My Ode to Stick Tights.........

Ode to a Stick Tight

By: the Goodwife

Stick-Tights,

Beggar-Lice,

Little Hangers On.

Oh how I hate it,

That you like to tag along!

T-shirts,

Horse-manes,

Round Sweet Annie's Head,

You're always there,

Always prickly,

Sometimes in my bed!

As the song,

about rain says,

I wish you'd go away,

But unlike the rain,

I'd sure be happy,

If you never came another day!

A Good Weekend.........In Which Black Betty Pulls a Stump, The Youngun Does the Dishes, and I Get a New Hat!

God blessed us with another gorgeous weekend. Temps in the 60's during the day and Saturday was full of blue skies and sunshine! Sunday was overcast and even a bit drizzly, but we still managed to get some stuff finished up that we ran out of daylight on, on Saturday.

The Man and I got started tearing out old fence on Saturday mornin'.  It was an embarrasment of a fence and we were very glad to see it go.  We can't put up the permanant fence until after the pond is dug, so the order of the day was hotwire.  I do so love hot wire!

This hot wire fence was in a totally different area from our old one so we had to pull the 8ft ground rod out and move it.  Luckily the ground was soft and we were able to finally get it out!

Here I am wrapping up the barb wire from the old fence.  I really hate that stuff!

And here we are stringing the new hot wire.  It's got wire along the bottom, then hot rope, then wire, then rope.  That will keep our dogs in and any other dogs out!  The neighbor's cat that likes to use our yard for a litterbox has already gotten shocked.......hehehehe..

Black Betty pulled out this ole hedge stump from the fence line.  Hedge trees are tough and very very hard to get out, but it was no match for Black Betty!  I wanted to put Black Betty's song on this video but I couldn't figure out how!  We also pulled out an old apple tree and a willow tree.  Black Betty got a workout!

The Youngun likes to roll down the hill and this is a picture of her landing.

After a hard day of playing, The Youngun decided to go in and draw for awhile. So The Man and I finished up till we ran outta daylight. When we came in The Youngun was clean and scrubbed AND, she had done my dishes! She said, Mama I did the dishes for you! Boy was I suprised and pleased. Then she said she did them without soap.........LOL! She wasn't sure if the dish soap was the dish soap so she figured she'd just not use any rather than mess up the dishes. I was still pleased and showed her what soap to use if she wanted to do them some other time. Such a good girl I've got!

Then we had to run to Rural King to get some more fencing supplies and I found this hat!

 

You can't see it in the picture, but it says Horses.  Better than boys.  Farm Girl. 

I love it!

So all in all we had a great weekend.  Sunday afternoon The Man spent some time on Black Betty, changin' her oil, addin' in some no smoke, and cleanin' her out.  She deserved it!  The Youngun played and I finished up the day with a nice schooling ride on Champ.  Always a great way to end the day!

Hope your weekend was a good 'un as well!

God Bless..........

 



Weight Watchers Update.........We All Fall Down......

Well since getting myself back on track Wednesday September 8 2010 I'm down 9 lbs.  I feel so much better and am happy that for now that evil demon is taking a nap again.  Of course I've got 35 lbs to lose to get back where I was before I jumped off the wagon and got run over!

Yesterday I was standing at my sink washing up some dishes and it occurred to me that we really do ALL fall down at some point and in some area of our lives. For some it's in beating an addiction, or in dealing with relationships, or careers. All of us fall down. Some jump right back up and are good to go for years. Others just keep getting knocked down and getting up like Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke. As we've all heard so many times, winners get knocked down just like losers, they just get up one more time, or something like that.


