Growth all around!

I can't believe how badly I neglected this blog again. I really do want to stay involved in updating it, but I'm not sure what to write about. I'm really just a mess trying to figure out what to do with myself. I'm trying to just relax and enjoy my pregnancy but I really need to get a full time job, which with me being 7 months pregnant, isn't really an easy thing to do. Plus, there really just aren't a ton of jobs floating around out there to get. I also want to take some classes in 2010 but then I start feeling like I'll have no time to spend with my baby or my horses. I don't know what to do really, so instead I keep pretending I don't need to look for a job. Yeah, not the best approach, but it stresses me out less.

Mostly, I've just felt really emotional lately. Go hormones! Its hard to make a post that can be read by anyone and avoiding the emotional stuff that wants to come out.

Anyway, I come bearing pictures! :)
I'm making this dress for my baby. Who, is a girl, and will be named Adria. Orion is getting so big and his color has really changed a lot!

I don't want to promise I'll keep posting, but darn it, I'm going to try really hard. I did a lot of work to build this blog. Way too much to just leave it like this!

Sorry its been so long!

So, I took more than an entire month off of blogging on here. I'm sure you may have noticed that, but still.

I needed an internet break. I'm still not sure what I'm doing for now. I've closed down my etsy (vacation mode) indefinitely and I am thinking about doing the same for my artfire, especially since I've only had one sale on there, and got screwed on the shipping...Moral of the story, I'm too nice to complete strangers. Basically it COST me money to send an item to someone. Yeah, I should have thought it through better, but I'm not thinking incredibly clearly with the pregnancy. So it may be best to close the listings on the Artfire for now too. I'm going to close down the website I was making. I don't have the time/desire to be online as much as I need to be to run my blog, Livejournal, update twitter, Tumblr, and check my facebook. Yeah, I'm sort of addicted.

I opened a Tumblr, by the way! I love using it, and using it sort of made me feel that I should stop neglecting this blog.

I AM going to redo my 101 things in 1001 days to-do list because so many of the goals just don't apply anymore. Things changed pretty hardcore in my life.
Speaking of...

I have to go pick up my Rebel from Best Buy, it needed to be fixed (something that my husband and I did to the poor thing over time). I haven't been doing much photography wise. I really like my Rebel, and since its been out of order, I haven't really felt like messing with the older Sony we have. We did get a new digital video camera that shoots amazing vids! And I'm getting a new computer, so hopefully I'll have more videos and pictures for you and I won't take another unannounced month and half long hiatus!

I'm so behind!

I hate that I have been so far behind on this blog. I'm trying really hard to get the stress out of my life.

Here are the two big things that are bothering me.
1-I really need to figure out what kind of career I want so that my husband can go to school full time at some point. I probably shouldn't worry about it so much right now, but it is really difficult.

2- my parent's might have to get rid of the two horses they still have. Hopefully Doug and I can still manage to take Blue, but I don't know with the kid and the other animals. But they have another horse who has arthritis and knee problems and really is pretty much green broke. I'm so scared she'll end up in a bad place. Most the horse sanctuaries and rescues are at capacity in Michigan. I don't know how to go about getting her a good home.

I'll stop with the worries.

I am visiting Michigan, that would be why I have another lack of posting going on here. I really do mean to step up the blogging soon. But I'm still up in the air about everything. I am feeling more and more like permanently closing my Etsy and Artfire accounts. I don't know, I just feel like I need to find a full time job and sort out my career and my horses more than anything right now. I don't have time for leather, and I have no real desire to do anything with it anymore.

I will be flying home from Michigan on Sunday, I will do my best to do more posting after that!

In which I talk about evertything.

I'm so behind in EVERYTHING! I need to take a lot of stuff off my plate but I don't know what! I'm working right now, which has left me beyond busy and I'm trying to finish blog giveaway prizes (gosh I'm so sorry), work the horses (I've been failing at that), and keep the house clean (also a fail). I did finish one keychain for the blog giveaway and the other is very close to being finished, probably in the next day or two. Then I just need to crochet the owl.

I've been meaning to post about this! My new blog banner was made by a friend of mine, Steph. You can find her at her livejournal. She does some great graphics work and also takes amazing photographs and is a talented artist. Horses are her favorite subject.

Also, someone asked after my last picture post what kind of horse Blue was and I didn't get back to you, I'm sorry! However, I thought I'd post it here so anyone wondering that can know. Blue is a Morgan/QH as far as we can tell. He is still hanging out at my parents' place and he's in his mid to upper 20s (best anyone can tell anyway). His teeth are excessively worn from windsucking for years, so its sort of hard to guess his exact age, even the dentist had to do an estimate.

Blue brings me to another thing. My dad is losing his job, which means they may not be able to keep Blue and Shasta (my mom's horse). It also means I'm not as likely to have an actual wedding reception as planned because we can't afford to pay for all of it and they were going to help out, but now they probably can't. I've been so stressed lately, which is horrible for me and probably the baby, but I don't know what else to do. I'm so exhausted that I'm having a hard time completing any task.

Can I fast forward until after the kid is born?

Old Gymkhana pictures

I'm having way too much fun digging through old pictures on my external hard drive. So, I give you some old pictures of my horses and I. These are 4-H, local gymkhana shows, and just, all sorts of fun stuff I miss doing!
I might keep posting old photos for a little while, so I can gather up NEW material to talk about. Then maybe I'll post more for awhile.

