hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

[frustratedearthmother]

I hate it when I make a mistake like that...grrrrr!

Hope you can get everything worked out with the vacay time. Sounds like a nice, relaxing few days would do you good. Emphasis on "relaxing!"

 

[hqueen13]

Thanks ladies.
I made sure my dad knew that it was not easy for the BF to change the vacation time. I have to review my schedule and figure out when would be better to have them come. I don't have a lot of free weekends in between everything, so we'll have to see how that fits together. I need to do that today for sure.

The weekend went way too fast. The BF took the truck down to his work to repair the wiring and put a new alternator in it. That should take care of the issues with it starting. Apparently the stock wiring is too small anyway, so the BF upgraded it.
He met me, and our neighbor down at my friend's farm to keep working. The Neighbor hauled his little tractor (it's like a glorified lawn tractor but has attachments) down, which has an auger. We got all 8 holes dug in less than 10 minutes. That was a HUGE relief after the debacle with the other auger. The BF and I got all the posts set and the box built on Saturday, which was a good thing.
Sunday I went and did barn chores, and TK, the BF's coworker who wants to learn about horses came to help. I put her to work cleaning stalls while I rode, and then let her ride when she was done. Storm did well and it was so nice to have the time to ride. I haven't gotten a ride in between a lesson in a long time.
After I finished there I met the BF down at my friend's and we got back to work moving stone dust to fill in the box. We got almost all of the pile moved, but then the bobcat leaked too much oil out, so we called KD and he got some more oil out for us so we came and picked it up and refilled it. There was a storm threatening so we decided to call it a night. The bobcat leaked all over the driveway, which stinks, but there isn't much that could be done about it. The BF wants to either use our tractor or a bobcat from work so we don't have to borrow KD's anymore. I don't blame him. So there's just a little more of the pile left to deal with, and we HOPE it fills the box. We'll have to order more for the front of the barn, anyway, and I'm just hoping that we don't need it for the box. I want to finish that up as quickly as possible. We also need to get PAID. We've put about 15 hours into the project so far at this point. And there's still more that we'll have to finish. I just hope it goes smoothy. Ready to be done with this!
As per the usual, I have way too much to do and not quite enough hours to do it in!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

So glad you got an extra ride in! It's nice to have a little extra help!

 

[hqueen13]

Yes, FEM, that is such a blessing! I'm really grateful for her help, and it works well for both of us. She gets experience, and I get help so I can actually have TIME to ride.
This week is WAY busier than I'd like, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I just launched a group program in my business, and while it's tiny it's consuming a lot of my focus, even though I haven't worked on it nearly as much as I need to yet!
In addition to that I'm doing a couple free card readings to get my feet wet because the deck is something that really resonated with me.
Add on top of that not being home for several weekends due to the work on my friend's farm and things at home are messy and gross. The floors are dirty and there's quite a bit of laundry that needs to be done, and the chinchilla cage is WAY over due for cleaning. And of course, the shed project and the driveway are stalled out. Which I guess is ok since we don't have nearly the funds that I thought we had available for that.
We really need to get organized and cook at home, and we always seem to be missing an ingredient that is needed for some dish or meal. I have to stop by the store on the way home to grab bread crumbs so we can make burgers.
So yeah, things are crazy tight and it seems like there's no light at the end of the tunnel at the moment.
And of course as I type this I look out the office window and see a small bunny. So I guess the universe is watching out for me. I'm just really ready to be in a different kind of energy because this is getting old.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hope things get better for you! Having limited funds is always a challenge - but you can do it. Cooking at home can make a difference for sure.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Just a note to add - instead of breadcrumbs for burgers, you can put some oatmeal in a blender and grind it up and use that; it doesn't add any taste and works really well. Actually, I stopped adding anything to the ground beef for burgers beyond seasoning - but I buy 85% lean or better burger.

 

[Britesea]

I have several recipes that I keep on tap because all the ingredients are things I pretty much always have on hand. Also, as @wyoDreamer said, lots of times with a little imagination, you can come up with a substitute ingredient. I can't stress enough just how much money you can save by cooking at home and especially by cooking from scratch. It made a huge impact on our goal to become debt-free.

