I survived the Holidays! For as much drama as there was picking a date I was not sure how well it was going to be. But as a normal family we all got together and had a good time. Dwane got an Ipod from his mom, so we had to have the neighbor set it all up for him. I am not technically inclined at all :).
The girls were happy with their gifts which is always a good feeling. I know Christmas was extremely toned down this year and I am not sure they even noticed. I put more thought into their gifts so that helped, I think that is what I will focus on in the future.
The horses are all good. The snow is ridiculous and looks like we will be getting alot more. Crazy weather, especially since it rained yesterday and is snowing today. Will it ever end? Will we ever be out from all these piles of white? Will Stubby ever be able to walk out of his shelter? HAHA! We had a backhoe in Saturday then it all slushed yesterday and looks worse, then now is back to frozen and more snow today!
I mostly did nothing this weekend :(. I was so lazy that I was very restless and cranky yesterday. I know better but I sat around the house for 3 days doing absolutely nothing. Which makes me more anxious then if I would just get up and do anything! I know I am wierd.
Have a good New Year if I don't get back on here!

The weather is crazy! 4 ft of snow and counting, still snowing, never ending battle. The ponies are all cold! I ended up getting a couple extra blankets and swapping them. Put the dry blanket on, take the frozen blanket into the house to wash and dry, then swap to the next horse. I have never had my blankets freeze up like they are this year. The only one that hasn't is Ben's new blanket. I need to get some scotch guard and see if that helps. I hauled Prince up to some friends house in the middle of a blizzard, their horse passed away and the other one was very lonely. They have a really nice shelter and shavings that they can get out of the weather in and Prince kept going out into the pasture. Willow kept chasing him out of the pen. So now he is nice and toasty, no wind and shelter with Joe. They became fast buddies and it is working out nicely. Luckily their water heaters are good. I do need to get another salt block as theirs is buried under alot of snow and was almost gone anyway!
The girls got a couple of extra days off of school! They had snow days Thursday and Friday. Kylie was not happy as they were supposed to go to the movies on Friday for school. The Tales of Desperaux. We are going to a movie this weekend. I was going to go Christmas day, but now Dwane's family picked a day and time for dinner (which I have been trying to get them to do for a week) and it will be on Christmas at 4. Then his sister called me all mad and yelling that she thought I didn't want it that day, I told her I was not involved in picking the time and day and she needed to talk to her brothers and her mom. That sent her into a tizzy and then she apologized for yelling at me :(, what to do?
Anyway, Happy Holidays to all!

Well we went and found Haley a coat she will wear (she better, coats are expensive!). Made it part of her Christmas. Then we had to stop at Corral West as they are going out of business and found Kylie a pair of cowboy boots that she liked, so we snagged those for 30% off. Now she will be better equipped for riding this spring! and safer. Now if I could find a pair of boots to fit my dumb feet. I hate my feet, one of those girls that actually hate shoes but just because they never fit. Most of the time I have to buy men's shoes and they are still not wide enough. Plus since I had surgery on one foot and not the other they are two different sizes! Sure wish miss Emma (Sam's dog) hadn't chewed up my boots :). Wouldn't be bad if I could just go buy a pair that fit but I have looked for a year and a half and not found a pair to fit right. (plus I am picky about how that look that does not help). Anyway! have a good one!

