After blubbering for an entire night and a whole day at work, I came home yesterday to find the proverbial needle in a haystack...better known as my wedding ring. I again looked in the house...nothing. I walked around where I'd been raking...nothing. We had been in the arena, but I honestly didn't think that it could've fallen off out there since so much time had passed from then until I'd noticed it was missing. Besides, looking in the arena was like trying to find a penny on a deserted beach. It's a sea of sand and divots and poop. I had to try though.
Kai'le and I headed off down the arena watching every step we took to see if something shiny magically would appear, but there was nothing. I had been cleaning horse poop out of the boxes and decided that would be my final look before giving up. I checked by the chute but didn't find anything. I checked where I'd been shoveling poop...nothing there either. Finally, I turned around, about to head back to the barn and there, covered in a thin layer of dirt was my poor abandoned ring.
I couldn't believe it. Of all the places I shouldn't have been able to find it, I found it in the headers box in the arena. I was so happy I almost started blubbering once again. I was also so nervous that I took it in the house and put it up for safe keeping so that I could finish my work outside. Now I can't remember where I put it...just kidding. It's back safely on my finger where it belongs. I'll be having it resized as soon as I get a second. From now on though, whenever I have to go out and work, it will stay in a safe spot in the house so it doesn't get lost again :-)
I think I may have to go and buy a lottery ticket now. It couldn't have been anything more than sheer luck that led me to find my ring.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
I'm Heartbroken :-(
So, since last year I've lost 43 lbs. I've very happy about that and proud of what I did. One of the side effects however, is that my fingers have lost weight as well. My wedding ring has been loose for quite a while now but I am very conciously aware of it - and entirely too busy to have it resized. That was until last night...
Ryker and I had been working in the arena and then I had been raking up dead weeds from around the front area of the driveway so that we can burn them later. It was chaotic. I was watching Kai'le, who was riding her bike, and making sure she was watching for the cars that never come down our lane. I was watching Brodee, whose pants were continually falling down, so as a result, so was he. I was raking. I was busy.
When we got to the house - we gave the kids a bath. We picked up toys. We changed sheets and blankets. Took the garbage out. Did the dishes. Fed the cats. All the while I never noticed my ring was gone. Finally, we sat down at the computer to write some roping information and I went to fiddle with my ring like I always do...but it wasn't there. I started to bawl. I know it's just a ring, but's it sentimental and it's dear to me. We looked high and low in the house and where we could outside, since it was dark, but to know avail. We'll look some more tonight.
Hopefully, it will turn up. I had to strap a toe ring to my ring finger this morning because it's just too wierd not to wear one. I went so far as to order a cheap silver and cubic zirconia replacement in case it doesn't show up. If it does, I'll wear the cheap one for outside activities and my good one for inside (after having it properly resized of course). Either way, I'll have something to wear besides a toe ring until we find out if we need to start saving for a new one.
Who knows - maybe I'll just go get a ring tatooed on - then I'll never be able to lose it. Wish me luck - I sure hope we find it!
Ryker and I had been working in the arena and then I had been raking up dead weeds from around the front area of the driveway so that we can burn them later. It was chaotic. I was watching Kai'le, who was riding her bike, and making sure she was watching for the cars that never come down our lane. I was watching Brodee, whose pants were continually falling down, so as a result, so was he. I was raking. I was busy.
When we got to the house - we gave the kids a bath. We picked up toys. We changed sheets and blankets. Took the garbage out. Did the dishes. Fed the cats. All the while I never noticed my ring was gone. Finally, we sat down at the computer to write some roping information and I went to fiddle with my ring like I always do...but it wasn't there. I started to bawl. I know it's just a ring, but's it sentimental and it's dear to me. We looked high and low in the house and where we could outside, since it was dark, but to know avail. We'll look some more tonight.
Hopefully, it will turn up. I had to strap a toe ring to my ring finger this morning because it's just too wierd not to wear one. I went so far as to order a cheap silver and cubic zirconia replacement in case it doesn't show up. If it does, I'll wear the cheap one for outside activities and my good one for inside (after having it properly resized of course). Either way, I'll have something to wear besides a toe ring until we find out if we need to start saving for a new one.
