Empty Baskets

Nine empty baskets just waiting to be filled with some kinds of Christmas goodies. I will bake next week, and make fudge and all the good stuff that will be the downfall of my hard fought weight loss. I fill the baskets and Bob takes them to the neighbors for me. Love doing that and I think the neighbors love to see him coming.

I had a delightful morning with Linda and some of her friends. We had coffee (well I had juice) at Chaps. What a nice little place. It was fun to meet Linda face to face and to meet other new friends. All are "horsey" people. Thanks you Linda for inviting me.

Almost finished my shopping this afternoon. Not quite. But almost. I need to go back to Pier One because I forgot something, and I need to find what I know Tom wants in my price range and to think of something for a son in law. I knew what I wanted to get him for his birthday but my mind is blank now. Come on brain kick in.

This evening I had a break through with Rusty. YAHOOOOOOO. When I took her hay in to her this evening she came right up to me. I held out some hay to her and she took it. I did not try to touch her, I just talked to her. I was so proud of her. I would have taken a hold of her halter if I had not put her hay in her feeder. We try not to interfere when we feed them. Tomorrow is another day. Maybe she thinks if I am going to feed her she had better be nice to me.

8 ornaments

8 Horse Ornaments.................That I made. I made them several years ago as a give away at a party we hosted. I think they are cute if I do say so.

Finished the tree mostly. Tyler put the new lights on the top half last night so I could decorate it today. Almost am finished sewing too so things are coming along. Tomorrow late morning I am going to try to about finish my shopping. Need to sit down a make a list though or I will forget something.

The rest of the day was same ole, same ole. A grey foggy day but I won't whine about it. The new frig for our trailer got here and it was not damaged. The first one was. Tyler went over it and signed for it. His brother is coming out tomorrow to help him put it in the garage. No one is going to steal it but it will be better in there. The box around it won't disintegrate either.

Hats

A seven baseball caps - and yes they are all mine. I have several more. I wore them a lot when my hair was longer and I put my hair thru the back. Love them.

Had a very nice time at our Christmas party last night. The food was delicious and the company was fun. There are some that drink in excess and last night was no exception but they don't get ugly, just funny. At least they think they are. The slide show of this last year was fun to watch. We even made it into a couple of the pictures. Bernie does such a nice job. For those who saw the picture of Sierra and me, he took those pictures.

I went with Katie right after church this morning to a large tack sale of show stuff out in Greenacres. I think most of their things were vastly overpriced but they were nice things. Katie bought a show shirt. It will be very pretty on her with black chaps, a black hat and boots. It is very blingy and 3 shades of pink/Burgundy. On her black horse she will look very professional. Then we went to Corrall West and shopped. I hate it that they are going out of business. I got Bob a 30.00 shirt 60% off and a pair of warm gloves for the same percent off. I would have loved to have spend a lot there. Tyler needs boots, I could use a shirt, but this is not the time of year to spend money on myself. And, I made Tyler a quilt. (shhhhhhhhhh Nikki don't you dare tell). Then Doug and Judy - Katie's parents - met us and kidnapped Katie to go to Couer'D Alene shopping and then so see the lights. I almost invited myself along but.........didn't.

Bob left this morning for another elk hunting adventure. He says he is not going away like this next year but we will see. I hate having him gone but I know he enjoys it. The new frig for our trailer arrived but had been damaged so they sent it back. So they don't have that again this time. It will probably be after Christmas when it arrives again. We won't be using it until probably March anyway. His friend Don is going to help him put it in.

Thank you Andrea. I won her drawing. Can't wait to see it. I don't win things ordinarily.

Only 5 more days and my silly song will be over. Then who knows. We lit our first advent candle today. I thought last Sunday was it, but was wrong. So I lit the first one again and sang Joy to the World all by myself. Well not here by myself. Skeeter, Sophie (my old Shtzu) and Trouble the cat sat and watched me. Am almost done with my sewing and a couple of other little things and then I can clean up my mess and decorate the dining room table. I won a table/candle wreath last night and am anxious to put it out.

Six

Six Horses eating - well ones a donkey but who cares. There are six eating. From the top down is Rosie my driving pony and kids pony and whatever I ask of her, Then is Yuma - our donkey. He is just a pasture pet and loves attention. Next is Sequoia who is for sale and is a wonderful kids pony. He gets ridden by a lot of kids and had been used for lessons. Next is Abby - Katie's horse. Liberty is next and loves attention then is Raven who will halter herself if you would let her when you go in the pasture. She thrives on attention. She is Bob's main riding horse. Pepper, Dixie and Ditto live in the barn at night. Pepper because he is a glutton and chases everyone else off and gets way fat. Dixie because she is not an easy keeper and need to watch that she gets extras of some things, and Ditto because she is the Grand Dame of the place and just gets to be in because she is Ditto.

I am writing early today. We have a very busy day ahead of us and our Back country Christmas party this evening. So you got me early........Hope your day is wonderful.

Five Cowboy Boots.........

