Over Time Is Done

 We got home on June 5th and I had another week off, but got called in for OT on June 11th. Then starting Sunday June 14th, I worked 6 straight days for that first 60 hours, I had Saturday June 20th off, then another week of 60 hours, 1 day off and this week I worked the last FIFA hours yesterday. I'll work Thursday and Friday for only 40 hours this week.  There were 2 holidays when I got OT so cash wise they were each $1,000 days but I chose Comp days so I'll get more time off. Today & tomorrow are the first 2 days I'll have off together since June 12th & 13th.

What I need to accomplish in these 2 days is:

Get the RV cleaned out and set up for Jeffs visit Monday

Put bedding and stuff out there 

Make sure there is water in it so he can use the toilet if he wants

Shop for snacks and treats, and beer for Jeff

          Shop for gluten free foods since he is intolerant 

Shop for an awesome Birthday gift for Jeff, he will be 66 on Monday

 

On July 11th there will be a memorial for Aunt Rita and there will be far more people there that I don't want to see than the few I do want to see. Until 2 months ago I thought that things were good between Sali and me but then I caught her in a lie so I no longer care to see her. And YES, that's petty but she simply didn't need to lie to me in the first place. 

I wonder how many more family members will die before I see them all again?

 

What I SHOULD Be Doing...

 I should be packing

I should be cleaning

I should be grooming my horses

I should be putting clean clothes on the line

I should be straightening the sewing room

I should be getting all the food together for our trip

I should be putting together a bag of cross stitch things

BUT

What I am doing is sitting here on my butt not doing anything productive

Hair

This is my hair now, its been growing since 2022, so 4 years so far

This was when we lived at the old farm

Triathlon hair, I LOVED it when it was this short

Starting to grow it out

This was my hair when we went to Sali's Game Of Thrones party

During Covid

During covid I was so sick and at the end of September, when I was mostly well, this was the length when I got it cut. More than 22" was cut off and donated to make wigs.

And a bit after the hair cut!

Then ~ vs ~ Now 

Theres a lot less hairs growing now, not nearly as thick as it was 5 years ago.

When Plans Go Awry

Wildfire

Wifi

This girl is 18 today!

And this girl, Ambleside, is 4.75 years old. I've made an appointment for her to get a saddle fitting in a week & before then I need to gather all the stuff the fitter requested:

Saddles

Blankets

Pads

Amble will be getting a bath between now & then and I'm hoping to get Lan to scrape all the poop out of the arena so we can use it. I'm so broke (and today is payday) but I *might* be able to get a few loads of sand to put in the arena.

And let me throw this into the middle of my post for whatever good reason:

We loaded up the truck & trailer and went out to Tahuya, had a lot of fun.

This photo has been taken by use a LOT of times and this year, in March, there is very little snow in the Olympic Mountains.

Closer shot

It normally would look like this

I'm waiting to see if we get chosen to go on the Cross State ride boot camp they are doing in April on the 11th & 12th. Its just the one night of camping with your horse to learn about all the stuff they do in camp and there will be 2 short day rides. I tried to get on their list but the leader guy said they're only taking people who are doing the ride this year (which we're not, Amble is NOT ready for that) so we're on the waiting list and will only find out on the 7th if we can join or not. either way, I'll be able to ride Amble IF I have a saddle that fits her well.

This old Abetta is my best choice but Stephanie has an Arabian saddle that she will bring over to try out as well. I'll have a variety of saddle pads and blankets for the fitter. Honestly, I have never even sat in this saddle.

I also don't have a bit large enough for her mouth and I know I could buy one for $60 in Spanaway but I really do not want to drive that far to get one. I WILL drive that far though because they are the only store that has them in stock, ordering online would take too long.

Anyway, its pouring rain, another pineapple express is here and we've gotten a lot of rain today. I was supposed to work but I'd have been extra and working in the rain & I just couldn't handle that thought so called in. I'm not physically sick, just sick of work.

 

Read My Previous Post First

This morning, I woke up with a VERY SORE throat. It feels like there is something stuck in it, and I can't get it out and it hurts like hell when I try. The previous times I've gotten anything out it was bloody gobs of ick. I feel like the anesthesiologist used a throat tube much too big for my throat and she just crammed it into me anyway. The previous 2 times I was under it hurt but not nearly this much.

