Category: Living life

Weekend Coffee Share; Reflecting, Family and My Loves!

On By dprastkaIn Family is important, Living life, Love being Grandma, Memories, weekend coffee share26 Comments
Weekend Coffee share is a time for us to take a break out of our busy lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new)! Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and share with us! What’s been going on in your life? any weekend plans?

Welcome to my coffee share and I am enjoying a nice hot cup of coffee with my sweet Italian cream. I looked back and I have missed a few weeks as they just fly by at record speed these days. Here it is the middle of October and my birthday is right around the corner, another year gone and Wow, turning 29 again and again suites me fine! Haha, 29 as I reflect back I had 2 new babies only a year apart back then. The memories, but I digress. Can I get you a cup of coffee, hot or iced? or maybe tea or orange juice?

I wanted to thank you all today. I can’t tell you how much my life has changed when I joined WordPress and started blogging. I look forward to reading as many blogs as I can and respond in kind when I can and I am learning so much through blogging. I have had such great advice from you all in one way or another and I also have grown so very fond of all of you and enjoy all our interactions with one another, AMAZING!!

I had no idea what I was doing but I strive to be here one way or another trying to write interesting posts but find I am just sharing what I LOVE and with an audience that I never knew would be so warm, caring, sweet, heartfelt, compassionate – I am running out of words but I think you get the idea. I can say from the bottom of my heart I am humbled and thankful for my blogging friends, and may I meet many more! ❤ As I reflect this morning, I can’t tell you how much I look forward to sharing and writing my blog! I’m thinking of joining the 100 word count writing prompts. I love the imagination and writings of these posts!

My son sent me this photo of Miss Alice in Montana! They visited there a couple weeks back and it snowed! Her first time seeing snow! ADORABLE! My new home screen photo, of course! ❤

Family is just so important to me, so much so that my youngest son and I had a conversation about where we should live. I have really good friends and family that have had life long dream places they wanted to live, and they’ve made those dreams come true and have moved away from family to live at those destinations. I however do not have that “favorite” or “dream” place. I can’t think of one place I would die to live, and the thought of moving further away from family is just not going to happen and too sad to think about. That’s when my son said your destination is your family. You will live anywhere close to them, at least one of them since I can’t be by all of them all at the same time.

It made me think about my future plans, which are on track still to move to Arizona. I will be visiting there to help my family move from a house they’ve been renting, to a townhouse they will rent. They will be able to save money for a house by moving into the townhouse in November. I LOVE seeing Alice’s face every day on my phone! She makes me smile! 😀

My LOVES as I enjoy a day at the barn. I can’t share enough of my horses!
My girlfriends redhead mare! They have a reputation these chestnut mares of being a handful and she lives up to this reputation! Gracie is 27 years old and going strong!
Chloe and Zack. I so love this photo of these pretty ponies!

I want to be true to me and so I will always continue to share these pretty ponies. I try and share different sides of them both in photo and in the written word. I have so many posts about them, the history of us together and how I got into horses. I have loved horses since I was born, how can you say that you think? I truly believe there is something we are born with that is hard to explain, probably in our DNA. My Mom and Dad found me loving the rocking horses at Sears. They surprised me for Christmas when I was 2 years old. They said I knew what was in the box, jumping up and down and once opened and assembled I rode that pony every single day singing, “A horsie, a horsie” as I rocked back and forth. The perfect babysitter I was told! Haha, here I go digressing again. I guess I am in a reminiscing mood this morning.

I so enjoyed sharing coffee with you this weekend. I keep forgetting to share that the weekend coffee share is hosted by eclectic alli – oh gosh, I struggle with links but I want to give her credit for hosting this wonderful share each week! If you visit her sight you can find the link to where you can share your weekend coffee share if you are blogging one. Thank you for visiting and I SO ENJOYED having coffee with you this weekend.

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Diana

My Weekly Smile; Oct. 7, 2019

On By dprastkaIn Living life, Smiles, weekly smile16 Comments
What makes you smile? This is my weekly smile hosted by my blogging friend Trent! Thank you Trent as I just Love everyone’s Smile!

My weekly smile made me giggle as my husband came home and threw me a new hat. I LOVE hats of all kinds! Baseball caps, wide brim hats, there is just something about hats that I am a bit obsessed. I do not ask people to buy them for me, I usually do a good job buying them all by myself. But sometimes my husband (who has a large hat collection himself) sees something that he thinks I would like, or he likes and thinks I should have, which ever way you look at it this is what I got today! 😀

A new hat for my collection, and it will get well worn!

My hubby tossed me the hat and said here is a new hat for you and as I picked it up I thought why did he get me a camo hat? I actually just said thanks and set it aside. He told me it was new and that he took off the tag and he wanted me to look at it again?? Can you see what I didn’t see? Haha, it made me giggle as we looked over the hat. There are black, gray and white kitties all over this hat. This is my smile and giggle for this week!!

