Truthful Tuesday: The one where my brother gets pranked

Alternate Title: Using 23 and Me to mess with your siblings

This isn't really a confession so much as a HILARIOUS story about my brothers. And I had absolutely nothing to do with it, except for enjoying the hilarity... My older brother submitted his DNA to 23 and Me awhile back so he has an account with them. Any time a potential family member joins, he gets a notification.

Sibs and Dad at Older Bro's college graduation circa 1998

So my littler brother, who is a half sibling to my older brother and I (we all share Dad), decided to try out 23 and Me also. But my little brother isn't into the interwebs or the government knowing everything about him. So be submitted using a fake name, Jorge Rodriguez. Can you see where this is going? No? Try harder... You'll get there...

Sibs at my college graduation circa 2002 complete with bunny ears...

Also important to note, my younger brother was conceived via IVF in the 80's. You'll appreciate this in a moment.

Sibs and Dad at little bro's college grad, circa 2010

A few weeks ago, my older brother gets a ping from 23 and Me that he has a new relative who is a potential half sibling. Well, older brother panics. He goes to his wife and says "what should I do??? Do I call Dad? This could kill him!" First he thinks maybe dad had a little something on the side... And then he goes further and thinks maybe they used dad's um... deposit, for someone other than my stepmom way back in the 80's.

Are you guys dying yet?! Cause I am.. Hilarious. Total panic. Of course, my sister-in-law being a more rational human being says, "you should probably call your brother first." So big bro calls little bro and little bros says "What's 23 and Me?"

sibs with Dad at Dad's wedding also 2010

Hahahahahahahaha! Unfortunately, he couldn't hold it together for much longer, and 'fessed up.

So that's today's story about how my Little Bro totally punk'd my Big Bro. And I just got to sit back and laugh my ass off.

Truthful Tuesday

Meh. I don't have much for you guys today... I didn't do any shopping this weekend, nor did I manage to embarrass myself in public or anything! Shocking, I realize. I do need to confess though, that I got super behind on blog reading. So if you're getting random comments from me today on blog posts that are a week old... well, that's why. I should be all caught up now though!
Did you guys do anything crazy or embarrassing this weekend that you'd like to share? Buy anything awesome and irresponsible maybe? Tell me all about it in the comments!
I promise I have some entertaining equine content for What's up Wednesday tomorrow at least!

Truthful Tuesday

Oh where do I even begin with confessions today?! First off, I just now, TODAY, got my holiday cards in the mail. Yep, those aren't arriving on time to anyone... Also, I have extras so if anyone wants one, shoot me an email with your address!
Clearly, I've got a lot of work to do before Chanukah/Christmas this weekend. Oye. Nothing is wrapped, but at least I have everything in my house ready to be wrapped right? That's something.
Next, I'm super behind on my blog reading list. I'm a solid week behind and you all post feverishly! Trying to get caught up, so I apologize in advance for untimely comments on your stories. Similarly, while I've kept up with my posts fairly well here, I have not at all over at Beejuboxes.

This is Boxanne, our mascot

 I have a TON of boxes to review and the site is hating on me and not letting me log in properly. Grrr. Technology kills me.
My last confession is, well... Cookies. I ate almost nothing but cookies all weekend long. I went to three different cookie swaps, so I have TONS of cookies in the house. Tons. Even after eating so many.

work cookie swap

Friday night's cookie swap goodies

Hey, 'tis the season amiright?!
Anything you need to confess today? How are your holiday plans coming together? Have you also given yourself hypoglycemia from massive cookie intake?

Truthful Tuesday

Today's confession is that I've been a semi terrible blogger. I think this has been a confession more than once... I have some fun content to share, some obligatory content to share (Looking at you Influenster), and some random thoughts too! But time hasn't been on my side lately. Stay tuned though, because posts are coming! Hopefully sooner rather than later.
My other confession is that so far since lunch I've eaten half this can:

I still have 40 minutes left here, so the chances of me not eating the entire can are pretty slim. I wonder if this might be a contributing factor to my recent weight gain? Nah. Couldn't be.

Anything you need to confess today? Tell me about it in the comments, I'm here for you!

