hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

[frustratedearthmother]

Sounds like ya'll had a good time! We had a bit of a cool front lately - in July even. It was a really nice break from the horrid heat and humidity we have this time of year.

Glad your lesson went well. Sounds like Storm was feeling his oats for sure.

 

[hqueen13]

Oh yeah he was, FEM LOL It was amusing, and thankfully those things don't rattle me like they used to. He's a lot of horse when he has a hissy fit, but in his expression he's still respectful enough not to really pull on me or do anything too stupid. I appreciate that!
I goofed last night and thought that I was done with Cowboy and Coyote, and I was almost home (which took me an HOUR instead of 30 minutes!!) and my reminder went off. So after the BF got home, we managed to come up with something for dinner, and then headed back down there. Of course as we were leaving it started to rain. I was finishing up (who knew they'd poop so much more since I was 4 hours later getting there than my usual afternoon visit! ) and watching the most gorgeous rainbow over the farm, and looked up to see them pulling back in the driveway. I guess I somehow knew they'd be here early, but I'm glad I went back down. We chatted for a minute and she gave me the check for next month, which was a good thing anyway. It'll save me a trip back down today or tomorrow. The BF needed something from the car parts store and then he decided we needed Rita's on the way home, too. I got a milkshake and it was TOO sweet for me to drink all of it, so the rest of it is in the freezer. I would rather have not spent the money, but when he makes up his mind about stuff like that there's no telling him otherwise.
I'm waiting for my pay check to show up as pending today, and I wish it would hurry up and do so. I need to figure out how badly I over spent and what I'm not going to be able to cover! I think it will be closer, but I want to know what it is! I need to go to the grocery store and figure out meals for this week, too. We really need to focus on eating at home! We've spent entirely too much money eating out in the past month, and that has got to stop, especially if we're going to end up traveling again in August, which we may try to do.
Not really much else to report. The weather looks like it's creeping up again, but there's a chance of rain in the forecast almost every day through the weekend, mostly in the afternoon. We'll see how that works out. I have a break from Cowboy and Coyote until Sunday which is GREAT for my gas budget, and my sleep schedule!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

We really need to focus on eating at home!

I feel your pain! DH seems to want to eat out every time we leave the house. Argh! I don't mind if we're on a road trip or away from home for a long time or even as a planned treat - but not too frequently.

 

[wyoDreamer]

We have been eating out too much, but I just don't feel like cooking. We typically go out for Fish Fry every Friday, but we have been adding in more meals during the week. I need to clean out the refrigerator and stock up on supplies.

 

[hqueen13]

