hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

hqueen13

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Oh bummer, @baymule Those are the worst.
The japanese magnolia was outstanding. It really put on a show this year. I'm so glad it avoided getting hit with the frost. The pictures are all on my phone, so I'll have to get them loaded so I can post a few. We've got every kind of daffodil, which makes me happy, too. I know we've got hosta coming up, as well as something that someone once called Ice plant. It's in the succulent family, and is perennial here. We'll see what else materializes.

We made it through the crazy weather. Friday and Saturday were GORGEOUS. Like so amazing! I had the windows opened, and was cleaning stuff, and it was just spectacular. We left the windows open when we went to bed Saturday night because it was still 55 outside and it felt great.... and then woke up to 45 degrees outside and 60 in the house!! EEP! Sunday was misty, windy, and rainy all day. I got hit HARD by my allergies after I did my chores in the barn, so I mostly didn't do anything that afternoon. I laid low and took a nap, and a bath and that was about it. I slept really bad that night, too, and kept waking up to hear the driving rain and wind all night. I knew that the morning hours were supposed to have more rain and wind, but that it was going to slack off after that. I shifted my alarm by an hour and got an extra hour of sleep AND avoided the wind and rain turning out the horses which was a relief. So appreciative of that break!! I was just BEAT though, and ended up cutting my day in the office short by an hour and going home to get in bed for a nap again. My entire ribs all the way around were sore from sneezing all day on Sunday.

I got up just before the BF was supposed to get home and got dressed again so that we could go drop my car at the dealer to have some work done and then go to his dentist appointment which had been postponed due to the March snow. He got home a few minutes later than I would have liked, and then we made the decision to drive the back roads to try to get to the dealer, which wasn't a smart decision, and so we were late getting to the dealer and then it took them forever to get organized to take my car and give me a loaner. Thankfully they at least gave me an Accord instead of a Civic. I dislike small cars anyway, but at least the accord is more comfortable. By that time it was too late to make it to his dentist appointment so he had to reschedule again. I felt bad but there wasn't much I could do about it. We grabbed dinner on the way home and then I crashed.

The rest of my week should be good. I'm in the office alone most of the day today, and then I need to run to the store and take care of the horses before I go home. Tomorrow I'm spending the day with a friend doing fun artsy craftsy stuff. Thursday I'll be in the office alone again, and then Friday I have barn chores, yoga, and I pick KN up from the airport for lessons. Thankfully my lesson has been moved to Saturday so I don't have to rush and do everything on Friday, which was EXHAUSTING last month. Having my lesson on Sat also gets me out of having to go to a family baptism, too. No complaints there. It will also give me time to work Storm before she gets there for my lesson which is good because then we can get in a little more work. If I have the lesson on Friday I have to bring her and then get ready right there, so there's no way I can get him set up and waiting for her to arrive. So we'll see what happens, but it looks like the weather is going to be beautiful on Saturday, which is awesome. I'm going to take my saddle, so maybe I can get on board for a little while. It certainly won't be long because I know my legs can't handle riding correctly for more than just a little while!

So busy time, but hopefully I can keep the allergies at bay and keep things balanced. I did pick up some extra horse care this weekend, it won't be a huge amount but it's money for sure.

And I think we'll be getting our new washer this weekend. I'm excited because I've been avoiding washing certain things because of that washing machine and not trusting it to get it clean and open the dang door again. I can't wait! We'll see how it goes anyway...
 

hqueen13

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So we don't have the washer yet. We thought there were a bunch of rebates, and it turns out you have to buy a "bundle" in order to get that... so you have to purchase the washer, the dryer, a "sidekick" thing which is like a mini washer, a pedastle... yeah, not spending $2500 to get $500 back! I mean that's a good deal, but there's not $2500 to spend!! So we decided to wait a little longer. The old washer is still sort of working, and right now we'd rather not go overboard just to make that happen. I think we'll be able to do it next paycheck if we keep focused on not spending extra money.

But that's getting tough in the moment. My grandmother is in the hospital and has decided she doesn't want to receive any more treatments. It's tearing me apart right now. She's totally at peace with this (to the point where she told my mom to go and clean all her stuff out of the house! My mom was like can you give us a minute?!?!), which is great, but it is so so so hard to know that the last time I spoke to her is THE LAST TIME I will speak to her. So we're trying to make sure that we keep things organized so that we can make an emergency trip back home again. We almost went this weekend, and I kind of wish we had, but when we found out she had decided to refuse treatment, we decided not to go. She's still here (at least I haven't heard otherwise yet this morning), so we'll see how long this process actually takes. Who knows. If she hangs around long enough she might get her wish to have everyone at church with her for mothers day by default of needing to have her services that weekend! We'll see what happens. I really hope that it doesn't happen this weekend because JS is coming and I SERIOUSLY need a treatment. My foot is still bothering me and all of this stress and grief is not helping anything.

Despite all of that, I had my lesson on Saturday, and it was stellar. Storm is really ready for a rider again, which is great. Now hopefully I can ride him well enough! I was able to get on for a few minutes at the end of the lesson which was perfect. Now I just have to make sure that I have time to do that as often as possible. Right now that won't be much, but I really hope when things settle down I'll be able to spend more time riding.

So that's just about all the news around here. The flowers this spring have been slow to come, but they're gorgeous. And I'm seeing birds everywhere, in odd places, which makes me think of my grandmother. We've got a pair of Osprey nesting on the power pole just down from our house, which is awesome. Can't wait to see babies.
 

frustratedearthmother

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So sad about your grandmother. :hugs But, sometimes these oldsters know when they've had enough. Hard for us to accept sometimes though...

Glad you had a good lesson and got to be on Storm if only for a short time. I'll betcha it gets better and better from here.

Save those pennies and get that washer! Smart not to spend $2500 just to get a rebate if you didn't need all the other parts and pieces.
 

Britesea

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It sounds like she's ready to see what happens next; but I'm sure she will be there for you in spirit, when you need her.
 

hqueen13

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Thank you so much, everyone. I really appreciate it. She passed into the spirit world peacefully on Tuesday evening. The grief comes and goes in waves. Knowing what I know now, I wish we had made the trip down, but yet at the same time I'm trusting the divine order. The family has decided to wait a few weeks before having her memorial. If I had known that we would have gone down this past weekend. So it goes.

I spent the day yesterday relaxing, and doing some cleaning and things. It felt good to just focus on taking care of things. I talked with my mom and my sister for a while which was a good thing. We were able to laugh some amid some of the tears. I'm just SO grateful that my grandfather is going to be ok. He is relieved that she's at peace now. We were so afraid, due to the way he was holding onto her, that he would go downhill after she passed. But I think her peace with it was what helped him to be ok. They've been married 70 years, so it's a long long time to have someone beside you every day. I'm just so happy that he's going to be alright.

So not much else happening. I had made alternative plans for JS to be here, and had about 4 people lined up to make sure she could get to where she needed to be, but thankfully we don't need that anymore. I was rather annoyed that I had gone to the trouble and then not needed it, but in the long run I need the body work MORE, so I'm REALLY happy to be here this weekend. I'm also really happy to not be losing money out of this paycheck. I look forward to the day when I won't bat an eye at zipping down there, or back up here, or where ever on a whim. Right now, I have to be a little more careful though.

So that's about all that there is right now.
 

baymule

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Really sorry about your Grandmother. That is a date that we all must keep. It sounds like she had a long life, a long marriage and a very good life filled with her loved ones. We all should have such a good life as she had. Big hugs,
 

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