SpruceHill

Sun Bathing

This is the scene I witnessed out my bathroom window this morning. Ahhhhh pure relaxation. Ponies and sheep, buds forever, sharing a moment in the sun. This week we put the ponies and sheep together for the first time. Tempest the bay pony is not exactly and nice pony. Don't get me wrong she does quite well with my daughter on her back. She is a mare though and she lets you know when she does not like something. She has no mercy for our little welsh pony Arial who came to us under nourished and very skinny. Tempest is defiantly an alpha mare. My fear was to let the ponies out with the sheep and to have Tempest go out on a little lambie killing spree. Well she surprised me, as animals often do. She loves the boys. In fact she would rather hang with the boys than with poor Arial. Best buds all the way! So when I looked out the window this morning and saw all of the kids hangin out in the sun I just had to snap a shot.

 

The party is over folks! Mom is here with peppermints! It is really hard to sneak up on animals you feed treats to daily. Darn so much for getting another good shot!

Inspiring Story of Equine Survival

I wanted to share a story I read over here at one of the blogs I read. It is a heart warming inspiring story of survival. equine survival that is. This story just touched my heart, so I thought I would share it with you all. the whole story is here. It is about a pony named Molly who was left behind during Hurricane Katrina. After being saved she was attacked by a pit bull and her leg had to be amputated. Long story short she was adopted and has been fitted with a prosthetic leg. Read the whole story. It is truly amazing!

Blingity Bling

Blingity bling hand made scarves

I have been busy. My sister-In-Law AHS gave me two scarves about a month ago when I started my chemo treatments. A women who lives in her hometown who is a survivor makes these scarves.  When I got the scarves my daughters dubbed them as "Mom's blingity bling doo rags". I like to think that I am a pretty crafty chic. So I thought "Hey I can totally make these!" So here is my first attempt. I have worn my two that I got as gifts and I got SO many complements on them. They are so much more comfortable than my wig. I figure since I am bald I deserve a little blinity bling.

The Kindness of Strangers

It's funny how not having hair changes the way people treat you. After shaving my head on Tuesday I thought that I would be house bound. I thought that I would not feel like going out and doing everyday things. After one day of not feeling confident I realized that I really do not feel any different. In fact the other day I walked down to the mailbox bald. Yup, I forgot that I was bald, I forgot that I did not have a scarf on. I just walked right out the door and before I knew it there I was at the mailbox thinking. OMG! I just for got I am bald! How weird is that? How do you forget something like that? I guess it was not as big a deal as I thought it would be. After all my hair does not define me!

I did get out this week. I picked up my kids from school. Feeling a little nervous I have to say. It was the first place I went after The Big Buzz. I found something out. There are a lot of people that are pulling for me. Before I could hide my cancer. Under my baggy clothes. My scars not visible to anyone other than me really.  Now that I am bald and wearing a scarf my cancer is more visible. I had so many people walk up to me and give me a hug. People that did not know about my struggle with cancer. I had my best buds, patting me on the back and telling me how pretty I look. " You know not many people can pull that off Sarah." But your face, you just look so great! Thanks SF! It was empowering I felt like I could do anything, like I could go out and do my errands and go places with my kids and husband. So I did. I went to my Starbucks, all my friends were so happy to see me. A complete stranger came up to me and said she was a one year breast cancer survivor. We stood there and talked about our cancer and bonded over coffee. To Target I went after that. Another cancer survivor, who gave me a hug and told me she would be praying for me. Off to the craft store for bandannas and sparkles ( I will post about this next). Yet another breast cancer survivor. A hug, words of encouragement. Lastly to riding lessons( a three hour riding extravaganza) another cancer survivor. 7 years out from diagnosis and treatment. I felt empowered, energized by these woman. Living their lives and beating cancer. Giving me words of encouragement. Complete strangers pulling for ME. This week I expected looks of pity, and instead I received a gift . People did not stare at me. They asked me if I needed help instead. People talked to me, and smiled at me. After the last few days I have a good feeling about the world. For a couple days it was not so harsh, people were nice, and helpful and encouraging. It is a good feeling knowing that there are good people out there. We all need to remember that everyone you see has a story. There are so many people out there who's lives have been touched by cancer. A LOT of people. There is compassion out there too, from complete strangers.

free rice

My kids have been playing on a new web site lately. They learned about it at school. It was also featured on the NBC nightly new last week. It is called free rice. Basically it is a site that teaches vocabulary to kids to get them ready for the Sat's, but the genius creator of the site decided to do something greater while kids were playing the game. For every right answer the person gets, rice is donated by the advertisers to poor hungry children through out the world. Good idea huh? So try it out. If you are bored and just sitting around, or instead of watching mindless TV. Increase you vocabulary and help feed hungry children! It is amazing how one person can make a difference. Lets see who can get the highest score!