Nashville was a very happening town. Hopefully, that degree of economic recover will be coming to New Mexico soon. Even the line to buy boots was too long to stand in, yes, sadly, I had to abandon them in Tennessee. We took Tommy’s Tour of the city which was great. It was neat to see where Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift, and Martina McBride reside. Below is either Taylor or Dolly’s house, I lost track!

We saw the famous Music Row, The Ryman Auditorium, and The Country Music Hall of Fame. Reba’s exhibit and the size of the archives blew me away.

Don’t forget about my name sake!

The pleasure of listening to John Paul Mitchell at the AAHA conference, was another highlight.

As you might be able to tell he wasn’t able to get to my hair!

One night we made it to the famous Tootsie’s Bar. It is amazing how many stages and artists are in this town. All day and night everyday, there was someone with a guitar or a fiddle on a make shift stage strumming away. It also makes me happy that I am no longer frequenting bars on a regular basis.

George Strait was starting his tour last night, and I took a picture of his 3 buses.

Let us not forget about the delectable GooGoo Cluster. Something, that I had never heard of. The southerns have all kinds of good stuff: sweet tea, googoo clusters, Scarlet O’hara, tulip trees, and those neat accents!

Considering how the week started, the ending was amazing. Tennessee is a gem.

What a day! I have spent the day in the city of Nashville, although at this point, I must confess, due to the meetings I have been in, I haven’t seen much of this Honky Tonkin city. Maybe tomorrow! I am attending the American Animal Hospital Association Conference. I arrived a few days early to take part in a business group. (that I thought I was a probationary member of.). Tonight it was made clear by a secret vote that I would not be invited back! Ouch!

It was like a bad episode of Survivor, only I was fully clothed, in a nice hotel, and not incredibly hungry!

Keep reading I am sure there will be some positive in this post at some point in the near future. Just the fact that it inspired a new, much anticipated blog post has to be good, right?

After digesting the information that I was not considered an asset to the group, I called my girl friend Jody and my husband. Their responses, after listening to me wail, were remarkable similar! It was a cross between nervous and uncontrollable laughter! They were quick to point out my lack of failures up to this point in life. Essentially, pointing out the fact that I was in uncharted waters! Then they reminded me that everything happens for a reason. All of this, of course, made me love them both even more! My husband is especially good at taking things in stride, and helping me to try and do so. (And for that and so many other reason, I love him so much)

Which brings me to my point, will this matter in 20 years? I firmly believe it is the little stresses in life that kill us. Maybe we all should be asking ourselves that question more often. Tonight has been rough, but I have taken a stand to remain positive and count all the blessings in my life. We must remember that when God slams a door closed, he opens a window, and if you choose to stare at the door too long you could be missing the beautiful things that await outside that open window! I embrace whatever is next! Lucky for you people grudges are not my strong point!

I am beyond blessed, and will continue to strive daily to be thankful for all the large and tiny blessings in my life!

Ok, I am trying to blog again after the Super Bowl sent me into a little depression and left me with severe writers block! I guess this is what happens when states legalize marijuana. My Denver Broncos played like pot smoking teenagers, oh well maybe next year. The best part of the game was the company of some good friends!

This week, I found a shredded paper disaster in my oldest daughters room.

“What is this, what happened here, where did this mess come from?” I asked while bitting the inside of my lip, as to not yell at our dear child.
“From the paper shredder.” was the reply.
“It’s my finely crafted nest.” she answered indignantly.
I should have taken a before picture of the “finely” crafted thing, but this is what it looked like about 30 minutes into the hour long clean up!

The year was 1987. It was a balmy San Diego day. The excitement was electric. After I jumped out of the shower, I put some gel in my freshly permed hair and headed straight for the computer. There was a lot to accomplish before my ride came to take me to Jack Murphy Stadium. ( the stadium some currently call Qualcomm). Boy this post is full of history.

The computer was a Commodore 64 and I had print shop. I was able to put this technology to work and start printing some banners on my dot matrix printer. I am not sure what took longer printing the banners, or folding and detaching the holy perforated edges!

