It's a sad day

It's a sad day when you're following yourself. I'm on my own sidebar under Followers. I tried to sign up for Leia's page and I don't know what happened. I followed the instructions, filled in the form, and bam, finish, I look and see I've signed up to follow myself. Now that is just sad! I must have gone in a little circle the wrong way - as per my usual.

Hopefully nobody comes by before I can get back to fix it. We have to home-school right now and then the Avon lady is coming by after 3:00pm.

While I was wondering what I did wrong I realized I can also change the title "Followers" to something of my own choosing. I shall change it. It's gotta go. I don't like that label. There are no sheeple here. Only independent thinkers. The esoteric few.

My favorite days

 I'm an auntie.  Dancer gave birth to a beautiful foal on April 16th. 

"The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world."  William Ross Wallace 1819-1881

Mother's Day and my birthday are my two favorite days. My husband cooks anything I want for dinner and everyone has to be nice to me all day. Everyone has to agree with me. No one can remind me of things left undone or on my to-do list or what I said I'd do and haven't done. Tonight we're having jambalaya. Mmmmm.

Last week I groomed Dancer and even completely brushed out her tail that almost touches the ground.  I've been afraid of her.  She bit the owner's daughter once so I've always been uneasy around her.  But I delivered her grain to her everyday for a month.  I worked up the nerve to walk into her stall and put it right in front of her then I left.  She got used to me.  When we came back from California I think she remembered me because she was calm when I approached and didn't mind me being near her baby.  The baby's real jumpy.  Jumpier than the other foals I've met at Cecilio's.  He's warming up though.  He's curious and sweet.

Last night I dreamt I cut my hair.  Myself.  It was bleached a horrible straw colored blond.  I put it in two low pony tails and cut each, chop, chop, to mid-back length, but oddly, as dreams are often odd, the mid-back-cut was just past my ears.  I swished it around in disbelief. I had a few bald patches on my head.  Walked around and no one noticed my hair was gone.  Awful dream.

Now to make Mother's Day calls!

Lovely day

Firstly, it was a beautiful day today. It's good to be alive.

Since we returned to New Mexico I made a promise to myself to eat my breakfast outside in the sunshine every morning instead of in front of my computer screen. It's the new Liliana! I've followed through for a whole week. My favorite part of the day is morning with coffee and toast. Each morning it goes by so fast though.

Son and daughter-in-law are at the hospital. She has preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy) and so they're inducing. Baby Andres will be born tonight. He's three weeks early. He's all formed, but will be just a little small. By the last month the baby is completely built but grows in length, size, and weight. Our son is beside himself with excitement and anticipation. He loves having babies. I noticed tonight he gets very annoyed when I accidentally call him by our younger son's name. They're both insulted when I call one by the others name. Give me a break. Cut me some slack. They haven't grown up together and we never visit, so they both think they're the only son.

Something I find rankling. Suicide ignored. Someone dies of a heart attack, old age, stroke, cancer, murder, people say so. Die of suicide - it's like an elephant is in the room.

My hair is 47" now. Tonight my husband said it's beautiful. He's so kind to me. A little fussy tonight, but he's had a long day.

Two

Yesterday two persons in one day hurt my feelings. The humans do annoy me. And now Helen has asked me to volunteer for a job. She says before I refuse to please pray about it. She knows I don't like being asked.

It's a hot one today. Got my hair in a great bun. Even used hair spray.

I downloaded a really cute Zumba choreo that I'm learning. There is one person for sure and maybe three here who are interested in doing Zumba with me. My daughter-in-law checked the lyrics for me and says they're mostly gibberish and there's no profanity whatsoever, so that's good!

Leaving CA

Tomorrow morning is it. It'll be about a seven hour driving day not counting stops.

My poor husband, he wanted to go home the first week. He misses the horse. How do you like that? A while back we heard that she was pacing. The people she's with will take excellent care of her I know for sure, but the pacing is because she's alone. Horses are supposed to be with other horses or at least a goat or a friendly kitty. When my husband heard she was pacing back and forth a lot he asked a friend to move her. I said, "What! You're having her moved immediately and you don't even mention it to me?" And he roared, "Well, we can't have a sad horse." Well, true enough. We can't have a sad Bella.

He let's us stay a whole month so I can see family and I had a nice time and possibly the best time ever with my sister. She and I exchanged a couple gifts tonight before she left. I gave her a pocket color wheel. I didn't have paper or a bow so I gave it to her plain. I did think to scribble out the price with a black marker. She liked it a whole bunch. She overlooks my shortcomings and inadequacies such as when I hand her a thing and say, "I got this for you!" Then she went to her car and came back with what? A gift bag all prettified with a bow and pretty print tissue paper inside. There were three things inside; two Avon things and one set of purple Skull Candy ear buds. Purple! Sigh. We must be sisters. Sort of opposites, but sisters nonetheless.

Her husband got her a load of seed beads for Christmas and wow, she split them with me. For free! I have a load of seed beads in my cubby now and I decided to make a simple seed bead bracelet out of Stretch Magic elastic. I made one that's three and a half feet long and I wrapped it around my wrist about nine times. I love that it doesn't move around on my wrist. I like bangles but have never been able to wear them because I find them too annoying on my arms. Plus I have small wrists so everything is too big for me. It took me about two and a half hours to make it.

Then today, shazzam, I bought a seed bead spinner gadget and it's fantastic. It really works. I can bead an inch of seed beads in a few seconds. Instead of picking every single bead up one at a time, centrifugal force pushes them onto a j-hook. I made another yard and a half long bracelet. And then I made a six foot long necklace. I ended up putting them all on my wrist. I think it looks delicious. I want to make another six foot long one for a matching necklace. I've always liked the look of being drenched in tiny beads, but I kind of thought Stretch Magic was too babyish. It's so easy and requires no skill, but there ya go. Efficient. Wearable. Simple pleasures for simple minds.

When we go home I hope to see Ivan soon because I really need a trim. And I can't wait to wear my cowgirl jacket somewhere. It was too warm to wear it today. I better wear it a lot or my husband is going to kill me.

Our eldest son has a highly stressful week coming up. It's the last week of academy. There's a shooting test and if you don't pass it, you lose your job. I'm confident he'll pass it, but it's still nerve wracking to be sure. And there's going to be a lot of marching one of those days - marching that will be watched by some mucky muck high up people. Our son will be the one shouting cadence. Cadence is when they holler "Left, left, left right left," and that sort of thing. He's done it before, but next week he's doing it for four miles. He's only done it for one mile at a time when he was in the Marines. He said he's going to have to think of enough things to say for four long miles of marching and running, keep the men energized and powered up the whole way, and of course look good doing it. There will be questions when all 31 of them are in a line-up and it will not be a time to choke. He said if anyone chokes they won't lose their job, but it will affect their placement if they show they don't handle stress well. I'm so proud of him. I can hardly believe he's my own baby. How can he do all this? And when he begins work he'll work 12 hour days; three days on, four days off, then four days on and three days off. He will get eight of those hours as overtime. Sweet.

I've heard there have been high winds while we've been gone from New Mexico. Part of the Interstate 10 from Las Cruces to Demming was closed down because of 65mph winds! That's a lot of wind.

I've been listening to a group called Los Lonely Boys. They're a small band that plays what's called Texican music which mixes Spanish and English. I like one called "Heaven." It reminds me of Manny. Sheesh. I miss our ranger and I'm sure he doesn't even know I think of him.

6 going on 7

Spent some time at my sister's tonight looking through our old family photo albums.

Me at the beach in 1965. It was a very good year.

A Polaroid.  Age 15.  1974.  I just finished painting my room light blue.  Wearing my favorite hand-me-down Levis from my best friend's brother, Don Turner.

