Looks like things may be turning around a bit! That job I really wanted? They called me the day after I applied, had a phone interview the day after, and an in person interview today with 4 people from the office. I couldn't have asked it to gone any better and I'm fairly certain I landed the job. I should hear early next week.
After my interview I went up to see Avalon and when I call her name to get her from the paddock she will usually walk over to me. Today though she was in the far corner of the paddock and when I called her name she spun around, whinnied, and galloped full force to me. She came to a sliding stop 3 feet from me. It was terrifying and awesome all at once!! We worked in the indoor for a bit and I've started to clicker train her. I'm trying to teach her some patience so I would click and give her a treat when she turned her head away from me and stood still. She definitely picked up on it quickly. Love her more and more every day!
I've had a major case of writer's block when it comes to this blog lately. I've started blog posts about three times in the past week that I can't seem to finish. Avalon continues to be wonderful, but my personal life has been pretty meh for a while.
When I graduated college, with a 3.9 GPA and a degree in Psychology, I had big dreams of going on to grad school and possibly even getting my doctorate and becoming a therapist. Financially at the time that wasn't possible so I got my first job out of college working for an investment company in a customer service position during the economic downfall. I'd take call after call of people screaming at me about their dwindling investments. I hated that job and moved on to a restaurant management company working for a famous chef as an office manager. That was a great job, but six months in I was dating my hubby and he was transferred to a job in New York and I decided to move with him and take a job at a University in the Registrar's office. Also a great job, but it paid nearly minimum wage. After we got married and I got pregnant we moved back to Massachusetts. Matt bounced around to a few different jobs and this year he finally found a job at a great company that he loves and there is a lot of room for advancement.
When Addie was six months old and I was pretty bored sitting home with her I started working with Matt for Matt's old boss as an office assistant. Matt has since moved on from this company, but I have stayed. I've been there over two years now and have been promoted to an office manager position. The job is completely draining. I work part time, but between my boss texting and calling me a hundred times a day, and obsessively checking my work emails, it is really a 40+ hour a week job. I also don't get any vacation time and have not taken more than two days off in a row in over a year. I work weekends and take Wednesdays and Fridays off. But because I've recently taken over some more financial stuff I find myself working from home on Fridays. While my boss was in Italy for two weeks he would text me between 1-3am due to the time difference and I would wake up and respond. When I took off two days last week (my first days off in 21 days) my boss was texting me asking me where stamps were. I can never leave work at work. I can never check out. I am constantly attached to my phone or computer.
This all wouldn't be a problem if I liked the job I did, or felt like I was working for a great company. Or respected my boss. But I don't. Recently, my boss mentioned to me that he is planning on getting rid of the accounting company he uses and using me solely for his accounting. I don't like the way he does business and I know he wants to use me because he can fudge his financial reporting much more easily.
I just feel completely stuck. I have no energy and I can't be happy because I'm constantly stressed. I never want to see my horse because I am always overwhelmed. All I want to do is sleep. I would love to be able to go back to school, but I just can't unless we are both working. We need both incomes. I am exhausted and more than ready for a change. Living in Massachusetts is tough. Everything is expensive and jobs are hard to come by. If my husband didn't love his job so much I'd be looking for work elsewhere. But for now, here we are.
I've applied for a few jobs and hoping to hear back from one I'm very interested in. While it is full-time the benefits and quality of life would be more than worth it. Between holiday, vacation, and sick time, I'd have over a month off every year which is a heck of a lot more than I've had in the past 2+ years. I'm in desperate, desperate need of a change.
Anyways... here's some Avalon pics from the other night!
Well, I haven't been riding much. I think I've ridden 3 times in the past two weeks or so, and seen Finn probably about 5 times. I have a whole bunch of excuses...
First, hubby crashed his car coming home from work a week and a half ago. Thank god he was totally fine, but the car was totaled. We thought it could be repaired, as it was just the front end, but the insurance adjustor said it was nearly $13,000 worth of damage. We bought this car last April and ever since we bought it it's been nothing but bad luck. I've never gotten a flat tire in my life, two days after owning it, I got one. We also got another flat tire, and a cracked windshield in under a year of ownership. Neither of us ever liked the car, so in some ways it was a relief that the doomed car was gone. We financed it, and after all was said and done we pretty much broke even on it and luckily didn't owe any money on it or a deductible. In fact we're receiving a WHOPPING $68 check. Rather than financing another car right now hubby and I have decided we're going to try and get by with one car. We work at the same place, and work opposite schedules, so it's not difficult to pass car and baby back and forth. It is, however, difficult to get to the barn often! Good news is, we're going to save up and get a truck and trailer...which I am so excited about! And, today, after all this stress, hubby's parents told us that they will pay for the three of us to come down to Florida to visit them for a week at the end of March. I'm pretty sure hubby almost cried. We need a vacation THAT much.
We were also hit with a monster storm last weekend making it even more difficult to get to the barn. It sure was a lot easier plowing the driveway with only one car in it though.
The few times I've ridden Finn all we've done is work on the basics. I've also decided to stop using the barn trainer for lessons and training rides. Every time I've had her do a training ride all she's basically done with him is trot him in circles for half an hour...barely any canter work or anything else. When she rides him I also have to tack him up, warm him up, cool him down when she hops off, and then untack him. If I wanted an exercise rider I'd pay one of the barn kids $10 to do so! Our lessons also haven't been progressing. I talked to Amanda, as she also takes lessons with former trainer, and she felt the exact same way and has also stopped riding with her. I love the barn trainer and think she's a wonderful person, and accomplished rider, but I'd rather save my money if we continue to not progress.
One of the other girls at the barn, Michelle, who is an amazing rider/eventer/jumper and trained her young warmblood agreed to hop on Finn one day. After watching her ride and seeing how well my horse took to her, and then having her give me a little mini lesson on Finn, she's agreed to help me out with him. She's been riding him 2-3 times a week and JUMPING him which I'm so excited about. The other night he did his first grid. She's also been working a lot on strengthening his canter. I also don't have to be up there when she rides him, so he's still getting that exercise when I can't be there, and then when I can get up there he's not a hot, uneducated mess. I also get full updates and videos from Michelle after her rides. I'm very happy with my decision and think Finn will really start to progress from working with her. I noticed after I rode him the other day how responsive he was to my aids, and his canter was so much more relaxed! Yay!
Finn will be getting a chiro adjustment this upcoming Tuesday. Then, on Wednesday afternoon I scheduled a full lameness evaluation and possible radiographs of his hocks and stifles. I've decided to use a very well known sports medicine vet that works with a lot of top sport horses in the area and is supposedly very good at pinpointing any issues. Finn is not lame, but I've always been a little paranoid that there's a little something going on and that he's not quite right. Not sure if it's a bit of arthritis in his hocks, a stifle, or SI issue. I want to get radiographs done and know if there's something we need to treat, especially now that he's really in work.
Finn's been super girthy and crabby on the crossties so I ordered him a month's supply of omeprazole from www.horseprerace.com. I was a little concerned about ordering off market medicine, but I know a lot of people who have had no issues ordering from them, so I really hope it helps with his girthyness/grumpiness!
I'll be headed up the barn tomorrow morning and hope to do a few crossrails with Finn and work more on his canter.
Here's a video of my munchkin doing his first grid!
