Cinco de Mayo has come and gone.  Every year since I was a kid May 5th has been a special day for me (it was my quarter horse’s birthday, afterall.)  His name was Star Dust.  Well, Star Dust’s something or other.  I just called him Star. 

He was 12 years old, used to be used for rodeo- Mostly roping.  A big red horse that loved watermelon rinds and hated peanuts.  (I don’t think you’re supposed to feed horses peanuts….)  He broke my toes once, but I didn’t hold it against him.

Star taught me how to trail ride.  He’d go through and over anything, I don’t think he EVER spooked.  He loved to run like the wind- you know… you hit the canter and are going along all “girl-on-her-horse-wind-in-your-hair” and you can feel the energy building until you just squeeze and whisper “go ahead, run”.  My eyes would water as I held on for dear life and felt the rush of his energy reaching and pulling. 

It’s a great wonder how we never hit a gopher hole.  I’m too big a chicken in my grown-up-ness to ride like that now.

I miss that horse.  He will always have a special place in my heart- for babysitting me and never leaving me behind.  He was my best friend for quite some time.  He was patient enough to pack me, my brother in the front and a friend on the back.  With a curb bit and probably and ill-fitting saddle no less.  A saint.

Happy Birthday, Star.  Where ever you are.

In my quest to be responsible and do right by my old horse, I am trying to make a plan for euthenasia.  No, it’s not fun.  I’d rather be surfing ebay, weedeating the property, RIDING or heck, I’d rather fold laundry.  I’d rather sit around folding for the next 7 years straight than have to think about putting him down… 

But it’s not really about what I want, but what I need to do to take care of business.

You want to know why it’s so hard to stop folks from selling their horses or giving them away to slaughter buyers?  Because it costs and arm and a leg to have one put down.  A couple hundred dollars for the vet… another couple hundred for hauling. 

Or holy cow- I called to see how much it is to have them cremated.  Thinking somehow that might be less expensive.  Nope… it’s about $800.  Wow. 

Something has to be done about this…

Last weekend was our church’s women’s retreat.  I missed it. 

Caught a lot of flack from some ladies at church, but that kind of stuff never bothered me much anyway :~)

Hubby already had plans for another (also important) event so I stayed home with the little ranch hads (the kids, lol) and we did chores.  I didn’t think a whole lot about it, I knew that my husband would be blessed by my staying home and so I did.  Without a second thought, really.

I did not know what God had in store for me over the weekend though.  I had a chance to meet Jeanette and Richard from Hearts Up Ranch.  I had heard of some folks doing a coast to coast ride, but hadn’t put a whole lot of thought into that either.  I guess that might be a habit of mine, lol.

Anyway, VERY nice people, raising money for a VERY worthy cause!!!  They’re on their way through the snowy mountains to Carson City, so if you have a place where they can hunker down for a bit when they get there, please get in touch with them!!! Or me, I’ll do my best to pass along the message.

Oh- they could also use a smart phone that will work with Verizon :~)   And hoof boots- the horses are all barefoot and they have 16 feet to fit with boots… going through them pretty quickly over the terrain of America, so any that you have to donate will go to good use!

AND they could really use your prayers!!!  They’ve run into lots of obstacles already and will no doubt encounter plenty more.  Prayers for safety for themselves, for God to continue to guide their path and for the horses to remain healthy would be appreciated!

I am honored that God would keep me home and put me directly into contact with them.  Beyond honored, but I don’t know of another word that would propperly describe my feeling. 

Please check out their website, you can follow their progress, look through photos of their trip and read about the interesting things that are happening along the way… and please donate if you feel so lead. 

This won’t be one of my long winded posts.  (I hear the sigh of relief.)  I’m not going to bore with details, though if you’re curious email me and I’ll be happy to go on and on. 

God is good.  I say it.  I think it.  On a regular basis.  But you know those moments- when time just seems to slow down nearly to a stop and you soak up everything?  The way the sun warms your skin and glints off of a reflective surface… the way the air smells and the sound of rustling trees and birds… the laughter (and screams) as the kids are playing outside…

In the midst of it all He is answering prayers.  The phone rings and I get some special news.  I get an email and there is hope of a gift from God that I could not have imagined the perfection.  I miraculously find something as I’m cleaning the house (not in an area that I’m cleaning, but I get this feeling and almost hear a whisper that says “go look in the box under the cabinet, at the very bottom” and THERE it is. 

Huh.  The sheer wonder of it all.  The fact that the Creator of the universe is real, is taking care of EVERY thing.  And still has the time and CARES enough to be involved in my life.  It’s almost too much to bear.