Point Loma

Pacific Ocean at Point Loma, California

Our son went to the zoo with his grama and he was excited to go.  We had the afternoon to ourselves so we took a ride to Sunset Cliffs in Point Loma.  Temperature was about 71 degrees with a soft breeze making a short hike delightful.  There were a few people on the beach too.  I always enjoy the smell of the salt air.  Tons of yellow daisies growing everywhere. It was a perfect spring day.

This is where we walked from. We walked down that big crevice and looked at the water.

Next time we want to take the stairs down. I put it on our list of things to do.  The kids would love it.

The month

My dad's wife rented a super whoop-dee-doo rug cleaner machine. It looks like some kind of industrial strength Hoover upright vacuum. While we were at my dad's house, she told my sis that if she'd like to borrow it she's welcomed to it. My sister, a hardcore Mrs. CleanFreak, froze in her tracks. She looked at me. She looked at the rug cleaner. Again, me. Again the rug cleaner. I knew she was torn.

And then she turned down the offer. And she declared, "This is the month of Liliana! I cannot do any carpet cleaning this month." I was duly impressed because I know my sister would luuurve to super clean the carpet of her abode. She would probably do the backyard and front yard rugs too, and the garage rugs! They have rugs in the garage - to walk on when you're in the garage.

Anyway, I thought that was pretty nice that she set me above the carpet cleaning. Woohoo!

It is well

At a restaurant where I ate last week. Aztec warrior holding dead princess who loved him.

It is well with my heart.

My sister's on her way over. We're going shopping. I found a western jacket with long fringe on the sleeves that I like, but I need my sister's input before I buy it today if I buy it. I've been looking for one I like for two whole years. Husband seemed nonplussed by it and said get it if I want. Well! What is the matter with him.

Most of the western jackets I've found in-store and online are too gee-gawed out - too much embroidery, studs, big ugly buttons, or decoration of some sort all over them. I want a plain one.

I need new tweezers and checked makeupalley.com and Tweezerman is the best brand. I'm still on the hunt for a fragrance. The four I brought samples home of for my husband to smell, he disliked them all. Says I don't need perfume. He says I smell fine like I am. I told him he's so 2009. He insists I don't need a fragrance. We had words. No shots were fired though.

I have a new hairstyle that I have to get photos of.

It's been all good days all month.

Toothbrush, joy, and On Golden Pond

Today my husband bought us a four pack of toothbrushes and I got a purple one. A purple toothbrush. What a good day! I could end my post right here.

Yet I was happy through much of the day and not just on account of the excellent toothbrush. It wasn't excitement. It wasn't "Oh boy, oh boy!" kind of happiness. It was joy? Yes. The day was filled with joy. Anticipating seeing my sister gave me joy. Seeing my sister gave me joy. Being in San Diego in a nice campground, yet in the midst of major urban mania gave me joy (I bought lip gloss and a new cotton plaid skirt today). And dancing. I went to a Stretch and Strengthen class tonight and it was very good. The instructor has a master's in dance from New York. The hip-hop teacher has performed with Culture Shock Dance Center and I haven't been there but I know they have a massive reputation. The hip-hop class kicked my you-know-what. In a good way! Such a good work-out. I was sweating a lot. The teacher gave about six counts of eight and ol' Lil can remember two counts of eight, tops, in one day. I watched and followed a dancer in front of me who was very talented and fast. Unfortunately, in the first count of eight there was a step that goes real, real fast. Say 1,2,3,4, out loud, fast as you can and that's how fast those four steps were, and it was a strain for me to keep up. I've never been able to dance lightning fast. So I had to catch up quick. I faked it on a few steps. But I know I looked good in wide second where we all flipped our heads up and down twice. That, I can rock. We broke up into two groups and danced for each other a few times and then he turned down the lights and told us to get our attitudes and dance. Now that was fun. I sat down and the girl beside me gave me a two-handed high five. She was sure sweet. I was the worst dancer there. But you know, dance being such as it is, if you're too full of yourself to look imperfect then you'll never learn it. I picked up some great combinations that I can use. When and where I can use 'em, not sure. But anyway. . .

I have joy. And I have freedom. Husband bought me a Garmin, one of those GPS thingies. Man, I can go anywhere now. The Garmin got me to dance classes all by myself. Usually I am so afraid to drive so I only go where my husband will take me. I love him so. He's taken me a lot of places, but now I can go places by myself. And I haven't dented the truck either. Hahahaha!

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I can't stand Jane Fonda, but I do like her in Barbarella (she was so pretty).  And I watched On Golden Pond in 1981. I admit it.

In the movie, Jane does a backwards dive for her dad. She was never able to do it as a kid. I guess it was a big deal to her. She and her dad always had a troubled relationship. Story line was that he was mean toward her and he didn't like her. I dunno, it was a long time ago I saw the movie.

So my On Golden Pond is this: My dad phoned me yesterday and invited me up to help him get the '53 Buick he restored ready for a car show. I polished the chrome. Love to polish chrome. And I cleaned the windows - I'm not so fond of windows, but I did 'em. I picked up the hood for him because it was too heavy for him. When I was ready to go home he thanked me, man, about five times. I was kind of embarrassed he said so many thanks because I didn't do all that much.

One time my dad and I were at a show where he was showing his Corvette that he restored. There was some guy we were talking to. You always chat with car guys at a car show when you're with my dad. The other guy was all proud and bragging on his daughter around my age who had helped him clean his engine. That's why it was so shiny he said. She had small hands and was good at it. Liked to help him, he said. I felt a stab of jealously. I wished it were my dad talking about me instead. I would have liked to help my dad and have him talk about me like that. I worried about making my dad yell at me though. And if you yell at ol' Lil, well, she plum shuts down. God made me this way. I don't deal with the yelling well.

So I told my dad how working on the car with him reminded me of On Golden Pond. How I'd always had a secret desire to help him and I lived it out yesterday. And his response was not one I expected. He said he's tried to work on that. (I wondered what he meant.) He said he yelled too much and has tried to change. It was a moment. A snapshot in time. Of life. Of realization. Of concession. Not to sound all Valley Girl, but, wow, cool. Actually, I don't remember a lot of yelling, but when he raised his voice I couldn't deal with it. I don't remember him yelling a lot. It was more like, he was sharp. All he needed to do was raise his voice and I crumbled.

He did yell at me as I pulled out of the driveway to go home. Bwa-hahahaha! No kidding, he did. I still love him though. Life is a kick, eh.

Joy. Joy of the Lord. Once I read, "Show me how God has transformed your life, and maybe I'll believe in your God." It's getting me through better than ever before. "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

Hip-hop tonight

Tonight I'm going to an open level hip-hop class at a dance studio. Ooooooh. Hope it's good. Hope I can do it. I got new dance shoes, new dance pants, ooooooh, and a new top at Discount Dance Supply today. Had to. :)

In the past, I wanted to take hip-hop, but I was always afraid the jerky stop/start style would ruin my smooth belly dance moves. I'm not belly dancing much anymore. By myself I do, to keep my moves, yeah; but it's not like it's a huge amount of fun dancing alone.

Easter

Easter service was good. We went to a Calvary Chapel nearby, my husband's pick. It's very small and the people so friendly. A lady behind me asked a dozen questions about my hair.

I went to Zumba instead of Shabbat on Saturday. Next Saturday I'll go to Shabbat. I like the Messianic Temple very much. Zumba was okay. It was a 9:00am class and I don't like things that early. I was hoping since it was at a dance studio the class would be more dancey, but to me it's aerobics to Latin music. I've tried and tried but I just can't get into aerobics. I had one dance teacher in college who taught aerobics and his class was extremely popular. It was very dancey is why. I want to go to a hip hop class, but I don't have the right shoes.

It's raining a lot today.

