hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

[hqueen13]

Yup, that certainly helps. It seemed to work ok this time. We'll see if I can keep her doing it or not.
Back from awesome vacay. Had a great time catching up with lots of family, and friends I haven't seen in years. Got to go several cool places, which was fun. Roamed around the mountains despite the gale force winds. At least it wasn't raining. I think we made it to 5 different water falls, which is so much fun! I love seeing water falls. Did a little walking, and just in general had a great time.
Not thrilled to be home... got home about 9:30 last night (UGH!) and unloaded everything. Found that Toby had blown 2 more abscessess right next to his eye, which is the same thing he did last time we were away. Can't figure out where they are coming from or why. These are closer to his eye, which makes me nervous putting the powdered meds on it. Otherwise, things were fine when we got home.
This morning was another issue... I pulled up the blind in the bedroom, and it broke, falling on top of my plants and knocking one off the shelf and dumping the dirt all over the floor. I was so angry and frustrated at the cheap blinds that they put in the house, this is not the first one that has broken, and I'm sure they aren't that old. My parents have had blinds in their house for over 20 years with NO problem... these keep breaking. Had to leave the mess, because I was running out of time. Went to close the closet door, and it came off the track. WTH!?
Head to work, get stuck in massive traffic because they have a well used road closed due to some construction on a very old bridge. That's supposed to last for a few months. I'm not sure that I will be using this route in the morning anymore if it is going to be this much trouble. There is another way to go but it is longer... I guess we'll see what happens.
Get to work and the BF says to call, finally get ahold of him and discover that while driving the rental to work, he hit a piece of debris in the road, and it damaged the bumper so now we have to file a claim with our insurance to cover it. He's super worried his insurance is going to go up again, but I'm not completely convinced. The damage only seems to be to the bumper, so I am hopeful that it is cheap enough that it will be covered and that will be it. We'll see what happens.
Oh, yeah, and while we were away, we both managed to come down with colds on top of the allergies we were fighting, so we've felt like crap for most of the time. But feeling like crap in the mountains is way better than feeling like crap at home.
Now I just hope I can catch up tomorrow before I will be working solid for about 2 weeks.
Totally exhausted... hopefully things smooth out a little bit because I can't handle much more insanity!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

But feeling like crap in the mountains is way better than feeling like crap at home.

You got that right, sistah!

Glad you had a good time - but so sorry you came home sick. Hope you feel better soon!

 

[Denim Deb]

Sorry you've had it so rough.

 

[hqueen13]