And to think of all the moments when I forget to live in surrender and I’m frustrated, wondering why nothing works out and even when things are working out just fine, I find little peace and comfort.  Huh. 

To know that it’s not my circumstances that have changed, but my heart.  My contentment with what I have and the boundaries laid before me.  My surrender does not shadow my life with shackles- it fill my life with freedom.  Funny how that works.  And funny how the biggest freedoms are found in the littlest things. 

Sometimes I don’t know if I think all the different ways that we look at life is the seasoning that makes the stew taste just right or what.  Most of the time I think that’s the way I feel… but sometimes one flavor overpowers the rest.  Have you ever had a food that looks wonderful, but it’s so salty you just want to spit it out right away? 

O.K. here’s the weird rambling that is going on in my mind:

Right now I’m struggling.  I count myself blessed that my struggles are usually mild in comparison to what I see others dealing with… or at least they feel mild, which I’m sure is a devine gift.

My appy, Nez, is not doing so well.  It makes it kind of difficult to sit down here and write anything meaningful.  I’m hoping that whatever I put out here in cosmic space that can never really be hidden or taken back, will somehow bless someone that needed to read it at the time.

Well, Nez has recently had his spring cleaning :~)  Teeth, check.  Vax, check.  Sheath, (3 beans!) check.  Vet says he’s 24.  He’s shed out beatifully and miraculously looks like a horse again (instead of a yak).  And he’s also lame.

We’ve always had some lameness issues since I’ve had him, but this is the longest he’s stayed lame.  And this time it’s not just one area, it’s pretty much every leg.  Left hind pastern, right hind stifle.  Withers/shoulders.  Walking down hill he takes these horrible ouchy baby steps.  And his paddock gate is downhill to enter, paddock isn’t flat.  Forget about trotting…

When we brought him home we agreed that we’d get his as comfortable as we could without major medical interventions.  Get him to as normal a life as possible with propper feed, hoof care, turnout and supplements.  (And these days he’s getting Bowen therapy too.)   

It sounded like a reasonable plan at the time.  So here I am, sitting on a fence.

To have the vet do a lameness eval, x-rays, (and most likely ultrasound to try to find soft tissue injuries) is rediculous.  Not to some… I know a lot of horse people that will spend whatever it takes to find the problem and keep working at fixing it no matter what.  That’s fine.  For them.

And I might be in a similar frame of mind with a different horse.  But this guy… I don’t know.  I just don’t think it’s the right thing to do.  He has limited mental reserves. I have limited cash reserves.  Since I board, I have limited budget and space.  I’m not complaining about those things, we all have limitations and when we are face to face with that limitation we choose: do I accept this boundary and work within it?  Or do I go “outlaw” and punch the boundary in the face and go down fighting? 

I’m trying to learn to work within my limits :~)  Though to be perfectly honest, my heart/ my human nature is “outlaw” all the way.

I have decided.  Nez is retired.  He seems very happy about it, too.  I think it’s the right thing for him.  I think that if we did all the diagnostics and found a multitude of issues (which the bodyworker said she things we’d find a lot of), I don’t think they would be problems we could solve.  I think it would be more for my “piece of mind” about it all… and I really already have that peace about retiring him.  It’s o.k. for him to not have to pack my big cowgirl butt across the hills anymore. 

Especially since he’s started tripping and almost took us both out the last time.

I’m not going to make him fit into the mold of what I want him to be. 

For now, he’s still relatively comfortable in his paddock.  Many days he does not venture past the flat area at the top, not even for the green nibblets of grass that are coming up on the hill.  As long as his supplements keep him fairly comfortable, he’ll just be fat and happy. 

(Now I say all this, still clinging to the hope that he’ll miraculously become sound again, with time off).  But the winter will come, his arthritis will make him stiff and sore.  Probably worse next year than it has been this past winter.  His travel around the paddock will be less and less and eventually we will start to see more issues from the lack of movement.  So, before things get that rough, (if I can keep my guts) I’ll have him put down. 

Yuck.  Never a pretty thought.  Not fun.  Not pleasant.  AND it’s expensive. 

But you know what irks me?  As I’m praying about adding a new horse to my tiny herd and looking through sales ads, I see a LOT of horses for cheap/free…  And they are listed as “trail horses” because they are not  sound.  They are old.  They need to be ridden on the flat, no downhills.  They have arthritis.  They have old suspensory injuries or need rehab for stifle issues.  Or they need hock injections.  Which somehow are frequently called hawk injections, on craigslist. 