Only 10 days till Christmas! Man it snuck up on me this year. Thankfully we have all of the girls shopping done. The tree got put up yesterday, Haley was at a friend's and didn't get to help, but you do things when time allows. I stayed home all weekend. It was so nice to have a weekend and not have to be anywhere. Kylie's basketball game got canceled due to weather on Saturday. They will make it up this week sometime. Haley has basketball, but right after school, so I won't be able to make it.
It is freezing here! 3 when I left the house -20 with the wind chill factor. Dwane and I built a wall for the horses yesterday as the wind is blowing from the north, which is unusual. I should say Dwane built it and I helped put it up. Looked like the michelin man out there with all my snow clothes on. The horses are all blanketed as they were all shivering, the weather just got too cold too fast. Stubby had to be double blanketed as there was no heat under his blanket when I checked just cold. Makes him look really chunky. I have also been giving them an extra meal a day. We went out right before bed last night and gave them a little more hay. Hopefully that helped. I always feel bad when it is cold. If we could have sold our fifth wheel they could have went in the shop to stay out of the cold. But no the camper takes up all the room.
Other then that it was fight to get Haley to wear a coat today to school. 3 degrees out and she thinks it is uncool to wear a coat. We will have to go tonight to get her one as hers magically disappeared, so I made her wear one of mine(how mortifying). She is not happy with me, but I am not real impressed with her attitude either :).
Well everyone stay warm! I really don't like the cold, but maybe we will have a white Christmas. I have about a foot of snow at my house already. Dwane got to plow for a couple hours! Gotta keep up on that stuff!

Another busy week! Last week went by so fast, I swear I blinked and it was gone. Friday we went to our neighbor Doug & Lynn's for movie and dinner! It was fun, but got home about 11. Saturday, Haley had basketball at 7:30 am, well the game started at 8 but we had to be there early. She did very well I was impressed with how much she has grown in basketball over last year. Kylie had a game at 12, she did great, stole the ball like 5 times. Her team as a whole played really great, the best they have done all year. Amazing how fast they learn as 9 year olds to play. Makes me wonder how I would have done if I had started that young. I played from my freshmen year on. Then I got to cook a turkey for dinner with the neighbors. We didn't have any left overs from Thanksgiving (since we went to someones house) so I made a turkey, mashed tatoes, corn, gravy all very yummy! We watched movies and had alot of fun!
Sunday, we went to a Birthday party for Haley's cousin at Triple Play. Then on to the momsdaughtersandhorses.com December/Xmas party. That was alot of fun. The gift exchange was great. I think Haley got her gift stolen 5 times. She did end up getting what she wanted (by trading with mom). Kylie got a saddle blanket which she really needed. I got an ornament and coffee mug!
Work is really busy and I will be happy when they get someone hired. I should have went for my ride on Saturday as when I got up on Sunday it was raining :(. Guess will hope for better weather next weekend.(wishful thinking I know). Here's to another week, almost Christmas(not my favorite time of year).

Thanksgiving was good! Good food, good friends and family, all was fun. I took my sister with me to St Maries and then had to drive her back to Spokane after dinner. I was pretty tired by the time we got home. Haley and I went shopping Friday morning but not until about 9 am. She had Birthday money left to spend and I needed to pick up a few things. She got lots of goodies. I found a couple x-mas presents for Kylie at 1/2 price (always love that) and then Corral West in Coeurdalene is going out of business, so I got me two Cowgirl Up sweatshirts. It was kind of funny as I had not bought any sweatshirts all day, even though that was what I was looking for. Corral West was our last stop and actually we were on our way out of the parking lot and saw a guy holding a going out of business sign and turned around and went back. After that I dropped Haley off at a friends and headed back to St Maries, I think I could make that drive in my sleep. Came home Saturday night (the end of hunting season YEAH!) Sunday we took Kylie to see 4 Christmas's it was a very funny movie.
The horses are all wet and I put their blankets on Friday as it was snowing. Now it is just raining and almost too warm for blankies, hoping it will stop raining so I can take them off. Also hoping it would either freeze or stop raining so Dwane can go back to work. He drives a couple days and then is off again. He has a couple prospects for new jobs, but none have panned out yet. They just closed the Chilco mill by our house until January, this really is getting scary. Anyway hope all had a good weekend, my diet has fallen by the wayside, but I have lost 10 lbs. Now the trick will be getting going again :) It is always so expensive to diet, have you ever noticed all the food that is bad for you is alot cheaper? No wonder there is a weight problem, if it is high fat and calories and totally not healthy you can buy it, anything good for you lower in fat and what not is twice as much. Crazy world we live in!

