Idle Hands...

Ok, so I'm definitely convinced that the busier I am, the happier I am.  Today was a non-stop day, and I feel so much better than the days when I'm home, but with no clear focus.  I'm sitting, watching a fire burn in the fireplace, feet up, Boots cuddled up in the chair next to me, and just feeling fulfilled...quite the contrast to last night's attitude!  Aaaah, it is true that idle hands are the devil's handiwork! :-)

Ellie woke the house up this morning and got us moving by about 8:30.  We had a good time being a family together as we ran errands and prepped for the day.  There was an excursion to the barn, time outside, and some football target practicing...

Quite the contraption, my darling!

GOOD SHOT!!!!

She found her old walker, and really wished she were small again!

Uncle Jake and Luke were working on Daddy's office, but she thought maybe Jake knew where to turn the water on!

The beautiful sky

The dogs following

Knowing that our dear friends Tim and Pilar were coming over for dinner, I started the crock pot with a concoction I had formulated when I was trying to recenter last night: pork carnitas!  It was so freaking delicious that I'm not sure I want to share the recipe!!!!  It might take some convincing!  Dinner was fantastic (carnitas, salad with chile vinaigrette, black beans that we grew here at DPF, my Cheater's Chipotle Rice, and condiments) but the company was even better.  It has been so long since we hung out with Tim and Pilar that having them here really reminded me why we gravitated to them during our birthing class (speaking of which, I can't believe she's preggo with a second kiddo!).  The kids had a great time playing and interacting, and we parents had a good time catching up!

He looks so much like daddy, but with mommy's olive colored skin!

she loves to fly...

she loves to swing...

she loves her daddy, too

My future chef

Uncle Colin, Uncle Jake and long-time friend Luke Maschmeyer came over to work on the office out in the shop.  They got the ceiling/insulation put in, and seemed to be working for ever!  EG and I went out to offer them some support and beers, and EG insisted that Uncle Jake take a break from working and pretend to be a horsie...aaah, the joys of having a toddler around!

Just starting!

Colin using his feet to lift up the insulation?!?! Lord Almighty, it's amazing no one got hurt!

her reaction when he untied himself!

The dogs found a mouse up the tube! :-)

Congrats!

I'm totally wiped out, and not in a very upbeat mood tonight - I have lots to write about (including an almost sprained ankle for Ellie Graye, acupuncture gone awry for Boots, surgery for the afore mentioned Beagle, Jeffrey's arrival into town, business licenses (and my complete and utter incapability of understanding any sort of legal documents), and a horrible crock pot of what was supposed to be Chicken Chow Mein), but I think that I need to go meditate and recenter so that I can also remember the positive things that I have in my life...so no more writing about the haps right now. It'll have to wait!

Before I head off though I wanted to say thanks to everyone for  all the suggestions, ideas, encouragement and critiques this week!  As promised, everyone who contributed via facebook, blogger, email or other method was entered into a little drawing for a set of drink tags.  Random.org says that Sarah Koepke will be getting a package from DPF as soon as she emails me at DeerParkFarms@gmail.com with her address and her choice of tags that have been previously listed! Congrats and thank you!

Frantic Days

I woke up at 9:15 am and realized that the horses hadn't been fed, I was late to pick up Victor and Lorena, and Ellie Graye wasn't awake.  Wait, WHAT??? Not a peep?!?!? PANIC!!!!!  I threw back the covers, ran toward her room, ran full force into my chocolate lab's side, and as I stumbled, managed to hit the side of my head on the corner of my grandmother's mahogany dresser.  OWWWWWW!!!!!!! The dogs frantically circled around me hoping that my rush was because I was happy to see them.  As I struggled to wake up, I forced myself to open one eye and check that EG was still breathing...she obviously was.

Split Pea Soup: that's what I was craving.  I could nearly feel the warmth of its thick deliciousness as I thought about dipping a perfect grilled cheese sandwich into a steaming bowl of green mush.  Yummy Scrummy.  There's just nothing like the smell, the flavor, the texture.  Sigh. I think I did the right thing by making a huge pot of it!  Maybe it's the grey Portland sky, or maybe it's that I had a dream about Jon Cochran - a rock climbing student of my father's.  We used to always stop at Anderson's Pea Soup Restaurant in Buellton, California on our way home from rock climbing outings in Yosemite...could that be why I just HAD to have a bowl?  No clue, but it's a total possibility.  Go check out the recipe if you get the urge to make a pot of its deliciousness.

