Joshua

Okay, since I've posted my third child, then my second child, I guess it's time to post about my firstborn. Joshua is now 19, getting ready to go to basic training in the Navy Reserves, and getting him to pose for a picture is almost impossible. Let me rephrase that - getting him to post for a picture where he isn't trying to look "cool" is almost impossible! So we'll start with an old one from three years ago - this is Josh and his halter horse, He's Above Suspicion (we just called him Gus). Unfortunately, we had to have Gus put down late last year because he had a degenerative bone disease and was in severe pain. He was a gorgeous horse and he'd just follow Joshua around like a big dog.

Here's one of those "cool" pictures. Yes, that is an eyebrow ring. He's 19 and didn't have to ask my permission. But I know it will be gone soon - no piercings in the Navy! Go, Navy!

Counting out birthday money and I'm sure is contemplating, "New jeans? Go to the movies? Nahh....think of all the Raisin' Cane's Chicken I could buy with this!" These pictures were taken the end of January this year at Steve and Joshua's Family Birthday Party at my inlaws. Thus the "drug store" behind Joshua. :^D

And here's all of us - this was our Christmas photo that didn't get mailed out. Whoops! Dogs from left to right are Abrial, Cosette, and Delilah.

Brooke

I finally got Brooke in front of the camera instead of behind it. Although this first picture she took herself! Here's my Little Blue-Marble Eyes!

Brooke and our oldest Standard Poodle, Delilah. My stepmom calls her "Misssssss Delilah." It was Brooke who wanted a poodle when she was four years old and it was Brooke who named Delilah.

You may notice in most of Brooke's pictures, there is an ANIMAL with her. Is it a far stretch to think her life's desire is to be a veterinarian? She has such a peace that comes over her when she is with the animals. Can you see it?

Brooke and her cat, Libby. Yes, this is the cat that my friends have started referring to as "The Million Dollar Cat." I call her "The Cat Who Went to Texas." But that's a story for another post.

Brooke absolutely adores her kitty. And I think Libby feels the same for Brooke. She is so caring to all the animals. God has given her a tender heart toward and a passion for His all creatures.

Brooke and her horse, Honeybee.

I am so blessed to have my beautiful daughters.

Tuesday, All Day Long

Tuesdays and Thursdays are always long. I guess I should elaborate. My husband is a cardiac intensive care nurse. He works from a Thursday straight through until Tuesday at one hospital. Off on Wednesday. Thursday at a second hospital. Off Friday through Monday. Tuesday at the second hospital. Off on Wednesday. Then back to Hospital #1 on Thursday and the cycle begins again. He is off every Wednesday. I adore Wednesdays. :^D He works every Tuesday and Thursday. I don't like those days so very much. So....back to my Tuesday.

Today Brooke woke me up and we went to her "job barn." For the last year and a half, she has had a job feeding five horses twice every day at a barn about 15 minutes from our house. Then we head to our barn, about 30 minutes from the "job barn." We bring in one horse from the pasture and put our "girls" out for the day. Sometimes we muck the stalls in the morning. Today we were late and we knew we'd be back early to ride, so we left the job for later.

We did a full day's school work and things went very smoothly today, surprisingly. We were finished before 2 p.m. Considering we started at 10, that's pretty good. For us.

The "dirt guys" also came and worked on the lot again. It's looking good!

The road in front of our lot, however, is not looking so hot. It was not properly "bedded" when it was put in and, with all the recent rains, it actually ripples when the dump trucks come in with their loads. It is quite torn up.

Thankfully our house is the last on the street (for the time being) and the street is a dead end, so it will not be a problem for traffic. When our construction is finished, my father-in-law will re-do the road.

Then we went shopping at Target. I love that place! Back home. Groceries put away. Everyone grab their boots and get in the car. Again. It's now 4:15 p.m.

We're off to the barn to clean stalls and ride. Brooke and Morgan have a show this weekend and needed to practice their barrel racing.

Good job, Morgan. Now it's Brooke's turn.

That's trick riding, not barrel racing, Brooke!

Much better, there, Brooke! Now THAT'S a barrel run!

Tomorrow we will set up the poles and work on pole bending. It's supposed to start raining (AGAIN) on Thursday, so we'll need to get our practice in early in the week. It'll take at least two days without rain for the arena to dry out. After the girls practiced on their horses, I rode on my Lady....I do NOT run poles or barrels. In fact, I don't RUN at all. I walk. Slowly.....