Thanks Lovelies. I AM feeling better, which is good, and I guess the pollen isn't much further along up here since we had a week of such cold. That's gonna change next week though... forecast is going up, and we don't have rain for about a week and a half. Which is both terrific and bad all at once!
Well, we returned the rental car and had to pay the extra $150 for the deductible on our insurance. The damage wasn't that bad, just the bumped and headlight, and a piece of trim. We'll see who much THAT will actually cost the insurance. As over priced as all these car parts are these days it could be a pretty expensive fix. At least we could return it and be done. And the way the insurance is working it probably won't go up for another 6 months, so at least we have some time to be prepared.
I got a little bit caught up yesterday, I ran 2 loads of laundry and hung them up to dry, plus folded the load that was in the dryer through our vacation (so that's where my clothes were!!), and got all the clean clothes put away out of the bags. Its awesome to stay with family who does your laundry while you're traveling! I don't know when I'll get these loads folded, but I hope it is really soon because the racks are taking up the entire bedroom at the moment.
I had a practice homework call for my animal communication class that was great, but the gal wouldn't stop talking! I got a lot out of it, but we were late getting to the "interview" appointment that the BF had. Oops!
The appointment went well, though, I think. I might have mentioned a while ago that he got a part time job running deliveries and pick ups for a company that rents fancy furniture for events. They do mostly weddings and cooperate events, things where they want sofas and easy chairs... They have ALL sorts of crazy furniture, plus a bunch of sets of china! Its pretty neat to see, though the part time gig has been challenging because they keep calling him at the last minute and switching the schedule. They want him to be able to commit to times in the evening to get there, but running deliveries with his other job he has no way of knowing what time he'll be done for the day. They offered him a full time job, so we went to talk to them last night. The discussion went well, and we learned a bit more about their company. They are going to be building a barn/wedding facility on their gorgeous property. I don't even want to know what the cost of the loan is on this thing... its got to be in the several millions I am sure. I have no idea where their money is coming from, but I am sure they're going to be able to make money on it. They basically see the BF as working for the furniture rental company and helping to keep the property maintained until the barn is built, and then he'll be shifted into an operations manager capacity which will basically be the next person in command below the couple that owns the company/property. That's a pretty big deal! They didn't seem to flinch when he gave them his asking price per hour, and the company covers all of the health insurance and does offer an option for me to buy insurance through them which is a really nice perk. They don't offer life insurance, but that's not a huge deal at this point in time, and pretty easy to obtain from somewhere else. So the BF is seriously considering this, and I think it is a good thing. They have to send him a formal offer letter and also the insurance information so that we can compare costs. It will cut down on his commute by half, and get him off the highway driving and tolls, which is a nice perk, too. It will mean he'll be working a lot of weekends, but he'll get to have time off during the week instead, which I am fine with since my schedule flexes so much.
They also talked to me about what I can do (I finally decided that my job description really is "Make Your Life Easier" no matter where I go... that's just what I do for people), and I think I have piqued their curiosity. They expect to have a large barn and run lessons out of the barn in addition to the wedding events, so I think they are potentially interested in having me run the barn. Who knows what will work out, but it could be a really good thing. And they have an employee discount for weddings They teased us and asked what we were waiting for. Some more money would be helpful! LOL
Now I start my crazy work week working every day, which is going to be nuts. I'm not thrilled about it, but at least it is extra income. I'm hoping that I can get a handle on a few things with this income and get myself back on track with my budget. I need to sit down and get that straight again soon. I am so tired of not having enough to really keep things covered and get ahead.
I redid my ads for boarding yesterday that I have posted on facebook. I hope that I'll get a few more bites. I had someone inquire about self care, which if I end up needing to work off the farm at this new place then self care is ideal. We'll see if that pans out. I NEED to get some folks into the barn by the end of the month when ML's horses ship out, otherwise out budget is going to take a BIG hit. Not a good thing!
Its so much fun when all the chips are up in the air and they don't seem to want to land anywhere...

 

[Denim Deb]

If I ever did a boarding barn, it would be self care only. I'm tired of caring for other people's horses.

 

[hqueen13]

