Wow

 I mean just WOW......

I just gotta process this one before I write about it... but just WOW.

Not in a good way either.

I DID It!!!! And a Couple Other Things...

 I set up my new gaming laptop all by myself!!!! 

Only it took me 3 days to figure it out- but still- I DID IT!!!!

I ended up having to create a new email- and a new Microsoft account AND a new STEAM account because I couldn't  find/remember/retrieve  my info on either of them but still- I DID IT!!!

It's kind of a good thing I had to redo the Steam one tho because I had so many games on the old one I never played. I had no idea that if you played a bit and didnt like it you could get a refund on it if you were within the perimeters. 

So in the end I got my three fav ones- which cost me less than 20 bucks instead of the hundred plus I spent on them to begin with because they were having a MEGA sale on everything I wanted most!!!

I still haven't got my MINECRAFT back yet either. I couldn't find MINECRAFT JAVA anywhere so I suppose that will have to wait too.

 If you couldn't tell, I got my tax refund back and after a long consideration I got myself a new laptop.  My old one with a falling apart monitor that I brought from the UK was literally being held together by two rubber bands- one at the top of the screen and one at the bottom of the screen. I go to work everyday and do all the "adulting things" so I think maybe I was deserving of a big treat  of something I wanted but also needed.  I'm trying to start a little side hustle and a laptop is kind of a necessity for any business- large or mico-small..... 

Let me tell you- I was sweating bullets buying that thing tho. I went out to price them- not to buy one until I had slept on it another week or so- but the one I had decided was what I needed  before looking at prices was on sale at a really good price(a months rent plus 14 dollars OMG SERIOUSLY!!!!????) so after walking round the store with my daughter who was buying my granddaughter some clothes I decided to not be a big wuss and just go ahead and BUY the thing since it was on sale and prob wouldn't be in a week after I slept on it. 

The IT guy where I work told me they were pretty easy to set up providing I knew all my passwords and usernames and such.... which I thought I could retrieve from my old laptop- but no such luck. I was on my own.

I tried it the second day I had it- and got so frustrated I threw a good old fashioned hissy fit and then closed it up. Then it sat another day while I did a bit of research and got some more advice- and offers of help. But I had ranted about learning to do things on your own that you typically would hand over to a professional or at least someone who had done it before, so I persevered. I got up Saturday morning and daughter and I did a couple of errands, then got back home about 10:30am and I sat down and got to work after trying one more time to retrieve my account info and failing once again- I resorted to the obviously easier way to do it- I created the new accounts- and followed the instructions and did a lot of waiting. Didnt quite get everything done but close to it so Sunday morning I got up, made coffee and got started again with the Steam account and choosing my games and letting them all download.

Of course I had to play a couple hours of Ranch Simulator just to get to have my own Ranch and get it started. I went thru the tutorial and got that completed and purchased  a couple of animals for income for my Ranch and put new gates on the old barn to house them all.  Next go round will see me building a silo and a water well.

Only thing I was a bit put out about is the game now has a fishing experience mini game in it- and I went to purchase the Rod and reel and lures, and it would let me purchase the lures but not the rod & reel!!! CURSES!!!!!

Meh- it will be mine soon!!!

Anyway, instead of acting like most people who get their tax refunds back- I spent a bit of it and paid up all my bills that were due, but I put back a majority of it for a rainy day- ie- in case I need a car repair or in case I find my property for my family compound I have a nice down payment for it!!!! 

In other words, Last week I was well off- but this week I'm back to living paycheck to paycheck because I want my last item on my bucket list to come true!!!!

Anti-HOA

 Why YES- yes I am... I think if you own a piece of property you should be able to paint your door what ever color you like- I believe you should be able to plant whatever trees and shrubs you like- as long as they aren't illegal substances- but that's a slippery slope as well because someone will argue that poppies are the parent plant of opioids.

I believe you should have a lawn of whatever kind of grass you like, or if you dont want grass, maybe a lawn full of clover or a wildflower meadow/ cottage garden. No Matching mailboxes, no rules about my kids bikes in the front yard or a basketball hoop set up in the driveway on the front of the garage. 

Who in their right mind wants to live in a cookie cutter community? Unless you're a Stepford resident.

Who put Karen in Charge?  Not me- she can do whatever SHE likes in HER OWN yard.

