random ramblings

I have meant to sit and write a post about rodeo, about how I became a Christian, cloth diapering, being a stepparent, cooking for eight, being a closed captioner, and about my dream to open a training center in my tiny hometown. 

Somehow life got in the way.

First, I'll touch on being a totally new rodeo mom.  Man, is it tough.  Soccer moms, you have it easy!  There are so many responsibilities and chores involved in a of weekend rodeos that I never really thought about before!  You cannot just drive in, compete, and ride away.  What about the evening and morning feedings (horses, not kids, though feeding the kids is critical as well)?  Try doing it when you are in a hotel a few miles away with a 11-month-old, 6-year-old, and 8-year-old all crashed out and desperately in need of the rest. And that's just the TIP of the iceberg.

We are also learning things this rodeo season that I didn't really account for -- Zela doesn't need to learn to ride better inasmuch as she needs to learn to rodeo better.  Getting her head in the game, knowing what she needs to do, and to quit trying to run her old horse so danged fast and just concentrate on riding him well are all skills we're acquiring.  I think we may have had a breakthrough, though.  Time will tell, and so will her next clock times... 

How I became a Christian will require its own post and a lot more in depth thought and pondering.  Stay tuned.

I finally figured out a trick to get my cloth diapers stink-free!  Just pre-wash them to get anything funky out and then wash them with a load of whites -- and I mean a really huge honkin' load of whites that only a family of eight could amass!  Hot water plus tons of clothes to bump around and agitate and scrub things equals clean smelling diapers!  I've always washed my diapers alone, and every couple of washes, they ended up smelling just a little funky.  I threw the stinky inserts into a load of whites last night to rewash them and they came out smelling new, and I used no different combination of detergents than I otherwise use on the diapers!  Who knew it'd be that easy? 

I'll skip over the other random thoughts and end with why I'd love to open a gym or training center or SOMETHING in Limon.  It's really kind of two-fold.  You see, I've always wanted to hire a trainer who would be more like a drill sergeant, but love me at the same time.  If Jillian Michaels had a soft side, I'd want her to move in with me.  I need someone to believe in me, encourage me, tell me what to do, and then check in constantly to make sure I'm doing it!  In the past, whenever I was working out, I automatically ate better because I didn't want to die in the gym or on the road because of poor nutrition.   The second part of this two-fold dream is the fact that I love to encourage, inspire, and - honestly - boss other people around.  Sounds terrible, I know, but what can I say?  Honestly, I'd love to make a transformation so inspiring and encouraging that others would want to know what I know and do what I do.  I am good at hounding people the way that *I* would want to be hounded, so why not just stop imagining that someone like what I need exists and become that person? 

And there's my random thoughts for the day.  That is all.  :)