My husband misses Bella. He made me send him of photo of her and set it as his desktop.

Leah was the Easter Bunny at the park in NM for the egg hunt. I saw a Facebook picture of her with a child sitting on her lap. The kid was red faced and his little eyes all scrunched up with crying. It is a cute photo. Poor Leah. I know she was a great bunny and that suit had to be stifling. She volunteered for it because no one else did. Bless her heart. One year they had a bunny for the Luminaria for education and I saw the bunny (who shall remain unnamed) smoking a cig (that's slang for cigarette) on break. It was all wrong!

There was a big earthquake Sunday afternoon. As the crow flies it was a couple hundred miles away in Mexico. It was the longest quake I've ever been in. Thirty seconds. It came on small and built up, and went on and on. We all sat in the living room and kitchen area with big eyes and listened while the house rocked and asked each other, "Should we go outside now." Well, if you have to ask then you don't need to. You won't ask when you need to! Afterward our hearts were pumping mildly. I said it was a big one somewhere and sure enough it was. It was 7.2 at the epicenter. The strongest we've been in was a 5.9 - the Whittier Narrows quake, October 1, 1986. Quakes can be a thrill all right, but that one was all scary. Entertainment center, television, pictures, everything in the living room fell over. Water splashed out of the pool in six foot waves. We could hardly get our footing. Son and I made it into the bathroom, the worst room you can be in for a shaker, duh, and I was holding him and praying out loud and that's when I didn't even go to church. Fear will set even an unbeliever to believin', but James says that's no surprise. He said even the devils believe and tremble at His name. James 2:19

My husband said he doesn't want any more quakes while we're here.

San Diego

We're in San Diego. Got here on March 30th. The food is good, weather pretty, company sweet. I have to decide whether to go to Shabbat or Zumba tomorrow morning. Decisions, decisions.

A record

Husband is coming to church with us this morning. Third time in three months. It's a New Mexico record! Yippee!

"Sit tall in the saddle, hold your head up high. Keep your eyes fixed where the trail meets the sky. And live like you ain't afraid to die...don't be scared, just enjoy the ride." - Lyrics of a song by Chris LeDoux

I haven't ridden yet though. I did when I was about ten. My babysitter took us somewhere. We each got one chance to get on the horse. It was a small brown horse. I got on and we ran, or I should say galloped, from one side to the other and back. Fast. It was exhilarating and I've never forgotten the feeling of it. When I got off my pants were all wet from the sweat on the horse's sides. I remember it was sweating and had white foam on its sides which I'd never seen before. We lived in El Centro and the weather there is hot and humid because it's the Imperial Valley and there's a lot of agriculture (irrigation). I think maybe riding and dancing can be like drugs. You always want them. You always want more. Sounds like Jesus too. He gets hold of you. Gets hold of your thoughts, your heart, your desires, your actions, your habits, your words.

Bella was better today. Yesterday she was nervous and jumpy and I didn't feel good about it. I was worried. I hoped she would settle in and she is more settled now. Thank goodness. It was even windy today. Horses don't like wind, but she was calmer even in the wind. We want to put a few pounds on her. Her ribs show a little bit. Being the littlest and youngest horse in the pasture she was at meant she was low girl on the totem pole. Herds always develop a pecking order. She's also a slow eater. The older horses get kind of piggy and will eat fast, but not Bella. Bella has one eating speed. Slow.

We took her into the shelter and groomed her in there. It was nice to be able to get out of the wind. This week-end there's a rodeo and there will be tons of horses driving by because the rodeo grounds are at the end of the block. Should be good for her to see all the horses and hear all the traffic. It's normally a pretty quiet street. The homeowner said she saw people stop and pet her over the fence today and said she seemed to enjoy the attention. I hope so.

I used my new fiberglass shedding tool thingy on her today and it worked well. She's shedding so much! I also used some spray that's supposed to get stains off of her white areas and it helped but didn't get it perfectly white. I may have needed to rub more or something. She likes when I brush her legs. She stands still and relaxes one hind leg like she's Mae West. She's such a poser.

Christina hasn't updated since Monday. She's never gone this long. I think she might be in pain. I don't like it.

My husband made me brownies and they are delicious with a big glass of cold, cold, milk.

In her corral

This video is right when we put her in her new home. She's saying, "What's going on? What is this place? Where am I?" She can stay here till the other horses come back.

I spoke with Ivan yesterday. Our son did some work for him so I got to stop and say hi too. He has his horse at Rush Rancho. Rush Rancho! He told me he goes there every day and brushed his horse just that afternoon. I asked him if he is special friends with them and he said yes. Oh dear. I really just blurted it out, but he's so lucky to be friends with them. He knows everyone. Rush Rancho is where we were driving by one day and saw the horse whisperer. It's laid out in nice, neat squares. Ivan said they're expecting two more horses and will not have any corrals available, but he will talk to them. It doesn't sound promising, but I know God has a good plan for Bella. She can be where she is till the end of summer. James 1:17 says, “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.”

Look at me. I'm not stressed. Everything will work out and God knows how. I only have to figure it out and go one step at a time. One step at a time is okay. Plenty of people have a horse and don't have their own land. Right? Right. Okay.

Added note: My lower back has been sore for a week for no apparent reason. My sister emails and says I need a support belt. Yeah, like I'm going to wear a big, black belt with my cowgirl boots and jeans. She just wants me to look like a dork is all. I'm not bitin'. She says she's growing out her hair now too.

Moved

We moved Bella for the first time. By ourselves. We transported a horse! She did well too. She was hesitant about getting in the trailer. My husband had to get in and pull her some and coaxed her. He has a nice voice and she responds to him.

How can it be we're blessed to know such nice people. I don't know. Now Bella is only ten minutes from here and we can see her anytime and while we're gone during April they will feed her and care for her and love on her. I expect her to do well there. She has space. It's not a big pasture, but it's a real big paddock if you can call it that. She has room to run. It's clean and she has a small shelter. There are dogs and people and kids that she'll see going to a fro. There's a horse up the street she can "talk" to. The only drawback is that she's not with another horse, but I think it'll be okay since there are animals there and she won't be totally alone. I've read that even being able to see another horse is good for them. The enclosure is right in front of their house. They're so lucky to have a horse right in their front yard. They have an acre so they have land all around their house. They also have a ranch and they moved their two horses to their gigantic pasture there. That's why they have a place for Bella now. The only concern I have now is whether mosquitoes will get bad in the summer and if so, will they bother her. I don't have to worry about that yet though.

We're tired out from so much driving. Driving to get the horse trailer. Driving to get Bella. Hurrying to get son to his Hunter Education class at 6:00pm. He said class tonight was even better than the other nights. They handled guns and went over pretend fences and stuff like that. We had to buy him a sub sandwich for dinner on the way to class because we had so many miles to cover across the county to get Bella moved.

The neighborhood seemed to be in a hubbub because of Bella. People were driving by ever so slow to look at her. She was prancing and shaking her head. I think maybe it was a release of anxiety from the driving? Well, I sure felt proud when they were saying how pretty she was. I was sure proud. We're going to miss her terribly while we're in San Diego during April. That's our only traveling this year. We leave on Monday the 29th.

Mane and Tail shampoo. It's for horses, but women being women they'll try anything on their hair. I was wearing my hair down that day and she said it makes your hair long and thick and she asked if I used it. I've wondered ever since, did she mean my hair looked long and thick or did she mean I ought to use it.

Having trouble getting beyond upper thighs. Seems I'm languishing at this length; a tad past fingertips. I found split ends this week. Horrified. Did my first ever S&D. Search and Destroy. I'm all oiled and braided now.