Who knows - maybe I'll just go get a ring tatooed on - then I'll never be able to lose it. Wish me luck - I sure hope we find it!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Back From Denver Means Back To Work
Well, I happily survived my trip to Denver. The flight there was great thanks to good weather, hardly any turbulence, valium and several glasses of free wine. I got an unexpected upgrade to first class, which I've never flown in before, and it was kind of hard to be nervous when there was a one year old little girl sitting next to me, smiling the whole time. I wasn't too sure the valium was working, I was still a bit edgy but nothing major, but I wasn't the blubbering idiot that everyone thought I would be after taking one. At one point however, I could no longer feel my toes, so I knew it must've kicked in.
Denver was nice, not what I expected. I left Boise in a snowstorm and when I arrived in Denver it was sunny and 60 degrees - an flat. I expected trees and snow capped mountains and instead arrived in a place that looked much like Boise. It was a nice city, and due to all the places that we had to be while there, I got to see a lot of it. I had fun with my co-workers and we managed to not kill each other, so that was a definate bonus.
Now that I'm home we have another couple of weekends before we go on vacation and lots and lots of work to do before then. This weekend we (mostly Ryker) rebuilt our pasture fence. The colts had pretty much laid waste to it last summer trying to get the goodies in my garden and it was in dire need of repair. By the end of the week we need to have the steer pen torn down so that it can be rebuilt as well. We were lucky to keep the 10 steers we had last year in it - there's no way in hell we'd be able to keep 25 in there without a major catastrophe.
For those of you who haven't seen it - I got the website up and running. It's www.luckystrykearena.com . I'm pretty proud of it and amazingly enough, it's had 475 hits as of this evening. Not sure who's looking, but I hope they continue to do so.
****Big news**** Coby and Stephanie are having TWINS!!! We are so excited for them. I guess if you're gonna do it - you may as well get it all out of the way at once! It's very cool. Also, Riley and Sunni were married on the 7th of March. Amanda has some really cute pictures of the wedding and they let Kai'le be a flower girl.
We love hearing from you, so leave comments if you want. We love and miss everyone!!!
Denver was nice, not what I expected. I left Boise in a snowstorm and when I arrived in Denver it was sunny and 60 degrees - an flat. I expected trees and snow capped mountains and instead arrived in a place that looked much like Boise. It was a nice city, and due to all the places that we had to be while there, I got to see a lot of it. I had fun with my co-workers and we managed to not kill each other, so that was a definate bonus.
Now that I'm home we have another couple of weekends before we go on vacation and lots and lots of work to do before then. This weekend we (mostly Ryker) rebuilt our pasture fence. The colts had pretty much laid waste to it last summer trying to get the goodies in my garden and it was in dire need of repair. By the end of the week we need to have the steer pen torn down so that it can be rebuilt as well. We were lucky to keep the 10 steers we had last year in it - there's no way in hell we'd be able to keep 25 in there without a major catastrophe.
For those of you who haven't seen it - I got the website up and running. It's www.luckystrykearena.com . I'm pretty proud of it and amazingly enough, it's had 475 hits as of this evening. Not sure who's looking, but I hope they continue to do so.
****Big news**** Coby and Stephanie are having TWINS!!! We are so excited for them. I guess if you're gonna do it - you may as well get it all out of the way at once! It's very cool. Also, Riley and Sunni were married on the 7th of March. Amanda has some really cute pictures of the wedding and they let Kai'le be a flower girl.
We love hearing from you, so leave comments if you want. We love and miss everyone!!!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Recipe of the Week
Here's an easy one! Great for a light summer supper or potluck dish. You can embellish it anyway you like. The one I make for Ryker doesn't have quite as many ingredients as this one - because he wouldn't eat it - so feel free to add and remove things to your liking.
