Kaelyn had her first 4-H riding lesson last Sunday. She looked so authentic I just had to share these photos! She rode “Blade”, a gelding that was a wild Mustang stallion just about a year ago. He has been trained by George, and Kaelyn said he responds immediately to everything she asked him to do.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ok, am I allowed to ramble a bit? One of my favorite activities is to frequent blogs by other women and get a glimpse into the reality of their lives. I often find myself laughing and identifying with their stories, feeling comforted in knowing that I am not alone in this journey.

I had such an experience this morning while visiting “Wild Life in the Woods”. It was a simple post about Crock Pots, but one part has profoundly stuck with me. This probably wasn’t the main point of her post, and now, I’m even wondering if this is really what she said, but it is what has been churning around in my mind this entire morning!

It was the part where she talked about the wonders of the crock pot, which would allow the home school mother to throw the ingredients into it, and then snuggle down with her children, reading wonderful stories to them, giving them an education that far surpasses that of the public school, all the while maintaining total control of the meal issue. Home schooling is a full time job, after all, and since when does the mom have time to actually cook something?

But I’m so glad that she clarified the truth…that picture of angel children listening to stories, and an even more angelic mother who is completely in control, food cooking, while acting as supreme teacher..…it’s an illusion!

Really???

You mean, its perfectly normal for the mother to struggle to get all the home schooling done, AND make meals?

Is that what she said?

Did I read it wrong?

I hope not, because I am still currently in the trenches of home schooling, with a 10 year old and 14 year old at home, and I have yet to have a perfectly organized day where everything gets accomplished…school, household chores, and meals. I feel a sense of relief. I really do hope that is what she said, besides pointing out that a crock pot kills the food anyway.

My kids are getting educated. We are eating…most of the time.

And…I like my crock pot…for Christmastime when I heat apple cider, oranges and cloves to make the house smell good!

We officially had our first sunny day yesterday. So, what does a 10 -year-old boy do with his first sunny day? He builds a fort!!

I have been avoiding the socks. I used to scoff at people who lost socks in the dryer. I heard someone say once that dryers eat socks and then spit them out as wire hangers. It wasn’t true for me until the 3rd child was born.

I have had a pile of socks waiting to be matched for months. I keep avoiding them. I keep moving the pile from the couch to the mini tramp to the red bench, then back to the couch again depending on when and where I need space each day.

Well, today I tackled the socks. First I had to sort them into colors. Then I had the kids put their socks away. Finally I attempted to sort the dark socks and this is what I found.

I don’t like socks. Maybe everyone should wear the same kind of socks and the same color of socks.

I don’t know what the solution is for socks but I do know that today I will conquer the sock pile and every single sock will have a home in a drawer!!

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I keep thinking that just maybe spring is here to stay. There is more brown now, than white on the ground, and each day the patches of snow get smaller and smaller. But for the past week, we’ve woken up to several days where everything is white again. Just when I think there can’t possibly be another flake of snow in the sky, the world is white in the morning.

It’s as if Mother Nature is in the sky with a gigantic towel, that is being twisted each morning, a little tighter and tighter, forcing out a few more flakes of snow each day. I keep wondering how there can possibly be anymore, but every morning there is a new little dusting, just enough to make everything white again…enough to make me wonder if spring will ever fully settle in. It’s raining today, so perhaps all the snow has finally been squeezed out of the towel!!

So that brings me to my blog.  I just changed the color scheme and the background photo.  It’s the only “springish” photo I have right now.  There is NOTHING green around here yet.  We are in that muddy transitional period where everything is still brown and ugly, or snow is melty, slushy, and dingy looking.  There simply isn’t anything beautiful to look at, and while spring has officially arrived, according to the calendar, it will take a few more weeks for us to “see’ it here.

I hope the colors of this new look are ok for now!  I like it, good enough anyway to keep it, for now.  I do envision GREEN in the future.

 

It’s official.  The magic date has passed (March 20th), and the first day of Spring has come and gone.  It is still pretty cold at our place.  We are still building daily fires to keep the house warm.  But there are patches of dirt and dead grass showing through now, instead of the beautiful blanket of white that once surrounded our home.  This is the photo that has graced the background of my blog for “winter”. 

I opened up Blogger this evening to read my usual blogs and I was stunned with all the new posts I haven’t read yet.  Has it been several days since I’ve been on here?  It’s one of my favorite things to do….come here and read…some blogs by people I know….others I haven’t met yet in real life.  It relaxes me.  It motivates me to add something to my own blog.