Son is taking a class. Hunter Education / Gun Safety. It was today from 1pm to 5pm and continues M-Th, 6:00pm to 8:45pm. Hope he completes the course. He actually liked the first class today. Today he learned if you're holding a weapon and you fall down, hold it to your chest. It's the best way to avoid shooting your friends. You hold it flat against your chest, not pointing at your chest, of course. It's his first class without me not counting when he was in a charter school in second grade. I hope he does well on the test on the last day.

My lower back hurts a bit and I have no joy. No joy.

And my son was a bad boy in church. He purposefully tried to start an argument. He sat three seats away from me. He made a face at me (the teenage "I'm not talking to you" look). He acted like I was weird during worship.

So. I did not drive him to youth group Sunday night. He will not be taken to Albuquerque on a planned shopping expedition for car parts (for his hobby car) this week. And I told him never to make a face at me. If you have something to say, say it, but faces don't mean anything and we're not doing that in this family. Can I get my money back? Can I send him back to the womb? Can I skip age 13 to 18? Must I expend the energy and put up with the annoyance of rearing up another person. It's really not fair. You put in nine months. You suffer through labor and birth. And you're punished with 18 long years.

Saturday

We're working in the Visitor's Center tomorrow afternoon. I wonder if it'll be busy. Our loop is full! Spring break is here.

I wanted a mermaid background but one of the mermaids was half naked. Darn it. It woulda been so cute.

Blog backing up

I wait outside the youth center.

A few months ago our son refused to go to the youth center.  Said he got a gander of the kids inside once and it scared him straight.  He cracks me up.  Where did he get that language from?  They're just regular kids with all the angst and excess energy that teenagers have.  He's one of the youngest there so it took him awhile to find a groove.  Now he likes going.  Sometimes he has a bad night and says he's never going back again.  Then he goes back again.  He'll be 13 in May.  God help me.

Went to 4-H meeting tonight and it was good.  The only drawback to the evening is I'm the photographer and I forgot to take my camera.  

I've been wanting to make a copy of my blog on my own hard drive so if anything ever happened I'd have this here five years of writing saved.  I searched and searched and followed the directions for saving the template, but that didn't help.  I saved what looked like a bunch of text and code - not what I wanted.  I want to have all my actual pages with everything clickable just like viewing it on the Internet.

I found http://www.httrack.com/ and downloaded it.  It's free.  And it worked like a dream.  I only copied a small blog to test it out and I have to copy this one still so am not sure if it'll save videos too, but it saved all the photos.   Pleased with my success, I transferred it to CD for safe keeping.  I was a little anxious at the prospect of building recursively all directories, but whatever that means I didn't have to do it.  It was automatic and intuitive.

Christina's family was on tv.  On Sunday the church I go to in San Diego did a bone marrow drive for her, and her husband and children were interviewed.  Ever since I watched it I'm overwhelmed when I think of it.  In the shower my eyes tear up.  Doing dishes my eyes tear up.  Her husband was solid.  He's a big man, has a steady voice, and he had just the right words.  The daughter had practiced her words and it showed.  She's ten and did a super job.  Her son was rattled and tried his very best what with all the lights and eyes on him.  It was hard to watch.  He stuttered and his voice trailed as he tried to find words.  And lastly he said, "I can't remember my mom."  That's when we broke.  He's only six or seven years old.  She's been in the hospital a month and a half and has two months, maybe more, of in-hospital treatment.  My husband cried when he saw the interview.  Christina is suffering so and I'm sure it has her tore up inside.  She hasn't posted since.

Our friend here works with the schools.  I forgot what her title is but she helps youngsters.  She was called in to help.  An intervention it's called.  And an 11 year old girl bit our friend.  Such rage a girl has inside her to kick, and fight, and bite.

I can't think of an ending tonight.

I've got a headache and I'm going to ignore it.  I want to write a post but the thing is I have nothing to write.  I will think of something though.

My hair.  I can always fall back on that subject.  Recently I changed shampoo.  My husband said what's so big about that because I've never used the same shampoo twice in a row.  That's not true of course.  He's used the exact same shampoo for 26 1/2 years and that's only as long as I've known him.  I bet he's been using Flex since they started making it.  That's weird.  Not changing shampoos or soap - that's very weird.

I'm a tad over 46" now and ought to trim the ends.  I thought we were going to see Ivan on Friday and I wore my nicest top, then we didn't go see him.  I'm using superly duperly cheap products from Wal-Mart on my hair and, and, and, my hair's doing fine.  I'm using Dove shampoo and a Suave creme rinse.  I'm even using Head and Shoulders sometimes because I like the smell.  I got some for our son.  Poor kidlet has some flakes.  He has such sensitive skin.  The Suave makes my hair unusually soft.

Our eldest son is feeling bad at heart because during hand-to-hand-combat training he accidentally kicked a guy in the stomach - in the "gut" as he put it - and the guy walked around hunched over the rest of the day.  Being an ex-Marine it would be a feather in one's cap to get the ex-Marine down.  Anyway, he's hoping very much that the guy will be back to training on Monday because if he's not it will mean the guy will have to drop out of the academy.  No one wishes that on anyone after getting through the year long process to be selected to attend.

Our son was in the center and is circled by other men who have a pad in front of them and you don't know from where the next attack will come.  It's to practice having "eyes in the back of your head."  The other guy had his pad too high and that's why the accident.  I hope he'll be okay.  In such physical exercises I suppose someone is sure to be hurt eventually sometime.  Our son has bruises all over his body!

I talked to my dad tonight and it was good.  I sure like talking to him sometimes.

We're looking forward to Vons Supermarket in California.  Haha!  Well, here we don't get the best produce and not a lot of selection.  In contrast, Vons in California is a veritable delight.  Today I made chicken soup out of celery that was barely green.  What?  Do they say let's drop off the worst produce in New Mexico?

Wahooo

Tomorrow we'll be on Daylight Saving Time!  Here comes summertime, summertime, sum, sum, summertime!

Aw, spring isn't even here yet so summertime is a ways away.  But tomorrow night at 7:30pm it'll still be light outside!

There's no "s" on the end of Saving so don't put one on there.  "Be vewy, vewy careful," says Bugs Bunny.

The reason why is because of what we're saving.  What are we saving?  Daylight.  Daylight is singular, so "saving" must be singular.  And besides, a big savings is what you get at the mall or online.  I frequently cause savings for my husband when I order stuff all the time.  I tell him, "And honey, I saved us money."  Like when I bought cosmetics over the counter eons ago, as we fondly refer to it, in the before time.  "Look!  They gave me this cute little lipstick holder with a mirror! For free!"

She's gone

My little Canon S2IS is gone.  Hall & Oates did a song in 1976 called "She's Gone" and it's stuck in my head now.

Chorus:
She's Gone Oh I, Oh I'd
better learn how to face it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnVXIUyshng&feature=related

Her silver is worn off at the corners.  Her printing is half gone.  At first she started taking too long to start up.  Then she started taking an hour or two to start up (kind of bad but I loved her so I waited patiently).  Then one day, she up and never turned on again.

All my mechanical objects are female I guess.  Haha!  I'd print the whole lyrics, but then I'd have to include in the words sermon (not used as a positive thing), drink, and the devil.  It never ceases to amaze me how many of the tunes I grew up with and loved have biblical references, or rather anti-Christ references in them. 

Our child spent his first night away from us last night.  He spent the night at a friend's house.  I think he's having a fantastic time.  When he comes home we're taking them both out to feed and groom Bella.  I got the bright idea of feeding our leftovers to the piggies so we're taking some slop to the pigs and I can't wait to see them eat it.  What will they do?  Will they be happy?  We'll see.  I thought of it because Wilbur in Charlotte's Web got slopped.

I brought all my grooming tools home yesterday and washed them so everything is clean and ready for a new week. 