Yeah, I'm with you ladies. It's been tough. I haven't felt like cooking much, either. I really need to do more planning so I can put things in the freezer and have stuff ready to go. That's the part that I am not good at.
We actually did really good this weekend! Wednesday I picked up a Garlic Herb tenderloin at a new grocery store, so I fixed that up on Friday night. It turned out really good, along with Asparagus and mashed potatoes. Saturday I had to work at the veggie farm, and managed to have just enough time before I had to leave to fix some chicken salad, so I took a sandwich with me, which was really good. Saturday evening we invited our neighbor over for burgers, so we had all of that, in which I made WAY too much food, so now we have lots of leftovers.
Sunday morning we made pancakes, and then made tomato mozzarella open faced sandwiches for lunch, since I brought home some fresh stuff from the veggie farm on Saturday. We at leftover burgers for dinner. I also brought home a few other veggies, and so now we've got meals for several days in the house, which is exciting!
After I finished at the veggie farm on Saturday, I met the BF at GH's house to get their manure picked up again. It had been a while so it took 2 trips to get it all. On our way back around after dumping the second load, we stopped by TW's to pick up a secretary's desk she was getting rid of. She has a bunch of furniture from her sister in law that she never used, and now she's getting rid of all of it. It's all solid wood, some older/antique stuff. She was threatening to put it all up by the road with a free sign on it. After we got home I told the BF that it might be a good idea to just go get it all, and we'll figure out where to get rid of what we don't need later. The BF's bro just bought a house, so he might be able to use some of it anyway. We chatted for way too long, and had to hustle to get home since we invited the neighbor over for dinner.
I got home with just enough time to jump in the shower and then throw the burgers together real fast. We had a lovely dinner, and even got to eat outside, which was really nice.
Sunday we had a lazy morning, and didn't finish cleaning up from breakfast until almost 11. The other neighbors texted to let me know they were starting their feeding routine if I wanted to come over to check things out since they asked me to care for things while they are away in a few weeks. Turns out, they're only going to be gone for 4 days, and the routine is easy and only once a day visits. We started discussing money, and I asked her what they usually paid for someone to come, and she said that for longer trips it was usually $200 to $250. I offered her $125, and she countered with $150, which is great! I'm so happy to have some extra money flowing in for the next month or so to help me get some things leveled out and organized.
We worked on the shed some more, and got all the soffit done except for the back. The BF has to put up the F Channel and get the fascia done, and then we can get the soffit in and then the siding will be FINISHED. The last things to do are the doors and the roof! I can't WAIT to have this project DONE. Once the doors are done, we can clean it out and get the floor painted, and then start putting stuff in it! That means cleaning out the old shed and getting rid of some stuff, and organizing a lot of other stuff! I can't wait to get that old thing torn down and get the dirt moved. It feels so good to finally feel like we are making headway!
I headed out Cowboy and Coyote's and then down to the barn to get chores done. Thankfully the horses came in a bit later in the morning, so stalls went super fast. I got Storm's done before the old man was done eating, and it only took me an hour. I was able to get home, get a shower and eat dinner before it got too late.
So now that we have lots of food in the house, we have no reason to eat out this week, either! I just need to be really diligent about cooking things and make sure that we can take care of all of it. I don't want my fresh veggies going bad!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I don't want my fresh veggies going bad!

That would be horrible! And, I'm guilty of the same occasionally...

Good deal on the extra money coming in for feeding. That's always nice! Leftovers are awesome too. I'm really diligent about eating up the leftovers before they become dog/chicken/pig food, lol.

 

[wyoDreamer]

My refrigerator is full of leftovers that need to be tossed. A lot of many odd colors in there.

Most of those plastic containers are going straight into the garbage.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

My refrigerator is full of leftovers that need to be tossed. A lot of many odd colors in there.

I got a new fridge recently - so it's still fairly clean. However, I did toss a lot of those containers that were growing science experiments in them!

 

[hqueen13]

@wyoDreamer yeahhhh I've got a couple of those going on. I really need to get them out of there because they've got some of my glass containers tied up and I need to be able to use them again!
I'm no where near as good with using up food, especially fresh stuff (I think there's a box of salad greens that might not have even been opened in the bottom drawer of the fridge... ). I don't have chickens at the moment to eat up everything so into the trash it goes. Depending on what it is sometimes I'll walk it down to the woods and toss it in there. I did that with a bunch of watermelon rind. I just couldn't bear sticking it in the trash. That seemed to make no sense. Eventually I'll have compost, but not yet.
So this week I still have to make summer mix from the corn, zuchinnin, and tomtoes I have, I'll throw that over rice or pasta, not sure which. I have a few more leftover hotdogs and burgers in there still, a leftover jar of pasta sauce that I think will become chicken parm, enough bread and some mozzarella to make another round of open faced tomato mozz sandwiches, and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting already. We haven't eaten out since last Wednesday, and that makes me happy!
Oh, and not only did my neighbors ask me about farm sitting, but one of my usual clients texted, and she is going to switch her weekend for her travel so that I'll be home since we're planning on going away in another week or so again. I love my clients! And I'm SO grateful for the boost in income. She has also let me know that they'll be away for most of the weekends in September since her son plays football at the university he's at, so that will be another boost again.
Not much else to report, it's warm, and humid, and there's some chance of rain, but not a whole lot. We could actually use it now, it's been a fairly dry summer, other than a few downpours that drop 1"+ at once and then dry up again.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Good for not eating out for almost a week. That should save you a bit of change! Sounds like you've got some good clients that make it easy to work for them. That's awesome!