Mom took a container home, and I still had enough to eat, put in the fridge, and freeze!

The day definitely didn't cut me any slack.  I had an 11 am appointment with the dentist to start the repairs on my crown that I broke while sleeping. Yeah. I clench my jaw, and I clench HARD!  I was running on time until I decided to turn the horses out.  Sometimes those damn animals make me freaking crazy.  Avdoo, my perfect little angel in the barn, turns into an absolute monster as soon as he steps through the barn doors out to the turn outs.  His head goes straight into the air. His tail stiffens.  His walk turns into a strut, and watch out world if there's anything that threatens his parade!  We had to have a little tete-a-tete about his behavior.  I couldn't have been more proud of Frank, however.  He just stood there when I dropped his lead to correct Avdoo.  He just seemed to be rolling his eyes at his cocky younger brother.  I eventually got all four horses turned out, and was on my way.  As I turned onto the road, I glanced down at my feet.  CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still had my black rubber mud boots on...for a tenth of a second I contemplated heading into the dentist's office without going home to change, but like I said, it was only for a tenth of a second!

The appointment went fine...everyone loved their Drink Tags, and even though I was nervous as all hell, Dr. Samani worked her magic and calmed me down.  At least I don't have to take valium to make it through the appointment.  THAT is a huge accomplishment for me!

Upon leaving, I headed over to my friend Amy's to get some opinions on the drink tags I made last night.  She was very encouraging and offered lots of constructive criticism and ideas -- thanks Aim!  Check out the cuteness!

(Available in 8 different colors)

My favorites

Vintage buttons

They stick on almost anything!

That's MINE!!!!

I'm so looking forward to implementing all my ideas.  I do wish I could just "give away" my creations to friends as reader Mary Anthony suggested, but money is tight right now, and if I can get a little bit of cash coming in, I might be able to manage a few training sessions for the horses.  There have been lots of good suggestions and great feedback - thanks, guys!

My mother came over to visit with Ellie in the afternoon.  Ellie just loves her GaGa. They sat together and watched EG's baby videos that GaGa had on her computer.  There was one in particular that EG just loved - of course, it was from the day of playing in the fountains at Wilsonville Memorial Park!

Ellie is talking so much more now, it's awesome.  Here's a list of all the words she says:

1. Da-Da

2. Mama: Milk

3. MamA (accent on the second syllable): Mommy

4. Wow-wow: dog

5. Toast

6. Pan (Spanish for Bread)

7. Agua

8. Si (as in Spanish for yes)

9. Yeah

10. Geeka (Victor)

11. Na-na (Lorena)

12. Jay-Jay (Uncle Jake)

13. Key (blankie)

14. Baby

15. Ba (book)

16. Hot

17. Aqui

18. Pato (duck in Spanish)

19. Duck

20. Go (as in "GO, BOOTS!!!!!)

21. Eye(s)

22. Doe (oido - ear in Spanish)

23. Gay-Gee (Frankie)

24. Doo (Avdoo)

25. Jax (her very first word, but she rarely says it anymore)

26. Uppy (as in "up please" - also means "Down please")

27. Nya-nya (comida, Spanish for food)
28. Eddie (Ellie)
29. BaBa: Moon (luna), Ball, Balloon
30. Shhh
31. Kiki: excuse me
32. Za (Zapatos - Spanish for shoes)

33. Tinko (Cinco)
34. Uh-Oh
35. Un: One
36. Five
37. Tray: train

Her sign language is much more limited, more because I know so little than anything else.  When I learn a new sign and show her, she picks it right up!

1. More

2. Water

3. Milk

4. Food

5. Airplane (always said along with "Dada")

6. Bird

7. Open/Close

8. Help

9. Please

10. Bed

11. Grandma

12. Jumping/Getting thrown in the air (usually referring to the dogs getting a treat for jumping or daddy throwing her in the air)

Anyway, she's a pretty cool kid, and I love that she's finally out of the blobby baby stage! She's loads of fun!  Of course, we did spend evening trying to avoid horrendous meltdowns, attempting to feed her dinner, and keeping her from breaking Boots' back completely. I think she may be teething or something because she was an absolutely terror tonight.  She hardly touched her dinner, then would ask for food, but wouldn't sit in her chair.  She only wanted snacky food, and I'm a stickler about that one - gots to have good, nutritious food, not just junk! I ended up giving her tylenol, but I'm not sure it helped.  We'll see how she sleeps.