Our friend, Helen, is working on her Master's degree.  She's taking a class that requires her to shadow a student and make a 20 minute video about them and give a presentation to the class.  She picked our son for her subject and she was here half the day last Thursday.  I hope it turns out well.  Our son is the only home educated student that will be done in the class so, whew, hope it turns out.  I told Helen she's the only one I would ever say yes to because I know especially in the field of education there are some vocal critics of home education.  I keep an open heart despite misgivings.  I know she won't pull a Connie Chung on me and video tape one way and present in the opposite way.

Truckie

We dropped off our truck with Mike and we get her back on Friday.  He is putting a new side on her and painting her.  He says she'll look perfect when he's done.  She's sitting in his big garage now.  It's the first time she's ever been in a garage.  When we first bought the truck we tried to fit her in the garage but our garage wasn't long enough.  Can't wait to get her back.  In the meantime, Manny lent us his truck for the week.  He's awful sweet and awful kind.  My husband gave him a check and Manny ripped up the check.  Serenity Now!  I think we will take him and his wife out to dinner instead.  He should have taken the check though because it's still a deal to us because we don't have to drive to Cruces and back to pick up and drop off a rental car.  Manny's got a heart of gold.

The person who hit our truck told her father about it and her father paid for the repair out of pocket.  Our insurance, Progressive, was terrible.  They would only approve $1,600.00 and the three estimates my husband got ranged from $1,900.00 to $2,100.00.  Progressive originally offered $600.00 to pull out the dent and bond it.  Unbelievable.  Yeah, as if a dent like that can be pulled out.  Suffice to say, we will be changing our insurance company soon.  We now hate Progressive.  How can they do business like that.  How can that insurance man look himself in the mirror.  They're supposed to be on our side.  I wasn't even at fault.  I thought insurance companies are supposed to accept the lowest of three estimates.  One of the estimates is even from a repair shop that the insurance man told us to go to.  The employee there talked to our insurance man and said no way can that damage be pulled out.  And seriously, I didn't even deal with it.  My husband did.  I only made about two calls. But I hate waking in the morning knowing unpleasantness lies ahead.  Ah well.  It's in the past now.  I must let go.

Sleep mix

I keep my iPod safely under my pillow and one night it went missing and I was tearing up the bedroom looking for the thing.  Woke my husband up.  I couldn't help it.  I have to have it.  I have so successfully substituted the iPod for my old ex-night-time-shot-of-whiskey that if the iPod isn't in its place my world is tumbling down.

Tonight I downloaded a few new tunes for my sleep mix.  It greatly helps me drift off to sleep.  Sleep has eluded me since I was fifteen years old although there have been times which I slept well like when I worked 60 hours a week.  I never had any trouble going to sleep then.

Our son gave me his ear phones and they fit my ears real well and don't hurt.  I can lay on them and sometimes I even wake up in the wee hours of the morning and they're still in my ears with no discomfort.  My other ones called Skull Candy keep outside noise out very well, but I get sore ears if I use them all night.  One morning I woke and got out of bed and the iPod, buds, and wire were all tangled up in my hair.

This week my poor husband seems to have allergies and his nose has gotten stuffy every night.  He was snoring so loud I couldn't sleep for hours.  Last night I put Vick's Vaporub on his feet and put socks on him and it helped!  We heard about that somewhere.  I hope it works for him tonight too.  I remember my dad putting Vick's Vaporub on my chest when I was five or six years old. I didn't like the smell, but his big hands made me feel much better.  We used to put it in our nose too.  Haha!  I'm pretty sure it says don't put it in your nose but everybody did.

My sleepy time mix:

Sea of Love by the Honeydrippers (it's in the movie about Richie Valens)
Sleepwalk (an oldie by Santo & Johnny that I found when I researched '50s music for a friend)
Moon River (I think it was in the YaYa Sisterhood book and it got into my head)
Landslide by Fleetwood Mac

I hardly ever fall asleep that fast so tonight I added:

Shawn Colvin's Viva Las Vegas
I Can't Tell You Why by The Eagles
Womb Music by Calmsound
Rain by Calmsound
Music Box Lullaby by Calmsound

When I had our youngest son I had this great CD that had a heartbeat on it and a hair dryer.  I loved that CD.  There was a problem I still remember though and that is that the heartbeat was too quiet.  It's too quiet in this recording too.  I tried running it through my sound editor to amplify it, but it didn't work.  Anyway, I'd listen to the heartbeat and then the hair dryer would come on and explode my brain with high volume.  They should fix that.

I added one of our pastor's sermons to the end of the playlist because otherwise when the music ends I have to open my bleary eyes and search for the sermon playlist.  This way, if I'm still awake the sermon will come right on or I can turn it off and tuck it under my pillow when the music is done.

My current favorite verse is James 5:16, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.  I think I will memorize it.

Now I will test out my new sleepy time playlist.

A little bit of this and that

I forgot to say the reason why my husband bought me ice cream was because I bumped my head.

We were at the pasture and as we took Bella out of the pasture through the gate, Mama Nike decided she was going to plow right through the fence to follow her.  The fence was slightly tilted and when Nike pushed her 1200 pounds against it it looked like she might continue to push it all the way to the ground.  I imagine she could if she wanted to.

I happened to be standing on the fence and my husband hollered for me to hold it up . . . . so I jumped down. . . . and my new cool lightweight camera which was around my neck flew up and came down on my noggin.  I was tuff and only said, "Owwwww!" but a minute later they told me I was bleeding.  Apparently my camera hit me just right and made a divot in my head and it was bleeding down my neck.  Quite dramatic!  Come to think of it, it did smart quite a bit.  It was sore a couple days, but once the bleeding stopped it didn't start again, so that's good.

That's why my husband got me ice cream and that's why I titled the post "Bump" even though I forgot, as a couple people noticed, to say what the bump was!

The blog for the 4-H group is pretty much done.

I'm wanting to learn a tutorial about how to make a page curl in Photoshop.  I like page curls.  They are frivolous, but they're decorative. 

And when the opportunity arises I've been thinking I will like to learn how to kill and butcher rabbit.  It takes the same amount of water and food to raise six pounds of rabbit compared to one pound of beef, says the USDA.  I like that.  I like the idea of being more self-sufficient, of knowing where my food comes from, that it was raised well and not mistreated, and that it's not full of antibiotics. I found out that rabbit meat is higher in protein and lower in fat and cholesterol and calories than any other meat. The question is 1) can I eat a bunny (for I never have before) and, 2) can I slaughter one (of course I've never done that before) and butcher it (I've cut up chicken from the store before).  I don't know!  I read of the "Easter Bunny Syndrome" and this holds that bunnies are cute and furry and symbolize Easter, so how can you eat them.  I guess the French eat a lot of them.  I don't know if I can eat one.  I'll have to see.

Fish

Look.  They will follow your cursor.  You can click and feed them some fish food.

Did anyone happen to notice that the Tinkerbell Effect cursor made the page do a funny thing if you used the right scroll bar or if you went to the very lower right hand corner of the web page?  I did.  Was wondering if anyone else did too.  It was a fun cursor though. 

Bump

Last night my husband asked me if I was 10 years old or 50 years old.

He bought me a small Haagen-Dazs chocolate ice cream and I ate the whole thing after dinner.  Not one quarter of it or a third of it or half of it.  All of it.  Then I complained about a stomach ache.

The cream puff

I made a cream puff!  From scratch.

Today I fed the horses and pigs by myself.  The bales of hay seemed heavier than last time.  I'm tired tonight.

At 3:00pm when I went it was windy here, but there it was not windy.  I thought I'd be cold but in only ten minutes I had to take off my jacket.  I forgot it there.  Hope it'll be okay over night.  I'm sure it will be.  What could happen.  It's not like there's anyone out there to steal it.

