Caz counts it down

Mara_uk7

He is gorgeous ... And how much extra work can one wee pony make ...;)

DebtFree2012

Aw Caz - I wish I was more sensible but if he's come back into your path and is for sale.....surely it's meant to be. As for your own ability - i have every faith in you that even if you don't know the answer today, you will find it out.

Can you visit him, after all - his character will speak to you one way or the other. 121 time may seal the deal either way?

Pre empting my next post of "when is he arriving?" Good luck xxx

cazmanian_minx

Oi you lot, you're supposed to be helping me be sensible :rotfl: I might have just sent a little email asking how he turned out....

Actually, I'm feeling a bit of a fraud about it. I've been reading through some of the new diaries here and there are people battling really serious situations on top of their debts, like abuse, illness and so on and I'm sitting here idly wondering whether I should buy a third horse....

It's been a good day today. I had a missed call on my phone yesterday from a friend who I affectionately call The Lovely Ex (we went out for about six months, he ended it because he wasn't really in the right head space for a relationship and we've now been friends for 21 years) so after a bit of telephone tag I got to speak to him this morning and have a catch up on what he's been up to in the last couple of years (we don't speak often, but it's one of those friendships where we don't need to). The Lovely Ex has always been self-employed and I guess subconsciously he was one of the reasons I thought I could manage to go it alone as well. I've seen him struggle through cashflow problems, banks closing his account, two large South African gentlemen shadowing his every move for a week (the reason he couldn't come to my first wedding!!) and yet he's always come through his problems and now he's really made good and is rapidly becoming a wealthy man. I'm so pleased for him, he's worked so hard. He's 11 years older than I am; maybe if I keep plugging away at it I'll be able to mirror his success when I'm his age.

This afternoon I went to the tack shop and spent my Facebook winnings...on a 10kg tub of Protexin. Yes, I was good, but I also bought a new girth for Finn's saddle (the one I bought on eBay had been mis-measured and is a bit too short - this one was only £6), paid for two worm egg counts (£15 - I left them with two Tesco bags of poo to analyse :rotfl:) and bought Norman-the-huge-Irish-Draft-next-door some treats (£3) because Gill-the-rug-lady had refused to take any money off me for repairing Finn's rug, saying it only took her a couple of minutes and to get Norm a treat from her instead.

cazmanian_minx

Where has this week gone? Time for scores on the doors again.

Business
Overdraft: -£-7900.87 / -£7881.82 +£19.05

Business total: -£-7900.87 / -£7881.82 +£19.05

Personal
Overdraft: -£1202.80 / -£1313.58 -£110.78
Egg card: -£3150.00 / -£3150.00 no change
Barclaycard: -£2455.00 / -£2455.00 no change
Nationwide card: -£2600.00 / -£2600.00 no change

Personal total: -£9407.80 / -£9518.58 -£110.78

Grand total: -£17,308.67 / -£17,400.40 -£91.73

Slipping back in the wrong direction again, but it's been an expensive week for the business with two payments to suppliers and having to pay next month's eBay fees up front to get the US$ balance problem sorted. The good news is that with my two deliveries both in the air (the flatbacks left Hong Kong this morning, the charm bracelets are on their way from Inverness to Thurso and should be here on Monday), only a tiny eBay bill for next month and a small Royal Mail one for November, the next 8-10 weeks should see a lot of cash flowing in.

cazmanian_minx

Oh, and horse update - they replied to say yes, he was a horse they'd bred and they still had him. That was it, so I'm guessing he's not for sale any more.

cazmanian_minx

I had an early start this morning to go and give my neighbour some support at her first ever show with her horse. Turned out to be an earlier one than I imagined; Mr Minx still has the lurgey and was snoring so loudly at 3am that he woke me up - and I'd decamped to the spare room!!!!! I couldn't get back to sleep (thinking about a certain grey pony who, it turns out, is still for sale and is within budget), so lay there and read until dawn broke and then got up, walked the dog, mucked out and fed the horses and beetled off to the show.

It's actually been a fairly cheap day as a result, just £3.50 for a cheeseburger from the van for lunch, although it did mean that Mr Minx was let loose unchaperoned in the big Tesco and he forgot to eat before he went in, so we have a fridge CRAMMED full of stuff!

I got the worm count results. The tack shop owner sent me a message asking for the boys' worming history so she could advise me on the best course of action as the results were 'marginal'. Uh-oh, I thought. Marginal sounds bad. Marginal sounds like I'm on the edge of having to pump them full of nasty chemicals. Nope, turned out to be damnyouautocorrect.com for 'minimal' - only two eggs found in the whole lot (one from each horse!), so all they need is a precautionary dose for tapeworm

Anyway, I've been sitting around in the cold all day and have a splitting headache and a sore throat now, so I'm going to take a couple of painkillers and head off to a very early bed. Night all xx

cazmanian_minx

On the sofa, nursing mild concussion after Mr Finn took offence at his new girth and bucked me off just as I was mostly off the mounting block (OK, bucket with a breezeblock on top of it!) but not quite yet in the saddle. I stuck on for about 10 seconds before he dumped me on the hill and my head hit a stone so hard that it chipped my hat through its jockey silk That's £55 going in the bin (this is the one I bought last month!!), but I dread to think what state my skull would be in without it, so I don't begrudge it too much. Once I'd picked myself up, caught the pony and burst into tears all over my worried husband who'd come belting down when he saw Finn appear at speed with no rider, I investigated and found that the new, slightly longer girth I'd been using for the first time had the size label sewn into the inside surface rather than the outside - he's very sensitive around his stomach and I guess it must have dug in or scratched or something. He did kick at his stomach when I was doing the girth up and I put it down to just being a bit peeved at having to do some ridden work for the first time in 8 weeks. Lesson learned!

I forgot to say; the charm bracelet delivery turned up on Friday afternoon, which was fantastic timing because I'd posted out the last 18 that morning! The flatbacks arrived at East Midlands airport yesterday and have cleared customs, but don't seem to have moved anywhere today - hopefully they'll be on their way north tomorrow. A very nice lady has spent over £200 in the shop today and I've had a request for '40-550', which I hope is a typo for 50, of one type of ring blank - I'll order them on Monday for her, hope the supplier has that many in stock....

Hiddenidenity

Oh dear I hope you start to feel better soon

Good news on the sales though

DebtFree2012

Sounds like a day in the life of our farm Caz. You are so lucky to have your new hat on, fate I think. Are you getting a new one and back in the saddle? Glad you're ok. I find it takes me longer to recover from falls and spills these days! When I was younger.......ahhh well!

Great news on sales though. Lovely to see a business built from the ground up.

cazmanian_minx

Yup, actually it might be back in the saddle before I get a new one, as if I leave it too long my nerve will go. This afternoon or tomorrow I'll take him in my neighbour's sand school, jump on bareback and just walk him around for a bit - should sort us both out as it's probably not pleasant for him to have a human hanging off the side of him yelling WHOAAAAAA FINNNNNN! at the top of her voice.

I'm mostly better this morning, bit of whiplash in my neck and I feel rather like Jarvis, Tony Stark's computer in Iron Man 3, when he says "It's totally fine, sir. I seem to do quite well for a stretch and then at the end of the sentence I say the wrong cranberry" as it took me a good five minutes to come up with the right word for nylon last night (I kept wanting to say polystyrene!).

£841.55 banked this morning, that's payday sorted