April 25, 2008 - New Bathroom

We had contractors come in and redo our bathroom at the rent house. It looks AWESOME! I was so excited I thought I'd share. We have been getting some bites for people looking to buy it so that is good. We still have not gotten serious about advertising it. I am trying to find cheap ways to advertise and I need to make sure we are on the same page with renting and selling (along with the various options). We also still have work to do. We have to clean up the dust, etc from the contractors and we have to shampoo the carpet in the living room. But, it is getting there!

I was going to do a before/after shot but the bathroom was so nasty after the renters moved out I don't even want y'all to see that!

If you know someone interested in renting or buying this home please have them go to www.freewebs.com/rockingrs/buffalostreet.html. There are pictures of it there. I will add more pictures this weekend.

April 22, 2008 - House for Sale

We got our renters out of our Needville house 6 months early! Thank goodness! They were quite the experience. We went to the house on Monday to clean and we had forgotten the mop. Oops...since 90% of the house doesn't have carpet it made it a little difficult to clean. It was so gross!!! I can't believe how bad things can get in 6 short months! The bathroom tub was so bad we decided to just tear it out. So, that will cost us around $1,000 we didn't expect to spend. We are praying for a miracle and leaning on our faith to believe we will find a buyer.

I put something on craigslist.com and that has gotten us some calls. Ryan is putting the For Sale/Rent sign up today at the house. The problem is the market is so bad and with all these balloon mortgages a lot of people are losing their homes and can't get financing. So, they are asking if we would do owner financing. We don't know much about it so we are going to look into it and see if that is even an option. We would love to just sell it and be done with it. However, I'm learning there are some benefits to doing owner financing...so we'll see...If we found the right person we might consider it. Maybe they'll take better care of it knowing it is their home.

Last night was busy too. We had a couple of guys come out last night to give us a bid on the bathroom, a lady coming out to look at the home, and the exterminator to come out and give us an estimate on having the house exterminated (is that a word?). It was almost like an assembly line! HA!

We just have so much on our plate. We have to remember how blessed we are though. We are young and have so many choices, options and potential! When I get down, frustrated and mad at people for ruining our house I have to remember that God is good and He'll find a way out for us. He always does!

Of course the baby is doing great! Perfect example of what really matters. We are so blessed to have this healthy baby. It is so fun seeing him/her grow! We hope to find out whether he/she is a boy/girl at our next visit in May.

We hope all is going well in your world!
God Bless,
Stacie & Ryan

April 17, 2008 - One Bucking Thing After Another...

This week has been a long one. Ryan was riding one of the young horses he is training when she suddenly went into a nice buck with all 4 legs up and the head tucked. Unfortantely, the mare one that 'battle' and Ryan came off with a nice front sommersault. He landed HARD on his back. This was not a fall you get up from either! He layed there for some time to catch his breath and try to sort out what happened. After a few minutes he got back up, and like any cowboy would do, got back on. He rode her briefly to let her know she didn't win the 'war' and then he got off of her again. After about an hour of sitting around and realizing the pain was not going away I finally convinced him to go to the emergency room.

Luckily, nothing was broken, but Ryan was pretty banged up. So badly I had to literally pull him up just to sit up. He was prescribed pain meds, but they were running out so (again) he finally convinced himself (again after much prodding from me) to go to the doctor. Ryan is not a fan of doctors so I knew it was serious when he agreed to go to the doctor to get more drugs and make sure nothing was torn, etc. (The xrays from the hospital showed no broken bones.) The doc said he would be out til at least Saturday so Ryan is going stir crazy dealing with the pain and the annoyance of being home all day and not working. He is starting to get better. He drove his truck yesterday for the first time and is beginning to move around more for short periods of time (with the help of drugs of course). We are hoping the anti-inflammatories and the muscle relaxers will help get him back in order.

So, needless to say, it's been a long week! Everything else is going well. The baby is growing. I am going to try and get some pics of me (and baby) sometime soon to post.

God Bless!
Stacie

April 10, 2008 - Baby @ 13 wks 5 days

I never thought going to the doctor could be so much fun! We had our 3rd appointment yesterday and it went very well. Our new doctor, Dr. Garza, is very nice and answers all my questions with great detail. Our baby wouldn't cooperate with the machine that just listens to the heartbeat so we had to do a belly ultra sound to see him/her as well as the heart beat. Dr. Garza says he/she looks perfect and we can expect a healthy baby.

I am amazed by how much our baby has grown. Holy Cow! That's just 4 weeks later compared to the previous picture. My belly is starting to show a little more too, but still too little to take pictures without flashing everyone some skin. I figured I would save that thrill for Ryan. Watching my belly grow is quite amazing and strange. It is a feeling you can't give words.

I also thought it was funny how the baby was laying on his/her back relaxing. LOL Just like Daddy...always laid back. I think that is good. I would be blessed to have a laid back baby that enjoys life!