I also haven’t shared in a long while my pups. The shepherd mix we got as a puppy and has a good friend who I adopted from my daughter-in-law when my son got married and they had my granddaughter. So I lost my son but gained a wonderful friend, they are truly best friends these two lovable puppy dogs. ❤

What a funny angle, but she doesn’t sit still for a photo! Silly girl, very lovable and goofy!
He is such a sweety and is a bit older but doing great! They are BEST friends! ❤ ❤ ❤

This is my smile for this week. A new hat, some lovable pups and I am ready for my week. It is a busy week for me, but we always have time to smile, right? What makes you smile? Would love to hear from you, and thank you for visiting and sharing my smiles and giggles with me this week.

Happy crazy hat lady, loving her animal friends!

~Diana

My Weekly Smile; Oct. 1, 2019

On By dprastkaIn blogging, Living life, Love being Grandma, weekly smile10 Comments
What makes you smile? This is my weekly smile hosted by my blogging friend Trent! Thank you Trent as I just Love everyone’s Smile!

Can you believe it is October? These weeks just fly by and it is time for a weekly smile. This week I am making great progress on my granny square quilt or blanket. I will share a photo of all the squares I made, and then the next photo will be 6 rows completed or stitched together. I have six more rows to go for a total of 12 rows. Then I will crochet a nice border, still deciding on what to stitch around the border. This just makes me smile the progress I am making! 😀 😀 😀

I have shared this photo before, but I thought it would be fun to see the before and after!
I’m Loving how this is coming together! I am so excited!

Huge smiles from me as I stitch away to get this completed! I will share one more photo of what I want to make for grand baby number 2 coming in March! I can’t wait to get stitching! 😀

Sweet dreams little one! 😀

Yes, the sweet dreams is what I will make and I like the cute sheep too. All the patterns in the book are great. I am not sure what all I will make as I can make booties and a little hat or cap. I have 2 nieces that are having babies next year and they are due around the same time so if this blanket stitches together quickly then maybe I will make them all one for their babies! We will see.

I am enjoying this week. Starting next week I have an employee out on vacation for 2 weeks. I will be working extra days to help cover so I am not sure how much free time I will have to not only crochet but write my blog posts. I am hoping to keep up, but if I skip a week here or there it will be because I am just too tired. Working night shift and then working 6 nights a week can really wear one down, so we will see how it goes.

I LOVE sharing my smile, it is a simple thing to do and I hope you enjoyed smiling with me. What made you smile this week? It can be something simple, maybe the sun shining on your face or the wind blowing through your hair? 😀 I know being outside when I am not working on my projects always makes me smile.

Enjoy your week!

~Diana 😀

My Weekly Coffee Share; Keep Smiling, Life and Horses

On By dprastkaIn Family is important, Living life, Love being Grandma, weekend coffee share15 Comments
Weekend Coffee share is a time for us to take a break out of our busy lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new)! Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and share with us! What’s been going on in your life? any weekend plans?

I LOVE this photo of my daughter as we shared coffee a few months ago. I also took a photo of just my mug that I got served with the “D” on it, how appropriate and what’s the odds that the server at this restaurant happened to serve me a mug with the first letter of my name? Ironic, and fun. I could not help but take these photos as it put such a huge smile on my face! I am missing my daughter and thought what better way to share my weekend but with this cool photo. How is your coffee? or would you like some tea? Hot or cold, I don’t know which I love more, coffee or tea? and I was busy today making something that I wish I could share with you all! 😀

With the cool fall weather I wanted to make ginger cookies. This is before the bake!
After the bake and oh my, so DELICIOUS!! I wish I could share with ya’ll!

I’ll be honest, when I woke this morning I was feeling rather blue. I know this is normal as we can’t always be upbeat and happy day in and day out. What a melancholy morning and with the clouds and threat of rain it just seemed so gloomy and added to my gloomy feeling. I know you don’t need a reason to feel this way but I can’t help but ponder why and I got to thinking that I truly miss my family. My daughter who I mentioned and also my Son, his wife and my granddaughter. We are approaching here the longest time I have been away from my granddaughter and my heart aches to see her in person. I just miss them so much! I will survive and I know I will be visiting them in about a month or so. I was able to keep busy today and thought I would really like to share my thoughts here so that is why I want to KEEP SMILING! I read that smiling for just 30 seconds a few times a day can help you stay upbeat. I know smiling can boost your overall health as well. It is helping lift my mood and it always makes me happy when I share and write my blog. 😀

Feeling a little frustrated with my granny square blanket. I will have to take 3 rows apart as I don’t like how I’ve sewn it together. I have looked at many ways to put together and I decided I like the closer squares pictured which I chain stitched together. The back rows I will take apart, they are sewn together. That’s what happens when you work with these projects, trial and error! 😀

I shared a photo of all the granny squares in a previous post and I am loving how it is coming together. I am trying to get it completed because I want to start on a project for my new grand baby coming next year. I know I could just set this aside, but it really is more than half way done and I still will have time to work on the baby project once I complete this granny square blanket. I must say that part of why I want to complete this granny square blanket is because I’ve never made one and I want to see what it looks like completed. I will share once done so you all can see how it looks. I’m hoping really good. I love all the colors of it so its just a matter of making it look great all crocheted together! I can’t wait, I’m very motivated!!

