No! Not the Pizza!

This weekend I had to make a trek up to Idaho to take care of some family business. Skip was in charge here at home with Robbie and the twins. Of course, when Dad is in charge things are always run a bit different. No probs, though, just different.

This morning, I walked into Jacob's room as he was getting ready for school to prod him along. This is what I saw:

Yeah, we've seen this kind of thing before crop up on Jake. At one point it was all over his body and we assumed he had chicken pox so we kept him from school for four days (what a nightmare THAT was!). The rash is itchy and looks like he's got the the plague.

Anyway, I asked him what he had different this weekend than when I'm in charge. He quickly (too quickly, lol) replied, "Peetha!" (you have to remember that Jacob has a lisp because of his lazy tongue).

Pizza? Could it be that he's allergic to pizza? Well, from the schooling that I've taken over the last three or four years that is a very real possibility. Dairy - check. Gluten - check. Processed meat - check. Since I don't give my children dairy I finally concluded that this might be the culprit. Of course, since Papa Murphy's probably has "secret" ingredients, it could be any number of problems. Answer? Keep the child away from pizza.

Sorry buddy. It's okay, we'll make your sister abstain as well.

Megsie!

Can I just say how much I adore my son's girlfriend? Megan has been the best thing that has ever happened to my rogue son. She has pushed him to try to become the best he can be. Our whole family just LOVES this girl!

A cool thing about Megan (amongst millions of cool things) is that she is an animal lover like most of the rest of us (except my husband). More specifically, Megan loves dogs (that's okay, Brandilyn/cats, Jody/horses, Brian/reptiles etc.). Brian is always wanting to get Meg a dog but, like Brandilyn and Dave's situation, this is NOT the time in their lives to have a dog.

My resourceful son found an AWESOME alternative to the problem . . . volunteer at the animal shelter as a dog walker! Brilliant! Now, him and Meg go over there whenever they can and walk dogs. Bri took this gorgeous picture of Meg a couple of days ago and I just LOVE it!

Brian, all I have to say is that if you EVER break up with this girl, we are keeping her and tossing YOU back, lol!

On the Cover of the Rolling Stone!

I'm a proud sister and daughter! My mommy sent me this in the mail. This is the CSA farm that my mom and my sister started together. My sister had a "vision" and has followed her dream with my mom by her side and they have built it up to this very successful business!

My sister actually called me about a week or so ago and told me how she called the paper and mentioned her farm to them. She sent them photos and they were so impressed with her and her photos that they featured them on the FRONT page and in FULL COLOR! Can you imagine that?

I have to say that a bit of envy is mingled in with the pride I have for them. You see, my sister and I both were starting our businesses together at the same time. Her's took off and mine flopped on it's face and died. We both approached with the same enthusiasm and drive. I'm happy for them, though. I truly am. I only wish I lived closer so that I could partake of the bounty of my family's business.

So . . . Yay Mom and Gail! I'm proud of you guys and I love you to bits!!

Lighten It Up!

Today, I'm gonna change it up a bit. I'm gonna kick up my heels and be rogue. I'm just not gonna let the daunting schedule of the day get to me. Nope, not today!

I'm "supposed" to go take my lesson on Black Horse, leave my lesson early to go watch Ava's performance on her last day of school at her pre-school, have an hour of "wtf" (that would be an hour where there is nothing to do but I live too far away to go home), meet two of the sisters I visit teach for lunch (I hate doing lunch for VT - I hate the whole food world right now), take Ava to her riding lesson, leave early to pick up Courtney from school, go teach my Activity Day girls at the park (yum, we are making ice cream in a bag and playing volleyball) and then come home and try to be a mom with the whole dinner/homework/bedtime gig.

However . . . I've decided to blow off my lesson and see if my trainer can do it tomorrow and just go for a nice vigorous walk this morning to clear my head (I've got a bit on my mind right about now), go watch Ava's performance, spend that hour gathering supplies for later, go have lunch with the girls and enjoy the experience, blow off Ava's lesson till tomorrow when we can take it together, go play with Ava at a park somewhere, pick up Court from school and then go do my teaching gig at the park before I head home. Doesn't that sound more relaxed and sane? Yeah, I thought so too.

Now . . . to see if my trainer will be on board with the scheduling change.

I'm not into taking life too serious. I like to be light and enjoy (sometimes too much, lol). Lately, the burdens of a few things have just turned me into this ogre that I don't want to be. I think a walk, time playing with my grand daughter and having lunch with my friends might be a nice way to switch it all up. Right?

