A Week In the Life of Chestnut Ridge - Day 4

6.00 - Alarm Goes Off

So tired! Not much energy this morning nor any enthusiasm for getting out of bed.

6.15-6.55 - Walking Brandy

Weirdly we got caught in the rain on the way back. It has now stopped raining but it would be nice to have a few days of on off light rain, the ground really needs it!

Look how many steps I did on Wednesday!



6.55-7.12 - Feeding Pets

Breakfast time for all the little critters.

7.12-7.29 - Packing Parcels

I have a bit of a hectic day on Thursdays and not much time between my physio and work to get parcels out, so I always try and do the ones I can in the morning. I only have one today where the item I need is at the store room, so we have a nice pile of small boxes and will get that horse on the way home from hospital and pack her up.

7.29-8.00 - Emails

I get the book keeping done and go through my emails. I also put next terms matches into my diary so I know when I'm working at that job! Coordinating three jobs does require a lot of calendar organisation sometimes...

8.00-8.16 - Exercises

I get my stretches and strength work done for the morning, even though time is tight it is important not to miss them!

08.16-08.25 - Breakfast

Couple of slices of toast and my second coffee of the day. I also make Brendon a cup of tea, he's awake at least!

08.25-08.30 - Daily Deal

Daily deal goes up a bit early today, mainly because I have to try and cram an entire days worth of work into about 2 hours today.

08.30-08.38 - Forms

I finally remembered to buy some more C5 envelopes yesterday so was able to get a load of health and safety forms sent off for an event.

08.38-08.40 - Blog Post

Breyer have released the latest Vintage club model, Ali, so I have done a quick Blog post about him (holding off ordering him until I get paid and definitely getting some Spirit horses with him :D)



08.40-08.43 - Ordering Boxes

I've only got one large box left! AAAA! I thought I had more but clearly I don't. So more boxes have been ordered and we will make do until they arrive.

08.43-08.50 - Model of the Day

Whilst eating my toast I do the model of the day. I don't like doing social media stuff so early in the morning, it should be spread throughout the day paying attention to when people are around and using their computers. But needs must on busy days.

08.50-08.53 - Photoshow

Quick check over of Popular Votes Photoshows. All is in order and my own entries are all in for the current show. The show closes on Saturday and everything seems to be in order until then :D

08.53-09.09 - Clean Out Guinea Pigs

On days like today where I know I won't have a huge amount of spare time it is important to priorities jobs, cleaning out the pigs is rather important so I'm getting that done before I go to physio!

09.09-09.12 - Cat Litter

Get the cat litter done so that job is also out of the way! Caesar always looks so offended when I do his cat litter.

09.12-09.17 - Painting

I don't normally do custom work on Thursdays but I'm aware that I need to get some customs finished! So I do a couple of layers of thin white paint on two minis that are nearing completion.

09.17-09.23 - Tack Making

Probably better defined as "playing around with some wire to try and make a Schleich size buckle that looks good".

Now time to go to my weekly physio session!

09.23-12.28 - Physio

Not much to say other than this takes up waaay too much of my time!

12.28-12.35 - Packing Parcels

I get the last parcels packed up ready to head out to the post office.

12.35-12.54 - Post Parcels

Parcels are all gone for today :)

12.54-13.28 - Lunch

Whilst eating my lunch I also do some social media posts and take a cute picture of Crackers (very important)

13.28-14.00 - Tack Making

Carefully trying to make nice looking small enough buckles for this bridle!

14.00-17.38 - Work

I found a route home form work that didn't involve a massive traffic jam. So yay go me :D

17.38-21.40 - Dinner, TV & Secret Project

As well as getting some painting done at small times I was rather exhausted so just sat and worked on secret project on my laptop whilst watching TV

21.40-22.00 - Pets & Plants

I now have a hosepipe. On a related note Brendon flooded the kitchen.

But before bed one did have to capture all the gyms in town :D

Model of the Day - Ginger

Our model of the day today is the very delicate Ginger Spice.