It took me 45 minutes to feed: four horses in the pasture, three bales and some grain; mean Dancer in her paddock, one bale and some grain in a bucket; Baby Bella in her paddock, half a bale and bucket of grain; Pig and Pig, one flake of hay and a bucket full of combined grain and hog food.  They like the grain but the hog food is pellets from Wal-Mart and they don't like that.  I don't blame them.  We're going to try not to buy the Wal-Mart hog food anymore.  Leah gave us money to buy it and we didn't know the hog food is dreary old pellets.  Then grain though, it looks good enough to put in a bowl and eat for breakfast myself.  Then 15 minutes to water everyone.

I've been neatly coiling up the hose every day when I'm done.  Man, I should call my Dad and tell him I'm rolling up the hose.  I think he might be impressed.  Go me! Coiling up hoses.  I don't know.  It's kind of hard.  This non-kink hose gets kinks all over the place.  Sometimes I unwind it 50 feet and have to run back and unkink it somewhere because the water's plugged up.  Then the nozzle flops out of the bucket and I have to run back so it doesn't spray all over the paddock.  The inventor of this kinking non-kink hose should be taken out and shot.  That might be too strong of language.  Okay, hang him by his toes.  That will suffice.

We had porterhouse steak and baked potato with butter, sour cream and chives for dinner.  Yum!  The steaks were very good.  My husband made corn too but why do I want to eat corn when I have steak and potatoes on my plate?  I don't want no stinkin' corn.  I can have corn anytime.

On one of my first dates with an older man, I was 19 and he was 39, I ordered a glass of milk with my steak dinner.  I didn't give it a second thought.  The waiter asked me if I wanted a drink and without skipping a beat I said very daintily and mustering as much class as I could find, "Yes, please. One milk."  Hahaha!  I never was much of a drinker of alcoholic beverages.  I think I saw my date get one of those thought bubbles by his head that said, "What am I doing here!"  I found out he died in 2000.  I saw his obituary online.  I was shocked.  It didn't say how he died though.

After I finished feeding and watering the animals I groomed little Bella while she ate.  It's hard to believe one day her back will be a tall reach for me.  Suddenly the wind came up really big!  Directly next to Leah's property the owner has been plowing so all the dust and dirt came up with the wind and it was like I was in the movie The Wizard of Oz.  The sun went behind the cloudsand all this sand was blowing up high.  I wondered if it might rain.  But it didn't.  The sand settled down but the wind blew the rest of the time I was out there.

Bluebirds

 Mountain Bluebirds (Sialia currucoides)

I cracked the door open and tried out my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35 (on automatic) today. That phrase is really a mouth full.  Can't believe bluebirds were right here drinking water.  That's a first as far as I know.  I called everyone to the kitchen window (that would be all three of us) and we watched about half a dozen of them all round the water dish.  They're sure flighty little things though.  And so blue! We've seen a flock of 25 or so around here occasionally.  One day a long time ago I tried to follow them with my telephoto, but they were not very still and all I got were blurry shots. I was surprised that the whole time I was concentrating on shooting the bluebirds the Northern Flicker was at my feet.  Unbelievable.  I didn't notice him till he flapped his big wings and flew away.  Shucks.  The cashier guy in automotive at Wal-Mart calls Northern Flickers "woodpeckers on steroids" because they're so big.  Sometimes I'm surprised at the people who know about birds.  I used to laugh at birdwatchers.  I thought birdwatching was completely doofus and felt sorry for the poor people who were reduced to watching birds for recreation.  Little did I know I was the doofus for not knowing how much fun and how rewarding bird watching and identification is.

Son finished 7th grade grammar today.  He got an 84% on the semester final.  He's pretty pleased that he finished way before June.  Now we can double up on history. 

We have a mean horse next door to our baby Bella and she has nipped Bella two times; once on the neck and once on the rump.  Now she has two spots with fur missing.  Her coat is long enough to cover it, but I'm buying some salve to hopefully help the hair grow back well.  The other horse is Dancer and she's gonna have a foal in March.  She reaches her neck over the fence to bite and is quite a mean horse.  I hope she'll be moved soon.  She's mean to all the other horses, not only Bella.

The new babies

This is the white faced baby and her mom.  The mom has blue eyes and the baby is going to have blue eyes too.  They're striking.  I love their white faces.  At first when I saw a photo of a white faced horse I thought it looked weird!  Seeing it in person I liked it though.

  

They're so leggy when they're born. The placenta is on the ground still.  The chickens are good to have around horses because it gets the horses used to having little creatures squawking and walking around their legs.  This way they don't kick so easily or get scared of something around their legs.  Horses cannot look down and see their own front feet you know.

  

It's hard to imagine less than 12 hours ago the baby's body was inside the mother. They were born in the morning and we saw them at about 1:00pm.  Boy would I like to brush that mane out!  It even looks like the mother horse has eyeliner around her eyes.  Nice markings.

  

This is the other baby.  Both babies were sleeping exactly like this, laid out on the ground, when we arrived.  Cecilio had to wake them up.  They were tired from getting born!  He has been watching them to ensure they drink and walk.  Their bodies are downy soft.  The mother of baby below was very friendly and didn't mind our son getting in and petting the baby. These horses are well loved.  They don't have Kentucky green pastures, but they are sweet tempered and that comes from being around good people.  They're dirty but I read that a dirty horse is a happy horse!  When they are in a show they get a full bath and get all prettied up.

 

What do baby horses dream of?

Lunch

 

Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) aka Chicken Hawk

It's a Cooper's Hawk.  A young bird.  I honestly think he thought he was super power invisible.  He sat on the top bale of hay and continued eating while my husband walked in and out twice and pulled out two bales of hay.  I was able to stand within four feet of him.  I'd take a photo then look down at the floor and take a real slow step toward him, then take another shot hoping he wouldn't fly off.  I could have tried getting a little closer, but my shot was good enough and I hated to shoo him away.

I thought he was eating a mouse, but when I came back and took the last photos (when I got closest to him) I realized from the feathers it was a bird he had caught and eaten.

The day to come

Went to church. Pastor had a good Word as usual. Now we're off to feed and care for Bella and meet two new foals born this morning at Cecilio's!

Materialistic me

I had an overwhelmingly happy day all day. Well, at first I was tired and that was not the happy part. I have to stay up till midnight to download extra large files and my stupid Canon camera software stopped working when we got Windows 7. I thought it would be a little glitch I'd fix later (when is "later?") and finally since I have this new Panasonic camera coming I thought I better fix the Canon software so there is some order on my desktop and my life. I emailed Canon and they recommended three updates amounting to 240 megabytes. We only have a 350 megabyte allowance per day. If we go over it our esteemed internet service provider penalizes us by giving us no access for 24 hours. So I stayed up till midnight to do the downloading because from midnight to 4:00am we have unlimited downloading.

Now my software works again so I am happy, but I was tired in the morning.

After my 'waking too early' tummy ache went away we went to Cruces. I bought yarn at Hobby Lobby. Oh boy. Always like spending my cash at Hobby Lobby what with it being a Christian owned business. They didn't have the size or style knitting needles I needed so I ordered them tonight. I like the Addi Turbo circular needles and I bought a set of US 19, 40 inches. I am full of anticipation to start my next baby blanket afghan. It will be pastel and I'm weaving three yarns, holding them together at once, so it should be quite plush.

Went to Old Navy and got three summer tops and two pants; one for comfy around the house and one khaki brownish jeans pair.

Son got a new laptop with the Intel iCore7. Pretty nice. And he's been shining it up all night. I think, I hope, he will care for it well.

We got fuel, big whoop; lunch at Habaneros; and stuff at Wal-Mart like one gallon fluoridated water and Thomas' English Muffins that our Wal-Mart has had out of stock.