Meanwhile, Brooke rode a friend's horse. By the time our horses were put in their stalls, fed, watered, and given hay for the night and we got in the car, it was 7:30 p.m.

Off to the "job barn" to feed those horses. They were VERY glad to see Brooke. We arrived home at 8:30 and I still needed to cook supper. It's now midnight. I still need to wash dishes, take a bath, and put in another load of laundry...

My favorite laundry helper, my Kenmore He4t washer and dryer make short work of all our dirty clothes. And, boy, do we have dirty clothes!

...before heading off to bed. Thank goodness Steve will be feeding horses tomorrow morning!

You Turkey, You!

When we moved our horses to "the new barn," one thing they found disconcerting at first was the fact that there are wild turkeys wandering all over the place - especially in the horse pastures. Our horses would all stay on one side of the pasture and stare at these strange creatures. Now, a few months later, they are used to the turkeys and don't even notice their presence.

Ferrets Rock

Here's our little Ferris peeking out of his little colorful ferret bed. He is just the cutest thing! He wakes up and looks around when you call his name. I thought I'd post some pictures of him here because someone on my Support4Homeschool yahoo group asked for suggestions of small pets. I recommended a ferret - he's the only "small" pet we have.

The upside of ferrets:

• they aren't demanding
• they don't bark
• they don't eat a lot
• they are pretty low maintenance
• they are funny and affectionate

The downside of ferrets:

• they smell kind of musky
• they tend to take small items and hide them under sofas and beds - Ferris likes to steal razors from the side of the tub and he loves any crackly paper or bags - those are hidden under the sofas
• you do have to clean the cage (well, *I* don't - that's a Stevie-boy job!)

Here's a picture of Ferris and Brooke's cat, Libby. Libby has always loved Ferris and will climb into his cage. They love to play together.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig!

It was a very quiet, relaxing Sunday. The girls and Steve went to noon church service. Because I arrived home after 1 a.m. from Houston and was supposed to have a 2 p.m. Stampin' Up! workshop, I didn't go. About an hour after Steve and the girls left, my hostess called to say she was going to have to reschedule because her grandfather had a stroke earlier in the morning and she had been at the hospital since. So I stayed home, straightened out my work area, and took a long, relaxing bubble bath. I'll need to download the Sunday sermon. I hate missing church.

Here's a picture of Morgan's catfish. He's the only fish we have left from Christmas. He looks like he is checking himself out in a mirror!

I'm not too good at taking care of aquariums, evidently. Every time I do a water change, even with the additives to remove chlorine and other chemicals, fish die. :^( I think I need a water tester kit. I'll try to get the tank straightened out and then we'll try again with some more fish. We can't even keep mystery snails - they either die or ESCAPE!

Stampin' Up! Houston Regionals

We had the best time at the Stampin' Up! Houston Regional Convention! Here I am with my convention buddies frantically trying to complete a mini-book before time was up! There was some great information, terrific projects, and I learned so much. Stampin' Up! events are always the best!

Driving home, on the other hand, wasn't so great. We got in RAIN and from Lafayette home took forever! After about 45 minutes of driving in horrible rain, Mary quietly said, "You know I'm over here praying, don't you?" I told her yes, I figured she was and I had been, too! I was so thankful that we arrived safely.

We're Here!!!

We made good time from Louisiana and are now here in Houston, full and sleepy! My upline took our whole group out to eat at The Original Ninfa's Mexican Restaurant. Yum! We'll have an early morning, so I need to get into bed. Here's a picture of two of my downline, Mary and Ashley, and I'm in the center in blue. So my first picture of myself. Travel weary. Maybe I SHOULDN'T post it! Oh well.

I also made another card swap this morning. This is an unusual thing - a Ginger original. That rarely ever happens - I usually need to copy someone else's good idea.

I'm bushed - off to bed!

Houston Bound!

Here's a picture of Morgan's kitty, Stewart, named in honor of Stuart Little, because of his mouse-like qualities - being very white with a very pink pigment, large ears, and an exceptionally long, thin tail.

I'm ready to head to Houston! Just waiting on my downline to get off work and get over here. While I didn't finish everything on my list, I gave it a good try. Here's what I accomplished yesterday:

1. Called the person about Pampered Chef - she wasn't home and her answering machine didn't come on. Will call her while on the road today.


