Tag: #busydays

Weekend Coffee Share; A Very Busy Week

On By dprastkaIn Family is important, Love being Grandma, weekend coffee share27 Comments
Thinking about my Grand babies every day! I can’t help myself, he’s my lead in to my coffee share!

Welcome to my coffee share where we share the weeks happening or what we will be up to this weekend. I have had such a busy week, I think I am getting busier instead of what most people have been doing and that is staying inside and probably fighting boredom. I am not trying to defy the staying at home orders and those that follow me know that I am a essential worker and work full-time in a Veterinary Lab and I own two horses. So I am always on the go and I enjoy my gardening too! Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I just had to share baby Teddy again, to be able to hold him in my arms, oh my, just thinking about that makes me sad (because I’m so far away) and joyful all at the same time! Love you grand babies!! Missing Alice, my grand daughter too. ❤

I have so much to share! I have my tiny garden which is in containers this year and I am having really good luck and so far nothing is dead and things are flourishing. I am going to share some photos as I should get tomatoes and hoping for some bell peppers too! I am really excited.

This is my tomato and bell pepper container. The photo on the left I just took this morning and the photo on the right was taken last week. What growth in one week! I am so excited they are thriving!!
Photo on the left is my tea rose which hasn’t bloomed in a few years! It has been going crazy with blooms. On the right my container of flowering perennials. Pretty!

I got help this last week with weeding. My hubby gets out there with his weed wacker and boy, he makes tedious work go much faster by using this tool. He has a nice gas powered one which he tackles all areas where we have tons of weeds that grow. Then I tend to the roses with pruning and I water too. At this time we don’t have too many things growing that need watering. We use to have automatic timer watering but that was back when we had a front lawn. We are definitely conserving water since the lawn is long gone. We are going to landscape eventually with a water friendly decor. Not sure what that will be, or when this will happen, haha, something on our to do list for our house!

How’s your coffee, need a refill? I forget for some it may be dinner time, but then I know many that drink coffee with their dinner! I would be drinking ice tea with my dinner, speaking of dinner I need to figure out what’s for dinner? I digress, I really wanted to share my busy week with all the horse back riding I’ve been doing. 😀

I have been asked by a really nice horse woman at the barn I left recently to help her with her horse. She is around my age and new to riding (hmm.. I keep forgetting to ask her background with horses, I must ask her the next time we meet) but needless to say she has had some scares, falling off a time or two and has some fears and does not feel confident especially riding the trails. NO PROBLEM I tell her, I will help you gain confidence and tackle your fears!! She has hired me to ride her horse and give her lessons. I am taking on more, but it is something I am very passionate about, HORSES!

This is Ava, my clients horse. I am not in the training business but will help when people ask and this mare is a ton of fun to ride!

I am having a ton of fun riding this pony. This photo was the first day I rode her and after this day I lengthened my stirrups as they are rather high for western, I had to ride her “English style” in the western saddle. The horsey people who follow me should understand. I think I will just write another blog post about my horsey fun and training, and giving lessons to this super nice lady who just wants some help with her horse. She wants confidence and I told her I would love to help her. The little extra money I will earn will go directly to my horses, their grains I buy and shavings for their stalls. It will mean some extra time out of my days off but worth it I think!

Crochet linen place mats for my daughter! So FUN!

I keep so busy, if I am not at work which is night shift, at the stables most mornings, tending my garden mid-afternoon, I am probably crocheting before I head to bed! I need to fit in sleep on my work days but some how I manage. I Love crochet and my daughter bought this yarn and it is fine so I can make these pretty place mats. When I visited my daughter last weekend we went online shopping and she found this yarn in pretty pastel colors. Perfect for her house and I may need to make some for my house too! I’ll have to buy more yarn! FUN!

I’ll finish up by saying that I am enjoying our beautiful Spring weather. We have had only one heat spell where the heat spiked and now it is much better. We have had mild heat this month and I am very happy about that. I was able to visit the ranch and ride out on the trails today with my girlfriend. I’ll close with a couple of photos of my silly horses. Fun, fun, fun! I hope you are having a good if not great weekend. I’ve so enjoyed having coffee with you and sharing my busy week and am getting in some relaxation this weekend!

Haha! Love my horses! Miss Chloe and Zack giving ya’ll a lick! What a great shot!!

Happy Grandma Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

Family Visit’s, Busy Days!

On By dprastkaIn Family is important, Living life, Memories8 Comments
California poppy’s are blooming everywhere! This is at Chino State Park.

