Simply Me

Christmas Memory Lane

For some time now, I thought I would go back in time and share some old photos. "Old" photos being a relative term as these photos will be mostly of the kids and the time since they were born. If I get ambitious, I do have a few old photos from my childhood that might land here, but that requires hooking up the scanner to the laptop since we no longer have the desktop. That will take some time and potentially become an involved process, so no guarantees on that idea!

I thought I'd start with some Christmas memories. Right now I have easiest access to photos from 2003 forward, so we'll start there.

Christmas 2003 was the first year I had a digital camera. My good 'ol Canon G3 Powershot. For a 4 mega pixel camera, "she" did a great job...especially once I got the hang of going digital.

In December 2003, Casey was five and Sarah was nine. It was the year Casey got his red GameBoy SP and Sarah started getting clothes and liking it. Stuffed animals were still a big hit. I wonder if I can find any of my old Christmas shopping lists from then?

So, without further adieu, I give you a look at Christmas 2003:

Tradition:  Children must stay upstairs until Mom and Dad have everything was ready! 

Tradition: These were my favorite coordinating Christmas jammies. They wore them for at least two more Christmas mornings, I think. Gotta love Land's End quality!

 

Not sure what he's reading as he couldn't read yet!

Christmas Eve photos...it was a hit or miss proposition. Casey's showing us his Thomas the Tank Engine train. 

Christmas morning post-present cooperation! 

 

I loved the tree pictures from this year. 

I hope you enjoyed our trip down our 2003 Christmas memory lane. Maybe this will get you pulling out your "old" Christmas photos. Let me know! I'd love to see them!

I like to make my children laugh

I don't manage it often, but I so enjoy it when I can make it happen.

Tonight I had Sarah giggling when I said the teen contestants on Jeopardy were "lily-livered chicken children" when none of the wagered high dollar amounts on the final jeopardy question.

Lily Livered Chicken Children.

Say it out loud....you might make someone giggle too.

Head Shots

I had to take pictures of the three youngest horses for thier registration paperwork. These head shots are some of my favorites:

Short Stuff Little Miss Sunshine (Missy)

 

Short Stuff Sunshine's Isabella (Izzy)

Buckeroo's Golden Mini Bits Baby (Baby)

Amazing what some good music can do for the soul

Yesterday was what I called a grump-fest kinda day. In the starring Grump Master role was me. I woke up in that mood and it stuck with me all day. Even with an extended nap in the afternoon. I get so overwhelmed with all that needs done that I shutdown instead of pushing forward. Then I get angry with myself for doing that and the cycle goes on and on.

Last night, I sat down at the computer to try and organize my digi-scrapping files. I listened to a book-on-cd for a while but decided I wanted some music after a time. I started Rhapsody and looked at some of the new releases. Tim McGraw's new one was listed so I grabbed my MP3 player and started downloading. Gotta love the unlimited "to-go" subscription! You can "try it on for size" and if it doesn't fit, you're not out anything...just hit the delete button!

I scrolled through the rest of the new releases list and stopped on a group called "Kutless" and their new album "It is Well". This is a Contemporary Christian Music band that leans toward a harder rock sound. I decided to have a listen. 

I was blown away. This music, these voices, the arrangements, the melodies, the stories in each and every song had my heart and soul singing. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I am hooked! Totally turned my grumpfest around. 

This new album has a flavor similar to Daughtry or David Cook. I listened to one of their previous albums and it's a little more hard core...but still *good*. 

So, today I'm sharing Kutless with you. Yes, it's Christian music...and you may not be so inclined. Give it a try anyway. You might be pleasantly suprised!

Kutless: What Faith Can Do

Their official webpage:  Kutless Website

Rain, rain go away!!!!!

Seriously, enough already with the rain! On rainy days, all I want to do is hunker down under some covers and sleep. I have too much that needs done and/or too much I want to be doing to spend hours hunkered down under the covers.

But the rain and gray won the battle and I did exactly that so far this afternoon. I did manage to scrub down my bathroom and go get horse feed though. So, I did accomplish something. Why is it that I can't be satisfied with that? Why is it that I feel exceedingly guilty over doing nothing? I mean, I practically have an anxiety attack about it at times. 

Does it do me any good to get this wound tight? No! In fact, it makes it worse. The more I worry/stress about it, the more immobile I become! I mean I practically become frozen when I think of all the things that I should be doing.

Past experience has shown that I feel immensely satisfied when I get my chore list done. I'm guessing I have a release of endorphins or something because I know it feels that good.

Oh well, enough whining. I'm either going to go do something productive or I'm going to read in bed. 

New pics of the new girl

I thought I should get some still shots of our new girl to share with you in this post. Our Dachshund is also featured. She loves being in with the horses. And being incredibly curious creatures, they love to check her out too.

 

 

This shot compares Baby and Missy. Baby is a full month older but a good 2 inches smaller in height. She's also more "refined" than Missy. I call them both too cute for me!

New kid on the block

It's not fun being the newcomer, for a whole host of reasons. Let's see if I can get this video to upload here.

Hermione: Mouse Killer

One of the only things I've dreaded about owning horses is mice. With a barn full of hay, straw and/or grain in the middle of field, having mice is a forgone conclusion. There's simply no escaping it. 

A barn cat or two would be a good idea if you weren't married to a man who despises cats with every fiber of his body. Sorry cat lovers...he's otherwise a nice guy, I swear. He just cannot even stand the idea of a cat living in our barn. I'm still working on that with him though. 

I also know that many people are appalled at the idea of a cat having to live 100% outside. I do understand that position. I'm not 100% happy with it myself. But I also cannot live with having to fear each and every trip to the barn because a mouse or twelve might scamper across my feet as I try to get the horses their grain or hay or their grooming box.