Summer Pasta Salad
1 pkg. rotini pasta, cooked, drained and chilled
1 1/2 c. fresh spinach leaves, washed and dried (if you are feeling brave you can try arugula instead)
1/2 c. pepperoni, chopped
1/2 c. Genoa salami, chopped - or you can use any dry salami you like
1 jar artichoke hearts (preferably packed in brine - but marinated works good too), drained
1 small can sliced black olives
1/4 c. red onion, finely diced
1/2 c. red or green bell pepper, chopped
3/4 c. Parmesan cheese, shredded
1/2 a bottle Bernstein's 4 cheese Italian salad dressing (you can use more if you like)
chopped fresh basil and oregano to taste
Salt and ground pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients - except dressing - together in a large non-caustic bowl (no metal). Add as much of the dressing as you like. I prefer mine to have a little more dressing. Add the fresh herbs and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate at least two hours before serving to let the flavors meld. The longer this sits - the better it tastes. If you keep it well covered and stir it every day or so - it will stay good for at least a week. Serve with crusty French bread for a nice light supper.
Summer Pasta Salad
1 pkg. rotini pasta, cooked, drained and chilled
1 1/2 c. fresh spinach leaves, washed and dried (if you are feeling brave you can try arugula instead)
1/2 c. pepperoni, chopped
1/2 c. Genoa salami, chopped - or you can use any dry salami you like
1 jar artichoke hearts (preferably packed in brine - but marinated works good too), drained
1 small can sliced black olives
1/4 c. red onion, finely diced
1/2 c. red or green bell pepper, chopped
3/4 c. Parmesan cheese, shredded
1/2 a bottle Bernstein's 4 cheese Italian salad dressing (you can use more if you like)
chopped fresh basil and oregano to taste
Salt and ground pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients - except dressing - together in a large non-caustic bowl (no metal). Add as much of the dressing as you like. I prefer mine to have a little more dressing. Add the fresh herbs and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate at least two hours before serving to let the flavors meld. The longer this sits - the better it tastes. If you keep it well covered and stir it every day or so - it will stay good for at least a week. Serve with crusty French bread for a nice light supper.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Trying to stay awake...
Well...it's 1:43 am and I have been on a conference call for work since 10 pm. It's supposed to last until 2 but they are talking about extending it another hour because the first phase of testing (which was supposed to take an hour and twenty minutes) hasn't been completed yet. We won't even make it to the second phase of testing on this call. Fortunately, this is my last night on call for a couple of weeks so I won't need to be on the subsequent call.
I'm having a very hard time staying awake because what my role in all this is, is to point telephone numbers to the different locations that they need them to route to to do the testing. If testing was going well, I would have plenty to do. Since it isn't...here I sit...blogging. This is after I added another cheesecake to my menu, played about 200 hands of blackjack on Yahoo games and another 200 hands of Pyramids on Yahoo games.
The only bright side to all of this is that I get to work from home tomorrow and don't have to wake up, try to get ready in what would be a semi-comatose state (forget about looking presentable) and drive in to the office. Plus, because this is going to take at least 4 hours (I'm betting closer to 5 when all is said and done) - I do get to sleep in a bit and won't actually have to be online until my first conference call at 11:30.
I can't wait to read this on the blog tomorrow and see if it is coherent. At this point I really can't tell. I could ramble on but I won't bore everyone with my on-call duty :-)
I'm having a very hard time staying awake because what my role in all this is, is to point telephone numbers to the different locations that they need them to route to to do the testing. If testing was going well, I would have plenty to do. Since it isn't...here I sit...blogging. This is after I added another cheesecake to my menu, played about 200 hands of blackjack on Yahoo games and another 200 hands of Pyramids on Yahoo games.
The only bright side to all of this is that I get to work from home tomorrow and don't have to wake up, try to get ready in what would be a semi-comatose state (forget about looking presentable) and drive in to the office. Plus, because this is going to take at least 4 hours (I'm betting closer to 5 when all is said and done) - I do get to sleep in a bit and won't actually have to be online until my first conference call at 11:30.