The picture above is my old horse Blue when I was in the 4-H junior mounted division and I got to carry the flag in the parade.

This is one of my favorite pictures. Yeah we're not fully in the frame, but its just so neat to see the speed and the flag stuck in the bucket. It was so hard to stick the flag with Thunder!
This picture was from when I was on the Junior Mounted Division which was through 4-H. We were carrying mail, in the brown saddle bag, in a relay. It was called the Pony Express.Titan running back after a decent pole pattern. I look SO tall in this picture. I'm not!
One of the first ties I ever let Titan go quickly through the pattern. He used to run so NICELY. What happened? haha.

I love this picture, the lighting is just SO pretty.

Some old kitten pictures :)

Last night Titan colicked fairly severely. I was very busy keeping him up and painless. It was caused by atmospheric pressure changes. Which, until now, I never knew happened. Weird.

Anyway, I meant to post really cute pictures of my cat Banjo as a kitten. I love the flashback of his kitten hood :).

Goals and goals aplenty.

I think maybe the 101 things in 1001 days needs to get changed a bit. There are so many things on that list that seem sort of, out of reach now. Is it wrong to change my goals? Personally, I think it isn't. Goals change! I shouldn't leave goals on there that I don't want to complete.

Anyway, we did give Apollo back to the woman we got him from, she said she'd find him a great home, thank goodness. I was so attached to the little bird already, and it was only a couple weeks. All the horses are staying for now. I may retrain Titan a little bit for dressage and English showing. He has a great foundation on him and rides beautifully in a snaffle, he also has lovely free-flowing movement and collects pretty well, so the training won't be too tough. He may get sold later as a dressage horse, but not for some time.

Everyone keeps telling me that when you get to the second trimester the serious lack of energy goes away and you feel better. I'd love that! I have noticed that I'm trying to fix the house up more and get everything ready.

In crafting news, I'm thinking more and more that I will get back into leather. I'm working on the keychains for the blog giveaway (I have one mostly done and the other is waiting on rhinestones). I guess I feel burned out because I have far too many hobbies. I don't have time for all of them, so I keep thinking I should cut something out. But then I realize, that I'm also not doing much most of the day right now, so really, maybe I just need to pick them back up when I can. Hopefully, I'll work everything out. I'm sick of worrying about everything! I know I shouldn't keep worrying, but its hard not to sometimes.

OK, enough of my rambling. I'll post some pictures at some point.

Mexico and the Sonoran Desert Museum

I come bearing more photos.  That’s pretty much all for today though.  I’ve got stuff to get done! 

 

Prairie Dog at the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson, AZ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mountain Lion, also at the Sonoran Desert Museum.

 

Rattle snake.  I can’t remember what kind this was, but he was also at the Sonoran Desert Museum.

 

 

My husband in Mexico buying some awesome hand decorated keys.

 

 

A couple of guys playing music at the restaurant we ate at in Nogales, Mexico.

Glad to see you didn’t all leave.

Well I lost two followers. Not bad for all my non posting. I guess the news about the baby, sorting stuff out, working, and friends visiting from Michigan have sort of had me pretty busy with other stuff. I intend on working on posting nearly everyday again. I missed it! I also have to catch up on all the blogs I’m following. Yikes!

OK, pictures from our adventures, at least, round one!

Me at the Saguaro National Park, with a saguaro, of course. Did you know that Saguaro’s have to read 70 years old before they can grow arms?

Chollas, they look very pretty in the sunlight. They probably don’t feel great though.

Don’t you love the views out here? Well, I do!

Anyway, I will post more pictures from Mexico, and maybe other pictures if my friends post some nice ones I can steal from them!

In other news, I’m not sure how much longer I can keep up with my Etsy and Artfire accounts. I don’t feel much like crafting…EVER. However, now that I’ve got some time I am determined to finish the leather keychains for the blog giveaway.

Behind!

I'm sorry I haven't been updating like I was. I am sort of on vacation. I have friends from Michigan visiting and we've visited Bisbee, Tombstone, Tucson, Kartchner Caverns, and today, Mexico!

So, I've been busy. But I will have pictures to show you soon! Bear with me.

Also, I'm in the process of debating whether or not to have a wedding ceremony or just a reception come May. I really want pictures, but I don't know, Doug keeps telling me I won't like it being 5 months pregnant :(. I'm not sure he knows anything. Maybe I'll ask my mom, I've got to call her in a few minutes, it is her birthday after all.

Apollo and Orion :(

What to do with animals? Hmm.

Well, we sort of figure that we will have to rehome Apollo. I'm worried about the noise! Between the bird and the baby I might not be able to rest, and not to mention the baby might not be able to nap if the bird squawks. Unfortunately, we are limited in size in this house too. I wish I would have known I was pregnant before I got him, I really love Apollo, but I'm not looking forward to having to wash my hands entirely and change clothes when I go from handling the bird to handling the baby.

