Tell Me Tuesday from Colorado Lady.  This week's question is:

Week Eight Question:

What three words would you use to describe the last three months of your life? 

At the end of the next three months, what three words do you hope to be able to use to describe your life at that point?
1.  I'd have to say the three words that describe the last three months of my life are boring, stressful and anticipation.

2.  At the end of the next three months I'd like the words to be rewarding, fullfilled and happy.

Still alive!

I can't even remember the last time I posted....  Just been out of it.  So much going on.  Where do I begin?

Okay, for starters my contract was terminated which means on March 2nd I no longer have a job.  No real surprise, right?  Although I didn't get two weeks notice.  Luckily we are financially secure enough that if necessary I don't have to work for the entire month of March and then some.  It all makes sense now - the down time and the work my manager wasn't giving me.  I should have known my gut was telling me something.

The barn is almost completely finished.  The DH and I worked on the stall fronts Sunday (gorgeous day) and he built and put on the stall gates yesterday.  The only thing missing is the remaining panels/pipe corrals to fence them in!  Luckily the place we bought them is willing to work out something so when the girls arrive Saturday we'll have turn out for them. 

So with me not working at the moment I have time to hang with the DH and horses.  Might be just what the good Lord had in mind all along. 

I have continued to work on the brown scrap and also am in the middle of a newly started plastic bag holder.  The craft sale is still on for March 17th.  I'm hoping to do really well at this thing. 

I've not had a chance to catch up on everyone's blogs.  Going to try and do that as soon as this gets posted.  I hope everyone is doing well!!

SONG OF THE BLOG:  Outta My Head by DAUGHTRY.  It's their new single off the album Break The Spell and it ROCKS!!!!

Brown Scrap

Wow, totally forgot about posting a pic of the brown scrap!!!  I worked on it last night watching TV and the rows just seemed to fly by!  It's coming out very nice indeed!!

And it's Monday...

I know everyone says the same thing, but where did the weekend go?  It seems like I just left work and here I am again.  I had a very productive weekend though.  Check it out!

I finally stepped up and finished the braided jewels scarf.  I think it turned out really nice after all.  I sent the requestor pics and she seemed to really like it, but she hasn't purchased it yet.  Hmmm.  Here is a pic of the finished product:

This is doubled around the neck one time. 

After that I had an urge to knock out something quick so I made two plastic bag holders for the craft sale March 17th. 

This is the one in eggplant, light green and country blue.  All scrap yarn so different weights, but I think it came out okay. 

This one is a little larger.  I used that bright neon orange (I call it hunter's orange because it reminds me of the hunting jackets or vests.  I changed up the handle on this one.  I think they both came out cute.  Let's hope they sell! 

The DH has been busy setting up fence panels and working on the horses area.  Here are some pics of our progress.  We moved the hay into the tack shed and emptied out the stored items (brushes, leads, lounge lines, etc.).  Today he is putting up a light off the back of the garage (dusk to dawn) so the area will be well lit.  Thursday he will begin work on the stall fronts and doors to the stalls. 

This is looking from the back corner towards the stall barn.  It's a decent size area for them.  We hope to have the first pasture completed by the end of April.  Here is another view looking from the back corner towards our house.

We decided to put the gate on the side here.  There is a 12 foot panel from the tack shed and then the six foot gate (which is the overhead section you see in this pic).  We think it will help cut down on the wear and tear in the front where the other side will eventually go. 

Less than two weeks and the girls arrive!  Can't wait!!  Here is a pic of my baby when we had the snow a week or so ago.  The lady we board them with took this pic and I love it! 

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "Feels Like Tonight" by DAUGHTRY

TGIF

What a week I have had, and it's not that it's been bad either.  Just some weeks are harder to muddle through than others.  Last night - again - I spent about 3 hours in front of the DH's computer.  I was trying to get it just to boot up, but it would not.  I put the original operating system disc in and still no go.  So I'm pretty sure the hard drive is dead.  Luckily a friend of mine has one he's willing to let me have cheap.  He's going to walk me through installing it and how not to lose any of our current data. 

Last night after dinner, while there was still some light, we set up a few panels and designed the horses turn out area.  It's going to be larger than I thought because we are incorporating the buildings as well.  They will have a nice area to roam in and be able to roll in as well.  It's quite mushy from all the rain we've had and it won't be long until the area is rutted from their weight and hoofs.  I see a lot of raking in my future. 

While in front of the computer I started another plastic bag holder.  All for the craft sale on the 17th of March.  It's just using scrap yarns I have in neon orange, red and green.  My cousin mentioned making a few bowls as well...  I've not tried making them, but I'm hoping they are easy.

