Productive Weekend

We got a lot done this past weekend.. not really anything you would notice if looking around our messy house or out around the house! :) A week ago we had a tack cleaning get together with some horse club friends, it was nice to have company to clean the green off the leather! Yep, it was getting a little overdue to be done.. thats what happens when it sits in the trailer all winter with basically zero use!

But it's all clean and ready for use...

Derek put in his notice after his interview and left on really good terms from that employer. He actually is working part time for them after he gets off work from Seattle... makes for a long day, but he really didnt want to burn any bridges and the extra money doesnt hurt. The good thing is if it doesnt work out with the new job, he still has full time employment options at his old job. But things are going really good at the new place. He really likes the job and the people he works with. I think this is a good fit.

We had gone back/forth all week about what to do about a commuter car. (oh my gosh, I can hear my favorite commercial on the TV in the other room.. dancing rat things in the Kia commercial.. hahaha) Anyways, we had contemplated fixing up the little black truck Derek bought long ago, it is currently in pieces, the bed is not attached, the gas tank is sitting on the shop floor, the motor has never run since we bought it.. You know how a project truck looks! After realizing it needs a whole lot more than just a new motor (needs a new interior as well), Derek quickly realized on Sunday that his fixer upper project was a lot more work than he has time or money to do right now. We had been keeping our eyes open for a little cheap commuter car in the $2k range, but well you know what ya get, crap!

I loaded up Edgar on Sunday to go ride at Mann Rd, Derek was going to go but the last time he started a new job on a Monday, we rode on Sunday the day before and he had that really bad accident on the trail, so he decided it might not be a good idea to ride the day before a new job again! lol He hasnt ridden since October and although I'm sure Edgar would be just fine, thats a 4 month vaca for the horse and who knows if Edgar would act out of character and have a bad day! It was a whopping 30 degrees as I saddled up that morning, but the sun was shining and it was a fantastic ride! We rode for 2.5 hours, the trails were OK, a bit frozen in areas, mucky in others but Red & I had a good ride. We did come across a downed tree that was at my chest level, that was interesting to duck under.. almost had to get off, but I sucked up what I could, bent over and made it through unscratched (twice even!). As I was untacking I get a call from Derek that he is going to Speedway to look at a little car that just came in.. I told him to NOT make any decisions w/o me! An hour later as I'm driving home he calls and says I need to meet him at the dealership, he made a deal to buy the car... lol

So goodbye green truck, hello baby car.. We are the proud owners of a 2007 Chevy Aveo5. Its a little hatchback, similar in style to our old Kia but its a bit smaller than the kia and oranger too.. haha.. yep its that burnt orange color, which isnt too bad actually. We got a damn good trade in on the green truck (only $600 less than we HOPED to get cash for it if we sold privately) and then paid an additional $2k for the car.. free and clear, best kind to own! It has only 60,000 miles on it, gets probably 30+ highway miles, so should be a good commuter. Derek already has plans to pimp his own ride and add some style to the car. Here's a pic of what they look like new. Oh and I did not meet him at the dealership, I drove home and dropped the horse off while he brought the green truck home to clean it out, then we drove down to trade the truck over. The green truck was on it's last leg anyways, it had over 190,000 miles, leaked fluids daily, passenger door was broken and you could only open from the outside, tailgate handle was busted, mirror covers busted, gas guage didnt work, windshield wipers ONLY worked on super fast mode.. the list goes on. Our new little (as Derek calls it: GoCart, I call it Go-Car-T) is very basic, no a/c, no power locks or windows, no CD, just a stick shift, working heat, clean and cute!

Cooper had surgery yesterday to fix his herniated umbilical.. he's doing good, you wouldnt even know he had surgery. Its hard to keep him quiet and calm, I admit I am letting him play a bit more than I should. But it snowed today and him and Ellie LOVE LOVE LOVE to run and play and jump in the snow, so how could I resist! He is now in quiet time, bored out of his mind, he's trying to find things to get into as I have him seperated from the other 2. We are supposed to get a lot more snow tomorrow, I hope Derek doesnt have to deal with stupid people on I5 tomorrow or he might not make it home!

So riding and the new car is not all we did this past weekend, that was just Sunday! Derek had me sell his softball bat and bat bag on ebay 2 weeks ago, that was the sign that he was officially retired.. He sold them so he could buy himself a new bowling ball.. So we got up Saturday morning, headed to Edmonds first to buy a scrap section of carpet for the dogs.. our front entryway was getting disgustingly trashed from the dogs coming in/out all damn day with muddy paws.. It was stinky and gross. So I found a carpet remnant to put in that area.. who cares if the carpet gets trashed. After we bought that, we headed to the bowling lanes to buy his new ball! Here's a pic of what he ordered, yellow is his favorite color! The ball will have his name on it too, the only problem is he got a call today that the ball was discontinued (well the size he wants is) so they are trying to find the same ball elsewhere.. I hope they find it, we both love the ball and it suits him well. Went to Costco after that and purchased my mom's birthday/mothers day gift, yep its 3 months early but I think she will LOVE the gift and I wanted to ensure it was still available so bought it now.

We've been also a bit stressed lately regarding horse shit! Yep, our horse manure.. having the boys home year round means more poo to deal with and we are running out of low spots in the pasture to dump it. So we found a dump trailer in Kent to go look at, drove down Saturday afternoon and bought it.. its just a cheap little $350 thing! Nothing fancy.. Just big enough to load up the horse shit for about 2 weeks and take to a friends house who wants it for compost. After we bought it, we had to go a couple miles down the road to the Mclendons Hardware to buy an adapter for the lights. As we are there, my dad sends a text that he wants me to stop and buy a lazer level in Kent and wonders if we would call the guy. He says something like "I dont know what area of Kent you are in, but the guy is across the street from a Mclendons" Haha.. We were across the street, how perfect was that. When we left, as we were driving the trailer home, it was bouncing all over the damn road, 30 mph and this thing was swaying like crazy.. well shit! How the hell were we gonna find the backroads to get home... We found a Home Depot and loaded up 720 pounds of concrete (one can always find use for concrete) and the trailer traveled perfect after that.. apperently it does NOT like to haul empty.

So I think that officially wraps up the past couple weekends.