As for Orion, I thought we'd be fine keeping him, but today he threatened to kick me and just missed my stomach. Wake up call anyone? Being that I do most of the feeding, and when I don't my less horsey husband does means that someone is bound to get hurt. He could injure me or the baby and is likely to injure Doug as well. So, it would seem that the wise thing to do may be to have Care for the Horses take Orion back, as he is still owned by them technically until April. I am thinking that I may lease or sell Thunder as a teens gymkhana horse. He is a challenge, but could win them tons of ribbons once they get with him and learn to ride him. It'd be a great reward and probably a great advancement in their riding skills. I hope I can find someone to lease him. I'd prefer to keep him around for my husband, but I guess money for the child is going to be the most important thing, and if I can't keep him, I can't keep him. Titan will stay until after I am able to barrel race again. If I feel he'd be better with a different rider, than perhaps he will find a new home too. This could mean I might get a new horse, but only ONE new horse. As hard as this might be, it'll have to do if I can't keep them. My hope is that I can somehow work it out, lease Thunder temporarily and end up keeping both the adult boys. However, the truth is, I really want a different competition horse and while before, I could keep all three of them, now I'll have to choose who stays and who goes. :(

This baby will be a great thing, but what it is doing to my menagerie of animals is heartbreaking. I can only hope that the kid will make it so I don't regret the bird or the horses.

I thought I needed a change, but this change? Man.

Life is difficult. I can only hope I work this out!

OK So.....

Well, the reason I've been sick to my stomach is this....





Yeah, I'm pregnant, about 7 weeks. This would explain a lot of things. Not something that we were expecting, but alright. This might mean we have to rehome Apollo, as I'm not sure I can live with a noisy bird and a baby, but we'll see what happens. I may have to give up Orion as well, and I'm most likely going to have to sell a horse. While these things are all sad, I can only hope that the addition of this family member will make up for all those things. Of course, I'm going to wait a while before making all these decisions, to make sure there aren't any complications and what not.

This also means I won't be barrel racing soon, like I intended.

Things happen when they're meant to happen, at least that is what I'm telling myself.

Old photos galore

I miss photography. I was really into it for a while, but right now I've hardly been playing with my cameras. I really enjoyed macro! Nature photography is my favorite! I am by no means professional, but these are some of my early attempts with the nice cameras. In fact, I'm definitely an amateur.

I also really want to play my guitar a lot right now, but instead I've been doing pretty much nothing, I haven't even ridden the horses.

Why? Because I'm incredibly sick to my stomach pretty much ALL day. Pepto isn't helping. I'm sick of feeling, well, sick!

I've also been pretty much constantly tired. Going to a doctor might be a good idea, hmm.

Etsy Finds : Appaloosas

I tried to search artfire for appaloosas, but sadly, there was NOTHING :(.  So, I present,  Etsy finds that are all appaloosa horses!  Appaloosas are my favorite breed of horses.  I’ve always wanted to breed, raise, and train appaloosas.  I’ve never owned one, which entirely saddens me.  I’ve ridden several, and loved them all.  Hopefully, my next horse will be an appaloosa filly!

This beautiful appaloosa horse painting is by Etsy user DanielleBarlowart.

 

This wonderful eventing appaloosa painting is done by Etsy user GiddyUpStudios.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This cute little needle felted wool appaloosa is made by PleasantViewWoolArts.

 

 

This gorgeous head profile of a bay appaloosa is by Etsy user KarenHargett.'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And last, but not least…

This wonderful pendant featuring an appaloosa horse head is made by Etsy user GypsyMare.

 

So, visit these wonderful Etsy sellers and buy some appaloosa art!  Personally, I want a pendant from GypsyMare :).

Posting everyday is hard!

Coming up with something to post about everyday is hard! It is hard mainly today because I'm feeling rather sickly and have done nothing productive. For the two blog contest winners that are getting custom items, it will take a little while!

So, I've decided today is a good day to show an old photos.Michigan winters were pretty...but so cold!

High and Mighty Parelli-ites and stereotypes!

Volunteering at CANTER is nice, but some of the people drive me nuts. People for some reason, keep acting like I know nothing about horses. Its pretty frustrating, considering I explained to them my horse experience on Saturday. I think part of it, is I'm up against the usual (at least for me its usual), "she rides Western, I ride English. Western people don't know how to ride, particularly barrel racers." First off, I'm not saying that all English riders think that, but I've ran across quite a few that do, and it drives me nuts. Also, I've also ran across enough Western people not knowing how to ride, particularly in barrels. But, I'd be lying if I said I haven't seen English riders that knew nothing. And honestly, I ride both! Yeah, most of my gear is Western and I find it more comfortable to wear my western boots and jeans to horse functions if I have an option, so all you see is Western-y stuff. Today, I combined that with my barrel racing sweatshirt, which made it even better. I hate stereotypes. Honestly, I wish we could just all look at each other as a "horseman" or "horsewoman." Sure, if the person proves to you that he or she is completely incompetent, that's fine, but seriously, give people a chance. People at CANTER let some of the volunteers ride, and I can't wait until I get to get on a horse and show them that I know how to ride English, in fact I have taken lots of jumping and dressage lessons.

I get that a lot of local barrel racers and some of the pros do things that are construed as cruel, whether or not they really are. I also get that, for some reason, a lot of people think that you don't have to have a good seat or posture to ride the barrels. These people do not represent the whole of barrel racers! I know there are stereotypes for pretty much every discipline, and all I can say is, "BOOOO!"

