Tag: Work

Interesting.

On By AveryIn Faith, Uncategorized2 Comments

Life is interesting. I have been very introspective as of late. You have probably noticed this. I would say it is the holidays, but really every year it begins in October because that is when my birthday is.

I began 2016 with such hope and many plans. Even with the state of the oil & gas industry and the death of our Mr. Man just a few months prior, I was prepared to make it a good year. Here is a little confession time, I put myself in a safe and protected position. I moved back in with my parents in case I lost my job. Bless them. I am so grateful for my parents allowing me (and my Darcy dog) to move back in. It has not been easy. This was really not something I wanted in my life plan and do not like to admit, but plans change so we change. We accept and move on. It is always hard. It was/is temporary. It was/is the smart thing to do.

I was going to focus on the good and make it good. I still had a job and I was saving money. I worked at a place that allowed me to have a schedule and life and they were great people. I was going to continue going to bible study and start reading my bible daily. I even got one of those read the bible in 365 days deals. Really, I bought it way before that, but I was going to start it. I was going to start riding my Lito man in the spring. I had some goals set for us. My middle sister was getting married in the summer to a wonderful man. At the end of the summer I would find out if I got accepted into this exclusive, ladies group. If accepted, we would go on a week long riding retreat vacation in the fall. I am person who tends to be resistant to change, but I was ready and open for the change that could happen and wanted things to start moving in my life.

2016 has been a hard year. Some are extremely difficult to digest and talk about. Our ranch hand that took great care of my babies and buried Mansebo was tragically killed in a car accident. He worked for us for seven years. We have yet to find a suitable replacement after trying three different people. The river flooded twice, taking fencing, water lines, and water troughs with it both times. Lito’s goals came and went like a flash before my eyes without my say thanks to the weather. We have lost a few big calves for no apparent reason. There have been several unexpected deaths, human, equine, and bovine. Since spring I have only been to bible study a handful of times. I am currently on day 11 of my daily bible reading. Day 11. I read day 11 yesterday. Go me, and I still live with my parents.

Many great things did happen though. I still have my job at this wonderful company with great people. We are hopeful to see this thing through to the other side. I still have two full sets of grandparents. I am a proud new member of an equestrian sisterhood and had a blast on our week long ride. My sister is happily married to that wonderful man. They are coming home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. My niece turned 1 year old. Lito has been started under saddle and is a great youngster. I could not have dreamed up a better one. I am in no hurry with him and have no reason to rush or get upset if it is not as I expected or planned. This is about him and us, not me. I even got to ride him through the shallows of the flood at a big, floaty, water splashing trot. Think big boy trot down the diagonal and that was only his 4th ride. We had several grass growing rains, even if they did flood. Better than the drought. I am trying to make reading my bible part of my routine, absorbing the messages He is trying to teach, and pray every day.

I feel in some ways very much the same as I did almost a year ago in January, in other ways I am different. I adapted and changed my plans. I moved on. Made new goals and kept some old ones.

I still feel stagnant in my life. Change is happening, but it feels as if it is happening around me. I still am unsure if I am doing what I am supposed to be doing with my life.

I did read my bible yesterday and prayed a couple of times. Here is the interesting thought were I started off writing this post. How it took that many words to get here, I am not sure. I woke up twice last night and remember even though I was not fully awake thanking God for everything I have and everything He has done for me, with me, and through me. Hello Holy Spirit! Something is happening inside me even if it feels like am standing still, my feet stuck in concrete blocks. Today I am praying for intention. To be intentional in my bible reading. To be intentional in my prayer with Him. To be intentional about being open to His will for me. I am going to read day 12 when I get home.

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Spread the peace, love, and joy my dear readers. We all need it. Everyone is walking in their own shoes. Help each other focus on the good and the positive.

Tomorrow is Friday. That means the weekend. Then it is Thanksgiving! Then it is Christmas! How is that for positive!

Sundays are not for working…

On By AveryIn Dogs, Food4 Comments

…Sundays are for cooking. Family. Friends. Pets…

How was the weekend for y’all?! I did not get any horse time, but I had a great time with family as my middle sister was in town. It was so nice to just spend time with her. We ate, drank, and just had family time. I am having a bit of a hard time this Monday morning because of it, I dare say! I should not be having a hard time as I came into the office yesterday to catch up and get a head start for this week. This is Darcy’s best “Sundays are not for working” look from my office chair. Speaking of Darcy, stay tuned for her story coming up this week!

