A wonderful Saturday morning!

It is a brisk 34 degrees, ice everywhere and looks like the beginning of a beautiful day. Hubby is still sleeping as is the princess, so I am enjoying my morning coffee in peaceful silence.

Agenda for the day, locate my heavy sweaters as it is supposed to snow tomorrow, find several things in the boxes in the garage, get our insurance application completed and signed by hubby and just chill out with hubby as much as possible.

YAY! For relaxing wonderful day like this!

Thanksgiving ... what a day!

Thanksgiving day was filled with friends, family and FOOD! We had so much food it was impossible to make a dent in it with one meal. We baked a turkey, a pot roast, green bean casserole, Broccoli cheese casserole, a pecan pumpkin dish, a squash dish, a cold pasta salad, mashed potatoes, vegetarian gravy, turkey gravy, herb stuffing, cornbread stuffing and the desserts were countless. We had 12 people here and it was a great day.

Steven came up from Portland, Oregon and spent the night and day with us. His wufe, Summer, was back home in Missouri so we invited him to join us. Jaime, Jim and DJ came over and spent the day as well. The normal clan was there, our family of three, Sherry, Lecion, Aaron and Chris and a couple of folks stopping by just to say hello and grab some munchies too. We all watched a movie, the kids played on the PlayStation and everyone ate and ate. There were naps in the afternoon between courses and tons of laughter.

Hubby and I have not really had a chance to sit and talk but we have plans to do just that this evening once everything quiets down again. Cheyenne and I may go to Oregon with him for a couple of weeks rather than be up here without him. Meanwhile, hubby has found a beatiful piece of property in Oregon that he wants to look closer at and possible make an offer on. So, we could be moving down to Oregon. Another good reason for Chy and I to go down, to check out the area and make sure it where we would like to be.

So onward and upward, plans to make and trips to take. :)

The week in summation....

This week has been eventful, unfortunately not all events were pleasant.

The energy around the house leading up to Thanksgiving has been odd to say the least. Hubby has been in Oregon for the past week and that always makes me out of sorts when he is not around. One of the cat's injured his paw and tracked blood in the kitchen and took some time to locate the source of the blood. The cat was none to pleased to have me wiping the wound and cleaning it. Thankfully Sherry was handy to hold him while I worked on him.
Cheyenne's little pet and friend, Kittsipimi passed away and it was difficult watching her trying to take care of him as he was going. She was patient and trying to feed him high protein food with a syringe as well as making sure he got down water. She talked to him all night and held him so she was with him when he passed. I was very proud of her in the way she handled the situation and him. She picked a lovely spot on the property near a beautiful tree and buried him there. Her project this weekend is to make a paving stone with his name and etc. on it to place over his grave. It makes me very proud of the young lady she is becoming when she shows such maturity and compassion in instances of this nature. She understood that for him being 3 years old was equivalent to a human being 90 years old...so she could spend quality time with him and understand his passing.

Meanwhile, the workouts have been so-so as the weather has been very rainy, windy and cold. Not the type of weather you want to get out in and get heated up. But, this is winter and I have plenty of time to get with the program and make my goal of the Emerald Cup in 2008. So I am not worrying too much over it right now.

Husband has located a wonderful piece of property in Cave Junction, Oregon, that we are going to take a look at. It is perfect for our needs and provides everything that 'Doc' (my new horse) could need. A nice barn area with hay storage, paddock and turn out area and a great fenced pasture area for him. So, we will be checking into the property and such in the next week.

Meanwhile, the Thanksgiving cooking begins today and carries on through the night. :)

The weekend in my news....

Ah the husband came in on Thursday night and it was amazing how much I missed him over the past 12 days...we had to sit and chat for an hour or so and get caught up on the happenings.

I needed to hear about his trip and he needed to tell me about a surprise he has found for me. Which of course led to another discussion. He knows I have a fondness for American Saddlebreds and he happened upon one that is absolutely wonderful. He is an 18 yr old gelding named 'Doc'. Doc has been in three movies and his a five-gaited, all business type horse. He is a bit over 16H and a very sound very good boy. So after discussing Doc, it appears that he is going to become my Christmas and Anniversary gift. LOL. I cannot wait to post pics of him as soon as we get some taken. The only was to describe him is a tri-colored fade. He is a Dark Red Bay that fades down into a black at the fetlocks. One front fetlock is white. I was pleasantly surprised that my husband remembered that I loved dressage as well as western riding...I did not think he has paid much attention to my disclosure of my love for Dressage. As some people refer to it "fancing stepping"... Apparently Doc just loves being a horse...he loves being under saddle and will do whatever you want to ask of him which is totally cool. Husband did tell me he is not the "lovey" type of horse but he does prefer females. So I think with some well-earned personal attention and affection, he will be more 'lovey'. I am indeed a happy wife and also a very lucky one.

The weekend so far....

Training is going well just not as much progress as I would like. But that is to be expected with everything going on right now.

Hubby is still down in Oregon with Matt, I am here with Cheyenne and her injured rat, and I am in need of some 'Me' time.

I spent last night sitting up all night with the rat and then spent most of the day at the vet's trying to get the little guy patched up. So many complications like his age, repiratory infection still there and now this wound. What a mystery it has been trying to figure out how he got it...the vet had no better idea that we do.

But we have meds, stuff to keep the wound clean and we must just take extra care with him. As we found out today, when he turns three years old in a couple months, he will be equivalent to a 90 year old human male. So bearing that in mind, this little guy has the right to a bit of care. The vet was very impressed with how sweet Kittsipimi is...he kept giving her kisses and trying to run to Cheyenne when she was messing with the wound. She was also quite impressed with the good care he receives and the bond between he and Cheyenne. So, she found a little warm spot in her heart for hiim right away.