It just hit me, when I get knocked off this weight loss train, it isn't a physical problem that knocks me off. The tree branch that sweeps me off my high horse is mental. I've never been too hungry to "do" Weight Watchers. This program, when you eat good, whole, natural food, gives you plenty to eat! I get 29 points a day and sometimes I struggle to get them all in. (I know I know, and don't worry, I'll be down to 23 points soon enough) It's that demon who lives in my head that likes to lay low up the road and ambush me when I least expect it. I've blogged about this before, but that demon is what I have to beat. It isn't losing weight or even keeping it off, it's that mental saboteur that I have got to get a handle on. It affects each and every part of my life and I'm tired of it.

That evil bastard tries to convince me not to ride my horse, he tells me that cooking two seperate meals isn't worth it, he tells me all sorts of annoying stuff to try to derail me because he's afraid of me. On the days I can keep him down, I'm unstoppable, and that worries him. I long for the day I don't have to keep my guard up against him, but I don't know if that day will ever come. In the meantime, I'll just keep fighting and hope that the timeline between him knocking me down and my getting back up continues to shrink. Usually when he kicks my a$s it takes me years to pick myself back up. This time it only took 6 months! Perhaps when it happens again (and I know it will) it will only take 3 months, and on down from there. One thing I know, I'll keep getting up. Just like that gorgeous Paul Newman, I'll be a real Cool Hand, cuz I'll never give up, even if I'm broken and bloody and beat all tohell. I'll never give up on me. I'm way too worth it!



God Bless...

What the Heck is She Talkin' Bout.......Answers!

This was so very much fun and I hope that some of you all will come up with some questions like this.  I'm sure ever'body has phrases that are used in their neck of the woods that wouldn't make a bit of sense to out of towners!  I wish I'd a been thinkin' cuz this past weekend I coulda gotten pictures of granny beads, cuttin' cookies, and a horseshoe for ya'll!

To pick the winner we put all the names in a bowl and The Youngun picked one out...............and.......
...and..........the winner is.........Kelle! Check out Kelle's blog The Never Done Farm They are a busy bunch of folks over there!


The original questions will be in black, with the answers in red.

• If I were to say "My kid has granny beads"..........what do I mean?

Having granny beads is when you get that little line of grime around your neck.  Most often see during the summer months on grubby toddlers and little kids, but can also be seen round the neck of a big sweaty man who's workin' 'round the farm!

• If I were to tell you "My husband is goin' hoggin' on Saturday"......what's he up to?

Goin' hoggin' is going hand fishing in a creek.  You walk down the creek and when you come to a big, deep, dark hole, maybe with a submerged log, you carefully reach your hand down in the water, trying to find and haul out a nice big catfish!  Not for the faint of heart, reaching down into dark water and pulling out a huge cat!  The Man once told a co-worker he was "goin' hoggin'" and the coworker was very excited and couldn't believe he was going.  The Man asked him what he thought he meant and the coworker said "You're going crusin' for fat chicks, right?"  Gracious me, some people!  I told The Man he shoulda told Jeff he already had a fat chick at home and didn't need to cruise for one!  HA! 

• When my daughter was little I used to tell her to "skin a cat" quite a lot, what was I telling her to do?

"Skin a cat" means I'm telling my daughter to raise her arms above her head so I can whisk her shirt off prior to gettin' in the tub or gettin' ready for bed!

• If I go to my favorite place on a Friday night and tell 'em "I'll have a horseshoe" what am I asking for?

A "horseshoe" is a delight for your palate.  It's made like this.......take two slices of bread and lay them on a plate, overlapping each other.  Then put a 2 hot hamburger patties on top, then top that with a big heaping pile of hot salty fries, and pour warm yellow cheese sauce over the whole mess.  It takes a whole lotta man to eat a horseshoe, so you can also get a "ponyshoe" which is the same only once slice of bread and one hamburger patty.  You can also get a ham horseshoe, or in some places a chicken strip horseshoe, but the hamburger horseshoe remains the classic 'round here.  The Man has a ponyshoe at our favorite little restaurant, the Sunset, at least once a month.  At home I like to make a "dirty horseshoe" which is all the same except with chili poured over the fries before adding the cheese!  Yuuuumy, but not so very WW'ers friendly! ;)

• If I say "The Man and I were cuttin cookies all weekend" what were we doing?