I've already called in sick to work and will do it again tomorrow.

We had planned on having a BIG ASS YARD SALE this weekend but neither of us is ready nor feel like it. Maybe next weekend but probably next year. I'd rather just donate all this stuff.

Because I'm not feeling well my defenses are down and I feel emotional. I kinda want to go to bed and lay there and cry for a while but that would just make my throat hurt more.

 

Another Vacation Just Around The Corner

 We'll be heading to Pioche again in just a few weeks, leaving here as early as September 18th and not having to be back before October 4th. Between then and now I'll be working full time and I'm sure OT as well, and I'll be forced to work other docks. I greatly dislike working the other docks, I don't know those jobs as well. The 'Triangle" of Southworth, Fauntleroy and Vashon Island are all confusing on the best days and when you throw someone like me in the mix there is a good chance of fucking shit up. Stupidvisor Phil made sure to fuck with Tim and I by making me go to Fauntleroy yesterday and Tim is at Southworth today. There is NO reason to do that besides their POWER. Irene told me it's because those docks had a lot of over time this summer, so I told her so have we, shit Tim and I had over 24 hours in the last 2 weeks, 15 by me. 

I simply do not want the stress of working other docks. Night before last I didn't sleep well, was awake every hour fretting if I had missed the alarm and was late catching the fucking boat; Thats not healthy. Then when I did get to Fauntleroy it wasn't warm at all, the predicted 80* was a FUCKING LIE and I froze my ass off because I'd taken just my vest, not a coat. 

So I need this vacation.

Between now and then, I'll have a lot going on. Tomorrow I'm working the Bremerton morning sellers shift 4:15-2:15 and after that I have to start getting ready for my medical procedure Friday morning. Getting ready will consist of a shower in medicated soap tomorrow night and no eating after 11pm. I can have water to drink up until 4am or so. I'll have another medicated shower in the morning, then have to arrive at the hospital by 8am.

What is an ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography)?

• This exam involves the use of a slim, flexible lighted instrument called an endoscope is passed through the mouth and through the stomach into the duodenum (the part of the small intestine that is closest to the stomach) to examine the opening of the bile duct (the tube that carries bile from the liver and gallbladder into the small intestine). A thin tube (catheter) is passed through the endoscope and inserted into the tubes (ducts) that lead to the pancreas and gallbladder. A special dye is injected into these ducts, and x-rays are taken. This helps the doctor see stones, tumors, and any areas that have become narrowed.
• The exam is performed under sedation to minimize gagging and discomfort during the procedure.

 

This is my second ERCP, to remove the stent they installed 2 months ago. I was asleep for that and will be asleep again. I'm sure I'll feel just fine afterward. 

I'm sure the stupidvisors will find work at the other docks for us to do in the next week and I'll do it but only to bring in a paycheck. I will not go above and beyond for anyone. 

Next weekend Lan and I will have to go pick up Amble from the trainers in Granger and I am looking forward to that. Mostly I'm looking forward to having her here so I can ride her.  When we do go to pick her up I hope to get a couple whings done, 1 is another lesson for me and another is to get her harness fitted to her. Shit, I don't even know if it will work with the cart I have for her.

Then 1 week after that is VACATION. I barely have enough time to make plans!! We aren't going to have loads of cash for doing all the work we'd like to do so we'll do a little work and spend a lot of time on the sxs. We haven't done that a lot lately and that's important to us, its WHY we bought a house in Pioche.  I want to some day take it to the Arizona Strip 

and ride all over Utah and much, much more of Nevada.

Labor Day Weekend

 I have two appointments at 11am today, one with a new dentist office and one phone call with the anesthesia office. I hope I can wing it for the phone call.

I have no plans other for the weekend, not even working, yet. This last 2 weeks I've gotten 15 hours of OT with OT the week before as well and that's straight back from surgery and extended medical leave. My check will be nice but it's exhausting working so much.

We had a shift bid for the Fall season (September 21-December 21) and I have chosen a 30-hour PT selling shift instead of being on-call this time around. I can sleep in every day, still feed all my animals and get home in time to feed them again. There is potential for a few more hours and I could potentially work another shift on my days off. If this doesn't work out financially for me, then its only 3 months and I can go back to oncall but I'll be expected to do graveyards a lot. If thats all I would have to do it wouldn't be so bad but mixing them up with 4am and 2pm starts is fucked up. I've offered to do the graveyard if they extend it to five 8's but 'we can't do that'. Well fuck you then, no one will do it.