What's Up Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday everyone! It's finally a gorgeous day here in CT. It's in the 70's and the sun is out! Can you believe it?! I can't believe it.
As you probably already read via Truthful Tuesday, I didn't have a very productive week with the equines. So I guess this will be a short post. And not much about horses.
I think first I should share the most exciting news: I became an Auntie for the second time on Friday night! My sister-in-law went into labor on Friday morning and my brother was updating the family via group text throughout the day. My favorite was this one:
 

My mom and I went to meet little Ellie Saturday morning:

Here we are discussing when to get a pony.

In other big news, I am going to be a contributing reviewer over at Beeju Boxes! Beeju will be sending me some Lego boxes to review to get started which I'm pretty excited about. I will also be reviewing some of the subs that I've talked about here like Nicole's Creations and maybe Heart to Horse box. We shall see! But definitely check out Beeju Boxes if you're curious about any sort of subscription boxes. Beeju features all kinds from Korean Beauty to Kawaii, to snacks, to stationary... Seriously, everything.

GTO is back in CT! He's staying with trainer lady for a bit, but eventually he'll come home. I can't wait to ride him this weekend!!! Oh and also, I discovered he's turning FIVE in June, not 6... So he's even more advanced than I thought.

Old photo, because I haven't gotten to see him yet

Today is Romey's 7th birthday!

Happy Birthday Romes!

I have some random horse stuff to talk about too. As mentioned, the vet was out Friday for what I like to call spring maintenance. On the docket was Jamp's paranoia, Romey's allergies, and Rio's sore foot. And here are some things we came up with:
Jamp likely has neurological lyme disease. This doesn't normally show up in a titer, which is why his looks fine when we do the test. But it does tend to make the horses kind of nutty and spooky. We put him on Doxy though an IV antibiotic  might be more effective. We discussed that route, but decided to try the Doxy first.

he's stuffing his face WHILE napping. Goals.

For Romey, my vet recommended starting him on local honey. He gets 2 tablespoons (or 30 cc's if you use a syringe to measure) twice a day in his feed. I'm a little jealous... Honey is delicious! He's been on that since Saturday, and I noticed that he's coughing less already. My vet also noticed that where his hives are on his neck is exactly where my reins are rubbing on him. So off came the pretty leather reins and on went a rubber pair. The hives are shrinking already too! I can't believe I didn't notice that on my own... Slacking mom right here!

And for Rio, my vet thinks he just needs a rim pad to lift the shoe away from the sole of his foot a little. Also, he said Rio needs to lose a few lbs... Who doesn't?

Rio's idea of a diet... Salad! amiright?

The puggers have been about as happy with the weather as I have...

snuggling for warmth

And the last bit of what's up is well... these socks:

Why yes, those are pugs riding unicorns. I don't know who comes up with this stuff, but I'm really glad they do. REALLY GLAD!
What's up with you this Wednesday? Any big happenings in your world?

Equestrian Blogger Gift Exchange sponsored by Tracy from Fly On Over!

When Tracy from Fly On Over posted about her annual gift exchange, I jumped right on board! Blogger exchanges are my favorite! And an equestrian version? Yes please!
The rules were simple. We emailed Tracy to let her know we would like participate and included a paragraph to tell a little about ourselves. She would then send us each a name of a blogger to send a gift to. The price point was $20.00.
I sent my gift to Daphne from Snapshots of a Shauber. I took advantage of some great deals at Horseloverz.com and was able to find a surprising amount of goodies for $20! It was so fun to try and pick out items for someone I knew very little about.
The gift I received came from Molly at One Bud Wiser. Molly must have stopped on over here, because she found the PERFECT gift for me! Something I've actually been wanting but haven't bought.

First look was pretty enticing... See all that candy in there?! And here's the main event:

Infinity PUG scarf!!!!! I'm so excited about this thing I can't even stand it. It's soft and cozy and has PUGS ON IT!!!!!
Besides the scarf, there was a ton of Dove chocolate, which is my absolute favorite. It melts right in your mouth. So yummy! AND there were tutti fruity candy canes. When I was a kid, I always wanted those while my brother preferred the peppermint ones. But the last few years I haven't been able to find the real tutti fruity ones around here. We have all kinds of crazy flavors available but not these. I was SO excited they were in the box!
Thank you so much to Molly at One Bud Wiser for picking such awesome gifts for me!