"Cuttin' cookies" is often called "doing donuts" in other areas of the country.  It means getting in your car or truck and spinning it 360* and it's fun, fun, fun!  Easiest to do on ice, snow, or mud in a pinch it can be done on wet grass.  However if you've got a posi rear end in your hot rod or truck, you can do it on dry pavement!


So there you have it!  I loved all of your guesses and comments and if you got all or some of them right, then congrats for bein' as much of a Hillbilly as we are! 

Although nobody got them all right, I would like to send special congratulations to Nezzy, who is the only one who got #3 "skin a cat" and to deb, who is the only one who got #2 "goin' hoggin'"

Congrats Kelle! 

God Bless.........

A Day with Darlin' Deb........and Our Little Project.....

Today Darlin' Deb came over to help me with this little project.  Remember when I said I was going to make a flag outta one of the old barn doors?  Well Darlin' Deb showed up this afternoon and said she was ready to help me get 'er done! 

This is what we started with

Here we have it taped off with one board painted....That's Darlin' Deb in the corner there..

The flag with red white and blue....

Drawing the stars on....

Darlin' Deb painting the stars on....

And the finished product!  Isn't it lovely?  AND, it's 100% made in the good ole USA!

I still have the really big one to make up for the barn, and have to get The Man to hang this one on the house, but I think we did a great job!  And, yes, I did actually help a little bit but Deb did most of the work!  LOL!

God Bless........

Florida Memories........2010!

My old camera died a while back so when we got ready to go to Florida last month, I decided I had to have a new one.  These pictures are from our vacation to Navarre Beach. 

If you didn't enter my contest, please feel free to do so.  I'll be picking and posting the winner tomorrow. 

A rainbow that was just lovely.  That is the Navarre Beach pier.



I loved watching the surfers!



This little guy was in the bottom of our pool!  The Youngun spotted him from our 5th floor balcony so we went down and fished him out so we could carry him down to the beach and let him go.

This guy just cracked us up! 

The Man and The Youngun walking a short pier at Navarre Park.  Looking across at those condos, ours is the third one from the left.  The body of water is the Santa Rosa Sound and we had lots of fun swimming there one day!  You drive across the sound and then you are on Navarre Beach, and you have the Sound to the north of you and the Gulf to the south of you.  Very very beautiful!

A monarch butterfly at the Butterfly House in Navarre Park

Giant Swallowtail butterfly at the Butterfly House.

This was after a day of clouds and rain.  The sun popped through and I just loved how it looked hitting the water.  I wish I was a more talented photographer and could've really captured it!

Well I've got lots more pics, but I'm sure you've seen enough for one blog posting!  Check back in tomorrow for the contest winner!

God Bless.........

What The Heck is She Talkin' Bout??

I've never done a giveaway but this morning I was inspired to do so!

To enter, tell me what you think (or know) these phrases mean in my neck of the woods.  I'll pick the winner by random, but I'm very interested to hear what you think.  If you'd like tell your friends about it so we can see what they think!  I'll pick the winner next Wednesday, September 22.  If you win, you'll get two of my homemade dish rags.  Not much, but fun at any rate!

So, on to the contest...............

1. If I were to say "My kid has granny beads"..........what do I mean?
2. If I were to tell you "My husband is goin' hoggin' on Saturday"......what's he up to?
3. When my daughter was little I used to tell her to "skin a cat" quite a lot, what was I telling her to do?
4. If I go to my favorite place on a Friday night and tell 'em "I'll have a horseshoe" what am I asking for?
5. If I say "The Paintiff and I were cuttin cookies all weekend" what were we doing?

Leave me a comment with your answers to each question and let the fun begin!

Finding My Bliss............It's Been MIA for Awhile......

