Equus Villa Farm: February 2008

Friday, February 29, 2008

If you Like to Read....

..more stories have been posted on The Mean Mommy Journal.
www.themeanmommyjournal.blogspot.com

I can't believe it! I put the entire crib together in the den - dressed it in the bedding and even put some toys in it...only to find out that I could not turn it tight enough to get it into the second bedroom! I had to partially dismantle it, pull it through the doorway and THEN rebuild it AGAIN!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

A Family Heirloom

This is our family high chair. It was first used by my Mother, then by my brothers and I, then Emily and Joy, and now Madison uses it when she visits.

Many years ago, my sister-in-law, Adelaide refinished it and this last year my brother added this plaque under the seat.

...as you can tell by the dates, this high chair is over 80 years old.

The Craigslist Crib and the Marshall's Bedding

Here is the crib I purchased off of Craigs List.

..and some close up photos of the teething marks I talked about. I do not have time to refinish the crib before they get here, so I just scrubbed the 'bejeebee's' (Southern term..Deep Southern!) out of it!

Starting to assemble it..

The Crib Bedding

After searching far and wide and getting more and more frustrated by the minute, I found this nice crib set at Marshall's. Now - if we had our dream house..you know the one with the extra bedrooms...I would have designed a nursery from floor to ceiling.

..but because this crib will only be set up when my Grandbabies are here, this works out perfect. Oh - by the way..I refused to buy cartoon themed bedding..which still added up to costing almost $100.00. The higher end sets were over $200. This Noah's Arc set cost a whopping $39.00! Included were the comforter, the bumper pads, a fitted sheet and the dust ruffle. Origonal cost $110.00

My 2 Baby Girls!

Emily is in the foreground. Joy is behind her.

This picture was from a friends wedding.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Babies on the Brain!

Sooo - my Granddaughter is coming...My Granddaughter is coming!!!...and I went over to Craigs List to find a used crib. At 18 months old, she would not be comfortable in the smaller portable bed we used last time they were here. Well I found one that was a steel. I will post photos of it soon. While assembling it though - I discovered that its previous owner (the child) must have had a hard time teething, because there were some bite marks on the rails. When I put the main side rail on, there were even more bite marks..and I started to wonder if the previous owner might have been a dog! (just joking!) I wish like crazy that I had time to refinish the crib - but I don't think I can.

So - I started to look for bedding. HOLY COW! Crib bedding was 10 times more expensive that the crib! I became totally frustrated - because what seemed reasonable in price was tacky by design...and what was creative by design was painful in price!

I then retreated into the magical world of little girls bedrooms and stopped looking at price. Here is what I found at Pottery Barn. I know - I know ..it is over the top in Pink!..but Emily's (my oldest daughter) room was pink when she was little and I still have that soft spot.

Monday, February 25, 2008

...Well Poo...

I did not win the big entertainment package, but it was very exciting indeed and we raised lots of money for March of Dimes!

Thankfully I had my truck, because the canopy part of the Pamper Your Pet basket was so big, it would not fit into the cab of the truck! It had to go in the back.

When I got home, I hauled it upstairs and put it on the floor. Chrissy somehow knew it was for her because before I could do or say anything, she was into everything. She especially loved the toys and by the end of the evening, they were EVERYWHERE!

Friday, February 22, 2008

..And This is What I Want to Win Tonight!

Yep - that is a plasma TV, surround sound DVD player, a Wii system, a Best Buy gift card...

....and triple theatre seating!

aoetrhaovha;oh afhvrewtyhadbva;gh.....Opps - It is hard to type when you have your fingers crossed!

Woo Hoo - Look What I Won!!!

This a one of many gift baskets our work is raffling off to employees to make money for the March of Dimes. I won this one which is called "The Pampered Pet" and is full of ($400.00 worth) of pet goodies and gift cards to pet stores!!! Do you think Princess Chrissy will be pleased??

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Thank you Angela!

Angela from Cottage Magpie sent me a great big surprise!

All I did was give her my opinion and help with some questions she had...

..and waiting for me when I got home yesterday was this wonderful bath basket! Body Butter, Bath fizzies, candles, a net sponge and so much more..

Thank you again Angela. I have been a bit stressed the last couple of days and this could not have come at a better time!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Meet Joy..

This is my youngest daughter, Joy...

Joy is 24 years old...

...and has decided to do some modeling..

..these are a few of the pictures I took of her...

..as a first portfolio.

I am not sure if I am more excited about how cute she looked - or how nice my pictures came out! ha ha

Joy's sister, Emily is coming into town next month and I get to take pictures of her, her husband Daren and my Granddaughter Madison!

Friday, February 15, 2008

You Got Me Cielo!...

I have been tagged to name 7 (yes ONLY 7) weird things about myself! Cielo from House in Roses tagged me for this...and just in case you have never visited her blog - you need to. It is very unique with her style of writing and lots of eye candy!!

Okay - here we go:

1. I am obsessed with my weight. It has to do with the fact that I work in an office of woman ...most of these ladies (way too many of them) started here years ago when they were fit and trim and now they are not just overweight but obese...and that scares the cr** out of me.