My ride arrived, and my girlfriend, her dad, and I drove to the stadium. It was the Saturday before the Super Bowl and the festivities were amazing! It was great to envision Elway playing there the next day. It didn’t however turn out that great as Phil Simms and the Giants ruined my day! The score was 39-20, however I think it was actually worse than the score reflected.

I am in Colorado today, and the support and spirit is incredible. There is orange and blue everywhere!

I cannot wait for Sunday!

Not that there is anything wrong with insane people! Really, if you think someone is normal, you probably don’t know them well enough! Just for the record, I do have six sister-in-laws, so this should provide her a tiny bit of anonymity. I do love her very much, and after today my admiration for her is endless. I have always had great respect for her simply because she is able to put up with my brother! (Oops so much for anonymity!).

Well today, after completing the first workout of “Insanity” month two, I am amazed that anyone could stick it out for a 60 minute intense workout like this. Twenty-nine more days, there is no way I will survive this. I am missing My Curves workout immensely. If my brother would complete this program like his wife (my hero) has, there wouldn’t be a calf alive he couldn’t flank! You definitely will not find a video of me working out attached, no one wants to see that.

On another note, my mom bought me a delectable pizza from Peace of Pie in Belen, it was amazing, those girls rock. I was upset that I ate so much, but after that workout, I am sure that I have none of those calories left! My husband even made brownies tonight. Who knew he could bake, 13.5 years and he still amazes me everyday! Unfortunately, I am way too tired from my workout, I don’t even have the energy to chew one! By the looks of the pan, they must be great!

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We didn’t do much today, yeah. I was able to delve into and sort some old pictures. This is something that I have needed to do for some time. I am under some delusion that one day I am going to scrapbook all of those pictures. Usually, however, what happens is I make sure everything is organized prior to starting the project. The effort I put into organizing the project supplies is unmatched. After the project is nestled in the containers, that seems to be where it stays! I guess I like the thought of creating something, more than the actual creation and mess associated with the creative process.

Macklee decided a nap would be easier than picking her toys up, or was it picking the toys up that wore her out?

Then the end of the day brought manicures and pedicures for the Cain girls, a recorded episode of “Rawhide” and my all time favorite . . .”Alaska The Last Frontier”. I am ready to move to Alaska and live off the land, David, not so much!

Mom and Jim came to eat an early dinner, and to watch the Broncos win! Did I mention the Broncos won? We cleaned the spare bedroom, and MJ’s toy box out. It is so nice to donate, to clean and to declutter. My mom has such a gift for decluttering and organizing. We had planned to do more, but with my clinic shift running over, and the end of this cold I have been battling we just didn’t get too much done, but every little bit feels so good!

When the sun went down, it was full of Bronco orange. Well they say God paints the sunsets of the world, apparently he is a Bronco fan!

Today, I was called to euthanize a 16 year old cow named Flower, for a long time client. I love the relationships that develop with people over the years. Clients come and go for many reasons, they find someone who is cheaper, you told them their animal was overweight, or they move away, just to mention a few! However, when a relationship with a client continues over time, there is nothing more rewarding. This is how it was today, when my client called for help with her cow, she has been a client for 13 years. What wonderful care this animal had to live to 16. (This is extremely elderly for a cow).

Normal life is full of twists and turns. When I arrived home tonight, I saw our new bottle baby named “Squirt”. He is adorable. It is so rewarding to take care of God’s creatures.

On a side note, I will say that as a general rule, in my experience, people that have an agricultural background seem to be able to handle death better than others. This includes kids. I truly believe that their are things worse than death. Animal suffering is one. On a daily basis I get to eliminate animal suffering and stomp out disease and pestilence! I love my job.

