Get your Mojo risin'...

So beautiful this morning. Crisp and clear. I just stood and looked at the mountains when I came outside. AB.SO.LUTE.LY perfect. Did I mention that I love fall?!

The horses were calling to me, so I loaded up the barrow and headed out to the barn to feed. Nickers and snorts, pawing and ears back...everyone so glad to see me! Or at least glad to see hay. Nothing like being appreciated :0O

About an hour later, I went out and let everyone out of stalls and into the pasture area. It is always so fun to watch these guys barrel out of the turnout! Sort of like watching a dam explode, but my favorites to watch are always the babies. Little Pink is growing daily and is almost as big as Koko now. And my little Mojo is not really all that little any longer. He came busting out of his stall and showing off as he whizzed by, tossing that red mane and snorting. SO cute! He hit the gate bucking and tooting and proceeded to run the entire property just as randomly and fast as he could. I laughed and encouraged him and he just fed off it!



I love this little red horse. He is a constant source of wonder for me. I still remember how spooky and scared he was when I first met him. I look at that shiny coat and remember the dull hair he had when I first saw him. I see that elegant head and neck and remember in my minds eye how HUGE his head was in comparison to that starved little body. I thought for sure he was deformed from malnourishment! But grow he did and although he is not as tall as Houdini, he bypassed Czeerz and Mossimo a long time ago. He hasn't Bears girth, but he has his height. Been a long time coming.

Mojo BACK THEN

 

Later as I finished dishes and was thinking about getting ready for church, I looked out the window to see Mojo laying on his side out in the field. Others were grazing around him but he was just laying there. I thought at first he was sunning himself, but that thought had hardly passed through my mind when he sat up and started biting at his tummy.

OH NO! I am never prepared, regardless of how prepared I am, to deal with one of my babies being sick.

I grabbed a halter and headed out. As the other horses heard me coming, they began to run to me because my pockets are usually full of peppermints, but right now, I had purpose and they seemed to understand that. Mojo stood up, and rather than avoiding me, as is his normal wont, he came to me slowly, head down and obviously in pain.

What. The. Heck? Gut sounds, but faint. No fever, but respirations were elevated. He was grinding his teeth. Back to the barn we go and I tie him in his stall, grab his grooming tools and start to work, singing softly as I brush him.

I know what you are thinking. CRAZY lady! But this is what I do. When I have gut sounds, most times, if I brush and sing, my horses calm down enough and relax enough to where things can get moving again. This time was no different. Mojo calmed down, gut sounds came back on both sides and were strong. I let him off the halter and watched.

No sooner than I breathed a sigh of relief, Mojo dropped and started to roll again. So back on the halter and into the fridge for banamine. Of which I had none. My bottle is still in Colorado with the other horses! It is SUNDAY! No vets open! So I did what any country girl would do. I called my nearest horse neighbor and of course she set off down the lane with a shot of banamine for my little Mojo. In the meantime, Mojo pooped and although it was not as moist as I would have liked, it wasn't slimy and that was a big relief.

After the infamous shot in the backside with the banamine, Mojo and I walked and then I brushed him and went through our calming routine again. It took a long time, but worth the effort.

We are not out of the woods yet, but he is doing well.  I will not be sleeping well tonight. Some days seem to go on forever, but he is calm, is drinking and pooping. Good moist poop and I like that.

He is so special. I just know he is going to be an awesome reiner someday. And he so loves those kids....God blessed me really good when He found this horse for me. I will be forever grateful...

Houdini and Mojo



 



Make it do or do without...An answer to a Pinterest problem

One of my all-time favorite movies...I remember waiting all year for this to come on television! So magical and with such a lovely message. There really IS no place like home!

As yesterday was Halloween, the Rehab gang and I dressed up as characters from the Wizard of Oz. Something the older folks at the center would readily recognize and remember. JM was the TinMan, Missy was the Cowardly Lion, S was the ScareCrow, ECL went as the Wizard, (although he would only consent to wearing a wizard hat that resembled the Sorcerer's Apprentice rather than Oz, but at least he DID that!). I got to go as Dorothy and Scarlett came along as Toto.

