Itty Bitty Hooves

Is it Worth it?

People occassionally ask me why I’m working so hard to lose weight. As if the obvious wasn’t enough, to look better. Another reason is simply to feel better. After losing 70 pounds I can honestly say that I definately feel better, although I still have a way to go, I no longer get out of breath just walking from one end of the barn to the other doing chores. I don’t get out of breath just walking up the stairs in my house. Those reasons just tip the iceberg. They’re big, but not nearly as important as having seen members of my husband’s family suffer the severe complications of being overweight. Diabetes, heart disease, and more make their lives more difficult than I can even completely comprehend. It makes everything normal nearly impossible, and things we often take for granted like health insurance a luxury. Thankfully their are ways to get high risk life insurance so they don’t have to be without the necessary coverage, but those are things most people don’t even think about.

There are so many more handicaps involved in being over weight that go beyond the simple looks factor. Sometimes I ask if the injuries I’ve had lately are worth it, but they are. They really are. I’d do it all again, even though I may have gone too hard I think that’s better than the alternative of not hard enough, or quitting. There’s no quitting.

I don’t even think of it as dieting. It’s just the way life is from now on. When I think of how I’m going to eat, or what I’m going to eat, I don’t think of it as a way to lose a pound, I think of it as a way to be healthy, and my new lifestyle. It isn’t something that will ever ‘end’. It’s okay though. It’s not even about ‘deprevation’. It’s about decisions. Is this piece of cheese worth the calories… sometimes yes, sometimes no, but it’s a ‘conscious’ decision. That’s what has been missing often in my life. No thought about it, just pile it on. That’s a thing of the past, and I feel great!

Is it worth it? YES!

Holiday Wishes

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas. I spent mine working outside mostly. Finally got some quick repairs done on some of the run-ins for the goats, and got the last of the girls seperated from Mickey. Everyone’s in place now for having their babies. They should be due in February, but boy are they getting BIG now. Some of them look like they’ve swallowed watermelons already. I’ve done better this year in following my friend Sherry’s advice and not giving any of the girls grain hoping that is the reason why Polly had a bit of a hard time delivering her kid last spring. I was just really lucky in being there last year. But I pretty much new the exact due date because she had been bred by her previous owner using the typical dairy method of taking the doe in heat to the buck on a specific day rather than pasture breeding. Me this year I used the more traditional meat goat method of leaving the buck run with the herd of girls and do his thing when the mood hit, haha, that means I have no real idea of when any of them are due. In fact I only witnessed one of them getting bred.

At least all that work yesterday was good for my diet (workout). I haven’t gotten much workout type work in lately due to my severely injured shoulder. It’s been two weeks now, and although it’s getting better, it’s still a LONG way from okay. Instead of diet pills, I’m swallowing pain pills. Too many I’m afraid, but there are times when the pain is so bad I really don’t care.

Anyway, all in all it was a great day yesterday, and I hope you and yours had a fantastic holiday too.

Frozen To The Couch

My bad shoulder is really keeping me out of commission. It doesn’t bother me too much to be religated to the couch during the deep freeze days of winter, but today it bugged me some because it was in the 50’s. That’s right, you read that right the 50’s! After ice storms, and a blizzard that dumped a foot of snow on us last weekend, the temperatures have soared up to 50 and all the snow is gone. Not only that but I could fill all the water troughs with the hoses today! You will NEVER hear me complain about a day I can use the hoses to fill tanks… not ever. I did get some other outside work done like taking four of the expectant mother goats to the barn side to thin out the group area they were all in. The house in the group area is big enough for all my girls, but all my girls and their expectant babies is another thing so I pulled four out (the ones that are easily caught and lead through an area that has no fence containment around it in case of escape, lol, and brought them over to the big barn for the duration of their pregnancies.

I had some other things to do, but that’s all I could manage with my shoulder aching–and that does bum me out. It was such a perfect day to get all that stuff done that cold frozen weather prevents you from doing. In good health I would have even broke out the hoof trimmers on a day like today to get a little mid-winter trim in. Nope… not a snowball’s chance in a hot place. My back (shoulder) would have never taken it.

I’m beginning to think some of my problems are from my 13 year old mattress. What I really need is a memory foam mattress. I’d need a king size. I suppose I could get away with a smaller mattress, but hubby and I are not small people, and we are used to the space. Granted since the passing of our beloved dobies, we no longer have two 100 pound dogs sleeping with us, but still, when you’re used to a big bed, it’s hard to downsize. Whatever my problem is, it better be gone by spring. The work here really kicks into high gear with foaling and kidding season and I can’t afford a bad back/shoulder/hip or anything else at that time. Plus, when the weather is warm, no way I’m spending it on the couch!

When There’s No One To Blame

When you get hurt you kind of hope for someone, or at least, something to blame. Unfortunately for me, last week I severely injured my shoulder to the point I couldn’t even move for several days. Today in fact is the first day I’ve been able to sit up at the computer for more than a few minutes. More unfortunately there isn’t even anyone to blame, or anything because I don’t know HOW I did it. It came on me in the middle of the night so all I can come up with is I twisted weird in my sleep. I mean if you get hurt by someone, or something on someone else’s property you can call a lawyer. If you’re out of town, say in NC you can call a Raleigh personal injury lawyer, if you’re in Cali you can call one there. Just about anywhere you are you can find a good lawyer willing to take on your case in the event of an injury by someone else, but when you have no one to blame, what do you do? Suck it up, I guess which is what I’ve been trying to do. Limping and groaning through chores, and making do. Can’t call a lawyer, so I guess my injury won’t make me rich. I just wish it would go away!

