E-maregency Guest Post

...Can most definitely dement!

And how best to start this post? Aside from reminding you to grab a doughnut, that is. *grin* Probably with a couple of ginormous apologies all the way around. First and foremost, to my friends and followers in the blogosphere (which are largely one in the same) who have been ever so patiently waiting for me to clue them in. Unless, of course, you all grew disgusted at my extended absence and left vowing never to return (not that I'd blame you). If our screens were reversed, my first thought would be somewhere along the lines of:

"Joo gots some 'splainin' to do Lucy."

The second sorry? Welllll, that should go to Epic Farms itself, as I didn't think to turn our crises (plural) into a capitalistic Facebook fundraiser and generate a gazillion dollars in donations for the non-profit. My bad. My brain just doesn't seem to work that way. Ever. *sigh* I'd say maybe next time, but I'm pretty sure it won't happen then either. I don't know about you, but when disaster strikes the last thing I think about is jumping online and hitting up other people for money (too doggone busy trying to solve the problem, don'tcha know ;o)

Okay, soooo... What in the heck happened? Well, it started with Sara having a relapse of her COPD (a.k.a Heaves) last month. We had to get another steroid shot from the vet. I may have mentioned this before, but horses in "distress" (and breathing difficulties can definitely be quite stressful) tend to drop weight very quickly - up to 50lbs overnight. Added to that, Sara will only pick at her feed when she's having trouble breathing which makes her weight drop even faster. Since it can be several days to a week before the shot takes full effect, you can imagine how much of her weight dissipated in the interim. Because she wasn't that large to begin with, by the end of the week she was looking pretty sorry. I began to stress when another week went by and she was still having trouble breathing and barely touching her feed. She would eat some if I stood there and hand-fed her, so I did (which gave me some added stress of my own, as I was then running late for work every morning in addition to worrying about Sara the scarecrow). Unfortunately, the shots can only be administered every 30 days so if this one didn't work we just had to wait it out. Translation: PRAY.

Trying to stimulate her appetite as the days dragged by, I bought some Calf Manna which she seemed to like (pricey, but what are you gonna do, right? I had to get her to eat something). Then I found some easy to chew complete senior feed that also cost a small fortune (joy) and added that to her diet. Thankfully she would eat it, although not nearly as much as I wanted (which meant her weight loss had slowed, but not stopped). I also made an appointment with our dentist in case she was having teeth issues on top of the COPD (yet more money - eek). Although it was time for a floating (which he did) her teeth were pretty much okay. After 30 days had passed, it was back to the vet for a second shot. A little over a week later, Sara's breathing had improved enough to perk up her appetite (and thank the Lord!) I was SO relieved to have finally turned that corner; lemme tell ya. I found a supplement at Jeffers called Focus weight gain to try and help our scrawny little Sarabear put some weight back on safely and SOON.

Somewhere in the middle of all that was our church yard sale which, having run myself ragged over Sara, I no longer felt like doing. Of course by that point I was also pretty doggone desperate for dinero ($), which meant I had to do it. Ugh. I do not do too well when I run out of steam, and actually managed to hit myself with my own car (and yes, you read that correctly). What can I say? It's a gift. *rolls eyes* The short[ish] version is, on the Friday night before the sale DD and I went in separate vehicles to help a friend move her things to the sale location. My car window does not work properly, so I opened my car door when we got to the road in front of my friend's house. I was signing to DD who was right behind me to go ahead and turn into the driveway on the left. Although she was signing back from the truck, she forgot about the headlights and the fact that Mom can't SEE when they are shining in her eyeballs (*snarl*). Exhausted and annoyed, I slapped the car in park and jumped out to march over there and tell her. Note to self: Make absolutely sure that the car is all the way in park BEFORE you get out. See Jen's car roll backwards. Now see Jen do her impersonation of a Hollywood stunt woman by sprinting back and diving into the driver's seat to stop the car (though not before it crunched into DD's truck - of course all I could think of was that I could not afford to pay for one more thing). Throw in a nice solid body slam by her open door somewhere in mid leap. Oh yeah; that's perfect. Got myself a nice big, beautiful urplepurple hematoma as a souvenir for that little bit of self-inflicted stupidity and wound up making a whopping $20 from the sale. Mmmmph.

