Treat Yourself

I imagine most of you have some really nice things stowed away for a special occasion.  What are you waiting for?  Start enjoying the good stuff now, before it's too late.  Using your nice things now - instead of saving them for an elusive "someday" - ensures you actually get to enjoy the items you paid for.  It transforms mundane routines into cherished memories, saves items from sitting long enough to get ruined or become obsolete, and proves you are worth celebrating every single day.  


Tomorrow isn't guaranteed: 
Waiting for the "perfect moment" risks that moment never arriving, which means those fancy plates or nice clothes end up wasted.  Perfumes expire, expensive clothing goes out of style or stops fitting, and fine soaps can dry out.  Enjoy them while they are in their prime.  The "good stuff" creates the occasion, so rather than waiting for an event to justify using your favorite items, using them now, turns an ordinary day into an occasion worth celebrating.

Devon Dole (Devonoutwest) is a hard working cowgirl in Wyoming, who does funny horse posts on her Facebook page and also writes poetry.  I don't think the following poem has a title, but is what lead me to this blog title.  



Devonoutwest
I hope you…
Wear the nice hat.
Light the good candle.
Make yourself a good meal because you deserve nourishment.
Use the good halter, just because.
Ride the horse, without a destination in mind.
Nice stuff is meant to be used!
Good food is meant to be enjoyed!  



Here are links to two of Devon's other poems that also follow the same theme.  (True Treasures)  and  (Good Things)

Constantly putting off your enjoyment teaches your brain that you only deserve to be treated well on rare occasions.  Using your nice things regularly tells yourself, "I am the occasion."

I am so glad I treated myself and bought Rico, even though he can be challenging.  He continues to improve and our bond is getting stronger with time. 

Saturday 5/30 - It ended up being quite a busy day.  I was at the gym earlier than usual.  I did my grocery shopping and came home for a late but hearty lunch.  I was contemplating a nap but walking helps my digestion and Cookie was needing to run off some energy.  So we went on a one hour walk.  


I gave Dan’s cats a little attention, which usually includes petting and brushing.  



Next thing you know it was time to do dinner time chores and get ready to go out.  






Joanne had ranch chores and sent this photo of the tranquil scene of the Pasos in the upper paddock.

Shirley pick me up at 5:25 and we picked up Patty and then met Judy at McAllister’s for dinner.  We ended the evening with an enjoyable production of Walking Across Egypt at the Playhouse.

Sunday 5/31 - The last day of May.  I had a horrible night of sleep, or rather of trying to get to sleep.  I saw this deer out front when going up stairs to check on Dan's cats, who always appreciate fresh drinking water.








I was out the door by 8:30, having had my two cups of tea, walked the dogs twice, and I had all the stuff I'd need packed up for the day. 

Joanne and I went for a lovely four mile ride with Rico and Zorro.  Both horses were so good today other than being a little pokey when side-by-side because they each want the other one to go first and be the leader.  

We took turns leading and following with each horse, as well as working on going down the wider roads side by side.  


I had invited the lady friend of Debra’s (who's also named Debra) to come down to the barn and brush horses, because she had mentioned wanting to do that someday.  She’s been watching Pugsley while Debra is out of town.  So Debra #2 came down once we were back from our ride.

These are not great photos because Debra #2 was on the phone with Debra #1 who had called to check up on Pugsley and was giving Debra #2 more instructions.   
Amiga absolutely loved the long grooming session.  

Where's Pugsley?



Joanne took these photos when she came up to muck the upper paddock and Debra #2 was still down at the barn with me.  Pugsley has a great deal of separation anxiety.


As for me, my anxiety is in concern for what is being damage inside the house.  


By 12:30, I left the ranch to go work at the pool.  I grabbed a lunch at the Dorchester Club House and ate with pool customer friends.  Then I clocked in for my shift.


Patty took this photo during her evening chores.  The flowers at the ranch are beautiful.


The pool was busy to begin with but the sky got dark and the radar predicted rain/storm at 3pm.  Everybody left, I did all my cleaning, and then worked Sudoku and walked around until 5pm when I decided it was 'safe' to close.  We'd gotten no customers and no rain.  It was nice to get home an hour earlier than expected.

Monday 6/1 -  The first day of June.  Cookie starts out respecting Maggie's space, sharing the bed nicely.  











