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.

It's Thursday Already???!!

How did that happen? So much to do, so little time.

Up at 6:30AM. In a weird sleeping pattern right now. Or should I call it "lack of sleep" pattern. Made a batch of chocolate chip scones. Just got rolling on my first brush of the day. Made two last night after final artwork was approved. Only 117 to go ;)

Will make brushes this morning. Dropping Nat off at the barn for the afternoon, then going on a play date with Shauna. We are going to spend three glorious hours at Life's a Scrapbook in Sherwood. When I told her that it will be good for me to not do something horse-related, she reminded me that I will be working on Nat's HORSE album ;) Funny. Very funny. Oh well. At least it won't make me sneeze and make my eyes water ;)

Tonight we are having a family play date. Dinner and a movie. Jim is excited to see Long Way Down . Motorcycle movie, of course ;) It is playing one night only. We watched the first series "Long Way Round", and this movie is a prelude to their next TV series. Ewan McGregor and a friend of his are in it. Funny guys. This trip they are taking their motorcycles down Africa. An amazing adventure, I'm sure.

Yesterday, Nat had a great lesson on Memo. She seemed back to her old self again. In the afternoon, we went to the Beaverton Farmer's Market. Picked up broccoli, leeks, watermelon, tomatoes, basil, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. LOVE this time of year. We ate berries all the way home... until we both had stomach aches. So worth it though!!

Bon Voyage going out to Heidi and Jim as they head off to Maui today! And also to the Guinn's as they fly to San Diego for a baseball tournament. Have fun you guys! 

CSA: Week 6

In our box this week we have lettuce, fresh beans, cucumbers, summer squash, blueberries, Candy onions, and new red potatoes.

LOVING the new red potatoes. A couple of nights ago I made these. They were to die for and I cannot wait to make them again. Seriously good stuff.

Tonight we are having muffuletta sandwiches and potato leek soup. Here is the recipe from our CSA for the soup:

Leek and Potato Soup

3 tablespoons butter
3 leeks, thinly sliced
1 medium or large onion, chopped
6 - 8 red potatoes, thinly sliced (no need to peel)
3 1/2 cups chicken broth (or enough to barely cover potatoes)
1 cup heavy cream
salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste

1) Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat then add onions and leeks. Cook, stirring, until onions are limp and just slightly brown.

2) Add sliced potatoes to saucepan then pour in enough chicken broth to just barely cover the potatoes. Continue cooking over medium heat until potatoes are tender. Using a potato masher, mash and stir potatoes until desired consistency is reached. As you mash the potatoes and the soup thickens, turn down heat and stir frequently with a large spoon to prevent scorching on the bottom.

3) Add one cup of heavy cream (or more if you desire) and salt and black pepper to taste. Cook 15 minutes more over low heat, stirring frequently, then remove from heat and serve .

I'll let you know how it is! We actually have rain today, so having soup is going to hit the spot.

I received a huge shipment of brushes today! Natalie and I made a huge dent in taking labels off of them. What a sticky, messy job. I was so thankful to have her help. Just waiting on final artwork, then I will be a busy brush-making momma ;)

Nat rode Memo today. She was really in "a mood". Maybe she doesn't like this weather we are having. Nat stayed at the barn and pulled her mane while I ran some errands. Memo enjoys her "spa treatments" so hopefully she will be in a better frame of mind for tomorrow's lesson.

Off to make soup...

Maybe I won't have to get another job...

Things have been picking up for my business again... whew... what a relief. I've been getting pretty nervous with this economy, thinking that I should get a job again. I have applied for a couple of jobs with the Beaverton School District as I would like to be on the same schedule as Natalie. So far, no bites though. But everything happens for a reason, right?

I'm working on my biggest order yet... over 100 brushes for a big Arabian show in August. Just finalizing all of the details. It is for the local club that Natalie belongs to... Arabians in Motion. I'm so thrilled that they want to use my brushes as their first place awards for their upcoming Sport Horse Classic! We are working out a custom design that will be so nice. It will be a lot of work, but I can't wait to get started.

I've also had to deal with the headaches of a small business this morning. One of my clients from back east was trying to place an order on Friday while the credit card company's server was down. Her account was charged 9 times! Of course, I was mortified. I guess only one of the charges came though on our end, but her bank placed a "hold" on her account for each time she tried to get it to go through (kept getting error messages). I guess the holds will be dropped eventually, but what a hassle when it is almost time for rent to be paid!! She has been a pleasure to work with, and I hope it all works out in her favor.

Keeping my fingers crossed that this big order will be the start of good things to come for my business. I really need this to work. I love the flexibility of working from home... it really works best for my family. But I will do what I need to do to help support our daughter's crazy horse habit ;)

Have a great week everyone!