It was right about here that things went from bad to worse. It seems someone in the vicinity decided to burn goodness knows what - pine needles probably - which brought a thick noxious smoke rolling straight across the pasture. Not much you can do to prevent such things in the country (it's not illegal to burn, and it's not like I can stuff her in the house to get her away from it - although the thought did cross my mind). Of course this set off Sara's COPD all over and made me just want to sit down and cry. She went off her feed again, and wouldn't even eat from my hand. In desperation, I separated her from her pasture pals (which I really didn't want to do) and put her in a smaller area by herself. About the time I was thinking we might actually have to consider having her put down, our prayers were answered in the form of a big temperature drop, which helped partially stabilize her breathing while we waited out the 30 days to the next shot. She finally started eating again, but our poor girl is so thin she looks like the wrong end of a horse rescue. She will not touch her feed if I put anything else in it (like the weight gain supplement or horse manna, even in small increments), nor will she eat her breathing medicine or the complete feed. We're feeding her our regular feed and some alfalfa cubes broken up into small pieces (in a wide shallow tub to avoid dust issues) three times a day. Unfortunately, it goes on a LOT more slowly than it comes off (and don't you wish we could do it that way? *grin*)

Okay here's where I start summing up, because I don't think you have enough time (or coffee and doughnuts) for the rest of it. Somewhere in the middle of that, was this: I was at work and had a terrible - and I mean BIG and BAD - pain in my right side. Thinking another doggone kidney stone, (and do we have to do this now, because I do NOT need another bill to pay), I listed to the left in my chair and sucked it up for a few hours before I admitted defeat and called the doctor. He gave me a painkiller shot (that did nothing) and sent me for a CT scan. Turns out I had an ovarian cyst that ruptured and was bleeding into my abdomen (and are you kidding me?)  This meant another doctor (Gyn this time), who said we'd watch it for one month because post menopause + cancer history + cyst = potential UhOh. Dandy. Fast forward the 30 days: cyst was still there, but now complex and part of it is a solid mass. This needed to be removed and biopsied immediately. Surgery? Oh goody. *head thuds on desk* Anyhoo, the surgery was last Monday, and I'll be returning to work today. Of course with all my medical misadventures, my dad was obligated to make a crack about the irony of me having surgery on "Veteran's" day (ha, ha there Pop ;o) Biopsy results are pending (and thankfully, the doctor told DH it didn't look to be cancerous).

Somewhere in the middle of THAT (you'd think I was making this up for a Hollyweird soap opera, wouldn't you?) a neighbor showed up waving a land survey to inform us that our fence was umpteen feet off the line onto his property and we were encroaching on his land. He was polite, but started talking about drawing up contracts and paying him rent in lieu of moving the fence. Hold on there, buddy. Give us some time to look into it, okay? Naturally, the area in question runs directly through the training area and the boy's stalls. Ah yes, where else could it be? We are fairly sure that we are not encroaching, but I don't want to say anything more until this has been completely sorted out.
I think that brings you all pretty much up to speed, and maybe it will help you see why I couldn't quite get here. I don't think there's any more but then again, the day's still young right?  Have a blessed week everyone - I've missed you!

On my nerves [literally]

Hi Everybuddy!

This is Taya posting for Mom (me an Lady R helpin ;o) Mom sed she hadda post something, but couldn't quite get hear. We sed we can doo it. She looked kinda skared, but sed "O.K."

Mom sed she is 'speriencing non-technickel diffy-cull-tees (or somethin like that, N. E. way). An she sed she wood have a coughee and a doe-nut post nex time to tell y'all what wuz going on...it's a LOT. Sorree if we messed up our werds - Mom sed use spill check, but we don't no whut that is.

Frum,

Taya (the pretty won on the left)
and
Lady (who dint wanna smile 'cuz she sez the camera maked her look reely FAT :o)

To tell, or not to tell...