Next Friday I have the procedure to remove the stent from my bile duct and there's probably no issues to be expected. Unless my stomach decides to over react to the non regulated bile or something?? That will be done on Friday September 6th. The following week we will need to go pick up Ambleside from her 3 months of training. I'll probably get a lesson with Wil at that time. I will FOR SURE ask them to help me fit the biothane harness to Amble so I wont be guessing.  I should ask what size shafts Amble will need so I make sure the ones on the cart are alright. I did tell Wil that they should sell me one of their marathon carts since they have so many. 

More Bullshit

 I've been waiting for 3 weeks to get paid from PFML (paid family medical leave) for my stomach issues and finally figured out the card was already here but I didn't know it. Now I have the card all set up and THERE'S NO FUCKING MONEY ON IT. Those assholes owe me 2 weeks pay already and not a goddamn dime. My regular paycheck showed up in my account today and its only half what it should be, so I can pay about half my bills. FUCK.

The power company wants 3 times the 'budget' amount, I have to make a house payment and I have to pay the horse trainer. No matter what the horse trainer is getting paid first. The fucking bank can repo the truck for all I fucking care at this point.

I've been in too much pain, received too many doctor & hospital bills, had to deal with stupid websites that are utterly ridiculous to navigate, dealing with the PFML that doesn't return phone calls, doesn't answer if I call and doesn't answer emails. Almost zero communication with them.

I just can't do this shit right now but now that I'm physically feeling better its been long enough that I HAVE to deal with this shit. 

Room Mates

Our room mate, my niece, sucks. Actually, all roomies suck. But she's real sucky because she thinks its OK to not pay us rent. She's paid a whopping $1300 these last 10 months. She's living in our home, using a bedroom (2 when her son was here), our electricity, our internet, our heat, our kitchen & dishes. She comes into and out of our gate and takes up a parking spot in our yard.

Last summer while her son was here for 2.5 months & she was working, I babysat if I was home. Even if she was home, I was babysitting because she would be too lazy to care for him. She didn't do shit with him except took him to the zoo twice, one of those times for only 1 hour and she knew it would be closing soon.  Her idea of playing is to put him in his room & her in her other room & they play an online video game together. We live 6 miles from an excellent swimming lake but she never took him, not once. She didn't fill his pool for him & she didn't ride bikes with him even though we had given her a nice mtn bike & I bought him a kids bike.

I've been telling her repeatedly that she needs to move out & I've told her that we're going to need that room when we begin remodeling the bathroom & adding the new one. I was trying to get an idea if there could be damage to the wall that's inside her room when we demo the cabinet & she thinks I was spying on her. There's no reason to spy on her, I know she's not hiding anything.

At least she isn't a drunk, isn't on drugs and isn't having parties when we're not home.

Last month she got turned down for a rental house & I had given a great referral. Two days ago she told me she had given my name again for another house & today the gal called & I told her, "don't rent to her". A house is for someone who will pay their rent, in full, before the due date. She's got NO intention of doing that. A house is for people who have done their time in crappy apartments, saved up money and are ready to move up to the next level, whether it be a nicer apartment, a house or buying their first home.

She's at the bottom of renting & all she's fit to get into is Mariners Glen apartments but when I told her to go there she said she doesn't want to live somewhere horrible. OK then. I'll give that apartment a GLOWING referral for her but no place else.

But she's not staying here, either. Her boyfriend can shit or get off the pot or she can move to Florida to live with him & his sisters. But come February, she's better get her ass out of here. She said she's got $750 saved up towards a house so if she's not moved out I'll tell her to go stay at a hotel.

Its time to have the internet/wifi password changed and the power to her room cut off. I bought her a heated throw blanket & she still has the small heater on all the fucking time, on MY pocketbook.

We had snow this morning.

Good & Bad News

Good News First:

We had the handyman over the other day to give us info on putting in a new bathroom upstairs; 

he said he can totally do all we want, for $65 per hour. He said what we're asking for will take about three 8 hour days so... about $1720 after tax.

Here is a very rough drawing of what its like now. I've never liked the Jack & Jill bathroom 

but its better than none & better than walking down the hall.