I was moving these bookshelves from her bedroom into the play room, but she insisted on having a little read before I moved further!

Just like mommy!

she takes such good care of her baby doll!

Give Away!

There are nights when I can't sleep because the artist in me awakens and I can't stop the "juices."  My brain scans through the pictures in my mind, developing new ideas, repurposing random items around the house, and scavenging through the many undeveloped moments of brilliance from years gone by.  I've often wondered why I get these surges of creativity - seemingly unpredictable, always all-consuming, and often times exhausting.  I have memories of my mother staying up hour after hour, sewing, sculpting, painting, writing - I never understood it.  Now, here I am - experiencing the same restlessness and absolute commitment to the assiduous pursuit of...of...of...what?  Drink ID Charms (the objects of my intense focus)?!?!? Hardly.

When I take a few steps back, and ask myself, "Why are you doing this???"  I don't really know.  It's like my leg.  I have to move my left leg all the time - just from my hip through my thigh...it's annoying, but I can't help it.  I can't sleep until I've moved at least 20 times, and quinine doesn't help (I self-diagnosed myself with restless leg syndrome).  These creative streaks are just like that for me.  I have to create. I have to invent. I have to move, evolve, and explore or I'll...I'll...well, I don't know what I'll do.  If I were to walk away from the impulse, I'm sure I would just move on to the next thing that needed to be done, but I have a feeling that there would be a constant void...

Who knows.  Does it really matter? I don't know...what I do know is that if I had even an ounce of business sense, I would be making tons of money off all my ideas.  Why can't I just have someone walk in the front door and say, "Ok, you keep doing what you're doing, and I'll figure out how to make this profitable."  But, that's like believing in the tooth fairy (who pays quite well now-a-days I hear!). So for now, I'm just going to keep creating, keep dreaming, and keep on hoping that one day I will inspire MANY!!!!!!

So here's the deal...I need solid feedback and ideas on how to get the ball rolling to start selling my creations.  If you can give me some attainable suggestions, advice, input or ideas you'll be entered to win a set of Drink ID tags (you'll be able to choose from a wide variety that I'm currently working on).  You can either post here or send me an email privately.  The winner will be chosen at random on Friday (using random.org).

TODAY'S HYPER-FOCUSED IDEA

Drink ID Charms

A set of 4

Am I on crack, or are these things totally fun?

So...would anyone buy these? And if so, how do I get them on the market????

Aaaah, Routine

Oh man! It's so nice to be back into the busyness of life at DPF!!!! I love the holidays, but I am so happy to just have nothing but the chores to do!  I love that life has its way of recentering.

There isn't much to say about the day.  It was the first time in ages I was able to spend an extended amount of time out at the barn. I pulled Avdoo out of his stall, groomed him up and had some amazing one-on-one with my big grey horse.  He is so smart, so talented, and so athletic I feel like a million dollars on him.  I do think he might be going through another growth spurt, though;  I had to drop his bridle another hole.  If he gets much taller, I'm not sure I'll be able to ride him!  Nevertheless, we had a blast working over trot poles, practicing dressage tests, and just being together.  That horse loves to work, and I even lost track of time.  It really was spectacular.

The rest of the day was spent organizing my craft room.  Seriously, I can't believe how bad it got over the holidays.  I found a whole box of stocking stuffers that I had forgotten about! Crazy.

Ellie was so incredibly happy to see Lorena and Gika - so much so, Mommy could have just disappeared! It was nice to know that she was happy and giggly and running around with NaNa while I was able to catch up on everything.

Other than that my day was pretty uneventful...

Oh, and...

Congratulations to my dear friend Anne-Marie Holmes; yesterday she and her husband welcomed their third little one into the world!  Welcome to the family, Ethan!

RANDOM PHOTOS OF THE DAY

GROW!!!!

Tonight I'm just straight up pissed.  I know I haven't posted in ages, and now here I am with my first post of the year saying I'm pissed.  But honestly - I just don't understand how people can be so blind to their own need for change.  People who never make the effort to move beyond their comfort zone get under my skin - and when I have to sit and watch the train wreck, it just pisses me off.