Now that The Crisis has passed and things are settling down I'm finding my bliss again.  It's really been gone for a loooong time and I didn't realize it until recently.  I think getting so overwhelmed with my critter situation is what brought it on as well as some other issues that I may or may not blog about at a later time. 

I've come to understand that God didn't want us to move, he just wanted us to sloooow dowwwwnn.  We can be a little dense sometimes (especially me) and I'm always so focused on figuring out what God wants us to do that I can be a little overzealous at times.  (No kidding Goodwife??  You??).  I went through a pretty serious identity crisis and I have no freakin' clue what that was caused by.  I suppose it could be my 30's, my family history, my weight crisis.  Who knows and I don't think the why of it matters so much as the outcome.  I'm working really hard on finding me again.  There is a song by Miranda Lambert that is really speaking to me at this time.  It's called The House That Built Me, and I love it..  It almost moves me to tears everytime I hear it and that's a lot cuz it's on my ipod.  I was just listening to it a bit ago while I was building my character (scooping poop) and I was inspired to write this blog post.  For some reason I've been denying who I am lately and I'm taking steps to change that.  Getting back to my roots of who I really truly am.

Me and Champ, about 5 years ago.

I love horses.  I've loved horses my entire life.  It's an odd relationship that is directly related to my struggles to lose weight, but that's probably way more psycho-babble than you are prepared to read, but I will say that being heavy has made me feel unworthy in regards to horses.  Anywho.........I've been trying to convince myself for the last few years that I'm "over" this love.  HA!  Not even close and that takes away a large part of my bliss.  I'm the ONLY SINGLE PERSON in my family who has this sad affliction.  I'm not just talking about my little family of 3, I'm talking about my extended family.  Now some of you may know that The Man and I don't do things seperately on the weekend.  That's good and I won't change that for anything.  That said, I need to ride, I need to play with my pony, I need to smell him, and feed him carrots, and brush him and when I don't a little part of me dies.  A little part of me has been dead for awhile now.  I'm bringin' her back to life though.  My old man Champ is a partial nutball and I can't ride him down the road.  That and not having a trailer greatly limits my riding (since you can cover 5 acres on a horse in about 5 minutes!)  I do have neighbors though and if I wasn't such a dumbass I could ask them if I could ride.  I've decided to stop being a dumbass..........  I'm going to ask if I can ride the edges of their fields and find my bliss. 

The Man is finding his bliss as well.  My husband wants water.  He's always wanted water.  We've discussed buying a lake lot, moving to the lake, moving to Florida, anything to get him on water.  When we got back from Florida he said "Ya know, I'm standing here looking at our place and I'm thinking...if I had a pond full of catfish here, would I want to move?  The answer is no."  This week we've got a guy coming to give us a bid on a small pond, and BAM, The Man has his bliss as well! 

The Youngun will have her bliss as long as she's got her Granny and Pop Pop, her Darling Auntie, and her Cousin L.  With us staying here, she will not be taken away from them and that's another beautiful thing.

We are committed to slowing things down. Rome wasn't built in a day and our little projects don't have to be completed in a day either.  We have a beautiful place but we are so frantically working on it, that we never take time to just enjoy it!

God is good, and I'm so thankful that no matter how stupid, selfish, corn-fuzed, or messed up we get, He's still good and He's still there! 

Now go find your Bliss, or if you haven't lost it, go enjoy it!!  ;)

God Bless.........

The Midlife Crisis Report...........

We took the house off the market today.  As I mentioned it's been on the market for a couple months now and we've only had one couple look at it.  That is telling us that God doesn't intend for us to move right now, and that's ok.  Sometimes in the struggle to understand God's Will, we get it wrong.  Luckily for us, when we get it wrong, God usually steps in and does everything He can to prevent us from taking the wrong path.  That said, we sometimes STILL manage to side step Him and go our own way. 

