Thanksgiving is Coming!

First Post of the Day

Thanksgiving is one week away from today - one week! And my kids and their families are all arriving this coming Saturday.

Needless to say, I have a lot to do to get ready. 

One of the first things I did was to record a message for them. I discovered that I had a Thanksgiving piano roll that I'd never played before, and it had two of our family's favorite Thanksgiving songs on it! (Naturally, one of those songs has a horse in it.)

So I grabbed some decorations that were close to my kids' hearts, loaded the roll, and played it for them. It was very well received by my family and I hope that you enjoyed it, too.

A little over a year ago, Craig and I finally cried uncle about housecleaning. I'd just begun using a walker, and I simply could no longer clean like I used to. (Cleaning is something I actually enjoy.) Craig, too, was struggling with his own pain and our house was getting dirtier and dirtier. (Dog hair anyone?)

My friend Kathy suggested I try her housecleaner and so we took the plunge and hired Olivia. She's been cleaning for us for over a year now and not only does my home look wonderful, she has become a good friend. 

Olivia working on my blinds this week.

For the Thanksgiving holiday, she is doing heavy duty cleaning stretching over two days. She did the downstairs Monday and is doing the upstairs today. I am so grateful that my home will be clean for everyone who is staying with us.

An interesting thing about Olivia - her hobby is skating on a Roller Derby team! That's her kneeling on the bottom right.

Because Olivia is doing the upstairs (sans roller-skates, of course) I had to finish my sewing projects by today as once that room is cleaned and prepared for overnight guests, I don't want to use it.

Mountain Mama Jessie had asked me to make her kids banners like the ones I made for Julie, Kate, and Titan, and I was happy to do so. I just needed to finish them before Olivia came to clean that room.

Because Jessie's family lives in the Rocky Mountains, there are tons of places to go and see, well beyond the National and State Parks.

This is just a list of one summer's places that their family went!

So, instead of using Junior Ranger patches, I found an embroidery design that would cover all that they do. And then I began experimenting with colors, trying to incorporate red and black for Titan and pink and green for Cambria.

That took a lot of experimenting, but at last I was happy with two of the designs and got started embroidering on the banners.

I ran into a big problem - this set of banners that I'd ordered (yes, from Amazon) was off in its measurements. See how the point of the banner pulls to the left?

The point of the banner on both banners was too far over to one side.

When I was measuring and placing the designs, I had wondered what the problem was - I knew I was measuring correctly but still I could not seem to center the designs.

It was when I compared them to the banners from the first set I'd made, I could see the problem - whoever made these banners was off on their measurements. When they'd hemmed the bottom edges, they did not get the hem stitching centered. Somehow it passed QC and was then sold to me.

It's too late to fix them, but if Cambria and Titan want, I can get new banners and make another set. As it is, just looking at the list of places they'd visited in one summer makes me think I will need to make second banners to hold all their badges, patches, pins, and stickers! 

Tick! Tick! Tick! (Where's that fast clock video?? LOL)

Two more days before folks begin arriving! And I cannot wait.

A Busy Day Completing Projects

It took me all week, but I've finished the cleaning, culling, and reorganizing of my model horse collection! 

Having finished the shelves in the horse room, I moved into the sewing room early in the afternoon. I was determined to wrap up this project and move on to organizing and photographing all the sales models I'd sorted out.

Just as I did in the office, I left one shelf open. The shelf underneath it has three shelf eaters, models I like to keep close to the sewing table. I use them to ensure that my XLT (extra long traditional) haversacks will fit the models they are intended for.

I always keep a shelf open in my office directly behind my desk chair, too. I use it to photograph sales models (such as the Chevaliere on the left), setting up scenes like the Mini Whinny Advent Calendar, etc. Via Latte is only there temporarily. I will be moving her into the sewing room where she will go with the other three shelf eaters that are used for fitting haversacks.

Craig helped me put some finishing touches to the horse room and the sewing room.

He hung this Christmas gift from my friend Kathy over the door of the office. I can sit here at my computer and see it every time I look up.

This painting of Mary, Joseph, and the boy Jesus, a gift from Local Son Curt and Vanessa, was hung on the wall between his office door and mine. 

And then he hung this clock, a gift from him, over the windows in my sewing room so that all I have to do to tell the time is to glance up.  (I much prefer a clock to a watch or using my phone. Often my hands are full of fabric and pins and a glance up is much easier.)

Of course, yet again I had a little help from my friends. The girls followed me back and forth from the horse room to the sewing room all day as I worked. (Nash did the same with Craig.) Despite Mama's propensity for heavy shedding, I relented and let her stay while I worked. She just wanted to be with me and I didn't have the heart to make her leave.

One last thing I got done yesterday was that, believe it or not, I finally took our Christmas tree down. The ornaments have been put away for weeks; I just hadn't disassembled the tree and put it into its box, a ten minute job at most. Why had I left it on display? Well, I love its colored lights, and have been plugging them in as soon as I got up in the morning and leaving them on until I went to bed. They are cheery during these drab winter days, so why not leave the tree out?

I do still have my mother's Nativity to put away. That's a different story - it big, it's breakable, and it's heavy. I am definitely procrastinating this job. And while Craig would help me in a heartbeat, because it is so fragile, I prefer to do it myself. I've got lots of experience packing china models and since this Nativity means so much to me, I want to pack it up myself.

A little help from your friends is good, but there are some things you just need to do yourself.

Caught Kissing an Old Friend

I continue to work my way around the horse room, cleaning, culling, and reorganizing. I'm making progress and finished two more shelving units yesterday.

Craig popped in late in the afternoon and took some pictures of the process.

I was working on my Man O'War conga, which includes one of my carpet herd models. I have three of the original Man O'Wars and he is one of them. I got a little cocky and said to Craig, "I know my carpet herd members so well, I can pull them off the shelf without even checking their tags. Wanna see?"

And I pulled the middle horse of the three off the shelf.

Bingo! There is my lovely Man O'War from 1968, still with me and staying with me for life.

I think I startled Craig when I kissed it, but I explained that all carpet herd members get a kiss when I put them back on their shelf. (Often when I pull them off, too.)

Gosh, the memories those carpet herd pieces bring back! I had a green bareback pad for him that my early hobby friend, Sue Seese, made me. I still have it in my box of early tack that's stored away for safe keeping.

Never has it taken me so long to dust my collection, but it's not just because of the number of models. A lot of it is simply enjoying interacting with some old friends and checking them to see how they are faring as, like me, they age.

So far, we are all in pretty good shape.

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FOR SALE: 1990s Misty in box, $25

The clear plastic on the box is yellowed and there is a small crack on one side in the seam. (Hard to photograph but see picture below.) Hooves are pinker than those on my other Mistys.

A 1996 Breyer catalog and a JAH flier came with her in the box and are still in there.

The hard to see crack which doesn't photograph well. Small, but there.

Interested? Contact me at horsiemama8@gmail.com.

More Cleaning and the Hobby's "Never Have I Ever"

The work on cleaning, culling, and reorganizing my collection continued yesterday and I made good progress.

But the progress was slow, especially when it came to dusting the very top shelves.

Picking each model up, dusting it, dusting under it, then setting it carefully down all while standing on a ladder and with a shoulder that would catch and hurt at times... I had to go slowly.

The other shelves were not difficult at all (although my shoulder did zing me occasionally.)

I pulled up a chair, sat down in it, and moved models as I dusted them to the ladder's steps.

Then I'd dust the shelf they'd been standing on - much faster and far more efficient!

I got this shelf unit in the middle done yesterday in addition to the top shelf models on the three shelving units I'd done previously.

Five more to do in here and then three in the sewing room. And then there are three china cabinets. It's going to take a while, but I am determined to finish. And, as I said yesterday, I do enjoy cleaning and reorganizing my collection.

Meanwhile, the hobby is having some fun as Sputter Moo Productions' "Never Have I Ever, Breyer Collector Edition" makes its rounds. 

I'd love to jump in, but I also want to finish my cleaning project. So as I look at Sputter Moo's list, I see that I've done most of the things on there - an advantage of having been in the hobby a long time. (Which translates into I am old. Ahem!)

Absolutely I've got time to show ya'll the list of the six things I have not done. So...

Never Have I Ever:

- Sold all my models (My carpet herd members need have no fears about that!)

- Gone to BreyerWest (I had plans but then Denver Daughter Sarah moved back to Iowa City.)

- Owned a traditional Alborozo (I do have its mini counterpart.)

- Owned a Khemosabi mold (A mold that never appealed to me.)

- Won a BreyerFest raffle model (I never do raffles although I will donate to them at live shows.)

- Taken a model on vacation (No and Yes. I have traveled with a model before, but I can't recall ever deliberately taking one with me "just because.")

I'm sort of thinking that I need to take a model on vacation with me. And some day I'd love to go to BreyerWest, too. 

But there's still one last, smaller list.

Lynn's Never Would I/Not Happening Ever list:

- Sell all my models (Are you kidding? I am kissing every carpet herd member on the nose as I dust them; they are not going anywhere!)

- Owned a Traditional Alborozo (He's pretty, but he's just never appealed to me.)

- Owned a Khemosabi (If I can resist Alby, then it's a very easy pass on Khemosabi.)

- Won a BreyerFest raffle model (I don't do raffles. Period.)

That was fun! And now, back to cleaning, culling, and reorganizing!

Cleaning, Culling, & Rearranging

It's started. At last. And probably after two years or more since the last time. I am cleaning and dusting my collection and it is a mammoth job.

It started because I have been taking models off of shelves as I do a major collection purge.

I'd set up a folding table and begun pulling models off the shelves that I intended to sell, leaving them there until I could photograph them and then pack them (those big boxes in the background) to take to swap meets and live shows. 

That left a lot of open space on my shelves, and before I rearranged models and put them onto that newly opened shelving, I needed to dust, both the shelves and the model horses.

The culling had begun in the sewing room where my Hartland sub-collection is displayed. A few are from my carpet herd, a few are test or very limited pieces, and many are woodcuts.

Keeping the carpet herd, Tiny Mites, woodcuts, and the most rare Hartland model in my collection, I brought the rest of the Hartlands into the horse room to prep for sales.

And the domino effect began. All that empty shelf space! I dusted and then headed into my office to look for models that could be moved onto the sewing room shelves.

I began with the Classics as they were most likely to fit the shelves the Hartlands had been on.

The space on the former Hartland shelves filled quickly, leaving lots of open space on the Classic shelves back in the horse room. And so it continued all afternoon long - dusting, moving, dusting again, and rearranging.

The former Classic shelving is now filling up with the few Classics I am keeping (my Cake horses!) and smaller Traditionals. And of course, moving horses off the Traditional shelves has left more open shelving on them.

These three shelving units are finished except for the very top shelves. I can't reach those models without a ladder, and even then, lifting models from that angle hurts my shoulder. (I damaged the rotator cuff in my right shoulder playing tug with Pepper.)

Knowing I was struggling, Craig went downstairs and got our large step stool for me. He offered to use it himself and dust those high models and their shelves, or to stand beside me and hold them while I dusted and moved things around. (What a guy; thank you!) 

There are nine more shelving units to go plus all of the tip top shelves. It's going to take some time, but to be honest, I actually find this relaxing and enjoyable. Some of these models have been with me since I was six years old and are like old friends. 

And the older I get, the more I enjoy connecting with old and dear friends, be they model or human.

Collection Cleaning and Rearranging: Still Working!

 Just because I was curious, I scrolled through blog entries to see how long I have been working on cleaning and rearranging my collection. I was a bit surprised to see that it's been over three weeks! But, I am getting it done.

Aside from a box going to Good Will and a painting to be hung, the upstairs family room is done and Craig can walk unimpeded into his library.

The spare bedroom library sewing room second model horse room is finished and I've migrated the longer models like Dundee, the Shagya Arabian, Pacer, and others to the deeper shelves in there.

Holding my breath, I cleaned and rearranged the Freeman Leidys, Metlox Poppytrails, Chevals, and other unusual china horses that are in the antique china hutch. I didn't break anyone, thank goodness.

Since I had very recently rearranged the Hagen Renaker minis (in a repurposed media cabinet) I did not do anything to them.

I do still need to do the Hartland shelves but I left that for the time being - I am thinking of selling most of them and wanted to think about that first.

Saturday I made a concerted effort to get started on the shelves in my office, the original horse room. 

And that's where the rearranging really began. I like to group by mold and so that means I get open pockets of space to fill. Almost everything on the bottom three shelves was transferred over from other shelves in the room.

During my spinal fusion in April, several discs were removed and I am shorter as a result. There are times when I can literally feel the difference that that makes and this is one of them. The topmost shelves have always been hard for me to reach; this time, I ended up using a Swiffer Duster on an extension handle to clean them instead of taking the models down individually. I simply could not reach them.

After I'd gotten all the Classics gathered on the narrow shelves by the window, I finished for the day.

I've got some completely empty shelves and then some open spaces on others for playing model horse Jenga when I get back to work this morning. 

Definitely this project will be finished this week - we will have three of our children and their families (and dogs) in town for the 4th of July weekend, so I want to get the collection rearranging and cleaning done by then. 

Wish me luck!