hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

[hqueen13]

It was breezy here today, but not as bad as the gale on Saturday.

Soooo this morning I am getting up and getting ready and in walks my other half, nearly scared me to death! Of course, my first statement is "what's wrong??" cause he should have been LONG gone down the road to work. No heat. Again. He checked and the 20 gallons was GONE, so he stayed home so that he could meet the propane guys again to get things straightened out.

I had a decent day at work, I guess. Got home and he had been fussing with the propane stuff pretty much all day. The guy had been under the house from one end to the other checking everything. They finally tried to light the pilot again and as soon as the furnace would try to fire up, the pilot would go out. So we had to call back the warranty people and get another claim started again. At least we know we didn't really use that much propane... of course now we still have to refill the tanks entirely So tomorrow I'll have to be home for the service guys to come in and service the furnace and hopefully getting it running. I guess I should be excited for the half day off, hopefully it will be a good day. It works out well, I suppose because I have a couple phone calls to make anyway. It would be great to work the horse, but we'll see how much energy and what kind of mood I'm in tomorrow afternoon. If I'm not in a good mood I've learned I just don't go out there.

I'm worn out and ready to crash.

 

[snapshot]

Hope you get your propane straightened out with a minimum of time and money used! And have a good afternoon tomorrow!

 

[Denim Deb]

It's hearing stories like that that make me glad I heat w/electric and wood!

 

[hqueen13]

Well, at least the weather is beautiful for my half day of work and going home to baby sit the furnace man!

Believe me, Deb, if we could change it we would! Not our house... I can't WAIT to get out of here and on to something else that we CAN control! Our house will have wood heat of some sort, and then beyond that I don't know. The other half would love to do geothermal since the company he works for supplies the parts so he can get it cheaper and it would mostly be the labor we'd have to pay for. Who knows... all depends on where we end up and what the house is outfitted with when we buy it (assuming there is a house on the property!)

 

[hqueen13]

Yay for heat again! Yay for not having to run the space heaters round the clock! Yay for getting it fixed before the power bill was on our dime running space heaters like crazy!

Sort of enjoyed the sunshine today. Had a good conversation with my coworker that was supposed to go shooting with us last week. She and I are both going through some challenges right now, we're both dissatisfied with things in the office and we feel a bit trapped. Both of us feel like we don't really belong there, and have other things that we would really rather be doing that would keep our heart's content much more than the job does. We both know we've got to bide our time until something can change for both of us.

Got a good email today from a friend that teaches Epona work (for horse people it is the work based on the author Linda Kohnaov), she does workshops here at the center, and I have always "assisted" her, which is a great thing for me because no matter how many times we go through the material it is always different with each group of people. It speaks a lot to me spiritually and it is something that I want to get into deeper and explore more connections with the horses and the universe. I believe that it is there within me, but through much of my childhood I shut certain things down. Now it is scary and challenging to try to open those doors again. Anyway, I've been assisting my friend with her clinics for the three years she's been holding them here, and she asked me today if I would be willing to be listed as her assistant on her website as well as receive a stipend for working with her. Would I!? I had been sort of hoping this might happen because her clinics are a lot of work for me. I don't have to do much promo wise, which is good, but I have to be there through the entire clinics for the two days that they run, and while they are not physically challenging, they take a lot of mental and emotional investment. So it was an honor and humbling for her to ask me to be official with her. Now I have to come up with some sort of a bio that is appropriate for this!

Didn't get as much stuff done this afternoon while I was home. I made a few calls, left a few messages, and got one quote for tents/tables/chairs for the upcoming bull roast. Wish I felt like I had accomplished more, but I guess it is what it is...

Speaking of not doing enough, I just realized I didn't get the sheets put back on the bed, and if I wish to sleep in the bed tonight I guess I had better get to that! I hope tomorrow goes quickly... I need another weekend again.

 

[Denim Deb]

I've done the same. Then you're faced w/a choice, put the sheets back on, or just roll up in a blanket. I'll admit, there have been a couple of times I just rolled up in a blanket.

 

[hqueen13]

Well, I did get the sheets into the wash and new ones put on the bed and it felt good My mom is right, a made bed does feel better to sleep in. Too bad I'm too lazy to do it every day!
I also managed to get up a few minutes early and bounce the sheets in the dryer for a minute or two and then hung them on the rack. Hopefully they'll be ready to fold this afternoon when I get home. Trying to reorganize my laundry to do more wash at night and hang dry everything so that we can avoid using the dryer to save more money. We'll see how that goes!!

