Sick of winter

ByLisa Moorhouse

Tonight we prep to get hit by another winter storm. I think everyone in Michigan is sick of it at this point. Bella is home from school with a headache that wouldn’t go away, had her drink a bunch of water and take a nap. Could we all just hibernate until spring? It’s cold and windy, I want to be outside riding the horses! Thankful at least for round bales as it makes our daily chore load a lot less when it’s 20 degrees.

Shane was very full of it after being stalled overnight on the worst day.

I’m struggling personally with the cold and lack of sunlight, fresh air! Just the thought of going out right now is depressing. I find that mostly these days people don’t care about others as much as they say they do, but sometimes sharing our struggles helps other people to know they aren’t alone in theirs. For all those struggling with getting through the last (hopefully) and hardest part of winter, I feel you! My horses feel it too I think. I love watching them play, even in the snow, but I know how much they love to run the big pastures and graze. We all are looking forward to the freedom we gain in the summer, long miles on wonderful trails, longer days and green grass. We can get through this. I have to do the self talk daily, “I will get through this, spring is close”. We’ve got this!

Frodo with a snow blaze.

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  • Catching up with Summer

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    I always think Summer is coming, I’m going to get so much done, etc., but that just doesn’t happen. My kids have been brutal so far this summer. My house is filled with the sounds of arguing sisters and bullying of their brother. Thankfully he loves to read so he can escape to a quiet place and avoid them. Even when we are outside they always seem to find something awesome to argue about like “she’s going down the wrong side of the driveway on her bike!”. Yikes! I know other moms out there understand this, but it just seems like this is the worst summer I’ve had for it. I am blaming them being at school all day long last year for making me not used to the constant noise, arguing, crying… and so on. As much as I hate the onset of winter and the cold that comes with it, I can’t wait for the start of the school year and hopefully my much happier kids!

    While my kids driving me insane is no excuse for not posting often, I will admit that by the end of the day, I just don’t want to. When the quiet comes I want to relax and just shut my brain off. Every time I get a good idea about something I want to post/rant about, I get sidetracked doing something else and never make it back over to my computer. The joys of being at home with your children, you very strongly resemble a person with severe ADHD.

    I feel bad when Corey gets home and the house isn’t shining in an extremely clean state, but deep down I know this is the real world and while some homes may seem that way (when people know you are coming over to visit), the reality is no one’s house can be that clean all the time and have children and pets (lets not forget the farm!). Speaking of, mowing 6 acres of pasture is a lot of work. Lazy work right, sitting on my butt, but it hurts my back and it’s sooo time consuming. An hour here and there at night when I can leaves me a lot less time for riding. My sanity is largely connected to my large herd beasts outside and I really need to up them in my priorities! Their care of course is at the top with the care of the kids, but riding requires another adult on location or else I’m stuck doing circles in the arena, which we’ve been doing a lot of lately.

    So yea, our summer has been good so far but I just don’t feel like I’m where I should be by now. I haven’t been running, not enough riding in my eyes, and the things around the house that I feel should be done just aren’t. Such is life I guess!

    Here’s hoping for more sanity, and updates to those who actually stop by the blog.

     

  • Crock pot Mac'n'cheese

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    Busy mornings usually leave me feeling lazy, so dinner is crock pot mac’n’cheese. Up with the kids, got them on the bus and horses fed, then an appointment with the chiropractor, the grocery store for dinner supplies, stopped in and helped Corey out with a project at work and then hit the gym.

    I had a light workout today. I ran for a mile at a much faster pace than normal to get my heart rate up, then I did some weight training and decided to come home. I don’t like overdoing my workouts after going to the chiropractor, something about the fact that my bones just got rearranged makes it not seem like a good idea to me.