Backbone

There arose a situation this weekend where someone, once again, took gross advantage of me. They broke my trust and hurt me and could have done grave damage to my family and our home.

I was hurt and venting to Danielle and she did another quick bum kicking to get me moving in the right direction. After hearing it from her, I bucked up and told this individual off. After I got going, I was unstoppable! I was insanely proud of myself. They kept coming back and trying to play on my sympathy but I wouldn't have any of it. My daughter stuck with me the whole evening coaching me and she even ended up getting a phone call from this person and she let him have it as well.

Today is a different day. I'm cooled off and I'm a bit softer again. Still, not allowing this person to walk all over me anymore, though. I'm trying to make some serious decisions and Skip and Danielle are on my side helping me through it.

This person endangered everything my hard-working husband has spent his entire life building up. They endangered the safety of one of my children - heck, all three of my children at home, for that matter. I need to be tough.

I remember, growing up, my mom always gave me heck about the fact that I NEVER stood up for myself. People have walked all over me my whole life. I've always tried to believe the absolute best in everyone and it always floors me when their ugly side is revealed to me. It hurts - always. I don't want to be this soft hearted person, but it's the way I was born. It's who I am.

I'm grateful for those in my life that give me the backbone I need. I'm grateful that they are there to be the part of me that I'm just not capable of being alone. I love you guys!!

Happy Rapture Day!

Hahaha. I didn't even know about this little piece of information before yesterday afternoon. I was sitting with my peeps here in Grass Valley at the rodeo and they mentioned that we might not even be able to perform tonight because of the rapture. I'm all, "Wtf are you talking about?" That's when they told me. Man, am I EVER misinformed.

I mean, something this important shouldn't have been kept from me, right? How did I miss the fact that I'm going to be left here all alone while my family is transported to heaven? There is no freaking way that I'm going to be one of the 'chosen" ones. This is going to be a big day for me. I need to figure out how to transport seven horses back home from the rodeo and then I need to go start knocking on my friends' doors to seee if any of them are as evil as I so that we can kick it. Right?

Well, just for the record, I'm not a believer in this whole hype that is about today. So far it's 10:30 a.m. and nobody has been translated as of yet. Life appears to be going on as normal. I just wish people would quit putting out so much energy about apocalyptic events. If anything is going to happen, it will be in the Lord's time and when HE decides. It isn't a mathematical equation and it's not written in some secret book hidden somewhere.

So, today, I choose to go give the best performance of my life tonight and enjoy the day with my children, husband and my drill mates. It's sunshiny and has all the ingredients for a nothing short of fabulous day!

Happy Rapture Day Everyone!!

Rainbow

Several days ago I posted my Facebook status as "after the hurricane comes a rainbow". This was a quote from Katy Perry's song, "Firework" (which, by the way, I LOVE that song). It has caused me to ponder the quote further, though.

Cory, Danielle, Brandilyn and (mostly) Brian were horrible, nasty, terrible teenagers. I spent a lot of their teenage-hood in tears and frustration. Actually, one funny story (there are a lot, I'm sure) was one day I was so mad at Brian - he was about 17 at the time - and I was yelling at him for something, which is highly unusual for me (lol). He was being belligerent and disrespectful (who, Brian?) and I finally walked up to him - all 5'11" muscular teenage him - and started pounding my fists on his chest as I was crying and yelling (yeah, I was in perfect control). He laughed and said repeatedly, "Mom, stop. Come on, Mom, stop it. Mom, really, stop." All the while I was just out and out losing it. Yeah, this would describe how most of the teenage years have gone with my offspring.

However, those four older children are now beautiful pieces of MY rainbow. All in their own special way. I'm proud of each and every one of them. Cory and his girl, Sarah, have a gorgeous little girl of their own that is the apple of my husband's eye. I get to tend her and she's just so fun and smart and . . . fun!

Danielle is getting married to her guy here in less than a month. I'm so proud of how she's worked so hard to get where she is. She holds down a full time job and babysits multiple times during the week AND is a consultant for moms with problem kids. She has managed to plan a wedding with a minimal budget which I find highly commendable. She has become the queen of bargains.

Brandilyn and her husband are awesome. They own a clothing store and she is about to graduate college in July. She is such a strong member of the Church (yes, BRANDILYN!) which gives me hope for the others. Her and Dave are so crazy in love. Brandilyn is so great at listening to my woes and she gives really great sound advice. I so cherish my visits up there to Idaho (the cold country) to visit and bond.