Why?  Is it that people in my EXACT position are clinging to the hope that their horse will be perfect for someone else?  Then they won’t have to go through the heartache and expense of euthenasia?  Probably.

But what is the reality?

The reality is that there are a LOT…  a LOT of sound, broke riding horses out there.  Also for free or cheap.  Horses that don’t come pre-equipped with the need for large supplement bills, don’t require pelleted feed because they actually have all their teeth and don’t come with huge vet bills in the near future. 

The reality is that there is no guarantee when we rehome a horse that it will be cared for in the future… but the chances go way down when we’re rehoming a pasture puff.  Or a “trail horse” that will soon be a pasture puff.

And by the way, have these people ever ridden on a trail?!  When a horse is not sound it’s not the time to take them on hard pack terrain with rocks, obstacles, mud crossings to slog through, uneven ground to strain joints and soft tissue.  Trail riding is not for wimps… and it’s certainly not fair to ask a horse to carry a rider over and through all of it for a few hours of hard work if they are not healthy and sound!!!  It’s a good way to make a lame horse lamer (if that’s a word, lol) and a great way to end up with a horse that is spooking out of pain… a good way to get a rider hurt. 

But, we all have different ways to look at it.  I’m sure for a lot of riders that are used to arena exercises, a nice “trail ride” seems like walking around the block… Maybe they just don’t know.  Or maybe it’s just easier to give the horse away and hope or pretend that it’s life will be all sunshine and relaxation in “semi-retirement”. 

Let me tell you, as someone who took in one of those cheap, unsound horses for light riding off of craigslist- you do what you can for them, it’s not easy.  It’s not cheap.  There are a lot of days when you don’t ride.  Right now (for me) there are a lot of months adding up that I don’t ride. 

Maybe sometime in the future God will have another horse for me, so that I can ride again.  I think this time I’ll be holding out for a younger, sound horse!  But I’ll do my best to do right by Nez… he’s done right by me. 

I almost titled this post “Oh Crap”, but who’s going to read that?

Some of you may remember the Diamond Mine rescue that Leslie (of Kota’s Cookies) and I did about a year ago.  *Mostly Leslie, I just helped where I could*

As a refresher:  Old sporthorse appy breeder that is hanging on to 9 horses with white knuckle death grip.  She can’t afford to feed or care for them, they are starving and in BAD need of hoofcare, worming, etc.  2 of them are stallions that live in round pens- no shelter, poop on top of 4 years worth of poop.  One is a stallion that lives in an even smaller pipe pen (he does have shelter) and the footing is mostly green mud.  He’s gotten jumped out before (and bred his mom, I believe, resulting in one of the round pen studs!) so there is hot wire at the top of his panels.  Skinny mares out in a huge, pretty great pasture… but again, no hoof care, not enough grass growing to feed them and they are nearly imposible to catch and need to be wormed badly.  At least they can move though.

An award winning stallion, that actually DOES warrant breeding.  Yes, he’s older, but he has a nice show record, decent breeding background and has supported the family for years.  Now he lives in a small area that is held together with baling twine and misc. pieces of anything-that-can-be-used-as-a-fence-panel.  And here again is the mysterious green pond mud.

We fill her barn with hay, have people stopping by to check the waters (which were often empty when people showed up.) put a brand new donated blanket on one of the round pen studs (thanks to Christiansen’s) and worm/vaccinate every horse on the property.  

Skip past the part where all of our tons of donated hay makes her feel more secure and she is no longer willing to surrender the horses!  Past the part where we have to haggle prices on even the skinnies and club footed.  Past the part where we can only get the blind mare out (thank you Redwings Sanctuary!) and an old skinny from the pasture (thank you NorCal Equine Rescue).  Past the part where one horse actually DIES and Leslie has to pay the tallow truck to come get her because the old lady can’t afford it… Oh, and past the part where Leslie finds out about the poor dead horse when she goes out to show one of the horses to a prospecitve buyer.  Hmmm…. how many people would want to purchase a horse if they showed up and there was a dead one out back?

So ONE of the horses, a round pen stud, gets a great home.  Gelded right away, hoof care, vet care.  The whole deal.  Gets to run and play in green pastures with other, beautiful horses.  Turns miraculously into one of the most gorgeous horses I have ever seen… the stuff Horse & Rider covers are made of.

He was started under saddle within the last few months and is suddenly “off” in the front.  Being good horse owners, he goes in and is seen by the vet right away.  He will never be completely sound.  Light riding, light rider on the flat.  Here’s where the Oh Crap is appropriate.

