Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Jader-Tader

Just a quick post before I dive into the pile of work that is waiting for me! Jader-Tader, as she is affectionately called by us when she is NOT around is a little gal-friend of Bailey's. We've known her parents, The Chaotic Carlson's, for years and have just now rekindled a friendship since we are only about 6 miles away. Jade has three brothers, Bailey has three brothers, they both homeschool, etc. so they have alot in common. However, Jade comes from a "gear head" family - custom car painting, car showing, etc! The girl's dads swing on opposite ends of the pendelum but have a respect for each other as Christian men, husbands and dads.

Jade has gone with us to a couple barrel races. Her mom, Karma, dropped her off last week but decided to stay for a while. Jade was giving her the low down on splint boots, over-reach boots, over-n-unders, 5 second penalties, etc. Karma learned alot from her "gear-head" daughter about barrel racing.

Now Bailey and I have only gone a couple times. Keep in mind, Bailey and I are no threat to anyone with our times, as of yet. However, Bailey opened up a can of COWGIRL at the last one and knocked 3 seconds off her first time and skunked me! Of course, I was riding BIG. Rick told me I would need spurs but since I had never really riden Big, I passed. I should have listened. Getting the horse into a trot was alot of work. So I just decided to take it slow and easy. Make sure I didn't come off in front of all these women!

After my first run, posting a rapid 39 seconds on a 15 second pattern, I came back to the girls and Jade so affectionately said, "I'm sorry . . . I fell asleep . . . what was your time?" Instantly becoming a hit with everyone in earshot!

I'll continue to take her with us because we love her, smart mouth and all! No wonder she and Bailey get along so good!

Blessings~
P.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

IT'S A GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE . . .

We're puttin' together a great day in Kansas today. Temps are in the high 50's! WAIT! The K's just got into the pickles and spilled the juice EVERYWHERE!

Okay - Now we smell like a pickle factory but it could be worse!

Okay - back to the weather - this whole week is supposed to be in the upper 40's - low 50's. For December that's just pretty sweet. My Cowboy came home from work early so we could go cut some wood and just do some stuff around the place.

As you can tell . . .we are muddy here! The dirt we have isn't entirely red dirt, but has alot of clay in it so it sticks to everything. You can tell that keeping boots from making a mess is not a possibility right now!

Cowgirl the daughter is making a fashion statement with her wood cutting outfit!

The K Cowboys take every opportunity to do a little fishin'!

I found Rowdy snuggled up to Cowgirl the dog today. Can't choose when a good picture opportunity will arise - note the BBQer is almost falling off the deck, the tricycle clearly was pushed off for the fun of it, and the box of toys were deposited there because some other adventure called! But aren't those two the cutest together. Cowgirl the dog tried to eliminate Rowdy the first couple of encounters but look at her now! Either she is a good mama or they are in love!

Cowboy and Cowboy the son thought this was just the biggest rack they had ever seen!

And finally . . . Rowdy out exploring all that a little weiner dog can find at the Broken Y!

Hope you've enjoyed your day! The new year is fast approaching and yes . . . my resolution is to lose a ton of weight, get organized, lose weight, get organized, lose weight, lose weight, ENOUGH! Looking forward to the celebration!

Blessings~
P.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Whew!

Well, it is 12:18 a.m. and I am wearing off a Diet Dr. Pepper! The older B's and I went to the movie tonight to see Marley & Me. Rated PG - Minimal swearing, some adult content related to sex and trying to get pregnant. So, now I am home and need to release some of the caffiene I drank in!

We had a wonderful day today! Only in Kansas can we be 7 degrees seven days ago and 53 degrees today, with 63 expected tomorrow!

My Mom and Step-dad came over, along with my sister and her family. We ate, ate, and ate, then went outside for some team roping! How can you not on such a georgeous day! They hadn't ever seen DH and DS rope so that was a treat, for about 20 minutes and that was enough! hehe! The guys kept on and the family rounded up their bounty and headed home. NO - I do not have pictures - I have fantastic rechargeable batteries and didn't have one charged!

