Tag: Spinning Dreams and Weaving Yarns

The Hardest Part of our House to Keep In Order – Ourselves {Spring Cleaning}

The hardest part of our house to keep in order – ourselves {Spring Cleaning}
Written by ARWB April 2012 Blogger of the Month. Jeanette Larson of Spinning Dreams and Weaving Yarns

Why is it that we are so good at taking care of our families, our friends, our homes and our other obligations, but we have to really remind, push and force ourselves to take care “me”?

As I was mixing up the feed for our 30-year-old horse, I realized that I had forgotten to take my adrenal supplement, again. I had ended up in the hospital last month with adrenalin making my heart race, while the rest of my overworked nervous system tried to slow me down by lowering my blood pressure dramatically, “dropping you flat,” as the cardiologist said. He sent me home, telling me my heart was very healthy, but warning me that a heart attack isn’t the only thing that can kill you. Cardiologists are not known for sugar-coating their words.

This morning, I poured the special pellets into the can and mixed them up with the vitamins and minerals for our mare, as I do, every morning and every night. It’s automatic, I would never forget to feed Fria. As I was topping her breakfast off with a splash of corn oil, to keep her stomach moving, I reflected on how easy it was for me to take care of this horse. Every morning she gets her breakfast at 7 a.m. She gets fed in her special spot. She gets special food to keep her healthy and comfortable. She gets hay and grass throughout the day and then at 7 p.m. she gets her specially formulated dinner. It’ just a part of my routine. After all she is a special horse and she deserves the extra care.

Fria is a registered Arabian mare. She came into our lives when she was 13-years-old and my daughter was nine. Fria had been a broodmare in a herd that bred racing and endurance horses. At that time, one of her daughters was ranked fourth in the US at the track.

We bought Fria to use as a broodmare. They assured us that she was un-ride-able and that several people had tried to start her under saddle. The wild mare and my headstrong daughter clicked right away. It wasn’t long before Lena was riding Fria out on trails and on cattle drives. When Lena turned 10, they went with me on a competitive trail ride and placed first in the youth category. Whenever Lena needed to work something out, she’d go flying out onto the trail on Fria, and I always trusted Fria to bring her home safely.

Fria went on to have several more foals.Four of them have gone on to be champions in four different disciplines. In all, this wonderful mare has raised twelve horse babies and one of mine. She well deserves her comfortable retirement and all best care I can give her.

All of the animals on our farm have their stories and their place in our lives. The chores of caring for our critters weave naturally through my day and I can’t even imagine ever forgetting to feed, water and check on each one, each and every day. Yet, daily, I get so wrapped up in my job and the rest of my work that I forget to drink water, eat good food or just sit and catch my breath. Never mind trying to exercise on a regular basis, I keep busy enough that I can’t even think about that one.

The day I collapsed, I had skipped breakfast and then spent the morning in an intense meeting. While I know what happened was a cumulative effect, one of the steps I have taken to “take care of myself” is that I don’t allow myself out of the house in the morning without breakfast. That’s a hard discipline, because I am so busy in the mornings trying to get everything done in a short period of time. Several mornings, I’ve been in the car already, headed to work and I have to use my “mom-voice” to get myself back into the house to make breakfast. I hate having to nag myself like that.

Maybe I need some good Jen-stories to make me value me as much as I do our 30-year-old horse? After all, aren’t I a special person and don’t I deserve special care?

Jeanette Larson is the craft director at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas.  She writes about Spinning Dreams and Weaving Yarns on her blog www.jenonthefarm.com.

Windows {Spring Cleaning}

Windows {Spring Cleaning}
Written by ARWB April 2012 Blogger of the Month. Jeanette Larson of Spinning Dreams and Weaving Yarns

Spring ran through the Ozarks very quickly this year. We went from mostly brown winter hills to glossy green dotted with azalea pink, forsythia yellow and dogwood white in less than three weeks. As I opened my windows to enjoy the soft air and peeper frog symphonies, I noticed how dirty the glass was. I couldn’t stand to close them again.

Washing windows is a chore, but the results are so gratifying. We had installed new insulated windows before this winter, and I had never gotten around to cleaning them after we installed them. Suddenly, Spring was here and I had to have clean windows.

While I don’t mind washing windows, I do hate to run to the store, especially on a day I have off work. So, I took stock of my cleaning supplies on hand. We don’t like using and storing chemicals, so the supplies were pretty sparse. I have cleaned windows with soapy water, washing and rinsing and drying until they shine. After all, it works on drinking glasses. But that’s not the easiest way.

I have a friend who uses the windshield wiper fluid made for automobiles. She just fills up a squirt bottle when she refills her car. But I’ve been getting my wiper fluid topped off when I get my oil changed.

My dad has always used white vinegar and newspaper to clean windows.  I had apple cider vinegar and paper towels. We always put our newspaper out for recycling, and besides, our little weekly wouldn’t clean too many windows. I opted to try the cider vinegar. It worked great. I hate to waste paper towels, so I used t-shirt rags.

But, my next challenge was those stickers that talk about the energy efficiency of the windows. They were really stuck on. They’d been on a while at our house and who knows for how long before they got here.

My grandmother often said, “Use it up or wear it out, make it do, or do without.” I bet your grandma did too.

When I moved to the Ozarks, I learned the local version of that saying, “If you ever need anything, just holler and I’ll tell you how you can live without it.”

So, back to the cupboards for something to get those stickers off my windows. I do use google to find housecleaning options, but before I went there, I thought that the anonymous “they” always say peanut butter removes sticky stuff. All we had was all natural, chunky peanut butter, but I grabbed my camera to document this, just in case it worked, and smeared the peanut butter on the back porch window sticker. Then I went to find something to scrape it off.

I figured it was just peanut butter, so I grabbed my favorite kitchen spatula. Just a little bit of scraping, no elbow grease needed, and the sticker was gone. “They” were right again.

 

Now my windows let me look out on the green grass growing bright and strong in the sheep’s grazing paddocks while I’m cooking dinner or doing the dishes. The grass in the one right outside the window is high enough now that we’ll move the sheep over to it tomorrow. They only get a day or two in each paddock, just enough to mow it down to about 3-inches tall. This keeps the grass strong and the weeds at a minimum. As the grass grows more, it may hold them a little longer.

Perhaps tonight I’ll get to watch a lamb-pede as all the little ones race each other while their moms go about the business of mowing the grass. Is that the sheepie version of “Spring Cleaning”?

Jeanette Larson is the craft director at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas.  She writes about Spinning Dreams and Weaving Yarns on her blog www.jenonthefarm.com.