I am the first person to admit that such a green horse will be extremely risky to rehome in this condition.  It would take a miracle to find another owner that would fit this horse.

Then, he injures an eye and goes blind in that eye.  Opthamology here we come.  Now those appointments, medications and so on are not cheap and have pretty much taken him out of the running for any new home. 

I never saw this coming.  I know his new owners didn’t either… all the hopes and miracles that had been wrapped up in his dark chocolate appy hide.  He is sweet and smart.  He was my favorite even when he was wormy and had drippy eyes.  I worked with him one day and I tried to figure out how I could afford to bring him home for myself.  I was admittedly jelous when he was adopted, though I had no idea he would turn out as wonderful as he did. 

And now this.

I know God has a plan.  But it is difficult to be on the human end of things and not know what the plan is ahead of time.  I guess that’s where the trust comes in… it’s easy to ”trust” if I’ve already been aprised of the plan and approve it :~) 

At least he has known love.  He has known great care and running “free” like a horse should.   For the last year he has not known a hungry day, he has had fly masks and grooming.  Treats and a “normal” life. 

It looks like euthanasia is his end after all this, though there still is a glimmer of hope.  Things just don’t always go the way you expect them to…

I just stumbled on this post that I wrote last spring…  LOL!!!  Nez has been shedding like this for the last couple weeks and I find it hilarious to look back on last year’s shedding escapade!  And it also makes me miss Pete… sigh.  He’s off to a “real job” now though.  http://www.littlewindsege.com/index.html  If you browse around the site, you’ll see pics of his pretty black mug… Happy horse!

__________________ Spring 2009___________________

First, this picture is NOT from today.  It is to remind me that my appy has spots and no, he’s not a yak.

I am learning the “be carefull what you wish for” saying also applies to shedding horses.  (A while back I blogged, praying for shedding… Thanks to this new level of uber-shedding that has been unleashed, today the pile of hair looked like a dead animal.)

So here is my old cowboy horse, all slick and you can see his pretty buckskin/palomino spots.  Soon.  Soon.

Today I packed up a picnic lunch for the kids and they played & napped while I spent a little quiet time with the horses.  MUCH needed quiet time.  No baby on my back.  No trips to potty.  The phone didn’t even ring.

First I curried Pete the Percheron.  His weight looks really good and I’m looking forward to seeing how he develops this year with some excercise.  I’m hopefull that lots of work over poles will help him have a big beautiful butt! 

He loves to be able to just relax and be brushed.  Today he kept bending his neck around, staring at me with remnants of is wet mash all over his face (even between his eyes!).  He kept resting his lips on me.  Then he’d let out a big sigh.  I picked out his feet and he was such a good boy, I remembered when I brought him home a year and a half ago and how much work went into getting him to let me pick out one foot.  He’s come so far and today, just “being” with him I really had a chance to appreciate him.

Then came Cowboy.  (I’m toying with a new name for Nez, lol.  More about that later.)  I have NEVER seen a horse with SO much hair.  I’ve finally removed most of the dreads.  One by one I gently pulled and brushed until it was loose.  He would lick and chew and sigh.  I would massage the spot that it came from and his eyes would close, turning his head slightly toward me. 

Then I curried.  And I curried.  And I brushed.  And I curried.  I was covered head to toe, including long white hair up my nose.  And that sums up one side of his neck.  Then repeat for the rest of that side and repeat all over on the other side of his body! 

Seriously, when I was done, I was no where near finished.  There was still loose hair ALL over him!  But I raked up all the hair and since it was enough to be the size of a medium sized dog, I stopped.  That’s enough for one day.

As I groomed and loved on them I thought of how often God pays that kind of attention to me.  When I’ve been weary from the storms in my life…  Maybe I’ve felt a little neglected…  He just hangs with me.  Spending special attention to all of the matted-hair type areas of my life.  The little snags that have been causing me grief- he removes them and I feel relief.  As the sun beat down on us and we soaked it up together I was grateful for the quiet moments when God ministers to me, cares for me as His own.  And grateful for the time that He’s given me to reflect with these lovely ponies. 

I am thankful for the time that I had today to be still and know.  And it seemed that each of the horses also had their own moment of appreciating the stillness between us.  Oh I love those beasts!

Sorry, but I have to brag. 