What we've been doing previously to having a room mate was our bed was in this room & our clothes were in the other room & we would go downstairs to shower & get dressed. We did that so the person sleeping wouldn't get woken up by the noise of the person getting ready for work.

The current bedroom measures 13.5 X 14.5 and the bathroom is 12.5 X 5, 

there are about 4 feet on either side of the window and the closets are 2 feet deep.

The future bedroom will measure 13.5 X 9.5 and the new bathroom will be 12.5 X 5, 

we'll need to install a smaller window and remove one closet.

We'll use the door & frame that goes from this room to the current bathroom & put it on the right, into the new opening made when we take out one closet. The remaining closet is still huge.

We're going to put in a new double vanity in the old bath & matching single in the new, both are getting rubber waterproof click in flooring & both get new toilets and fans.

See the green wall in the original bathroom? If its not a supporting wall, I'd like to remove it completely. All it does is hide the toilet from the sink area & it won't be needed. Removing it will make the bathroom bigger and provide a space for a dirty clothes hamper & scales.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And Now The Bad News:

Our Septic Design guy told us we can't upgrade our gravity system & would HAVE to put in a completely new pump system at a cost of about $24,000.

That's OK, we didn't want to ruin the lawn and now we can concentrate on the bathrooms.

His name is Frank, a friend of a friend. He quoted us $1,400 for the design & permits, ALL the other companies I spoke with wanted $4,000-$6,000 for the same things. One of the companies was rude to me in an email so she's not getting my money. 

Well, neither is Frank, he's not charging us anything at all.

Promises Broken

I promised to write about England after France, then I didn't do it. I've been so busy, with work, holidays, shopping, more work. Seems every time I turn around I get called in for another shift.

We had a bid in early December for our winter season ( January 5th - March 15th) and I got a 36 hour selling shift. Sue & Lisa decided to go to Bainbridge and Joe made a bonehead mistake & faxed his bid upside down so I lucked out. Don't know how lucky I really am, since the first two days of each week will suck:
Sunday 8:05am-2:05pm
Monday 1:00pm-6:00pm
Tuesday & Wednesday OFF
Thursday midnight-9am
Friday midnight-9am
Saturday 8:25am-3:25pm
Beginning my work week with 2 graves sucks because I'll have to go to bed early on my days off in order to get up at 11:10pm but its guaranteed hours and winter schedule sucks for on-calls.

I HATE graveyards but getting a nice guaranteed paycheck every month for 3 months will be worth it.

We're planning on another home renovation which will include:
Septic Design upgrade from 2 bedroom to 4 bedrooms
Add another bathroom upstairs
Redo master bath upstairs, currently Jack & Jill bath.

This is into the bathroom from the other room, our current bedroom is on the other side of the far door. 

We will AT LEAST replace this dated cabinet, countertop & sinks with something pretty, maybe rustic. I'll be looking for a good used one and hope to find a good quartz countertop with 2 sinks. I'm sure I'll have to buy that new. We can add a nice back splash since we know how now.

I'd like a vanity like this, plain & simple

From our current room into the other bedroom, sinks on the right of this photo

We won't do anything to upgrade the tub/shower enclosure because its practically brand new. It needs a new fan as the old one is original to the house & has a red bulb meant to warm a person and the fan is LOUD. The sky light is awesome.

The floor is vinyl & we're going to get a plastic/rubber click in floating floor & just put it in right over the top of this. 

The new bathroom would be added beside this one, just reversed and instead of a tub we'll put in a standing shower. 

A new toilet is about $200 and I'd like to have a new one in each bathroom. 

I'd like a single pedestal sink in the new bathroom. We do have to figure out either a fan or small window & right now there will be enough room for a window beside the shower.

But I'll totally settle for a single vanity sink.

Our bedroom currently measures 14.5 x 13.5 feet, the new bathroom would take up 5.5 feet, leaving the bedroom 9.5 x 13.5, still plenty big enough for a kids bedroom. A doorway would be put in the wall where a closet is at, the closet would be removed. There is still another large closet in that room. The door that goes from the hallway to our room now would become the new bathroom door.

I don't think the carpet would have to be replaced, just cut down to size and the extra added to the new doorway. 

We would have to move into the other bedroom as we can't  use that room for the bathroom because of hallway doors & permanent walls. The door from our room into the jack & jill would be moved to the closet area so we wouldn't even have to purchase another door.