All of us worked together and made clean up a quick task. I hope you all had a wonderful day. Made happy memories. And most importantly, shared the Love of Jesus, on this His birthday.

Blessings~
P.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Christmas Update

It's been a while . . . I know . . . so here is a major "catch up" post.

Made cookies - can't say that I am great at it, but I used Les' recipe and they turned out pretty good.




CHRISTMAS TOUR

Put up the tree and it looked so lovely - I use raffia paper, twine for garland, red lights, and my little cowboy ornaments. Now . . . it looks like its been climbed in, under, around, over . . . needless to say, little boys will climb in just about any tree! Real or fake!



















When I was young, I remember always traveling on Christmas Day. So our tradition is that we stay home on Christmas day. This year family is coming over for brunch and then later I'll cook a turkey dinner because that is tradition also.

I still have a little bit more shopping to do AND I'm just now getting the Christmas cards in the mail. I should just send out New Years cards!

We took Les' challenge and picked a couple Angels off the the local Angel Tree and provided some needed items for the Pregnancy Crisis Center. The kids have experienced the true meaning of Christmas and it's not WII's or Ipods. It's considering others before yourself.

If you don't hear from me until after Christmas - May you experience love overflowing this Christmas and know . . . the greatest gift ever given is the gift of Salvation through the birth and crusifiction of Jesus. It's free for the taking!

Blessings~
P.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Where's Rowdy? What is that? Can you see the color?

Sweet Little Rowdy-Dog has made himself at home at the Broken Y. I can't wait to get the little guy potty-poopy trained! Potty training twins was a whole lot easier then this!! They didn't poop on the floor!! He now stays in the sun room where piddle puddles are not on carpet.

But the sweet little guy has decided to make my old pink barn coat his new home. I found the coat spread out on the floor with no sight of Rowdy.

Where can the little guy be?


There he is!



But he's just sooo tired!


WHAT IS THAT? Should you be touching that? That is NOT staying in the house!



Bo and Trey took off on the 4-wheeler and happened on this lovely piece of nature. If you look at it from left to right, it looks like a head and body. Hmmm, what could it be? If you look at it from left to right, maybe it is a deer spine and tailbone.

That being said . . . well . . . that being said . . . this is life with boys.

CAN YOU SEE THE COLOR? - I got motivated to paint my 1/2 bath. It is the bathroom that everyone uses and just looked pathetic. I've had conversations with R.E. clients about whether you should decorate what you like or what is popular. My personal opinion is that if you are not plannig on selling anytime soon . . . do what you like. If a sale is around the corner, do what is popular.

Now, several years back, the popular color was navy blue and yellow with lots of sunflowers. And of course, being from the Sunflower State, I had to have my share. So, I painted it a butter-cream color which you can hardly see, and took all of my navy blue, yellow, and most obvious sunflowers and did what I liked several years ago and still. Here is a bit of the finished product.

I have a metal cowboy boot holding an extra roll of Extra Strong Charmin and garden watering cans painted with sunflowers holding soap and lotion. There you have it . . . a newly decorated room with junk from around the house!

ONE MORE THING - Our message Sunday at Cornerstone was out of Exodus - The Israelites were fleeing Egypt and Pharoh changed his mind and headed out on fast horses to catch them. They were trapped and asked Moses if he just brought them out of Egypt because there were no graves there? God trapped them so that when He rescued them, He would be GLORIFIED! They would see His mighty hand and know that He is God of the universe. The lesson is this . . . how do you react when trapped, stressed, burdened, sick, tired, over-worked, etc?

I've been having an Israelite Freak-Out when faced with different things. Since this message, I have decided to re-evaluate how I react to different circumstances. With focus and praise to the Heavenly Father, we are never trapped.

Blessings~
P.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Rowdy, Mator, and Curtains!