Ride at Farragut and other stuff

I got to go riding this weekend, at Farragut state park!! My friend Sam came over and we decided to load up and head to Farragut (which is only 10 miles from my house). I honestly don't know why I don't do it more often. We had a great time! She rode Autumn and I rode Willow. Willow was so good. She did have ouchy feet as her shoes were pulled Saturday and she was barefoot, we stayed off of most of the rocks and at the side of the trail. Monday morning she was pretty sore but by Monday afternoon she was back to her normal bossy self, chasing Autumn away from the hay pile with no problems. We took about a 3 hour ride and were a little cold on the way back but well worth it.
Kylie had her basketball game Saturday, she is doing a little better. If I could convince her that every time someone touches her it is not a major crime and they are not killing her, she would do better. Every time someone touches her she thinks she is getting slammed to the ground and shows the outraged ouchy face. Drama queen should be invented for her at times. Okay enough picking on my poor child.
Haley is still another story. Can I say I am not real impresseed with teenagers ( and she just turned 13) The "Your child will come back to haunt you like you did to your parents syndrome" has hit full force!
Other then that I leave at daybreak and get home after dark. I really hate the winter months. Looking forward to a long weekend - 4 days off!! Thanksgiving will be in St Maries at my brother in laws - father in laws house (yeah figure that one out) Fred is recovering from a 4 wheeler accident (the father in law of my brother in law) 4 broken ribs, seperated shoulder, and punctured lung - so I have volunteered to go down early and help as much as I can (for those of you who know me it won't be much help in the cooking area, there is a reason I bring pink salad and not anything cooked to these things) Which if anyone is looking for a good salad that is a little different here is the recipe:

Cherry pie filling - 1 can
Crushed Pineapple - 1 small can
Chopped Pecans - 1 bag
Condensed Milk - 1 can
Marshmallows - 1 cup
Cool Whip - 1 small container

Mix Cherry pie filling - Crushed Pineapple (drained) - Pecans and Condensed Milk together

Add Marshmallows and Cool whip - Mix thoroughly
Chill for a few hours
Everyone in Dwane's family loves this salad! You don't have to use pecans either you can add walnuts or whatever your family likes or leave the nuts out! I should add extra for my family:)
If I don't get back on here have a Happy Turkey Day!

What a productive weekend I had! It always feels good to accomplish all you have set out to do for the weekend! Started first thing Saturday morning with tearing out all the carpet in Haley's room. One of the dogs had decided that it was a good place to use as a bathroom and I could not get them to stop. So there goes the last of the carpet in my house (that was the plan anyway just not quite this sudden). Anyway, so all the carpet tour out the floor sanitized and painted with Kilz paint (seals the plywood). While I was waiting for that to dry - off to Kylie's basketball game. After the game I came home and the paint was not dry, out the door again to take Haley to a friend's house. On the way back home my neighbor was out in the field with her horse, so I stopped and talked to her. Got me thinking if the paint wasn't dry I could go for a little ride :). Back to my house - paint not dry (yeah). Out to the horses, asked my neighbor if she wanted to ride one of mine as her horse was being really naughty. Then after I had them saddled she couldn't go, we made plans to go together at 9 am on Sunday. One of my other neighbors showed up with her two kids and her son wanted to go with. Around the neighborhood we go! I was riding Autumn and he was riding Ben, it was so much fun. After that I got 80% of Haley's floor (laminate) installed.
Sunday, up bright and early and work on Haley's floor (first fed the horses so they could eat before we left). My neighbor came over and she rode Prince and I rode Autumn again. We had a nice little ride around the short loop. Back to Haley's room as I only had 2 hours before my other neighbor came back to go riding too! Lynne (my neighbor) pulled in right as I was cutting the last board for Haley's room. Got all of the horses out (she brought her two kids so we were all going). I saddled Willow up and was not sure how she was going to do. One it would be the first time I rode her out of the pen this year, second only the 5th time out of the pen her entire life, and finally I had not touched her in two months almost. At first she was all antsy and pinning her ears, so I stopped saddling and went up to her head, she hid her nose in the crook of my arm and I talked to her and petted her - then she was fine. She is such a goon. She did awesome! Only spooked at the swinging real estate signs, nothing else! Prince was the only pill, which scared Haley so she wouldn't go with us. Kylie was busy with one of her friends. Everyone settled in nicely for the ride and we went from there. After all that had to run to town drop off the Home Interiors order for MDH (moms daughtersandhorses.com) and pick up trim for Haley's room.
Now all I have to do is get Haleys room put back together :(, kind of tired tonight guess it will wait till tomorrow!

