Itty Bitty Hooves

Keeping A Healthy Financial Balance

Finding a good financial reporting software can make the difference between profit and loss, or at least keep you from losing all your hair in the process. Sometimes, especially in farming, and writing, which just happen to be my two full-time endeavors, the margin between the two is very slim. It is vital to have the most accurate records, and best accounting methods available to really get the most accurate picture–plus, sense there are often more loss years than profit years, it is extremely important when it comes to Uncle Sam and tax proof as well. It beats the blazes out of a shoe box stuffed with tons of teeny paper receipts when you walk into the auditor’s office. Most importantly it will give you the best overview of what’s really happening with your business, and where you need to make changes in order to reflect a healthy balance.

Prying The Pounds Off

There are so many weight loss drugs available now, but Ephedra has always proven itself to be one of the best at helping people lose weight. One of the biggest problems with weight loss, especially for women is metabolism. Ours is just slower than mens, and as we get older, slower still which is why they say it’s harder to lose weight after 30. So getting a little help in that department may be absolutely necessary for a woman trying to lose weight. I know I’ve always had to have something like that when I’ve gone on a diet, or no matter how hard I try the pounds seem to have to be pried off.

Handy Medical Supplies To Have On Hand

Oh I just found a great site for my husband. He’s a paramedic and that means he has to have many of his own medical supplies like a blood pressure cuff, and alittman stethoscope on him. It just makes it easier if they carry their own. He goes off to work with several bags full of his own equipment rather than having to use the companies stuff in the ambulance. Of course they use lots of the stuff supplied in the ambulance, but when it comes to actual equipment it’s better to rely on your own rather than the possibly over-used, and abused stuff other shifts have used. I like having a lot of that stuff around the farm too. I have stethescopes out in the barn. It comes in handy when you need to listen to the gut sounds of a horse to see if it has colic, or listening for fetal movement in a hopefully pregnant mare, or doe. It’s nice too that I can have my husband check my blood pressure whenever I want. Having those things around the house is very convienient, and you never know when it might even save a life.

Home Office Of My Own

I was so happy when my kids moved out of the house and I was able to convert their bedrooms into office space. No empty nest syndrome here. Does that make me a lousy mother? Hum. Not sure. But I sure enjoyed shopping for office furniture. My office is my little hide-away, but working from home is wonderful because even though I have my place of work that’s apart from the rest of the hubub of the household, I’m still connected. I can get up and walk right into my ‘other life’ with no problem at all. I can look out my windows and see the animals playing, and no one tells me I can’t take a coffee break whenever I want to. Oh and hey, biggest benefit of all–no matter what I do, or how often I call in ’sick’ I can’t get fired.

Drifting To Sleep On The Waves

I miss my waterbed. For the first ten years of my married life we had a king sized waterbed. Before getting married I’d never had a waterbed. Hubby bought it before our wedding in part of the 70’s waterbed fad. I was skeptical at first, but it was fantastic–and terrific for my bad back too. When it kind of died a holey death thanks to an intermitant kitten who liked to try to sharpen her claws on the plastic, we decided to opt for a traditional mattress bed. It was nice, but I miss the theraputic benefits of the waterbed, and well… just the plain old comfort. It molded to my body. It rocked me gently to sleep. Our traditional mattress is going on twelve years old and beginning to show signs of wear. You won’t see a frown on my face for that, though… I can’t wait. I don’t know if waterbeds will ever be the ‘hot’ item of fashion they once were, but soon we’ll be shopping for a new bed… a waterbed.

Finding The Right Property

We’ve been searching for a real estate broker that can guide us. We’re not looking close by so we need someone out of state that can fill us in on properties before we go looking in the areas. We have several we’re looking in so that makes it even tougher since the agent has to have a broader scope than just a certain locale. What makes it so much easier now than say 20 years ago is the computer age. Real estate agents are connected to the whole country, even the world in their searching capabilities. The same agent can even help you sell your existing home. Finding the right relationship is something that has helped us sleep better at nights.

What Time Is It?

Keeping track of the time is important in my day-to-day routine. I have so many things that have to be done at a specific time so I always wear a watch. Finding just the perfect piece that looks nice, but is also very durable is important. I’ve found that swiss army watches are extremely practical while at the same time being a lot more stylish than the name might suggest, and they also come in ladies styles, which the name doesn’t quite suggest either.

Gentle Reminders

Out here in the country having a radar detector is a good idea. There are very few posted speed limits and you can go for miles, and miles without ever coming across a stop sign. Even in the towns there are no lights, and many of them don’t have even a single stop sign on the main through road. The DO have slow speed limits in the towns though.

Driving fast down the country highways, it’s easy to forget yourself as you head into a town. Those towns are normally about four or five blocks long too, so it’s not a long stretch to remind you either. Although there are very few police, when they’re there they are quick to stop you if you haven’t slowed down enough through the towns.

That’s a good thing, by the way. I don’t like to speed through a town. They’re quite little places where children truly do play without much worry. I make a concetrated effort to slow down through them, however, if you’ve ever spent thirty or forty miles on an expressway only to come off of it and not be able to judge the slower speeds well you’ll know what I mean when I say that sometimes your idea of ’slow’ isn’t the same as really going slow. You just don’t realize you’re going so fast.

The radar detectors just warn you. It’s a tool like any other, not necessarily for evasion, but as a gentle reminder that you need to pay attention to your speed.

The Only Way To Relax On Vacation

Traveling to Florida is a lot of fun. It’s actually one of the vacation spots I don’t just dream about, I actually go to. I love Florida. I have a lot of family on the Gulf side, but I prefer to vacation on the Ocean side. All the real activity is over there. Miami, Orlando–all the really great places, and who could forget Disney World? It’s no secret though that I’m not fond of hotels. It’s much nicer to book a Florida rental vacation. I’ve never looked back. The only time I stay in hotels now is if I’m on a business trip and it’s a pass-through. A cramped hotel room just doesn’t make for a very relaxing vacation.

Spare Change

If you get tired of spare change lying around on desk tops, dressers, and counters like it does around here sometimes, you’ll love this coin sorter. It’s just the coolest thing. It even does the wrapping for you so you don’t have to mess with loading them cylinders yourself. I end up spilling half of it as I try to funnel it in there when enough change builds up that I can wrap it up. It makes keeping the change easier too, or taking it to the bank to cash in for paper.