Brian - ah, yes my Brian . . . talk about the hurricane of all hurricanes! Yeah, that boy gave me the run of my life! Now, he is really trying hard to get his stuff together and go on a mission. He is madly in love with Megan (so are we) and wants to finish his mission and marry his love. He just scored a job at Winco and wants to pay his own way in life (YES!!). He calls me every day to tell me he loves me and misses me. It's reciprocal.

So, there it is. Four beautiful parts of my 7-part rainbow. I love them so much.

And here I am in the middle of yet another hurricane eagerly looking for that rainbow that I know is out there. It's what keeps me going.

Good Times

Here's our spa deck outside our master bathroom. It's one of my most favoritist places about our home. I love to go sit out here and look up at the sky or that beautiful tree and just enjoy.

Today Marly, Brandilyn's kitty, was sitting outside the door asking to come back into the house. I opened up the door and he came waltzing in with a mouse in his mouth. After he dropped it for me to admire and praise him for, I grabbed a dustpan and scooped the little critter up and went back out on the deck to toss it over. As I walked out, the door slammed behind me. Usually, that would be no big deal (we NEVER lock it).

Well, today it appears that the door was locked (I finally concluded that the window washer that came up here last week to clean before the house showing must have locked it to be efficient). I was trapped out there on the deck and I was home ALONE!! I was trying to weigh my options. I'm not too fond of heights so climbing over the glass and trying to come up with a strategy there was pointless (although I DID climb over the glass and quickly back over as soon as I concluded that this was only going to end very badly). I knew that it could be a few more hours before anyone would be coming up the driveway. I was cold (very windy day) and decided that there could be worse fates that I could be faced with. Right?

As I settled in, it suddenly dawned on me that this had happened before to Skip and I in a much more UNfavorable circumstance. We were sitting in our hot tub with (ahem) nothing on enjoying a afternoon home alone. When we were finished we discovered that we were locked outside on the deck. We both looked at each other and started laughing. What the flip were we going to do? Well, my husband is NOT afraid of heights so he climbed over the edge (buck naked) and let himself drop to the ground. He went to the front door, it was locked. He finally had to run all the way around to the back of the house and let himself in then came and rescued the damsel in distress.

As I was pondering that comical situation, I remembered something! We had learned from this experience and my husband had very cleverly hidden a key. That's right!! I went to where I thought the key was and, alas, there it was!! Yay! I was safely back in the house!

Dang, I LOVE that deck. I think I'll go find a repair place to fix that spa so that I can go enjoy it again.

If you build it they will come

Once again . . . no secret, our house is on the market and we are excited about our future move to Arizona for a fresh new start. Oh, we will really miss our mates here but it will be fun to start over somewhere new. That said, our house has been on the market for 8 months now and we really haven't had much activity - okay, we haven't had ANY activity. That is until last week . . . .

I got a call on Tuesday that an agent wanted to show our home on Thursday at 11. I was casual and said, "Sure, no problem!" Inside I was like, "OMG!! Wtf??" I mean, our house isn't a total wreck but we have become extremely slack in our, uh, housekeeping. And the yards! Holy crumb! They are/were stuffed up bad.

I called my sister (cuz that's what your supposed to do, righto?). She always knows what to say and do. First, she told me to calm down and breathe. It was going to be okay. She gave me some wonderful suggestions and I pulled myself together and formulated a plan. My bestie, Nan, and I went plant shopping and we came up with the most amount of foliage for the least amount of dough. I spent the whole day Wednesday (with the help of Ava) planting and working my bum off in the yards. I had drill that night so I had to take a couple of hours off to ride (yeah, real sacrifice there) and then got back home and went right back to it. I worked outside until 11:30 with the help of floodlights and caffeine. Of course, my best mate showed up in the middle of the night to help out and offer further encouragement (have I mentioned how much I love her?)

Thursday morning I attacked the inside of my house and went like a crazy woman. I scrubbed, hid miscellaneous things and organized as fast and neatly as I could. When I took Courtney to school, I stopped in Target and bought up massive quantities of air fresheners (cuz you never know what someone else is going to think of your "smell" right?) and plugged them in every room I could. Even Robbie participated in the game by cleaning up and making his environment look spiffy (go figure).

When the time arrived for the "showing" I was pleased with the result. I turned on all the lights, threw out all the cats and locked up my dogs in their run (they hated it). I left.

Two days later, my realtor called and said that the people were not interested in our property because they weren't horse people and they weren't looking for horse property (why would someone come view a horse facility if they weren't looking for horse property? Whatever). However, the agent was impressed with how well our place showed. She said that it was obvious that we took exquisite care of our place and she was going to keep it in mind for future clients. Yay me!