    My afternoon will be filled with laundry and cleaning up the house. When the kids get home I’m going to go get our babysitter because we’re having her over for dinner and I am gifting her a couple of wonderful It Works skin care products for Christmas. She’s one of the best baby sitters we’ve ever had, she plays with the kids rather than just “watching” them, she doesn’t charge us a fortune so we can afford to go out more often, and my kids LOVE her. I believe that having a good solid babysitter is one of the most important things in my life right now, because honestly I don’t think my hubby and I would be able to make it without our date nights! We try to take at least 2 a month, and sometimes we will have lunch together. When life is crazy and stressful it’s good to be able to take some time out with your partner and remind each other that you are on the same team. 🙂

    I figured I would add the recipe for our dinner tonight as well in case anyone wants to try it out. I haven’t had the finished product yet, but I’m sure it’s delicious! I’ll update with a pic after.

    Crock Pot Mac’n’cheese

    8 oz elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
    4 cups (16 oz) shredded sharp cheddar (I used a couple different cheeses)
    1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
    1 1/2 cups milk
    2 eggs
    1 teaspoon salt
    1/2 teaspoon black pepper

    Spray crock pot with nonstick cooking spray. Put cooked macaroni in crock pot and mix with all remaining ingredients (set aside 1 cup of cheese). Sprinkle remaining cheese over top and cook on low 5 to 6 hours.

     

    image
    Doesn’t look like I expected, but was delicious.

     

     

     

  • Brand New Blogger

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    I’ve decided to try my hand at blogging. Since I’m brand new to this I’m totally open to constructive criticism! Feel free to comment or email lisa@notbalanced.com

    So, why Not Balanced? Well I’m a busy mom who is doing her best to balance family, sports, farm, health & fitness, business, etc… Honestly it’s a struggle daily, so in my search for a catchy website name I thought Not Balanced described my life perfectly! Yes, I am attempting daily to find balance, but reality is that even if I get close, I have to start all over again tomorrow!

    Some basic info on me for those who don’t know me:
    I’m a mom of 3, Eli is 8 and Abigail and Isabella are my 5 year old twin girls. I have an amazing husband Corey, who I married in April 2012 (after I was widowed in March 2010). We have a 6 acre farm in Hudsonville, Michigan and at this moment we have 6 horses, 2 dogs, 2 indoor cats, 4 barn cats, 2 finches, 17 laying hens, a rooster, and some fish. 5 of our horses are Arabians, and we have an adorable weanling pony that I’m hoping my girls will love raising. Our dogs are a Doberman we just adopted in November and my son’s daisy dog who we’ve had since he was a tiny puppy. For the most part I’m a stay at home mom, but I also am part of a network marketing company that sells health care products (skin care/vitamins/supplements). I don’t have to work but the extra money is nice and we love the products ourselves so it’s a win-win.

    I’m a dreamer, and a goal setter. I race my horses in endurance and push myself athletically, I’m currently training to run the Houston Marathon on January 18. My first and likely last marathon, it’s grueling, but I’ll be glad to say I did it! I used to love to write, still hoping someday to be able to finish a novel but thought blogging would be a good outlet for my writing needs while everything is so busy at home.

    Looking forward to blogging some of my experiences with attempting balance in my life. Hopefully it’s entertaining/informative and enjoyable to read for you all.

    lisasolace
    My mare Solace and I at AHAM endurance race in July 2014

  • Ready to go!

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    Today is my last full day at home before the big race! In less than 72 hours I will be finishing up my first marathon! This is HUGE for me! To be honest I’m not a runner at heart, I don’t love to run, but I love being healthy and in shape. Running is a means to an end, I don’t mind doing it with a friend but I detest it on the treadmill and am not a huge fan of a long solo run. Training for this marathon on my own was definitely hard, but it was the motivation I needed to get out and run.

    I have learned so much about endurance from training for this run and I’m hoping what I knew previously, combined with what I’ve learned, will make me successful Sunday in Houston. I have a whole new level of appreciation for my horse when we are doing an endurance ride, and I’m hoping that a lot of what I’ve learned about preparing for this race can help me to better condition my horses for endurance rides. One major thing I’ve learned, I definitely need to start watching what I eat when I get home, because without running as much as I have been I can’t get away with eating as much as I have been! Running makes me starving, it takes a lot of control to say “no I think that’s enough”! I know that staying healthy is more about diet in most cases than activity and I know why, because when you work out you eat more, and if it’s junk you are in trouble!