The other issue I had today was people touting the wisdom of Parelli. Parelli bothers me a little, sure, I like his 7 games and some of his ground work and he definitely has some sound advice, but I hate how much money he's making off of some techniques that you can find in books from several older trainers, Tom Dorrance, for example. The person touting the Parelli wisdom was discussing something he had said on his show or whatever, that if your horse gets anxious about a hanging girth you use your arm to add the feel of the girth all the way around. This, to me, is common sense.

I also found it funny because she walked up to a horse who was blocking the pathway by standing lopsided and looked her in the eye and said, "Move" and pointed at her butt. The horse blatantly ignored her. People for some reason think that because the Parelli's can do it, they probably can too. Right, because the Parelli's don't spend tons of time working with the horses they do their demonstrations with. Parelli even says, "If you take the time you need, you'll find it takes less time." Something of that sort anyway. I find that pretty true, but for some reason, many Parelli followers don't get it.

Look, I'm not just a Parelli hater, I got his level 1 dvds and I read his book. I'd say, I've done my research and I find him nothing more than a good horse trainer that has amazing marketing abilities.

OK, I will step off my soap box now. I hope I haven't offended anyone, honestly, I have no problem with people who like Parelli, as long as they're reasonable.

Alright, I have to go feed the bird, go to town, and probably head to the gym!

Happy Superbowl Sunday!

I have nothing much to say, but if you watch football, or just like silly commercials, then today is a good day. I'm feeling kind of ill so, today will be mostly me sitting around and watching TV. Maybe some cleaning, but I'm going to rest!

Volunteer time!

Today, I volunteered at C.A.N.T.E.R. and I’m going to start going every Monday (the image above is CANTER’s logo).   CANTER is a NARHA member with certified NARHA instructors. I had a lot of fun today! I’ve done therapeutic riding before, but never with NARHA instructors, who to me seemed much safer than the Certified Horsemanship Association versions I have dealt with before.  Part of me has always loved therapeutic riding and thought about becoming an instructor myself.  Maybe one day. I’d like to get some other riding instructor accreditations first and then maybe move in that direction one day. 

  Photo from CANTER’s website.

The kids that rode today really enjoyed it!  At one point I was handling a horse named Snowy who is near 30 and wanted nothing more than to trot and go fast.  It was funny.  The boy who was riding him was very independent and didn’t require any sidewalkers, just me to control Snowy in case of emergencies (or more likely, Snowy not stopping). 

Anyway, I had a good time and recommend therapeutic riding as a great volunteer activity for anyone who enjoys horses and kids (and adults too!).

 

In other news, I rode both my boys today and worked with the baby.  Needless to say, it was a horsey day and I’m tired!  Thunder is still somewhat sore on the front feet.  He’s just outside right now tied up with hay and ice boots on his front legs and hooves.  I took Titan through both the barrel pattern and the pole pattern today.  He did pretty well at each of them, and we’ve almost fixed the problem of him changing the lead in the hind end and crossfiring around the turns.  He does it maybe 40% of the time now, but that’s far better than 100%!  Part of it is that I have to lift the rein higher than I have ever needed to for Thunder as we turn.  Keeping it lifted seems to keep his front end better elevated and doesn’t give him as much opportunity to swing his butt out of alignment and change leads.  So, what I’ve been doing is working on my rein being in the right position, but when that doesn’t work and he still changes, we break to a trot and go back around that pole or barrel a couple times on the correct lead and move on.  It’s tedious and involves so much repetition.  However, it seems that Titan likes repetition.  In fact, the more repetitive I make his workouts, the better he seems to do. 

I got Orion out and we did lots and lots of rubbing with my training stick and whipping it in the air and getting him used to the sound and sight of that.  He did pretty well at that part. Then we did some giving to pressure exercises.  I ended with practice leading around obstacles.  He still has a hard time not speeding up and getting way in front of me if I turn toward him.  He also crowds, so we’re working on that too!  He did scare me a bit, and I got really lucky.  Being a brat-like baby, he suddenly struck out and managed to snatch the leadrope right out of my hand with his hoof.  I felt the bottom of his hoof scrape across my hand, ever so lightly!  All I can say, is good thing my hand was where it was!  Goodness.  Of course we did a little reprimand after that.  Oh, and he didn’t go anywhere after snatching the leadrope, he just looked at me dumbfounded as if he was lost. 

Anyway, enough horse talk for one entry!  I need to save something to talk about tomorrow, since I’m going to try to post everyday this month!

I’m building a webpage!

 

I’m working on building a webpage  and here is the main page I made.  Thanks to Microsoft FrontPage.  I used to know HTML really well, but I forgot, alas.

 

 

 

 

You can check it out here, but its definitely under construction.  So far the links page and the main page are the only pages that are up.  I will probably ad more stuff too down the road.  Perhaps tutorials and training tips and what not.  There will also be info about my lessons when I start giving them again.  I used to have a huge wealth of information on an old website, some of it may still be accessible.  I had lists of poisonous plants with pictures, if I had them, and useful lists of items to bring to shows or on trail rides.  I had information about vices and health care of horses, a lot of it was like I wrote little reports on the subjects based on all the books and articles I have read on the subjects.  Anyway, hopefully, the page will kind of grow into that again.   