Well, here we are on the following week. With the Law of Attraction in force, I am busting my bum to keep my home the way it looked that day . . . well, almost. After all, we do have to live in it, right? All I need is about an hour heads up and I can have it ready to show to that perfect person that is supposed to own this dream home of ours. Bring it on!

The Rustler - Part II

I just can't continue in fairy tale form. This story just doesn't conform to such . . .

As we drove up to pick up the pony, I was nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof. My comrades continued to attempt to calm me down by telling me there was nothing I was doing wrong. I just HATE confrontation. I know I've said it before but it's true.

When we arrived at the ranch, there was nobody in the office. We walked around until we saw a woman out doing something. We inquired as to whether or not she knew where the pony was and she asked if we had informed the trainer that we were picking her up. I said that I was the owner and that I had not informed him as of yet. She sent us on a wild goose chase while she went and snagged my pony and hid her in a random pasture.

While we were walking back toward where we had seen her, another woman rode by us on a horse and started whistling loudly (obviously alerting the first woman as to our whereabouts). About then, two different hispanic men arrived on their Gators and we, once again, inquired about my pony. They were vague (and spoke very little English, it appeared). When one of my mates suggested that we were going to call the police if we couldn't get our pony he said, "Uh, follow me" (yeah, that's right, buddy, suddenly your memory was jogged).

I found her stall. She was gone. We all knew we had been had at that moment. However, the two hispanic men materialized out in a pasture where we could see a pony galloping around at top speed. Yep, that was her all right. We waited until they had the pony and brought her to us. My mates loaded her up in the trailer and we were off.

I called Skip and asked him to please call the trainer since he had been texting and calling me like crazy. He did and they had a bit of a heated discussion before it calmed down and they both came to some kind of agreement.

I have to say that I was so shaking and stressed out. My teeth on the left side of my mouth hurt pretty bad right now from being clenched most of today. I didn't calm down until I had unhooked the trailer at my place, come up to the house and dove into a bag of Cheetos (okay, probably not the best decision of the day). I am now relieved and feel like a huge burden has been lifted off of my shoulders.

So now the exquisite pony is lounging in her stall in the castle stables. She is being hand fed grain and hay and many many specialty horse treats. The maiden has retired to her quarters with strict instructions to the castle occupants to not disturb her (yeah, I wish). The mates have done a good turn and will be vastly rewarded for their deeds. All is well in the kingdom this night and we know that now we can live happily ever after.

The Rustler

Once upon a time, in a kingdom not too far from here there lived a fair maiden that had a most beautiful pony. The pony was so beautiful that she was the envy of all who saw her. The fair maiden knew her pony would draw attention from people far and near so she decided to place a price on the pony and see who, in all the kingdoms around, would be willing to pay such a fine price for such a fine animal.

Well, the pony was viewed by many in the maiden's own kingdom but none deemed themselves worthy to own such a fine animal. The maiden then decided to send the pony to a kingdom very far away where the weather is extremely cold because there are many there who would appreciate such a fine example of equine excellence. But, nay, it was not to be. The citizens of this kingdom, too, could not bring themselves to part with such a handsome amount of money to allow themselves the privilege of owning this pony.

One day, the maiden received a phone call from the fine trainer in the cold country. "Oh fine maiden, we have a knight who is traveling back toward your kingdom and has offered to transport your fine pony. Shall I enlist his service?"

"Oh yes! That would be fabulous!", quipped the maiden.

So, the man proceeded to transport the exquisite pony back to a kingdom closer to home. Enroute, however, the man called the maiden and suggested that possibly the pony could be sold for a fine price in his kingdom. Would the maiden be so kind as to consider such a proposition? She was enchanted by his seeming knowledge and by the many citizens he claimed would come to see this fabulous animal. She quickly, too quickly, agreed to the proposition and made arrangements for travel to visit his fine facility. And, what a fine facility it was. It was everything the maiden could possibly want for her pony.

Many days passed. Many weeks passed. Many months passed and there was no word from the man. The maiden became concerned and finally her closest confidants convinced her that the man was a bad man. That the pony needed to be collected immediately. Oh no! The maiden never engaged in conflict. What was she going to do?

Well, her mates agreed to travel with her to this foreign kingdom and assist her in reclaiming her fine pony and bringing the pony home.

So today, the journey begins. This maiden is very nervous and scared to interact with the bad man. This maiden is also relieved that she will no longer have to pay great quantities of money to have the pony in a far away land. This maiden will continue her documentation of this adventure tomorrow . . .