Inquiring Minds Ask: Aren't You Bored Out There in the Country??

Never!!

This afternoon I made a Boston Cream Pie, one of my favorites, something I haven't made in a few years. I hope it lives up to my expectations! I usually just use vanilla pudding for the cream filling, but I didn't have any boxes in my pantry, so I made my own from scratch... TWICE. The first recipe didn't thicken up adequately, so I had to make it again. 4 eggs and 3 cups of milk later, I'm sure I would have saved a few cents if I had just used a box of vanilla pudding!

Yesterday, I finished my fall arrangement for our back porch deck. I bought 2 mums, a few pansies, and one ornamental kale, plus a pumpkin. Then I went across our lane to cut down some grasses and wild sunflowers for my dried arrangement behind the pots, plus I gathered a few pieces of limestone for more visual interest. And how do you like my lil cowboy roper metal art?

Sunday evening we saddled ole Murphy up with my new saddle and I got a few riding lessons from the hubby - sorry, we didn't have the camera, so no pics! Then he jumped up on Murphy and showed me some of the fancy stuff that he and Murphy used to do years ago. That was fun -- Murphy will even stand still while hubby runs and jumps up on him from behind!

He's 25 years old (Murphy, not hubby) and we've been feeding him Purina Strategy the last few months -- boy does that feed make a huge difference! He is so sleek and trim and muscled. We just switched him last week to Purina Equine Senior, and it will give him even more nutrients than the Strategy feed, so he can only look and feel better.

Stormy went to a trainer for the next month, so she can be finished to be a good header horse (team roping) for Tom. It was sad to leave her there yesterday; that girl's been on pasture all summer, so she's had a real easy life lately, and she's a bit overweight. I'm sure she's going to think she's gone to hell when the trainer starts working her - isn't that how we feel when we first start to exercise?!

This morning I put Kilz on the OSB board on the inside of Stormy's new shelter; this took a few hours, as the OSB board really soaked it up. On the outside of the shelter, hubby scraped sticky residue off the metal - he made the shelter with scrap he had on hand, so right now it's different colors. Once we get the sticky edges all cleaned up, and he finishes caulking a few corners, I'll be painting the outside a light stone color. There will be before and after pics once I get it painted!

Sooo, the answer is NO, I really don't get bored out here, very rarely. There's more to do than there is hours in the day. Even when I'm not working a full-time job, I still don't seem to have enough hours to do everything I want to do.

Prairie Nights

Do click to enlarge!

We may not have an oceanfront view, or even a delightful mountainview... but I adore our wide-open prairieland view!! It's infinitely better than sitting on my former home's front porch in the city, hearing cars roar down my little side street using it as a go-around, or the neighbors across the street yelling profanities at each other... well, you get what I'm saying, don't you?

I love our rural life!

Woo Hoo, I Won!

I'm so excited! I rarely win anything - not the lottery (ok, just a few scratch-offs), not any radio station contests, never a store contest, and not even a blog giveaway... whoops, we'll have to amend that last one. I finally won a blog giveaway! Yay for me!

What did I win, you ask? How about a pair of Lee Slender Secret jeans from Leanne Wildermuth's Intricate Art blog? I really needed a new pair of jeans, so the timing of this win couldn't be more perfect. The only thing wrong with this win was that I had to tell Leanne what size/color I needed... and I usually try on several sizes in jeans to walk away with a pair I love. So this was a big leap of faith. Well, my luck prevailed, and they fit TERRIFIC. I love these jeans! They have a lil bit of lycra in them - I adore lycra in jeans. I hate regular ole stiff jeans these days; the lycra gives just enough stretch to be comfortable, but not to be clingy. Ladies, give these jeans a try, I guarantee you will love them! Here's a link to Leanne's original giveaway, with a photo of her wearing the jeans - as Leanne says, the denim is uber-awesome. (Sorry, all my regular blog readers - no pics of me wearing these lovely jeans!)

But first and foremost, Leanne is a pet portrait artist, and her portraits are beautiful. Check out her blog and enter her weekly graphite portrait giveaways. And keep an eye out for more Lee jean giveaways.

Leanne has been chosen as a Lee Fit Ambassador - she loves being able to give Lee Jeans away to her readers (and we love winning them!). The countdown is on to Denim Day, October 2, when thousands of people across the U.S. will be getting out their jeans and donating $5 in support of this day and breast cancer research. Leanne is honored to be part of such a meaningful cause. She lost her own sister-in-law to breast cancer several years ago, so her participation as a team leader is a very personal one. Join her team as a contributor. Donate $5 and wear your jeans (even if they aren't Lee!) on October 2nd. Leanne's goal is to reach 100 people by October 2nd. Even with Christina Applegate on board, we can’t do this alone!

Please go to Lee's National Denim Day website to join her team and donate. Her team's goal is $500. As of today, September 24, they have $470 to go. Let's all pitch in and help them reach this goal! Thanks everyone!

And a big thank you to Leanne for my new favorite pair of Lee jeans!