Scamper...seems so cute. Well, a scampering mouse to ME is NOT cute. It is HORRIFYING. It's breathe and heart stopping. I H.A.T.E. mice. Seeing them makes me have tachycardia. I scream. I hyperventilate. I shake for a long time afterwards. Remind me to tell you about the time I saw one outside my work cubicle. My coworkers still talk about it.

This morning I groom Izzy and then take photos of Izzy and Baby for the registration paperwork I need to send in for each of them. After that, I ran the three of them around the mini-pasture. Otherwise, they just casually walk around and they need exercise. Then I decided I should spend time cleaning out the tack room.

I was just about done. I had already seen "evidence" of mice having been there. I was putting together the empty feed bags into themselves in preparation for getting them to the garbage cans out by the driveway. I then went to grab a couple of roofing shingles that were laying up against the wall under the window. Why those shingles are in there in the first place is something I'm still trying to figure out.

I very nonchalantly picked up the shingles and promptly screamed. Then ran out of the tack room with my eyes closed. How I did that is also, still very much a mystery. And for those wondering, yes the shingles were still in my hand.

Behind where those empty feed bags lay and the shingles were propped up was a lovely little mouse nest and at least 3 small mice. :::::shudder::::: Even reliving these details is giving my heart palpitations. 

I'm totally serious. 

As I stood there, swearing that no matter what my husband did or did not like, I was going out TODAY to find me two cats. Two kittens. Who would be neutered/spayed and given vaccinations and then loving cared for as they lived with the horses in the barn. I'm sure Craig's List could help me out.

Then I spied her. I spied my very own mouse hunter. I knew, she was up to the challenge. I knew I could count on her. She may be the most poorly behaved dog we've ever owned. She may be the only dog we've never 100% house trained because she's a stubborn Dachshund to her very core. But she knows how to kill a mouse. 

I ran out of the fenced area, grab her up, took off her invisible fencing collar and then took her into the tack room and put her right in front of the nest. As I suspected, she immediately knew what she needed to do. She was up and in the hay (we just put 12 bales in there about 10 days ago) digging her way around. She could hear and smell them and she was PSYCHED.

I knew I had found my man. Or dog in this case.

I left her there and came inside to tell my daughter. She's every bit as excited about this as I am as she is my fellow horse feeder and spends time in that tack room too. She would prefer we get a cat or two but she understand that Hermione may have to do the job for us.

It's a beautiful day here, so I can leave the back door to the deck open and if Hermione wants out, she's very good at barking her message. After about 30 minutes, I went back out to check on her. Imagine my combined horror and delight to find a dead mouse awaiting me at the entrance of the tack room door. Hermione was already back on the job on top of the hay stack. 

Of course, I had to go get the camera. I promise though...no dead mouse photos will be shown. Just my triumphant, fabulous mouse hunter in her element!

Random Saturday Bits

• My son's first middle school progress report is *great*:  3 A's, 2' B's and a C in English. I am so proud of him. His entry into middle school has had me on edge for a year. It's not been perfect but it's not been quite the nightmare I feared. Of course, I probably just jinxed it!
  
• Sleeping until noon on a Saturday is both decadently delightful and utterly wasteful! I didn't even know I had it in me. I got up @ 7:30am to feed the horses. When I cam back in, I decided that I wasn't ready to eat breakfast or do anything else, so I went back to bed. 
  
• A clean little weanling is a pretty weanling. It also helps to get the iodine-based medicine I spilled down her side off and she no longer looks like she's been attacked by a tiger or something.
  
• Watching the same weanling dry in the sun while she grazed on our backyard (which is still green and lush, unlike their small pasture/paddock) for a couple of hours is time well spent. She actually ate until she was too full and couldn't eat anymore!
  
• I should probably check the weather for tomorrow. I'd really like to get the photos I need for registering all of them so I can get that paperwork sent in.
  
• Why is that the only place I can find the jeans I want is online @ Amazon and they're $35 a pair before shipping? Grrrr.
  
• Waiting for Diana Gabaldon's new book to be come available on Audible is slowly driving me crazy. It's been almost 2 weeks since the hardcover copy was released!
  
• 6 days until the NEW baby arrives. "MIssy" is the name that's still sticking with me. And it is my call on the name this time, so there. :P
  
• I feel guilty that I missed our daughter's opening night at the church-based play she is in right now. But not guilty enough to try and keep up with her co-star's parents who are going to each show. That's $25 for the show/dinner or just $15 for the show only, times 6 shows, times two people. She'll have to settle for one time of our viewing her in action. She says it's okay. Hopefully it doesn't put in her therapy in 10 years.
  
• Dinner that is made from frozen spaghetti sauce from last week's dinner is a *good* thing. I don't want any "carry-out" food tonight AND I don't feel like getting dressed to go out to dinner either. 
  
• I want to scrapbook, but I don't know where to start. So, then I don't do anything and the feeling of where to start gets worse. 
  
• I think I'm done rambling now....GO RAVENS!

I love this time of year

The cool breezes are delightful. The beautiful colors will soon be spectacular. 

And FOOTBALL!!!!

I started making my own weekly game count siggie a couple of years ago. I finally got one made for this year. Even during those seasons when we weren't playing great football, I still love this time of year more than any other. To non-football fans, I just can't explain what I enjoy so much about it. And now, my daughter is finally as rabid about it all as I am. Makes for watching games and talking about it that much more fun. Hubby is even watching with us most weeks. 

For the record, yes I do schedule my time during the season around games. If I have to, I will listen to a game instead, but not if I can help it!