I crave to simplify my life. But it won’t happen for a while. I’m making note of it here to cheer me up and keep me going this next year, which is going to seem long and dreary as we plug away like an old horse plowing one row, only to go on to the next.

What does simplify mean to me:

Reduce our bills, not incur new ones, and eventually not owe money except for the bare essentials such as a house over our head. This is going to take a good 18 months. We are seeing progress but it is slow. By November, several of the bills will drop off if I just pay what we are paying now so I’ve got to keep heart and not get discouraged (like I am today).

Bring our animals home. I want them all at the same property. I waste a lot of time running off to take care of horses that are half an hour away (making it an hour round trip). The goal is to find a farm rental in MO come late fall.

Have son graduate from high school so I no longer have to deal with T&C. The college is one mile from our house! In terms of my running about, this will be really lightened when this comes about.

Knock out many of these house-do chores. We have so much updating, painting, repairs to do it is daunting me. It wouldn’t be an issue if we had the money to plomp down to some contractor but we don’t. I’ve got to keep plugging away with a very small budget for big projects. There are spots of progress through the house but I’d like to see one big project get done… maybe the downstairs flooring?

Move about half the stuff in our house to MO. That can’t happen til the end of the year as it would only be wasteful to put stuff in storage when I have a huge house here. But waiting is killing me as I want to pack now!!

Get Z to the point where I can ride her. That’s a post in itself, but we are quickly running through all that Rugby Guy can do with his level of knowledge. We are going to put a solid 90 days on her with him, and then I’m taking over or sending her to a trainer who knows more. Not sure as that all depends upon her.

Lets’ talk two years from now – what do I invision for myself and family?

Son will be over his first year in college. He wants to study overseas for a year so there is a possibility he will be in England or South Korea depending on what he decides and what he qualifies for.

Daughter will be at her private school (there are personal reasons which I won’t share why this needs to happen for her). I think we’ll be seeing some real blooming there with her. I expect a few bumps in the road with the move but overall I think she will be much happier.

Husband will continue be happy at his work and gain more accolades and commendations. I expect he’ll be in their bonus program by then and most likely have a raise of some sort. On a personal front, I’d like him to be able to do more with his many crafting hobbies and get back to his pottery or jewelry making. That means finding a property that has a workshop with electricity and enough storage.

Together I’m hoping we can get away a bit more and take some vacations, even if they are popup camper ones.

On the animal front – our elder dog is slowing down. I hope she continues in health. Our kitties will be happier with an outdoor play room (a catio) that I want to build for them when we get moved.

Big Guy may be kept down here in OK as his retirement home is great. Only til I can offer him something better will I move him. Pandora is also happy but I would like to buy her mini-companions and move her to our own place. Z should be well on her way to being a riding horse – I’d like to see us work with Molly but also be trail riding by this time. Z should also be at our own place (rental I’m expecting).

The only other animals I might add – depending on our rental property – are some chickens. Animals really complicate your life, so while I do want to buy another riding horse, and find a companion for Big Guy that daughter could safely ride, that won’t happen until we get our own place.

Hopefully, our house will be close to selling, if not sold by that time. If sold, we’ll stash the money back and start looking either for a property to buy and develop by building our own house, or one that we will renovate. There’s advantages to both so it’s really a matter of what we can find pricewise for what we can get. I personally would like to wait a year after the sale of the house before buying to give us time to breathe.

So what about me? Well, I figure my life will have the largest changes in it then any of the others. Financially, we should be much better off even if the house doesn’t sell right away. Just the chipping away will take care of a lot of stuff. And it’s the finances that contribute the greatest to my depression. I’d like to see that cloud of worry roll right away.

Career wise, my biggest plan is that when son graduates from high school that I start working for my equine vet. I’ve been posting that but the schedule has been too crazy for me to consider it. Right now for example, son goes to college for a half a day then over to school, I go work Z, then I come back and bring him home, fix dinner, then take daughter to Tae Kwon Do. All that will ease off when he is driving himself and going to a college one mile from home.

With that vet experience, I hope to get a PART-TIME job (20-30 hours per week) in a vet’s office, either as a receptionist or worker in the back after the move to MO. I’d like to do the On-The-Job training and earn a bit more then minimum wage but mostly have something to do with my day while earning a bit of money and experience. In terms of this being a “career” – hm not so much. Just something to do, meet some people, and increase my knowledge base about animal care.

I’d also like to get a home decorating business off the ground. This would be another part -time, entreprenurial gig which I would re-do furniture and sell. I’ve been doing a lot of research on that right now and my goal would be $1,000 a month part time as income. I’m not into all this blogging for money, making an empire, needing to be on television or in magazines. I could care less. I would like to have an established local clientele and sell some really nice stuff that I’ve created or re-imagined. It would also give me a creative outlet and provide a reason to go do all that junk shopping that hubby and I like to do.

Having my horses at home will really change my level of contact with them and how much more training I can do. I’m very excited by that. When that comes along, I am thinking HI (this blog) may become a full fledge website. I’m not sure though – it’s a lot of work too but I do like sharing myself in this way with others who are into horses and find something useful in what I do.

My future horse plans is getting an older, trail experienced horse that daughter or I could ride. There are a lot of trails in south Missouri with streams, rivers, and small mountains. And I would like to get a horse that is more dressage-oriented that would be younger.

 

Advertisement