Clean Sweep Sunday

Today I am hoping to get the motivation and energy to start a "clean sweep" of every room in the house. I've been feeling so overwhelmed about the house lately, that I just don't do any of it! Just the bare minimum to get by.

As of today, I need to just snap out of it! I need to "get 'er done". Wish me luck!

We had a great time at the barbeque last night. Great conversation, good wine and yummy food. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends.

Nat and Jim are off to the barn to ride Memo. It is pretty chilly here this morning... feels like fall! In the 50's for heaven's sake. I'm glad to have a break from the barn until Tuesday.

Last night I made this cobbler to take to the potluck. It was a hit. And talk about an easy recipe!! Love recipes like this! I believe I posted the link to a different cobbler... which I actually prefer... but this one is much easier and travels to potlucks a lot easier. I used local marionberries in it. Yum.

Off to start my clean sweep... wish me luck ;)

Friday Update

The countdown is on: Natalie has 4 days left of freedom.  She says she is not looking forward to school, but I know she will be happy to see her friends on Tuesday. I really think she does not want to give up her extra free time and those early mornings are a killer. She loves her school though, so I'm sure she will be just fine :) Her electives will be fun this year... she has Spanish, Concert Choir, Theatre 2, Ceramics 2, Book Arts and Music Theory. She will have 4 of those each semester, in addition to her core classes (Spanish and Choir go all year).

We are off to the barn for another lesson this morning. Elise is off to Canada to Spruce Meadows next week so we need to do a make-up. Afterwards, Natalie is working at the barn for Janice to earn some money for Nationals. So nice of Janice to do that. She gets to work with her bud Sarah so they will make the most of it. She will also work for awhile on Saturday.

Tomorrow night we are looking forward to going to a barbeque with our horsey friends. Always a good time. Other than that, we should have a quiet weekend. Lots to do around here.

So many friends going through difficult times right now. Please know that we love you and that you are in our thoughts. Big hugs to you all.

TGIF!

CSA: Week 10

This week we should have lettuce, fresh beans, tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, sweet peppers, egg plant, new potatoes, and some kind of fruit.  Yum. Can't get enough of the fresh tomatoes. Really don't know how I survive without them the rest of the year. The taste is just so much better.

Could live on the new potatoes too. This week I will make some kind of potato salad. We are not big into the mayo/mustard kind of salad, but prefer a vinaigrette base. Jim's mom has a great recipe for a Greek potato salad, and I cut one of out the newspaper awhile back for a Blue Cheese Rosemary potato salad. Will definitely make one of those.

Anxious to see what kind of fruit we get. Last week we got a honeydew melon. I'm the only one around  here who will eat that. I thought it was great. Would be so great to get some peaches or blackberries though.

After I finish my tea and get a shower, we will head down to Woodburn to go to the outlet mall. Natalie has outgrown over half of her clothes and most of her shoes. Yikes! Her friend Madie will come along to help us do some school shopping. Will do just the bare minimum as we are saving our pennies for Idaho. A girl needs t-shirts, jeans and shoes though!! They have an Aero Postale outlet down there with really good deals. Wish us luck!

A Sunday Play Day

We played hookie from the barn today and headed up to Mt. Hood. A very low-key, relaxing day... just what we needed.

We started out at Ski Bowl to ride the alpine slide. Jim had done this years ago for a work event, but Natalie and I had never been. I did one ride down, then stayed behind to try and get some pics while Nat and Jim did their second ride down. Love the pic of them on the ski lift! My photos of them going down the slide were too blurry :( Not the photographer in the family, for sure. Kicking myself for not doing video of their rides.

We had lunch at a brew pub in Government Camp. So yummy... especially the berry crisp!! Hey, Shauna, during lunch they had group rhythmic gymnastics on TV! Didn't know that they did groups!! Does Kaelin do that too? Kinda cool. 

After lunch we drove over to Trillium Lake to our favorite photo spot... there is a bridge that overlooks the lake with Mt. Hood in the background. Shot a few pics, then drove back home. We thought about doing a hike, but it was starting to cloud up. Started to rain on the drive home, so I'm glad we passed on that. Next time. Need to get the canoe up there too.

Natalie took a nap on the way home. She has been going so hard lately. It was so good for her to get some rest.

We are watching the last night of the Olympics. Wow, will I ever miss them!! Talk about Must-See-TV. Loved every minute I have watched. So inspiring.