 

In other news, I’m giving Project Wonderful a try.  Both as a publisher and to place ads for my Etsy and Artfire shops.  I need to get on my husband’s computer to use his Photoshop, since I don’t have it on my computer anymore :(.  Anyway, I’ll make a few ads and see how it goes.  I was going to put some on the blog perhaps, and maybe on the website when it grows up a bit and gets more hits.

I’m also giving this blog a makeover.  I kind of want to move it back to one column of widgets and such as I don’t like how cramped it looks.  Although, I saw someone with three columns and hers was wider. I’m not sure how to get that to work, but if I do, then I will keep all three.  Do you have any suggestions for my new layout?  I’m going to go more with a western look probably, but, I would love to get your input on what you think would look nice!

The other thing about building the website is, I’ll move a lot of my links and stuff off of the blog and on the website.  That will declutter my sidebars quite a bit.

Blog Giveaway Winners

Alright, the winners have been chosen and I am going to blog about it now, and try to contact them all later. Each winner will have 48 hours from the moment I attempt to contact them via email or blog, etc to respond. If they do not then someone else will get their prize!
Also, to thank ALL of you that participated you may take 20% off in my Etsy or Artfire shops up until 2/28/09. Just send me a convo or put "blog giveaway" in the notes to seller. This only applies to people who participated in the giveaway, and I know who participated and who didn't. i will also offer 10% off to all followers until 2/28/09. Just put "blog follower" in notes to seller.

OK, now lets get down to business.

Grand Prize horse shoe dreamcatcher goes to Angie.

Runner up gets any keychain of their choice - Twilight Knits

Second Runner up also gets any keychain of their choice - Mel

and the last prize of an amigurumi owl in their choice of color and expression - Digital Misfit

There will be more blog giveaways to come. If you're a winner and youread this before I contact you (because I'm going to have a nap!) feel free to comment about what you want. All items can be custom or already in my shops. It is up to you!

Apollo and horses and dogs, oh my!

Here are some photos, as promised!

This is Apollo. I just named him last night, thanks to a suggestion by a friend! He is 5 1/2 weeks old and so cute!

I also thought I’d include some photos of my other animals. The kitties and the snake are the only ones I didn’t get.

Orion had his face in the camera so I tried to push his head away, and I snapped a photo. He tried to lip me!

Of course, this is what he looked like BEFORE I pushed him away.

You can really see how much he’s growing up in this picture. He is 10 months, working on 11, so he’s starting to get that yearling physique.

My Sid-dog! She’s put on some weight and looks so much more filled out. We got her from the shelter in November 2007 and it has taken us quite a while to really get her to not look greyhound thin in the flanks.

Dakota, impatiently waiting for me to catch up with her.

I love the look on Thunder’s face right here! He looks like he’s asking, “Oh, really?” I believe the shadow that looks pregnant is Titan behind him!

And finally,

my Titan looks pretty darn handsome in this picture. It isn’t often I get one of him with his ears forward!

Also, on an unrelated note, Windows Live Writer is the best little program for blog writing ever! I love the effects and stuff I can do wit it. So fun!

I will post the winners of my blog giveaway tomorrow or maybe later tonight (if you’re lucky), for the time being, let me rest after another tortuous day of work! I have tomorrow off and will be catching up on my internet duties but I also need to ride. Yesterday I only rode Titan, I hope to ride tonight, but we’ll see. I feel drained after work, it is hard to get up the gumption to ride. Plus, getting up at 4 am doesn’t help…anyone.

By the way, yesterday, someone totally trespassed up and down my property and had the dogs freaking out. It woke me out of a sound sleep (it was about 9am I was sleeping in)! I was so afraid to feed horses, I came out with a gun in hand and let the dogs go with me. The person was gone but their tracks went from my driveway all the way to the pasture and the dog runs, and then back toward the front of my property again. I’m definitely fencing in my property when I have some more money to spend on it! In the meantime, I’ll be nervous that they were scouting out the horses to steal them or something. I probably sound paranoid, but I don’t like when strange people trespass and walk right up to the dog run and horse pasture. They walked pretty much right by the house.

Animals Galore!

Sorry I've been kind of MIA. I like to try to post 6 days a week at least, but this week has been a rough one. On top of the animals requiring my time, I started working again this week.

My job sort of has large breaks, like the one we've been on since November. I worked a 12 hour day yesterday and was pretty exhausted (and emotional) by the time I got home. Then of course I had to feed horses, the bird, and the dogs. And during work I backed a rental car into a pole and had lots and lots of sarcastic fun.

Now, I work again tomorrow, and I'm determined to post pictures of the baby bird, but don't be completely assured that it will happen. I will post one way or another, as I know tomorrow will not be anywhere close to a 12 hour day.

Anyway, about the bird. We're hand feeding him (don't worry the pet store owner and the veterinarian showed us how to do it right and we haven't had any problems). He's already grown up a bit since we got him! And he's adorable! I need to name him (or her really) but I'm drawing a blank. It took me so long to name Orion! However, he should have a name soon so he can start to learn it as he ages.

All the other animals are well, and I have little to speak of in regards to the horses, dogs, cats, or the snake. I haven't made any crafts either in the past few days. I'm rather boring as of late, but I'm trying to fix that!

Pictures to come, I promise!!