I've spent many years working on self-growth, pushing myself to go beyond the boundaries of everyday living, and I've forced myself to move beyond the injuries of the past -- not by blaming other people, but by recognizing their impact, acknowledging the pain, and in so doing, learning why I now respond the way I do, and saying, "Wow, here's an opportunity to respond in a far different and more healthy way."  There are even situations that I now find that my first response is actually a healthy one, and not one that I would have resorted to in the past!  The conscious effort has become second nature, and requires no more maintenance than a little self-pat on the back saying, "Nicely done!"

Still, there are so many things about myself that I need to change and know I CAN change if I apply myself.  The reward of forward momentum is in itself quite incredible, and it's difficult for me to understand people who say things like, "Well, that's just who I am" or "Well, that's just the way it is."  BULL SH**.  I know it isn't easy to just sit and stay with the emotion and discomfort of our past, our response to the past, or even the people in our past BUT if happiness, health, or stability is ever going to come anywhere near to residing in our inner being - that's exactly what we must do:  sit, acknowledge and then march forward with a new understanding of our own psyche; determined to change the years of habitual response. I suppose in some ways it's easier to ignore the past, to live in the past, or blame everyone else from the past but in the long run???? Hell no.  For me? Bring on the work.  There's no WAY I'm going to live with who I am right now for the rest of my life.  I want growth. I want change. I want to know myself more fully, more completely, more compassionately -- and I don't care how much damn work it's going to take.

And, yes, it pisses me off when people don't have the same dedication to self-development. So there.

All that aside, this week was just awesome.  Really, really, really, really awesome.  We were able to spend so much quality time together as a family.

Since we now have more family living nearby, we finally had the opportunity to take a few days to spend some time away from the farm - and that's what we did.  My brother Jake was awesome enough to stay at DPF with the dogs (though really, I don't think that's such a bad house-sitting gig), and  Darcy took care of dealing with Avdoo and Frank.  It worked out nicely since she lives right there, and has to feed and care for her own two horses anyway!

So with the animals and house safely covered, we took a little road trip to the high desert of Central Oregon along with Mom and Ed, Mark, Amy, and Will.  The Radiches have a condo there, and we were able to rent one right across the street. The entire time was incredibly relaxing and restful.  In fact, EG was kind enough to sleep in until 9:30 or 10 each morning (oddly enough, on her first trip to Bend at 7 weeks old, she had her first solid 8 hours of sleep) so for the first time in months, I feel rested!

So, let's see...what did we do?

December 31: Left DPF at 7 am for Bend, Oregon. Ellie Graye slept the entire 3 hour drive. That night, Mom and Ed babysat Ellie Graye, and Amy, Mark, Jeffrey and I headed out to a very yummy dinner at Zydecos in downtown Bend.  We were home by 11, but had a great time hanging out together.

January 1: watched football at the condo the entire day...well, the GUYS watched football, I never left the kitchen, and Amy and I shared a bottle of Jalepeno Vodka...YUMMMMMMMY!

EG and Will sword fighting

EG got him DOWN!

What is it with guys needing to hold footballs while they watch a game?!?!

Mom making DPF caprese for the game

Amy and her drink....

Amy and the kiddos

January 2: Took Ellie Graye swimming - a total fiasco.  Four weeks of not going to the pool, and she's lost it.  She can still turn and float, but there was almost no forward momentum, and instead there was a whole lot of frustration!  It lit a fire under my ass to get her to the pool at least once a week.  Went to Jessica and Chris Intlekofer's for dinner.  Julie and Brian Intlekofer were there as well, and we had an absolute blast.  I love that Amy and Mark fit right into the family.  The Intlekofers are such a huge part of my life, I'm so glad I'm able to see them as often as I do - even if we wish it were more frequent!  It definitely made me miss Renee a lot!  Just as we were heading back to Eagle Crest, Jack and Linda (Renee's parents) drove up - so I was able to see them for a few minutes which was wonderful!

The adorable Parker

Ellie played with him all night!

January 3:  Slept in, and then hit the road, but stopped at Hoodoo SnoPark so that Jeffrey could play with Ellie in the snow.  She wasn't having it, but we got some great photos!

no comment except....she's only 17 months

She was much happier in the parking lot watching the 2 year old play!

Pure, unencumbered love

On the drive home...it was gorgeous!

Now we're home, and Jeffrey has left for San Jose, so it's back to the drawing board.  I feel rested and ready to face a new year!  Here's to 2010 and all the growth it will bring!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

RANDOM PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

EG asking for her favorite activity

EG's favorite activity

Yes, she's holding a football!

Check out the following two photos:

these two aren't related or anything are they???