Have a great week!

It's Salsa Mania

Just made a batch of Sam's Salsa as well as a Black Bean/Corn/Avocado Salsa. Thought you might like the recipes!!

Sam's Salsa

3 cans diced tomatoes (14.5 oz. cans) (for one of these, I sub a can of tomatoes that has added green chilies)

1 large red onion, diced small (I subbed a sweet onion since they are in season)

1 fistful of fresh cilantro leaves

2 jalapenos (1 with seeds/insides; 1 without)

garlic salt to taste

garlic to taste

salt to taste

1 tsp. sugar

In a blender, pour the juice out of the tomatoes. Add jalapenos and liquify. Add tomatoes and seasonings and blend on low. Add cilantro and continue to blend. Add onion last. Pour into jars and keep chilled.

I also add the juice of 1/2 a lime to this.

Black Bean/Corn/Avocado Salsa

1 ripe but firm avocado, 1/4" dice

2-3 T. fresh lime juice

1 large ripe red tomato, diced

1 ear sweet corn, shucked and cut off of cob

3 T. diced sweet onion

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

1/4 C. chopped fresh cilantro

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

course salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and chill for up to 2 hours, covered.

We will be having these with enchiladas and margaritas for dinner. Muy bueno!

Nice Evening

After Jim got home from work, we rushed down to my parents' for dinner. My cousin, Michelle, and her husband, Alan, are in town from Austin, TX. It was so great to see them. They had been vacationing out in Bend. Loved hearing their stories of hiking, biking and frisbee golf!

The coolest news is that they are expecting their first child!! Congrats, Michelle and Alan! So thrilled for them. I know they will be fabulous parents :)

Sure was fun to get caught up on their lives. My mom and dad fixed quite the spread for dinner. Homemade peach and blueberry pies for dessert. Awesome!

We are off to the barn this morning for a make-up lesson with Janice. And here is some other GREAT news ... we have NOTHING on the calendar for this weekend!! How incredibly cool is that??!! I'm beyond excited. Lots of sleeping in and goofing off in our future. Jim will go on a motorcycle ride. Nat and I want to hit Old Navy on Saturday for their $12 jeans sale. We needed a quiet weekend so badly!! I cannot wait!!

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

CSA: Week 9

Yesterday we got a kick-butt box: lettuce, bi-color sweet corn, Red Nordland new potatoes, fresh green beans, basil, tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, and melon. They also sent along the most beautiful bouquet of flowers. What a treat. My sister had given me a bunch of colorful sunflowers, so this bouquet really fills up the vase. So nice. Makes me smile whenever I look at it.

Did something fairly drastic yesterday... colored my hair back to my "normal" color. It is a lot darker than it has been in years. I'm hoping the grow-out will match so I no longer have to color my hair. Just can't keep up with it anymore. Not sure how I will handle all the gray coming in, but oh well. Too many other places for my money these days (places = horse... LOL).

Today we are off to the barn. Nat was quite ticked to see the pouring rain this morning. Put her in a really bad mood. I was actually glad to see the rain... I will make a big pot of vegetable beef soup and blueberry muffins today. I know, such the nerd.

Tonight I am hoping to go to the cancer support group. It is so hard to get there, but so good for me.

Tomorrow is registration and picture day at school. Hard to believe. Nat is in denial, but we did manage to get her school supplies yesterday. I think the hardest parts for her are the early mornings and not having as much down time. We will survive though ;)

Team Memo

Natalie has set up a shop on Cafe Press as a fundraiser for Nationals. She designed a custom logo (Team Memo) that can be put on a variety of shirts and other products. A portion of each sale will go to her to put towards costs for Nationals. I will definitely need to order some shirts and sweatshirts so we look snazzy in Idaho :)

Today we are off to get our hair done, then to the barn to ride Memo. I have a few brush orders I will do this afternoon. 

Last night I went to Parker's baseball game. It was so nice to hang out with Sam and her father-in-law. Parker was chosen to play on a team for Baseball Northwest. Quite an honor. He is a catcher and was a complete rock star. He also had an amazing hit.

Big hugs going out to Shauna, as she has experienced so many losses lately.

My head is still swimming with details that need to be taken care of for Nationals. Thanks so much for the congratulations and support you have already given Natalie! I am so grateful for you all.

Nationals, Here We Come!