I'm not quite sure how I ended up with doctor's visits two weeks in a row, but I did. For those of you who missed last week's medical misadventure - and its corresponding wardrobe malfunction - you'll find it here. This week's visit was to the Neurologist for my annual nerve conduction study and muscle test (and yippee, right? ;o) Color me picky, but I think I'd much rather go for the yearly trip to the beach or something that didn't involve sudden shocks and sharp needles (wouldn't you?) Unlike last week's doc, who said it wasn't "his area", my neuro was a bit concerned about the "soft spots" that have appeared on my skull. He is sending me to have my head examined- ha, ha - via CT scan and bone window next week. Oh goody, a hospital test. Meh. Of course those of you who have been here for awhile are probably considering this particular test long overdue (and are already well aware that I am "soft in the head". *laugh*
I found this video clip quite by accident last week, and have watched it umpteen times between fits of hysterical laughter. Initially I thought "Denver" was blind because his eyes stayed closed for so long, but he isn't. What he is, is totally guilty. I found the clip on this lens on Squidoo.

For my email friends (you just gotta go watch ;o) click here to see it. This poor guy has definitely taken a guilty conscience to the next level. Oh my!

Still plugging away at the feed room, which is progressing ever so slowly (good thing I'm such a patient soul, and all - HAH!).

DH still has to put the ceiling in - which will probably be in about 50 years - so I figure I have plenty of time to get my stuff done in the meantime. I wish everything didn't have to take so doggone long; it seems by the time I get everything together to work on it I end up with about 30 minutes left in my time slot to do any actual work. Most annoying. I went to a church meeting Saturday afternoon still wearing my "stupid Saturday hair" because I decided to work an extra 5 minutes (which turned into 35) so I didn't have time to do much beyond a basic wardrobe change. Yeesh. The photos are rather dark and have a yellowish cast to them. Reason being; the light bulbs are "bug lights", which are yellow but do not attract insects. I don't know about your area, but when I go outside after the end of daylight savings time hitting the light switch usually results in a mass moth-ing (pass).

I ran out of cove molding for the Moo Crew's door, so I switched to tucking shelves in between the wall studs using leftover brackets and wood scraps from past projects (excuse me for swearing). I put the deeper shelves and the grooming totes on the back wall, where I would (hopefully) not bang into them on a regular basis. The drawers that came with Sarabear's SmartPak medicine fit perfectly over the feed dolly.

  It's really surprising how many of the product bottles and little tubs will fit into these skinny spaces (and color me grateful that they do!)

 I paid $5 for the big wire basket at a local dollar store which went out of business. I planned to go back to buy more of these handy fixtures, but by the time I scrounged up a few more dollars my next payday they had already closed their doors. Rats. Oh well, at least we have one nifty place to stash horse toys, right?

I've LOTS left to do - but as you can see I am getting there (even if it is at the speed of turtle ;o) Have a blessed week everyone, and thanks so much for reading this far!

I made it!

THAT is the question. You know, I don't know why this stuff always seems to happen to me, but it does. *heavy sigh* I lost one of my main doctors (a specialist) who retired unexpectedly - and those of us who are medical disaster areas need to keep them handy - so I went to see a new one for the first time Wednesday. Having never met the man before, do you think the first thing I wanted to notice when he walked in the room was that his fly was gaped wide open? (and before you think my eyeballs were out of line, you should know that I was sitting in a regular chair in the opposite corner which put me at eye level when the door opened and... ACK!!! ). Mortified, I struggled to maintain focus elsewhere, somewhere. Anywhere but THERE. 

He probably thought I had defective social skills or maybe a optical issue, since my eyeballs were skipping all around the room at regular intervals as I hoped - rather frantically - that he would suddenly become cognizant of a major updraft in his undershorts or at least LOOK DOWN MAN. I attempted some mental telepathy: XYZ-XYZ-XYZ Please?? (while subconsciously singing: ZIP-itty Do-Da Zippitty-A, My-oh-my it's an embarrassing day....) About halfway through the appointment, I leaned forward to put my shoe back on (they check your feet) and heard a soft "zzzzzzzzt". Finally! Thank you. How about it? Could you have said something to a stranger? My mother, by the way, found it hysterically funny when I related it to her afterward. Thanks Ma - always happy to entertain ;o)

DH and I have a long-standing battle over his boy toys and MY tools; the man has no respect for things labeled "Mom's - U No Touchee". I have taken to squirreling away drill bits, screw drivers and other such things in self defense; as DH repeatedly misplaces his and commandeers mine (and then he'll either lose it or break it). But my hand-dandy drill that was totally hands off? Oh no you didn't. *snarl* A few years ago, the man not only took my drill, he broke one of the three little metal thingies (sorry, but no parts terminology beyond keyless chuck here) that holds the bit securely and then gave it back. Excuse me? I just don't think so buster. Although he mumbled an apology and promised to buy me another, he never did do it (and I forgot all about it - until I started working on the feed room, that is).

