hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

Thanks FEM! I have 10 people signed up now, which is getting really close to my limit. I have room for about 12, I think. Just got all my paperwork printed up for the workshop while in the office, so that is a good thing. I picked up paper plates and napkins yesterday. I still need cups, table clothes, stir sticks for mixing, a couple of spoons for serving, some extra measuring spoons and things (I need to check my supply of old scoops from my supplements, they should work just fine), and name tags. I need to make up some slips of paper for people to register/use for the drawing, and I think that will be all. Since I'm in the office today and off tomorrow and Friday I'm going to get everything sorted out and packed up then. I'll have plenty of time to get organized.
Realized that I didn't go to the feed store yesterday like I should have when I ran errands and now I am out of feed for Scooter who gets 6 lbs a day. That means I have to leave one side of town at 4 and try to make it to the other side of town by 6. My accountant let me know that our taxes are done, and I'd LOVE to get over there to sign those this evening, too, but they close at 5... Even if I got both of those things done tonight, I still have to go out tomorrow to finish the errands I was going to run tonight for my class this weekend. So I don't get out of running around tomorrow no matter what I do. And on top of needing feed for tonight I still have to pick stalls in the barn and finish cleaning up, which I didn't do before racing out this morning. I will be REALLY glad when its not so cold and these weenie horses can stay out overnight. Of course, they need to be getting into the hay feeder more, but still.
In addition to all of that, the house desperately needs to be cleaned. My friend that house sat for us didn't get to clean up like she wanted to because we got home earlier. There is mud and hay all over the floor. The cats just smear everything all over everywhere which is oh so exciting. I also need to put a call into a carpet cleaner to see what it will cost to have the carpet in the bedroom cleaned plus the couch and maybe the recliner. With the animals it would be nice to have them professionally cleaned. I can do the carpet, but I don't really have confidence attempting to clean a sofa and chair.
So much to do, so little time...

Eek! I just found out that my boss finally moved a shelf I had been waiting on him to move. So now I have more work to do again. So I started moving things around for the next phase of reorganizing, and just got all hot and sweaty. Of course I would wear a sweater to work the day that he decides to actually get something done! Now I'm trying to cool off so that I don't stink in the office! I had a shower, but still! Never a dull moment.

Uh oh! Maybe some of it can wait until tomorrow and you can dress a little cooler?

Well, I've gotten a lot done. The two shelves downstairs are moved, and I just cleared off the 2 shelves upstairs that have to be moved down. We have a main suite on the first floor, and another suite which used to be our admin on the 3rd floor. We're closing down the admin office since we rearranged things recently and so I'm in charge of getting all of this junk organized. I need to get the office cleaned out so that I can move everything we're keeping downstairs, and put everything we're getting rid of upstairs so that we can do a massive freecycle and get rid of ALL of it. I'm sick of looking at this junk! My goal is to get the 2 shelves moved downstairs today, and then when I'm back in the office on Monday I'll move all the boxes that go on them down. All 34 of them. And they're all full. Of paper. That'll probably take me all day, and YES, I will be dressing cooler that day!!

Oh wow - that sounds like a huge project! Lotsa good exercise though...