She did it!

Nat is officially a C1 pony clubber. Toby was a good boy. I thought they did a really great job.

Her friends Cassie and Madi passed their D3's as well.

What a relief. It's over. Until next year.

I'm bone tired. Got about 1 hour of sleep right before I had to get up at 5:00AM. Nat is exhausted as well.

Jim just went to pick up Chinese food for dinner. Just opened a bottle of wine. I'm showered and in sweats.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to not get out of my PJ's. That never happens though ;)

Way to go, girls! So proud of you! You really showed perseverance and determination. You rock! Your moms rock too :)

Sad News

From the CNN Website:

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose "last lecture" about facing terminal cancer became an Internet sensation and a best-selling book, has died. He was 47.

University spokeswoman Anne Watzman says Pausch died early Friday at his home in Virginia.

Pausch was diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer in September 2006. His popular last lecture at Carnegie Mellon in September 2007 garnered international attention and was viewed by millions on the Internet.

In it, Pausch celebrated living the life he had always dreamed of instead of concentrating on impending death.

The book "The Last Lecture, " written with Jeffrey Zaslow, topped best-seller lists after its publication in April.

What a sad way to start my Friday morning. What an inspiring guy. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones. We should all live our lives the way Randy did. No regrets. Leave nothing unsaid. Shoot for the stars. Cherish our families. Have fun while you can. Don't worry about the small stuff... and it is all small stuff. Heaven definitely has a new angel.

Tomorrow is Natalie's rating retest. We will be up before 5:00AM to get ready. Keep your fingers crossed!

Have a great weekend, everyone.

CSA Box: Week 5

The summer is just flying by! Here is the box for this week: lettuce, pea pods, sweet onions, new red potatoes, blueberries, blackberries, cucumbers, leeks, and possibly, a surprise.

What could the surprise be?? Raspberries? Fresh basil? Tomatoes? Corn? Can't wait! For me, the potatoes and blackberries are really awesome. All of it sounds so good!! I have a zillion recipes that call for leeks but I have never tried them. I guess that will be our adventure for the week. Anyone have a good leek recipe?

Can't wait for a fresh cuke! Just in time to make our favorite Greek salad. First I cut up the cuke (usually peeled), a tomato, some green onions (will probably sub one of those candy onions) and sometimes a bell pepper. Drizzle with some olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and toss together. Throw some kalamata olives and feta cheese on top. Yum!

The berries never last long around here. We go through them like crazy. Maybe today would be a good day to pick berries! It is overcast right now, and it is a non-barn day. Hmmm. Tempting to wake up the sleeping teenager to do that ;) I think Nat wants to see the movie Get Smart though. Maybe we will have time to do both. We want to sneak to the book store and reserve copies of Breaking Dawn and Brisingr. Hopefully we can meet Shauna for a coffee there too :)

So glad to have a break from the barn today. We will be living up there the rest of the week. Nat is still preparing for her rating retest, and will be working at the barn on Thursday and Friday.

For any of you dressage enthusiasts, check out Dressage at DevonWood this weekend. The musical freestyles will be Saturday night. I hope we get back from the rating in time to go. Janice and some other ladies from our barn will be showing too. This is one of the biggest shows of the year... last year there were Olympic riders there. Pretty darn cool.

Random Blathering

Today, I woke up and made blueberry pancakes and bacon. Can't get enough of the local blueberries lately. I usually use the Snoqualmie Lodge mix. Luckily, we can get it at our local supermarkets. Usually, I doctor it up by adding a little bit of vanilla.

After Jim and Nat left for the barn, I met Shauna and Kaelin for a quick coffee at Borders. They were off to an early showing of the new Batman movie. So fun to visit :) I hit Trader Joe's afterwards. Shauna had given me a new Trader Joe's cookbook, so I needed to get a few things to try some new recipes!! I don't get there as often as during the school year since it is so close to Nat's school.

This afternoon I was a veggie-cleaning-chopping-roasting-machine. I shelled peas, roasted beets, washed leaf lettuce, and chopped a bunch of veggies for tonight's stir-fry dish. Decided that I NEED a salad spinner! Picked up Shauna and went to Linens and Things and found a great one and was able to use a coupon from the newspaper. So nice to have a shopping buddy :) Thanks for riding shotgun, Shauna! I still cannot believe I did not have one of these since I am the kitchen gadget queen ;)

Jim and Nat are off seeing the new Hell Boy movie... quality flick I'm sure ;) I was fine skipping that one. We did go see Wall-E last night... really cute.

This was my first non-horse day that I can remember. It was a much needed break... next week will be back to our crazy barn schedule.

Have a good week everyone!