Name: Ginger
Show Name: CRS Ginger Spice
Breed: Miniature
Colour: Chestnut Snowcap Spotted
Gender: Mare
Brand: Schleich
Model Number: 13688
Model Name: Falabella Mare
Mould: Falabella Mare
Scale: Paddock Pal
Year Produced: 2011-Present
Finish: Matte
Face Markings: None
Leg Markings: 4x White Socks
Sire: None
Dam: None
Unique ID Code: 738
Best Live Show Placing: Small Section Champion

Ali

The third release in this year's Vintage club is now available to order.

Ali is a gambler's choice on the FAM mould and is available in four different colours.



I'm not a massive fan of any of these colours but I do think the gold charm looks quite nice.

A Week in the Life of Chestnut Ridge - Day 3

Today hasn't started well! My phone turned itself off during the night so my alarm didn't go off!

6.50 - Alarm Doesn't Go Off

I wake up, hear traffic outside and think "that's not good" *check watch* WTF PHONE?!?!?

7.12-7.35 - Walk Brandy

Just a short walk and a paddle this morning as she is going to spend most of the day running around at mums anyway and we are running late!

7.35-7.45 - Feed Animals

Guinea pigs had thrown their water bottle across the room. Because why not? It was Phantom. I know it was Phantom. It's always Phantom.

7.45-7.47 - Paying Bills

I need to make sure to pay for today's riding lesson! It's not cheap, I've had to fully stop my therapy and basically not eat to afford these lessons each week.

7.47-08.05 - Exercises

It's so hard to get back off the floor once I finish the last one. Also when you lie down you can see all the RubberNedz toesies :p

8.05-08.24 - Emails & Bills

O look more bills to pay! Just renewed our web domain for the next 10 years, I'll be 36 when that next needs doing again and I'd rather not think about that.

Book keeping and emails also all done.

8.24-8.40 - Social Media

Because I have a riding lesson Wednesday morning I spend most of the time attempting to cram as much in as possible!

Starting off I do the Daily Deal and then I do the Model of the Day and finally a 'new' style of social media post. I have a spreadsheet full of ideas and every Wednesday I try a new idea. I keep detailed data of responses so I know what posts work and what don't. Also important to keep data as to the time that they work.

8.40-8.49 - Customer Orders

First off contacting one customer about shipping for their item (do they want to wait until it is less hot!)

Second is prep work on a resin that has been sent for painting. It's quite cool in my study as I've kept the window open and door closed so OK to prime at the moment.

8.49-8.57 - Clearing Out Products

Every week I go through and delete products that won't be restocked. This is mainly customs and second hand models but could also be discontinued items that have sold out, or items that we ordered in specially and won't be ordering again.

Although we now hide out of stock products doing this weekly keeps everything look and feel more clean from the backend point of view. When we showed out of stock products it also kept the website looking cleaner for the customer.

8.57-9.07 - Getting Changed & Breakfast

I pull on my jodhpurs and grab a couple of bites of yogurt before I go, as well as some water as I know how hot it is.

Won't forget my purse today so I can get some fuel!

9.07-11.38 - Riding

I collect the horses for postage on the way and leave the dog at my mums house for the day. I have an hour long private lesson every Wednesday morning, I worked out I need to sell at least 3 customs a week to fund this!

On the way I pick up the horses I need for postage and leave Brandy to have a fun day of lying in the sun and refusing to be sensible and go into the nice cold house. It's currently so warm I'm tempted to just move into my mums hall which is disturbingly cool!

11.38-11.45 - Orders

Working on some prep work again now I'm home before I start packing parcels.

11.47 - 12.34 - Packing Parcels

You are probably getting into the routine of my life by now! But yep parcel packing time *yay*. I made sure to give the plush ponies a little cuddle before I packed them up. They are just too cute :D

12.34-13.00 - Posting Parcels

I forgot to buy envelopes again. That's the fourth day in a row!

