The House of Payne

Well, the blog has taken a back seat lately due to fabulous weather and some home DIY projects.
Saturday night we took a break and went to the Portland Polish Festival.
This is Ania ( from Poland) she is in my book club. She is battling breast cancer right now and under that cute wig is a bald head. Her normal hair is blond and super curly, so no worries it wont come back curly!
She helps run the Portland Polish School at St. Stanislaus Parish in Portland, the only Polish Roman Catholic Church here.

This was dinner , sausage Pierogi and Hunter Stew. So good Calorie Free ! :)
We went to the School first to check out some Polish History and have dessert FIRST :)
The Doughnuts ( Pączki) were yummy, the other cookies not so much.
But it's all for a good cause and fund raising.

Got to love the Chicken dance. Next year we will participate, we were both tired from painting and DIY projects all day. I am cheap date, beer and sausage and the chicken dance. The Costumes were awesome and the pottery I have to have someday.
I have a " thing" for art glass and pottery. Not quite like a Cat Lady, but close.

This guy was the announcer and Dance steward. Polka isn't Polka without an accordion!
This was a fun event and look forward to getting my Chicken Polka mojo for next year.
Shawns Great Grandpa were from Poland , we would love to travel there someday.

Next is a sneak peek at the guest room. First new butter creamy yellow paint, which covered up the ugly LEMON that Shawn picked. Not ugly I guess, but too bright. yikes.
Then new baseboards, and hand cleaning and scraping goop off the wood floors.
All hands and knees folks.

The bed is from IKEA and the tables and dresser are French Provincial that I had in MY ROOM as a little girl. they are almost 40 years old. They will go great with my French/Asian inspired , cozy guest room. Picture's aren't hung, new closet doors need to be hung etc, basically the room is still undressed.
I will post pictures as soon as this project is finally finished.
I hurt so bad from up and down the ladder, on the hard floor and a stint of holding the baseboards out the side window of the pickup on the way home from Lowe's. 41 is feeling crickity and old today.

Who wants to be the first guest????? I promise cupcakes and cable tv.

lots of small things make a big thing

I let the boys got to Pendleton Round up by themselves. Long story but I needed some quiet time like NOW. With Shawn's Sleep Apnea surgery and painful recovery, The sudden and unexpected death of his Mom and then Shawn getting nasty case of MRSA. I needed to sit quietly and chiil-lax at home.. ALONE...

They'll be back today, but I have the guest room project to get underway anyway.

I had no desire to go this year which I think threw Shawn for a loop, I love going, but this year... well.... being home alone sounded better.

I'm on the fence about selling Star again, another long story, Star isn't the type of horse that has the In it to win it attitude. To do competitive trail and LD endurance she needs to at least be brave enough to go first. She is happy being LAST. My Mare Blu, you never found her last she was always way upfront and doing her pimp strut that no horse could even think about keeping up with. Maybe a TWH, but it would be difficult. Star? She'll get there when she gets there.

I like a brave horse, mellow and brave are not the same thing, Star is mellow but not brave and certainly NOT competitive. She was born to be a show glamour pony. She likes to go to shows.
They don't have goats there.

well, tomorrow I will post after pics of the guest room transformation. The paint may be to LEMON-Y, so we'll have to see if it works!

Forgot to tell the Housesitter a very important detail...

that my house has a ghost.

Her name is Christine Smoll and she was the previous owner who died on the bathroom. She was waiting for a kidney transplant. She was a deaf mute and had adopted a child from China named Molly. Molly's room is now my office.

So Poor Buzz, got visited by Christine. This has also happened to a previous house sitter who called me frantic she had just had a woman in a nightgown by the bed. TWICE....

OOPS.. .did I forget to mention that? I had to pay her extra.

I have seen Christine off and on for years, she comes around when we have guests mostly. She must have been a woman that liked company.

Buzz got the heavy footsteps and the cold stale air that goes through you. Yeah, I don't love that part. I get things that move, a deep heavy presence over my shoulder and her personal fav , clanging crap in the kitchen and standing in the kitchen doorway ALOT.

Well, there goes my house sitter. Gonna have to find another SUCKER...

You bad man go away....

Well, it was the time of year again. The State Fair.
IF anyone remembers this post, it's about the Camelid Species having a distaste for Shawn.
This has been proven time and time again..
So what would be the fair without some Llama moments ??

Oh this one... Not so happy... He immediately started pacing and giving Shawn the " one eye".
Then he got his buddies in on it.

This one was SO NOT loving Shawn. IF you could have seen the two of us laughing while the Llama owners were unaware that there was Stranger Danger in their midst !

Poor Shawn, no Llama love..

I plan on having Llamas someday, so he needs to use different soap or bring treats or something.

Surry with the fringe on top

Except my Surry for the whole times was a one ton Dodge pickup. OMG don't buy one people, they are ROUGH. I think the Surry would be more comfy.
As many of you know I have been in Okra-Homa for the last two weeks.
Shawn actually stopped and pulled over on the highway to tell me to take a picture of this. We were leaving Texas ( my preferred residence) and coming back into ... see below...
These are a couple of heart felt pictures I took at the graveside service while they were lowering her casket in to the ground.

Saturday night AFTEr the funeral, the whole Payne side of the family got together for some adult beverages.
This is Aunt Mary Jane and cousin Jennifer. BOTH of them put their boobs in my face that night. Which resulted in my slight concussion and back ache for a few days. I have officially passed initiation and am now a Payne. Yeah me....

Uh Oh.... Someone got into the Hot Dam drinkie a tad too much and got herself a black eye and some Bottle Flu.

So how does one spouse make it up to the other spouse on their wedding anniversary?

They take her to SONIC !Thats right, Sonic. For a burger and a XXL Cherry limeade.
The Sonic in the NW , just don't seem to make it as good as they do down there.

Ok, so here is some more hickville fun. Catfishing with a trot line. this sucker weighed 30 pounds. Note to self: Catfish is disgusting to look at and to eat. Ga-ROss.

Oh now this was as special treat. Some not so legal fishing on the river.
No fish were harmed this day.
Let's just say we wernt using poles and bait.

Right next to the Cemetery is a pasture full of these beauties. This one had a bead on me the whole time, while the rest of the herd was wandering off, she stayed behind and watched my very carefully. If I moved she moved.....

I wonder if I could teach this one to ride? I'd have a matching set. !

There are more fun pics to come! I even have some fun video of how to train cows to race.
Stay tuned!

Made it home

We finally made it home last night about 10 pm. The whole trip was an ordeal as anyone might guess. It was a whirlwind the minute we stepped off the plane. Last minute funeral arrangements, family visits, cleaning up , grief and this weird sense of numbness that you just cant describe.

I will say however watching my husband be so embattled with sadness and grief was heart wrenching and I just wanted to crawl inside him and heal his aching heart. AS I prayed over him at night, it was so surreal. I don't wish it on anyone.

There was no good bye, no preparing, she was just ........gone.....

I will post pictures after I get home from the barn tonight.

LOTS OF MOO COWS :)