But then Cookie gets rambunctious and wants to play or cuddle (I'm not sure which).

Look at poor Maggie's face.  She tolerates so much. 

It was rather cold and gloomy when I opened up at the pool.  I only had a total of two customers; one that regularly comes to walk and the other that regularly comes to sit in the sun, which did peak out a few times.  It poured down rain for about 20 minutes, an hour or so before the end of my shift.  My only two customers were both long gone before the dark cloud let loose.  



Micki took this photo of Mirror Lake, just before sunset, while we were at the Blast.

When I got home from the pool, I put on my loungers, got a cup of hot decaf tea, and read  then napped with the upstairs guest kitties.  

I met Micki and all our fun friends at Mirror Lake Blast at 5:30.  The rain had stopped early enough to have the function and did not return until well after it was over.  
Micki took some of these photos.  Donna and DJ are always here.

Mike, Patti and Micki on the dance floor.  







Linda Sue with Micki.  






And a few photos with/of me.
me.  

I feel like I look kind of dorky, but oh well.

The band (Run For Cover) was by no means 'top notch,' but they played lots of great dancing music from our 'good old days' and were a lot of fun.
 

It turned out to be a beautiful night.  There was a good crowd and I got to see so many friends.  And I got my fill of dancing.  

I was home by bed time, tired, but for some reason could not get to sleep once I turned out the lights.

Tuesday 6/2 - I had a horrible night of sleep.  I hadn't been able to get to sleep for nearly three hours and then I kept waking up.  Upon getting out of bed, I discovered that my hips were rather painful; maybe too much gyrating while dancing.  When I researched the affect of alcohol on sleep I read this:  "While alcohol acts as a sedative that helps you fall asleep faster, it heavily fragments your sleep cycles and suppresses restorative REM sleep. As the liver metabolizes the alcohol, you experience rebound wakefulness, leading to poor rest, dehydration, and worsened sleep apnea."  I also had gotten up to pee a few times.  I guess I shouldn't have treated myself to two drinks last night.

Once I did finally get going, I managed to make it through the day fairly well.  I did have to push myself to complete my regular workout at the gym.

Jan arrived at the ranch shortly after I did and we went for a nice little ride together, with me taking Amiga.

Poker Joe was gone and it was a quiet evening at home.
 

Wednesday 6/3 - I had taken a pain sleep aid before bed, and got eight full hours of uninterrupted sleep.
 
I was out at the ranch by 8:15 to wrangle horses in preparation for the farrier.

Rico is a mighty fine looking horse.  I got a glimpse of farrier Chris and his apprentice Andy in the next photo.  







Bonnie, Patty and I were quite chit-chatty while Chris and Andy worked.  Rico went last then I immediately took him out on the trail once he was done.  




Boy did Rico move out!  It was difficult to get him to walk in a relaxed manner.  He kept breaking into a gait.  Because he is so smooth and I enjoyed his energetic forward motion, I let him gait most of the ride.  I did have him stop a few times just to slow him down, and take a few photos.  





When you zoom in you can see that the first field (I believe the old bean field at Wildwood) has been cut and raked, soon to be baled.

I did bump Rico up into a canter at two spots.  It was borderline too fast at times.  He just really had a lot of get up and go.  





Once back at the barn and untacked, I hosed Rico off because he was so sweaty.  He did very well standing by the wash-rack.  But then when I turned him back out into the pasture, in short time he took off looking for his buddies (Amiga and Zorro).      




For some reason, Rico could not see his two buddies and soon got very worked up.  He hollered, but I think he could not hear Zorro's call back because of the noise of the mowers (video).  Patty later reported that Rico had even slipped coming out of the paddock (falling onto his side) but hopped right back up and kept running.  

Finally Rico realized where Amiga and Zorro were and joined up with them (video).  Notice Cash and Cowboy, and mower Joe in the background.  

When Rico did finely join up with the other two, he went right to grazing, looking relaxed and content.



I had gone into the back field to flag Joe down, when I took the previous photo.  Joe came and helped me (with chain saw, up on a ladder) saw off two large, dead branches from the two remaining dogwood trees in the chicken yard.  