    Diet and exercise, but also, equally important is REST. When I get a good night’s sleep I feel much stronger the next day. My muscles need to repair, this means days off between workouts. I will admit I did not follow the training schedule mapped out for me. I’m sure it’s a great schedule for someone looking to PR a marathon, but I will PR with finishing with 1 minute to spare! I’m not looking to win an award so I’m not going to run 5 days a week and completely tear my body down in order to maybe get a much faster time. I think 40 miles a week is a lot on a new distance runner and probably more than their body can handle to start out. Just my opinion, but I’m sure I’ll know if I didn’t get enough come Sunday!

    So please pray for my travels and my run Sunday! I appreciate it! 😀

  • Corey's Birthday

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    Yesterday was Corey’s birthday! Hurray for 34! 😉 He thinks he is getting old but I’m convinced old is not a number but a state of mind. I fully intend to be riding my horses competitively into my 70’s.

    It was a super busy day for me, Corey loves a clean house so I did my best to clean up, but it’s a huge chore when the kitchen/front bathroom is under construction! I didn’t sit down for more than a few minutes the whole day! I spent the majority of my time working on getting the wallpaper border off of the bathroom so that we can hopefully paint soon, and wow is that a pain! There is even some of it still left to get off today.

    I had the kids make homemade birthday cards when they got home from school. They had fun drawing on them and using stickers to decorate. I probably spent the same amount of $ I would for 1 card from all of us, so I really liked this idea better. We had a yummy dinner and cake, of course! Since it was a Monday, Corey went to men’s group for church after dinner and the kids and I played a few games of Uno (or 1 really long game as when they won I let them come back in and play more). It was fun. I wish sometimes we weren’t as busy and we did stuff like that more often. It seems like there is always something going on, sports for me or the kids, errands, chores, construction projects, etc. It’s really nice to just say “that doesn’t matter” every once in a while and sit down and spend some good quality family time together. I love my kids! They were laughing and joking around, I can’t believe how much my girls have grown, playing Uno without much help and reading like rock-stars! Man has kindergarten changed them. <3

  • Sold!

    ByLisa Moorhouse

    Sold my husband’s horse today. It’s sad in ways, he’s a great horse and it’s hard not to get attached, but my husband doesn’t have the time or the urge to ride often enough to make it worth him having his own horse. With 4 riding horses I’m overwhelmed with needing to ride them all to keep them in shape, and since I’ve been training this year (end of summer until now) for the marathon I haven’t been riding nearly enough.
    image
    Bobbi used to be a show horse and now he’ll go back to that lifestyle and it’ll be good for him to get all the attention and work. While I don’t show myself, I know showing means your horse’s image matters and unhealthy horses don’t look good, so I won’t have to worry about him being taken care of. Also, he’s going to a little girl whose mom is buying him for her for Christmas. What an awesome Mom! So exciting, I have bought ponies for my kids before, but they don’t have the urge to ride yet and I’m waiting patiently for them to decide they got the horse bug! I’m excited to go see Bobbi and his girl when they go to fair next summer, Corey will pull out his big camera and thoroughly enjoy photographing the event I’m sure.

    He is still with us now but he’ll be leaving Monday. I’m glad they didn’t want to just take him today because my husband wouldn’t have gotten to say goodbye. He really did enjoy Bobbi and I’m sure he will miss him. Bobbi taught him how to ride and I love that.

    After Bobbi’s new owner left I did get to ride my mare Solace as well. It was a nice sunny day and not unbearably cold (this is huge for me!). She’s 6 and can be a pistol when we go to an endurance race, imagebut she hasn’t been ridden much this fall and she was an angel in the bosal today. I love how smart and trustworthy my Arabians are, they’ve had no special training, but at any age they seem to be able to retain everything they’ve learned even when they aren’t using it. This could also be bad obviously, if they’ve been taught bad manners, but mine have all been great fortunately.

    We only rode in the arena a couple of miles worth, about 20 minutes, because I didn’t want her to get sweaty. After we finished I let her eat some of the grass that we’re so fortunate to have still. This December has been warm, and while the mud was really bothering me, it was nice to not be shoveling snow and freezing the last few weeks! It’s almost as if Michigan was trying to convince me that it’s not so bad here.

     

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