2. I know that I do not look my age...and I would love to keep it that way..but I never lie about my age when asked. My first words to my Granddaughter were, "If you call me Aunt Julie, I will buy you a pony!" ...and I think I really meant it!

3. I am drawn and love unique animals...and it shows by the animals we have on our farm. Not just a Quarter Horse (most popular breed) but I love American Saddlebreds....Not just a Retriever..but Pembroke Welsh Corgi's... Not just sheep, but Toy Sized Chevoit Lambs. I had to stop myself from buying Long tail Chinese Roosters too! Ha ha... (Google a photo of those - you will be amazed!)

4. I won't ride on the back of my husbands motorcycle - or anyone elses for that matter because I am too much of a control freak! That is why I have my own bike.

5. I LOVE a challenge and live for those "butterflies in your stomach" moments that most others hate. I get them when I ride my Motorcycle and when I show my horses! I also love to speak in public as long as I have a good knowledge of my subject.

6. I must have water, dirt and animals around me to be happy...but not necessarily people! ha ha..

7. I have 2 HUGE pet peeves about people!
A. I can't stand it when someone else makes me late.
B. I can't stand it when someone tells me they will do something and they just do not follow through ... barring any extenuating circumstances obviously!

A Sad Sad Story...

We have had a tradition concerning Valentine's Day for years. Almost always, Don buys me a beautiful plant and gives it to me the evening before Valentine's Day. We have never been big on gifts on this particular holiday. Well, when he got home the evening of the 13th, he was so late, I was already fast asleep. The next morning, I wondered what he had up his sleeve because there was neither a card or a plant.

I left for work and since I am in a rather large office building consisting mostly of female employees, it was a veritable circus here. Delivery men (or women) are not allowed on our second floor, so we have an employee whose sole job was to deliver the treasures to their recipients all day long. You could see her a mile away because she would pile the vases, boxes and gift baskets high upon her cart and there was never a shortage of balloons flying above her head either.

Time after time she came and went by my station and I began to wonder if my plant was just going to be given to me that night. About three o'clock, I opened an e-mail from my husband saying,
"I hate to ask you this....but haven't you received anything from me yet?"

By that time, the delivery's had ceased and I told him no. I even walked down to the main entrance to check ...but nothing was there. Everything had been delivered and the security officer told me the last delivery was almost 2 hours earlier. I thanked her and returned to my desk.

I wrote a long e-mail to Don, thanking him profusely for what he tried to do and told him that it was not his fault...but he did need to call the florist and demand a refund.

I get off at 5 but Don had instructed the florist that I was off earlier than that. He assured me that he placed his order a week ago and did not order the "cheap" flowers. At 4:40 the front desk contact me and said there was a delivery for me. I rushed down the stairs to find a nervous delivery man trying to get me to sigh for 1 dozen rather small, unfresh roses. I could tell that the only reason some of the roses were actually still upright was because they were wired. The bow on the vase was smashed and there was only a sparse amount of filler between the roses. Knowing what my husband paid (approx.) for them, I looked the delivery man straight in the eyes and asked, "What happened to these roses?" He just nervously smiled and laughed - saying nothing. I refused delivery of them.

I raced back upstairs and into my bosses office to call Don. I told him what happened and felt so relieved when he said I did the right thing. I told him that we will take the $$ he spent for those roses and buy something fun for US this weekend!

I felt just as good as if I had the most beautiful red roses on my desk because I knew of all the trouble he went to to get them for me. That night before I fell asleep, I called him again and told him NOT to stop at the store and try to buy flowers again. He admitted that he was planning on doing that. I begged him not to because I knew the flowers (although I dearly love to get them) would be in really bad shape by then.

This morning when I got up to go to work...on the kitchen table was a single red rose in a vase that looked like this:

I bust out laughing and took the vase into the bedroom. I flipped on the bedroom light and leaned over the bed.
"Thank you sweetie for my rose!" kissing him on the cheek.
He squinted as he opened his eyes. Once in focus, his eyes widened as he said,
"That is NOT how that rose looked last night...I SWEAR!"

I just laughed and laughed! "I told you so!" (hee hee) I chirped back at him.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

After a long period of procrastination, I finally did something I should have done a long time ago... I started 2 new blogs! Each is very different and serves it's own purpose.

Blog Number 2 - assuming this is Blog #1! Blog 2 is a love gift to my daughters. I started to compile a huge assortment of stories I wrote for them, and about them as they were growing up. I have a bit of a twisted sense of humor, so most will make you smile if not out and out laugh. As best as I can, I am trying to post them in a chronological order...so Chapter 1 starts with me, pregnant with my oldest daughter. If you enjoy reading short stories - you may enjoy these. I would also like to encourage every Mother to do something like this for their children. I cannot begin to tell you how much Emily and Joy love reading these! www.themeanmommyjournal.blogspot.com

Blog #3 is for horse lovers. Every time I cover a horse show, I take multiple photos of horses and the people who love them. This blog gives me a place to put good photos that may not get published in Saddle and Bridle Magazine.
www.texassaddlehorse.blogspot.com