My DH has fulfilled my need for a baby and has given me a miniture daschhaund (sp) a.k.a. tiny weiner dog! Many of you know how adorable these little creatures can be and I now join the ranks of weinerdom! I named him Rowdy before I even saw him, but when we got him home, he would hardly move or play and all he did was whine. I thought, great! But then he started warming up to us and now attacks every sock, ropin glove, shoe, bare toe - you name it! If he thinks it might play back, he's all over it.

I think Rowdy is a suitable name for him!


Now . . . on to more stuff . . .we have a celebrity in Wichita and no I am not talking about Kirsty Alley. Life is a highway and "Mator" has cruised right into Wichita and made a home at Arrow Wrecker Service. For you Wichitonians - Mator can be found on MacArthur between Seneca and Hydraulic.

We were out doing a little shopping on Saturday and the K's spotted Mator and had to stop for a picture! They were excited to get out and say hi and chat a while. But then they got pretty cold, couldn't hold still for my picture because they were shivering too much. Mator invited them out later to do some tractor-tippen but I had to put my foot down! There is only so much fun a mom will allow her four year olds to have! However, these Stinkers can get ornery with the best of them!


AND NOW . . . . . . . .My curtains! I do not claim to be a fantastic seamstress. My mother and sisters are incredible with a sewing machine. They throw all the frills in. I'm lucky to get my seams straight. I thought these turned out pretty cute and can take them down easy enough to wash or just to let more light in. It's just a basic 15 inch panel hemmed and then I took twine and made a clothes line and hung the curtains with clothes pins I painted red. I think I might embelish them with some bandana red in time.

Now, I just need to paint this room. It is our back sun room and faces the east. I have a beautiful view of our hay meadow and timber. I can even catch a deer near the pond if I watch long enough. I love this room even though the roof leaks and it isn't air conditioned. Our intention is to finish it proper like so that it will be a viable part of our home. Right now it holds my sewing table, treadmill, the muddy boots and coats, the freezer and my wood burning stove. It is nice and cozy during the winter and bright and sunny. I took this picture of my wood stove before I realized that I needed to sweep. So. . . welcome to my world of constant cleaning!


I haven't cut into the fancy fabric from my Sis in Kentucky yet but will let you know when the bedroom curtains are started. Please, also, pray for Sis in Kentucky. Her recovery from her back surgery was going well and then infection set into her incision and she was admitted back into the hospital. She is my Sis that has twins also. They've taken good care of their Mom and are awesome young men. I just wish I could be there with her. Sis - If you are reading this . . . you are loved much and many women are holding you up in prayer! How cool is that!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and found that you had so much more to be thankful for then you could ever have imagined.

Blessings~
P.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Cowboys, Bubble Baths & Prince Charming!

This post is full of cowboys, cowboys in a bubble bath, and a very adorable frog who could become one young girls cowboy prince charming!

So here are some pictures of my guys while we were in Ok City for the USTRC Team Roping Championship. The pix aren't fantastic so maybe a new camera is in order!!!






These little cowboys can get terrible dirty - so bath time always requires alot of bubbles! They've been in long enough that their feet are wrinkled!


This little tree frog has been hanging around B's bedroom window for about a week.


Daddy told her that her Prince Charming was waiting outside and she needed to come out and kiss him!

We got these pictures and then the weather got cooler. Prince Charming skidaddled before B could plant her kiss on him. She's been singing, "Some day my prince will come!"


The weather is in the 50's so I am going to get Christmas stuff up so that I don't freeze my hiney after Thanksgiving! I won't turn them on until then, though, I promise!

I'm also in the mood to sew! Those girls out West have me motivated. My sister sent me some beautiful fabric to make curtains and pillows for my bedroom but quite frankly, I'm afraid to cut into it!! So . . . I'm making some simple curtains for my sun room that we just put a wood stove in. Will be nice and cozy this winter. Will get pix when I'm done, or when I get the new camera . . .which ever comes first!

Abundant Blessings from the Broken Y!

