Positive thinking!

Cwtchie

Well that was a shock! The extremely polite and well mannered new hay man arrived today, and swore his head off, every other word! After I got over the initial shock, DD and I collapsed in fits of giggles, how to completely misjudge someone over a telephone. Ah well lol!

So 3 new bales of haylage at £28 each. That means now that the hay I had the other day should last about....25 weeks or so for monkey pony and I will have to buy 3 or 4 haylage a month, less in the summer, so overall a saving of £50 a month and in January it would have been a saving of nearly £200!!! Trouble was the hay was not good so they were wasting loads of it, so went through it like wild fire and I had to have more. Luckily I went for small bales in the hope they'd be better and they were, so overall result!

Following a meeting this morning, I may have more work this weekend and possibly a more consistent hours shortly, I am not holding out though as it would be too good to be true, so fingers crossed

DD has confided in me (through tears) that she hates college, the lecturers are not professional, other than one, and truthfully she is more experienced and rides to a much higher flat work level than (no disrespect) they could ever hope to aspire to, so they belittle her to make themselves look good . I have asked her if I can get involved and kick *** but she is not willing! knowing that it would make things worse. It really is wrong and she should be able to gain an education without the bullying. So....I have asked her to attempt to last the week out and see how she feels, but I'm not holding out much hope . I think the best thing if she leaves will be to compete against them just for the hell of it and thrash their socks off....or am I being childish . Anyway no one needs the carp they are giving her

On a good note the horses went really well yesterday, the bigger one was particularly good, loose and coming through, did some particularly lively shoulder in. Stepping well through and keeping a good strong rhythm, yep he gave some lovely work and DD was chuffed, the younger one was also good, she stretched round over her back and really lifted up into the saddle, happy days

DH and DS business doing well still, hope it continues

I HAVE to do my tax return tomorrow!!! Must remember! Arghh!

No cooking today as such, DH did baked pots, cheese and left over gammon with a "special" mix of herbs, yum . Will do the raw chicken Thursday, oh and DD has joined a group on Facebook which posts slow cooker recipes, hot cross buns, lasagne, all sorts

Lunch out tomorrow for DH and me, all paid for by my work, I've told DH to fill right up so we can just snack later lol . Cheaper that way x

Hope you have a lovely day x

ScattySkewbald

Really sorry DD is having a rough time at college - the horsey world an be a very strange b**tchy place at times, so sad fingers crossed it all gets sorted for her, be such a shame if she packs it in. What course is she doing?

Fab saving on the hay :j

DebtFree2012

What she said ^^ I hate bullying in any way shape or form and I too would want to step in and kick a$$ for her. I would escalate it if I were her, invoke their formal complaint procedure, get more than one person informed so they cannot ignore it and even if she doesn't want to stay - at least the next poor person won't go through it. She is obviously intimidating them (without meaning to) by being the amazing star that she sounds Also - is she free in 2 years to train on a well run family yard :D:D haha only kidding.

My yard is owned by a family with 2 daughters who ride at European level, have major wins at HOYS, Hickstead, scope etc but they still train the likes of me. They have not let it go to their heads (too much!) and these college sorts sounds like they are considering themselves way above their stations!

Rant over

Don't forget your tax!

I did a lasagne in the SC and I thought it was lovely though DH thought the pasta was a bit mushy - maybe I over did it.

Our chicken was lovely last night, nice and juicy still. No SC is on today though, tomorrow is beef and prune stew (old WW recipe that is YUM!).

cazmanian_minx

Sounds like she might be better off as a working pupil in a really good yard somewhere.

Cwtchie

Thanks everyone x
She's decided she's going to try and stay, she's doing an extended diploma, she's already achieved the diploma, working at home I might add with very little help from them, and in the past year has achieved her bhs stages 1-3 with distinction. Shes ridden and trained our bigger one to advanced medium with about 6 or so lessons a year, she's just basically talented and doesnt blow her own trumpet. But she's my baby so I am going to say that . She wants to do her ptt and ukcc but as there is no help,at all, she's going to do a day release at a different place later on in the year.