And no- I dont live in an HOA neighborhood- I have the best neighbors in the world. I did the HOA thing ONCE- and vowed never again would I ever......and I wont.

New Idea for the Compound!!!

 I just though- maybe three detached Garages with an apartment/tiny house for each of us on the upper level??? 

Separate but together!!

This and That.....

 Time Flies when you are busy, and boy have I been busy!!!!

I did my duty last week and got my taxes "done". I refuse to do them myself- I know for a fact I would screw them up and end up financing the entire bazillion dollar debt of the USA. So I leave that mess up to the professionals. A certified accountant who understands all the Maths. 

So now we wait.....  What tiny bit I get back will be going directly into my Savings Account to finance a family compound for me, my daughter and my son. We've been looking for a property in a certain area, but we may need to branch out a bit.

I'm totally serious about a family compound- I'd LOVE to go totally off grid, but I'm not sure that's going to go over well with the rest of the fam. We'll see.

                                         ***************************************

I'm all over the place with my job right now too. With fuel prices the way they are now , after paying the rent I'm having to put gas money back and use whatever is left to pay for a few groceries and then be REALLY creative with meals for the week. I absolutely LOVE my job and most of the people I work with, but the 110 miles a day to and from work is killing me. 

Add to the mix I'm on patrol driving at least another 25-50 miles a day once I arrive AT work and I'm a bundle of nerves by the time I get home and don't feel up to doing anything until the weekend and I'm beginning to think I'm turning into my grandpa- or my stb ex hubby. But I DO go out and do things with the family on the weekends- and I do spend time with them in the evenings before going to bed. 

I've thought about transferring to another site closer to home, but if we buy a property in the area we hope to- that just means I would be transferring back to the area I work in now. Is there a point in doing that? Is there another option I haven't thought of? Would my company even consider letting me do that? And transferring would prob mean a bit of a cut in pay as well....can I even afford that option???? 

I'm so torn....

                                            ***********************************

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch.....

 Life is good.

Compared to last week when I had a gawd awful headache . And I'm fully taking responsibility for that one. It had been a HORRIBLE stressful week at work despite getting Maggie fixed. Monday was the one great day last week- Me and my baby sister got to spend time together, I got Maggie in good shape, and the weather was glorious. 

Then it hit the fan. I won't go into details(I know- quite uncharacteristic for me but it was that bad I don't even want to recall it except as vague generalities), but I gave up smoking about 28 years ago. Now the only time I smoke is when the stress level has reached a point I'm about to snap. And if it's a Friday a bit of drinking may/may not go with the smoking, but I try very hard to keep from doing that as that usually leads to "Hey- I wanna dance so lets go out to the bar!!" and then we all have to make sure the bail bondsman is on everyone's speed dial(it already is but we all make double sure before we go out together- us sisters are the hell-raisers in the family)....So I bought a pack of ciggies. Smoked 2 on the drive home(forgot how stressful trying to juggle smoking and driving a stick shift can be as well,) then once I arrived home I sat on my front porch swing and proceeded to chain smoke all the rest of the pack except 3..... Two hours later- the barely there headache was a raging full blown migraine. And my mouth was on fire from what I can only describe as nicotine overdose. It's happened once before under the same circumstances- only that time my tongue actually swelled up and it required a couple doses of  Benadryl to stop the reaction. I didnt know that's what caused it then, but I certainly do now. As soon as I felt the tingling begin on my tongue, I stopped and took a tablet. I also brushed my teeth, rinsed my mouth with loads of water then gargled with mouthwash to get rid of the nicotine residue. Listerine. Getting the picture of how THAT burned????

Yeah- uhhhh uh...nah....we aren't going to do that anymore. I'm done for good this time.

Meanwhile- after I finally got rid of that headache- I started working on the workout EVAN generously provided for me a few of his posts back.  Boy, do I have some work to do. But I'm gonna do it!!! By end of the year at latest I'm going to be able to do minimum!!!!  I've set myself a goal!!

We are still looking for a property to buy..... and I'm toying with the idea of repainting Magg's Santa Sleigh Red. My daughter does NOT want me to do it- as she says it would remind her too much of the MATRIX her brother had when he passed in an MVA  many years ago. Magg's paint job now is a lovely Royal Blue- but the clearcoat is flaking off all over her so that's what gave me the idea to repaint her Christmas Red.