We also got an update on Dr. Giammarco. They found some cancer on his lungs, so his stem cell transplant has been delayed. Please continue to pray for him. They are dealing with the cancer on his lungs and can't go forward with the stem cell transplant until he gets any other issues taken care of. Just the word cancer makes me sick inside and to find out there is yet another obstacle for him makes me sad. I look forward to hearing that yet another person I care about is in remission! :)

God Bless!

Stacie :)

April 8, 2008 - PGE Video

This short video includes some 2nd grade students from one of my schools, Pecan Grove Elementary. They happened to be on a field trip to the science museum (or some museum in Houston) and they were at the park. I believe they were eating lunch. Anyhow…the news crew happened to be out there that same day and got them singing the song. I thought it was pretty neat and worth sharing!!!

'Take Me Out To the Ball Game'Video:Houstonians sing 'Take Me Out To the Ball Game' in celebration of the song's 100th anniversary. Video by Meg Loucks. April 4, 2008.http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid823433113/bctid1485881396

Enjoy!

April 2 - The Triple Crown

Well, the vet check went very well so Blaze now has a new home. It is very bitter sweet. I know it is for the best, but I really liked that horse. He is very kind and has a HUGE heart. He really wants to make you happy. The girl that bought him will do very well with him. He will also be staying at Cowboy Country in Huntsville, so he'll be around a lot of other horses. That is good as Blaze is very social!What is cool is yesterday I was feeling a little insecure about the vet check and was worried they would find something we didn't know about or expect. I really wanted Blaze to go to this family.

Anyhow, I called my friend from church, Melanie, and told her I needed prayer. She then told me that she needed prayer as well. She was applying for a loan to buy out her business from her Dad and her sister was going through the paperwork to purchase their first home. All of us were going to find out the news on the same day. So, it was such a blessing to talk to her and realize all three of us had similar needs and we were able to be there for each other. The best part is when I called her to share the good news about Blaze she shared with me her sister got the house loan. That was 2 out of 3, so that gave Melanie the confidence to know God was going to bless all three of us. Sure enough, around 7:30 PM last night I got the text that Melanie had gotten the loan. So, that was our triple blessing or, better known in the horse world, our Triple Crown! God is Good! I thought that was too cool not to share. So, when you feel insecure, don't be afraid to call up a friend and ask for some support or reassurance that everything will be ok. That's what God wants you to do!!! When two or more are gathered...

Now, my next goal, to sell Mito. I will start advertising him and hopefully find him a good home as well. He sure is a nice horse and has so much potential. Ryan still hints around about keeping him. I just remind him of why we shouldn't keep him. It is hard to sell something you love and enjoy so much. We are just not meant to be in the buying/selling business. Maybe we are...LOL...I never thought I'd be in the entrepreneur business and God keeps sending us in that direction. So, never say never I guess!God Bless!Oh, baby appointment on Thursday. I'll be sure to post any updates. Not sure if they'll take a picture of the baby. If they do I'll be sure to post!

April 2 - April Fool's Day

To all you pranksters...I hope you are enjoying your April Fool's Day. This is also Connie & Jason's (sister and brother-in-law) wedding anniversary. I don't know how many years, but I think it's been 13. I still remember their wedding day when the pastor asked for anyone to who objects (sp?) to this couple getting married and all the groomsmen raised their hands. That sure got a chuckle from everyone attending the traditional Lutheran wedding!

It is hard to believe Ryan and I will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversaryn this December. Where does the time go? My plans were to go back to the NFR for our 5 yr and get married by Elvis....hahahaha...not sure if Ryan would've went for that. Anyhow, we will have a newborn and I'm in a wedding on December 6th. So, maybe next year! :)

We were able to buy 2 more stalls from our friend, Eloy. Now we have 7 stalls. I always dreamed of having a barn full of stalls and horses growing up. Look at me now! Now, I'm trying to sell some of them. In fact, today, we take Blaze for a vet check. If all goes well he'll have a new home. If not, we will have wasted another 1/2 day of work and about $50 in diesel. So, I'm trying to be optomistic and know all will go well and Blaze will go to a REALLY good home. I am sad and excited all in one. I get very attached to my animals and I have had Blaze for almost 5 years now. He's been a good horse. We just don't need 5 horses.

I also just found out there is a barrel race in May that's giving away Circly Y saddles to each division winner. Man, I want a new circle Y saddle so bad I can taste it! Oh well...it's a good thing I have Ryan to tell me there is no where in H-E_ double hockey sticks I'm going to be running barrels. He tells me there is always next year...that is true. So, next year I'll just buy myself a saddle! HAAHAHA!!! I still will try to win one. There is nothing that feels better than a year's worth of work put into winning a saddle and being able to throw it on your horse and think "Yup, we won that!"

Well that's it for now. Hopefully I'll have good news and Blaze will have a new home. Then, I can start working on selling Mito. We'll be down to three of our own horses. Much more realistic for us and our pocket book!

God Bless!