First thing today me, DH and my mum went down the yard to feed, muck out etc. the weather was grey and it was spitting a bit. We'd been down there about 5 mins and out of nowhere the most enormous storm came! I was actually scared "mum I don't like this! " lol he he, anyway it passed very quickly, we carried on and DS came down with the doggies and said I've just rescued the chihuahua from next door. Next door?? How?? Our fencing is animal proof, even chihuahua size lol. When we looked at what he was pointing at, flipping heck! One entire section of fencing was down, laying flat next door, about 12metres or so. Couldn't believe it! Anyway rung next door and the lady sent out two friends to deal with it as her husband was very ill today, DH said not to worry we'll deal with it and just put up stock fencing for a few months and see how we go. Have not experienced a storm like that, fast and furious! Greenhouse was fine though

Had lunch out today, me and DH stuffed so much we felt sick lol! That'll teach us ha ha

Excited tomorrow as I am going on training, which I will enjoy and then a quick bite to eat, whatever is the cheapest and window shopping.

Heard today that I have more work this weekend, this one should be £160 so keeping my fingers firmly crossed.

Looking forward to having my wage slip so I can see exactly what I'm getting, will get two payments in feb now so looking forward to fiddling about with the pennies to stretch them as far as possible in feb.

Filled about 8 nets today for the yard, monkey pony and my first horse, half hay and half haylage, and after I've fed all of them tonight and for about 3 hours on the yard this afternoon the haylage bale looks almost undented, chuffed or what!

judi24

I never brown anything in the slow cooker ever!!! and cook all sorts in it! No one complains (they know better!!!)


DD sounds like she is doing great and has a sensible head on her but its tough seeing our kids (no matter how old) facing challenges and setbacks but I guess that's how we all learned!


Good news on the cheaper hay although comment about hay man made me giggle! and more good news on the work! you are on a roll! Keep it up


Jx

Cwtchie

Been a busy couple of days, work is doing ok, have 2 more sets to do next month.

Had a fun evening last night with 5 friends, just together for a home cooked meal and a chat, met another friend there whom I hadn't seen for around 7 years or so, enjoyed myself and other than taking 2 bottles of wine which were in the wine rack, it didn't cost a penny

Tomorrow is February and I am going to sit down and work out a budget (very small) and meal plan. I did do a big shop today but I desperately needed quite a bit, well that's not true but I got carried away

Bigger boy is not well today, he has a chill, so he is staying in for a while until he is better, he didn't mind and looked worried when DH moved the lorry so DS could get his car out. Never mind a cwtch and he will be better.

Spent the day cleaning and then worked a few hours this afternoon, cold here today and raining.

ScattySkewbald

Hope the bigger boy is feeling better x

judi24

Hope you are ok Cwtchie - sound like you are having a busy old time and hoping Bigger boy is feeling better - lots of bugs and germs around!

Cwtchie

Farrier came today so a very cold afternoon spent standing around. Lots of chat and teasing so not too bad. All horses behaved except mine! Lol, she was fed up being kept in keeping DD's bigger one, who has the chill company. Anyway no harm done, nice shiny shoes and neat feet. Have given him some red cell today to pick him up a bit, if no better in a couple of days, vet will have to come and see him.

I haven't got round to doing a budget yet, I have the promise of work all this week so that is most welcome and should it continue on the regular basis i am hoping for...well I will be chuffed! . Fingers crossed. As soon as I know, I will be able to work out what to pay off each card. So far this month I know that all my direct debits are paid for and have enough for shopping and diesel. I want to tie it all up a bit tighter and set budgets, I would like to stay within £250 for food but I'm not sure if I can. Teenagers eat lots! Homemade cake is a godsend

I stood tonight and ironed all the way through eastenders, and most of the way through Rosemary and thyme, but it's DONE yay . We live rosemary and thyme, it is sunny, flowery and easy watching lol makes us think of the summer.

Haven't checked my veg patch this week,but considering we had a thick covering of snow at lunchtime today, I reckon it's still frozen. Won't be long, there are seed potatoes in the shops now.

So the Hay is doing really well, they are eating like horses lol! The 5 of them have gone through one and about a third so,far this week, but I've still got about 5 hay nets made up so they are not doing that bad, best news is there is no waste, well very little . I can see me ringing for more shortly, even 6 a month this time of year is not bad and will cost £168. I'm hoping to get away with 5 but I'd rather they have too much than too little.

The fence is still down, lack of time to put a stock fence back up, definitely got to sort it out, but need to breathe as well.

Tomorrow will consist of mucking out etc first thing, then housework. I am going to do chicken in the slow cooker and hopefully find the time to make some more rock cakes.

Have a good day x