Its not going to be cheap, I'm figuring upwards of $10k. And while we're at it, we're going to get the septic tank upgraded to a 4 bedroom (currently 2 br) which could run an additional $10k if it all goes well. We can  only hope for that BUT doing these things will increase our homes value and make it a heck of a lot more sellable.

Counting Down

The days are flying by & I can't believe its only 26 days until we fly out of Seattle to London.

I went ahead and reserved the Renault Clio for France. It's totally gutless and slow and small. Its costing us $224.23 for the week.

Lan really wants to go see the Catacombs in Paris. Seems pretty morbid to me. 

I was reading online & people are all its so cool & I'm like 

THOSE ARE DEAD PEOPLE.

There is nothing cool about all the 6 million dead people being removed from their graves being cool.

Some woman has a traveling to France FB page & she highly suggests that people go see the Catacombs & have her friend be your guide. He charges $100 for the tour. Or you can stand in line for a bit & purchase tickets with an audio guide for $38.

Back i n April I injured my shoulder at work. Went to doctor & was told just let it heal on its own, if its not better in a month come back.  A month later I called to make another appointment but was told they didn't have an L&I doctor to see me so I had to wait. Finally got the appointment, she told me I'd need to see another doctor & they finally called to make the appointment but I was landing the boat & couldn't get it made. Then forogt to call back. Later that week I got a letter from there to call, then the next letter I opened was from L&I saying they had closed my case. PITA. I wrote, included letter from my doc that I needed another appointment. Low & behold, I got a call from L&I and they reopened my case. Today I've been able to set up an appointment for October 1st. I hope I can get help for the shoulder pain I've been experiencing while sleeping. It hurts no matter which side I lay on. I'm going to ask for an MRI.

HGTV Shows

I was on FB last week and LIKED a post about a TV show

 selling homes in our area & they called me last week. 

This morning the realtor, Courtney McClasky called & set up a time for her to come out & see our farm and possibly film it for the show. 

She want's to film this week.

Um...

We aren't ready to film anything, the house is full of our junk.

The kitchen countertops are being tore out this week and new quarts being installed Friday and most of the house is dusty from this. 

The wall mount stove exhaust fan is in the box, needs to go up.

Plus just our junk, everywhere. I'd need a POD right this MINUTE to full with the crap.  

I don't even have boxes yet!

The outside is looking good because I had a gardener come over & weed the flowerbeds & put down beauty bark. Lans been working his ass off to get all the junk gotten rid of & burnt a huge pile of brush. He removed one wall of the old barn & its now an equipment shed. 

I do have a few new plant pots I borrowed from friends that I'm going to put plants in & use as curb appeal. Once the house sells I'm going to give the pots back with the flowers inside. 

IN OTHER NEWS: 

We put in an offer on the Montana farm but haven't heard back yet. I doubt the owner will accept it; he was asking $475, dropped it to $350k and we offered $320k, 

contingent on the inspection and our farm selling.

A Picture Tells A Thousand Stories

In the last couple weeks there has been a lot of work going on in and around the barn & arena. An excavator was rented, 3-4 foot deep ditches were dug, pipes and rocks wrapped inside fabric & all buried again under sand. I walked around out there today & its muddy, as to be expected, but its a lot less watery. The French drains are working very well.

One of the drains attaches to the down spout from the arena gutters and there is a little water coming down but more is trapped above due to leaves in the gutters. We have a leaf guard on the stall side of the barn & its working great so next summer we will have to do the arena side.

Anyway, this photo is the barn after lots of cold, wet weather, when Lan had to drive the tractor through the barn to avoid more mud. I'd also had a hay explosion. Its much cleaner now but most of the tire tacks are still there. I'm slowly sweeping those back into the arena as they dry.

Whales At Work

I have an amazing job that just gets better and better every single day I go there.

Yesterday after the boat off loaded the Mate radioed that there was a whale outside. 

I RAN onto the boat and THERE IT WAS. It was amazing to see. He put his head down and flapped his tail a bunch. WOW!!

One of the crew got video but I can't figure out how to share it here.  

I've been waiting 8 years to see something like this and this guy didn't disappoint.

Later, I saw a Harbor Seal between the slips. 

We also had a gorgeous double rainbow

and a huge thunderstorm.

All in all, it was one of my favorite days at work, ever in my life.