I love the heart!

Scarlett and I won the costume contest! Although I looked like a 200 pound Dorothy and Scarlett did a good imitation of Toto on steroids, we won the contest! Personally? I think it was Toto and the Fabulous Ruby Slippers that did it!



I followed some Pinterest directions, (with a few twists of my own), and ended up with the below results! They sparkled and sparkled all day long without leaving a trail of glitter all over the facility. They were absolutely perfect and everyone kept asking me where I had purchased them.

 



 

I actually got a new pair of shoes from the local GoodWill store, because I didn't want to purchase even a $20 pair of shoes and never wear them again. I mean for reals. Will I EVER wear these again? I seriously doubt it. So I broke the cardinal rule of never, ever purchasing used shoes. But when I got to the store, first thing I saw were these...

 

 

I could not believe it...they hadn't even been worn! The bottoms of the shoes were not even scuffed...

 

 

 

Easy peasy directions...because everything on Pinterest was complicated and of course, I did not have all of that stuff available...

 

1. If your shoes are shiny pleather or a smooth surface, (as mine were), rough them up a bit. I couldn't find sandpaper anywhere in my stash of craft supplies, so I ended up using EMERY BOARDS, of all things. I scuffed the patent pleather surface so there would be a good surface the glue would actually adhere to. Emery boards worked fine.

 

2. Cover your shoes in glue. Every direction said you HAD to use special types of glue or mix the glue with Modge Podge. I had spray Modge Podge, but not the mixy inny type, so I didn't add that. I also didn't have craft glue but I DID have some white glue left over from the trip to the Dollar Tree. So I used it. I applied it with a foam brush...because I had one on hand. I let one layer get tacky and then I applied another layer on top of that. I did the WHOLE surface that I intended to glitter at one time.

 

3. Apply glitter to the tacky surface. Every Pinterest direction said you should use fine glitter. Wrong. I did not HAVE fine glitter. I had the regular glitter you can find readily anywhere. So I used it. It was great. After I glittered the shoes, (and the entire craft room table, floor and the 2 cats), I waited until they dried and did the entire process again so I could cover any spots I missed the first go around. It worked fine. (The original Ruby Slippers were made with sequins and there were lots of directions for that on Pinterest as well, but again, I did not have that on hand, nor was I going to purchase it for wearing ONE DAY in my life time...)

 

4. Once THAT dried, I took the glittered shoes out to the front porch, sat them on newspaper and sprayed them with the 'I had it on hand' spray Modge Podge. Several times, allowing them to dry between coats. I was afraid that the Modge Podge would not allow the glitter to...well GLITTER, but it didn't do that at all. Those were the most sparkling shoes you ever did see! I fell in love with them because when I banged them on the concrete to get rid of the extra glitter only a few specks fell off.

 

5. I cut little cardboard bows and glittered them red as well. Then when the cardboard bows dried, I made a bead of glue around the edges and glittered that line of glue in a silver glitter. Once that dried I Modge Podged that and when THAT dried, I hot glued the cardboard bow on the actually shoes.

 

6. I wanted a princess cut red ruby in the middle of the bow, like the original Ruby Slippers had, but alas! All I had was some round geegaws, but at least they were red! So I hot glued those in the middle of the bows as well. And the below photos show the results...

 

SPARKLE LITTLE #RUBYSLIPPERS, SPARKLE!

 

 

   MINE->         <- HERS

                                                                                  

                                                                                  

 



 

The original Ruby Slippers, according to everything I read, were actually not very brightly colored at all! They had to 'dull' them down in the filming of the movie because they were SO bright, they actually made it impossible to film them. They are now owned by Leonardo DiCaprio...(what the heck?) and I have no idea why he would even want them. But I won't speculate on that...

 

So remember, my little blogging and Pinerest following friends, you needn't have ALL of the things they list in those recipes. Sometimes you CAN nail it by substituting what you DO have. Happy creating!

 



 

 

 

 



 







Happy Birthday to a VERY special young man...

I was late at work tonight and as I was writing a note that required a date further on in the week it hit me...

