The Great GoatBoy Adventure

Cannot tell you when I have been this excited! LOOK at this picture!

No...I am not building another barn for my horses. I am building a barn for Red and Blue. But more than just a GoatBoy barn, I am building a barn for 2 new additions that are coming to my little homestead in the spring! THIS will be my goat dairy barn!

I found a great deal on Ebay. Anytime one cannot find a great deal anywhere else, one can always find it on Ebay! And THEY install it as well!

 

 

I am sure that Red and Blue will enjoy being able to have their own bedrooms and not have to share anymore. Actually? I am NOT sure that will work as they have always been together, but I am going to give it a try! I am also certain that my Goatzillas, (they are Nubians and weigh about 200 pounds EACH) will be happy to welcome their new sisters. I have decided to go with Nigerian Dwarf Goats, (they only get to be about 60 pounds), and as I have learned with the GoatBoys, Nubians can grow quite large and be quite a handful!

 

 

I am excited not just for the girls to arrive, but to begin a new learning adventure as well. I first will have to learn how to milk a goat properly. Fortunately, you can find anything and everything on Pinterest!

 

 

I have done quite a bit of research and prayer over this venture and feel that I will be more than able to handle all that comes with this awesome responsibility. Except for this...

 

 

Are they not just the most adorable little creatures? I just want to hold them and hug them! Unfortunately, if you want milk, you have to have babies which means breeding your girls. Rutroh. NOT good. Especially when the babies look like this and you cannot have 5 million goats running around! Solution? Find a 4-H group that needs projects! Yep. I am going to give my extra bucklings to the local 4-H kids who need them for projects. I will most likely keep a couple if they turn out to be doe, but for what I want, I will not need a huge herd, so I will need to truck some of them down the road!

 

 

Although I will enjoy the fresh milk, butter and cheese that will be forthcoming, my real anticipation is to be able to make goatmilk soap! There are SO many recipes, not to mention molds and lovely ideas on how to shape your homemade soap. LOOK at a few of these ideas!

 

 

Fresh Rose Buds and spices!

 

 

Lavender and vanilla!



                                                            

 

Even cupcake shaped soaps!

 

Now tell me. Wouldn't YOU love to receive a lovely box of soaps shaped like chocolates and wrapped up with a pretty red ribbon? ME too! And so.....the adventure begins!

 





 





About time...

I read a quote this morning and I would like to share it with you, my friend.

"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality." - Lao Tzu

 

How true is this? I find that in my life changes are inevitable, and yet, I am one resistant to change. I love roots. And continuity. However, my choices to stand for what I believe in are often the beginnings of that difficult and painful thing called change.

 

Last night, I watched the most wonderful movie. It was titled, "About Time", and it starred Rachel McAdams, one of my favorite young actresses.

 

I have always been fascinated by time travel. Many people say it is an impossibility, but those wonderful writers who dabble in this subject, find me watching and reading, again and again. My favorite movie of all time is "Somewhere In Time" where Richard Matheson's lovely book, "Bid Time Return", was transformed to film and into a love story that defied time. (I also long to have hair like Jane Seymour so that I can wear that Gibson Girl hairstyle!)

 

H.G. Wells and his wonderful imagination created "The Time Machine". A man well beyond his time, his book was written and published in 1895! And though I love the book, I have yet to see a movie rendition that is its equal.

 

Why am I so fascinated by time travel? Perhaps it would be useful to go back and change certain aspects of my life. (Like using sun screen when I was much younger and change these age lines and wrinkles into smooth skin once more) Even if I were able to travel back, I doubt there would be much I would change. I would still remove those same people from my life I chose to remove. I would not miss the chance to love those whom I have been privileged to love. The one thing I am certain of though, and even though I know it is impossible, I would take away words I said that hurt others whether intentionally or not. I have yet to learn how to be tactful in all situations.

 

I think the movie last night taught a valuable lesson, in that we really SHOULD live life joyfully and make every second one we do not regret. But some things are not meant to be changed. For without the trials and heartaches, we would not grow and become all He meant us to be. Each lesson we truly learn is one step closer. And although I do not have love in the form of a man, I have it in so many other ways.

I would not change that for anything you could offer me.

 

                                                                                          

 





When it rains....it pours. At least in Arizona!

It rained again today. Not as much as it did yesterday, but it was steady throughout most of the day. Yesterday, my road looked like THIS  


Where's my canoe?