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When we left to head back home, I treated myself to a special, seasonal peppermint coffee. Why? Because I could! Going to work on a Sunday and not getting to see my horses earns me a special coffee.

My Thanksgiving cooking has already started! Every year here at the office, we have an office Thanksgiving lunch party the week before Thanksgiving. We order turkey and everyone makes/brings the sides. It is always a grand time. This year I am in charge of bringing the cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and an appetizer. I agreed to do the appetizer for our office manger.

Yesterday evening I made the cranberry sauce. Cranberry sauce is so easy to make at home, I do not know why people buy it. It also tastes much better homemade. I never liked it until I had the real stuff. Just buy a bag of cranberries and follow the instructions on the back of the bag as your base. I would advise doing 1/2 or 1/3 of the usual 1 cup of sugar that it recommends. That is way too much for me. It is dependent on how you like it, I guess. From there, get creative! I like to think about eating turkey while I make it and if an ingredient sounds or smells like it would go well with turkey, I add it! Or, look at some other recipes to get inspiration. I subbed a little of the white sugar with brown. Salt and pepper. Cubed apple. Apple juice. I just add a little less water to accommodate the added liquid. Orange juice and zest. Lemon juice and zest. I wanted to add some thyme and poultry type herbs this time to make it more savory, but we did not have any. Instead, I ground up some dried herbs de provence. Then I added a little dash of Grand Marnier and Limoncello. It smelled and tasted divine. In previous years, I have added pecans to it. It is a pretty good idea. I decided to leave them out this year and see how it goes. I put some sauce in a container in the fridge for Thursday and the rest in a container in the freezer for our family Thanksgiving next week.

Do not tell anyone, but I also made the mashed potatoes yesterday too. Look, I had the time to both cook and clean yesterday, so I made them yesterday. Trust me though, no one will be able to tell. This ‘recipe’ I get from my mother. Her secret is cream cheese. Naughty! Naughty delicious! I like to add some fresh grated parmesan cheese for some nice salty bite. I put them in a baking dish, covered them with foil, and stuck them in the freezer. I will pull them out the night before and put them in the fridge. The day of I will let them get to room temp before I put them in the oven to get heated through. They will taste just as good as the day I made them.

The appetizer I am making is a jalapeno popper dip. I am going to try and make that today or tomorrow and will chronicle that later. It looks pretty tasty and I am excited to give it a try.

For our family Thanksgiving, I am baking a dessert and possibly doing the sweet potatoes. Boy howdy, I can not wait to share my dessert with you. It has become a must every year. It is a little bit of work but it is totally worth it, trust me.

I also need to bake pumpkin bread for my farrier and my vet. Do not forget to thank those people in your lives!

Have y’all thought about what you are making for Thanksgiving?!?! Tell me! One of my favorite parts of the holidays are cooking, especially because my parents kitchen is a hangout area for us. It brings us all together and our food is an expression of our love. Made with love, it always tastes better. AHA moment. What is your favorite part?

Walk in love, dear readers, and have a great Monday!

 

Grateful.

On By AveryIn Faith, Horses, Life2 Comments

Be grateful all the time, but especially coming into Thanksgiving and Holiday season. Every one of us is blessed. Can you see what makes you blessed? Are you grateful for it? Open your eyes. That is a blessing in itself. AHA moment. It is a blessed day that the Lord has made.

Last night I went to the farm to spend the night and have the horses up in the morning for the farrier to do their hooves. This makes me grateful that I am able to do that. Grateful for the farm. Grateful for the horses. Grateful for a great farrier that works with our situation. Grateful that I got to drive to work watching this sunrise.

The hood of my car may be dirty, I may have been tired from my 5 AM wake-up, and the terrible traffic made my drive longer than an hour, but look at the beauty in those colors and the reflection in the clouds and on the hood.

What are you grateful for?

Walk with love. Lead with love. Spread the love, dear readers. Allow the love to drive out the hate. Let the light shine out the darkness. Choose to make peace and share joy.

 

New day, new week.

