45 miles-- and showed my husband this awesome rock and he said, “I’m not helping you unload that.”  I moved thousands of pounds of heavy rock myself and stacked it neatly behind the shed in wait for that special fire pit project. 

truckload of marble.

I like to use reclaimed stuff for my projects whenever possible so it took me a few years to collect enough materials to finish the fire pit that started as the idea to use the rocks I collect from all over the world.  Big rocks, little rocks—I have rocks from everywhere including USA, Nova Scotia, George Washington’s potato field, the Vatican, Guatemala, Australia and Pompeii-so many countries!  When I find out people are traveling, I say, “Bring me a rock.”  They do and I save them for projects.   One project, phase-one of my backyard re-do, a fire pit. 

Fall of 2017, I finally collected enough stuff to assemble my fire pit.  I started by using the reclaimed marble to determine how big an area to cover.  I laid some discarded landfill liner pieces under the marble and, as luck would have it, I scored some crushed asphalt from the highway job nearby.  I smashed that down on the liner to make a hard base.  My friend Jazz hooked me up with a guy in a neighboring village who tore down a chimney so I got bricks for free and then I found some excess rock for fill.  I selected certain rocks from my worldly collection and made the actual pit using an old semi-tire rim instead of fire brick.  I made the end tables from a marble coffee table I got for free with legs of the of antique block from a shed we tore down at my mom and dad’s house. I purchased one thing, mortar. I couldn’t locate any excess concrete at the time.   My 4-year-old granddaughter, who I was babysitting for a few days, helped me put it all together over the course of some vacation days.  All it cost was a little harassment from my husband, effort and $80.

Phase-one of the backyard project turned out.  I learned how to work with rocks and cement.  My granddaughter has an actual knack for tooling around and my husband has stopped calling me a hoarder.  Just yesterday, he sat out and enjoyed a fire which he started by using my “Fire-Pit Starters” made from dryer lint, toilet paper rolls and wax from stinky candles I don’t like.  That’s another reuse project I’ll have to share someday.  On to my next project!

In the meantime, you can find out more about my writing by visiting my website and right here on my blog.  Use the tabs above for purchase links and contact info. 

Leave a comment with to win my offered prize this week.  In your comment, pick one book from each series: Travis Pass--1800’s Series, Viveka’s War-WWII Series and Packard Family-Contemporary Series.  I’m giving one winner an autographed copy of ONE of each book from each  series.  That’s 3 free reads.  Leave a form of contact in your comment or just email me thru the contact tab if you’d rather and have a great day!  

(all info provided by...me!)