And so I did not go to work today. The entry road to my subdivision had washed out. Oh gee. Notice how upset I am? I stayed home and sewed today.....a rarity, but sometimes it happens. I started a new outfit. Hot pink and black with silver and opalescent rhinestones. STUNNING!

 

I have so many ideas running through my brain right now. Colors and fabrics, design and embellishment....it is a wonder I sleep at all. I can hardly wait to get the shop opened up! I know I said November, but I am thinking now it will be closer to the first of December that I can get enough accomplished to have enough to feel comfortable in opening. I am keeping a pad and pencil next to my bed because it seems that right before I fall asleep, a wonderful and perfect idea comes into my brain. I stop and write it down, because if I do not, my fuzzy, sleepy brain will never remember in the morning!

 

The Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show will be in February! I am flying Beth in from Colorado and we will be attending at least 2 days. I want to go for the costume classes, but most of all, I want to look at the vendor section and see what is displayed in show clothing. It may not be this coming year, but someday...SOMEDAY...I will be in the vendor section.

 

In the meantime, I will keep designing and enjoy this rain.

 

cate

 

 



Raining blessings...

I love living back here in Arizona. I am indeed a desert dweller. And living out in the country is absolutely the best.

I have missed the mountains. I know. You are thinking...but Colorado HAS mountains. And you are correct. But they are not the same as Arizona mountains. Until you have seen the difference, you would not understand. Colorado, at least the part I lived in, IS a mountain. Unless you get out to the plains of the east, you are living in or on a mountain. I think. Living in Denver totally sucketh for a country girl. One city leads to another and another and another. How many Red Lobsters can you have on ONE street, for the love of mike?!?! And let us not even mention the cold!

Okay. Let's DO mention the cold. Colorado is one of the most beautiful states I have been in. There are streams (when not in a drought) and green and foxes and.....COLD. You better LIKE cold, because there is a lot of it. Winter sports rein supreme and there are actually ice carving contests up in Breckenridge. Lovely. Truly lovely. But the fact is, you had better like winter sports and have an indoor arena. Both of which I do not. Even though living in Colorado is not for me, I am glad to have had that experience. It only made me realize what I truly love.

So needless to say, I am glad to be back home in Arizona. I arrived in time for the monsoon season and I had forgotten how fun that can be. Today, Scarlett and Rhett and I  splashed in the muddy and swiftly running waters in the road in front of the house. Max had to stay in the yard as he is not much of a swimmer and certainly not a Labrador. :0(
                                                    

Scarlett, Rhett and Maximoose

During the rain, I took the opportunity of researching a lot of things I had not taken the time to do. I am finding myself more and more interested in a true homesteading situation, such as my Daddy and mom created when I was young. I draw the line at butchering though...do not think I can do that. But dairy goat farming, chicken keeping, gardening and canning? I can do that.

5 acres is more than what I need to support myself. Now it is just the laying out of the area and lots of hard work. But in reality, what else have I got to do? Well, beside work and teaching riding lessons, designing and sewing...I am sure I can fit in a homestead.

 I am glad to be home. Not just in Arizona, but in the country as well.

Parts is parts..Pieces is pieces...

Ever had one of those days? Yeah. Me too.

I remember that commercial...talking about chicken patties and what they are made of.  Me? I wonder what people are made of. What makes someone so...oblivious...for lack of a better word? My heart torn and laying in pieces, and not even any inkling of responsibility. Is life meant to be so?

My heart grieves for those in Boston who were there, those who lost loved ones. I don't understand the mind of someone so wicked and so evil they would involve innocents. Is life meant to be so?

I pray for you. Because, my misguided fellow human....life is NOT supposed to be so. And someday, whether you want to believe it or not, each of us...every single one us will one day stand before the Lord God Almighty and account for each and every action and reaction we had while on this earth. Someday, you will bow and bend your knee to Jesus Christ and I hope, I hope that you will be doing so knowing Him as your Saviour.

Father, please. Please be with those who are grieving. Be with those who have been maimed and whose lives will never be the same again. Give them comfort and strength. Let them feel Your presence and know You are with them.

Why do I DO this to myself?!?

I am a bargin hunter.

I have admitted a majorly moving force in my shopping habits. I <3 LOVE <3 getting something wonderful for just absolutely pennies on the dollar. I have been shopping GoodWill and Salvation Army, Saint Vincent DePauls and any other "thrift store" within a 100 mile radius of whatever location I am currently living in.

It is a passion. Okay. I will confess. I DO this for a specific reason.

