If I could do it over again I would . . .

The sarcastic thing to write here would be "I wouldn't" but that's not entirely true. I would do a lot of the things the same. However, some of the things that would be different would be:

• Maintain a "cat free" life. Sorry to all those who love those little fur balls but they just don't do it for me.
• Teach and insist that my children work around the place. Expect them to participate in things like dishes, animal feeding, laundry and the like
• NEVER, NEVER, NEVER pay allowance to my children (only to me, lol). Everything MUST be EARNED (and, dang it, I earned it!)!!!
• have stayed in that affordable house that we bought when we got married. We'd own our home right now and be completely debt free!
• NEVER use a credit card. Oh, I'd have them for dire emergencies but I would NEVER use them for daily purchases. If you can't afford it, you certainly don't NEED it!
• have insisted that my children be home for dinner, family prayer, scripture study and FHE. These are important and somehow got kicked to the curb early on. Sigh.
• Have never EVER missed a date night with the love of my life.
• Allowed my children to enjoy their friends but then ALWAYS say "good night". Sleepovers are the bane of my existence!
• Have just left my family unit the way it is and not allowed my children to talk me into their "down and out" friends living with us. That one has shot me in the foot every single time.
• Have made my children buy their own vehicles, pay for their own gas, upkeep and insurance and allowed them to sweat it out on their own.

Oh, there's more but, like I said, a lot of things I would still do the same. I would still have married Mr. Wonderful, I would still love Pierre and Black Horse and I would still have ALL of my children. My life just wouldn't be perfect without each and everyone of them.

Regrets are a waste of time. I've learned from my mistakes and I'm just putting this out there for anyone who is just beginning their journey and might want to glean some wisdom from someone who is a little further along on their journey.

Slave Girl

Lately . . . . okay like forever, I was pondering how large my rear end has been getting and what I could do about it (as I was eating dessert and getting ready to sit in front of the computer for the evening).

I then was thinking of my sister and how hard she physically works at her job (she owns her own CSA farm and works way HARD all day long) and my high school buddy who also owns her own business and works way hard in a physical way as well. Hmmm. Both of these women are really healthy thin and have no probs keeping their weight there. What could be the secret? Duh!!!

Okay, so I just made out this massive chore list for your's truly. Yep, starting tomorrow I begin my new job - Home Slave! I'm in charge of EVERYTHING and am not allowed to sit down to the computer until the evening - not even to do bills. That's right. I need to be on the move constantly unless I'm driving the car to run some necessary errands - no recreational activities because my employer has no tolerance for that kind of thing.

I am, however, still allowing myself to do my yoga practice each day or take my riding lesson. Those are physical activities and they help me to stay grounded. That should be okay, right?

Some of my chores are washing all the vehicles, shoveling all the manure out of the paddocks, cleaning out the chicken coop, preparing the garden for winter, cleaning out the basement and making it look wonderful and the list goes on and on and on.

So here's to hoping that my rear end starts to decrease in size and that my ranch starts to look pretty spiffy in the process!

Silver Spoon

I'm really having a difficult time wrapping my head around the thought process of my boys. Both are jobless and both don't seem to give a rip. They mooch off their girlfriends and it doesn't seem to bother them one bit. I have nagged, begged and pleaded. I have threatened, black mailed and propositioned both of them. I have even gone so far as to offer to pay for each application they submit. Nope. Too good to get a job.

Robbie had a GREAT job earlier this year but gave it up because he wanted to hang out with his friends. Good one! Brian owes us more money than I can even begin to mention and doesn't seem to feel the least little bit of guilt about not working and paying anything back. So what's a mother to do? Good question.

When Skip and I were their age we both were working our tails off. I, at one point, had three jobs and worked around the clock a lot of days. While I don't really recommend that for anyone, something in that direction would be an improvement.

I'm going to put this out there . . . I have spoiled the living crap out of my kids. I have given them everything and am now reaping what I have sowed. I now have raised a couple of lazy no-good boys who will be of no good to any woman EVER!!! I want to apologize right here and now to their future wives. I'm so sorry. I have ruined your life by providing you with a loser husband that will never be able to provide for you because his only real known talent is operating a remote control from the couch.

I know work is difficult to find right now. However, sitting on the couch, driving around town with loser friends or sleeping most of the day is not going to improve the situation. So here's to me getting tough! Time to go out and kick some #$%!!!

Back to School!

I must say that THIS year above all other years EVER is the year that I am so flipping glad that school is now back in session. This summer has been . . . well, in a word, HELL. I know, I know, the twins are the only ones back in school and they are the only ones that haven't given me any grief. However, just having that routine back, just having two less people in the house to interact with is a real relief.

