hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

Yeah, I'm to the point where I don't appreciate fighting the crowds either. I do a the majority of it online, or easy to grab stuff like gift cards. I would have gone and picked up the gifts I was getting for the BF but Home Depot had free shipping and it wasn't in stock, anyway, so that just made it easy. It's supposed to be delivered today, I just hope it's there when I get home and I get home before he does! LOL I have one more thing to get for him, and that will be an amazon order, plus I need to get stuff for my sister's family and my parents (that'll be a gift card since they're moving anyway!) and probably my grandfather. I need to check in with mom on that one and see what is a good idea for him.

Yesterday I had a pretty good day, I was mostly at home. I have been trying to get a urine sample from my cats for a while because I think they've got crystals in their urine. I finally got one of them to go, and was able to get it and dropped it at the vet's office yesterday. I don't know who it was exactly, since I was outside, but I'm pretty sure it was Specter, and apparently he does have crystals in his urine. So now I'm doing research to figure out what to do. The biggest change is getting more water into them, which is not that difficult to do thankfully. Beyond that making some changes in his diet would be helpful. I found a super thorough website, so I'm doing lots of reading right now trying to figure out what the best course of action is. I really don't want to put them on a medicated diet, that will be expensive, and not nearly as beneficial as I think most people make it out to be.

In between waiting for the cats to pee yesterday I managed to get a bunch done outside. The BF had been wanting to clear away the stuff from around the shed so he can start to figure out how to get it moved, and I was able to get that done for him. He's been getting home so late that it's dark already so he can't get anything done. It was mostly a lot of junk, so I just moved it out of the way. I also got all the pavers that we dug up from the pathway stacked out of the way. That's part of the area that we were trying to get filled in so that it won't push the water into the new driveway once we get around to it. We have clear weather this weekend, so I really hope the BF can be home and work on some of that stuff. I'm ready to keep this project moving. I think I have an idea about how to get the shed lifted up, but we'll see if it works or if the BF wants to try it. I think if he gets the farm jack and slowly lifts up easy side, and the center one spot at a time and uses thin boards each time and keeps going back and forth he might be able to get it lifted enough to get a large board slid under it all the way across. Then he'd be able to use the bobcat with the bucket to lift it up from there because the whole thing would be supported. THEN we might be able to look underneath and figure out how to get the junk out from under it so that it can be moved. We'll see. It sounds good in my head, but what do I know, I'm just a girl.

Tomorrow is turning out busier than I was planning, but that's ok. I have to farm sit this weekend, and I don't know if that starts tomorrow morning or evening. I'd really prefer that it start tomorrow evening, even though the money would be really helpful. Tomorrow morning I have to get barn chores done, get to yoga, and then stop by Cowboy and Coyote's before I head to my friend's house. We need to catch up, and her new dog isn't settling in to the household smoothly, so I'm going to go help her with that. Then I'll have to stop at Cowboy and Coyote's again and also take care of my friend's animals in the evening. I would rather not have to squeeze a stop at her place into the morning as well. I'll have to get up really early to make that happen and I'm just not interested in doing that!

Do you ever slow down? lol Sounds like you are perpetual motion...but with a new house and all the chores that go with it - I'm not surprised. Hope you get your cat's issue taken care of.

Waiting for a cat to pee..... do cats EVER do what you want them to?

FEM, no, I don't really slow down, LOL.
No, @baymule they don't!

We had a pretty good weekend. Saturday morning the BF had to work, I was able to get some things done in the house. His uncle was supposed to come pick up the bobcat, so I figured I'd better do a little cleaning just in case his uncle came over and wanted to see the inside of the house. He hasn't actually ever been in our house since he didn't come to our party last year and hasn't had time to come in when we've been home. The cleaning that I did really needed to be done, so that was a good thing anyway. I decided to do a little more decorating, so I got the tree skirt thingy on (It's not really a tree skirt in the traditional sense... I don't know what to call it...) which hides the base of the tree stand, and then started putting up my beloved candy canes on the garland. They turned out cute, although they all hang in the exact same direction which is a little funky, but I love them, and I'm glad I have a place to hang them. The BF got home not long after that, and we decided to get some dirt moved around before we went to his cousin's 1 year old birthday party. We pulled up some pavers in a spot we wanted to relevel so that it's more usable, and then he worked on fixing some of the grading that had been started. I know it won't stay that way forever, but it is SO much nicer to have it smoothed out so you can walk on it and so that there isn't a big hole in front of the dirt pile that collects water. So now at least you can walk through it without twisting and ankle or something. It's been so cold that the dirt is all frozen anyway. I fixed a few spots that had settled where we buried the gutter, so that should help to make it better, too. We finally left to go to the party, and hung out for a while before running back over to HR's to take care of the ponies and cats for the evening.

Sunday I got up to go to barn chores, and he decided to work on decorating outside. He went and bought a few more lights, and he had a lot done when I got home. I was hungry, and he wanted to get some more lights since the first sets weren't enough, so we headed out to grab food and swing by a few stores. It took 3 stops before we found a wreath that would work, and then we had to go by Home Depot again for more lights. It looks really cute, even though we need MORE lights still (do you know how many lights it takes to make a shrub look good?!). I might have to talk to him about that because I'd rather not spend a whole lot more money at this point. We'll see how it goes. When we got back home we finished getting the leaves out of the front yard. Do not leave leaf piles to sit. It's a terrible idea and makes them stupid heavy. It took 7 trips with crazy heavy leaves on a tarp to get them down the hill and into the woods. It was terrible! We discussed several times how we'll have nice mowers to just mulch them and let them be where they are next year instead of doing all this work. We took a break after that, and then went back out to put up the stuff we got. The house looks so cute. I love christmas decorations. It makes everything so bright and cheerful.