13.00-13.05 - More Prepping

I want to get this guy primed by the end of the day so working on him throughout the day.

13.05-13.27 - Cleaning out Guinea Pigs

Victor has eaten an entire bowl of food since this morning. I swear this guinea pig has bulimia or something!

13.27-13.34 - Blog Post

Quick blog post with two of the new tack items I completed recently. No new Auction model has been announced yet but that means we could have two in tomorrow's post :D



13.34-13.48 - Goody Bags

Ordering items for the goody bags for our next live show which is a week Saturday. The theme is 'hearts' so I found heart shaped bracelets and pink bags and little heart pencils. So cute :D

13.48-14.15 - Magazine

I manage to get a few articles written before I head off to work. Each magazine is 36 pages, so far we have 6...

14.15-17.30 - Work

A long afternoon at work, it isn't that far but rush hour traffic means it took a while to get home. Arrived home to find a house full of Sky men!

17.30-00.05 - Date Night

In search of air con we head out for a cheeky Nandos and to the Cinema afterwards.

More exciting was a trip to an air conditioned Asda where we found....UNICORN CUTLERY! Yep I finally found some :D

00.05-00.30 - Watering Plants & Feeding Pets

Watering plants in the dark really is just asking to get yourself attached to a rose plant several times.

Rug & Browband

I really must get my sewing machine and learn how to use it! I'd love to be able to make decent rugs and not have to hand stitch. But you know what they say, practice makes perfect!



I do love the colours on this though, despite the awful stitching



I also had a go at making a clincher browband, need to work out how to make this neater and also how to indent the clinchers into the browband

Model of the Day - Ronny

Our model of the day today is CRS Under the Net aka Ronny.



Name: Ronny
Show Name: CRS Under the Net
Breed: Gypsy Vanner
Colour: Buckskin
Gender: Stallion
Scale: Classic
Manufacturer: Breyer
Artist: Deborah Brown
Mould: Shire A
Year Painted: 2015
Face Markings: White Stripe
Leg Markings: None
Sire: None
Dam: None
Unique ID Code: 690
Best Live Show Placing: Small Section Reserve to Reserve Champion

A Week in the Life of Chestnut Ridge - Day 2

Day two of our week long what do we do post :)

6.02 - Awake

I hate alarm clocks, woke up to a hot and humid house. Really hating the cat a lot in this weather.

6.23-7.35 - Walking Brandy

Me: "There you go, have a quick dip in the pond"
Brandy: "ITS SO HOT I SHALL INSTEAD RUN AROUND AND IGNORE WATER"

Stupid dog.

7.35-7.44 - Feeding Animals

They are already sulking about the weather and it isn't even 8am yet. I need air con.

7.49-08.04 - Exercises

Doing my morning stretches and weights work is most important!

08.04-08.18 - Fitstar

I'm supposed to do this daily as well as my run but it was too hot yesterday! As it is also too hot today I thought I'd alternate and do this one this morning and then do a run again tomorrow morning.

8.18-8.25 - Breakfast

Today we have two slices of fruit toast (I know) and a glass of orange juice. We have some coffee I made earlier as well :p

8.25-9.00 - Studying

As with yesterday I spend the last part of the morning studying for my BHS exams. I'm still doing health and safety today.

9.00-9.32 - Emails & Social Media

I start the day by getting the daily deal done before going through all my emails. Renewed the domain name for another 10 years. That means I can rest for the rest of the day right?

I also do a few Facebook posts for the day, I try to space out social media posts throughout the day and the schedule feature is really useful for this when I'm busy!

9.32-09.50 - Marketing Email

Every Tuesday we work on a marketing email that is scheduled to send later on in the day.

This week it is about our Summer sale, a nice bright yellow background a few featured products. I am working on 'less is more' for our emails!

Now it's time for another coffee, I should probably also eat that second slice of toast I made for breakfast.

10.00-10.15 - Popular Votes Photoshows

I need to spend time each week just checking through making sure there is nothing in the wrong place or going wrong and also entering some of my own photographs to the show.