These next 3 photos are from about 4 years ago. I was going to share with a throwback post but just never did so I am going to share here as they just make me SMILE! I need to smile today!
This was from the same day, I should make prints of these pretty ponies! They did cheer me up earlier today, I go to the stables every single day. It is my second home I think! ❤
Just something about this photo! Another one I should print and frame to see it everyday!!

I am enjoying sharing my coffee with you today. I forgot to ask if you needed a refill? I will say that this blog has really helped me as when I want to share it helps me sort out my thoughts. What do you do if you are feeling blue? I will say that my lower back has been a bit sore so I did some yoga this morning. I know I need to do more stretching and walking and it helped immensely so my blue feelings are pretty much gone now. Thank you for your support and I can’t wait for tomorrow to ride and work on my granny square blanket. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! You all help make me smile. 😀

Life is too short to be sad, so happy smiles help!

~Diana ❤

Festival of Leaves; Sept. 25, 2019

On By dprastkaIn blogging, Festival of Leaves, Living life6 Comments

I am so excited for Fall. We do have some Fall colors here where I live and so I wanted to share with you the Festival of Leaves. Dawn Miller at Lingering Visions, will be hosting this, for all Autumn leaf hunters. I look forward to fall color finds.

I spy a white guy peaking through the Fall leaves on the trees! Haha

And I just can’t help myself. I can’t forget my beautiful girl as I photograph some turning leaves on the one big tree near the round pen at the barn!

I spy another, as I call her name she can’t see where I am, hiding in the leaves behind the tree!

The leaves are turning as the days grow shorter, and the beautiful Fall colors show their colors. The nights grow cooler, how I love this time of year. I really wanted to join in the Festival of Leaves! ❤

Loving Fall,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Trail Riding Success!

On By dprastkaIn Barn stories, Horse stories, Living life, weekend coffee share12 Comments

Weekend Coffee share is a time for us to take a break out of our busy lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new)! Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and share with us! What’s been going on in your life? any weekend plans?

I am completely enjoying this month as we move into fall. You can smell it in the air as we cool down especially at night so the mornings stay fairly cool for many hours. The nights will start to dip down into the 50’s soon a very welcome reprieve from the summer months. I often mention how time flies as we get older, it just goes by faster each year so it seems. I really do try and savor each day. I have dreams for the future that sometimes feel out of reach, so instead of getting frustrated I try and concentrate on each day to each week. It does make life more fulfilling this way in my eyes! How is your coffee this morning? I had a delicious cup with my oatmeal and english muffin. Or maybe you are drinking tea? I have been having a wonderful time this last month trail riding on my horses, and it took some experimenting but I figured out a way to pony Zack next to Chloe with little to no biting. I’ll explain!

Miss Chloe and Zack, I ride Chloe and have Zack follow on the lead line. This is SO DIFFERENT for me and my youth training of riding Hunter/ Jumpers. This is a whole new discipline of riding that I am enjoying very much! ❤
I ride Miss Chloe with a short rein that is easy to hold, since I have to hold Zack’s lead rope as well. I am getting very comfortable with them both. TONS OF FUN!
I bought a trail riding muzzle, not very successful! He can still be annoying!

When I started on my trail rides ponying Zack I started with just his blue halter with a stud shank (the chain that is attached to the halter) and the lead rope. For those of you who do not know horses, the stud shank chain adds a bit of strength for us puny humans. Most horses weigh around 1,000 pounds give or take 100 pounds. (Zack weighs about 1,000 pounds, Chloe weighs just over 1,200 pounds. We use a tape that measures their height on one side of the tape and measures their weight on the other side that goes around their barrel/belly and approximates how much they weigh. We use it for treatment purposes, as I have to watch Zack’s weight because he has Insulin resistance a metabolic syndrome older horses sometimes acquire as they age. It is nice to have if you want to see how tall your horse is too!)