By the way my blog giveaway closes today! It is your last chance to enter for a dreamcatcher, keychains, or a amigurumi owl! Go Here to Enter!

More rambling and goals

The dogs are driving me nuts. We got a sun conure on Friday, and Dakota won't stop searching for the bird and staring at him intently. The cats are better than her!

I rode Thunder today with a neighbor and it was a great relaxing ride. Thunder's feet were less sore than normal (I don't think I mentioned that here before but Thunder's front feet have been incredibly sore lately).

I'm going to take pictures of the baby and such tomorrow, I promise! I've been so busy financing a motorcycle for my husband and grocery shopping and tending to animals.

101 things in 1001 goals plans for February-
Go to the gym everyday for a month, that will be fun to attempt.
Participate in NaBloPoMo! I will try to post every day!
AND
Volunteer 1 day a week for 3 months.

It will be fun to make some major progress on my list! Wooo!

Welcome to all my new followers! I love comments so feel free to introduce yourself if you haven't!

Meshing personalities

I learned something, that I probably already knew, but I guess I only really learned the lesson recently.

Anxious people + Anxious horses = BAD

You see, my horse Titan, is highly fearful and anxious. I've never wanted to give him up because I trained him and I love him to death, but when we go to a barrel race together it is unpleasant. Now, this year I am going to try my hardest to work on relaxation at the shows and not being too nervous, however, I don't see myself improving 100%. This may mean that really, the best thing to do would be to sell him to a rider that is much more confident. I don't want this to be the outcome, as like I said, I love him and he's definitely got potential to be an amazing barrel horse. I'm going to try to figure out how, perhaps, I can decrease both of our anxieties at shows, we'll give it a whirl, but honestly, if I can't run him, then he will need to find a new home. I can't afford to feed a horse that I can't use for much of anything. Unfortunately, he is horrible on the trails, being spooky and anxious you know, and he doesn't much care for dressage (even though he looks beautiful doing it). I'm going to take him team penning, but we'll see how that goes, he's currently scared of cows. I hope to get him over that.

Anyway, it is another gloomy day in the desert. I didn't ride yesterday, but I guess I'm going to brave the wetness to ride today. I hate going too many days without riding, it can be like torture. When I broke my collarbone in March 2006 and had to wait until the end of April to ride, I went a little stir crazy (the vicodin didn't help). You know, speaking of Titan, he's the one that broke my collarbone! Although I blame myself. You see, he had a rib out of alignment and it was causing him some pain and I ignored the signs. When I was brushing the girth area he acted out and tried to nip me. Right there he was saying, "yes, that is what hurts, fix it!" However, my brain just thought, "Oh, he's being a brat today I see." duh. What ended up happening was I got off of him out on the trail and when I went to get back on the girth put some pressure on that rib and he shot forward. I, having only one foot in the stirrup, didn't stick with him and flung around and landed on my shoulder.

I did learn to pay attention to little things like that when grooming and saddling. I just learned the hard way.

So, I don't have much else to say today. I'm going to go to town with the husband and maybe get him a motorcycle. I also signed up to volunteer with the local therapeutic riding center (C.A.N.T.E.R.) on Tuesday morning.

The sun needs to come out so I can get some nice pictures of the horses! Oh, and they need to not be so wet and filthy. haha.

So, an idea given to me in the last post was to make specific days to blog about specific things. I think that I will do that for sure! I also think I'm going to close the other blog, I don't know what I was thinking really. I'm going to talk about horses here, how can I not talk about something that makes me happy and motivates me? The crafts obviously will still be here too, maybe not the leather if I decide to sell off my supplies (which is looking more and more necessary as I need ice hock boots for the horses, hoof boots for Thunder's front feet, and preferably some more therapy machine and accessories to keep them sound). As I told my husband, I like decorating the leather, but cutting it out, sewing it, all that jazz, is tedious and I'm not fond of it. I have far more fun making dreamcatchers. I might try more jewelry making, which I know probably isn't the smartest thing since there are thousands of jewelry makers on Etsy and Artfire and at all the craft shows. Oh well, if I like it, it doesn't matter! I also like photography, so I might try to focus on that more. I have a nice camera, but I'd love to get a macro lense, and a telephoto lense!

Speaking of the horseshoe dreamcatchers, I finished two!


They will be available in my Etsy and Artfire in the next day or two.

I love rainy days in the desert. Its cloudy and gloomy out, which I'm not fond of, but the smell of rain on the desert soil is the best smell next to horses, ever! OK, maybe I'm just weird, but that's what I think. Hopefully, I can at least get Titan out and work him out, since Thunder is still really sore on his front feet. I need to get him those boots and pronto. I've been thinking about trying magnetic bell boots also. I've heard lots of people say they work wonders. I believe in the science of magnetic therapy, but most of the magnets sold for it are too low in strength to be any good. The ones in the bell boots I'm looking at are supposed to be pretty high, and they have great ratings. Have any of you tried magnetic therapy on your horse or yourself? Any results?

Oh, and one more thing! From now on, Mondays will be horse talk days and Tuesdays will be craft talk days. Wednesdays might be animal talk and my 101 things list combined. The rest of the days will be a crazy mixture. I will try to get some newer pictures of Orion up so people can see him! His tail is getting so long!