On By AveryIn Dogs, Faith, Food, Horses, Music8 Comments

Thank you to everyone that commented with support on Friday! I really do appreciate it more than you know. I am going to focus on taking it one day at a time and try not to worry about things that are out of my control. I am going to focus on remembering to pray and tell Him about my worries. Give it up to Him. Why is that so hard??? New day, new week, new attitude. I am starting this work week out well. I came in early today have gotten a lot of work done while listening to Nelo, Penny & Sparrow, and The Head And The Heart to keep me on track.

This weekend was good to get away and get my center/focus back. I got in some chores and rides, but I spent most of my time just absorbing the essence of horse: watching them graze, listening to them eat, breathing them in, and spending an exorbitant amount of time picking burrs out of everyone’s manes and tails. My fingers still hurt. While on a nice bareback ride with Cheetah, I noticed this little guy, just chilling.

The niece and nephew were there as well. Niece LOVES horses. A girl after my own heart!

When I got back to town Sunday, I got the Darcy dog bathed. She truly hates baths, but man does she love the toweling off part! It is so funny. This is Darcy’s day light savings look while I waited for the pumpkin bread to bake and laundry to do itself. I think day light savings is harder on them than us. She wanted her dinner earlier than the old time! Poor Darcy, she has it so rough.

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That face just gets to me, I tell you. I almost caved and fed her early. I said ALMOST.

What is that you say? You heard me mention baking pumpkin bread? Yup, you are correct. I baked pumpkin bread yesterday! No experiments this time. This is a tried and true recipe that I grew up on. You can tell by the state of the cook book. Just look at all that love. I am pretty sure it was me that colored scribbled on those pumpkins. Thank you to Frances Robinson of Mobile, Alabama for this recipe in the Southern Living 1985 Annual Recipes cookbook!

We eat pumpkin bread all year round in our family. We always make a double batch because more pumpkin bread is always better and it makes everyone happy. You see those lines there crossing off two items in the recipe? Those two items are chocolate chips and pecans. My mother is strictly against those in her pumpkin bread. It does not sound all that bad to me, but somehow I can not bring myself to add them. Funny how that works. If we do the glaze, it is for Christmas or Thanksgiving…and we add chopped pecans. Pecans are OK on the outside, just not on the inside according to mother. It makes a really nice Christmas gift. Just picture it: beautifully baked pumpkin bread, drizzled in a spiced pecan glaze, wrapped up in clear cellophane and both red and green ribbon. Gets me all excited for Christmas! Sometimes, like yesterday, I do half all purpose white flour and half whole wheat flour. I think it adds a lovely texture and makes you ‘feel’ like you are healthier…ha. I just love these loaf pans. They show as much love as the cookbook.

Well, that is all for today. Thank you, dear readers, for being you. I wish I could share this pumpkin bread with you. Oh well, more for me! What did y’all do this past weekend?

Stay tuned this week for Lito’s story. Click here for his dam’s story and here for the intro to this new series I am doing if you missed them last week!

Walk in love.

My supervisor…

On By AveryIn Food, HorsesLeave a comment

Please allow me to introduce you to my supervisor…He answers to Lito, but his formal name is Manolito.

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He thought I was doing the fence repair all wrong. He was sure to tell me that if he only had thumbs, he would show me the proper way to do the work. He watched my every move to ensure his paddock was fixed to his high standards. In the end, he approved of my work.

I just love this guy. The feeling appears to be mutual, I think. He seems to always want to hang out with me. I could not ask for more. I am so blessed to have him in my life and, of course, to have the awesome mare that gave him to me. Seriously, the two of them, I am without words. Funny thing for a blog, no??? I promise to give them both their own posts soon. I tried to take some pictures of them this weekend, but I am not happy with what I got. I did get to ride my girl and give Lito some work. Lito was great. Cheetah was pretty good. I kept getting in her way. She had a little bit of the season change snots, so we took it pretty easy. Honestly, I need more work than she does. Going from riding multiple horses a day to only once a week when I am lucky sure makes my body do stupid things when I ride. I often find myself saying, “uh, hello, what is your outside leg doing?!!?” Or, “uh, your hands, have you ever done this before?!” I need rider boot camp and for life to slow down. Does anyone else feel this way???

I also gave my family’s other gelding, give me a chance, Chance a work and got several chores crossed off the list. The list never seems to get smaller though. It is like a roll that keeps rolling while things just keep adding. That is the way I guess. It keeps us busy!