Do you know how hard it is to drive a screw with a bit that makes a small, wonky circular motion? The screws and I were both getting dizzy. I got very little done last weekend, as what I did had to be done the old fashioned way: by swearing at a screwdriver. So NOT happening - lotta sweat for little progress - and I wound up quitting in disgust :oP Well. Hades hath no fury like a woman with a busted power tool, so I waged a campaign to harass, harangue and generally have at DH until the man opted to keep his word (just to get some peace, if nothing else). Ha. Took a solid week - the man is rock stubborn - but on Friday I came home to find a spiffy new drill on my seat. Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha (and chalk one up for DIY Moms everywhere! ;o) Hopefully, by next week's post I'll have gotten a lot more work done and have some more pictures for you...that's the plan, anyway.
Speaking of work, I'd best get to it hadn't I? Have a blessed week everyone, and I'll leave you with a short slideshow of some "flutterby" photos I took yesterday afternoon in my front flowerbed. This is a Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly - I love that his blue is the same vivid shade of periwinkle as my Plumbago. His wings never stopped moving, so the photos are not quite as crisp as I would like but he's still gorgeous!

 

For my email friends, click here to see it. Enjoy! :o)

"Tick, Tock" goes the clock

I survived the first week of school... Woot! One thing about being an educational interpreter is that it changes from one year to the next; you are "assigned to" the student and not the school. The good news being that if you don't like the particular school you're in, hang in there because you won't be there forever. Of course the bad news is if you love a school or its faculty, you just have to suck it up because you don't get to stay.
I struggle with the transience of my job from year to year and school to school; change is so NOT my thing. This year was another move from elementary to middle school, which meant all new surroundings, faculty, and rules (and the older I get, the harder all this "new" is for me to process ;o) So far though, I love it. Too often, interpreters and deaf students are the red-headed stepchildren at a school (nobody wants an extra grownup in their classroom, for one thing), but so far everyone has been extremely easy to work with (and talk about a load off... whew!). I even have a real chair and a little space to call my very own in the resource room (a rare occurrence). Don't I feel special? You'd better believe it! *grin*

I spent most of Saturday working on the new feed room, but got precious little done (although I was pretty darn productive with the epithets). Meh :o|  DH finally managed to finish out the old patio wall to make the underwriters happy, and the inspector was here last Friday (we're supposed to close Monday afternoon - Halleluiah!) One thing I wasted considerable time on was cleaning up DH's [counter] productive pig piles all over the place. I'm not sure if it's because he worked construction or simply because he's such a manly man, but he seems to feel obligated to alternately drop or toss stuff everywhere and just leave it. Sawdust, screws, wire casings, nails, wood scraps and heaps of old vinyl siding; you name it, he chucked it into a pile on the patio and went on his merry way. I alternately shoveled, swore and swept all manner of crappola to get at least some of it out of the doggone way. Probably a good thing he wasn't around, as I might have been tempted to take a swing at that great big block he calls a head with my trusty broom. Seems I'm still just a titch cranky about it, eh? Heh heh. Ooops.

Look who I found snuggled up underneath the gate latch on my way to the pasture the other day and starting to make his cocoon. Is that cool or what? You can even see where he's attached himself to the circle above the hook (coooool :o) I had quite a time trying to get a picture of him, as my camera kept focusing on the metal parts of the gate hook. He was only there for a couple of days, and in such an awkward place to shoot that this is the only photo I managed to get. Anybody know what he is? He's got Monarch coloring, but I remember them as fuzzy caterpillars (or does that come off before they do the chrysalis thing?) I have no idea, I just know it was awfully annoying trying to open and close the gate without bothering him. Any amateur entomologists out there? Inquiring minds want to know...