I'm a conundrum

So I started that new blog about barrel racing and horses and I'm not sure I'm going to keep it. I keep thinking I'd rather stay here with that content as well. However, I'm not sure what the masses of my readers are here for, so there is a little poll off to the left, if you wouldn't mind taking it for me.

Essentially, I might start blogging much more often about the horses here, and mostly showing photos of my crafts when they are completed. I'm thinking about backing off a bit in the crafting department anyway. I want to spend more time with the horses. I want to take eventing lessons and take Titan to team penning as well as more barrel races. And, I have a baby to train! I've always loved horses, more than anything. All I've ever wanted to do is ride horses and train and give lessons. I started doing more crafting to pay for my hobbies. However, if I go to school soon and end up in a career, I'm not sure between the horses and the crafting that I'll have any time at all to relax! Honestly, I need to weigh what is most important in my life. Immediately, it is horses, and having fun with them. Needless to say, my craft volume is about to decrease dramatically (and it already has decreased dramatically). I'm starting to think more and more about closing the Etsy store, but I don't know what I want to do.

Essentially I have more hobbies than anyone should have time for and I feel stressed out, because of things I'm supposed to enjoy. This makes me want to declutter my life. And honestly, the leather is one thing that is going to go.

Anyway, if you could comment here as well as take the poll and tell me what you're here for and what you like to read. Let me know if you think this blog can be a catch all for my crazy life, or if I'm going to have to stay branched into two like I am trying out.

My first Artfire Sale!

I made my first sale on my Artfire! I haven't got a payment yet, I think they elected to send a money order, but I'm not sure if Artfire is supposed to notify me of that (I didn't get a notification) or not, so I contacted the buyer to make sure. I know Artfire is beta and is buggy, I have patience and am convinced it will be an amazing site when it is fully grown.

Anyway, I have two horseshoe dreamcatchers pretty much finished up and ready to get photographed, but its cloudy and gloomy today, I will probably need to photograph them tomorrow. Then they will be listed. One will go on Artfire, one will go on both Artfire and Etsy. I have a few more shoes ready to paint up and decorate. I will get to that sometime soon. I want to get some different paint colors so I can have some different color shoes, not that I've even used all the colors I have laying around.

By the way, there is a wonderful yahoo group about trying to save the children's handmade community from the CPSIA, I wanted to recommend joining for anyone that makes anything that can be 'construed' as for 12 year olds and younger.

As far as application to grad school is going, everything is in except ONE reference letter, and I'm so nervous that the professor I asked to write it will not get it in on time. I asked him back in November, I've been reminding him pretty often too. He has already written me reference letters, so really he just needs to tweak one and send it. I asked him to please send it by yesterday at the latest so it had a week to get to the University of Arizona. However, things can take 7-10 business days in the mail so this is pushing it. If its not there by the day before the due date (the 28th) I'm going to have to ask if I can have him fax it to her.

I will be SO mad if I don't get into this program because he was too lazy to send the reference letter he said he would send. So, I'm nervous about that not showing up.

Also, we got the check from our insurance company deposited. We're using it to get a new dishwasher, since our old one broke. Most of the rest is going to our pole barn, although there are a few bills we might need it for.

Between working on planning a wedding, money, and trying to get into school, I'm kind of stressed. I need to go do some yoga or something!

Progress on 101 goals

Alright, updates on my 101 goals for 1001 days. The original list can be found here.

Goal # 7 Knit a pair of socks. I have almost 2.5 inches of one started. It has taken me a while to get the hang of knitting with the double pointed needles. So far though, I'm rather liking it. So far I have just been doing 1k1p ribbing and I am excited to start the pattern stitches. Its a kind of lacey sock, but not very complicated (hopefully!).

Goal #15 Identify 100 Things that make me happy. I have identified three! My husband, my kitties, and my horses!

Goal #17 Learn a new word every month and use it. 'Vermiculate' is my word this month. It means 'wormlike.'

Goal #26 Make and send a post card to Postsecret. I have started to write down my ideas of what to send and I have my cardstock ready! I'm excited about this!

Goal #33 Read the Chronicles of Narnia. I have read the first book, The Magician's Nephew, and it was so helpful to understanding a bit more of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, which I have read before, and seen the movie. I have started to reread the second one.

Goal #81. Give one million grains of rice on FreeRice.com. I have currently given 53,03o! I changed the goal to 1 million because they have now changed from 20 grains of rice per right answer to 10.

There are many other goals that are partially in progress, but I feel they will take so long that I do not want to italicize them yet as I'm afraid I'll focus too much on them for the time being.

I have also decided that my goals are slightly changeable. If I lose interest in a goal then I am going to change it, why keep outdated goals? They are for me, not for anyone else, so I will manipulate them if I choose. However, I will not do this lightly and I certainly won't do it just to make the list easier.

The next goal I will definitely work on is going to the gym everyday for a month (excluding if the gym is closed). I have realized that if I get into school in May, doing this may be problematic during that time, and afterward I hope to be employed, so now is the best time to get that one done!

I have 989 days left to go!

Google Analytics.

OK, this is kind of a PSA, but honestly, I can't recommend using Google Analytics enough!