Horses do NOT care what you are wearing. That is one reason I love them so much. They do not care if you have on makeup or the fact that your hair resembles a cross between Don King and the alpaca down the lane. They just are happy to see YOU. Especially if you have hay in your arms. (Which is another reason I love horses. They NEVER complain about what you fix for dinner. I have had horses for many years and not once, not ONE SINGLE TIME has any one of them looked at what I gave them for dinner and stated, "WHAT?!? HAY for dinner AGAIN???) But I digress.

So WHY, if horses do not care what you are wearing, would you go out and buy jeans for $70.00 a pop? Okay so those jeans DO have those little lifty thingys in the nether regions that help you to look a little more like JLO and less like that fallen cake you took out of the oven last night, but hey. FOR 70 BUCKS??? The only thing that is going to happen to those jeans is whatever horse you are working is going to slime them. Big Time. (Notice the capitals. Important to pronounce capitol letters.) So I buy my jeans at GoodWill or Salvation Army or some random thrift store for the awesome price of $3.99. Which means if I do this long enough, I don't feel guilty when that blue moon shines and I actually find some awesomely wonderful terrific amazing dress that just HAS to hang in my closet because I never GO anywhere to wear it. I am totally excused for paying $300.00 for that dress because for the last 25 years I have been frugally buying jeans for $3.99 a pair.

Totally makes sense to me.

What doesn't make sense to me is Ebay. Or actually why I ever bid on Ebay. Do not ask. I do not have an answer.

Maybe I have a tad bit of a self torture complex. Maybe I like the lovely color of gray worrying about it causes my hair to turn. It could be that I am just adventurous and hopeful. Or it could be that I am a total idiot. One thing I have learned in my Ebay experiences. NEVER, not even EVER bid on something that is a week out. The waiting will kill you. You will work your fingers to the bone checking that items status on the computer for an entire week. Ask me how I know this.

But I did it again this week. I found something I wanted in the worst way, because the one I HAD got damaged in a freak accident and as it is something grande expensive that I use on a constant basis,  I really do need to replace it. And NO. I am not telling you what it is, because then you can go on Ebay and bid against me. I may not get that lovely, longed for item. It could end up in your house and not mine. I know. I am selfish that way.

I have exactly 2 days and 16 hours before I will learn that 3 seconds before the auction closed, some random person from Muncie, Indiana out bid me by 1 cent.

I will never make it alive.

I can clearly NOT choose the wine in front of you...

My eyes feel like they have grit in them.

 I am SO flippin' tired, my EYES feel like they have grit in them. Of course they could feel like that because they actually HAVE something in them, (and not just my finger), but I really think it is because I am SO tired.

This land of cyber thoughts and digital scrapbooking, blogs and websites, Etsy and Ebay? I feel like I am up against Vizzini. I have absolutely no aptitude for such things, so I can clearly NOT choose the wine in front of me. But then again, there are all sorts of DIY website building thingys, so I can clearly NOT choose the wine in front of you. And let's take Pinterest where they actually want you to VALIDATE (or some such rot) your website before they tell everyone it is your website on your pinterest page. Really? I might be odd, but with this day and age where everyone is sueing everyone, I am not going to claim a website that is not truly mine. So I can clearly NOT choose the wine in front of me. WHERE is that validate thingy anyways? And don't EVEN get me started on FLASH, which, by the way, is going by the wayside and being replaced by HTML5.

So while I am trying to figure all of this out and getting more and more frustrated as I go,  I SUDDNELY had an epiphany. (Only took me an entire month to have this epiphany!)

I don't enjoy doing this. I hate it because I don't ENJOY doing this. No wonder my eyes feel like they have grit in them! I am not spending one more flippin' minute trying to figure out how to migrate all my stuff all over the web to one spot. I am hiring the most-awesome-digital-magician-person-company to do it all for me. Genius.

Which gives ME time to design what I am awesome at. Which gives me time to do what I enjoy doing most. And so I can clearly NOT choose the wine in front of you!

I have one custom order I am currently working on. I have 3 outfits that need to be hemmed and 1 outfit that requires the rhinestones to be set. I have 3 more outfits cut out and ready to be sewn and I have just finished the design of 5 others and have written down 4 ideas that are currently playing pin-ball in the back of my mind.

 I am clearly, once and for all, choosing the wine in front of ME.

So watch for my new site, blog and shop to move to one spot. But most of all, watch for my fabulous (equestrian) show fashions to appear, not only in my Etsy shop, but in arenas all over the place.

Vizzini would be proud of me.