Happy Friday, everyone!

I missed doing a Friday Favs post last week because it was the longest week in the history of the universe.

Let me give you the short version:

*On Tuesday, my main writing client informs me that they don’t have much for me to do for the next 2-4 weeks. I don’t know about you guys, but I need a little more notice than none if I’m not going to be getting my regular paycheck for the next few weeks. I can always pick up extra work, but finding enough to entirely replace 2-4 weeks of income with zero notice? NOT EASY.

*I’ve been working with that client for almost a year, and every payday I get an email from the payment client they use (Kinda like PayPal but not) letting me know that the payment has been submitted, and then it’s in my bank account the next day. I didn’t realize until late Tuesday (the day I should have received the money) that it hadn’t shown up yet. Odd, but no big deal. But then it wasn’t there on Wednesday, either, which WAS kind of a big deal because I had several auto bill payments set to go through on Thursday, and I think it’s kind of important to actually have money in your account to cover those? After a flurry of emails, we finally found out that the payment company had switched from overnight processing to a FIVE DAY processing time, so my $ wasn’t going to show up until Friday. So now I’m going to be unemployed-ish for several weeks AND there’s a chance some of my bill payments might overdraft? NEAT.

*I ran to the bank on Wednesday to deposit some cash to try to ensure the overdraft thing didn’t happen, and then somehow managed to hit the curb turning onto MY OWN STREET on the way home.

Balls.

At first I was happy that the tire survived with only a little notch out of it, but it turns out that replacing the wheel when you live in the middle of nowhere is much, much more of a pain in the butt than just buying a new tire. Everyone kept saying my best bet was to get one from a salvage yard, but I’m pretty sure I called every one within a decent driving distance and came up with nothing. (I found some about 2 hours away, but I have my spare tire on and am supposed to keep trips under 50 miles. Arrgh.) I also got to deal with the fun that you would probably expect to come with trying to buy a car part as a female in rural-ish Missouri. After several days of phone calls, being talked down to, getting called “hon”, and being ignored in auto parts stores, I finally gave in and ordered a replacement online even though it meant waiting several days for delivery. At least that meant it was all over! (Except getting it put on my car, which will hopefully be less painful?)

*Through all of the craziness above, I tried to keep perspective, thinking “It’s just money. Nobody died, nobody is sick, I’m just going to be kinda broke for a few weeks. That’s totally surviveable.”

…and then my dear Bear cat decided that the tiny owwie he had on his chest from getting into a fight was annoying him, and that the best order of business would be to just tear it wide open. 😱 Luckily, a friend I went to high school with is a vet, and she was able to call in an antibiotics RX for me based on my description and photos, so I was able to avoid a $40 office visit. He’s almost entirely healed up now (you know, unless he decides to rip himself open again), and has been super grumpy with me that he’s not allowed to go out in the yard and do super important bear stuff.

 

There were other minor things throughout the week that FELT big because life already felt so chaotic, but those four are the major events. Thankfully this week went significantly better!

 

Anyway, now that the utter suckiness of last week is out of the way (It was too nuts not to share!), lets get to this week’s favorite things!

1. Look, we all know that People Magazine was clearly on crack when they picked their Sexiest Man Alive, but they DID get something right on the rest of their list:

I’d like to take this moment to remind the world that Ari followed me on Twitter way before I followed him. Just sayin’.

 

2. I had to postpone my 2nd hunter/jumper lesson due to last week’s craziness, but finally made it on Tuesday!

 

 

It’s funny that I’ve had this weird mental block about riding English my entire life – I always felt so unstable in the smaller saddle, but it’s only taken two lessons to feel totally chill trotting around with my arms out to the sides like an airplane, so I guess progress is happening? I need to build up way more leg and core strength so I can take fewer breaks during lessons. Just imagine doing squats for a solid hour while engaging your core as if you’re doing a plank, and you basically have what a lesson feels like. 😂 I tried to get into my car the day after and my legs couldn’t do it. I had to hold onto the wheel and slowly sink in. Poor legs.

Soon, though. Soon.

I realized the other day that I’ve been watching Beezie compete for over 20 years. #GOALS

 

3. I really need to do another post of favorite podcasts, but I have to share how much I’ve been laughing at “My Dad Wrote A Porno”. It’s exactly what it sounds like – a guy’s 60-something dad wrote an erotic novel, and he reads it out loud with commentary by two of his friends. There’s an episode where Daisy Ridley is a guest and admits to listening to it on the set of Star Wars, which I just love. Be sure to listen from the beginning, or there’s no hope of understanding what’s going on.

 

4. I usually choose canned cat food when I get my monthly #ChewyInfluencer emails, but this time I wanted to try something different and went with these freeze dried beef liver treats by Dr. Tim’s. 

 

I faced the usual challenge that comes with cat treats: Where can I hide them that they little devious geniuses won’t find them? The cupboard I chose worked for several days, by which time we’d made a pretty good size dent in the package, but   then they figured it out and I came home to find this:

It’s hard to tell from the photo, but it’s a BIG container – probably 5×7 and 4 inches deep? I hope it was at least a group effort so that none of them had a binge eating bellyache afterwards! (The serving size is 1-2 treats per 10 lbs of body weight, so even if the attacked this as a group they still got way more than they should’ve!) Under normal circumstances, the package would last a long time, even with daily treats, since most cats are pretty close to the 10 pound range. (I think Bear weighed in at 16 lbs on his last vet visit, but then he is a bear trapped in a cat’s body, so it’s to be expected.)

Tennyson was the only one who didn’t like these treats, but he doesn’t even like dry food, so it’s not surprising. I tried re-hydrating a couple for him but he still wasn’t interested. Since they’re for both dogs and cats, there were some pretty big ones in the container, so I tried to break those up, but some of the cats seemed to enjoy having something big to gnaw on.

Beef liver is the only ingredient in these, and it’s been USDA-inspected, so they seem like a great choice if you want to give your pets a natural treat without running down to the butcher to pick up some cow organs. (Not exactly my idea of a fun weekend!)

 

5. ICYMI: Target has released “12 Days of Socks” advent calendars! The women’s ones are available in a Winter theme plus Forest Animals, Star Wars and Disney themes!

My usual Friday link-ups are skipping this week, but I wanted to post anyway since I’ve been too busy to write much lately. I’m currently eating leftover pie and planning a quick nap before doing more house cleaning and getting in a leg workout. (Must get stronger before next lesson!)

Have a happy post-holiday weekend!