34 years ago. THIRTY FOUR YEARS AGO...the 29th of October fell on a Wednesday. I know it sounds like a silly thing to remember, but that little fact brought back a flood of wonderful memories and feelings. You see, 34 years ago I was married, I was expecting my first baby.

We were living in a tiny house. 2 bedrooms and it wasn't in the nicest of neighborhoods. I had stopped working outside the home and had begun a small childcare business so that I would be home to raise my little one. I remember being so uncomfortable. I could not lay down for any length of time, my back hurt so bad! I thought I had developed a kidney infection, but in reality, it was back labor...contractions that I was feeling in my back. At the time, I had not even known that "back labor" existed.

Friday, October 31, 1980, I had the regular children, all 6 of them and we had been working on jack-o-lanterns and decorations all week long in anticipation of a promised Halloween party that day. I know I have photos of little Christopher running the egg race with his little thumb doing the no-no of holding that egg in the spoon...somewhere in a box of old photos that have somehow never made it to an album or scrapbook. Jeanine in her witch outfit, Jonathon in his Lone Ranger outfit...they are all in there and I can see them as clearly today as I did that day.

The party was so much fun! The kids had a blast and when they were all finally picked up and shuttled home by parents, I was beat! I remember that my husband came home from work on time that day and found me laying on the bed, simply not able to get comfortable and just absolutely tired. He answered the door a million and one times, handing out candy and in-between trick-or-treaters checking on me. I did not sleep well that night. Every time I dozed off, my back started hurting and the only way to relieve the pain was to sit up. I. Was. Exhausted!

The next day, November 1, my parents arrived from out of town. My Daddy had made my little one a cradle from an old oak wine barrel and had entered it into the State Fair and it had taken the "Best of Show" and "Grand Champion" ribbons, along with a first place. We would not be able to remove the cradle for another week, but that was okay, as the baby was not due until way later in the month. So off to the Fair we all went. Grandpa, Grandma, my hubby and myself.

THAT was a BIG fair. We must have walked a million miles and for the life of me, I had to keep stopping and resting. Totally a pain in the neck because I was holding up the gang from seeing everything! After the Fair, we went home and we graciously gave my parents our bed and we slept in a SINGLE BED in the other bedroom. I remember praying that night flippantly..."Well God. If I am going to have this baby anytime soon, I REALLY need to get some sleep!"

Oddly enough? I slept like a baby. All night long. In a single bed. With my husband. How? I have NO earthly idea.

In the morning, Mom and Daddy were packing up the car and I told Mom..."I sure wish you would stay. I think I am going to have this baby today." We laughed and off they drove to their home
 4 hours ...2 and 1/2 hours away. (My Dad was driving). They left and my hubby immediately went to the bedroom and took over the bed. I lay down on the couch. And turned. And turned. And...MY WATER BROKE.

All over. No warning. Just EVERYWHERE. Gushing out and making a really BIG mess. I called out to my husband and reached for the phone and dialed the doctor. I was alarmed, but not scared. We hadn't even had but one Lamaze class so THIS was really inconvenient!

The doctor gasped and told me to get to the hospital IMMEDIATELY. And we would have, but, we had no health insurance and had been paying the hospital a sum each month so we would have the birth paid for prior to the little one's arrival. We still owed money! My husband was in a tizzy, so my mother-in-law came over to drive us to the hospital. We stopped at the ATM on the way up and got what cash we could from there and off to the hospital we went! When we got there, they were waiting with a wheel chair and they whisked me away, while my husband filled out paper work.

He eventually showed up in the labor room. We couldn't even let my parents, who were still on the road, know that I had started labor. This was WAY before cell phones! The nurses kept coming in and checking me and giving us updates. Somewhere in that time, my mother-in-law was able to reach my parents and let them know and somewhere around 3:30 the nurse came and told us..."Oh it is going to be a while yet!" and off she went!

5 minutes later I told my husband to get the nurse and it was so funny because he said..."She JUST checked you...she SAID it would be a while yet!", but get her he did because I insisted. The nurse came, peeked under the sheet and gasped! Ran out of the room, ran back INTO the room with another nurse and started wheeling me into the Delivery room. Doc Epstein was already there and asked if he had time to wash his hands...."IF YOU HURRY" was the reply.