Third week weigh in down 4 more pounds! Yeah, except that it was due to me having the stomach flu on Monday night :)! I have not been that sick in a long time, luckily only a 24 hour thing and I am back to my cheery self by Thursday.
The poor horses are drenched. Hopefully they will have time to dry out now that it has finally stopped raining for a little while. I haven't really gotten to see them as Dwane is layed off and feeding for me. It is also dark when I get home so no help there. I will get to see them this weekend and if the weather cooperates go for a ride!
The girls are busy with school. Haley is on grade watch, every year we go through this, the beginning of the year she slacks till I get angry then she pulls them back up. I keep trying to explain to her it would be easier just to keep them up in the first place. Kylie is getting straight A's, I so remember when Haley did that. She is a smart little cookie and deserves a note of recognition for it! Honor roll assembly is actually going on right now, but the working mom can't make it :(
Other then that it is life as usual - did I mention my dad lost his County Commisioner position by 5 votes, just goes to show every vote can count (not that I am overly political, but a good example). Keep your chin up or you may drown!

Second week weigh in - I am down 1 more pound. Kind of a bummer after last week, but still down! Dwane has been layed off this week, too much rain. So I have not been out with the horses much. Pokumus has a new name - it is Autumn. Thank you Alisa from momsdaughtersandhorses.com! Haley loves the name! Well here is to watching what I eat more this week! Halloween did not help!

After alot of thought and a couple breakdowns, I found a new home for Cody, in exchange for Cody I brought home a mare that is rideable. I checked on Cody the first night and they had already put a saddle on him! He was so good, for the trailer ride down, when he got out of the trailer, and when I left. Of course I almost cried, told Dwane we had to leave or I was going to cry.
The new mare is cute - a little bay. They called her Pokumus, but I don't like that name and can't think of any other name. I rode her that first day and hope to get on her again this weekend if the weather cooperates. I am excited to have a another rideable horse but also sad to see Cody go. He is going to make someone a great horse and I think they will find him very easy to saddle break. Anyway, there is my story - see Pokumus picture on the right!

What a busy and crazy weekend! Friday night was Halloween and we went to a neighbors party. Needless to say we did not get home until 2 am but it was fun. Saturday morning we got up and headed to St Maries, where Dwane's mom was getting out of the hospital from pneuomonia (I can't spell). Dwane's sister - Nannette - and I cleaned up Sue's house, made beds, wiped everything down, that type of stuff before she got home. Then we headed out to look at the mare that Nannette's friend wanted to trade me for Cody. Rode her around and talked as Dwane knew his girlfriend. Decided to do the trade. Back to St Maries where we met up with Dwane's brother Johnny to go to the Eagles Club for a Halloween party and dance for the kids. Stayed there until about 10 pm. Headed for home with the 5th wheel camper and no kids! Yeah they stayed at Johnny's, good thing since on the way home we blew a tire on the 5th wheel. Had to get up early the next morning to take Cody down and pick up Pokumus. Made it down there and decided to get a weaner pig to put in with Johnny's pigs. Anyway so we had to stop at Johnny's to pick up the girls and drop off the pig. They wanted to see the horse, so we got her out for a little bit (she loads like a dream), brushed her out and then loaded her back up and off we went. Get her home and settled, then back out the door to go to a momsdaughtersandhorses.com meeting! in Spokane! By the time I got home I was ready to collapse, went to bed and then got up for work on Monday! Another great beginning to a week! This next weekend I am watching a friend of mine's daughter (she is 3) wish me luck!