Yesterday, instead of doing an All The Fall Things session, my cousin (I suppose now that we have gotten here, we shall call her Cousin H), another cousin (Cousin T), and I went over to our grandparents house to cook them dinner and spend some quality time together. We made burgers, hash brown casserole, roasted veggies, and apple crisp a la mode with caramel sauce. It was a winner of a dinner, I tell you! Sorry folks, no photos. Wah waaa. I know, but I was being present. We have to be. Every day is a gift, especially with my grandparents, and tomorrow is not promised. AHA moment right there…maybe the most important one to date. We are soaking up as much of them as we can. This grandmother (and really my grandfather too, but mostly her) is where most of my horse gene comes from. It is one of our special bonds. I showed her all my new photos of Cheetah and Lito and could not help but love them. She especially loves the Lito man. Let us be honest though, who would not? To me he exudes love. I feel I named him well! More on that in his own post ;).

Alright, on that note, I must get going. Go get with your family, either by blood or not, and share a meal. Share the love. Be present with them. Enjoy it!

Go lead with love!

TGIF

On By AveryIn Food, Horses, LifeLeave a comment

I have made it to Friday, y’all. This post vacation week back at work has gone better than expected. However, it has all caught up with me now and I am sure glad today is Friday. I am feeling it, whatever it is, and am a wee bit draggy.

I still have not figured out exactly what I will be doing this weekend. I am feeling some veg time with some fall themed Hallmark movies. You know you love them, even if you will not admit it. I am a proud Hallmark lover!

I will absolutely be getting out to the farm at some point. I need some quality time with the dun duo like I need air to breathe. I also need to get them both back into regular work now that my trail riding vaca is over. What is your favorite way to get your horses back into regular work after life has taken over? I like to rotate round pen, riding, and lunging work until they are a little more mentally and physically fit. Then I transition into more riding work. I think this will be a Cheetah round pen then riding weekend and a Lito lunge and walk to the river weekend. I believe I am going to be by myself, so I have to be safe and not ride the youngster alone. Bummer. But, better safe than sorry. If it is not safe, it is not fun. It does not matter how much I trust him or believe that he would not do anything bad (I am nodding my head). He has less than ten rides on him and all horses are unpredictable. My game plan moving forward with Lito is to get a schedule going with family and friends so I always have someone with me at the farm. The sooner I do this, the sooner we will graduate to trusted equine citizen.

I think Sunday my cousin and I will do another All The Fall Things craft/bake/cook session. Earlier this week I was feeling the need for fall pumpkin flavored things. How 4f9bd57fdf06c591fbb3174fb379b2ddstereotypical of me, I know, but alas the NEED was real. I attempted to make pumpkin cinnamon rolls. I did not exactly follow the recipe…again, who is surprised??? Not a single person. I picked these partly because I wanted instant gratification. It called for the use of store bought dough! I could not handle the time yeast needs, I tell you. Anyhoo, I actually used the recommended dough and I think it is too buttery. Strange, right? It takes over the flavor. I did more on the spice front. More cinnamon. More nutmeg…the fresh graded…I can not go back to the pre-ground stuff. I added some ginger and cloves. Why not, right?! I added a dollop of cream cheese to the filling instead of milk. I skipped on the icing to conserve my calorie budget and I figured they would be rich enough. I was right, they are good enough without the icing. Do not hate me. I believe I will make something like this again, but I will spring for homemade dough. They both need and deserve it.

I also attempted making a pumpkin spice White Russian for a desert cocktail. I will let you know when I perfect that. It is not there yet. It might also morph into a pumpkin spice Milk Punch…I prefer Milk Punch to White Russians I think.

This best thing that came out of this pumpkin spree is that I made extra milk/pumpkin/spice base (you know, sans alcohol) for the White Russian…for coffee! You need to do this. Right now. It is good. Better than any pumpkin spice anything you can get at a coffee shop. I do not think I can ever order one anywhere again now that I have had the real deal.

Here is to hoping for some good horse time this weekend! What are y’all doing?!

FRIDAY

On By AveryIn Food, Horses, Life, MusicLeave a comment

FRIDAY, FRIDAY, FRIDAY! Sending good vibes to you, dear readers, to have a great Friday and then a great weekend to recharge your batteries. OK, yes, I am proudly listening to Brandon Rhyder today. It is helping me get all the works checked off my list! Give him a listen and cross all the things off our list!