We fed and watered the horses and piggies on our way home. I have a funny peculiar kink in my neck today from hauling three bales of hay to the feeder yesterday and clipping the baling wire off of them. I'm such a weakling and it's good physical exercise for me. I'm all looking around because I'm afraid a horse will bite my head or me. I believe I way over react with that anxiety, but I can't help it. I hope time will make me more at ease. When I put the hay in the feeder all five horses want it and I just get idget widget. My husband says they won't bite. He's always had this saying about me; that I'm nervous as a you-know-what in church. If you don't know the word that fills it in, you're not missing much! I'm naturally a Nervous Nellie.

I am filled with the joy of the Lord. My prayer time has been edifying. I love my husband so much. I made cream puffs for him from scratch and he liked them a lot. I even put a cherry on top and made real whipped cream with (what else) cream and sugar and vanilla. Bella was laying down today and let us be right next to her while she lazed in the sun. I love the smell of horse. (How many times will I say that?)

Now I have to go to bed. Our son came down with a sore throat at bedtime. Took some Tylenol and he's making funny sleeping noises. I hope he doesn't wake up sick tomorrow morn. We didn't do school today and I don't want to skip two days of school. He might be under the weather though.

Today is beginning of Lent

I have to decide what to give up. Son is giving up bacon and pork chops and that's gonna hurt. He has bacon in his egg sandwich every morning. He says he likes the piggies so much and feels bad for them.

Me. Maybe chocolate. I will help save the poor cocoa bean. Or maybe I will purpose myself to do one good, nice thing each day.

That's it. Every day I will do a good deed of some sort. It's non-traditional as a choice because it's not fasting or alms giving, but it is a sacrifice. I'll be giving up some selfishness to be more Christ-like. I think this would be pleasing to the Lord.

"So let it be written. So let it be done."

Too bad it's Pharaoh Ramses the II who said that! Well, actually it was Yul Brynner in the Cecil B. DeMille's epic film from 1956 called The Ten Commandments.

Tinkerbell effect

It's a new cursor!

The marina in winter

View of the marina at dusk, about 5:45pm, yesterday.

We joined 4-H yesterday.  Our son signed up for equine and swine projects.  My husband said, "Swine!"  How dare they call our piggies swine.  Haha!  

I will be the 4-H photographer.  Leah's president and she works so hard, and I offered to help her and she asked if I'd take pictures.  Actually, I commented to my husband I would be interested in helping Leah and he told Leah I want to help and Leah told him she'd like me to take pictures.  Leah has such a heart for kids.  I will put together a web page for them.  Blogger will be perfect for their needs. I suggested it, then I got selected to do it.

I will be careful about suggestions from now on.

New camera coming

I ordered a new semi-compact megazoom camera.  I love my husband sooo much.  I have to be a better wife.  I always say that and I'm always the same.  I really need to do something about myself.

I really, really wanted to stick with Canon, but their comparable camera has no zoom capability with video capture.  That was a deal breaker for me.  If I'm taking video I want to be able to zoom in and out. 

Excited! I bought the Panasonic Lumiz DMC-FZ35K.  It has 18X optical zoom.  Oooooh.  And it records movies in HD with 1280 x 720-pixel resolution and I don't understand it yet, but it records in MPEG instead of motion JPEGs so it's higher quality and stores less data.  Oooooh!

Tomorrow we're going to Leah's to help her get work done around her ranch.  I made egg salad tonight for sandwiches tomorrow.

Bella loped next to our son today and she was so purty.  She holds her head up nicely and lifts her legs so pretty.  I wished I could take a short video and that's what pushed me to order the camera finally.  It might be real handy to use with the 4-H kids too.

I am thankful.

Knitted diagonal baby blanket

Finally mailed it.  I'm gonna wait till the baby gets it and I hear about her reaction (hope she has one!) and then write a review at Lion Brand.  I'll write a complete review that will include my bad yarn experience.

I'm deciding what yarn and pattern to use for the next one.  Part of the fun is the fun of thinking and planning and shopping before you begin anew.

 

  

  

 

Noodling

I've been noodling around the internet.  My mom says "noodling" so that's where I got it.  I like to eat noodles too.  I like all shapes and sizes of noodles, especially in chicken soup.

I'm getting a good idea of how to create a podcast from a CD.  I gather making a podcast from an MP3 would be better, but I don't have an MP3 player.

My husband wanted the soundtrack from The Big Lebowski so I bought it for him, but it was missing the song he wanted called "Viva Las Vegas" by Shawn Colvin.  Why do they sell film soundtracks missing the exact song everyone wants?  This is where I noodled.  I looked high and low for a converter and finally it paid off.  I found a free online converter so I didn't have to spend a cent and the quality is great.  It's the cat's meow.  What I did was I found the song on YouTube but that's video and I want only audio.  I downloaded it in WMV format and converted it to AAC for the iPod which I will burn to CD so he can listen to it in the truck. I wondered if it was legal and I've read that as long as it's strictly for personal use it's okay based on the Betamax case.  I like the Cohen brothers style such as in O Brother, Where Art Thou, but I don't care for the Lebowski movie.  I like the part John Goodman plays so the only section I watch is where he throws the ashes of his friend into the air and it all blows back in their faces.  That's pretty hilarious.  And John goes off on a tangent talking about the Vietnam war because he's a vet, but the guy who died was never in the military.

Aunt Helen passed on.  Eighty-five years.  She was such a neat person.  Traveled around the world till she was 80.  She was in Egypt the day before the kidnapping and murder of some tourists.  She wore magnets in her shoes.  She's not having a memorial or anything and she donated her body for medical research. I think it's very cool that she's not having a funeral.  Funerals are for the living.  I should think it would be very unpleasant going to a funeral.  I've been to one or two and I don't like them.  At my Grama's I cried like a blithering idiot and I don't need to do that in public.  I wouldn't particularly want to go to a homegoing service either although I do like the Irish wake concept.  When I go I instructed my husband and son to drop my cremated remains from a plane over the plateau of nearby Kettle Top Butte.  Just dump me out of a Maxwell House coffee can.  Don't even buy a fancy urn or I'll be mad!  Mmm hmmm, oh yeah.  I'm serious.  Course, Ted Turner owns that land.  I hope he doesn't mine old Liliana ashes and bones on his fancy dan property. 

I've been having really good thinking thoughts lately.  My mind is a swirl.

Bella is doing better at her new home.  She has room to walk about and we like that.  She's still a wee bit anxious and not 100% her old self.  I'd say she's 85% her old self.  I was a little nervous to brush her so our son did most of it.  She was a little mouthy, I think, because she's a baby.  My husband flicked her because she put her tongue out toward him.  You can't let the baby do that because she won't always be a baby.  We saw a flock of sandhill cranes across the street in the chile field and more in the sky.  The area is famous for its hot chile crops.

February is going by so fast.

Mud in your eye

I like horse's eyes. They are beautiful even with mud on the eyelashes.  

My baby afghan after three months of effort turned disastrous.  I made knots to attach the skeins and I guess that's not the way to do it.  I read instructions that said knot or hold the two yarns together and knit and I decided to knot because I didn't think the other way would hold.  Evidently, as in apparently, I picked the bad way to connect skeins.  

I washed it before I gave it just to be sure it would hang together.  I was so sad when I took it out of the washer and saw it didn't hold together.  There were so many ends sticking out.  I reknotted three or four places because I have no other choice.  I guess I'll still send it and explain that it might not make it through another wash.  Great.  A no wash baby blanket.  I was real blue today because it took so long make.  I'm gonna break out singing MacArthur Park "Someone left my cake out in the rain" any minute now.