LOL, I hear you!! That comes with its own challenges, though. I've been mostly lucky with self care, but I have heard horror stories of folks that have boarded self care and the owners don't come out for days in a row, and are sloppy and don't really take very good care of their horses or their areas. I guess everything comes with its not so great things.
Holy crap its been an INSANE few days. I haven't had the time to post, much less do anything else for the past week.
Thursday I get to the office and am working away when I notice that an alarm is going off in the lobby. No biggie, that happens all the time and it takes them forever to shut it off. Then I notice the hallway lights are flickering, and I hear the front door like someone is trying to open it even though its locked (it has an automatic door opener on it, which tries to open even if it is locked). I get up from the back where my desk is and walk out to find my two coworkers freaking out in the lobby trying to open the door, but they can't get the lock open and saying that we have to evacuate the building. Oook. I guess that alarm meant something. I headed back to the back to get my important things and was half way to my desk when an actual alarm went off inside the office: SQUAWK SQUAWK SQUAWK! "THIS IS AN EMERGENCY. THE BUILDING MUST BE EVACUATED IMMEDIATELY. THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" Uhh, ok.... so I grab my stuff and head out the door. We are hanging out right outside the building and then are asked to step back because the windows are moving and they are concerned that the glass is going to break. What the heck!? So we stand around for a long time to eventually find out that a high voltage line coming into the building shorted out, that caused all the electrical to go really wonky (the flashing lights...) and so things started to shut down. When the HVAC system shut down, the water pumps did not, and then a motor blew up because of it. Then because the motor blew, it tripped the fire alarm, which turned on some sort of ventilation system, which is what made the windows flex because it was pulling air through the building. Crazy! SO they shut ALL the power off, and then finally let us back in floor by floor (I snuck in sooner because I was the only one that had to go into our suite) and was able to get our schedules that we had printed for the day and to shut off the server properly so that it didn't have any problems. I headed over to our other office to finish calling all our afternoon patients and hang out for a while. I finally got to go home about 1:30, which was nice since I had plenty I needed to do.
I raced through my morning chores on Friday, and got back to the office at 7 am, and found that lights weren't working. Managed to grab the maintenance guy and he helped me flip on the breakers. I called the IT guy and he helped me get the server fired back up. I thought we were good, but then I discovered that some of the power still wasn't working, mostly outlets in various rooms. Finally got a hold of the maintenance guy again (bless his heart, he just came to work at our building like a month ago, and he's really young, and he was alone today because the other guy took off! So I know he was running his fool head off with everybody trying to get everything turned back on), and we found a second breaker panel we hadn't noticed, got all those flipped on and everything was fine. I ran out to take care of my yoga class, then came back again to finish working on all the catch up from the day before that was missed. Finally got the phone call that JS was heading to our meeting spot, so I headed out.
Picked her up, and we fought traffic all the way back. I got her settled and started working on the first person at the house and then ran to the grocery store for food for dinner. Finally got home, fixed us some dinner and she worked on me and then fell into bed. I felt soooo much better after she straightened me out! I love body work!
Saturday morning I got up and we started our day, and managed to run on time. Came home and fixed dinner, and got dinner set up for Sunday night. Sunday we got up and headed out, it was a lot of driving, but we managed to stay on time even though some things got switched around a little bit. We finished one extra horse and then headed home for dinner. We set up a roast in the crock pot the night before and it was SO good. I had to run down to take care of the extra ponies for my farm sitting, and then came back and JS had finished getting the veggies into the crock pot and everything. It was sooo good!
Monday: lather, rinse, repeat. We ran early, still, and so I was able to drop her off and get home before traffic got too bad. The BF warned me there was a house fire near the highway on my usual route home, so I took another route and encountered no traffic at all, other than it being thick, it really didn't slow down. I was hustling home anyway because I found out the shipper will be here Tuesday to pick up ML's horses to ship them down to her in FL. Nothing like short notice to light a fire under you...
Got home and organized all her stuff, and then ate dinner and headed over to the Verizon tent that they had set up for all the new customers in the area. We found out that we'll be able to get fios now, so we'll be joining the real world of internet again! Wahoo!! I have no idea how we're going to pay for it, but we need it too badly to care. Came home and crashed again.
Tuesday morning I got up and didn't have to rush too much since I had to go to my yoga class before I headed to the office. Got a few things cleaned up, fed the boys, and then turned the horses out onto the grass before I left. Took care of the farm sitting horses, then headed to yoga. Much needed class. I feel a lot better now that I had some body work done! Left yoga, raced home, got the horses off the grass, headed to the office, and plowed into all the work that was piled up from being gone yesterday. I've managed to get most of it done, so I thought I'd take a break and decompress since I've been going like a bat out of hell for the past several days. Its not likely to stop any time soon, of course, but I think I'm sort of caught up. It will be a relief to have just 3 horses for a little while. I wish we could afford to leave it that way, but we really can't. I've got a friend from my previous barn coming over tomorrow afternoon to check the place out and see if she and another friend want to board, so we'll see what happens. I've got a ton of emails to sort out, and could really use some down time, but it doesn't look like its coming any time soon.
Now I'm just waiting on the phone call that says I need to jump and race home to get the last few things ready before the big tractor trailer shows up...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

OH wow - as usual you are crazy busy! I don't know how you do it!

