A Good Day of Roping

These two cuties came in 2nd place at the breakaway roping today & won some nice $$...and she didn't think she should go to it because she missed every single calf at practice this week. Glad she changed her mind & went to it as a practice for her & her horse...it went better than she expected & they had great teamwork<3 Their fastest time today was 2.76

 Dear sweet goofy Diesel, he's getting back into shape for the rodeo & polo season. He's what a true all-around horse is. He does 5 rodeo events: team roping, breakaway roping, barrel racing, polebending, goat-tying. He plays polo and he also has done cow sorting & penning and of course, trail riding. He loves Alyssa & will do anything for her <3

Had a little scare with Lil Mama last week, but she's totally fine, thankfully. She's Alyssa's breakaway horse & is 7 yrs old.

Malibu, the amazing. She's an absolute beast of a rodeo horse: barrels, poles and especially breakaway roping. She & my other daughter started competing in WPRA last summer. Every time we go somewhere with her people ask if we'd consider selling her to them...nope, not for any price. She's headed across the country with my other daughter in a couple weeks along with a 2 yr old she's training. The way my girls ride amazes me, and their horsemanship makes me so proud <3

This week all 7 of our horses get their teeth done by the equine dentist, 5 of them are going to the vet for check ups & vaccinations and 2 of them are getting chiropractic adjustments. Going to be an expensive week, thankfully our dentist & vet partially barter with us.

These horses are family (along with the others). I love them so much and I'm as proud of them as I am of my daughters!

The Best Blueberry Muffins

 

This is the blueberry muffin recipe I have been searching for my whole life! Here's the recipe for it:

Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins - The Seasoned Mom

I wanted to use up blueberries in my freezer & didn't have any milk, so I was searching on pinterest for one that didn't need milk...this one uses

 1 1/2 cup of sour cream instead.

Rendered Pork Lard

 Tried something new last week. Took pig fat (from the butcher) and rendered it down into cooking lard. It was pretty simple to do, looked up how to do it online. I tried 2 different methods: in the oven & in the crockpot. They both worked well but I think the crockpot was easier.

This week I'm going to try my hand at rendering beef tallow. Also want to make suet blocks with birdseed in it for the birds. A friend of mine hangs out chunks of suet without doing anything to it & the birds like it that way too, which is interesting that they like to just eat the fat plain. A couple of the websites I looked up said pork & beef fat are loaded with good things, especially vitamins A, D, E and K.

I have not used any oils other than real butter, good brands of coconut oil, avocado oil & olive oil in a long time. Feels good to add more oils to my list, especially since I can get the fat for free :)

 

Home Made Egg Noodles

 My youngest daughter wanted egg noodles instead of rice with dinner but I didn't have any.  So I decided to make some. It was actually pretty easy & very good as well!

Why did I go to the "trouble" of making them instead of just using rice? I told her I didn't know if I had the time or the ingredients to make it and she said, "that's ok mom, rice is fine!" Thankfully, I had the exact amount of eggs needed & the recipe didn't look difficult. 

She's my last child at home & I know soon I won't be able to do things like this for her anymore. But, also, one thing I've always tried to do through the last 28 years of parenting is to say yes whenever I can & no when I have to/need to. I've been able to say yes way more than I needed to say no, thankfully...they are my best yes in life, after the Lord. She loved them, appreciated the effort it took & it made me happy to do this for her! Posting the recipe as I always forget what recipe I used :

Homemade Egg Noodles - I Am Homesteader

I'm inspired to make more kinds of pasta, buy semolina flour and would love to get a pasta maker eventually. I remember watching my grandpa making ravioli by hand at the kitchen table while my grandma made her sauce. I already use her sauce recipe (I had to watch her make it & write down what she used & her method but it still doesn't taste as good as hers did)...so I'm going to try ravioli next.

Nice to be Remembered.

My brother texted me out of the blue. He heard a song that reminded him of me. It was a song by Air Supply that I listened to when I had a broken heart about some boy. My brother teased me a lot during that time & over the years he's occasionally mentioned that song & that time period. It wasn't funny when I was 16 but it's been funny ever since because of my brother's awful rendition of the song & his dramatic "theater production" of me pining over this boy lol

I texted back and said, you know, every time I hear that song, I think of you. I don't even remember the boy...but I remember my younger brother singing that song to me, mocking me & sounding like a dying cat. He said his name was Chris. The name doesn't even ring a bell...I guess he wasn't worth crying over! But, tell that to a 16 yr old girl...she won't believe it. She learns the hard way, sadly, just like every 16 year old girl from the beginning & until the end of the age.