They hay is in the garage and will be moved tomorrow to the tack shed.  I hope the horses like it.  We're anxious to see how far 30 bales will take us.  They are much smaller than the bales we used to get in CA.  We are hoping we get at least a month out of them.  We are going to keep pretty good records. 

Okay, well that's all for today.  Hope everyone has a great Friday!

While browsing for new and fun blogs I came across this one and I love this idea!!  You all know how crazy I am about the SONG OF THE BLOG, so this question really hit home for me.  You can find the Coloradolady here.  I've just joined in Week 7, and here is this week's question:

What songs bring you back to really great moments in your life?

There might not be enough internet space to cover this question for me.  I have so many songs that make up my life.  But I'll cut you all a break and try and find only a small amount.  :)

1.  Mama Tried - Merle Haggard.  Growing up my musical tastes differed from my friends.  I loved bluegrass and country.  Although rock and pop were okay, I preferred the former.  This song was on an 8 track my parents had.  For some reason it resonated who I was to be.  A rebel.

2.  Trip Through Your Wires - U2.  Huge U2 fan, I would drift from country to U2 every other song.  This song always made me feel edgy and reminds me of when I decided to join the MC. 

3.  Be Like That - 3 Doors Down.  I had this song played at my retirement ceremony from the Marine Corps. 

4.  Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) - Looking Glass.  I love this song for many reasons and every time I hear it I am reminded of a time when someone I loved was out of reach and yet I still carried the torch. 

Your turn!!  Link back to coloradolady and follow her instructions!!

Time for a Change?

I'm beginning to notice that every morning it's more and more difficult to get myself out of bed.  That's not me.  Normally I am awake prior to the alarm going off and getting out of bed has never been a struggle.  I realize on a daily basis that it is my job that is doing this to me.  I know a lot of people would welcome coming into work and sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours and not do a darn thing, but honestly I can't handle it.  It's not rewarding.  It's not challenging.  It's not fun.  I've been through the entire Web, twice.  ; -)

If someone asked me my dream job (aside from crocheting half a day and working horses the other half) I would say to stand at the entrance of a warehouse the size of a football field and open the door to see nothing but stacks of paper and for someone to tell me your new job is to organize "this".  As nuts as that might sound, bringing order to that chaos would thrill me to the ends of the Earth. 

Because I had my resume out on Monster, I often still get emails from recruiters and yesterday I had a very interesting one...  Too often they are for positions in other states and contracts lasting only 6 months.  This one, however, was quite different.  Located in the same city I work in now; 24 month contract and the description of the job reads like this:  "Looking for contractors to sort through and file over 3 million documents."  Is this me or what??  I am going to contact the recruiter today.  The first chance I have with my current manager I am going to ask him his plans for me.  I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and allow him the opportunity to tell me what my future looks like. 

I spent most of last night in front of my DH's computer.  A friend is helping me figure out why it keeps locking up.  Last night he remoted in and found quite a few updates for Windows and such, so I was up till 10 installing them.  This morning we were so anxious to check out the computer and it ran great for about 6 minutes and then froze up - again.  Le Sigh.  We are both thinking this particular hard drive tower will make target practice before too long. 

I hope everyone is having a great week.  You guys have been pretty quiet out there...  Miss reading your posts!

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri

Just stuff

I don't have any new pics to post.  Today I am just trying to enjoy everything in life I do have that makes me happy.  I need to take the time to appreciate those things.  It's so easy to get caught up in the wanting and wishing for everything we do not have that we forget about everything we do. 

Yesterday I stood in the backyard of our property and looked at the almost final step to a dream come true.  I have loved horses all my life. I got my first one when I was 12 and had him all through high school.  My family was far from rich, so in order to keep him I had to clean the boxstalls at the stable where I kept him.  It was a hard job, but very rewarding.  I always look back on those days with good memories.  When my husband and I decided to get a horse in 2001 we also had to board her.  Although I no longer had to clean stalls, I still enjoyed doing it.  The dream has always been to look out our window to see our horses on our property.  Seeing those barns in place yesterday was surreal.  There's still much to do before March 3rd when the girls arrive.  We have pipe corral to put up, hay to buy, stalls to enclose...  But you can bet it's all being done with a happy heart. 