Still have an awful lot to do on the feed room, but I did take a few photos of what I've gotten done so far to share. In a stroke of genius (okay, maybe just good thinking but I'm counting it ;o) I got three of these heavy duty moving dollys from Harbor Freight (on sale for $9.99 each). I put the freezer on one, which will allow me to easily pull it out for sweeping and bug spraying. This one I will use for the feed bags; I put an old piece of screen underneath which will - I hope - keep the mice at bay. I made a quick trip to the Habitat for Humanity Restore and splurged (ha) on two rolls of .25c wallpaper in a mottled pattern to cover the foam board insulation. Somehow, I didn't see white as the optimal color in a perpetually dusty room (not to mention that styrofoam tends to come with its own static cling issues). Here's what I've done so far, bearing in mind that I have an awfully long way to go yet. There are double doors going into the feed room which will keep halters and lead ropes nice and handy. This is the [unfinished] one on the right for the Moo Crew:

and here's the one on the left, which I've started on:

The halters fit pretty well, I think:

After bonking my head half a dozen times, I moved the big shelf with the feed buckets up several slots. The ceiling isn't in yet, but hopefully DH will get that taken care of this week (WITHOUT making a phenomenal mess in my nice, clean feed room). It's pretty cramped in there, but hopefully with a little ruthless organization and creative contemplations I'll end up with a nice functional space. That's the plan, anyway ('course we know how the best laid of those go, don't we? ;o)

Have a blessed week everyone, and please say a prayer for those in the path of the hurricane. Thankfully, it shifted away from us but I sure do hate to see anyone hit by a storm. Horsey hugs!

Dog Days 'n Mysterious Ways

Splicing together my past and present, I will begin this week's post by saying: My off is all, y'all. *giggle* For some reason I found the blend of Pennsylvania Dutch and Southernese to be rather funny (well, except for the reality part. Translation: My vacation is over everyone; time has run out. This has been the best all around summer I have had in a very long time. No surgical procedures, hospital visits or major medical maladies. Hooray! I've actually felt human through most of it too, trumping last summer (an almost forgotten experience, that, as I felt meh on most days last year :oP So I'm not ready for it to end yet. Plus I'll really miss that time with the horses every morning. *sniffle* This is my favorite back to school shot of Bella with her backpack - from this post - so I thought I'd recycle it. Snarky Rider generously gave us a big surprise with some exposure on her famous (infamous? ;o) blog by posting some Bella pics (here). This was following a discussion on her post about Arabian heads and brainless breeding practices resulting in waaay too much of a nice trait (check out the horse in the middle here who looks like he ran into a brick wall - and eek).

Snarky has some great posts often with lots of food for thought and, as her name and logo suggest, she dishes them out with a generous side of sarcasm. And boy oh boy does she find some doozies. Like the woman on Craig's List who is offering two horses for trade to any licensed MD; one horse for liposuction and the other for - umm, well..... You know what? I think I'll just let you read that one for yourself; it's here. Who even thinks this way?!? *slaps hand over eyes*. Yeesh. I'll ask you to give Snarky a vote on Bloggers too, if you have a minute (that's here).
And that's probably enough of the click here stuff wouldn't you agree? Just say: "Here, here" Bwahahahaha *cough* Er, sorry.

We are, I hope, finally inching away from drought conditions. Literally. My rain gauge (#4) broke and I haven't bought another as yet, but according to my dad we've had about ten inches so far this week (and wow). It may not be the world's greatest shot, but I liked the big rainy kersplash on the left side of this picture. It kinda looks like a weird plastic leaf. Speaking of rainy weather, I have to say that while I am all about family and togetherness I like my personal space. The stalls for the girls are about 10 x 10, which is not very big but it is plenty of room for them as they are only in there periodically. Although we have five girls and five stalls (and I'm not a mathematician, but I'm mostly sure that equals one apiece), I come upon the same laughable scenario just about every single time we get a heavy rain. Can you say let's play sardines?