You can plug Google Analytics into your blog, your Artfire, and now, even your Etsy! It is so useful to see how long people stay on your blog or shop, where they came from, what they click on, and more. It is pretty easy to set up and once you figure out what everything means, it is great and helpful! Etsy has an article in the Storque that explains how to set it up on their website. Artfire is easy to set up as well and you can find it under your stats section.

A WIP, A WIP! And more

I had to go grocery shopping today, which is of course, loads of fun. I was up too late last night and up too early this morning. I'm exhausted and think I'm going to take a nap, but first, I figured I'd update both blogs, as it is my MISSION.

I have cleaned up several of the shoes and these two are painted and ready to be adorned with beads and such.
Also, I started cutting out a leather purse, I'm thinking I'm going to at least use up the tooling leather I have and if I decide to quit after that, so be it. For now, I'll at least make something!

Maybe I should make that breastcollar that is on my 101 Things list.
I might try that.

Anyway, I am tired, so this is just a short entry with a photo of pink shoes!

Horses and leather.

So, I'm thinking of getting out of leather craft. As much fun as I used to have with it, I've lost a lot of the enjoyment now. I will still keep my Etsy and Artfire shops if I decide to do this, but they will be crochet and knit focused. I would like to learn to cold process soap, maybe I'll get into that and sell those down the road, all I know is I'm rather burned out with leather.

If I stop the leather I will shift my focus to making way more dreamcatchers and horseshoe related stuff. I will also probably knit and crochet more.

I feel like I shouldn't stop doing the leather, because lots of people love it, but then again, I haven't had the best luck selling it, and its a lot to invest in if it doesn't sell. I got into leather to make horse equipment, and I'm not sure I'll have time to do that either, although I think I'm going to give it a whirl before giving up entirely.

In other news, I'm starting a new blog all about horses and barrel racing and training. Find it here. There will still be horse and animal pictures here, of course, but the new blog will give me a chance to blog about all things horse related.

the giveaway continued, and horseshoes!

Crafting ruts are never fun.

I am working on knitting a pair of socks for me, but I'd like to make some stuff for the shops. I just got 8 horseshoes to make new dreamcatchers. I figure I'll make 7 and then the winner of my blog giveaway can pick a previously made one or request a custom one (within reason). So I guess that is something to do. I really need to work with my leather more but I'm not really sure what to make, I have a purse in progress that is all wrong and it makes it hard to want to start a new purse, I'd rather finish the messed up one. Except, I'm not sure how to fix the problems. Hmmm.

As for the giveaway, I will close it to entries on January 28th and you will know the winners no later than January 31st. There are currently 12 entries, so, if you haven't entered, enter the giveaway!

I think I will go to prep a few horseshoes. By prep, I mean clean them up. My farrier this time knocked all the nails out for me, which was very nice of him. He also said that if he comes back he will give me all his horseshoes, but since I was first and only on the list today, he didn't have any. My normal farrier got hurt, so I have a substitute from Oregon that worked with my normal farrier and his stepson. He also told me how I can get rusted on nails out!

Blog Giveaway

Who doesn't like free stuff?

I will be giving away a horseshoe dreamcatcher in your choice of colors and style as a grand prize.
I will also give away two keychains that are currently in my Etsy and Artfire shops as runner up prizes and a amigurumi owl with your choice of color (that is available) and whatever expression you want.


You can enter up to 3 times, but you will only be able to win one prize.

How to enter:
1. Follow this blog and comment here to let me know you're now following and want to enter the contest.
2. Write about this blog giveaway in your blog, link it to me in a comment on this entry.
3. Visit my Etsy and Artfire shop and write what you like the most in the shops.
4. Purchase something in either of my shops.


Good luck and feel free to leave any feedback as well!

More things that make me happy.

When I mentioned that my cats were on here as something that made me happy, my husband was quite upset that he wasn't first. I explained that they were in no particular order but I can see where he is coming from. I feel strange talking about my husband on my blog so I'm making this one include two things that make me happy for good measure.

1-My husband, oh my! My husband has brought more sci fi into my life than I could imagine. He is a bit of a nerd for it. He's currently in the Army but will be out around March. My husband is so much calmer about little things in life than I am and it helps me learn to be calm as well. He's helpful with the horses, and honestly, I can't believe anyone would agree to marry me knowing that I came with college debt, two horses, a cat, and not the most employable degree.

Now you may be wondering why I'm saying husband when I said earlier I was getting married in May. Well, we are married in the eloping sort of way right now and we're having an actual ceremony and reception for our families and friends (and so I can have an actual wedding because I am still female and want one).

2- My horses. I'm adding older photos of both of them, ones I haven't put on this blog yet. Which unfortunately means I have no more of Orion (Deek) to show you, but there are plenty of Thunder and Titan.
The one with her hind end way in the air is Shasta, my mom's appy.

Doing this spam of pictures makes me miss one particular horse I've never mentioned on this blog. My very first horse, Blue. He's still around and he lives at my parents house. I didn't want to risk trailering a 25-30 y.o. horse to Arizona from Michigan and I couldn't afford to move him. He's a great old horse. He's probably Morgan x Quarter Horse cross.
He's so filthy in this picture! I'll show more of him later.And the whole horse family back in Michigan. Clockwise from back left to about 9 o'clock: Shasta (bay with star), Titan (Bay with T blaze), Thunder (sorrel), and Blue (grey).