Gonna rain here today. Better today than tomorrow when we have to feed the horses I do have to do several errands this afternoon though, so that kind of stinks. I need to go by the bank and activate our ATM cards plus deposit a couple of checks. We are almost to the point of closing the old bank accounts and getting completely switched over to the new bank. Whew, I don't want to do that again any time soon! This has taken too much effort!! Tomorrow we are going to start tracking our spending better, so hopefully we'll be able to get a grip on our finances and how much we are spending each month. I still haven't completely developed the spreadsheets yet, but I have the framework organized, and I'll just keep editing as we go along. I am praying we can follow through with this because if we don't we'll never really get out of the position we are in, we'll be forever chasing the dream, and that is not what I want to do!

 

[hqueen13]

Bah Humbug!
I just emailed someone that signed up for our newsletter and entered the drawing to win a year subscription to one of the horse magazines to let her know she won and verify her address. She wrote me back with JUST her address, no nothing else... no "thank you," no "oh! wow!", no nothing. HRUMPH.

 

[hqueen13]

Got a lot done today.
Started out the morning going to the old bank to close the safe deposit box and two accounts. That leaves two accounts open that will have to be closed, and we are waiting on the direct deposit to transfer over so that they, too, can be closed and everything will be in our new bank where it will earn more interest for us!

Left the bank and grabbed breakfast at Panera, and then headed over to the range to shoot the new HK 9mm which will become my gun. It is so ironic that is what we have ended up with. He had the FNP 9mm before, and just didn't like the way it handled, so he was browsing online (sometimes that can be a bad thing!) and found an HK that was an off law enforcement gun for sale for 400 and change - because it was left handed. He ordered it and when it arrived he was astounded to find that it was BEAUTIFUL. This was obviously NOT a carry gun - there are NO marks from being worn in a holster day in and out. Whatever its purpose, it sat well protected since it was made in 1996. So he sold the little 22 rifle that we had, and also the FNP 9mm, and bought the HK. We took it out for the first time today and it is lovely! I shoot it very well for being a novice shooter with no proper instruction. My groupings were mostly within the second ring from the center, with one or two strays here and there. He's still dead! We didn't stay long before heading on to continue our errands.

Stopped by the sawmill and arranged to get a load of 20 yards of mulch and 3 20' logs by next weekend. I just pray the rain shifts and does not arrive on Saturday when we have the volunteers *coughdelinquentscough* coming to help out and spread it for us. Glad we're getting it taken care of, it is long overdue. And the logs will be to outline the new fire pit patio that we are putting together. Should be lovely!

Came home and got started cleaning out the future classroom room. We actually got it done, and I am very pleased with it. All the CRAP is gone from in there and the only things in the room are things that will be used in the room in the future when it is finished, or things that need to be stored neatly that do not yet have a home/space to store them. It was like playing a crazy game of switcharoo because there just isn't space to move things to organize them and then get them into a different place. So some things need to be moved to a different place in order to make space so that other things could be put away in new places. Once the room was organized I needed to move other things around in the main part of the building so that I could create a space for our stuff that got bumped out of the classroom. I finally managed to get it shuffled around, and got the new shelving unit (well, we've had it a year, but haven't put it up yet!) put up and then got all of our stuff stacked onto it. I was really pleased that it all fit neatly, and that the old ragged fitted sheet that had formerly been covering the pile fit perfectly over the top of the shelf and hangs down so that it covers everything and would clip nicely to the sides with clothes pins to protect the shelf and contents from the bird poop.

I emailed the barn manager and let her know everything that was accomplished, and she was grateful. I told her about the fact that I had shuffled things around quite a bit when I put up the shelf, and that I found a number of things that seemed like they weren't very useful, but that I was afraid to toss some of it because I just didn't know what it was. I also told her that I found the same shelves on amazon for only 50.49 each and they qualify for free (slow) shipping. She had me order 3 of them, and so once they come in she and I will get in there and try to develop some kind of system for all the miscellaneous farm SCHTUFF that is needed and can't be thrown away but MIGHT be needed some day. So I am looking forward to accomplishing that project so that the area can be better used which will improve storage of the hay that goes in that building.

After that I bathed the dog and then took a shower myself and then relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

 

[Denim Deb]

Sounds like you got quite a bit accomplished.