I can't wait to read this on the blog tomorrow and see if it is coherent. At this point I really can't tell. I could ramble on but I won't bore everyone with my on-call duty :-)
Friday, February 13, 2009
Busy Bee's
I swear we go from the most boring people on the planet to having not enough time in the day in 60 seconds or less! I've been a bad blogger...sorry. I'm back though and have lots of news to report.
First of all, a big congrats to my sister-in-law and brother-in-law Stephanie and Coby. After lots of trying (which can't be all bad!) and the help of a little modern science - Stephanie is going to have a baby!!! We are so excited for both of them and can't wait to welcome our new little niece or nephew into the world. Kai'le is also thrilled to be getting a new little cousin.
Congrats also to Riley and Sunni. They will be getting married on March 7th and will be welcoming a new little one as well sometime this summer.
And...last but not least - congrats to one of my oldest and dearest friends Kristi Smith, she and her husband Ryan will be welcoming their 4th little monkey into the world here in the next few months...HOLY CRAP IT'S A BABY BOOM - HOPE IT ISN'T CONTAGIOUS!!!
Ryker and I have been busy trying to get things in order for our roping club this Spring. I actually published and sent out a newsletter to the previous (and hopefully continuing) members to let them know the happenings around the Jones house. Some of you may know that we started a business this past summer for the roping club and we call it Stryker Stables. We decided that our arena should have a name as well. We settled on Lucky Stryke Arena and made a (we think) totally awesome logo for it. I was trying to download it here - but the blog doesn't recognize the power point format that it's in. Basically, it's a four leaf clover with a lightening bolt hitting directly in the center of it. Go figure...Ryker, four leaf clovers and lightening bolts...surprise, surprise!
To go along with our sweet new logo we have decided to take the steer by the horns (literally) and put on a summer roping series. We have commissioned 25 steers and a few fields of hay and will be producing ropings from May thru September for headers and heelers that are 2 1/2's an under. We are currently in negotiations with ACTRA to have our arena recognized as an affiliate - which will take care of insurance costs - and we've gotten two confirmed sponsors and are trying to work out a deal with a third. Amazing!!! People are giving us money to do what we love!
Needless to say, it's been busy. Ryker will be flying to California on the 20th to be a redneck for a weekend with my mom at the NASCAR race in Fontana. They've got really cool tickets that allow them to have breakfast and lunch with the drivers and then they get special seating in the grandstands. They will be with Kevin Harvik, Jeff Burton and the rest of the Childress racing team. Should be a good time and my mom will get some, not so free, electrical work done around the house. Then he and the kids will be off to Ogden on the 6th for Riley's wedding the next day. Hopefully they will make it back in time on Sunday to take me to the airport so I can be off to Denver. Then within three weeks will be off on vacation to Utah. Then it's back to work both in the office and at home to get ready for summer and lots and lots of roping fun. When you put it in that kind of perspective, summer will be here before we know it. Also when you put it in that perspective, it kind of sounds like we're SCREWED!!! But then again, in Spring time, when aren't we. Much love to all and I will be more diligent in the future with the blog.
P.S. I'm going to be building a website for the roping club and team roping series. I'll let you know when it's up and running and give you the URL - visit it often so it looks like we have lots of fans!!!
First of all, a big congrats to my sister-in-law and brother-in-law Stephanie and Coby. After lots of trying (which can't be all bad!) and the help of a little modern science - Stephanie is going to have a baby!!! We are so excited for both of them and can't wait to welcome our new little niece or nephew into the world. Kai'le is also thrilled to be getting a new little cousin.
Congrats also to Riley and Sunni. They will be getting married on March 7th and will be welcoming a new little one as well sometime this summer.
And...last but not least - congrats to one of my oldest and dearest friends Kristi Smith, she and her husband Ryan will be welcoming their 4th little monkey into the world here in the next few months...HOLY CRAP IT'S A BABY BOOM - HOPE IT ISN'T CONTAGIOUS!!!