It has been one week on my new diet - down 3 1/2 lbs! Yeah, it is working! I am finally starting to feel better, I always get sick when I lower my food intake, that is one of the reasons I have a hard time with it. Once I get it down it doesn't bother me, if I would just keep the intake down :).
Haley is finally bringing her grades up, she actually had a C in advanced math, now it is a B. As long as she is trying. I always know when she is slacking because she is definitely and A/B student. Haley had her 13th Birthday party last weekend, that was fun 16 - 12 year olds running around. It worked out really well though even though 9 of them stayed the night :(. We carved pumpkins, made brownies, danced, bobbed for apples, and ran around. Only one part of drama, one of the girls boyfriend's broke up with her by text during the party (what to do with the technology out there?). Pulled it off without any other hitches and Haley was happy, of course her birthday is not until Halloween, but wanted to get her party done before her Birthday not after. Kylie has finally learned this week that her actions have consequences, she didn't clean her room and she didn't get to go to skate night (and she didn't throw a fit, nice she is starting to grow up).
The horses are all good. Ben's new blanket came in this week, I put it in the barn like it has been there all along. There is a story behind this (isn't there always!). This summer Dwane tells me that I can buy this saddle I wanted then he proceeds to tell me since he bought all of his motorcycle riding gear already. Then tells me he had it when he went riding with our neighbor (now this was about a month and a half before) but that since it had been in the basement the whole time without me seeing it he was not hiding it from me. So I figure if the blanket is in the barn without him seeing it that is his problem (I know it will be an argument later :) but a fun one, I love I told you so's). Now I have to go out and see if the blanket fits Ben this weekend and I need to measure the pony's blanket and get it fixed before it gets colder and snowy! Here is to keeping warm this winter.

I actually went riding this weekend! Yeah, I rode the new one, Ben. My neighbor rode Prince. Prince was a little stiff at first but warmed up (still not sure how he will fair this winter, it really isn't that cold yet). Ben was an absolute dream, I was not nervous once, it felt great! Now if I could just feel that way on Willow we would have a whole different ball game. I am tired of riding in the pen, I just want to go trail ride with out the prickly feeling. But if I would just ride more in the pen the faster I would be able to go trail riding. I still haven't given up and am determined to ride more every year, which I have accomplished. Every year I have ridden more and more. I think Ben will be great for Kylie, he has definitely done some trail riding. He followed like a champ, was more alert and paid attention while in the lead (but not spooky). I tried both saddles on him without the pad first to see how they would fit. My cutting saddle fits the best and has the most room around his broken withers, plus it sits right. Looks funny as it is farther back then it should be, but that is where it fits on his back. He is big enough though that I am still in the middle of his back! Anyway was alot of fun and I am definitley looking forward to more riding on the weekends! Planning a ride with Sam for next weekend, hope it works out!