Yep, that's three horses all stuffed in the same stall. *rolls eyes* Maybe it's like it is with people; when there's a big scary storm, everybody goes and climbs into bed with mom (which would be Lady :o) Sarabear is in her stall to the right, and Bella (the non-conformist of the group) is standing outside in front of the stalls.
Seems Brains N' Brawn are back at it again; maybe next weekend I'll finally be able to post some "look at my pretty feed room" shots and wouldn't that be nice?!? (A girl's gotta dream, right? *sigh*)

They got the side door up for bringing the feed in - like a loading door, I suppose - and then went to work on the "front" doors to the feed room. I love the wrought iron hinges we used; I'll get a better photo for you next post. The best part? They didn't cost any more than the butt-ugly steel hinges (and let's hear it for beauty on a budget - Woot! :o) Look:

Oh, and like our ginormous puddle? I told you we got some serious rain ;o) Guess I'd better get back out there (clock's still ticking and tomorrow's D-day, don'tcha know). Have a blessed week everyone!

See Jen shovel that hovel...

Has this been some crazy weather this summer, or what? The first part of it we had gorgeous (albeit dry) weather, but this part? Hot-Hot-HOT! I've started to wear a sweatband outside in the morning to feed and groom the horses. Whoever coined the phrase, "Southern women don't sweat, we glow" is an idiot (well it's either that, or I'm "glowing" like my own personal version of the Northern Lights in the South). Growing up I didn't sweat at all; if I got too hot, I just keeled over. From that perspective I can say it's probably a good thing I do now (that, along with my shoe size, changed after I had a baby). It would be nice, however, if I could be just a tad more subtle about it; maybe a nice gentle sheen or something (in keeping with aforementioned glow, you see).

Sadly, I sweat like a welder working inside a big metal tank in Arizona in the middle of August (how's that for perspective? ;o) Happily, however, I don't smell like one (because that would be really icky). I found this marvelous stuff a year or two ago called Chlorella - have you heard of it? I can't even remember where I stumbled across it, but it's an herbal supplement made from chlorophyll that has been extracted from algae and acts as internal deodorant. Isn't that wild? This is just an FYI (I don't sell it or anything), but here's a link if you're interested. Of course if you decide to jump right on it, it would be nice if you went through GoodShop and chose Epic Farms as your charity.
Just sayin'...

Most of you know I'm a Christian (if not, see disclaimer located in my bio ;o) Most of you also know that DH has been making me crazed by taking forty forevers to finish the doggone visitor area (you know this because I grumble all about it on here). Anyhoo, enter the power of prayer and God's timing (which is so rarely the same as ours, right?). I said an extra one about a week and a half ago, because summer is rapidly running out and I have no desire to mix back to work insanity with the domino effect (this post). My prayer was basically motivational, as DH is completely UNmotivated to finish said Project (my apologies for using the "P" word/swearing - I'll eat some soap later). It wasn't too long after my prayer, that the strangest thing happened. The day before we were to close on our refinance, the bank called and said that even though the appraiser had checked "as is" it was against the underwriter's policy to close with any unfinished construction on the property (this being an unfinished outside wall on the "old" patio, which will become an indoor room as soon as the new feed room is finished).

At first, I was extremely upset - I'll interject here that the girl from the bank called me with this news and not DH; because she didn't want to be the one to have to tell him - the heifer. Thankfully, he is not a bad-tempered king of old (kill the messenger, don'tcha know). It wasn't until he stopped shouting and stomping around and started snarling about needing to finish the outside feed room so he could get to that outside wall (the feed room stuff is currently blocking it) that a glimmer of light appeared to yours truly. The bank said they could extend the closing date (and keep our rate locked) for up to another month to give us time to finish the indoor room. Is God awesome or what?!? Talk about providing some motivation. I'm telling you; the man's pants are positively on fire to finish this project asap (thank you, Lord! ;o)

I've been crocheting in the evenings (if I have enough energy left over that is), and found the coolest pattern on Ravelry; it's for a ginormous granny square (here). For my fellow hookers (ha, ha), it's perfect for using up scrap yarn. My grandmother left me about 40 skeins of baby fingering, and almost none of them match. I've had them for several years with no idea what to use them for. This pattern is perfect; I can use several different colors in each blanket. I'm making blankets to give to a local organization that our church supports. They help pregnant teens/young unwed mothers (great place) and have recently started up a program to help the fathers as well. I finally delivered my Mom's birthday present; she loved it. My dad cracked me up by ooo-ing and ahh-ing over it too, which was rather unexpected albeit entertaining. Here it is on her dining room table:

Of course the first thing I did when I got back home was to gleefully shred that mistake-riddled nightmare of a pattern (whatta pain - yeesh :oP It's all good though; I'm happy with the way it turned out in the end.
Speaking of ending, I'd better get back to work on the patio (rumor has it we're in a BIG hurry ;o) Have a blessed weekend everyone!

and boy-oh-BOY, did she. Ugh! :oP

Yep, that's where I've been. Digging my way out from under a ginormous boxed up, stacked up, piled up nightmare. Most of you probably remember my periodic (only partially joking) comments here about our house decor resembling "Early American Hoarder". The visitor area, which was to have taken a few months to complete, has stretched into a couple of years leaving things "temporarily" set in the house to pile up - literally. Don't you hate it when something you need to do is completely dependent upon someone else doing something they need to do? There seems to be an unwritten rule that states they never ever care about their 'To Do' as much as you do yours. Have you ever noticed that?

My friend Lori and I dubbed it The Domino Effect - DH being in charge of the first domino (the visitor area/patio). The current feed room [the original patio] is to be converted into an indoor room for the storage of large space-hogging items like Christmas decorations, saddles, etc. We don't have an attic or a shed in which to store things, nor is our garage closed in. The house has virtually no closet space and there isn't even a stupid pantry in the kitchen. The old office (I outgrew) would then be able to accommodate other space-hogging items like the two lateral filing cabinets donated to Epic Farms, the 50lb box of wax for candle making and about a million other things I don't know where to go with. Anyone who has ever been involved with a non-profit knows that when someone offers to give you something you can use you NEVER turn it down (even if you don't have a place to put it). Now throw in my parent's recent downsizing move (which generated lots more crappola *cough* er, stuff to sift through) and I'm sure you can imagine how much worse it got. Think.... Labyrinth.

Even though the boxes, stacks and paper piles were making me crazed, there wasn't much I could do about it until the construction was finished so we could make the shift. This was blocking that, and that was piled up in front of this so much so that there was literally no room to even try to start sorting through the nightmare. I had absolutely nowhere to go with any of it. My Dad referred to our house as, "Pockets of organization in a sea of chaos", which worked its way from mildly amusing (ha, ha Pop) to totally unfunny over the past two years. Until two weeks ago, that is. That's when it all changed. What happened? Well I'll tell you. DH came strolling through the door one fine afternoon, and cheerfully announced that the interest rates had finally gotten low enough that it was time to refinance our mortgage. We could cut our current rate almost in half. My shocked response of "Are you high?" seemed to totally confuse the man. You see, while DH's delighted (left) brain was gleefully calculating lower payments and saving pots of money in interest, Jen's horrified (right) brain had focused on one tiny detail:

*APPRAISAL*APPRAISAL*APPRAISAL*

Now I'm not the brightest bulb on the porch, but I was pretty sure that a house stacked almost to the ceiling with haphazard piles and boxes everywhere will probably not make a very good impression on a real estate appraiser. Having reached a somewhat desperate frame of mind (about a year ago) with regard to putting my house in order, I took a [very] deep breath and opted to go for the Carpe Diem approach: SEIZE THE DAY. I immediately harassed and harangued DH into renting a Mobile Attic so I could begin the overwhelming process of sorting through and organizing all this ssshtuff. Since the man is so tight he squeaks, naturally he balked. I cared not. Completely without mercy (and feeling a bit demented), I also made him help me clean like crazy. Rednecks do NOT do housecleaning - it's a rule (well, it was one, anyway ;o) Although we were told it would be about two weeks before the appraisal appointment, the man called a few short days later. Happily, I'd made a big enough dent that at least he could walk around (I had nightmares about about him confined to a 12 inch square area to stand in and visually pan the rooms - can you imagine?)
Thankfully, the appraisal part is behind us now and although I still have a long way to go, things are finally beginning to look a bit better around here. You know, I had completely forgotten that the living room carpet was blue. It's kind of pretty, actually...
Horsey hugs ;o)