Holy freaken busy weekend.
Friday the kiddos and I literally played outside all day. I also drove to town to give Kara's Mama the cd of the photo shoot I did for them Thursday. After Sam got off work we took the kids to the town pool for the first time this year. Anthony and Molly had a great time and it was fun to see them splashing around. I ordered a new swimsuit, but I'm bummed it didn't show up in time for me to wear it to the pool...hopefully sometime this week! After the pool we went out to pizza and played arcade games. :) I forgot how much sunshine and swimming tuckers you out. The kids crashed hard and slept like rocks all night. I also felt like dead weight and was happy when bed time rolled around.
Saturday was insane. Sam and Anthony headed out the door with out neighbor Leonard at 8 to buy all our fence paneling for the barn. Sam also picked up a muck rake, feed and water buckets, grain, shavings for the stall floor, fencing stuff to help put the panels together, t-posts, and he surprised me with new muck boots. :) When they returned home, they worked allllllll day to put up the fencing. Molly and I on the other hand caught up on housework in the morning and then headed to town at 11. My pal Mariah called and asked for help cleaning up the new home she and her family are working on moving into. So I grabbed Mols and a bottle of wine and headed on over. We swept and dusted and did some hard scrubbing on the fridge and stove while Molly ran around with Mraiah's two boys. At 1:30, After some time cleaning, I ran to McDonalds to pick up some lunch for us so we could all take a break. It was then that I decided Mariah needed some time to herself so I loaded up her boys in my car and I stole them away to my house. Anthony was stoked to have his pals over. Mols layed down for a nap and the boys ran amuck in the yard while Sam and some other neighbors that came over to help finished up work on the fencing and such. I was pretty impressed with all the work that was done! At 6 I brought the boys back home and did a little grocery shopping by myself before heading home and taking a tour of our nearly completed barn area.
Sunday it was crunch time. We all headed out to the barn and spent the whole morning raking the arena and putting the finishing touches on the barn area. At 1 we headed over to Tammy and Leonard's and loaded Nik up in their trailer. IT WAS TIME!!!! We got him over to our barn and he was just wild! I know it's going to be hard for him to adjust to being at our place and away from his horse pals. He was running around bucking and neighing and scoping things out and just acting frantic. I know it's going to be a bit before I ride him again. He needs to adjust to being here and be worked on the ground to let him know who's boss at his new home and such. And I'm thinking a goat or something is in the near future for us....he's going to need a friend. I took photos for ya'll to see of the arena, barn, and tack room! I even took a picture of his new bridle I got him. I'll have to take a photo of his saddle too. :) This is at the very far back edge of our property. It sucks we can't just look out our front porch and see him....it's quite a walk to get to him, but I'm just glad we have him HERE! I've waited ohhhhh so patiently!
We hung out with Nik for a bit making sure he was going to be fine as he settled in before running off to the house to clean up and prepare for our dinner date with my new friend Brie and her husband Jacob and son Kias. I've had Brie and Kias over recently for play dates, but her husband hasn't been over yet. Steak, chicken, green salad, pasta salad and drinks. Ahhh, just what we needed! We played in the yard and chummed it up, took them back to meet Nik, ate dinner, and I showed them some of my Lynn Elizabeth Photography photos.
Sorry for the tangent. Back to Nik.
This morning I woke up at 7. I fed the kids and got them all situated and instructed them to be good little kiddos (hahaha, yeah right!!) while I ran out and fed Nik. Perhaps in the future they can come with me in the morning? I think it'll be easier in the long run for me to do the morning feeding on my own sans kids, but we'll see. So there I was, 7:45.....in my p.j.'s and new mucking boots, sleepy eyes and hair all wild, traipsing out to see Nik. He was pissed at me for taking so long to get out to feed him. I explained to him I have children to feed before him and he's just going to have to be patient with me. I don't think he cared to listen to me. I feed him what I think is the right amount of hay. Hell, I don't know. It's hard to judge 10lbs of hay. Guess I better figure it out or I'm going to have one grumpy horse on my hands thinking I'm starving him. While he's eating I give him a good brush down all over and plant a big 'ol kiss on his neck. I then proceed to grab my muck rake and wheelbarrow and clean out the arena. Forget bowflexing, I've got a horse and barn to tend to. My arms and legs are on fire from all the work this past weekend! I said goodbye to Nik, promising to return, and then started back to the house all proud of myself for kicking ass and taking care of my horse like a REAL horse owner. And to top off my homestead Mama awesomeness, after checking on the kids, I fed the outside kitties, disposed of their FIRST MOUSE KILL they left for us on the porch (Whoop whoop!!!), turned on and positioned the sprinklers in the yard, picked up all the toys laying around in the yard and on the porch, and played chase with the dogs for a few minutes. All before 8:30. That's right. I am turning into one hard working, country loving, homestead owning Mama. Feel free to think I'm pretty rad.
