Rollercoaster Month /// November Recap

Well, congratulations to all of y'all who survived the craziness of NaNo, I applaud you!

And to those of you who didn't do NaNo, I applaud you for surviving the month where the weather goes haywire instead of choosing a pattern and sticking to it like it should.

Points of Information:

Fall has actually settled Texas. I am very happy about that.
Thanksgiving happened.
College stuff is still going well.

Work Things:

*horse is a dream for the farrier* *even has her blanket on and isn't scared of the rustling sounds* *until the last foot* *farrier touches her hip* *horse explodes forward* *almost knocks me flat* "Really?"

totally accurate depiction of what it's like to hang on

Horse has a ridiculously long tail. Tail has been wrapped up into a ball for the past three-ish weeks. Horse has a tendency to stomp his back legs and whip his tail around in the crossties. I unwrap his tail so I can rebraid it. Braid comes free, and I go throw away the wrapping. *horse whips his tail around* *horse smacks himself in the stomach* *horse jumps because he thinks I whipped him* *horse gives me a look* "Hey, that one was on you, I had nothing to do with it!" *chuckles*

Stallion at the end stall. Farrier does his work by that stall. Mare. Stallion flips out. Stallion is jumping around and rearing and looking over the top of the stall wall that has to be eight or nine feet high. And that's the story of why that particular horse no longer lives in that stall.

*cleaning out the tack room last month* "Hey look!" *holds up thing* "A mummified mouse!" Everyone else: "What are you doing holding that! Go throw it away and wash your hands!" *a few minutes later* Me: "Hey look, another one!" *holds it up by the tail* *minor freakoutation again* "Guys, relax, this thing has been sitting in dust long enough that all the germs are probably mostly gone anyways."

I don't know, I probably got stepped on a couple times.

So remember how last month I came back to work and another lady had been hired? Yeah. Well. About that. My boss couldn't afford to keep both of us so I was the cut because in the horse world experience outweighs how long you've been working at the place.

I'm trying not to be bitter or hold hard feelings about it, but it's definitely been difficult. I had to go back a week after she let me go to pick up my last paycheck. Let me just twist that dagger a little bit. I honestly was holding up pretty well, but then one of the other trainers asked me how I was doing with all of it, and that's when I cracked and ended up crying.

I'll definitely miss all the critters there.

So I've been job hunting. I've sent out a ton of emails, stalked job pages on Facebook, asked people if they had work or knew of people with work. I've had several answers of "no, but good luck!" I had one nibble, but I wouldn't have been able to even meet with her until after Christmas. I had a bite, but I didn't set the hook before he asked how much I was looking to be paid, so he had to say no because he couldn't afford to pay me what I was looking for. I had an internship offered, and I'm thinking about that- even just to get experience.

So I'm back to making cinnamon rolls for the holidays. The kitchen smells fabulous though, so that's been nice.

Barnyard Things:

Two more of my birds flew the coop, the last rooster I hatched and Grey. That one hit hard because I was looking forward to seeing what his babies would have looked like, since he was a mix of two very dominant (colorwise) breeds. I'm watching everyone like a hawk now. I can't just keep losing them like this, it's not fair to them.

Other Things:

I had coffee with a guy. No, nothing has come of it. No, I was not expecting anything to come of it. Yes, he was very polite and respectful. No, neither of us actually got coffee. I had hot chocolate, and he had iced tea. Yes, the whole ordeal was extremely awkward.

So we spent Thanksgiving with Dad's side this year. Somehow Gabe ended up wearing Mia's skinny jeans that day instead of his jeans. We didn't figure it out until the middle of the afternoon. We couldn't take him seriously after that.

A baby skunk is hanging around. His name is Flower.