Funny story yesterday, though. I took Court to school and then went to my yoga class (Jacob was home with the rest of the kids). As I was driving home, I was thinking to myself about how nice this is that I can now have some time to myself. I was smiling at the fact that the only ones left home are the people that I don't have to be so "hands-on" responsible for. As I was coming up the driveway it almost startled me as Jacob came running out of the shop and towards the car yelling, "Yay! Mom's home!" For whatever reason, I had completely forgotten that I have Jacob glued to my side for two more days. Yikes! What the heck!?!?

Robbie and Brian are out job hunting (well, actually, just Robbie really is). I'll be so dang glad when those boys of mine have something to do during the day other than complain that I don't give them enough money or privileges. Demariea (who is also living with us) and Megan (Brian's girlfriend who is also living with us) are also looking for work. I must say that Meg and Rob get the prize for being the most proactive about finding work.

Okay, well back to the twins. Courtney is just thrilled to be back at school with all her friends. She seems to like her new schedule. Jacob starts back tomorrow and has told me like six different times this evening that I need to remember to wake him up tomorrow for school. Um, yeah Jacob, I think I'm getting it. Duh!!!

I've felt bad that we didn't have a summer vacation this year. Money and such just said "NO!" We were terribly busy getting the house ready for the market (check) and trying to get rid of as much stuff as possible with Craigslist and ebay. Those things coupled with teenagers raging out of control have kept us WAY busy.

So let's hear it for a wonderful year at school this year!

Thinner!

Okay, can you believe this picture? Yeah, that man on the far right is my husband many, many, many years ago. Like when about the time I started dating him. I think they are on the coast of somewhere beautiful like Cabo San Lucas or something (insert jealousy).

So as the years have gone by, both my husband and I have (ahem) expanded in stature. He, however, has managed to drop massive amounts (20 pounds or so) of weight in just a few short weeks (insert another round of jealousy) by just cutting back on what he eats and substituting a salad for many of his meals! Go him!!!

I have tried every eating regimen known to man and have only managed to continue gaining weight. I mean, if I EVEN ate what he eats now I would gain gobs of weight. So not fair, but I guess that's not what this blog post is about, right?

Bottom line . . . I'm proud of Skip. He is looking great and I know that he is feeling great. His snoring has almost disappeared (which makes me happy as well), he fits into his clothes (in fact, I'm guessing he's gonna need a wardrobe change pretty soon) and he's way healthier! Yes, yes and yes!

I love having a fit man and really would love it if he had a fit woman to match. If I could only find the secret to getting there . . .

Bye-Bye Billy

Sad day for me today. I got a text from Irene this morning that said, "hey you can not take lessons on Billy anymore unless you lease or give a deposit on him." Since I can't come up with the cash to buy this gorgeous animal, the writing is on the wall. I started crying and then went out, hooked up my trailer, loaded up Black Horse and took him down to take my lesson.

I had one of the best lessons ever today and almost forgot how much I love Black Horse. I know that I'm ready for a better, more advanced horse like Billy but it was so much fun to cut and rip around on my old friend.

Yes, I'm still sad. My heart hurts and hurt even more when one of the other girls in the barn was tacking him up to ride. I left the barn in tears but I guess that's just the way life is for me/us right now. I'll miss Billy but maybe someday, somewhere there'll be another gorgeous horse that I can call mine and learn to jump really high on. Right?

Gay Rodeo

I just couldn't let any more time pass without blogging about my weekend. I performed with our drill team at the Gay Rodeo up in Half Moon Bay. I won't post some of the funniest pictures I had on my camera because I don't want to offend some people (yes, I know it IS my blog but I still care what others think).

The top left picture is me loving on that beautiful mare of Brian's that I get to ride. The top right is our drill team! Yay! Bottom left is a funny license plate (22 Butch) that I couldn't resist. Bottom right is Brian posing with Ellie and I. I should actually post a picture . . . oh, I think I will right here . . . here's my Bri Guy getting ready to warm up Ellie (all dressed up her pink gear for our show) in a warm up ring with a bunch of gay guys. Bri was a super trooper but he DID get hit on a few times, lol.

Our team was very well received by these "super cowboys and super cowgirls". They LOVED our costumes (all sequins and sparkle) and they applauded us well when we performed.

Just before I went into the ring on Sunday one of the guys came up to me and told me that I had better watch out because one of the drag queens might want to steal my costume, lol. Too funny,

Oh, and one more thing . . . during the half time, before we went into the ring they had the grand entry. One of the trucks came in carrying a bunch of drag queens that were called the "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence." These (ahem) gals/guys were TOTALLY garbed out in who knows what but it drew serious laughter from us.

Great day, great fun and, yeah, I had the BEST ground crew (Dave and Brandilyn on Saturday and Brian and Nancy on Sunday). My team even said so!