Exhausted!

I slept in until 6:15 this morning. Ever had one of those days where your muscles feel like noodles?

Yeah. Me too.

But the carnival last night was so much fun! I had so many Moms tell me what a nice party it was and how nice that it was just a simple and fun carnival for kids. EXACTLY what we wanted!

I am sitting here, munching on chocolate graham cracker cookies and resting my exhausted muscles. For the love of Petes Dragon! Even my abs are sore! I didn't think I did that much yesterday, but apparently shoveling all that sand for the "bone pit" did my poor abs in! I was grateful when packing up all the stuff we decorated with and all the games that were there, some kind husband of my friend took the shovel out of my hands and shooed  me away. I didn't even have to lift those buckets of sand into the horse trailer and empty them back into the obliging wash......another co-worker said he needed sand and took it saying he would return my buckets later. YAYNESS!!!

The place looked great and the trees were absolutely perfect. I got a few shots as we were setting up, but once the party began, there was no time to take photos. So these will have to do....

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This guy was my favorite....his face was absolutely PERFECT! Unfortunately I did not get a good photo. That dang sun was in my eyes and I couldn't see my phone....

I made these photos the original size so you could see the detail. In painting, I chose a dark gray paint and then air brushed a black paint over details to give shading and texture. All paint used was flat. CHEAP flat latex from Home Depot that could be tinted to the shade of gray needed.

 

This guy greeted everyone as they walked in with his perpetually surprised look. His bony dog was set to howl every time someone walked by.....

This guy.....was not happy with his face. I will redo him next year. But I loved the way they all turned out! Not bad for a first try. The Activities Director and I are already planning next years' event and we plan to start months ahead of time so that we HAVE the time for details such as these. Live and learn is a good moto when you are planning a kids event.

 

So thanks for stopping by and looking. Hopefully you will find something valuable here that you can do for your own Halloween celebration. If you need specific details on how tos, just leave a comment and I will be sure to answer!

 

Happy Halloween, my friends!

 

Even though it is NOT my time of year..............

I love the fall.

So in that respect it IS my time of year. I do fall decorating and I love the colors and scents of the earth at this time of year. But I am not all that much on Halloween.

As a kid, I LOVED Halloween! We lived out in the country and because of that, there was no Trick or Treating in my childhood, but we had something even better! Every year, the school and the community center got together and did a BIG carnival. Fishing booths, Haunted House, Costume contest.....the works! We used to have so much fun as a kid, but when I got to be a teenager, it got even better. I was asked to be in charge of the Haunted House. My friends and I had a blast planning and because we were all in Thespians, (our little high school drama group), each of us excelled at something that helped us in implementing all those plans, be it make-up, costuming or sets. WE ROCKED!!!

Halloween isn't so much fun anymore for me. It has gotten too gory and violent for my taste and not many people agree with me. We have all sorts of icky stuff going on here in Kingman, to include a Zombie Walk, downtown! (There are kids who won't sleep for a month after seeing those costumes. They TOTALLY go all out and the costumes are Just. Too. Freakin'. REAL!!!)  So I just don't do much but decorate for the change of season. However, THIS year, I was asked to be on the committee at my workplace to do the..........yep. You guessed it. The Fall Carnival!

OH. YAYNESS!!!!

Because we are gearing it for the younger crowd, it won't be gory and violent. We will leave that to others in our community and believe me, there are many! My contribution is mostly in decorating, so I thought I would share a tad about what I have been doing.

We decided to do a "Babes in Toyland" entrance to our little carnival, so I was responsible for the trees. Here is what I came up with.....

This is the original drawing from the Disney classic movie, "Babes in Toyland". I can remember being scared out of my knickerbockers when those trees came alive in that forest! My hands were over my eyes while I peeked between my fingers. Not sure why I felt safe viewing the movie that way.....But the problem is....can I re-create these? All I have to work with is cardboard, newspaper and paint!

THIS is one of my barrel racing barrels. You know. The ones I was going to paint and never got around to? Well, I need a base, so the tree won't blow over in our lovely Kingman winds!

 

Thank goodness I work at a place where cardboard and newspaper are abundant! I had no problems with being well supplied!

 

So let's begin. Cardboard base, held together with masking tape. Hey! Hay string and duct tape can't be painted over!

 

Add facial features and branches....

 

My porch started looking spooky. I am sure my neighbors were wondering what in the heck I was doing when they drove by! They do look odd. Sort of naked........they are lacking bark, so that was what comes next.

 

(Miss Scarlett. Helping me by keeping the squirrels from building a nest in the tree!)

And now the trees have bark!

 

BARK!

 

MEOW!

(Sorry Mom. You cannot have THIS box!)

 

I painted them this afternoon. They look great, but it was too dark to shoot a pic of them for this blog. So THAT will be tomorrows blog! I have to load them, (and a gazillion other things) into the horse trailer and get them down to the facility, set everything up and have it ready to go by 5:00 pm when the kiddos start arriving.

 

I can't wait!!!  Finally I can say, Happy Halloween!

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abracadabra!!!

And just like that I have internet.

I have only been waiting for a year and a half! So glad to be back online again and have the ability to write whenever the urge hits me.