 

[hqueen13]

I don't know either, FEM :-/
The shipper didn't end up getting there until almost 8. It was mostly dark by the time we got all of them loaded and they headed out. I'll miss them, in a way I'm glad they're gone, but by the same token it was awesome having a boarder that was never there. It was basically like having my own horses that someone else paid for. I do have another person coming to visit this afternoon, so that is good. Its a former friend JO, and another gal DL that I used to board with at the barn where I was before. They are looking for a place with some trails, which I do have, so we'll see if they commit. I suspect it will be 3 horses, maybe 4, which would completely fill me back up again. Plus Storm and JO's horse were REALLY good buddies before, so it will be fun to have them back together.
So I have to work until noon today then race home to meet the farrier, and then clean the barn up from the mess that the horses made last night before they shipped out. I also have to put out the fly predators, the first shipment arrived yesterday and I've got to get them out there so they can do their job.
I guess I should probably print up packets in case they agree to board today... That would probably be smart to be prepared...

 

[Denim Deb]

Glad everything was OK at work! I was afraid you were going to say there was an earthquake!

 

[hqueen13]

LOL, yeah, we already lived through that
Yesterday was one long rush until 10 when I fell into bed. I never go to bed that late!
I got up a little earlier than usual to get things going, fed the two boys, and raced to feed Cowboy and Coyote, and then headed to work. Worked through the morning, and then headed back home at noon to get things ready for the farrier. I was glad when she said she was a half hour late, that gave me enough time to at least sit and eat some lunch.
Headed to the barn, got the three boys in and started them eating. She arrived and trimmed up Storm. She had a heck of a time because his feet are so hard. She charged me less and left me with specific instructions to maintain him weekly until she comes back. Now I have to live up to it! If I don't he'll be WAY too long when she gets back, and will likely crack his feet in the process... not good! So add that to the to do list...
Finished with Storm, and while Scooter was being done I started cleaning up the barn from the left over mess the day before. Got the one stall stripped that Katie destroyed, then I collected all their buckets and set them out in the sun to soak with water in them, and kept cleaning up a bit more. Scooter finished up, so EP and I turned everyone back out, and then put them all out on the grass. She and I hung around and talked for a while (which was nice since I've been so frustrated with her and keeping her horse fed right), and I really shouldn't have wasted that much time, but it was warm and I just didn't feel like continuing to work. I scrubbed the buckets down when she left, and then the BF got home, so he helped me drive the gator around and spread fly predators everywhere. We saw a momma goose with some TINY babies by the pond, and another goose still sitting on her nest. That was fun, I love the wildlife that we have.
Finished up that chore, and I headed out to go pick up a cat tree that someone was giving away via freecycle. I discovered when I put the address in the gps that it was much further away than I thought, but it turned out to be a really tall tree, so that was a good thing. I'll have to redo the carpet on it, but hopefully I can get a remnant cheap and fix it up nice for the cats. I know they'll LOVE being up that high. The next question is where the heck am I going to put it?! It is larger than the short one that we have now, so I have no idea how I'm going to squeeze it in.
Got back home, and got back in the barn to finish cleaning up again. I still had Storm's stall to muck, and the others to touch up, and a very dirty barn aisle to sweep up. It ended up that JO didn't come (which turned out to be a good thing since I wasn't completely done with the barn!) and we rescheduled for today or Saturday. Hopefully today since the barn is almost spotless right now! Besides, I'd REALLY like to know if she wants the stalls so that I know that the barn will be full again!
Back at work this morning, and I'll be here all day. When I get home I need to get myself going to clean the house up before KN is here on Friday night. We might do dinner with the BF's cousins on Sunday, so if we do then at least the house should be mostly clean...
Akk. I just remembered that the grocery store has salmon on sale this week at almost half price for the wild caught stuff... I need to pick up several fillets before they go off sale because its such a good deal. Guess I'll be running up to the grocery store later...
We didn't get into bed last night until really late, and I was dragging this morning. I even made myself black tea since I was so tired!
Just more of the same, I guess...