P.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

A Moment of Worship

You know, YouTube is a great place to worship. We as a family, go there often, and pull up our very favorite worship music and just have a time of devotion to the Lord. I have been in love with this song and not being an American Idol watcher, I had no idea who Chris Sligh was, all I knew was the name of the song. So . . .that being said, please take a moment for a bit of worship with me.


Tuesday, November 4, 2008

THE BIG DAY

VOTE ~ VOTE ~ VOTE ~ VOTE ~ VOTE ~ VOTE ~ VOTE ~ VOTE ~ VOTE ~ VOTE ~ VOTE ~ VOTE ~

Our Great-Great-Grandmothers fought for our right to vote! Don't let them down, it's our RIGHT and PRIVILEDGE!

Monday, November 3, 2008

You will need to turn off my play list on the side so it doesn't run during the video.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Slow Fade



Turning 40 has caused me to evaluate a few things in my life. More on that later, but for now, this song has been speaking to me . . . in that the little things that we allow to slip back into our lives that push us away from God are allowed by US. When I accepted Jesus in 1991, I quit cussing. It took me a while, but I did. Period, end of story. This was not a behavior that I thought was becoming to me as a Christian or as a woman. Surely, points could be made without profanity.

Then we start to fade. Our world becomes hectic, raising kids becomes more of a challenge then we ever anticipated, work demands increase, and the day to day becomes heavy, and we slowly allow ourselves to fade away from the one True God who can sustain us, carry us, and comfort us through all the trials. I swore the other day, in anger. I allowed myself to slowly fade, I've allowed myself to slowly fade for several years now. Beliefs that I've had, convictions that I felt passionate about have slowly become less important. Isn't that just how satan works! One tiny little piece at a time.

Think on this a while . . .where have you faded?

Blessings ~
P.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Gotcha Girlfriend!

We interrupt Paula’s blog to bring you an important announcement…

Sunday, October 26th, Paula is turning 40!!

While she may not look a day over 24, records indicate the rodeo beauty queen is saying goodbye to her youth and entering into a new and unknown territory. Please be in prayer for our ageing beauty as she faces a lifetime of wrinkle creams, sore joints, and hundreds of dollars in anti-aging concoctions.

Paula is known to all as a good friend, cowgirl extraordinaire, energetic ball of fire, and hysterical conversationalist. Her youth will be missed by all.

Please help us wish Paula a fantastic birthday by leaving her a comment.

This message has been brought to you from the Center for Aging Rodeo Queens and two gals who love her!!

We now return to Paula’s regularly scheduled blog, already in progress.

Happy Birthday to my much older friend!!
Love you lots - Karma
(With encouragement from Pat!!)

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Oh, this is not good!

The torture of being held accountable to my bloggin' gals with a recipe is killing me! I am so not a good "cookin' from scratch" cook! But . . . here goes!

2 pounds browned ground BEEF
2 cans red kidney beans
2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
1 package McCormick Chili Seasoning
Shred up some cheddar cheese
Get a bag of Fritos
And a big tub of sour cream

Get to doctorin' your chili as you see fit!

Yummilish!

(You can add the goods like onions, peppers, and anything else that might burn your gut - But since my DH is allergic to onions, all the other stuff gets left out too!)

Blessings!
~P.

Taking a break . . .

Okay - I don't have anything important, funny, or even remotely "adorable" to post, just thought I would stop my crazy life for a moment and post a few pictures . . .

Rick, Bo, and our friend Wes, got some "dummy" time in before they headed to Pawhuska, OK on Saturday.




Getting set to rope!


Chillin' while he watches the runs...




Now . . . have you ever had a mess like this? Before - when I couldn't figure out why my internet wouldn't work!
After - and still no internet! Finally, my hero came home and plugged the internet cord into the correct phone jack! Thank goodness! I was having blogging withdrawl!



And Finally - My Friend, Les wanted to know what everyone likes to cook on a chilly day . . . what else but Chili! This is Chili, Broken Y style! Lots of Fritos, Lots of Cheese, Lots of Sour Cream! YUMMILISH!