We'd like to sell our place to be out from under the huge monthly payment......that's about the only reason.  Since we've downsized our animal situation, the stress level is much much lower and we have a lovely place that we are proud of.  God has provided The Man with a wonderful job that allows us to make our monthly payments without any trouble and that is another of His wonderful blessings!  If we did sell our place and rent for awhile, we would have to get rid of 3 of our dogs, and my horse.  I've had Champ for 10 years, and I didn't relish the idea of re-homing him.  I love that old man, even though I don't really do anything with him much anymore.  He is 22 years old and I made a commitment to him that I'd keep him forever.  Going back on that commitment was a source of serious agony for me.  I also was very saddened at the prospect of being without my Ellie-girl.  Gosh how much peace that big yalla dog brings me! 

Anyway, we currently have Champ (horse), Willow (barn cat), Ellie, Ginger, Annie, and Brandy (dogs) and Tulip and Star, (goat girls, not pictured)

That is pretty good, and I enjoy having that many animals.  I do miss having my own eggs, and I truly did enjoy milking.  Since we are staying here, I could bring chickens back and get my girls bred, but here's where the internal struggle part comes in. 

As some of you know, we are a family of 3 and one of us is on Weight Watchers.  The Man leaves for work VERY early in the morning and he doesn't eat breakfast except for on the weekends.  The Youngun is a cereal or oatmeal kinda gal and when I'm being good on WW I eat steel cut oats or bran flakes.  (When I'm being bad I eat everything that doesn't eat me!).  I don't bake much at all anymore because, again, The Man isn't a sweet eatin' type of guy (other than ice cream) and I certainly don't need to eat it, and The Youngun isn't really into it much either.  That said when I sold my chickens back at the end of June, I had 3 dozen eggs in my fridge.  I didn't have to buy eggs until we got back from Florida LAST WEEK!  That means that 3 dozen eggs lasted me 9 weeks.  Now I ask you, what kind of sense did it make for me to have 40 chickens runnin' round??  It didn't make any sense at all.  I had them because they brought me joy, but then after 20 some odd years of having chickens, at home and after we got married, they weren't bringing me joy anymore.  I had a few egg customers that I'd sell to, and they were sorry to hear I was getting out of the business, but I haven't really missed the chickens a bit, until I had to go buy eggs.  I bought 2 dozen eggs on Saturday after we got home and I know they'll last me at least a month or more. 

On to the goats......same problem.  I really enjoy milking, it's soothing and I love the product.  But again, family of three......I got a minimum of 2 qts a day and that was only milking once a day.  That means in two days, I had a gallon of milk in the fridge.  In a week I had close to 4 gallons of milk.  A gallon of milk lasts us a week, sometimes more, depending.  I would feel simply frantic thinking of the waste and what in the world was I going to do with it all.  There are lots of ways you can look at it, but I would just feel this crushing panic when I had 6 gallon of milk and 16 dozen eggs in my fridge. 

So........God has decided we'll stay, and that's a very good thing.  Will I add chickens back into the mix this spring?  I've yet to decide, but one thing's for sure..........I won't be having 40 hens again in this lifetime!  If I do bring them back, I'll get around 4-6 laying hens and maybe some Silkies, just cuz I like 'em.  As for milking, I probably won't go back to it.  I truly love milking and if I could go out and milk when I needed the milk (much like turning on a faucet) then I'd do it, but it just doesn't work that way!  I just can't handle the waste of the milk. 

I'll plant garden in the spring, only on a much smaller scale.  We've got a list of projects to do around the place, but things are a bit different now.  Instead of tackling them like we have to do them, we are going to do the ones that will bring us the most joy at a pace that allows us to actually enjoy the beautiful home that God has provided for us. 

God Bless......

Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit......

The more ya eat, the more ya toot!  The more ya toot, the better ya feel, so let's have beans for every meal!  That was a little ditty we used to sing when I was a kid and boy is it ever the truth!  Regardless of the odiferous, flatulant consequences, I LOVE BEANS! 