So much has happened and I cannot wait to begin the next leg of my journey in life and document it as I go.

Good grief! What did we DO before internet?!?!?!

A Season of Sorrows.....

 

It is a truth, acknowledged by most philosophers, that life is only a series of seasons. Even the book of Ecclesiastes will tell you that there is an appointed time for every event under heaven. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to give birth, and a time to die. (Chapter 3)

The year of 2017.

For me, this year has been a season of sorrows. I wish it could be different. I know that death is just a part of life. A season of closure that when once passed, finds life continues on with regular monotony. The aftermath of healing. If you can.....before the next tragedy hits.

My sweet Siri` passed away. Tuesday, August 8, 2017.  

 

 

My precious Elmo passed away. Wednesday, July 26, 2017.

 

 

And my loving and loyal Rhett passed away. Saturday, January 07, 2017.

 

 

I hate death! I will be so glad, when on that final day, God in His glory and His power and His might, will hurl death and hades into the lake of eternal fire and it will be no more!

Oh how I long for rest in the arms of Jesus! How I envy my sweet, precious ones who are there already! How happy I am for them that the time of weary, trying illness is over and that for ever and for eternity, they are safe and pain free and filled with wonder and joy and love and happiness! But my heart aches and I find tears are easily found upon my face. Sometimes I find myself just sitting and staring into space as time slowly marches on. I am empty in these times. Knowing I have to continue my work even though so much of my heart, a little piece at a time wings its way from my chest to sit on high with Jesus. I know what is left of my heart is still beating. I can feel it. But how is that possible? How is it possible when what my heart beats for is gone? It is difficult to remain when there are more family members in heaven than here with me on earth.

I have learned so much in this horrid and wicked season of long and debilitating illness and death. Decisions...good and bad, timing, choices, hope and prayers, dashed dreams of healing and finally realizing that my trying to help was only causing suffering, the trust and the understanding love seen in their eyes as they struggle to stay for me so I won't be sad. Their brave fight to try to save me pain. And the difficult decision to let them go when it is clear there is nothing more that I can do....the pain of suffering and loss.

Late at night, in the quiet and through my tears, I can hear Jesus telling me to not grieve as those who have no hope and I AM grateful........SO grateful that I was chosen to care for these innocents in their short time here on earth. I am grateful they are no longer hurting. I am grateful that all the things that make me happy will be there waiting when my work is through here on earth and I too, can join them in heaven! I hope and I pray that my job in heaven will be taking care of these lovely souls, whom I love so much.

I hope and pray that I can hold on to the good memories until I arrive there...that time will not steal these precious remembrances from me.

I hope and pray that I will be able to see my family again and feel the rasp of their tongues, the swishing of their happy tails, the soft look of love in their eyes and the feel of velvet muzzles in my hand.

I hope and pray that heaven is as beautiful as what I have seen in my dreams.

I hope.....and I pray.

Here we go again....

Siri`, my sweet little Norwegian Fjord is back on antibiotics. Or at least she will be once they are compounded and I pick them up at the vet's office. She has severe ulcerative cystitis, a whopping bladder infection and a urinary tract infection as well. I started adding electrolytes to her food to get her to drink more water. I hope she heals quickly. I hate to see her hurting.

 

I finished the temporary shade in her pen for her last night. I hate to do anything temporary, but I don't think she can wait until the barn is completed. And THAT is going to take more time than I estimated. I am still transplanting cactus from the site and have bulldozed a good bazillion cholla under, so I am still pulling that out as well. At least I can use this shade in the turnouts when done with its current purpose.

This morning, after a fretful night of Siri` watching, I came down to see tufts of white/gray hair all over her pen. I was like....what the hay???

But then I noticed on the posts, (all 4 of them), about Siri` horse butt high, dust spots. Siri` has been using them to scratch her behind! I think I will go to the dollar store and buy about 30 stiff scrub brushes and attach them to the posts. That was she can groom herself and I can get rid of the hair...

Please pray for my sweet Siri`. She is really enjoying the students and I hate like heck to have her out of commission when her set of little ones come for their lessons. They all love her so!

Well how about that???

Yes. I am still alive.

Lots'o work and not much play.

Hopefully write another day!

Blah blah blah blah blah

Ever have one of those days where you just don't feel like doing anything at all?!

How about having one of those weeks? Or even how about having one of those months? Or maybe how about having one of those years?

I have an appointment with an endocrinologist coming up. But this appointment isn't until April 29th! I am not sure I'm going to make it that long!

It takes a strong woman to make it through menopause. But making it through menopause when you have no thyroid is even worse! And I hate going to a new doctor. Because every time I do, they take one look at my thyroid profile and say "WEll it looks like your thyroid.picked up function!  SO we're going to have to decrease your thyroid medication! "

Did you even read my medical chart?!? When you have had cancer of the thyroid and they take the entire thing out, it kind of means that you don't have a thyroid that can pick up function!

But I have to go because for this last year, I have been so tired it is difficult to put one foot in front of the other. And that means? Everyone suffers. Not just me. But my animals. My horses, my dogs, my goats, my cats, my birds, my chickens, and whatever else I have living in this ark with me.

Not sure how I'm going to make it through this day,especially since I gave up Dr Pepper!!!