It has been a crazy, busy last two weeks. It seems as I get older instead of slowing down I am getting busier and I seem to try and cram in all I can in one day, or in this case two weeks. But it is all good and I hope all the family that I saw in the last two weeks enjoyed our time together as much as I did, especially because we got to see and do some very fun things. Breaking bread together is on the top of my list of favorite things that I enjoy, probably because I LOVE FOOD! ❤

I am going to share some food photos I did take as we ate at a yummy Mexican restaurant, Anchos in Riverside and my oldest sister treated us and it was absolutely delicious. They make homemade tortillas and we all got some sort of fajitas and with those homemade tortillas making soft tacos, oh goodness, my mouth is watering just thinking about all the good food we shared together! We also ate Sushi two times with my other sister who was here too, the last dinner she treated, Thank You both – sister’s rock! ❤

Shrimp fajita’s, with jalapeno butter for dipping! Best taco’s I’ve ever had!
Sushi which I LOVE! This is actually my sister’s plate as her’s looks the best. ❤

As I write this things have settled down. I had two sisters (out of 4, and I have 1 brother) come and visit for different reasons, but there was an event we shared together and that was to go to my Aunt’s 90th birthday party. What was fun is that we were able to celebrate my oldest sister’s birthday as her birthday is close to my Aunt’s so we were able to take her out to celebrate before she had to fly home. And we were able to eat great food with yummy dessert’s, we all had a piece of pie instead of cake for her birthday! It was a wonderful day and we had a great time at my Aunt’s festivities too. ❤ Do you have busy family days? Sometimes the busy gets crazy busy, but am thankful we all made it work.

I was so thankful that my sister’s came to share my love of my horses. Intermixing each other’s schedules, trying to make it all work, one of my sister’s is a horse back rider and use to own Zack which I adopted when she moved to Idaho. My other sister is not a horse person but spent time at the stables visiting while we went on a short trail ride. Here is a photo of my Aunt who is doing well, and looks good at 90 years old! ❤

My Aunt Rene who turned 90 in February, 2019 ❤
Sally is on Gracie, Sharon on Zack riding one of a few trail rides this weekend!
My sister Bonnie sitting, and Sharon is standing as we visit at the stables!
The view leaving Chino State Park, such a beautiful view!

I take so many photos and I want to share so many, but I also want to share my story as so much has happened in the last two weeks. I am just touching on my busy days, no use boring everyone with all the details. Suffice it to say that there was a lot of decision making in trying to figure out how to fit everything in we wanted to do together. Amazingly we made it all work which I am proud of and I am hoping my sister’s enjoyed their time here in Southern California. 😀 I think I’ll just write another post about my visit to Arizona to help my family there and most importantly I got my granddaughter’s hugs in which I cherish. ❤ I can’t help myself, one more photo! Thank you for spending time with me and reading about my busy weeks! 😀

She melts my heart, my granddaughter and me! ❤

Family crazy times, visiting sister fun and grandma joy!

-Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee share -Needing R&R

On By dprastkaIn Living life, Memories, weekend coffee share2 Comments

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I can’t wait for a nice cup of coffee, to sit down and relax. What a busy month, each week I think to myself it can’t get any busier and it’s busier. How can that be? My work has been crazy as there are employees taking vacation after vacation with some being on vacation at the same time. So that makes my life busier than normal since I am the supervisor of my department. I have to fill in where I can if needed. Things will settle down in November at work, I am hoping anyways. Can I get you a cup of coffee? or Tea?

I am new to Weekend coffee share and am thankful I have Friday nights off so that I can relax and enjoy the weekends. My weekends lately have been busy as we have been helping my grown children move! My daughter has moved to another town. She is in the military and she works at Vandenberg AFB which is a huge base on the California coast. She was living north of the base and decided to move south. I mentioned this in my last blog, I thought I’d share some photos of her new digs. It has a nice big kitchen with a great room or family room right there so she can cook or bake and enjoy company. I love her new home she is leasing. ❤

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We are unpacking but this is a nice kitchen with plenty of counter space and cupboards. I was able to help her open and empty all her kitchen boxes. She was then able to make us a fabulous dinner and then breakfast the next morning! 

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                  The perfect size house for my daughter and her hubby and guinea pigs!

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In Lompoc there are many buildings painted with these cool murals. Such wonderful artwork! And the other photo is a view of Lompoc from the top of the road near my daughter’s house. 

I hope you are relaxing like I am and enjoying the weekend. I really needed some R&R, rest and relaxation, ah, so nice to put my feet up and think about my travels. This last weekend we just returned from Phoenix Arizona where we helped my son, his wife and daughter move into their new house. They are leasing until they can save up enough money to buy their own home. They are in a nice big house, 4 bedroom, enough room for visitors as us grandma’s will be visiting often. I took a few photos to share!