Well.... things certainly didn't go as planned! But lots of stuff has been moved!
Thursday and Friday I organized myself for my essential oils class that I was teaching. That happened on Saturday, the coldest and windiest day of the year. It went really well, and I had a great time, and learned several things that I'll be able to employ for next time. I walked away with a really decent amount of cash in my pocket that definitely made the effort worth while. The next one will be even smoother, I am sure since I've figured several things out along the way, which also means more money kept in my pocket.
While I was gone the BF went to the dmv and got his learners permit for this CDL-A license. That's a great step forward for him. He also spent time reorganizing the shed and put up a folding work bench that will make it easier to actually do stuff in there. I told him he was crazy for doing that on the coldest windiest day of the year, but at least he got it done...
Saturday night the BF took me out to dinner at a fantastic restaurant. It wasn't cheap, but we have decided that if we really focus then we can stay organized and eat out less often but justify spending a little more to have a better quality meal. He had bacon wrapped filet mignon and I had a pan fried pork chop that was the most tender pork chop I have ever had! The BF said that if pork chops tasted like that we could get pigs! I know that is a far off thing, but I am slowly trying to introduce him to quality foods that actually taste good. His only experience with pork chops has been whatever his mom cooked, and I'm sure it was not quality at all. It was SO tender and juicy.
Sunday we didn't have a huge amount to do, but got some cleaning done in the house and spent some time together which was really nice. We also got the grocery shopping done, which was a good thing. We've been doing better, so that makes me feel good.
It was forecasted to snow again on Monday, so I texted BO and told her to text me if the boss decided to change the schedule. I told her I'd be up early because I had to take care of the horses and go to a friend's farm since they were out of town, so I had to leave the house anyway. I get to the office and discover an email that was sent at 7:15, basically when I was walking out the door, that said that he decided to close the office. ARGH!
So I decided to take advantage of the quiet building (being a holiday a lot of places were closed anyway) and I hauled all those boxes of files downstairs and put them away. It was MUCH easier to do without anyone to bother me, so it worked out well even if I didn't have to be in the office that day. I went home and was able to still get stuff done which was good. I got caught up on some laundry and cleaning, and even put dinner in the crock pot.
The snow was supposed to turn to freezing rain overnight, and so the couple inches of pretty fluff got watered down and slick on top. It was ok walking on the snow, but if the area had been cleared it was straight sheet ice. The BF was so nice to stop by the farm and feed the other horses for me so I didn't have to leave the house, and then yoga was cancelled, much to my relief, so I was able to stay home all day. I started feeling a little icky, so I took a nap with the cats in the afternoon, but still got lots of stuff done. I managed to get the 2 loads of clothes folded form the day before, washed and folded the sheets, and washed and hung the towels. I also got the financial stuff caught up for January and cleaned up most of my stuff from my workshop on Saturday. It was one of those good days in the house where I got lots done and was quite content.
Overnight I started to feel a little worse, so I had the BF turn off my alarm and slept until I woke up, which was an hour later than I would have otherwise, but still only 7:00. I rolled out of bed and got the horses fed and turned out and then headed to work. BO was kind enough to buy me lunch for forgetting to tell me that we were closed on Monday, so I get to have a treat for lunch. We'll do a little more moving of stuff today, and then I'll head home. Since I got 3 1/2 hours on Monday (when I was technically already paid for 7 1/2), I have to catch up some more tomorrow. I'll split the difference and work two shorter days, which shouldn't be too bad but it will keep my hours up at least.
Yesterday after I got the financial tracking for last month put together I managed to get myself set up with the budget program that I bought several months ago. I set the business up as well as myself personally. I think it will help me a lot personally. I've paid my credit cards for the month, so I don't have to do any other payments until next month, so the money that I have now, plus the money coming in from my fed return will help give me a boost so I can lower some of my bills. I just did another balance transfer on one of my credit cards, so that will reduce interest and give me a monthly payment. With the fed return I'll be able to make an "extra" payment so I can lower the total monthly payments which will help. Now I just have to stick to my budget and work to make sure that I can pay off everything I spend each month. This little budgeting program should help. Now I just have to remember to track everything I spend! I'm so serious about getting OUT of debt this year. I'm DONE with trying to always catch up, and never really getting there. I have a very tiny amount of debt compared to many, many people, but it is still more than I want at all!

Back in the office today to catch up on the balance of hours that I missed on Monday. Not real thrilled to be here, and will likely fudge my way through the day. I don't know what I'm going to do when I move back downstairs and have to share an office with someone... I'll actually have to mind my p's and q's!
Got to the library yesterday afternoon and picked up a couple cookbooks, including one on dehydrating stuff. That will help us get started for sure. I know I want to do those potatoes that I just bought, I just have to figure out how and find the time to prep them since they should probably be blanched.
I need to run by the store before I go home today to grab a few things. I need more greens, and some lemons. I'm not sure what else, but I think I'm forgetting something. Since its mostly on the way home that makes it easier than driving out of my way on a day off.
I'm still feeling under the weather. Drinking LOTS of lemon honey tea, and taking extra C and D vitamins. My head feels stuffed up but my nose isn't running which I guess is better than the other way around.
We did get the desk moved downstairs yesterday so that is ready to go when I make the final transition. Now I need to sort through all this CRAP and get it listed for sale or freecycle. There is so much that needs to go its crazy. This is the part that I am not looking forward to. But it has to be done, and I need to get moving on it so that its done before we have to get out of here at the end of next month.
I also discovered last night that I had a lot more hay than I thought I had. I might be able to sell some of what I've got and make a bit of a profit off of it. The only annoying part is that involes moving it, and its tucked into the back of the barn behind all my big bales. The BF says he'll move the big bales out with the bobcat and then move the bricks of small bales out all at once, which I guess is ok. I just worry that they aren't going to stay in a brick when we go to move them since we don't have the fancy big grippy spike system that they have.
Things keep moving on...

Wow - you've always got a billion irons in the fire! Hope you get to sell some of the hay - a profit is always a good thing!

Yup!! It would be great. As soon as these weenie horses go out into the pasture at night I'll be using even less small bales. I can't imagine that I'll need 147 small bales before the weather brakes and we have new hay again. I don't really want to keep too much into the next year either. I'd rather have fresh again. Guess I need to figure out what I can sell.

Is it bad that now that I have my budget doodad set up I really want to see it work? But there isn't anything to look at if you look at it compulsively 20 times a day...