We finally came in and I got in a hot bath to soak. It felt soooooo good after being in the cold all day and hiking up and down the hill plus all the barn chores. I'm still achy today, but the bath felt great. After I got done we reheated some leftovers for dinner, and then just crashed. I was so tired!

This week is going to be a bit crazy, but the pay check is going to be fat... One of my coworkers is away on vacation so I'm going to be helping to cover for her. I'm not excited about being in the office every day this week (or the gas it's going to burn getting here!), but it will be nice to get the pay check. Hopefully I can manage to stay sane in between, we'll see how that goes!

How about a picture of your place all lit up with Christmas lights? Please?

I'll have to figure out how to get it off my phone and on here, @baymule It's super cute though!

Not much is really changing this week other than the fact that I'm still in the office. The only other secretary that is supposed to be here today called out sick. And I was supposed to leave at noon. The only other gal in the offices right now on the front desk has offered to help me cover, so we'll see what happens. I didn't bring lunch with me since I was supposed to leave at noon. Of course, with the holidays, there's enough junk in this office to eat for weeks, so I supposed I don't need anything, but I'd rather not eat that, either!

Hope you get coverage and don't have to stay all day! Kinda stinks when your plans change through no fault of your own!

If you have internet on your phone, log in to SS and download your picture, then post to the site.

I do @baymule I just don't use it often. The interface doesn't work as well on my phone as it does on the computer

I survived yesterday. There were totally some peevy things about it, but it was an alright day in the long run. I got home just in the nick of time to get set up for my call (that was paid, so I didn't want to push it off any more than I already had), and it went fabulously!! I was thrilled because the woman was a 60+ year old woman who had raised, trained, and broken Quarter Horses her entire life. She had a 2 year old filly that was really giving her doubts and making her question herself. I was concerned that my suggestions wouldn't be welcomed as many years as she had working with horses. But I pegged her horse RIGHT on (Sassy don't-tell-me-what-to-do-I-already-know-what-the-right-answer-is). I also pegged that the filly likes really calm grounded infinitely "unruffleable" energy, which is exactly how she has been approaching the situation. I was able to give her some suggestions and reassure her that she IS on the right path, and to let go of the time line. I can't wait to hear from her to get an update. She's got some strategies to work with now that I think will help shift things for the filly, and honestly, the work I do often shifts a lot on it's own, so we'll see. I should get an update from her in a few days I expect.

After that, I went and found the box on the porch that my dad sent. I was already irritated about this because he mailed it with a signature required. It was expected to arrive on Thursday, which I'm NEVER home on Thursday, anyway. The neighbor wasn't sure he was going to be home, either. So I called the PO and they said I could come and sign the signature thingy in advance. Great, drove ALL the way up there (our official PO is no where near convenient!) and signed the thing, and also asked that they put it on the side porch instead of the front porch as it is a little more protected and less obvious than the front porch. She said she'd give him the note. When I finally looked on the porch (actually to turn on the Christmas lights, SO thankful that I did!) I noticed the box. Opened the door and found a big chunk of the side of the box chewed. I think the squirrels in our neighborhood are REALLY bold. My mom packed a loaf of the banana bread that she made, and the bloody rodent chewed a good chunk of it. Thankfully not all of it, so I just cut off that piece and saved the rest, but STILL. I told my mom to send it to my office next time where someone is always there to receive it, and can sign for it if they really want to do it that way. I was super disappointed, and that kind of crashed me for the evening, but in the long run it's not a big deal. I still got everything that was in the box, and nothing was damaged.

The BF came home and I just didn't have the energy to do anything else, so it was a frozen pizza night. Hopefully I can must up the energy to cook something tonight. It won't be difficult, I already have a boat load of mashed potatoes leftover from making chili and we can do a salad easily, or steam broccoli. I just need to remember to grab chicken out of the freezer and put it in some water when I get home so I can bake it. We need a good dinner, my stomach has not been happy with all the junk we've been eating lately.

I'm so ready for the week to be over. I'll be in the office most of the day today, and then I have to come back to the office tomorrow after barn chores and yoga, which means I'm going to be totally wiped out. Thankfully I don't have any extra barns this weekend, so I'll be able to take it somewhat easy. Oh, and it's supposed to rain ALL weekend. So there goes any hope of getting anything done outside. Not that there is room in the budget for it, but I was hoping to start working on the base for the shed so that we can get that moved SOON. I guess we'll just be planning and getting the budget worked out. The BF has over spent his pay check anyway, so there is that. My pay check was fairly good, and it will be pretty good for the next couple of checks, which is awesome. So that helps tremendously. I have enough to be able to do some Christmas shopping, which is really, really nice. It's not paying down debt, but I'm hoping the tax return does that for me!

I love leftover mashed potatoes, I make potato patties. I mix in an egg or two, chopped onion and 1/2 to 1 cup of flour. Then I spoon drop into hot grease, flatten them with the spoon, and fry them. They heat up good too, I put them on a cookie sheet in the oven. Haha, leftover, leftover potato patties! Gotta have the flour or else they just fall apart in the skillet.