 

[hqueen13]

Thanks yall!!
I tried stopping for bread crumbs, couldn't find them in the cheap grocery store near us, so I just gave up and went home because I FINALLY remembered we had ritz crackers in the house. Duh. So into the burgers they went. They turned out really good, too!
I know that we need to cook at home more, the struggle has been the amount of time we are out of the house. Working on Cowboy and Coyote's place has meant that we really haven't been home to eat, or are coming home really late and exhausted. That has been frustrating. We've done a little better this week, the only other frustrating thing is that my grocery budget is pretty much almost maxed out already. SO I'll have to rob peter to pay paul when I get paid in a week. I'll get through it, but it's frustrating and annoying. Need to chat with the boss about that raise again...
The BF has negotiated at work to get off early tomorrow and bring a bobcat to Cowboy and Coyote's so that we can finish the work tomorrow afternoon, and then he'll work Saturday morning for them instead. He drives a good bargain when he has the opportunity to do so. We should be able to knock out that work pretty fast. They get home on Saturday, late, which is a good thing, too. I'll have to check in with them and see if they want me to come down on Sunday to pick up a check for all this work. I'm expecting it to be about 18 hours worth by the time we're done tomorrow.
Yesterday I had a great day hanging with friends. I got another ride in on Storm, which was awesome, and then the farrier was there and we trimmed him. He's really tight in a few places, which made it hard for him to get his leg up for long, but we finally got it done. Now I just have to maintain him, cause I didn't do a good job of that this past time, which is why it took forever, and made it harder on him. I'm going to have to have JS check him while she's here because he's got some things going on. I will have one more lesson before JS is here, which is a good thing so I can talk it over with KN and see what she thinks. Hopefully I'll get at least one more ride in before my next lesson, too. We'll see how that goes.
The bad news is that I was getting things done yesterday morning before I left, and I turned the dryer on to run while I was gone at 7:30 before I left. It was still running at 5:30 when I got home. I'm SO SO SO SO SO thankful it didn't burn the house down. The BF is going to have to check to see if he can find a part for it, the timer thing isn't working. It's old, and the dryer that they got to put in the house because the house didn't have one but they had dryer marked on the contract, so they had to do something. It's like a 1970's dryer. I would love a new one, but if it doesn't cost much to get the thing replaced, then I think we'll just do that for the time being.
I think tomorrow since the BF will be coming down to Cowboy and Coyote's with his truck pretty early I might just stay there after yoga and get some computer work done and use her washer and dryer to get the mountain of laundry done quickly and efficiently. I should be able to finish all of it while I'm there (it'll probably be only 2 loads instead of the 3 or 4 loads it would be in our tiny washer), and I can get some computer stuff done which will be a good thing, too. So that's probably the best plan rather than burning up my gas running back and forth 35 miles round trip.
In other good news, HR is going out of town this weekend, and SR asked me to watch the market at the veggie farm on Saturday afternoon/evening. That is much needed income to cover some things (like the new rasp I had to buy because my old rasp got rusty in my box in the barn because things do that in this barn...). Very grateful for the extra income!
So now I just need to figure out groceries and get some cooking done at home. I have a couple whole chickens in the freezer, I need to plan to thaw them and figure out what to do with them. The planning part is the part that doesn't always go so well. Or at least I plan just fine, but then when it comes time to execute, that's when things get tricky. Suggestions for something simple and yummy to do with a whole chicken???

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I love Ritz crackers as a substitute for bread crumbs. They make the best meat loaf EVER!

So glad your dryer mishap wasn't worse. Many years ago I had left a dryer running while we went to town. It was a gas dryer and the belt broke while we were gone. It had already caught the clothes on fire and was starting on the curtains when we got home. Could have been so much worse. That is the one thing that taught me no to leave appliances running when no one I home. I won't even put clothes in the dryer before I go to bed I'm so paranoid, lol.

 

[sumi]

I love Ritz crackers as a substitute for bread crumbs. They make the best meat loaf EVER!

So glad your dryer mishap wasn't worse. Many years ago I had left a dryer running while we went to town. It was a gas dryer and the belt broke while we were gone. It had already caught the clothes on fire and was starting on the curtains when we got home. Could have been so much worse. That is the one thing that taught me no to leave appliances running when no one I home. I won't even put clothes in the dryer before I go to bed I'm so paranoid, lol.

Goodness, FEM, that is scary! And that is why I won't leave anything going when I'm out or sleeping. Too paranoid. (Even though all the appliances in the house was brand new when I moved in)