I’ve been thinking what I could add…what is going on in my life?  My new iPhone has been tons of fun.  I’m trying to figure it all out, trying to utilize the planning calendar App that I bought for it, and trying to get more organized with meals, chores, and especially the dog business and all the details that surround that.  Using such a tiny keyboard for everything is a challenge, but I’m getting faster using the tiny keys (though I believe an iPad is definitely in my future!!).  The calendar can by synced to a Google calendar, so now I’m learning how to do that. 

I find Facebook to be very useful to get information from my friends on how to do these technical types of things.  I have a wide range of friends, from many walks of life, and I am grateful for how willing they are to help me and answer my questions!  I also utilize Google frequently when I have questions about something, and often am able to find the answer there, tucked away in some obscure blog post, but somehow Google finds it for me!  It makes me happy when I can figure out and solve the “problem”, whatever it may be!

My oldest two children are away this week on Spring Break.  They’re with Pathfinders, on the Teen Mission Adventure, doing a building project at a camp, renovating some cabins.  Darien went last year and really enjoyed it.  He actually enjoyed it so much, that he specifically said it was important to him, to go again this year, so that is in part, how we decided on UCA for his schooling, instead of one in California, near Grandma’s house.  Kaelyn didn’t really want to go on the mission trip, but she called and said she was having fun, so I’m glad for that.  I insisted that she go, even though she wasn’t overly thrilled with the idea at first.

Kendrick is home with me, taking on everyone else’s chores, devising games to play with me (we’re currently playing Monopoly), and enjoying his week off from school.  We went skiing yesterday, and will go again Friday.  Thursday we’re taking some dogs to Pullman to get heart checks, and tomorrow (Wednesday) night is Pathfinders, after a trip to get a Health Certificate at the vet.  The week is very full, yet I feel like not much has been accomplished.  I have to bathe 3 adult dogs tomorrow, trim them, and do their nails, to have them ready for Thursday.  I also need to buy crates, if Walmart has them (they didn’t have the right size the last time I was there), for them to travel in. 

Daryl comes home late tomorrow night, and Thursday he heads to Seattle, to ship a puppy on Friday.  I also have to bathe that puppy, and get the leash/collar, crate, food, Health Certificate, shot record, etc. ready for shipping.  My head is spinning, trying to remember everything, and that is why I’m trying to learn this Google calendar thing that can sync to my iPhone.  A week this full is typical in our lives, and I have to keep track of everything, and not forget any of the details.  My life seems like one long “To-Do” list, but I guess that would be typical for the mom in a family.

I do like it better when Daryl is home…the house is a lot warmer, and it’s just good to know there is a man around the place!  I do like, not having to share the computer, though! 

I am not a cook, but I know how to cook.  Have I said that before?  I have been on a cooking spree the past few days.  I’ve made Split Pea Soup with Y2K peas, homemade gluten steaks, and Pumpkin Pie!  Before that, I had made Cabbage Pockets, which were all devoured very quickly by everyone here!  I did take a couple pictures of the Cabbage Pockets, and hope to make some more soon. 

These are a lot of fun to make, and not too difficult.  This time I used pizza dough crust instead of the sweeter crust in the recipe.  I want to try some with a tofu & spinach filling next.  The kids really enjoy forming these into little pockets and I can’t blame them.  All of us want to have a part in folding up the little bundles and putting them on the cookie sheet to bake.  They often get very creative with their designs!

The older I get, the more I realize that good relationships must be treasured.  And even with those, life has a way of making changes, bringing people in and out, changing the dynamics, the time spent, and the overall flavor of a relationship or friendship. 

When we moved to WA, I didn’t expect to find actual friends here.  We knew it would be beautiful.  We knew it would be different.  We knew we had to take the chance and make the move.  But we didn’t know who we would meet.  And we didn’t know they would be such fantastic people.

These are my friends, my “besties”, and they have made my life better here in WA.  They are true country girls.  I’m the wannabe!  They have helped me shovel snow, invited me and my family over for meals, had picnics at the lake, chatted at the poolside, sat in the jacuzzi, changed a flat tired, given me rides, taught my daughter about horses, gone snow skiing, gone boating and water skiing, gone camping, played games, watched movies, weeded in my garden, shopped with me in town, labored over how to homeschool teen boys, taken care of my dogs, washed my dishes, watched my kids, taught me how to drive in snow, and taught me how to chill and relax.

These women are capable, determined, talented, and hard working.  I am proud to know them, and proud to be their friend!