Yesterday and today I'm canning up several batches of kidney beans.  I've blogged about this before and I urge anybody who likes beans and knows how to can to try this.  Home canned kidney beans are so rich and creamy and are soooo much better than the kind you buy in a can from the store.  They also contain nothing but kidney beans and salt!  Check the label sometime of your canned kidney beans from the store.  They have more than that in them.  I love these beans just right out of the jar!  I put them in a bowl, add a little chopped onion and a sprinkle of ground chipotle pepper  and they are delicious!  I also use them in the my red beans and rice, chili mac, and quick chili.
Anywho, if you want to try this here's how.....

You'll need a big stock pot, some dried kidney beans, and some pickling salt as well as your basic pressure canning supplies.

Put your dried beans in your pot and cover them with lots of water.  Then let them sit overnight.  In the morning, drain off your soak water and add fresh water to cover beans by about 2".  Bring to a boil and boil for 30 minutes.  Put hot beans in hot jars and cover with hot bean liquid, leaving 1/2" headroom.  Wipe threads and jar rim clean then put on simmered lids and rings.  Process in pressure canner for 75 minutes (pints) at 10 lbs pressure.  Of course this is different at different altitudes. 

Let me know if you've ever canned beans.  I think I'm going to try pinto's next!

Where we At??......

Well we're here........we do know that much!  Our place has been on the market for 7 weeks and we've had one couple come look at it.  Pretty sure they were just tire kickers as they didn't even come in the back to see the land.  We are starting to believe that perhaps God just wanted us to downsize our critter herd and remain in our home.  We really have no clue what He's telling us at this point, but are just going with the flow and trying to remain calm!  LOL! 

Several material things that we sold, sold literally within minutes of putting them on craigslist......that tells me that selling those items was meant.  We've had The Dodge for sale for a couple months and can't get it sold.........that tells me perhaps we are meant to keep it.  Same with the house...........been on the market and is priced 20-30,000$ less than other places 'round here with acreage and we can't get a buyer, that tells me maybe we are supposed to stay.  I'm ok with staying and so is The Man.  We want what God wants and we have a beautiful place here.  We aren't sure if we are going to take it off the market right now or just hang tight for a bit, but I'll be sure and keep you posted.  I've missed bloggin' and am going to be doing more of it. 

Till next time...........God Bless

I got Nothin'........

To say for myself that is...........I'm still FAT, but I've lost my sass!

You'd think after my last glowing blog post about getting back on track, that all would be well in Goodwife Land and I'd be down like 725 lbs and look like Jennifer Aniston.......alas such is not the case. I look more like Kathy Najimy in Sister Act and while she's a lovely lady it really isn't what I'm going for at this point. I feel like Bob in the Incredibles (cartoon movie, very cute, you should rent it!).....you know.....after he quits being a super hero and he's all fat and outta shape?

So I'm creeping back like a whupped dog with my tail between my legs and I think I've even peed a little from the shame.  I'm going to try again because it's all that I can do.  As I've mentioned many many times before, this is what I do.  This is how I roll (and right now I'm rollin' pretty good cause I'm so round!)!  I lose quickly and with ease and then BAM, I fall to pieces and gain it back. 

I'm thankful for all you understanding folk out there in blog land and I won't blame you if you want to yell and shake your head at me.  I'm shaking my head at myself and I'll stand here and take it like a man.  I know it all though and you won't be telling me anything I've not said to myself.  This is the nature of my disease, figuring out how to whip it is my mission. 

Anywho, that's all I've got to say.....I'm back and trying again.  Thanks for listening and being there.  It gives me hope that others deal with the exact same things that I deal with and it gives me Great Hope that you are beating it.  If you can do it, I can do it.......now just do it! 

Till next time.........I'm prettydamnthickrightnow, but readytodotheworkgettin'thin!