I trimmed many smaller, dead branches from the trees and feel they look much better now.  These two are all that's left of the three dogwoods we used to have.  The small 'bush' of growth is from the root ball of the one that blew over.  The chickens still like roosting in its dead branches.  

Patty took a break from mowing and we visited while I (with Cookie's help) broke up sticks from the tree trimming, and put them in the fire pit. 

Cookie, like Maggie, always wants some lovin'.

I finished up in the yard and then brought Amiga in (with the two boys following) to give her a Previcox.  

I dropped by the pool on my way home to help with a question.  Below - Afternoon sunshine filtering through the leaves while the dogs chilled out. 

I took nearly a two hour nap!  Maggie woke me up at 6:30 barking.  Who knows how long I would’ve slept otherwise.  And it was a deep sleep with like a little drool puddle and also sleep in my eyes, when I got up.
 

Thursday 6/4 - Needless to say, I had troubles falling asleep last night after my late afternoon nap.  So I still felt short on sleep when I got up at my usual 5am time.

Look how 'boxy' or broad Cookie looks through the shoulders.  And she seems to be a little bow legged.  She is always roaring and ready to go first thing in the morning.

Below is a photo of the mementos I was sent from the Waterlily's reunion back in Leroy, IL.  They are a group of ladies I used to do water exercises with.  These 'keepsakes' are so precious, my first inclination is to steal them away.  I hesitate to use them, so I can keep them new and unstained.  But then I think, how can I enjoy them unless I have them out and use them?  What use are they sitting in a drawer?

My college church mentor, Ina Copeland, had a beautiful tea cup collection.  I loved that she used those for our teas.  My three room mates and I, along with others from our college church group, would go to the Copelands for great food and fellowship, several times a year.  Over the five years I was at the University of Iowa, I enjoyed this mentorship program.  

Dan sent these photos of Ava at Preschool.  Her pre-k graduation is the end of July.  

Ava has started kindergarten boot camp which will be held the next few weeks!

As sluggish as I was feeling, I still managed to put in a decent workout (just arms and abs.) at the gym.  Then I picked up some food at Food City, packed up other items for our party, and headed to the ranch. 

Karen, Joanne and I went for a ride.  Karen headed back early on Zorro because he was quite sore (from his trim?).  Joanne and I then picked up the pace and had an invigorating ride.  Amiga really wanted to go, so I let her.

Karen and Joanne helped me with chores and soon our party started.  We had a very nice crowd, of 12 Saddle Sisters, gathered around the fire pit.  Although at first we were all under a shade tree.  Maggie and Cookie did a lot of begging and enjoyed some handouts. 

The party wound down about 8pm.  Amiga was looking pretty sore when I gave the Pasos more hay before leaving.  Shoot, we both got carried away on our ride.

Friday 6/5 - I wasn't surprised to find this on Cookie's crate mat first thing this morning.  I knew all that junk food could be problematic.  

I had an enjoyable shift at the pool because my regulars are so much fun.  Marie, Barb and I watched and 'helped' Stevie put together this new grill Marie bought to keep here at the pool.
 

I went straight to the ranch from the pool to give Amiga a Previcox.  She was still quite sore. I'd also taken our vacuum to sweep the shag rug in the house and collected trash and recycle from the house and barn.  








I walked the dogs as soon as I got home (Golf/Poker Joe was gone).  Cookie gets distracted by bugs, sticks, bird feathers, deer scat, trash, and even her shadow sometimes (video).  


She also tries to play with Maggie, jumping on her, grabbing her feet, and pulling on her ears.  So it is difficult to keep Cookie 'on task' - go potty.  She is a devil in puppy disguise.  

 






After we all (5 cats, 2 dogs, and myself) ate dinner, I took Cookie on a long walk.  We went to check our Druid clubhouse progress.  There has been more added to the short wall and a fence to the tall retaining wall.  

The building is progressing nicely.  

There will be a beautiful view from this fire pit they are putting outside, across from the driving range.
 

This is where the clubhouse parking will be, with the entrance around on the left side of the building in this photo.  








But if you look closely, you can see the fence on top of the retaining wall.  What I don't understand is why they had to make it so high.  

Well, hope you all are treating yourself to special things, to a little luxury, on a regular basis.  Get out and use the fine china, satin sheets, expensive wine, and fancy bridle.