Late in the night, kids are in bed and I sit on my bed in front of the fireplace with my laptop.  Of course, I’m on the Bay Area Equestrian Network message board :~) 

I look through the ”barter” board, looking (again) for a black saddle pad.  No luck.  I look at craigslist.  No luck there. 

I found a cheap wool pad that can be used as a liner a few months ago… about $40 and it’s 3/4″ thick.  Right measurements so I figure I’ll go ahead and try to figure out where I found it the last time.  (I have 2 saddle pads now, but niether match the rest of my tack and niether fit just right. 

You’ll not guess what I found.  It doesn’t matter how GREAT a guesser you are- it’s almost too good to be true. 

www.Horse.com had the SMX Prof choice saddle pad http://www.horse.com/item/smx-all-ride-all-round-saddle-pad/SLT900742/ for $39!!!   

I needed a black pad, not too thick/not too thin with a lot of contour for my dippy back appy.  OMgosh~  THE PERFECT deal fell into my lap!

Normally I’d wait at least 24 hours before buying anything.  ANYthing.  Because I’m prone to making late night purchases that I wouldn’t have made in the light of day.  I left it in my cart for about 20 minutes, trying to decide.  Then I broke out my debit card and paid for that sucker before the kind folks at Horse.com changed their minds!

I was on an “I-just-saved-almost-100-bucks” high and then I realised I couldn’t keep it to myself, so I ran back over to the BAEN chat board and posted the link a.s.a.p. 

Guess what?  I think one or two people got the deal and then, whatever discount faiery had come and sprinkled us with savings dust had vanished… the pads are still on sale at only $99 (which is REALLY good, even at Smith Brothers they are about $20 more). 

Can’t wait to try mine out- But I’m pretty confident it’s going to be great!  Now run over there and grab one while they’re less than $100.  Shipping is super cheap, too!!!!

I am not a perfectionist.  I do often secretly wish I were, though. 

I love clean floors, bathrooms that smell great.  I love creases in jeans (I know, I’m such a hill billy) and t-shirts that have been hung on hangers and have no creases at all.  I love lists and the checkmarks that go on them when a task is finished. 

I secretly love to make lists that are like “to do” lists in reverse… “already done” lists.  You see, I can rarely complete everything on a “to do” list and they make me feel overwhelmed and inadequate.  So I make lists of things I’ve done and then put a check mark by it.  At the end of the day, when I am exhausted and feel like I’ve been spinning my wheels without actually accomplishing anything, my “already done” lists remind me that I’ve done everything on my list :~)

Today was rainy and cold.  A good day for jammies.  Since my gelding isn’t in a stall anymore I didn’t need to go the barn for mucking and turnout so I elected to stay in those comfy jammies and enjoy the tail end of winter.

I had a lot of things to catch up on.  Seems like I always do.  Sometimes I feel as though I live in a world of perpetual tardiness.  Is that a word?  Tomorrow is our meeting with our E.S. (education specialist).  She’s our assigned “teacher” for the charter that we homeschool through.  She is patient and kind- answers our questions, orders our materials, arranges for fun classes for the kids.  She talks me down when I feel like I can’t possibly take another 24 hour period with my children, lol. 

Today I needed to get our previous month’s schoolwork in order for her arrival.  I also needed to bake another loaf of bread.  And sweep the kitchen floor.  Fold laundry.  Make breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Help get today’s schoolwork done.  (Fractions are a blast for my 2nd grader!) 

My 3 year old is busy.  Not just average busy- jump off of high furniture, climb onto the counter when I turn around, go through all of the junk drawers, dig through the laundry, let the dog in the house, spread a deck of playing cards around the entire living room kind of busy. 

Today he broke my heart with both undescribable joy- the kind that squeezes tears directly from your inner core- and guilt.  I think they’re squeezed from the same place, actually.

He brought me a baseball glove and we played catch in the kitchen while I cooked.  And cleaned.  And put away the dishes.  Then he switched it up and we played a game of bowling in the kitchen.  While I did paperwork, planned next month’s work and made phone calls to rearrange my schedule.

He played “cooking pancakes” with a plastic pan on his play kitchen set in the kitchen.  He flipped his pretend felt pancake PERFECTLY.  Mom watch.  Mom watch.  Mom watch.  Mom, you wanna try?  Mom, you wanna try?  Mom, you wanna try?  Mom watch.

Sigh.

I just tucked him into bed for the night.  It’s only 7:30 but he was exhausted from running and playing, reading and drawing, laughing and chasing all day long.  His big brother helps to keep him busy, learning together and having a blast.  I laid there next to him all snuggled up on this cold evening… listening to the rain on the roof.  Watching his little cheeks in the glow from the night light.  Wondering.