I am never, ever using Lion Brand Homespun again.  One skein I had to cut because it had a blob three inches long of a completely different color right in the middle of it.  And one place had the string from the center of the yarn showing.  I don't know why.  I didn't do it.  It was like that already.  When I laid it flat for photo time it was wobbly looking. I cursed my blanket out loud and my husband didn't blink an eyelash.  Couldn't he have at least looked shocked?  Then I read my pattern is the same as a dish cloth pattern, so that means I made a giant dishcloth baby blanket.  Spose I'll quit thinking about it because it doesn't do me any good to think about it.  I'm gonna try laying it on the sofa for a photo or folding it for a photo.  Something, anything, to make it appear half way good.  Three months.  All those hours.  What for.

This little piggy

We went to Leah's property yesterday to see what it looks like.  She's out in the country! There are two pigs where Bella is going to live.  They're very friendly pigs too.

Today we three bought rubber boots at Wal-Mart so we can walk through the muck and not have to wash our shoes every day.  We'll keep them in the tool box in back of the truck so we don't have to stink up the inside of the truck or leave our regular shoes outside when we get home.

Pig noses look soft, but they're very strong!  They root around with 'em.

People situation

My husband astutely made the observation that it's not a horse situation we have.  It's a people situation.  Yep, I guess that's true.

Bella will be going to Leah's house tomorrow and that's an hour from here.  We're bummed.  We called about a house we saw for sale near here with a couple acres and found out the house is 2400 square feet.  Crossed it off our list.  Bummer.  I knew having a horse would pose some challenges, but I wasn't expecting one after only five weeks of ownership.  I'm going to just wander around the campground loop in my cowgirl boots.

Our friend in San Diego is back in the hospital for chemotherapy and another stem cell transplant.  The leukemia returned after a year almost to the day.  She can't see her kids at all while in the hospital and she's pretty tore up about it.  They took 12 vials of blood today.  Her posts are heartrending.  She went in yesterday and will be there up to three or four months and her physician told her she has a 30% survival chance. She has lots of wonderful people around her standing the gap with prayer and taking meals to her family and taking care of her mini horses.  She's a wonderful talkative girl. 

Finished my baby blanket.  Tomorrow I want to wash it and dry it to ensure it hangs together before I give it and make it smell clean and nice.  It took a long time to weave in the ends.  I forgot about that.  One of the ends wove in better than the other.  I made sort of a bloop on the edge with my first end.  Hopefully it won't be too noticeable.

A horse situation

Hmmm.  Life sent us a curve ball.  The landowner phoned Leah and said move all your horses.  She asked why and he gave no exact answer but said his water bill is $500.00.  Leah phoned Cecilio and Cecilio said, "We'll do it now."  Cecilio does not procrastinate.  He told her take off work and they'll move all four horses today.  And they did. Leah phoned us and we met them at the stable area.  We fed and watered Nike and Bella and talked over what to do.  Upshot is, we don't know what to do.

Baby Bella has a place to be until the 10th, but it is a tiny stall.  We're going to go see her twice a day instead of once. We feel bad her being in there cooped up.

We have to find a place for a horse to live. 

Today we drove by a place where we think we can board her, but it's not a pretty place.  It's not like Rush Rancho where the horse whisperer lives.  It does have a feeder so the hay we buy won't get wasted.  That's a point because at the pasture 25% - 40% of the hay was getting wasted when the horses used it as a toilet.  I'd look at that old rotten pooey hay and see dollar bills lying there.  It has a cover so she could stand under it from sun and rain.  The enclosure is large, maybe 16'x20'.  But it's not a pasture.  It's a paddock.  On the other hand, it's minutes away and there's a great open area next door where we can walk her.

I would like a pretty place for her though.  We want a pretty place for her to live.

We went to Cruces today and with finding out about Bella's situation we left at 9:30am and got home at 6:00pm.  

Small town life.  Hanging around talking about our Bella and what to do, someone mentioned the landowner got red tagged today by the utilities company.  Unpaid bills apparently.  For $500 bucks it's gotta be more than one month and there's gotta be a leak somewhere.  Doesn't make sense and I've learned when things don't make sense it's because sumthins missin'. Anyway, I told our son not to repeat it which could shame the property owner.  I feel bad for them.  It kind of turned out badly all the way around.  It happens.

But I know God knows of a good place for Bella.  I have to find it.  

Leah has a ranch and so kindly offered for Bella to live there, but it's an hour from here; too far for a daily visit.  Another friend has land close by, but it's got barbed wire all the way around.  I've read up and down and keep finding the same thing.  Barbed wire is one of the worst types of fencing, if not the worst, for horses.  As of right now, the unpretty place is my lone option.

There must be something else.

Twenty rows to go on the baby blankie.

Deer

I pulled out of our site last night at dusk and saw eight deer crossing the road.  Eight!  I've never seen so many together at one time in the park.

Caltrate

Whoops.  I don't take my pills out every day.  My husband does.  Apparently I'm not taking Centrum.  I had to double check because if they came in chocolate, I'm getting chocolate.  But I'm taking Caltrate Calcium & Vitamin D.  Who knew!  I get my names of things mixed up sometimes.  The flavors are cherry, orange, and fruit punch.  They're still not pulling the wool over my eyes though.  Cherry can't be purple.  Orange can't be purple.  Fruit punch is supposed to be red.  Grape is purple.  They're sneaking grape flavored tablets and calling them fruit punch.  I should send them some mail.

Pastor was preaching up a storm today.  He said he's preachin' himself happy!  He preaches us all happy.  I recorded church today and finally got it on my iPod tonight so I can listen to it again when I go to bed.  The .wav format has to be changed to .aac for iPod to play it.  I was using free software to cut out parts I don't want and it wanted me to upgrade to a paid version to change it to .aac.  I thought I remembered doing it with iTunes and sure enough.  I googled it and you don't need to buy software to convert an audio from MP3 to iTunes.  Why I oughta.  Buyer beware!  I haven't done it for so long I have to re-remember how to do everything.

Son went sledding with friends and about half a dozen people at church asked where he was.

Seemingly good news on the insurance.  The woman who hit us, her father found out his wife's car is damaged (their daughter was driving it when she hit us) and that our truck is damaged.  He wants to cover it with cash and not involve insurance.  That would work fine for us.  Apparently the daughter was afraid to tell her folks.  She's a full grown woman and I don't pretend to know what dynamics are going on in their family, but is a shame she didn't deal with it in a timely manner on the 15th  8th of January, immediately after it happened. Oh what a tangled web we weave.  I am not feeling much sympathy anymore.  She should have been honest with her folks and taken her lumps from the git-go.

I'm buying cowgirl boots.  They look like this.  I hope they will fit.

 

The toe is called a snip toe.  It's not exactly pointy and it's not round either.  I wanted a more square toe initially, but I like this pair.  If they don't fit I'll be sore disappointed.  I wanna be a cowgirl!

Leah said I can show one of her horses at the fair this year.  I told her I'll think about it.  I don't like getting nervous and I know I'll get nervous.  She was surprised that I didn't say yes.  I should say yes.  No guts, no glory, my husband says.  I'd be showing a small horse so I wouldn't win, but it would be a neat experience.  And, I do wanna be a cowgirl.  (I already said that.)

Bella walked toward us and whinnied when we got to the pasture this afternoon.  A whinny greeting.  It's very amazing to be greeted with a whinny.  Merriam Webster's says a whinny is : to neigh especially in a low or gentle way.  Wow.  That does describe what she did.  I tried to mimick the sound at dinner tonight but I sounded like I was choking.  When I get my cowgirl boots (and don't the clothes make the cowgirl?) I suppose I should try not to look around in wonderment and awe when our horse whinnies.  Hey, hey, didja hear that?  Didja hear that?  She whinnied!