What's funny is- when I talk about repainting, my kids have started referring to Maggie as the Ho-ho-ho Mobile. ROTFLMBO.....Well, at the very least I want to get her some red and white stripe leather seat covers. I would look very patriotic with that combo if she stays blue.

Anyway- so that's what is going on at the Ranch Now...... 

Later yall!!!

Don't Get Too Excited...A Cautionary Tale.. and other stuff

 Well, Maggie came thru her surgery. Sis got a call from the Surgeon(ie the mechanic) around noon saying Maggie was out of surgery and we could pick her up whenever we wanted. 

That would be end of shift since we was at work....

So  End of day I head to our site base and turn in my equipment, Keys, Phone, and Patrol device. Then I drive to the main base and park the patrol vehicle. I grabbed all my stuff and waited on my sister to arrive. Our schedules are a half hour different since I'm a mobile supervisor and she works a static post.

So she arrives and I am soooo excited to go pick Mags up and drive her!!!!! Well, the drive to IVA was uneventful- sis and I had a lovely visit and we got there in due time. We retrieved the keys for her- and as we was walking out, my sister glanced down and looked at my waistband. 

"What are those to?" pointing to my waist......

I looked down and lo and behold- I still had the patrol vehicle keys and the keyring to all the gates clipped to my belt. 

Son Of A Nutcracker!!!!

So I had to make the hour and 20 minute drive BACK to the site to drop them off and then another hour and 20 minutes home- after already driving the same route that morning and then again to get Maggie drives like a quiet dream now- no shakes, rattles, nor rolls - just a quiet calm as we roll down that road that never ends.

I- or WE made it back home by 7pm and then ate. Was going to watch at least one more episode of TWD with my daughter, but by that point we was both exhausted(she and Grand D rode with me to return the keys so they could see where I work) so we didnt watch anything except the back of our eyelids as we slept.

So in other news, the tub is draining now- the landlord came out and made the repairs to the drain pipe in record time. It was kind of funny- he was trying to explain and show my daughter what he was doing- like she was actually going to try to do it herself next time. 

Not our circus, not our monkey... it will be handy info for when we get our own property tho. I don't think ours will have the barbie stuck in the drainpipe issue tho, tbh.

I've been researching different types of buildings and my daughter has been researching properties available in the areas we would like to be. I've looked at the Home Depot type buildings for doing tiny house community. I've researched Conex type containers and the costs involved with the tiny house or linked container style to do the compound. We have researched singlewides, and doublewides, along with moving buildings/ houses already built but needing removed from the site they are sitting on. 

My latest research involves steel buildings. There are some really well made ones that are reasonably prices that we could call on certified family members to install electric, plumbing(we could do that ourselves-we all helped mom and dad build their house when we were growing up in the country), insulation, painting and flooring. We could divide it up and it be a multi-generational dwelling for us all. There is one plan I'm VERY interested in- barn shaped with two "shed" sides- one on each side of the taller main area. I'm thinking Two generous bedrooms with a shared bath between for each of those.  The central area between would be a great room/kitchen area with center island bar seating instead of a dining room. The "loft" are could be a den with gaming area set up. It could double as a sleepover/guest room area as well. I personally would like a fireplace with bookshelves in the great room, but we could always do smaller electric fireplaces and bookshelves in our bedrooms instead if we so desired. Or whatever we wanted. A small seating area for personal gaming, a vanity table /dressing area, a crafting station.... the possibilities are endless- and all down to our personal preferences!!!

It would be a simple design to do- I could draw up the plans in less than a week for the entire project. 

I'm hoping that by calling in some favors and putting in the elbow grease ourselves it will mean a great deal more to the kids and cost us all a great deal less than a stick built home. Maybe save enough to be able to put some "recreational equipment" in the back yard!!!

We are a resourceful bunch!!!! My daddy dug out a fishing pond/swimming pond for us all by HAND with a pickax, a shovel and a wheelbarrow with minimal help from anyone. He loved his I did it myself projects!!!!

If Daddy had that kind of ambition and drive- we certainly can do whatever we put our minds to also- his blood runs thru our veins!!!! 

He is and always will be my HERO!!!!!