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Arizona! They are north of Phoenix and it is beautiful there! This is from their upstairs balcony, such a pretty sunset. The sun was not my friend but I took the photo anyways of the truck in their driveway. Lol

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My husband and I took a drive around Phoenix to check out possible places to live, yes, you heard right, we want to move to Phoenix! This photo of these iron horses are all over Cave Creek!! HORSE TOWN! My kind of place. More to come on this subject! ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

I must say I am so enjoying telling you all about my adventures. I traveled up the California coast through Santa Barbara to Lompoc then to Santa Maria and then back to Lompoc to home.  Then 2 weeks later we drove 5 1/2 hours to Phoenix Arizona. We flew home. Can you blame me for resting? Haha, its been BUSY! Just crazy busy, but in a very good way. I hope you are enjoying your weekend and enjoyed my photos of my adventures. I’m going to add a couple more photos as I sit back and think about my travels.  😀

Thank you for sharing coffee with me! What are you doing this weekend? I hope you are enjoying life or just relaxing and getting some rest. Either way thanks for spending time with me!

Crazy busy Mom, Grandma, Wife –

-DIANA

Moving in the Air!

On By dprastkaIn Living life, Memories, My Life as Grammy5 Comments

I am home alone! I don’t know when the last time I was home alone, I can’t remember. It’s so strange, I am always with someone and have never lived on my own and alone. I know there are many people who live alone and I have to say I have never experienced this and have always been surrounded by family of some sort. I have never thought about that until now. The reason I am home alone is because my husband and youngest son left today to drive to Santa Maria, CA to help my daughter and her husband move from there to a city to the south called Lompoc. They decided to rent a newer house on the other side of town, so they are moving this week. They already picked up the truck this afternoon! I’m so excited for them as even though it’s a pain to move, I know they will love a newer house with a nice big kitchen. My daughter loves to cook and especially bake, so this will be so nice for them! 😀

I can’t wait to visit too! I will be here for another day and leave Thursday morning to drive up there to help her unpack. My hubby and son there will spend one more night so we will be together and then they will come home Friday and I will stay til Sunday.  It will be so nice to get away and spend some time with my daughter, I wish I could take more days off but at least I will have a good three days or so. It is about a three and a half hour drive up to Lompoc with no traffic so more like a four-hour drive as there is usually some traffic, but we do try to travel during less traffic times which is usually the middle of the day or later in the evening. We will be doing day driving.

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This is my daughter Linea and her husband James who we are helping move this week/weekend. This photo is a few months old as we see each other about every other month, I need to take more photos!! I have to tell you that this week is busy and FUN and in two weeks from now my son Harrison and his family is moving to Scottsdale, Arizona! I am a proud Mama as he has been hired at the Mayo Clinic as a Medical Physicist Assistant. It is a bit stressful for them as they are waiting to hear if they are able to rent or lease a house that they put a deposit on as they were out there last week looking for housing. He reports to work there October 22 and his wife was able to get her job transferred out there in Phoenix too, which is great news. My husband will be helping them move including driving there in two weeks! Such a busy month for everyone, crazy days. I pray all goes smooth for them as there is so much to be done for their move to Arizona. I have a photo that I actually LOVE of them and I hope they do not mind me sharing on my blog. They are such a great family! ❤ ❤ ❤

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Life is full of changes and changes I have to accept no matter how hard they may be and one of the biggest things I am going to miss is this cutie-patutie there sticking her tongue out! Her HUGS, her LAUGHTER, her stories, her innocence and seeing the world through her eyes. I am so VERY THANKFUL for the last three years. I have been able to spend so much time with her and hope to be close to them in the future, just need to figure everything out here before we get things moving into the direction of moving. But they are only an hours flight away and I know I will be visiting often. It is a five-hour drive which isn’t bad, but there are many flights almost every hour to Phoenix so I will probably fly mostly.  I have to share a few more photos, I may have shared before but it is worth sharing again. So darn cute! ❤

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Haha, up close and personal!! She is so funny as I try to do a selfie and she was being so silly. OH, HOW SHE IS GOING TO MISS THE HORSES!! I am hoping that one day next year some time we can make the move to Phoenix. I worry about Chloe as she has a bad back leg and am not sure if she can make the trailer ride for five hours to Phoenix. I will have my vet check her out and see what he thinks of her situation but I can’t stress out about all the details. We need to just make sure we get this young family safely moved and then we will see what will happen next year. Love my family, love my life, lots of changes. It will all work out and I know everyone will love their new digs!! 😀 😀 😀

 

Crazy moving family days!