My son, Joshua, was born at 3:54 pm on November 2, 1980. I thought he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. When they took him from me to put him in an oxygen tent because of complications, I felt cheated and empty, bereft...I had him with me for so long! I did not want to be without him!

I eventually got to see him about 6 hours later, when they brought him to me for feeding. He was so tiny! 5 pounds, 6 ounces...red and wrinkly...he resembled a little troll, and absolutely the most precious thing I have ever known.

I have never forgotten those feelings of that day and holding him for the first time. I had never known love like that before and have never loved like that ever again. A son will always, for all time, hold his mother's heart in a way he will never understand.



I named him Joshua. Because that is my favorite character in the Bible. I remember as a teen, reading about Moses death and God speaking to #Joshua as he stood on that mountain and looked into the promised land. I cannot even imagine his fear. His leader was dead and he was being asked to accomplish this monumental task of leading these whiney, bratty, ungrateful people into the promise of God the Father. How would he ever accomplish this? And do you know what God told him?

"Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

I wanted that for my little man. I wanted him to have the courage of Joshua...to have the faith of Joshua and to be a mighty warrior like Joshua. I wanted him to have the blessing and favor of the Almighty Creator. And to this day, I pray that it will be so.

I love my son. Regardless of what has happened in his life, things that have separated us, miles and other situations that keep us apart. I LOVE MY SON and I shall never, ever stop praying for him.

So many memories.....



Falling from Home...

I stayed home from church today.

I am just in a blah type of mood and really don't feel well. I have been working SO much these days that it seems the only thing I have the energy for is Pinterest.

I love Pinterest. It is harmless. It is inspiring. It is mindless and relaxing. I have more boards filled with other people's creativity, dreams and projects. Which is totally depressing because I am SO tired I cannot even inspire myself off my favorite overstuffed comfy chair to accomplish anything but the basic necessities of food, clothing and sleep.

Fall has always been my favorite time of year. I love everything about fall. The colors, the scents, the weather that is always tinged with expectancy. Big changes always happen for me in the fall. This year was no exception. A new position in a new company. A new truck (and a new truck payment. ick.)  A new thyroid medication...the list goes on. I look at my home that is usually not just my pride and joy, but my sanctuary, and I cringe. Where is MY creativity? I want my home to reflect the beauty of the seasons! I want my home to be my place to recharge and reconnect with that which is vital and important! I want my energy back!



This year, the rehab group will be doing Halloween costumes with a theme. We are going as characters from The Wizard of Oz...something the older people in the facility will recognize and enjoy. I, along with my trusty therapy dog Scarlett, will be going as Dorothy, with Scarlett tagging along as Toto.

 

Okay. So she will be Toto on steroids... Trying to find a light blue gingham fabric in Kingman, Arizona is totally impossible. I even went to the local quilting shop and alas! They had no light blue gingham! Neither did WalMart, which is pretty much the only other place you can get any type of fabrics. However, they DID have a navy blue gingham check fabric, so I bought that. I shall be going as the 'Black and White" KANSAS version of Dorothy with the exception of some very colorful ruby slippers.

 

 

 

 I shall post photos of us when I get the costume done. It ought to be a fun day. Now today, I am supposed to be SEWING this costume as I only have 5 days before I have to wear it. And I have NO energy.

 

And then there is the matter of cleaning house, not to mention the barn...oh my! I hope my thyroid meds kick in REAL soon!

 

In the meantime, I hope your Sunday is filled with good things, for as we know...

 

Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.

James 1:17 NAS

 

 

And fall IS perfect! Happy Sunday, my friend!





Hilarious dog photos

Okay. Let me preface this with this comment....

THESE ARE NOT MY DOGS!

 

But I had to share these because I laughed so much when I saw them, I almost broke a rib! Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Happy Saturday, my dear friends! Hope your weekend holds lots of doggy kisses and is simply GRAND!



Sunset....Moonrise

Scenes like the above, make the drive home bearable, even when the road is Unbearable...

I love where I live!



A time for everything...

 

 

 

 

'Nuf said......