Somehow went from *needs four full meals + 5000 snacks* to *you know what, I'm not that hungry* *eats a snack at 2pm and calls it lunch*

Our church had a joint service the Sunday before Thanksgiving with the church we rent the building from. That was fun. They had a person opening the door and greeting. We walked in, and immediately Mom remembered that we had forgotten to bring in the salad for the potluck afterwards, so she sent me out again. Person chuckles under his breath when he has to open the door for me a second time. Grandpa arrives. I had baked goods to hand off to him, and since we had time I went out again. The hand off goes smoothly. And I walk back into church. "I'll just keep opening the door." *chuckles* (keep in mind, this all happened one right after the other, so this was probably about in the space of five minutes)

Breaking and Entering:

(because I'm sure y'all want to know how that happened)

So a family from church had to go out of state because their Grandmother had a stroke and they needed to be up there with her. This family has two dogs, and it's not like they are little so they can just go with the family wherever. This family also lives 30 minutes away from us.

Since they were going to be gone for almost two weeks, they needed someone to housesit for them. Somehow I was their choice (personally, I would have asked someone in their neighborhood, or someone from the church who lived closer. But then maybe they did, and I was their last resort. I'll never know).

So they leave on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. That Wednesday was also Christian's birthday, so we all had a jolly time celebrating his day. And to top it off, we watched a movie that night. I still had to stop by and feed the dogs (who live inside, so regardless of feeding, I would have to let them out). So the movie ends at 9:30-40ish, and Mom and Dad decide that Christian should go with me. So we get there, well after 10, and start looking for the key they were going to leave out for me so I could get in the house.

We can't find it.

So I call them. Keep in mind, they are already like, 5 hours on the road at this point. They tell us where the key is supposed to be, and we are looking all over for it in that area. No key.

They had left a key out for their kids to use after they come home from school, but the kids said that they had never needed it. So it was on the hook with the rest of their keys in the kitchen. And they had forgotten to put it out for me.

So the dad is on the phone with us trying to help us figure out how to force a window and get in that way. He said to push in and up.

*coughcough* We pushed in all right. And the window kept going in. So at this point the dogs are already borderline freaking out because someone is outside their house. Breaking the window didn't help them calm down in the least.

So of course we told the dad what happened, and luckily he was okay with everything and was in the middle of replacing the windows in the house anyway so he had a spare window to put in. He also went ahead and called the police station to let them know that no one was trying to burgle the house so if anyone reported us they wouldn't send someone out and arrest us. (at one point there was a truck parked on a corner watching us)

It's around 11 now, and we still have to take care of the dogs, find the key inside, put in the new window and clean up the broken glass, as well as drive home so we can wake up and spend Thanksgiving morning with the rest of the family instead of spending the night there, driving home in the morning, and then driving back out to spend the day with Dad's side.

So that happened. Dad called right before midnight asking what was happening, because we all expected to be home and asleep by then. He and Mom both agreed that the whole situation was decidedly not our fault, and that there wasn't much we could do about it at that point but to finish getting things settled as fast as possible and to drive home safely.

I was surprised at the number of cars still out after midnight in the middle of the week. But we made it home safely just after 1 in the morning. And then I was too keyed up to fall asleep before 2:30. And I had to get up at 7:30 because I had someone picking cinnamon rolls up somewhere between 8 and 9, so I had to be ready for them to come at 8. So I didn't really wake up and feel like myself on Thanksgiving until around 3 in the afternoon, because what better way to treat five hours of sleep than with two cups of coffee and a big heavy meal.

So I don't know if I'll ever try house sitting when the drive is more than 15-20 minutes. I feel like I kind of got the short end of the stick in terms of time spent with family around Thanksgiving this year. I barely even saw Mom's side of the family outside of dinner on Friday night, even though they started arriving and spending time with us on Wednesday. So much of my time was spent driving, and I was tired a lot.

Blog Things:

HERE

fall.

Music Things:

I discovered that, despite not seeing the movies or reading the books, the music of Harry Potter is pretty fantastic.

Anastasia, because it just feels wintery.

The Greatest Showman is one that we want to see, so I was pretty excited when they released a couple songs early.

Christmas music, because once Thanksgiving has passed it's time for Christmas music.

How was your November?

Tell me something funny that happened to you.

What is your favorite Christmas song?