To be honest, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and stressed thinking about this new responsibility along with just been super busy with different things recently. I stressed all last night about having to go out alone and feed him by myself for the first time. But I did it. I have to keep reminding myself to take a deep breath and not get too ahead of myself.
Alright, I promise not to ramble on and on every day about all things horse. I just had to today since ya'll know how excited I've been about getting Nik over here.
With love
Mama Hauck
WOW Sounds like a really busy week girl!
ReplyDeleteI had one too. Glad you have Nik close by now! I wanna come swimming. It looks like an indoor pool? I love your photos, I'm so glad you've been able to find business around there to have regular gigs. :)
Yup, pretty rad alright. Geez, as if you didn't have enough responsibility already! But we're talking about a horse here, who wouldn't love that?? I know I would!
ReplyDeleteI'm curious, what do you do with Nik in the winter time? Do you put a heater in the barn?
Awesome about Nik! Nice to have him home! I love seeing your other animals in the pictures. It makes it feel like a real farm!
ReplyDeleteSorry you don't get more support from your close friends on your photos. I too always try to show support and be invoulved with my friends and it's not always given back. So, I know what that feels like. I don't get a lot of people asking about my jewelery either. I recently made a decision about one friend. I told Jason I was going to let her contact me next time to get together for our dates because I am always the one asking her to do stuff. I'm also the only one who emails her to ask about her family and work, she never contacts me first. It makes it very difficult to keep the friendship going when it feels so one-sided. As much as I'm a planner and a doer, it'd be GREAT if for once somone would ask me to do something!!! Also, she NEVER remembers my birthday unless I have a party. I always remember her's even if she isn't having a party I still send a card. She also never sends my kids bday cards, even though we go to her kids b-day party's and get them gifts. I think she thinks well, my kids are older so if she's not invited than she shouldn't have to send them a card, but I feel like when you've been friends with someone long enough to know the mom, then you should ask about the kids too. We'll see how long it takes her to email or call or text me. I just sent a note this weekend explaining to her that it's her turn to contact me next for our next date, because she has been so busy. I tried to be "polite" about the situation.
That's awesome that your new friends took interest, and maybe they'll be new customers too asking you to do a photo shoot!
I always think your stuff looks good, but I've said that a million times! Hope it still matters! :)
Jill, yeah it's an indoor pool....for now. Come warmer weather they'll take the dome down. I wish they wouldn't though, I like having the pool inside where you're not getting sunburnt and you're blocked from all the wind.
ReplyDeleteBarry, I know it.....almost TOO much responsibility. I'll deal, yo. Nah, the only issue we'll have is finding a heater to put in his water trough to keep it from freezing. The horses adjust to the weather quite nicely out here. Some people blanket their horses, but then they grow to depend on it and that's bad. Just let them build up their winter coat like you would any other animal.
Lori, it's definitely a hard situation when a friendship is pretty much one sided. I think you're making the right decision in informing your friend that it's her move next. Though it'll be hard to wait and you might be hurt from how long you probably will have to wait, I think it's the right thing for you to do. I completely know how you feel and I know how bad it sucks. :( I also know that when people get busy, their relationships with others are the first thing to slip. It sucks, but unfortunately it's true. She might be really busy, but you're worth the effort in upkeeping the friendship!
Your opinion ALWAYS matters to me and I greatly appreciate it!! :)