Natalie and Memo had quite the day on Saturday. They won a Regional Championship and three Reserve Championships (2nd place)! It was amazing. The championship round brought me to tears (tears of joy!). It was an equitation round which means that Natalie was judged on her riding, not just Memo. She was a rock star and rode her little heart out. They were working as a team and really made it happen. After all of the struggles and hard work, everything really came together at the perfect time!!

After much discussion and fretting, we have decided to take her to the Arabian Sport Horse National Championships next month in Nampa, Idaho. We have always wanted her to have the experience of a national competition and now she has the chance. She qualified in three classes for this show. Her winning equitation round qualified her for next year's Arabian Youth Nationals, but that is something we will have to worry about later if at all.

Of course, Natalie is over the moon!! I think Memo is pretty darn happy about the whole thing too. The stifling heat seemed to suit her!! She was relaxed and happy, and LOVED getting the award ribbons and rosettes around her neck!! Very befitting of a princess. She also was quite content in her stall standing in front of the fan that we brought for her! She would take a bite of hay, then go stand in front of the fan... back and forth. Too cute!! Quite the show pony!!

Natalie braided Memo for both days of the show. She did a great job! Elise did a wonderful job as her trainer... someone in the audience told me that she loved the interaction that Elise had with Natalie. Mom and Dad were pit crew, as well as Natalie's friend Cassie. We were sweaty and dirty and HAPPY!!

Some of you might be receiving a letter from Natalie soon... she is looking to do fundraising and small jobs to earn money towards the trip :)

I am thoroughly exhausted, but it was all worth it :)

Happy Birthday going out to my mom!! We had a little shindig here tonight to celebrate her birthday, and also a belated birthday for my brother-in-law Jim. Sam and Parker were here too, so it was an extra special evening. Hope you had a wonderful day, mom! You deserve it!

Quick Update

Nat and Memo qualified for the Arabian Regional show tomorrow in 4 classes. Woo hoo!!

It was miserably hot today. Ugh. Memo seemed more mellow than usual though... but Nat melted away! They are both such troopers.

Ribbon count: 2 1sts; 4 2nds; 2 3rds; 1 6th.

Looking forward to tomorrow afternoon for her regional classes :) Hope it is cooler.

CSA: Week 8

This will be in our box today: lettuce, sweet onions, fresh beans, French Horticultural beans, tomatoes, basil, hot peppers, blue potatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, and Trinity sweet corn. Corn, tomatoes, basil, peppers, potatoes... I'm in produce heaven ;)

Maybe I will get some fresh mozzarella to make a caprese salad with the tomatoes and basil. How cool would it be to make BLUE crash potatoes??!! That would turn some heads around here!! Maybe I will try this recipe with the peppers! 

Happy birthday to Elise! The big 21!! Elise is one of Nat's horse trainers, and used to ride Memo before Nat took over the reins. She is such a GREAT person, and an amazing mentor for Natalie. We are so lucky to have her in our lives. I made her a killer cake for her party tonight. Will post pics later.

Went to coffee with Shauna, Teri and Kimberly this morning! Just what I needed!! Love my friends :)

Off to the barn... again ;)

A Banner Day

For starting out too dang early (4:45AM), it was a pretty good day!!

Natalie rode in the Lake Oswego Horse Trials, which means she did three events in one day: dressage, show jumping and cross country. As I have posted before, Memo is none too sure about being a cross-country pony but today she was awesome!

They started out with a very good dressage test. Memo didn't buck!! It's a miracle. They were in 3rd place after that.  Show jumping went well too... they had zero refusals! Nat's pace and lines were perfect! Kinda tricky because it had rained overnight and the grass was pretty slick.

The best part of the day... unbelievably... was cross country! They did it in a very fast time and had NO refusals!! It was a first for Nat and Memo!!! No big "E" as they call it in the eventing world, "E" standing for "elimination". It was all very exciting!! Memo was a little spooky at the beginning since a truck and trailer were leaving the grounds right next to them, but Nat was tough and made her keep going.

Amazingly, Nat and Memo took 2nd place in their division: Jr. Beginner Novice. So proud of them. They worked as a team, and really had a lot of fun.

Another really cool thing happened when Nat did some schooling rounds in show jumping at the Novice level. The judge pulled her aside after her rounds and told Nat that she had the best position she had seen all day. The judge also said she used to have an Arabian who loved to jump like Memo. Really made Nat's day!