Tonight I am having dinner with a horse friend from college! I have not seen her in about five years. She drove 9 hours to come look at a horse. Very exciting. We will probably hit up a tack store or two and then have a fun dinner catching up…and talking horses. Off to the farm for me after that. Sunday afternoon, my cousin and I are going to do all the fun fall cooking, baking, and crafty things we have been waiting to do! Get ready, come Monday (name that Jimmy Buffet song) I am going to tell you about them all. Then next week, it is buckle down time for wrapping things up at work and packing/getting ready for my week long trail ride vacation. Leaving a week from tomorrow!

Have a great one! Walk in love!

Your Light

On By AveryIn Faith, LifeLeave a comment

Dear readers,

I hope y’all have had a great week so far. I am grateful for this week. As you may know, I have been feeling a bit lost. Stagnant in life in more ways than one. I have come to think of this time as ‘in transition’ or a ‘growth period’ (thanks to a few conversations with friends). I feel like this week I have finally gotten to the lovely point where I can begin to embrace it and lean into it. Actually be open to the growth, if you will. I can finally feel and see my light shining again in this dark (blah, that sounds so dramatic). I have been more focused at work this week than I have been in months. Man, that is a hard one to admit. I feel like you, dear readers, are in part to thank for it, so thank you!  Thank you for letting me share my stories and for being a constant reality check. If you find yourself in the same position as me, let your light shine bright and do not fight! Embrace it!

Love,
aha

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https://www.etsy.com/listing/220556922/let-your-light-shine-before-others-bible?ref=related_listings

When you feel guilty…

On By AveryIn Faith, Horses, LifeLeave a comment

img_9009Today is a two cup of coffee day for me. I somehow forgot to set an alarm last night for this morning. I know, I know. I should just have one set for every week day, but I just do not function that way. Get over it. I woke up a little late and could not get moving. Darcy being turbo cute and cuddly did not help me either. 2 cups needed. I had one cup at home and part of another while driving. I am sitting at my desk finishing what is left, enjoying the morning quiet and stillness. If you are wondering, yes, I cleaned off my desk…well, by off I mean a spot big enough…to take that picture. Yes, that is a very riveting coffee photo. Please pardon the glare. Although, I am going to tell myself it adds to the composition…I should have made Christmas coffee today. I love Christmas coffee. Christmas music. Everything Christmas.

Anyway, I digress. I only have the amount of time left that it will take me to finish my coffee to talk with you. Yesterday I felt guilty. Like really guilty. Guilty that I do not ride as much anymore. Guilty that I am not doing more horsey things like taking lessons, going to clinics, showing. I used to be able to ride 2 to 3 horses a day while going to school full time and participate in clinics and horse shows on the weekends. I just can not flat out do that right now. My horses are an hour away from me. I work full time, you know that whole ‘adulting’ thing. Everyone is getting married and having babies (let us not talk about that anymore. I swear I feel like the only single person left). I try to have a ?social life?. Trying being the operative word. And I am blessed to have a large family here in town and we always have functions and ‘get togethers.’ Life gets in the way.

Do you ever feel that way? It does not have to be just horses. Anything that you love and do not seem to have time for at the moment. Read this. Thank you to Megan Inglis and Horse Junkies United. My friend shared this article and I have to share it with you because it spoke to me.

The thing is, I am creating that guilt. There is no reason for it. Do I wish I could do all of those things I used to? Yes, but that would mean I am not where I am now with the opportunities I have now. It is just a season. At the present moment, I do not have all the time in the world. It hurts that I do not have time because I miss my horses and feel that they miss me. It hurts because I feel like I/we are losing ground and not learning and advancing. However, they are happy and have more than they need. They get to be horses. We are all happy when we do see each other. I need to focus on the moments we do have together. The simple fact of the matter is, I am NOT not losing ground and not advancing. I learn from them every time I am with them and we are developing a different part of our relationship. It is all a part of our journey together. This season will not last forever. Just like the heat of summer does not last all year. Today is the first day of fall. Soon, it will actually feel like fall. Well, even if just for a moment here in the southern part of Texas. Do not feel guilty, dear readers. Have faith and ride the season out. Enjoy the moments and your journey. It is about the process. You can make it a tragedy or a party. AHA moments right there.

This a good metaphor for life, no?

Praying for the next season.