Shopping and a Pony Ride

My sis and I had planned to spend a few hours shopping in the small town I live in. We wanted to just walk and hit all the shops, like antique stores, thrift stores etc. The funny thing is, in the 8 years that I have lived here, I have never walked up and down the streets of my town. We have destinations that we go to, like the co-op, the hardware store, the bank, a restaurant. But we usually spend our time shopping outside of our town. I have always wanted to walk up the streets and go into all the shops. And shop we did. We hit the co-op first. My sis needed to get some things. Than we just left my car at the co-op and started walking the streets. We first went into an antique store. I found a couple placemats with barrel racer's on them. I think I am going to have my mom make me some pillows for my guest room. Can you do that mom? The next place we went into was a clothing store and I found myself a real bargain. I love flip flops and they had flip flops on sale for $2.00 a pair. So I found some cute pink ones. I also bought a white wallet, for when I use my white purse. I am all about coordinating my colors. Then we walked into this store that was just my style. I loved this store. They had a good selection of country/western home items. I fell in love with this hutch. I thought it was going to be over $200.00. When I asked the sales lady how much it was, she told me that after the discount, it would be $132.00. Seriously? Usually the hutches I see like this are from $200-300.00. I was told a local guy makes them out of old barn wood. So it is very rustic. I really wanted it, but I had a feeling my OH would kill me if I bought it. I asked her if she could hold it for me. She said she would. We continued on our shopping trip through my cute little town. Than we headed back to my car so we could go to the feed store. We both needed grain (supplement, I just call it grain). After getting our horses needs taken care of, we had to check out one more antique store in another little town that is nearby. They have so many cute things in there. I actually walked out without buying anything! I need to remember, I don't have a job.

It was getting late, so we headed home to eat lunch, and to wait for my OH to get home. We were going to take him back to the store where the hutch was, to show it to him. But we weren't going to tell him what we were doing. I had to unhook the trailer from the truck and my OH kept asking questions. I told him he had to go and we had to have the truck. He continued to question me the whole way there. I just told him all he had to do was follow my directions. Once we enter the store, he is confused. He wants to know why we are there. I finally had to tell him why I brought him. I showed him the hutch. He gives the hutch, and me, a very weird look. I told him what my plans are for it. He says he isn't seeing it. I tell him that's because he is a guy and he's just not creative. He looked around the store and found a cute sign he liked that says "Horseshoe Luck" on it. He told me if I bought that for him, then I could buy the hutch. Deal! I knew he'd give in. I was so excited. I knew the perfect spot to put it. We have a 45 gallon fish tank that has been sitting empty for about a month now. I haven't made him move it yet, because I didn't know what to do with that space. When I saw that hutch, I knew it would be a perfect fit.

Here is the empty fish tank in the spot I needed to fill. It is a strange area in my house, and this is why I have been so undecided on what to do. I will be selling the fish tank, so I can justify spending money on the hutch, basically the fish tank has bought my hutch.



I am not finished with what I am planning for the hutch. I just need to spend some more money. Almost everything I put in it, was already around my house.



My sis and I played around with it, searching my house for cowgirl items. I have stuff scattered throughout my house. I have been planning on re-doing my guest room and my computer room someday. I was hoping to do that while I am not working, but you can see how motivated I was to start those projects. I also bought these canisters when I bought the hutch. I love them.



The old bottles that are in there, are from North Dakota, and they are very old. We got them from my OH's grandparents. It was my sis's idea to go get them from the garage. I told you we searched every nook and cranny of the house! The "Cowgirl, It's an attitude" sign came from my Aunt Cowgirl J Lynn.



If you look closely, you will see my old rope inside the hutch. The horse shoe is Fritzy's. She should feel very special, having one of her shoes in my house.



I am not done, and knowing me and my sis, we will change it up a lot. I wish we could remodel the whole house now. But that will have to wait! While we were feeding the horses, I noticed Fritzy had a small cut on one of her legs. So I brought her out to take a closer look. I washed it off and saw that it was minor. I put some salve on it, than let her graze for a bit. Sadie grazes too. She does everything the horses do.



Bailey and Sadie were playing hide and seek in the overgrown grass.



The next day, we had our really good friends out. They brought their 9 1/2 yr old daughter, S, out so she could get a pony ride on Brandy. She came up last summer to ride too. I rode Brandy first. I think she is losing some of her arena skills, I have only been trail riding in the last 2 months and have spent very limited time in the arena riding. I better get my butt out there and ride her more in the arena. Please don't laugh at me in this picture. I look like I am dragging Brandy and I probably was. I asked S if she wanted to trot and she said yes. I was trying to get Brandy to trot besides me. She was acting very lazy. But I eventually got her going. Plus it is very uncomfortable for me to "trot" with my knees.





Once S first trotted, that is all she wanted to do. She loved it!! She was smiling from ear to ear.



My assistant Bailey came out to help. He followed us in circles. It was so funny. Than he stopped to graze on weeds. Maybe he was telling me that I still hadn't weeded the arena yet. That is on my agenda for tomorrow. You know how I am going to do that? I am going to set a couple goats loose in there. I think that should take care of my weed problems. Maybe I should rent my goats out, make me some money. No, I couldn't do that. I would be too worried that something would happen to them.



The final lap.



I believe there is a very happy 9 1/2 year old girl out there tonight. I bet she will be dreaming horses all night long!