I have the most amazing daughter.  She is smart, funny, beautiful and has a heart the size of Texas.  I feel extremely blessed and honored we are so close.  She gave me a beautiful Christmas card this year telling me how much the bond we have means to her.  Okay, so she's technically my "step" daughter.  That makes it that much more meaningful.  So not only are we mother/daughter but we are also friends.  I see her struggle (almost daily) with her bio Mom and it tears at my heart.  Her bio Mom has always treated her poorly, but really she can't help it.  It's just the way she is.  She is self serving and self absorbed.  She takes zero responsibility for her actions.  I believe in the Zodiac and she is a Scorpio.  Relentless and manipulative - won't stop until she has won.  She flits around from flower to flower taking what she wants, making promises she never keeps and expecting everyone to believe how sincere and genuine she is.  She has managed to fool a few people, but she would probably die if she knew how many she hasn't fooled.  Christian?  Please. Kind and loving?  Double please.  She is a Christian when it suits her and she can be kind when she is after something.  My daughter will continue this struggle with her bio Mom for life.  I'm just lucky she calls me "MOM" and means it. 

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Barns!

Today has been a very exciting day!!  The one side of the barn (run in) was delivered today.  The DH and I spent the weekend talking about one of their barns they had built for sale and after some thinking we decided to buy it as well.  It was also delivered!  Here is an updated photo of the back of our property NOW with the barns in place.  I know it's hard to picture right now, but eventually there will be an identical building like the red one.  The openings will face each.  There will be a 12 foot breezeway.  My DH will put a roof joining the two buildings.  The premade building will be our tack shed and temporary hay storage/feed room.  The DH will put a porch on it, add a couple of windows and power.  For the time being (until we get the $ for the second half) the horses will have pipe corrals running from the opening outward behind the tack shed.  The DH will put stall walls up along with stall doors to block the cold/rain.  This is an amazing day!!!



I spent time this weekend crocheting the braided scarf.  Here are some pics of the colors she chose.  I will finish up the scarf, braid it and then take pics for the her to see if it's what she had in mind.  I'm just not convinced the colors look different enough.  What do you think? 

Granted, this isn't in sun light but taken lying across my chaise where I do most of my crocheting.  Perhaps outside it will look completely different?

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "Star Spangled Banner" by Whitney Houston.  I have rarely heard anyone do justice to this song.  She did.  RIP Ms. Houston.

Progress

For me Thursday has always been a day to make progress.  I get a new sense of urgency knowing the week is ending and maybe there are a few things I've left unattended so I tend to try and finish them up on Thursdays.  I did make some progress on the braided scarf.  The colors are jewel tones and although I like both the blue/green she chose I think they may be too close.  We shall see once I get the snow white worked up and actually braid the scarf.  Still no photos - I think it would be best to snap a photo or two in direct sunlight and by the time I get home it's already dusk. 

I continue to work on the brown scrap.  For some reason I love this pattern and I love working with my surprise scrap yarn.  I had intended on offering this one for sale at the craft show, but I doubt I have it done in time.  So we shall see.  Here's a pic I took last night as I was finishing up for the evening. 

I made the first step in getting my Pen Pal Correspondence back up and running!!  Yay me!!  I hope to write at least one letter this weekend.  One of my friends sent me a beautiful calendar for Christmas.  In spite of my moving all over and changing addresses three times, it managed to find it's way to me.  Miraculous.  In the past when I didn't have the Internet I used to have a huge world map and I would put a marker on the location of my friends.  I found this so interesting and fun.  Now days with Google, I can type in their address and bring it up.  Still thrilling! 

Has anyone had any luck with a "Yarn of the Month" type club or buy in? 

Tomorrow the girls get their shoes done.  I'm excited to be heading up there tomorrow at noon to spend some time with them.  There is a chance our barn could be delivered on Monday.  We are anticipating some freezing temps that could make the property accessible with the big truck.  : )

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "Trying to Love You" by Trisha Yearwood

Terrific Tuesday

Even though I don't feel terrific, we'll pretend.  Last night after a dinner of lasagna I worked on two things.  First off I tried to finish up one of the three parts to the braided scarf.  I'm just not feeling it, so after about 5 inches I called it quits.  No photo of that, sorry.

Then I moved on to my brown scrap blanket, which I am enjoying.  It's moving slow, but I think it's only because I am moving slow.  I think it will be nice though. 

Thanks so much for the ideas about how to use the horse hair.  I really like the idea of incorporating it into something with a crochet design....  We shall see.  A lot depends on how much I get from Dolly that's usable and how it looks once I wash it.  Right now it's an awful dingy yellow!!

The next craft show is March 17th and I am done making scarves.  By then it will getting warm and no one wants to think about scarves when it's warm.  I think I will try and focus on other things; cloths, plastic bag holders, messenger bags and maybe a purse for little girls...  I have lots of cute buttons and fun eyelash yarn that I could work up to create some little purses.  The Etsy shop has once again sunk into no activity. 

I am happy to report my reading is going well.  I finished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and started The Hunt for Red October.  My plan is to continue that series all the way through the newest Jack Jr three.  Am I repeating myself??  Sorry...