Check out Jim's pics on his website listed in my links on the side.

Windsong Farm was well-represented at the show. Janice rode one of the fancy dressage horses on his first time out as an eventer and took 1st place in her division. Natalie's friends took home a 1st, a 4th and a 5th. Everyone did so well and had so much fun! They all work together as a team, too, which is so good to see. It was great having Nat's friend Hayley along for the day too.

Can't wait to hop in the shower. I smell like horse linament! EWWW!! TMI!

Now onto the Arabians in Motion show next week!! Bring it on!

CSA: Week 7

This week we have lettuce, the last of the blueberries, sweet onions, summer squash, cucumbers, fresh beans, sweet peppers, and garbanzo beans. Will hate to see the end of the blueberries. I made blueberry muffins the other night and Nat had 5 of them with her dinner ;) She had the last 3 for breakfast the next morning. Guess she liked them or something!!

Nat is really obsessed with that potato/leek soup. We made another batch of it yesterday for lunch and had leftovers today. It is the ultimate comfort food!

I had never seen fresh garbanzo beans! They come in little fuzzy pods. I saw some artichoke lemon hummus in the New Seasons (like Whole Foods) ad this week... think I will search for a recipe to make some. Sounds bueno!

Last night I made fresh green beans sauteed in butter with some crumbled bacon and gorgonzola cheese on top. Oh man. Too delicious. I also made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, but that is another post ;0 LOL Nothing from the CSA in those!!

Can't say enough good things about the CSA... will definitely sign up again next year. Everything has been so good and fresh. It has exposed us to new things. Has also stretched my cooking to new heights. I love that we still have a long way to go... can't wait for more goodies such as corn, tomatoes, apples, melons, pears... MMMM!!

Making GREAT progress on the brushes. Around 20 to go. Definitely on the home stretch. Didn't get much done today as we hauled horses to the Lake Oswego Hunt Club to school for cross country. Memo was a pretty good girl. Only refused one jump which is some kind of record for her ;) I also went to the cancer support group for friends/family. It has been so good for me, and I really love the interaction with others in the group. Have to say that it is so sad how many people are affected by cancer :(

Looking forward to our weekend, although it will be crazy busy. Nat has lots to do on Friday to get ready for Saturday's show... Memo needs a bath and we have to get all the tack cleaned and packed up. We will go back to Lake Oswego to walk the course Friday evening, then she is off to a birthday party. We will pick up her friend Hayley to spend the night, so she can wake up early with us and go along to the show. On Saturday night, Jim and I will go to a Georgian Low Country Boil at our friends' house. That will be a blast! Sunday we will be sleeping in, and I hope to finish up the brushes. Whew!

Prayers and thoughts going out to all who were affected by the plane crash in Gearhart. What a tragedy! Can't imagine. There are no words.

How I Spent My Weekend...

Made 10 of these... the club will sell them at the show:

Made about 60 of these... 

Only 50 to go! They will be used for first place awards. I guess I did have some of them done last week. Still spent some quality time in the garage. Have to get 'em done as we have a horse show on Saturday. So much to get ready before then.

Hoping that Nat wins lots of these brushes at the Arabian show. Wouldn't that be funny?? ;)

Breaking Dawn

It is finally here! The fourth book in the Twilight series! Haven't seen Nat much since midnight ... her head has been in the book. I will read it when she is done... probably won't take her long ;)

Nat and a bunch of her friends attended the midnight book release at Borders. I ended up meeting Shauna there around 10:30. Luckily, she had found a couple of comfy chairs for us. It was fun to see all the kids dressed up as vampires and characters from the book for the costume contest. Natalie had her "Team Edward" shirt on, and we made a shirt for Shauna that says "Team Jacob". You have to go look at her blog to see what she drew on the back of her shirt. She should have entered the t-shirt contest. Too cool!! Fun night for us all.

Today is brush mania again. Will be a marathon weekend, I'm sure. We were going to go canoeing up at a lake at Mt. Hood tomorrow, but looks like that has been postponed. Nat will head up to the barn to ride Memo, and help with PM feed this afternoon. Most of the Windsong crew is gone to Janice's son's wedding in Corvallis.

Happy Birthday to my father-in-law, Bill. Too bad we cannot be in Las Vegas this weekend to help him celebrate. Hope we can sneak down there this fall to meet our new niece, Grace, and see everyone again.