Christmas panic

Well, the holidays are sneaking up pretty fast. Thanks to a very shakey transition to retirement, I haven't had a paycheck for a month and we've been squeaking by on Denny's check, leaving some things unpaid along with phone calls to creditors explaining why. How demeaning. I've never been late ( a month late anyway) with bills or payments. Anyway, since hubby had a minor wreck and it used my Christmas money to pay the deductable, everything is going to be home made this year. Now, don't get me wrong, I've made things for family before for Christmas, but not everything! So, this has been quite a challenge. The granddaughters are getting hand made purses and hats, and it's going to be a toss up as far as what I can make for tlhe adults. I may cut up soda cans and "tin punch" designs in them to create votive holders. Who knows. All I know, it that I need to quit blogging and get busy. I'm so far behind, I'm going to have to send out a search party find my behind! ( and trust me, it's not that small that it's hard to find!)

Being spread thin!

My mother had knee replacement surgery Tuesday. She's 90 yrs. young and doing great. They already have her leg on a machine that exercises her leg up and down and also had her up the next day with a walker to walk to the door in her room and back. Amazing! Friday she starts the real therapy. She's doing so well right now, I hope she'll be able to continue successfully without too much discomfort. She's so tough, I'm sure she'll do fine.
We've already had two fairly hard frosts. I've been trying to find a spare minute to get into the garden and get the last of my tomatoes and peppers. There are so many green tomatoes I wasn't sure what to do with them. So, using the good 'ol internet, I looked up Green Tomato Recipes. I couldn't believe how many there are. So, I tried to narrow it down to three. Green Tomato Relish, Green Tomato Cake, (hmm-mm), and Green Tomato Pickles. Now if I can just find a minute to gather them up, and get the ambition to try these! Between sewing, sorting bills and deciding which one gets paid and which ones have a longer grace period, running the shop, keeping up the laundry, and running back and forth to the hospital, surely there must be a minute or two I'm not using wisely. ( like, maybe blogging on the computer?)
Sometimes, I feel so stressed out, I feel like just going out to the barn and mingling with the cats and horses and avoid all human contact. Humans can be very stressful. So much more demanding than animals.

Fall colors, horses, business

Fall is really pretty here in Indiana. This year we have a lot of red along with the yellows in the leaves. The combined hues are beautiful. I just wish it wasn't the process leading up to winter! The horses sure don't mind. The cooler the weather, the friskier they are. It's quite entertaining to watch them romp in the field kicking up their heels! Our donkey tries so hard to keep up with them but his legs are so short compared to theirs. I think he looks like Peppy LePew (the cartoon skunk) trying to run as fast as his little legs will take him to keep up. When he gets tired of being last in line in the race, he'll wait until the two horses are way ahead, then he turns and goes in the opposite direction making him feel like this time, he's in the lead! It's really hilarious.
But alas, winter will soon be here, and the snow and wind will be blowing. So, it's time again to get the shop stocked with the horse blankets. Many horses grow a thick enough coat so they really don't need any extra protection. But, for those that don't, they need a winter coat to wear just like we do. I've been told by many of my customers, that horses that were born in the winter are more likely to develope a thick coat. Those born in warmer weather have a tendency to have thinner coats. I thought that was quite interesting and a little something I can pass on to other customers that may wonder why their horse's coat isn't as thick as their neighbor's horse.
Business is usually quite a bit slower in winter months so I try to stock other things of interest for Christmas gifts or gifts for any occasion. I have picture frames, business card holders, candles, Newsboy hats, money clips, cell phone holders, and of course, my recycled blue jeans purses. They really seem to be getting popular which is great, but sure keeps my sewing machine humming! If anyone is interested, I have pictures of some of them. e-mail me @: denmarstack@aol.com. Hope everyone has a great week!

Adding photo lesson

Okay, okay. I know this is no big deal to all of you experienced people. But, my profile had a place to post a photo and I had no clue how to do this. So, I'm going to attempt to bring in a photo. No chuckling is allowed. Bare with me. Let me know what you think of the pic!

This is my hubby Denny and me. That's where we get the Den and Mar in Den-Mar's Tack!

My learning experience of blogs!

This is going to be quite an experience for me. I've been given the opportunity to join the blogging community from my sweetheart niece, Mel. In the process of logging on to the LPLS Learning 2.0 to learn to do this, and hopefully much more, I've started the steps towards a continuing learning process. And yes it's true. A person never stops learning, and it is truly never too late or too early. I'm 57 yrs. old, and I'm still learning something new every day! When it comes to learning habits, it is really a person's individual "learning willingness", if there is such a term! Anyone with the attitude of focusing only on learning an individual interest loses out on what's going on around them. Keeping an open mind and a good eye on everyone and everything that surrounds you each day can be a learning tool. In my business with my tackshop, my best learning tools are my customers. Every one of them has a horse story, something they learned working with their own horses, equipment dos or don'ts, breed differences, and the list goes on. I take in everything I hear, and anything of value and interest can be passed on to other customers with similar learning and teaching needs.

My hardest learning habit is setting an end goal. I seldom stop and think about a single goal of learning because I want to do it all! The second hardest learning habit will be using technology. All this computer stuff is scary to me sometimes even though I've had this for 8 yrs. I've mostly used it for simple things. So, I guess from here on, Katie bar the door! I'm going to try it!