I'm glad my brother texted me when he had this memory...I should do that with people more often than I do. It's nice to be remembered and to know about it too.

Sometimes Words Do Heal

 I wasn't going to go to church today. 

My whole family is out of town and I didn't want to go by myself.  I don't remember ever going by myself before actually. I did my devotions this morning & I read in James about not just being hearers of the word, but doers also and if we love God, we obey His word. I had a quick thought that I should go to church...

But, I had a lot of excuses...I had to feed the horses, it was raining, then it was snowing, the shirt I wanted to wear was still in the dryer. And I wasn't really in a very good mood. So, I decided to listen to a friend's church service on a facebook live video while I fed the horses. He mentioned the exact same verses from the book of James that I read earlier and I thought, maybe God is giving me another chance to obey. 

At that point, it was 9:20 & church started at 10:30. I thought for sure I couldn't get everything done in time plus take a shower. The horses always need something extra that I don't plan on & I hate being rushed. But it felt like everything lined up smoother & quicker than usual & I was in the house at 9:40 & in the shower and dressed and leaving at 10:15. I was a few minutes late but I didn't care...I was planning to sit in the back row anyway. It was uncomfortable being by myself & I wasn't feeling very social.

At the last song I had myself packed up & after the prayer, I was getting on my jacket and about to go when a young woman with 3 small children, one a 6 month old baby was right in front of me. I hadn't seen her in many years. She used to play with my oldest daughter, they grew up together, went to 4H & they're both in their late 20s now. She said, "I saw you from across the aisle, you looked like you were about to bolt out of here but I wanted to talk to you. I want you to know that you had a big impact on me when I was growing up and spent time at your house." I was totally shocked. I asked her how I impacted her because I had no idea. She talked about how I was with all the kids when she was here, that everyone got along well & was close. She also said I gave her confidence to bake. She said I made baking/cooking seem like it was just natural and that it was easy enough for kids to do too. She & my oldest daughter used to make elaborate meals in my kitchen, way more fancy than I would normally make!   I follow her on instagram & she's a way better baker than I am & sells her baked goods, so this really surprised me.

And she said she liked how close my kids were & wanted her 3 children to be close like that too. I told her that her instagram stories of her kids & their beautiful lifestyle brought back memories for me, it reminded me of my kids when they were little & she smiled. I said I miss the stage you're at so much & started crying. She said I know I'll miss this when it's done. I told her how much I've been struggling with only having 1 of my kids home now. I'm not even giving justice to this conversation...not to mention her baby slept through the whole thing & her little girls just played in the aisle way & her husband didn't seem to mind waiting.

But, God knows how I've been struggling with things that I'm not mentioning here. And He knew I needed to hear this at this time. I had NO idea that I had any impact on her at all...I feel very humbled and grateful to know <3

I'm glad God gave me a second chance to do what I knew I ought. He is so kind to give me the gift of this conversation this morning...especially since I kinda hoped not to end up talking to anyone. I didn't rule it out in case God wanted to use me to encourage anyone, but this time I was the one encouraged.

True, Wise and Delightful, too

 May I a small house and large garden have, a few friends and many books, both true, both wise, and both delightful, too!

~Abraham Crowley (1618-1667)

I'll Be Thinking it

When my 4 kids were all little, I remember older ladies telling me this...usually at the grocery store in the check out line while I was feeling like a circus master of my very own 3 ring circus...more like 5 rings because I was also a guide dog puppy raiser and usually had a learning puppy with us on errands too. 

It never bothered me when these ladies said this to me though. I know it makes some moms very upset because they post about it on facebook. 

 But, even though my hands were too full to appreciate the reality of them someday being empty, their advice always jarred me...someday I WILL miss this, maybe not all of this, but the essence of it, the fullness of it, the loud crazy joyful sound of it.

And I do, miss it.

I did take the advice to heart, though. Some people say "that'll never happen to me" but I'm that person that says to herself, "omg that could happen to me!" 

So I reminded myself frequently, someday this stage/phase (whichever one each kid was in at the time) will be over & I want to be present for it, I want to remember it...and I took ungodly amounts of pictures, much to the chagrin of my kids...but then they always wanted to see the pics/vids afterwards lol

I won't be the older woman telling young mothers to "enjoy every minute, it goes by so fast" while they're in the midst of unloading groceries with kids crying or trying to grab candy in the checkout line. 

But I'll be thinking it.