This show is pretty low maintenance until the end of each month where it is like a mad dash!

Today I am entering a few more of my own horses, the show this month is for spotty ponies. Or I would be if the internet would work properly...

10.15-10.32 - YouTube Video

I try and do at least one YouTube video a week.

Worth noting at this point that I have no video skill and my camera hates me. I am hoping that my aspiring film director of a younger sister will teach me how to create in focus videos once her exams are over...

I leave it to upload as I get on with my day.

10.35-10.41 - Photographing/Emailing

I finished off a repair job for a customer on Sunday so just photographing him and sending over conformation pictures to make sure she is happy with how he's turned out.

I don't usually do repair work, but this one was a reasonably easy fix (not a complete strip down, it could actually be repaired) so I happily took him back. He was painted back in 2011 originally and had suffered some nasty facial damage meaning he had to be completely reprimed on the face.

10.43-11.16 - Writing Up Results

I have three shows worth of results to write up so using some time this morning to try and make a dent!

11.16-11.56 - Collecting Horses

Off to the store room to collect horses. It really needs tidying!

Air con in car was lovely, tempted to just spend day sat in car.

11.56-12.42 - Packing Parcels

Some days do just take a lot longer than others. It's not necessarily about quantity always, often it is just orders that take time (such as hobby supplies, Schleich and mixed orders etc).

12.42-13.12 - Posting Parcels

I love the Coop it has like insanely cold air con and it's amazing. Do you think I could just sit in there and work?

13.20-13.24 - Shopping

I have become acutely aware that I only own one pair of shorts. So a quick hit up of eBay this afternoon to get some cheap slave made shorts.

On that note, why are all shorts really really really short?

13.24-13.48 - Tack Making

I normally try and spend an hour tack making but parcels took ages. Today I made a nice browband and finished off a rug I started last week.

13.48-14.00 - Cook Lunch

Put lunch onto cook and hung the washing on the line.

Now it's time to do half an hours worth of BHS studying (whilst listening to the Archers of course).

14.00-14.33 - Studying

Whilst eating my lunch I do some more studying for my BHS exams.

At this point normally I would go to work (or would have already left) but I have no sessions on Tuesdays and Fridays this term.

14.34-14.42 - Model of the Day

A fun little thing I like to do each day, it gives a bit more variety to the Chestnut Ridge Facebook page and also allows people to see some horses from my collection that otherwise you don't get to see.

14.42-15.03 - Adding New Website Products

First thing on the afternoon catch up is to add two new tack items to the website. It can take some time to add new custom tack items because each variant has to be individually added and the internet can be REALLY SLOW!

15.04-15.06 - Cat Litter

Next job, clean the cat litter tray.

15.06-15.10 - Blog Post

A nice Blog post with some of the new BF Auction horses, I love this one that I've added the image of below



15.10-15.33 - Clean Out Guinea Pigs

Final thing on my catchup list is to clean out the guinea pigs. Poor boys are rather hot, not that that in anyway stops them from having an argument because I didn't put a house back in the correct place...

15.34-17.37 - Writing Up Results

The amount of time I devote to typing up results is ridiculous! But I have now written up all the results from the last three shows. I have also completely run out of space for rosettes.

17.38-18.15 - Clean Study

Finished off the cleaning of the chaos that I started yesterday, now we have a beautiful (if not rather cluttered) work space.

18.15-19.00 - Cook Dinner

I actually spent most of the time sat outside where it is noticibly cooler than inside! Also did the washing and tidied up a bit.

19.00-20.00 - Watch TV

I started watching a show whilst eating dinner and didn't have the energy to get up again and finish cleaning or do my usual Tuesday evening baking #lazyfailure

20.00-20.16 - Animals and Plants

Nearly time for bed *yay* I'm sooo tired. Garden has been watered and guinea pigs, fish, cat and dog all fed. Now it's time to melt in our rather overly hot bedroom. How much does and air con unit cost I wonder?