Things are going well on all fronts, just not settled yet. I have to call my son this weekend and see how things are going for him in NC and with his son and the custody issues. So, the beat goes on as they say.

More later....

Things going on....

With the solstice right around the corner, I have been doing a lot of thinking about the next year and where I want to go with my life and lifting. I admit that while things are still a bit up in the air, I am still very focused on the Emerald Cup. I plan to attend the Cup in 2007 and compete in 2008. As much as I would like to strive for competing in it this coming year, there just is not enough time. I still have much mass to gain and I cannot see myself making it to where I would feel remotely competitive in March/April. But this is good because that gives me time to focus, grow, heal and learn.

I have seen so many bad routines on video that I do not want to place myself in the lower end of that curve much less in it. The time will allow me to have the abdominal surgery and heal with plenty of time to spare. I will also have time to deal with this shoulder and get it conditioned as well.

The time will also allow hubby to settle in to what he wants to do with his time now that he is retired. He is a little lost and floundering. There are times I look at him and see a very content man and there are others where I see the longing in his eyes to be out doing his military stuff. The transition is going well but there will be moments of longing for some time to come. I could not imagine walking away from that type of work and not missing it...it just takes a special and certain type of individual to give in the manner his job required without having equal dedication.

But time goes on as do we all...so we wait and take it one day at a time.

I created a Slide Show from out trip! Check it out!

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Slowing Down Finally!

We are here in Washington and what an eventful trip it was. A couple of flat tires along the way, stops to visit family, flying by friends at odd hours of the morning so unable to stop, and then to get within 60 miles of our destination and lose the transmission on our van. Argh!

After much expense of towing vehicle and trailer to the house and then to the shop, paying for a new transmission and much stress, we are finally slowing down.

The new transmission will arrive at the shop from Dodge tomorrow and then be installed, so hopefully we will have the van back on Monday. I myself am still having heart palpatations over the 3100.00 price tag on the transmission and installation but at least we are all here and in one piece. That is a good thing.

We did manage to locate a new gym, The Firehouse Gym. Seems like an okay place and amazingly is the only place close to us that is no a "Woman Only" gym. There are 6 woman only gyms in the immediate area and then just the one that will allow me to continue working out with Hubby. So, I am in the process of fighting with Gold's Gym to cancel our membership and trying to get signed up with the new gym.

Meanwhile, Sherry is thrilled that we are here and we have been helping her with projects around here. Chris and I spent one day putting a new roof on the porch while Hubby fixed her back door and took care of some leaks in the roof of the small trailer she has on the property. This weekend I am tackling her media room which must be re-arranged and have the new TV stand put together and a lot of stuff discarded and/or relocated in some fashion.

Cheyenne is happy to be here and has taken on the role of the "animal custodian". She is in charge of feeding the animals in the morning which include Sherry's 5 chickens (Eve, Rody, Lillith, Jezebel & Fee), the rescued rabbit (Pooh Bear), the dogs (Ben and Blue), her Rat (Kittsipimi) and spoiling the two cats (Amber & Felix). She also spent some time with the sidewalk chalk writing "I Love Washington" on the driveway. LOL

So now it is time to make a few contacts and get started on some new projects. I promised BuffMother to assist her with a new project so I must get in touch with her and get that ball rolling, get Cheyenne situated in her school work and lay out my winter crafting and beading projects. :) And of course get in some awesome workouts.

More from the home front later........

Two Days Left

Well just Friday and part of Saturday left and then we are outta here! YAY! Goodbye Fayetteville, Goodbye North Carolina and Hello cross country trip.

We are both exhausted from the packing, furniture moving, yard stuff, cleaning and so forth but we are also both anxious to get on the road and start heading out. Wow, a four bedroom house, 2 car garage, shop, storage and misc. kids' crap has worn us both out. But we are nearing completion and the garage has become the staging area for the U-Haul trailer to be loaded from. We pick the trailer up tomorrow afternoon and the guys will focus on loading the trailer while I focus on the last minute stuff in the house, carpets, extra cleaning and so forth. This has been a long process and we are both ready for a well-earned break.

Sherry's dad is back in the hospital and it is all concerning me...something else is going on with him and I just cannot for the life of me, figure it out. Talked to Sherry today and she has already created a huge "Honey Do" list for hubby with tons of projects waiting. As for me I ask her for 24 hours of doing absolutely nothing when I arrive and she informed me that for the first week I am to do NOTHING...she said eat, hot tub, eat, hot tub, eat, hot tub, sleep and repeat. LOL. She is so funny sometimes. I could not sit still for a week if I tried or was forced.

Well back at it, doggies go to vet in the morning for their shots and a good grooming. YAY! They will hate the process but love the results, as always. More later.....

The First Official Day of Retirement

The first official day of retirement from the military has begun. It is odd waking up and not having to answer to the US Army. I have been through a wide range of emotions so I can only imagine what husband has been through.

I know he will miss it and I am just sorta holding my breath waiting for him to get hit by the loss of his career. When it does hit him, I will be right here with him to go through that just as I have been through his injuries and this medical retirement process. I know he is happy to be out but also not happy about it. But he is very happy with our future plans and goals. He has stated more than several times that he is looking so forward to being back in the NW and to lifting with his wife. So now we just have to get the house here finished up and getting out to Washington.

Finding a gym nearby may be a bit of a hassle but we will find one. We are both anxious to get back to our workout schedule and get ready for a hard winter bulker. We are shooting for competing next year together at the Emerald Cup but it will depend on where we get and if we are both happy with our physiques at that time.

Time to shower and get busy around here. Still have some errand running to do also. But at least we see the end of the tunnel on this long journey and that in and of itself is a great thing!