-Diana

Keeping Up, One Day at a Time!

On By dprastkaIn Gardening, Horse stories, Living life, My Life as GrammyLeave a comment

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Have you ever felt so busy that you wonder how can I keep up? I feel this way often and just when I feel like I’ve caught up, I’m actually behind! My sweet hubby bought me these beautiful flowers, so colorful with this wonderful card which has such great advice. One day at a time, one step at a time….. Let’s take a deep breath and say it again. One day at a time, one step at a time. We can do this, we should not let our crazy busy lives spiral out of control. It may be you do not have this problem, but there are many of us that our plate is so full its overflowing. So full we do not know how we do all that we do, and this is what I’ll be writing about today. MY BUSY LIFE! CRAZY, FULL, FUN, SATISFYING most days, and I will say I feel blessed, even though I also want to say Whoa, let’s slow down just a little bit please! 😀

I work full-time at a Veterinary laboratory on the night shift. I have been working night shift for some 35 years, and even though I had a couple of breaks from night shift work I actually prefer the shift and being the supervisor of my department at the lab this shift works best. As many who have read my blogs know, I own 2 horses and working night shift has enabled me to be able to see and take care of my horses on a daily basis. I sleep in the late afternoons into the evenings and so I feel like I do get some of my sleep at night, its just early evening and not all night. But it does make for a crazy schedule and the pressure of being the supervisor rears its ugly head when things go awry and so I need to remember to take one day at a time. I have been working on some projects at work that has pulled my crew together as we join forces in keeping the department running smoothly and more accurately we are all working hard to do better at our jobs. I don’t want to get into the details as I’m sure this can all get a bit boring, suffice it to say that I feel personally that the affects of my broken arm from last September bled into my work or lack of it and so I had to take the bull by the horns and get serious and get things in line. I feel very confident at work now, things are all going in the right direction!

But for all my hard work I then get to enjoy these incredible animals!!

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Zack is so fun to ride and I wish I had more time to ride him! Something that I find hard to fit into my busy schedule. I did have time the other day and he is so FUN to ride English in the arena. He has such a great trot, a nice gate that when riding English its a great workout for me as I post along doing figure eights with him and moving on and off the rail. I canter sometimes, but I rather trot and he moves out well and I know it is a nice work out for him as well. I tell myself on any given week, I am going to ride him twice or three times this week…. sigh…. I am lucky to ride him once a week. One day at a time… Oh well, he is retired and I do get him out every day for a turn out but riding is not as regular. We are doing okay with that I think and his weight looks good and I think his muscle tone is okay too. He makes me smile! ❤

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I also fit into my schedule babysitting my grand daughter Alice! Oh my how she melts my heart and she just loves grandma’s horses and with the help of my girlfriend Sally, we went riding the other day and my girlfriend took this photo of Alice and I on my horse Chloe! I have had Chloe since she was 2 years old and she is turning 14 years old this year. Chloe and I can read each others thoughts, maybe not word for word but darn near close to it as we have such a close bond, for any horse lover out there it is incredible. Chloe absolutely loves people and especially children. She is so patient and kind and we had so much fun just walking around the arena on this day. These are my favorite days, a true blessing to be able to enjoy my horses with my friends and family. I have to work hard for what I have but it is worth all my efforts and I take full advantage of my morning hours with my ponies. ❤ ❤ ❤

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And I have managed to fit in gardening. I love being outside and it thrills me to see it grow, but this heat can be daunting. I have to tell myself one day at a time…. I probably didn’t feed my garden as well as I should have so we will see what grows, but I also have some containers and am planning on planting more and I will manage to squeeze in watering and enjoying watching my garden grow! I also spend time crocheting and I have made many crochet animals, Star Wars characters (my favorite!) and many more items. Scarfs, small purses and I’m working on a shawl. I’ve made baby blankets and baby dresses, the list goes on and on…. I also have done a ton of cross-stitch but have not done that in some years prefering crochet as the projects are completed much faster!!

Lastly, I am trying to find time to blog!! I so enjoy writing, AND I would love to write more but I do find it hard to find the time! Oh my, I can’t imagine writing every day. I would want it to be readable and enjoyable and so here I am hoping you are enjoying my busy day. I am getting really tired as it is my day off and I’ve been up all night last night. I use to take naps during the day, but as I’ve grown older I seem to be able to stay up but it’s getting late in the evening so I will turn in soon. I know some of you may not be that busy and I’m rather envious of you, but those of you that have an overflowing plate will relate and so I hope you all can take – One Day At A Time – and enjoy that day fully!! 😀

Love, Di-