End of the Term = The Road Home

I finished my last final today!  It didn't go as well as I had hoped, and I really have no idea how I did or what I got in the class.  But at this point, I don't even care!  I'm taking a little me time tonight and finally going to watch the newest Twilight with my roomy.  My cousin will be here at 4:30 a.m. and then I have Catholic class at 11:30.  Saturday we're preg-checking and vaccinating cows for a friend, and somewhere in there we'll fit in some riding of the colts. 

Monday morning the cousin, my puppy, two horses and I will set out on our grand adventure home.  Being a Rainey, unfortunately means having bad luck, or rather no luck at all.  My cousin and I almost always end up in some sort of melee.  Its already started and he's not even here yet!  He got on the bus, and it wouldn't start, and now its supposed to snow and we have several passes to make it through.  Where's the justice I ask?!  It should be a good time and I know better than to say with any certainty just when we'll make it home. So here's to hoping we make it at all!


Stay tuned for an actual account.



Xo Loves,



Me

Beautiful Women From Our Past...

Women in the old days flat had class.  They were amazing!  There were a lot of new opportunities for women at the turn of the century.  By 1928 women were earning 39% of the college degrees given in the US.  In 1933 Frances Perkins became the first woman cabinet member.  In 1943 the All-American Women's Baseball League was founded.  In 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, starting the Montgomery bus boycott.

I'm really into history, and while I'm not a feminist I do think the women that fought for our rights were strong and unbelievably courageous! So here are some pictures I Googled that I thought were fun.

You may recognize some of these women, but for the most part it was just a random selection :)




XO Loves,


Me

The Essence of Compassion

I've been going to physical therapy for my knees for almost 3 months now.  It's really frustrating because they hurt, but no one can say with any certainty why.  I almost feel like PT is my second home.  In every room they have pictures, and mood lighting(haha), some better than others.  My favorite is a big picture of a Fox and her babies and at the bottom there's a quote that I absolutely love!




"Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and wrong…because sometime in your life you will have been all of these."


 XO Loves,


Me

End of the Term

Oregon schools are on a quarter system as opposed to the more common semester.  I'm pretty fond of it, because we don't start until the last week in September(that way we can go to the Pendleton Round-Up), and terms only last 10 weeks.  Tomorrow is week 10!  I only had 3 classes this term, and only have 2 Real finals.  Tuesday I have dinner and a movie for my Anthropology final, and then Range on Wednesday and Math on Thursday.  Friday my cousin gets here at 4:30 in the morning.  He graciously agreed to ride the Greyhound up here and help me drive home.  It's only 10 hours or so, straight, but I'm taking horses home and that makes for a longer trip.  Me in a rig, driving long distances just isn't a good combo anymore.  Lucky for me I've got a cousin who likes to travel!

I've only been gone 3 months, but Winter Break is the only time I really get to go home for any length of time.  And I am super excited!  My parents put in a new floor, and got new furniture upstairs, meaning the re-model is officially over.  I think... It will also be Ms. Macies family debut.  A lot going on, and a lot to look forward to.      Let's not forget, it's Christmas Time folks!!!!




Xo Loves,


Me

My New Puppy!

So as some of you know, I lost my heeler, Fanncie this summer.  She was only 8 and it was definitely not her time.  I was devastated. Fanncie had 2 litters, one purebred and one with an Australian Shepard.  I didn't get to keep a puppy out of either litter.  My plan was to breed to another heeler and keep one of those, but my Border Collie Aussie got to her first.  I was moving to Colorado to work for the summer so my parents fixed her.  But the Lord does work in mysterious ways, the first of October I got a text from an old friend.  He said that the female they bought from Fanc's last litter had just had puppies!   I was SO pumped and just Had to have one.  Last Friday, I got her!  Little Miss Macie is 3/4 Queensland Heeler and 1/4 Australian Shepard( I don't hold it against her).  Her daddy was actually imported from Australia.  She looks completely heeler with the exception of a blue eye, and I just love the little monster.  So here are a few pictures.....

Her mama, Skagit has a blue eye, as did her grandpa.  I'd like to take this opportunity to brag on Fanncie a little.  Skagit belongs to a stock contractor, and he said she's the best dog he's ever had.  Yep yep, Fanncie had great pups.  So needless to say I have high hopes for my little replacement.



Xo  Loves,



Me

Thanksgiving.... Last Year

I've spent a lot of holidays alone, some completely alone, others with other families.  The price I've paid for being a little gypsy ;)  It was hard at first, but got easier as I got older.  

I moved back home in 2011.  It was wonderful, I got to celebrate my mama and papas birthday, my sister and brothers, and mine with family.  Last Thanksgiving was a truly special event, and probably one of the most memorable.  My sister is the only one of us that's married, so they split Thanksgiving and Christmas up between each family.  Last year it was our year for Christmas, but not Thanksgiving.  So it was just my parents, my brother and I. 

A couple weeks before Thanksgiving, my parents were off visiting my sister, leaving my brother and I in charge of calving.  I got home from work one night late, and noticed some calves in the pole barn.  I drove up to the house, and got my brother, and we went back down to fix fence.  It was raining, pretty late and I'm so surprised my brother and I got along so well.  What I didn't know was that he had left a pot of hot dogs boiling on the stove.  He didn't go back to the house, and I wasn't living there.  The next morning what he found was a disastrous mess, but thankfully the house was still standing.  The end result was some serious smoke damage of everything in our parents house.  My parents were outraged, my brother felt awful, but we were all So thankful that the house survived.  The smell was atrocious.  My mom spent the first couple nights in a motel, my dad toughed it out, but shouldn't have been breathing that stuff in.  For a week, every window in the house was open, and it was bitter cold inside there.  I took the bird, the cat and my mom.  Finally the insurance sent in a team, and my dad moved out. 

I was living in my grandparents old house, and my mom and dad were staying in my dads old room.  It was so nice!  My brother would come down during the day and start a fire for us all.  We had family dinners every night.  Problem was, I didn't have a dining room table.  Or really any chairs, or anywhere to sit.  But it was so special to see my papas reaction.  He hadn't slept in that house in almost 40 years.  A lot of memories came back.  He only came in the back door, because his mom would get mad if they drudged their dirty boots through the house. 

Thanksgiving rolled around.  Mom brought down a card table, my cousin brought over some fold up chairs, we were set!  My oven wasn't very big, so we just cooked a breast, made some stuffing, mashed potatoes and biscuits.  It was a fairly sparse spread, but I didn't have anything to cook with.  So we did the best we could with what we had.  And it was very nice!  Even though my sister wasn't able to be there, it was special.  It was my dads first Thanksgiving dinner in his old house since the mid 70's.  It meant so much to him, and it warmed my heart to see how happy he was.  He told us stories of his childhood, him and his brother fighting, playing army under the house, milking cows and cream separating...  I didn't know my grandparents very well, so spending a holiday in the home they built together meant more to me than I can express.  There was a lot of laughing, a lot of whiskey and wine and a few tears.  It was a day for the books!

There's only ever been one other Thanksgiving that was as special.  So as I prepare to spend yet again another T-Day without my family I remember the truly happy and amazing holidays I have gotten to spend with them.  And look even more forward to going home for Christmas!


So Happy Thanksgiving everyone and don't ever take your family and friends for granted, no matter how crazy they make you!!!!!




Xo Loves,



Me

Sunday

As I'm lazily hanging out with the roommates, doing a little homework, I found this photo on FB. I think it pretty much just says it all.  Things we should all remember, and keep in mind for everything we do in life.
 So enjoy your Sunday, because Monday comes all too soon!




Xo Loves,

Me