Another day another pound! I hate being fat! 2 years ago I lost 30 lbs, I felt great. Needless to say those 30 have come back in the last 6-8 months, a lb here and a lb there. So I have started doing the weight watchers thing again. Now before I was at work with someone who did it with me, now I work with 2 guys and that is it. (not alot of support there). I was sitting here thinking I am hungry (even though I just ate my rice cake) and thought just blog about it and maybe it will be a new source of inspiration. My horses would like it if I didn't weigh over 200 lbs, and so would I. My goal is 40 lbs (I just didn't quite make it to my goal weight last time). Weigh in once a week, starting on Mondays, follow the basic weight watchers point system, and see if it works again. Then the goal will be to maintain and keep it a life choice.
The poor horses have not seen me in a couple days, except in the dark to feed! They think it is a martian coming to feed them! Really wish Dwane would get power to the shop, gotta love those lanterns. We keep saying every year we will get power and water to the shop, so far has not worked out the best. Although this has been one of the worst years (financially) for us, he did not work for 6 months. As long as the house payment is made and I have hay in the barn we are all good! Hopefully even though the economy is in the toilet things will get better! Gotta keep up the good thoughts anyway!
Haley the ever almost a teenager attitude. Not sure what is going on with her, besides she will be 13 in two weeks. All emotions and no common sense. Can't hear anything you tell her, unless it has to do with something she wants to do. Keep your fingers crossed I can keep my sanity!

Busy weekend! Saturday, Haley had a volleyball tournament - we dropped her off at 7 am in Spirit Lake at the Junior High. Sam and I had the trailer hooked up and were on our way to Deer Park to pick up Ben, the newest addition to my little herd. He was such a good boy, loaded right up with a little grain teasing! Trailered well all the way home. We put him in the cattle panel pen next to the barn and asked the neighbors to keep an eye on him. This way he could meet everyone over the fence while we were on the run.
Back to the Junior High as I had concessions duty, when I get there I find out my daughter signed me up for the wrong time and they had expected me an hour earlier(never fails). I did my concessions duty and managed to watch a game of Haley's in the middle (thanks to another very nice mom who handled it while I was gone). Then off to Spokane, where I volunteered to help Joann from sosequines.org with a booth at Aslin Finch to get the word out on slaughter bound horses. We stayed there for about 2 hours and then headed home.
Once home I got to visit with my old neighbors who were in town for the weekend. Then off to home to pack and go to St Maries, where my inlaws were visiting and leaving Monday, so had to go see them this weekend. Once there I crashed! So very busy day Saturday!
Sunday, we hung out while the guys went hunting. Once they got back I headed to Post Falls to Walmart and then home. Once we got home I rode Ben in the pen and tried out several bridles as I am not sure what he has used previously, I think the hackamore worked best, better stop with the snaffle but everything else was better with the hack. After that we got Prince out to ride, he sure has been a butt lately. All crow hoppy with me, he did fine with the girls, well a little onery for Kylie. Not sure what is going on with him, either he feels really good or he is sore. He wasn't off riding him, just jumpy. I guess we will see what the deal is. Kylie wanted to ride Ben, but I want to ride him a little more and see how he does. My neighbor has started to learn to trim horses feet, so he might come over and do Stubby's feet as they are really bad and my shoer still has not called me back. That is all for today!

The beginning!

I don't even know where to start! I guess the name of my blog, my husband calls my horses Hayburners, so I always told him if we had a farm it would be called the Hayburner Farm (I thought Hayburner Acres sounded better). That is where that came from. Just a place to put my thoughts and happenings with my horses, kids, and life in general. Not that it is all that exciting but may be interesting to some people!

Quick run down on me! I have two daughters. Haley is 12 almost 13 (2 weeks) and in the seventh grade. Kylie is 9 and in the fourth grade. I have been married to Dwane for 11 years. Haley is from my first marriage, but Dwane adopted her when she was 3. We have 4 horses, Willow 5(my baby), Stubby the pony-old (Kylie's), Prince 22 (Haley's horse), Cody 4, and this weekend I pick up Ben 15 (for Dwane). We also have 3 dogs, Zoey 1 (doberman mix), Sassy 10 (Sheltie), Rex 9 (sheltie) - a rabbit named TJ (Thumper Junior) - 3 cats Lily (indoor), Buster (barn), and Scooter (barn). So we are definitely animal poor.

That is the short run down on my family. I look forward to writing about daily happenings in my life!