And five colorful cowboy boots..................Yes they are all mine. All Ariat Fatbabies. And I will sell them. they are size 8 and hardly worn.

I wish I knew how to get the pictures where I want them. So, until someone can show me and walk me thru it, please just go with me on this. The top picture is our grandson Seth who got a certificate for being a Kid of Character. He just missed the honor roll but this is an important award as far as this Grandma is concerned. Then the next picture is of Ryan who got the only straight A's in the 6Th. grade the first trimester. AND he got a Kid of Character award also. A couple of really great boys. The next picture is a banner in the gym. I think the children in that school have a head start.

Of course the next one is my boots. All five pair of them. I got them to work but will part with them to put into my Mississippi fund. The are not the best for riding. At least I don't think so. I ride in some all terrain boots that I ride in. When we are in the back country and need to walk some times, they work the best for me.

I talked to one of our grandsons today that for whatever reason, I had not talked to in over a year. He lives in Spokane. He is the son of our son that died - Scott. I was heartbroken so this really boosted my spirits today. He is having some struggles growing into a man and having some responsibilities before he should.

We were supposed to have sun today but it rained and sleeted and tonight it is freezing rain. I would rather have snow than that. We got our meat today. This should do us a long time. We sold the other half. We will have one ready in January or Feb. if anyone is interested. Call Bob on his cell 280-7796 to talk to him about it. Good meat with no chemicals or hormones in it.

The fourth day.................

Four stuffed horses sitting.................Couldn't find anything outside to warrant my song. Then, I just thought it was a funny holiday song and after I googled it today, Each of the things refer to something spiritual and it was supposed to go from Christmas Day to Epiphany. I didn't mean anything disrespectful. Just got this funny idea for a funny parody.

Had lunch with a friend today at the Casino. The lunch prices have gone up 2.00 so I imagine the dinner prices have too. The food is good but for lunch I would rather have a bowl of soup and some bread. We had a good visit and decided who was going to get the Sportsmanship Award for the NEZ. That is our designated job. No one nominated anyone so we decided ourselves.

Had discussions of a lot of things but one of them really troubled me. I said I needed to go have my Christmas letter copied and she said she does not send cards, does not put up a tree, does not decorate nor does she buy any presents. She sends her grandchildren money. She said she hates Christmas. (not religious grounds). Just hates it. It brought tears to my eyes. My sister does not like Christmas at all. They much prefer to just go away by themselves with no family or friends around. I don't get it. It is a Holy time of the year. I want family and friends. I get tired of doing all the cooking but the alternative is to not have them and that would absolutely break my heart. She says it is depressing. I think its sad..... Sorry Sharon, I know you read this. Just can't wait, the closer it gets.

I had two calls from Tracey. One she got down there last night and was very tired and one this evening just before they went to dinner to tell me she knew which horse she was going to get. He is a large 15h2 solid bay gelding and she thinks he is beautiful. Last year when she got Sandy she called me and told me he was the ugliest horse in the pen. Made me laugh. She is happy with her Challenge horse this time and was going to dinner with some other people who were there - trainers, Ramona Bishop from the BLM and other contestants I think.

Nothing much going on around here. Its cold. The horses all look like woolly mammoths out there. All but Ditto. She never fuzzes up much. And she is old and I put a blanket on her when it gets below 25.

The NFR starts tonight on one of the ESPN channels. Always with I could go. I would want to go every night though so would have to win the lottery just to attend and to stay in a hotel. Oh well, to win you have to buy a ticket. LOL

The Third Day.......................

Three horses hanging................................in my dining room window. The sun shone through them today and they looked especially pretty.

I went in and got my meds today. Hate taking so many but.......a stroke, even a small one, makes me leery of not taking them. It was sticker shock because our Medicare supplement only pays so much in a year and I hit it last month. I had a slight case of hysteria but finally wrote the check. It makes me sad that I have to take so many expensive ones and Bob takes nothing, just vitamins. He told me he would rather have me than the money but it hurts my heart. Enough of my whining about one thing or the other. Its the season to be jolly and I am going to be no matter what.

Bob and Tyler got the last of the barn that fell down at Bill's next door last winter all cleaned up and hauled off. It seems that they would get sidetracked everywhere else and they told Bill they would do it. They live in Wyoming now and we use their property and did use that part of the barn for the cows but not now obviously. We watch the house and Bob goes in about once a month to make sure all is OK. I wish we could afford to make him an offer on it.

I probably shouldn't have written anything today, but the sun shone and I got a lesson in humility at Walmart today. I was feeling bad, depressed really about the cost of the medicine that I really must have and had gotten a few groceries - still forgot potatoes - and pushed the cart out to the car put my stuff in and was moping my way back to the car. A little older lady who could hardly walk was wrestling her empty shopping cart. I took it and told her I would put it away from her and the Lord poked me in the ribs and said see you can walk. Cheer up. I have tried all the rest of the day. I can walk, I can run if need be, I can do a lot of physical things. Not every one at 70 can go saddle their horse get on and ride. So .......buck up old lady.

Am already thinking four. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I think I like my song better as it materializes before my eyes.