Wondering.

There were a few moments today where I put everything aside and just focused on him.  I try very hard to do that with each of them throughout the day.  For each child that looks dramatically different.  But for this little man, I wondered if half my attention was really good enough.

The fact of the matter is that I cannot fully devote my attention in each moment to only one thing, all day long.  Most of my day will be multi-tasked if I will have anything to add to my “already done” list.  And with children, there is no way to even get one meal cooked if I can’t multi-task.

In fact, most of my “one on one” time with each child is done while doing something together- cooking a meal (yes, you can crack the eggs… here, let me show you how) or in the garden (I’d love to have some help.  Would you like the job to turn the soil in the corn patch?) or watching the news… yes, my 7 year old loves Good Day Sacramento in the morning.  He feels so mature to know what the weather forecast is, lol. 

I have worked a LOT on my focus in the last couple of years.  My horses have shown me many times how my own inattention translates to their inattention.  But right now, tonight on this dark rainy night, I’m cutting myself some slack.  Today was Good.  Real good.  I finished everything on my list.  I’m ready for my meeting tomorrow.  My schdule is ironed out.  Laundry is all done.  Everyone ate.  Life is good, and finally, good really is good enough for me.

100% focus is great.   Those moments of zen-like existance when everything else ceases to exist except that which you are doing at that very moment in time.   But my psuedo-wanna-be-perfectionist has to let go of that idea for real life. 

Every day life is not made up entirely of perfection.  Instead, we get to enjoy those moments in the same way that we do a perfect slice of cheesecake.  Or a fresh mojito on a Saturday night.  Or whatever those delightful, special moments that tickle your funny bone are.  If life were the way we always wish it was, we would stop cherishing those moments as much.  They just wouldn’t be so special.  It would be everyday and average… the norm. 

Nope.  I don’t want that.  Yes, I have to let go a little and really be o.k. with the fact that sometimes my best is 50%.  But I’ll keep looking forward to those little zen-like moments when it’s just me and ___________.

Me and my hubby.

Me and my child.

Me and my horse.

Me and my cheesecake.  And my mojito.  (Well, I can multi-task that and still have perfection, lol)

And one day, I won’t have to worry about it because it will be me and my God.  What a relief.  I can’t keep worrying about all these things forever, can I?  ;~)

Never.

I’m a big girl, I can can handle life.  But boy oh boy is it coming at me fast and furious. 

That’s how us cowgirl folk are…  right?  We get up early and get to the business of life.  Schooling our kids, baking & cookin’ up beans.  Gardening, laundry, tending to the critters.  Mucking stalls, running to the feed store.  Helping a friend, helping a stranger.  And, if we scrape up a few minutes, we clean a small portion of the house.  The smallest amount we can get away with, lol. 

In fact, I’ll sweep the barn isle every day with a grin on my face but heaven forbid I sweep my kitchen more than once a week without trying not to cuss under my breath.  (Hey, I’m just being real here.)

Today was a catch up day.  We had to get caught up on my 2nd grader’s math.  Had to get some seeds in the ground that we sprouted last week.  Got a bunch of pots ready for starting more seeds in the house tomorrow.  2 fresh loaves of bread on the counter.  Chocolate muffins and blueberry drop biscuits in the freezer.   My own brand of “instant oatmeal” in little zip bags.  Huge jars of chilli beans and chicken stew in the fridge.  Cornbread and ortega muffins in a zip lock bag.  Smoked sausage in marinara sauce all wrapped up and ready for an italian meal later this week.

Whew.

Laundry is just about caught up- just need to fold a few loads.  That will be my “me” time, lol.  I’ll get to sit down for a minute!

And to top it all off I had this bright idea to enroll in an Equine Anatomy class.  Sounded like a good idea at 10:00 the other night.  I woke up yesterday morning to loads of documents to print out, lots of reading to do and homework assignments that are making me feel uber-stupid. 

And yes, uber-stupid is a word.

Luckily, us cowgirl types don’t simply bite off more than we can chew and then just cry about it.  We get up, dust off our jeans and kick some butt. 

This week’s meals are DONE.  Just heat and serve.  (Cooking’s butt kicked)

Homeschool caught up.  (Another butt kicked.)

Laundry- yep, also kicked.

And Equine Anatomy- prepare to get a whoopin’.  Right after I scoop manure, finish the laundry, eat tacos and put the boys to bed.  THEN, you’ll get yours.  Now where did I put those flash cards?