Zack knows his strength and my sister and I have had him just put his head down with us holding the lead rope while we lead him and he would trot off pulling us on the other end! He is too strong and he knows exactly what he is doing and so we have to let go or be dragged. I have been working on his ground manners with GREAT SUCCESS! And he hasn’t tried to “run off” like that in some years. But I do not want to lose him on the trail, should he shy or spook at something I want as much control of him as I can while riding Chloe. This chain works PERFECT! It goes over their nose and up the side and they have nerves on their nose which when pressured applied, they will comply. It doesn’t hurt him unless he tries to pull away. He actually LOVES Chloe so he stays pretty close, but that’s where the biting comes into play. He just nips and bites her butt, side or my leg as I ride! He is such a brat!!!

He can actually bite the lead rope through the muzzle I bought him which I show in the last photo above. He can grab the lead rope with the muzzle and lead rope in his mouth and then pull and pull on my arm. UGH! He then bumps Chloe trying to bite her through the muzzle which after awhile she gets VERY ANNOYED! STOP IT ZACK!!

I decided to try a bridle with a bit and I took off the reins. Low and behold he is so much happier with the bit in his mouth. He has an oral fixation and just chews and chews on the bit and rarely tries to bite as we ride along. I finally found a solution to my problem as the trail rides were getting more and more annoying with all the nipping and biting. I was about to give up, but it is absolutely the best thing I started doing because I can exercise both horses at the same time and he really needs the exercise! It is usually 30 up to 50 minutes of walking depending on the trails we choose to ride on any given day.

I am a happy cowgirl, thankful for my ponies and the fun and joy they bring to my life. I was asked on my weekly smile to share a photo of my haircut. So I will share what I took here. 😀 weekly smile

I didn’t share because I thought it was a little blurry in the background. I love my color as it always comes out great. Thank you Preference by L’Oreal! Hehe!
I can barely braid it now that its cut, but a small braid is better than none. I like a braid for the stables as I ride with a helmet. So now I have a short braid, better than no braid at all! Haha!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and thank you for stopping by my weekend coffee share! I am heading to the stables and am thinking this will be bath day for my ponies. Zack is starting to grow his winter coat and each year I always pray it won’t grow to thick. I know I am hoping for a miracle because he just grows a super thick coat like he lives in Alaska or something. I will just shave the hair off once November arrives. It is just to hard to manage in this warm winter climate here in So Cal. Chloe does not grow a long coat, Love that girl! ❤

Happy trail riding Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Sept. 18, 2019

On By dprastkaIn Living life, Smiles, weekly smile9 Comments
What makes you smile? This is my weekly smile hosted by my blogging friend Trent! Thank you Trent as I just Love everyone’s Smile!

This week I am smiling because after two years I finally got my hair cut. I know I make a big deal about my hair. Part of me loves my long hair but I do not like spending money on my hair because if you were a horse owner you would know that all our money goes to our horses. It is one of the most expensive hobbies/sports around and so where ever I can save a dollar – I do! I am going to say to the whole world that I color my own hair. I do have some blonde hair that grows naturally, but as I age I am getting some gray (I don’t mind that) but I also am a dark blonde, I call it a dirty blonde and so as my hair grows after I color there is a distinct darker shade growing from the roots. I can only go so long with this and I can’t stand it any more so I go buy a box of $8 dollar color and do all my roots really good. Then I am good for some months. AND to save MORE MONEY, I got a free hair cut!! From my hubby! Now that is something to SMILE about! 😀 😀 😀

I took a couple of selfies with my hair cut but to be honest, they are horrible. They are a bit blurry, I am terrible at selfies. I didn’t take a before photo so to be truthful it won’t mean much to show a photo of my haircut if you didn’t see the two inches that was cut before. I am smiling about my free hair cut because my manager at work came in a few months back with her hair all short and styled, including colored. As I was admiring her hair, I told her it looked great and she said it better look good as it cost her $400 dollars!! WHAT? I couldn’t believe my ears. Do you know how I am going to be spending $400 dollars next week? On my horses, of course! Because they are due their winter vaccinations AND Miss Chloe needs her shot for arthritis called Legend which will relieve the joint pain as the nights get cooler. Yes, I can appreciate how much it cost for women to look pretty but since I am a cowgirl at heart, all my money flows into my ponies. I’m smiling all the way to the bank with any way I can save a buck!

Miss Chloe needs a hair cut too! The horse next to Chloe is photo bombing my photo! Haha!
Her mane is all trimmed up nicely. We both got free hair cuts! YAY!

I absolutely love long hair. I braid my hair, or have it in a pony tail. BUT after awhile it gets out of shape and needs a trim. I am looking forward to being able to leave my hair down and/or use a clip to pull part of my hair back behind my head. I call this some up – some down. With the weather cooling down this was a great day to get my hair cut as I can wear it down and not get too hot. I hope you are having a great week! Thank you for stopping by my smile for this week. It is great fun to share!

Have a great week! 😀

~Diana