LOL, Me too!!!! I don't now how I managed it all, either, FEM, Its been nuts!
I just worked out the details with my friend that is bringing her horse in to my place for training. Its going to work out to be an extra almost $500.00 per month for us as long as he's here for only about 4 hours worth of work per week. That's HUGE. Straight away that money is going to go into savings. I'm going to put away money so that I can have some ready to buy more hay when we run out of what we have, put aside enough to pay for the renewal of my business insurance, and then start setting it aside for possibly buying a trailer so that we can haul the hay feeders on our OWN. It should only take about 6 or 8 months of him being with me in order to accomplish all of that. I'm THRILLED at the opportunity that the universe has blessed me with - both in therms of the monetary gift, as well as the opportunity to work with a lovely little horse that will give me a chance to learn more and expand my skills again. Thank you universe!
I rushed around like crazy yesterday... drove over 100 miles by the time it was all said and done. Got up, took the dogs out, fed Grace and Storm, drove to my friend TO's place, fed 2 horses and the cat, drove around to the next driveway and fed GH's 2 horses, drove to work. Found out they needed a hearing aid in one of the satellite offices that afternoon, left work a little early to drive out to that office to drop it off, then drove to S's farm to go over the routine while they were out of town with all 350 chickens and the dog, drove home real quick to change, drove all the way back to the office side of town to the restaurant for the dinner party (had a great time), left there, and drove back to TO's house to take care of the cat (the BF was kind enough to stop by and take care of all the horses for me, but the cat requires going into the house, which is alarmed and he doesn't want to mess with the alarm, I don't blame him I hate messing with the alarm!). Finally got home and CRASHED!
The office party was lovely. The boss gave us all $100.00 visa cards, which was a surprise, and blessing. Now I might be able to get those stools I was considering getting... We also exchanged our last gift of our secret santa exchange. The hilarious part was that I had AM's name, and she had mine! She gave me a tervis cup with a horse and my name on it in purple and a candle. I was delighted! She loved the mug I gave her with the dunkin gift card.
Got a text this morning from S that he's not feeling well enough for them to travel, so that takes the chickens off the hook. I'm a bit relieved because having all 3 friends out of town at once is crazy, especially because the chickens have to be cared for at specific times. I'm bummed for him, but hopefully he'll reschedule the trip to a time when I'm not so busy! LOL
I'm in the office today, and then I'm not coming back until Monday!! I'm ready for a break, and ready to be able to breathe and catch up around my house. There's a reason I only work part time! So grateful for the check, but I need a break. The weather should be clear, but cold, until the weekend, so I'm hoping to get some serious work sessions in with Storm. My plan for Othello (the new horse) is to put him by himself for a day or so, which he's used to, to get him used to the property and to me providing his food. Then I'll put Storm in with him so they can bond and Storm can start teaching him to be a real horse. Then once they've settled good, I'll put the two of them into the pasture. I have a second new horse coming in on Friday as well, so that's going to be tricky juggling both, but hopefully she will get settled in quickly so that I can add Storm and Othello in without too much trouble. The weather over the weekend is supposed to be nasty raining, but hopefully it won't be too difficult for Othello to be taken care of. Hopefully I'll also be able to get started right away working with him. I have my instructors first two books on basic handling and ground work, so I'll be following that program to put a proper foundation on him, since no one ever bothered to do that for him. I think he'll come around fast, he's unconfident, and just doesn't know. But he's young enough and smart enough to figure it out quickly.