I think I know what I’m getting for Christmas

I don’t own a lot of jewelry. I have a few necklaces. I don’t wear them very often at all. Once in a while when I get really dressed up for a nice night out. One thing I do have a fair amount of are diamond rings. I love rings, and that is the one type of jewelry I’ll wear just around the house. Not out doing chores, mind you, that gets messy, and clumsy at the least, and bad for the rings at the worst. I love them though. It’s the one type of jewelry my husband knows he can buy that I’ll truly appreciate. We were at the store the other day and he casually suggested we stop and get our fingers ’sized’. Just to see. Since we’re both dieting–not a totally unreasonable request, but I think I know what I’m getting for Christmas. LOL

There’s work, and then there’s work.

I love all my animals, but this time of year really tests my desires. I even had a chance to buy the boer goat doe of my dreams for a great price just recently, but at this time of year all I can do is sit back and think… one more mouth to feed in sub zero temperatures and all that much more water to keep unfrozen and cart out to the tanks. I passed. All the rest are doing great though.

Sometimes I think hubby don’t understand. I mean it’s like he gets a mini-vacation from the work of it all when he goes off to his regular job. Oh I know that’s work, but it’s not WORK. He comes back and does a day or two on the farm and it’s still fun for him. For me it’s W O R K. I told him recently that for Christmas I want a vacation. Someplace like Los Vegas. One of them fancy Vegas hotels where I can relax and feel like I’m on another planet. Not some little hotel that is just like any other hotel in the country in some tourist spot, but Vegas where the glitz and glamour are like no place else on earth.

Then when I come back I can relish the normalcy, and even feel envigorated by the cold and the work–okay, well at least I’ll be rested.

Great Taste For Gifts

Wine clubs can be a great asset when giving gifts during the holiday season, but if you love wine like I do, then they are terrific all year round. The Gold Medal wine club is my favorite. Not only can you select the types of wine you get, unlike some wine clubs that send everyone the same selection for the month, but they have a great newletter that comes with every selection. I recently received a bottle of Madrona Cabernet Sauvignon, and Madrona Merlot.

They come from the Madrona Estate in the El Dorado region of California. That’s another great thing about wine clubs. You get to find terrific wines from vineyards you wouldn’t normally find on your supermarket shelves.

I like the newletter that comes with the offerings because you learn about the vineyards, and the people behind the wines. This recent one came with an article on the Bush family who own and operate the Madrona Winery.

With Gold Medal Wine Club you also get to participate and give reviews of the wines you receive. Just like in a wine tasting you can judge each wine for appearance, aroma, body, flavor, texture, and aftertaste thereby influencing the future selections as well as giving other members the benefit of your opinions, and you get theirs as well.

If you love wine, or know someone else who does, a wine club gift is a great present any time of year.

The Truly Important Gifts

With all my thinking about holiday gift giving, one thing that stands out is that the more important gifts are the ones you give just because it’s important. Donations to charities, and other organazations that help others, people you may never see, but who need your help, are the most important gifts of all.

There are many types of donations that do not even immediately pop into your head, but keeping them in mind all year round helps in case you are in a position to give at any time of the year. Things like car donations. Many organazations accept used cars as donations to either auction off for money donations, or give to needed individuals who need transportation but can’t afford it. With Car Angel the gift is used to help make videos for kids and teens that are given to them. It’s an amazing organazation.

Perhaps you do not have a used car you would be interested in donating at this time, although judging from all the commercials many folks receive new cars for Christmas. If you are one of those lucky folks, why not spread the joy even further by donating your old car? If you don’t happen to find a new car under the tree this year, keep this great idea in mind all year round when you might have the opprotunity to give in a truly important way.

Great Shopping Online–The Safe Way

I have several people on my shopping list for the holidays that love jewelry. Buying for them can be challenging, but I pick places like those with wholesale fashion jewelry that really keep things in line for me financially, while offering up a great selection of various items that will always be sure to please. I am so glad that the Internet evolved the way it did, because it has made my shopping all year round much more pleasurable. No matter what it is, for the most part, I can get it on line. That makes me happy. It’s not that I’m lazy, it’s just that I don’t have the time, or desire to go wading through crowded stores. Not to mention most stores are a long way away from me, so it saves me a bundle on gas. Instead of driving for miles, I just click a button. Love it, LOVE IT. There isn’t much I can’t find. Even big items that require occassionally hefty shipping prices are worth shoping for online. By the time you’ve spent the money on gas, and that’s IF you can fit the item in your compact car (otherwise I’d personally have to wait around for my husband to be around to pick it up with his truck, or hook up the horse trailer to go get something really big–and that’s an even bigger gas guzzler) you’d have spent less on the shipping charges–and WAY less hassle.

With all the security inbeded in the websites today, it’s not a scary thing to buy online anymore. So long as you’re smart, it’s not going to be a problem. Never buy anything from an unknown site that you didn’t go to on your own. In otherwords, from an email ad, or something like that, don’t click on unknown links in emails, that can be especially hazzardous. Personally, if I do like something in an email, I will go to the store’s website on my own (not by clicking the link) and check it out. That’s much safer.