2. I made my swaps, although not the amount I wanted.


3. I made a gift for my downline and guests - a little bag tag with their initial.



4. I'm all packed.


5. I'm partially prepared for my Sunday workshop.


6. The car is being washed as we speak. Thank goodness for the Hand Car Wash across from the elementary school. For $25, I get a wash, wax, detailing, and the interior is cleaned WELL. You can't beat that with an ugly stick! And I'm supporting a local small business. Oh - and the back of the Suburban was cleaned out before it went to the car wash.


7. The house WAS clean. Our 19-year-old tornado has swept through the living room, leaving two blankets, a jacket, and two shirts in it's wake. The laundry is all done.


8. My supplies are packed.


9. I went grocery shopping.

I'll need to call my Stampin' Up! hostess on the way as well. I called her, but she had company, so I need to call her back. I'll need to fill up the car with gas. It's almost 11 in the morning and I've forgotten to eat breakfast, so I guess I should do that.

I didn't post my update last night because the cable internet went out. Steve called this morning and was on the phone FOREVER with them. At least it's working now.

Here are some pictures from yesterday. Steve was playing with Delilah (my first standard poodle - she's turning 8 this year and she is my heart) and slipped in the wet grass. I caught it on camera!

You can also see the puddles on our dirt from the rain Wednesday. Thankfully, it was sunny all yesterday and again today, so it should be drying up. The dirt is about halfway there. I can't believe the dirt has to go up to more than 36"! Crazy!

Down to the Wire

(This photo was taken by Brooke. She never even noticed the bug until we transferred the pictures from the camera to the computer. I think this is a great shot. Flowers were next door at my MIL's.)

Okay, I've waited until the very last minute to do all the things I should have done earlier this week and last. I leave tomorrow for the Stampin' Up! Houston Regional Seminar. I'll be going with three of my downline and two guests. Perhaps posting this here will make me accountable. Here's what I need to do before leaving:

1. Call someone who mentioned wanting to have a Pampered Chef catalog show for me - I am coming up short this month and need to get back in touch with her.


2. Make my card swaps for Regionals - at least 75.


3. Make gifts for my downline and guests. I already have one part of this.


4. Pack!


5. Call my Stampin' Up! hostess for my Sunday workshop.


6. Prepare for my Sunday workshop because I won't have time when I get back.


7. Clean out the Suburban.


8. Have Suburban washed - will do this tomorrow morning. If I do it now, I'll be driving through muddy, gravel roads about 10 times before leaving, thus undoing the wash!


9. Finish cleaning the house (clean bathroom and clean off counter that is covered with my stampin' stuff).


10. Pack supplies that I'll need for Regionals.


11. Go grocery shopping.


12. Make a roast for the barn manager as a "thank you" for bringing the horses in, feeding them, and fixing their breakfast last Friday night so I could go to my Birthday Club Dinner and Crop.

Okay, WOW. Now that I've typed this out, it looks like a lot! I'd better get myself off the computer and start! I'll post later the things I have accomplished! Keep me accountable!

Morgan

My beautiful 10-year-old!

Here are some pictures of Morgan taken by Brooke. She was having fun with the camera and Morgan was more than willing to serve as a model. We'll have to get Brooke in front of the camera instead of behind it so we can have some shots of her as well.

Here Comes the Sun

After raining all morning, the sun suddenly came out and the rain disappeared. It's gorgeous now! If only the sun would dry all the puddles in our yard and on our lot. I'll walk over later to see how wet our lot is.

I thought that since the title of this blog is "just horsin' around," I should post some pictures of our horses. The top picture shows Brooke's horse, Honeybee, and Morgan's horse, Punkin. The bottom picture is my girl, Lady.

More Dirt - Rain in the Forecast!

I was awakened this morning to the sound of dump trucks and bulldozers bringing more dirt to our lot! What a great sound! I couldn't believe they had started so early - even before we left to feed the horses. By the end of the day, half the house pad was built.

But the day also ended with rain in the forecast, which means no dirt tomorrow. I hope we just get a drizzle as opposed to torrential downpours that would wash away all that has been done.

The day ended with me riding my horse again. Brooke has taken it upon herself to be my trainer. She expects a lot of me - she doesn't realize I'm old, fat, and fragile! But we did okay, Lady and I. I even trotted a little. Now to figure out how to NOT bounce while trotting. Therein lies the rub!

Brooke got Steve's digital camera out again and took some pictures of Morgan playing on the barrels (for barrel racing, for those non-horse initiated). She is doing well with her photography and is enjoying the immediate results of the digital camera. We're late to everything - blogging... digital photography.....