Today was Dalli’s 8th birthday. We invited some friends over for a small birthday party, and ranch style scavenger hunt. I started by hiding clues one by one that would eventually lead to the actual scavenger hunt list. Putting this together took immense concentration (you laugh but I had to draw from my higher education for this!). However, once I got started I was on fire! It did help tremendously when my favorite husband took the children to check the red tank. This gave me some time to hide everything, and make the actual scavenger list. The scavenger list was fairly easy, mostly I just drove around the yard and found things that were out of place. It was like using child labor to pick up the yard. Come to think of it, maybe I should have another scavenger hunt in the Spring (think how clean my yard will be)

The clues were as follows:

You will find the first clue in the black case of an instrument that the birthday girl knows how to play well. (Violin case)

Look for this clue in a red machine that is used when the Cain family watches movies. (Popcorn maker)

Look in the mud room high and low, then open the door located on the left side of a big machine. (Washing machine)

The next clue you will find under a chair that the littlest Cain sits in, especially when she is hungry! (Booster chair)

Moving on, your dad uses this to change the channel. (Remote control)

You will find me inside an egg. A big egg that is colored. A big green egg. Don’t crack it, just gently lift the lid and look inside! (In the big green egg BBQ)

For the next clue, look where the horse treats are kept.

Now look for the list, you will have to lift the lid and look in. You will see it located where oval breakable things that you eat come from. (chicken coop)

Then came the actual list:

A purple rope
An antler
2 pieces of PVC pipe
A wooden spool
A blade of green grass
A piece of a dead garden vegetable
A branding iron
A snow shovel
Something red
A piece of trash
2 horse treats
A snow ball
2 clothes pins
A picture of a wheel barrow

And on it went.

We didn’t count on the high of 31 degrees that we were dealt, but it really didn’t slow down these ranch kids. After the scavenger hunt Dalli opened presents all kinds of loot including a package of Glitzi Globes!! (Oh yea, from aisle four) We ate some chocolate cake then we bundled back up and shuffled outside to destroy a piñata. A regular fiesta. We did have to improvise when the first swing decapitated Dora!

A great day.

Happy New Years Everyone!

We welcomed in the New Year with a hodge podge of home maintenance. How does the hood over the stove get soo greasy anyway? The grill to the refrigerator, when is the last time you took that off? Why did we do this on New Years Day? Who knows, we were home and had the energy.

After all the cleaning we made a batch of hot coco mix. I will share the recipe with you, but beware it makes a ton! Great to share with neighbors, friends, and teachers.

1 21oz nestle quick drink mix
4 packets Dream dry whip cream
2 cups powdered sugar
16 cups powdered milk

We also like to add instant coffee, but are still working on the ratio so I’ll have to get back to you on that. Mix 1/3 cup of mix with some steaming hot water and enjoy.

In the afternoon, we sedated Sienna (Macklee’s new horse) to examine her teeth, she has been loosing weight through the winter. What I found turned into a project. The triticale hay that we have been feeding was causing sores in her mouth. There were triticale seeds embedded everywhere. It was like removing cactus from the sides of a wet, slimy, dark rabbit hole. The only sounds that could be heard was David gripping about how heavy her head was to hold up! When I finally finished, we decided to float her teeth and deworm all the horses. It is not unusual for us to do horse maintenance on major holidays, this helps us remember when we did it! Bottom line, I don’t think feeding triticale hay to horses is a good idea. My professional opinion of course. I hope, that I don’t receive hate mail from all the triticale farmers!

Then, it was off to pick up dog and cat poop from the yard. Really? All this land and they have to defecate in our little yard. Aargh!

Next, some advice to all women dating ranchers. When your cowboy invites you to go with them, they really only want a gate opener. I have figured this out after 13 years of marriage. I am sure most ranch wives figure this out sooner, but what can I say. My husband is sneaky, he says things like do you want to go on a safari? This sounds great, like we are going to drive around the ranch and see wild animals (because looking at my two banshee children all day isn’t wild enough)! “Safari” is David’s code for can you come and open gates for me while I check waters?! Can you see why it took me so long to catch on? This time, it worked out, we saw a beautiful buck.

Chili rellenos for dinner. Yummy for the tummy. We use egg roll wrappers a trick I learned from my sister in law.

Use one freshly roasted and peeled hatch chili. Set it in the egg roll wrapper, insert medium cheddar cheese and roll up. Use water to seal edges. Sprinkle stuffed wrapper with water and then roll in corn meal. Fry them up! Serve with homemade pinto beans. They are even good to snack on the next day.

Made menu plans for the next week and went to bed.

Did I mention that I have wild children?  Doesn’t she look wild?