We are expecting a little snow tonight.  Since we are way under our norm for the year this is odd to have it forecast.  It can only help to get the barn on site though.  I thought it might be fun to post a pic of the property as is and then again as the barn(s) get delivered and built and the horses are with us.  So here it is now.

It might be fun for you (and me) to see how things change over the next year.  :)

Happy Tuesday everyone!!!

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "The Song Remembers When" by Tricia Yearwood.

Browsing

I've been doing a lot of browsing this morning through blogs.  I found someone (Melissa from Lazy Daisy Crochet) that was giving out awards and she listed a bunch of really good ones.  It's always fun to read blogs.  I don't like feeling rushed and today has been a good day to read at my leisure and even follow a couple of new ones.  If you get a chance, check out her list. 

I started and finished up a pastic bag holder for our own mud room.  We have so many bags - this holder barely holds a 5th of them.  My DH refuses to toss any out.  Anyway, I used a bunch of leftover cotton yarn from my stash and I think it came out alright.  He's going to hang a hook for it next to the other supplies for the litter box. 

The DH took this pic so sorry it's not a good closeup that would show you the detail and construction.  I've used this same sort of pattern before and it seems to work well for me.  I don't have it written down; just in my head. 

I have been continuing to work on the brown/cream scrap.  It's coming together and seems to flow alright.  No pics of it - sorry.  I'll snap a few tonight while I am working on it.  I'm also working on a braided scarf for a special order off the Etsy site.  I hope to have that finished by week's end for her. 

No word on the barn.  We went up to see the girls on Saturday and they both looked great and seemed to doing very well.  Friday I will be with them while they are getting their feet done.  I'm looking forward to it.  Poor Dolly has a knot in her mane-something I would never leave unattended normally.  With luck I'll be able to work it out Friday.  I usually roach her mane completely and will probably do so when the girls are in our backyard.  Her mane grows out so nice when I do that.  I have saved her mane hoping to find a craft to use it for, but to date no luck.  Suggestions??

TGIF

What a week.  Or is it just me?  I'm glad it is Friday.  The DH and I are driving up to see the horses Saturday and then dropping in at the Flea Market.  Not looking for anything in particular - just looking. 

Our barn was started today.  We are so excited!!  Here is a pic of the girls at their current location.  Except for being really dirty, they both look great. 

I started crocheting a plastic bag holder last night for our own mudroom.  We use the bags mostly for the kitty litter box and we could use a tidier way to save them.  It's mindless and works up fast.  I should have it finished up tonight. 

The Bernat yarn I had ordered for the special request scarf came in so with luck I'll be starting on that scarf over the weekend.  It's one of the braided scarves on my Etsy shop.  She asked for it in Ocean, Pagoda and Snow.  Curious to see how it comes out. 

Not much work done on the scrap blanket, but I have completed two dishcloths.  I'm just going to add them to the craft sale lot for now.  I intentionally used a looser stitch on the green/yellow cloth.  I normally crochet a fairly tight stitch for my dishcloths, but this time I wanted to try something a bit different.  I like the way it came out. 

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "Turn the Page" by Bob Seger

Has anyone seen January?

Is anyone else amazed how quickly January passed?  Yes, we have gotten a lot accomplished on the house in that month, but really it just seems like time is getting away from me once again.  I need to wrap my arms around "life" and not let it pass me by.

Let's see...  I have been trying to pull my craft room together and in doing so I managed to create more surprise scrap yarn balls.  With that came the inclination to do a scarp afghan.  Here is it is just two days old.

It's starting out nicely; not too big but big enough to make a nice throw. 

Next I thought I'd share my craft area in it's current state, which is way better than it was.  Still some work to do, but it is coming together and I actually love being in it. 

This is the entertainment center left at the house by the sellers.  It's turned into a sort of "catch all" for me.  LOL

I am doing some moving around with completed projects , but it's coming together nicely.  It's great having the window - I love to look out and crochet. 

Lastly I thought I'd post a pic of Chris.  This pic makes me smile and drool.  Although he is scheduled to be in Cincy in Apr on tour, I opted not to buy tickets to see him.  In the name of saving money and such - it wasn't an easy choice and I'm still not sure it was the right one. 

The barn is coming along nicely and the DH and I have been back and forth with where to put the tack room/tie-ups/haybarn...  I honestly think we won't know until the barn arrives.  The ground is still very mushy, so praying for either cold weather to freeze the ground until at least the end of February or no more rain to dry things up.  I was going through some old pics and found this one of Dolly.  This was at the height of Spring when her color is so beautiful and I had just cut her mane.  Can't wait to see her on our property!!

SONG OF THE BLOG:  "Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison