I have goat in my throat..

That's what I said after eating a piece of cheese! I knew I should have listened to my better judgement when I was talked into trying a piece of this Feta Goat Cheese. I was at my parents for our day-after Christmas family gathering to exchange gifts with Eric/Andrea and my parents. They had this cheese from the lady that they bought their goats from and it didnt look funky, so my curiosity got to me, I caved and tried it. The initial flavor was not terrible, I was chewing along and it was okay, but I certainly wouldnt call it great, but then... I swallowed! That's when the overwhelming flavor of GOAT hit my throat and I honestly felt like I'd just licked a goats ass because the flavor in my throat was exactly the flavor of a stinky goat and I quickly chugged down some of Derek's soda then popped a cordial cherry in my mouth, meanwhile gasping that I had goat in my throat!!

My parents & Derek of course thought I was insane, they'd never heard such nonsense before and were probably plotting behind my back to have me institutionalized and we all had a great laugh! Well... 45 minutes later Eric & Andrea show up and I'm explaining this nasty experience to them and Andrea says "OMG I can taste the EXACT same thing when I eat goat cheese" HELLO>>> proof that I am not crazy! We all laughed, but I was very relieved to know I was not crazy.

Christmas was great this year. I made a few sewing projects and hope to do more gifts that way in the future. The table runner I made turned out really well, atleast I think it did. In the Schwartzenberger family gift exchange, Derek and I were victorious in getting the one gift above them all that I wanted which was one of gramma's paintings of a snow covered tree, matted & framed. It looks perfect on my wall and I'm really happy to have been successful in getting it because I just love it.

Derek had been bugging me for a week straight about my gift from him. He wanted to give it to me early and I was having none of that! He finally convinced me to open our gifts Christmas Eve.. he brings out this long skinny box and I said "What, did you get me a gun?" I was only teasing, but yep, it was a gun! An over-under actually, very nice and heavy. I have not shot this type of shotgun before and although it was not on my "list", I am happy to have my very own gun. :) The plan for the future was that I would hopefully eventually start grouse/pheasant hunting with Derek.. you dont have to sit miserably in the cold and wet like you do for duck/goose hunting. And we want to start going to the trap range on Friday nights to get Cooper accustomed to gunfire, no sense going unless we plan to shoot, right? :) So now I have my own shotgun for trap and maybe bird hunting in the future. Oh and I got some pink ear protection as well.

I think things might finally be headed in our direction atleast a tiny bit! We got a letter from the bank and we are FINALLY in the loan modification process.. It only took us 1 year exactly to get to this point, but it couldnt have happened at a better time. I had already had to skip my Dec mortgage pmt because we were falling behind and then just yesterday we get the letter stating our trial period payments start Feb 1st and if we make those 3 payments on time, then we should get moved into a permanent new loan. I am SOO relieved, although not 100% out of the woods yet on this loan, but many promising steps closer now. Things needed to move this direction in order for us to stay in our home, it was just getting too hard to make the payments every month.

It has been hard to get motivated to get out and ride the horses this fall/winter. Not sure if it's the weather, the money stress or simply no time. I think a combination of it all.. I am still not overly motivated but I have now made plans to ride on New Years Day with others, so there is no backing out now! It is going to be cold, high in the 30's for the day, but no rain!! I heard that Dec has only had 3 days without rain, it's been a bit depressing. I am actually relieved Christmas is over and it's time to move on. I took the tree down 2 days after Christmas, that is not normal for me but I was feeling so overwhelmed with clutter and stress, it had to go.

2011 will be our year to get organized!! We have talked lots about it and plan to clear out all the crap we dont need or that does not belong to us, get the shop set up, the garage organized, the shed finished.... We want to focus on so many things next year that in order to do so, we have to get things squared away at home first. We have no great plans to celebrate bringing in the new year, other than probably falling asleep before the ball drops! lol Who knows, we have 2 days before that happens, so maybe some last minute plans will come about.

Happy New Year