Ryker and I have been busy trying to get things in order for our roping club this Spring. I actually published and sent out a newsletter to the previous (and hopefully continuing) members to let them know the happenings around the Jones house. Some of you may know that we started a business this past summer for the roping club and we call it Stryker Stables. We decided that our arena should have a name as well. We settled on Lucky Stryke Arena and made a (we think) totally awesome logo for it. I was trying to download it here - but the blog doesn't recognize the power point format that it's in. Basically, it's a four leaf clover with a lightening bolt hitting directly in the center of it. Go figure...Ryker, four leaf clovers and lightening bolts...surprise, surprise!
To go along with our sweet new logo we have decided to take the steer by the horns (literally) and put on a summer roping series. We have commissioned 25 steers and a few fields of hay and will be producing ropings from May thru September for headers and heelers that are 2 1/2's an under. We are currently in negotiations with ACTRA to have our arena recognized as an affiliate - which will take care of insurance costs - and we've gotten two confirmed sponsors and are trying to work out a deal with a third. Amazing!!! People are giving us money to do what we love!
Needless to say, it's been busy. Ryker will be flying to California on the 20th to be a redneck for a weekend with my mom at the NASCAR race in Fontana. They've got really cool tickets that allow them to have breakfast and lunch with the drivers and then they get special seating in the grandstands. They will be with Kevin Harvik, Jeff Burton and the rest of the Childress racing team. Should be a good time and my mom will get some, not so free, electrical work done around the house. Then he and the kids will be off to Ogden on the 6th for Riley's wedding the next day. Hopefully they will make it back in time on Sunday to take me to the airport so I can be off to Denver. Then within three weeks will be off on vacation to Utah. Then it's back to work both in the office and at home to get ready for summer and lots and lots of roping fun. When you put it in that kind of perspective, summer will be here before we know it. Also when you put it in that perspective, it kind of sounds like we're SCREWED!!! But then again, in Spring time, when aren't we. Much love to all and I will be more diligent in the future with the blog.
P.S. I'm going to be building a website for the roping club and team roping series. I'll let you know when it's up and running and give you the URL - visit it often so it looks like we have lots of fans!!!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Recipe of the Week
Slow Cooker BBQ Pork Ribs
4 lbs. country style pork ribs, boneless
5 cloves garlic, sliced thin
salt and pepper
3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. honey
2 tbsp. tabasco sauce
3 jalapenos, stemmed and sliced in 1/2 lengthwise
onion powder, cayenne pepper, garlic powder to taste
2 c. of your favorite BBQ sauce
1 c. beef stock or broth
Wash pork ribs and place in slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients and stir carefully until everything is well combined. Place slow cooker setting on lowest notch - 8 to 10 hours. You'll need to start these first thing in the morning to have them ready for dinner. Once they've finished cooking you can make a glaze for them by straining two cups of the liquid (you'll need to let it sit for a few minutes and then skim off the fat) into a pan. Bring to a boil. Add salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste. Combine 2 tbsp. corn startch with 2 tbsp. water and wisk in to hot mixture. Strain again to remove any lumps and pour over ribs.
I serve this with garlic and cheese mashed potatoes and green beans.
4 lbs. country style pork ribs, boneless
5 cloves garlic, sliced thin
salt and pepper
3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. honey
2 tbsp. tabasco sauce
3 jalapenos, stemmed and sliced in 1/2 lengthwise
onion powder, cayenne pepper, garlic powder to taste
2 c. of your favorite BBQ sauce
1 c. beef stock or broth
Wash pork ribs and place in slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients and stir carefully until everything is well combined. Place slow cooker setting on lowest notch - 8 to 10 hours. You'll need to start these first thing in the morning to have them ready for dinner. Once they've finished cooking you can make a glaze for them by straining two cups of the liquid (you'll need to let it sit for a few minutes and then skim off the fat) into a pan. Bring to a boil. Add salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste. Combine 2 tbsp. corn startch with 2 tbsp. water and wisk in to hot mixture. Strain again to remove any lumps and pour over ribs.
I serve this with garlic and cheese mashed potatoes and green beans.
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