When it's too cold to go outside.

If any of my readers were around last year this is a post about us torturing the cat.
This year is no exception.
This year the gift in the Kitty stocking was none other than
NINJA MOUSE.

As he hopped down from the arm of the couch he lands on his unsuspecting prey.
Ninja Mouse must remain calm... focused...........

The smell of victory is so close Ninja Mouse can taste it. To the victor be the spoils, or to the mouse be the cheese. Something like that. Ninja creeps ever closer to the most vulnerable kill spot on a big cat.

The ears, From this vantage point Ninja mouse can take his prey down in one fell swoop. The big cat will never know what hit him. It's a well known fact that when you prey out weighs you 100 to 1 all you get is one chance .... one.........

I would like to introduce youz to my li 'le fren.
Wake up kitty Ninja Mouse is .... Kitty? Wakey Wakey.......

Ninja Mouse part 2 coming soon.

What did you do today?

Happy Holidays Blogger Peeps!
Today was very low key, that's how us Payne's like it.
Up early, open gifts, breakfast, tv movies, , cooking dinner, more movies.. You get the drift.

So this is my elbow almost a week later. Bone bruises are so painful I can't tell you.
The bruise actually feels like red hot pokers burning my flesh. I kid you not.
I actually now know how a rodeo cowboy feels and he does it for a living.
Screw that.


It is so swollen you can hardly tell its my elbow under there.
Once again my parents tag team called me praying I would give up horses and start collecting Madam Alexandra or Marie Osmond Dolls .When you are an only child you can be 41 years old and the folks still freak when I do crazy stuff. Dad calls and mom yells in the background " you are 41 years old, you aren't getting any younger.... yadda yadda"
They raised an independent active kid but I guess independent and active 41 year olds cause them to lay awake at night for some reason.

Goofy Catlin doing his pretend Shock n Awe over a new MP3 player. Notice Allie the GF rolling her eyes at him. She does that alot. :)

Logen starting his stream of gift opening. HE made out well this year :)

So for the in between times of cooking and laundry I got to spend some quality time in the studio in almost 2 plus weeks. The studio was a mess after Logen lived in it while my Father in Law was here, I cant work in a messy studio. I am a total slacker on getting gifts done, so I had to get on the ball. These are two pairs of earrings I have finished. One is mine and one is the BBFF's.

She is also getting a matching necklace.

I am also working on a " memorial" type of set for my Sister in law, as a remembrance of Joan my Mother in Law who died in August.
These are Amethyst, Aqua Marine and Aqua Aura beads. Gorgeous!

So this is ONE of my project boxes. I have a couple of them going at one time. So it's basically a dump and go method. This year I will get the beads and findings organized better, SP has some good ideas.It's all contained so I don't have to worry about beads going everywhere :) It's usually not this messy but this is a tough project and I was working with different stringing material and nothing was working. So there it will sit until I can get back to the supply store tomorrow !

I had a great Christmas! I got to do what I love with those I love.

Our Lord and Saviour was born today so let's celebrate! Another piece of pie may be in order :)

God Bless Everyone int he New Year!

Santa may come after all

It seems as if Miss Star has emailed her friend Jack about just how sorry she is for ejecting me.

http://journeysofcactusjack.blogspot.com/


thank you so much Jack for letting me know how sorry she is.

I will forward her email to Santa and the Naughty Pony List Committee.

EJECT ! EJECT !

Today I decided to wear spurs to remind Star that the HELL NO AND SPIN was unacceptable when we are working cows. She started to pop up and spin and I goosed her to say
" Move forward right now or else"

Her opinion on the spurs was EJECT!

I did a masterfully formed tuck and roll and I think she clipped my elbow with her foot on my way down. She stopped in the corner and was literally shaking. She was expecting a good A$$ beating . Not saying I didn't call her a name or two ...

So after I landed face first in the dirt, I got right back up, pulled up my big girl pants, spit out some sand, got my wind back and then I removed the spurs and made her work cows like a nice pony should. After about 20 minutes I realized I had really hurt myself and needed to go home. I thought my elbow was broken for sure.

Needless to say the only thing hurt today was my pride.

DAD: Don't freak out Star didnt get a beating and she isnt going to the meat packers anytime soon.

He did it!

Logens graduation from the OYCP program was yesterday in Bend.
It was attended by some dignitaries and high ranking Military officers who were key note speakers.
The Color Guard started by posting the flags.
This is MG Raymond F. Rees, the highest ranking Officer in the State of Oregon.
He is a graduate of West Point, Graduate of U of O with a Law Degree.
He did tours in Vietnam and is a former Chief of Staff for NORAD.
His accomplishments are a mile long, we were lucky to have him be a part of the ceremony.

Ok, so every graduate got to go across stage and shake hands with the dignitaries and speakers.
Logen is 2nd in line to go up on stage.

and here he is shaking a State of Oregon Representatives hand then next to the Major Generals!

Well the 5 months is over and he made it. He essentially made up 10 high school credits in a short 5 month span. Every kid comes out with at least 8, and the go getter's can get up to 10. Logen NEEDED TO get all 10 and he did! He said it was mad dash at the end but he made it!

He now has to go back to High School and finish the remaining of what credits he is missing.
The program saved him and his future. I couldn't be more proud of him. OYCP is HARD. It's not easy and the commitment to stick it out is something to be proud of. They started out with 156 cadets and there was only 123 at graduation. Most washed out during the first two weeks of pre challenge. ( boot camp)

The Holidays cometh

Sorry blogger peeps that I haven't made my rounds lately, I have been reading but not posting.

The holidays are as always an unusually stressful time for me add on S.A.D.D on top of that and it can get ugly.

Shawn's Dad is coming so I had to step up my decorating by a few days, but it's fine it needed to get started.

My parents aren't coming this year so that is a bummer, but hopefully we can make it down there soon to enjoy some warmer weather.

My plans for 2010 are in a state of flux, not sure what path I am going to go down. The anticipation may be better than the actual result!

I promise to be back to visiting everyone soon!

Happy Holidays everyone!