Truthful Tuesday

Lamest confession ever: I thought it was Monday. Thus my lack of a Truthful Tuesday post. So that's what I'm confessing. I had nothing planned for today because I thought today was yesterday. Oops.
Please enjoy this photo of the view from my office window in lieu of an actual Truthful Tuesday post:

Truthful Tuesday

You know how sometimes you do something really stupid and it totally sucks? Well.... I did something pretty stupid, but this time it worked out kind of awesomely! I kept seeing in my bank account more money than I should have according to my records. I had just assumed that the roofer hadn't cashed my check yet so I didn't think much of it. But then I went back and saw that all the big checks and payments I had out were cleared and I thought... hmmmmmm... So I did a little investigating. It turns out that I never wrote a down a pretty significant deposit I had made. In April. Sheesh. Thank goodness I forgot to record a deposit and not a payment! That could have been ugly! But instead it was like found money! Guess who just paid off her credit card??
Have you ever done something dumb and had it actually work out for the better? Tell me your stories in the comments!

Truthful Tuesday

I think I'm a much cooler person on social media than I am in real life. In real life I'm generally too busy for much small talk and being nice to people... But on social media, I'm all "leave me comments!" "Be my friend!" "Talk to MEEEEEE"
In real life, it's hard to be funny. I always think of a great comeback way too late to actually use it. But on social media, I have time to come up with some wit before posting.
In real life, I'm a little... wide. On social media, I can just post pictures from the one angle I don't look super wide in.
Perhaps it's time I tried to bring social media Stacie out into the real world?

In the meantime, leave me a comment or two! Social Media Stacie loves to respond to those :)

Social Media Stacie:

aka: not wide

Real Life Stacie:

WIIIIDDDE

That's my confession for today... Anything you need to get off your chest?

Truthful Tuesday

I has the jealousy. That's my confession today. More specifically, I'm jealous of all you bloggers out there that have someone to take photos! I need to bribe someone to come take pictures while I ride one day. Honestly posting photos of my horses grazing and rolling is adorable and all... but I want some riding photos! Especially of Ducky. As I have only one. And it's blurry. And two years old.

Photo Credit to Katie Arruda from Katie Wanders

Cute though, right?!
Any of you live near me? Wanna come out and play? Please? Anyone? Bueller?

Just a little milestone to share with you guys!

My little blog has been viewed 10,000 times! Probably half of them were me... but whatever. I'm still excited to reach that little milestone! And even more excited that I logged in before it went to 10001!

Blueberry Cove Subscription Box: BEADS!

Ok, I know I haven't been sharing my jewelry projects lately, but I do actually have a few things to show off after the holidays. Until then, I have to share with all of you a brand new sub box for jewelry makers! It's from Blueberry Cove Beads and is $27.00 a month (22 plus five for shipping- very reasonable given it ships from Nova Scotia). Blueberry Cove provided this box to me so I can review and share it with all of you. All opinions are my own. And want my opinion? I'm so excited about this box! Ok ok, enough talkie, more showie...

The box is a thin little guy, but he's full of great things!

Cutest info card I've ever seen. For real.

Just had to show a close up of the wooden tag. So cute.

Everything came packed in a satin pouch with that wooden tag tied to the pull strings. I used the pouch as my back drop for photos. I apologize for the not so great photos, but I had to take these at night. Terrible lighting!
The theme was woodland, so all items were based on things you would find in nature.

There were three full bead strands. These beads are super high quality. The round beads on the left are olive toned and are real stone. Stone beads are my favorite! I love the weight of them. In the middle are some wooden tube beads. I love these! I actually don't buy wooden beads all that often, but these are so perfect! The last strand also feels like they could be stone, but may actually be ceramic? I'm not certain, but they are very high quality, and I love the design of them!

 Also included were two packages of beads. Some plastic leaves with a hole by the "stem" and some cylinder, large hole, ceramic beads, which are GORGEOUS! They're a teal color, but aren't quite solid. Here's a close up of each of these:

Blueberry Cove included several charm/pendant type pieces. I really should have taken better photos of these, but since I didn't, I'll describe everything. Starting at the top left is a pendent with three birds on a branch. I want to put this on some leather cord as a necklace! Just under the birds are some acorn charms. They feel like brass, and are really adorable. I'm not sure yet what I want to do with them, but I know it will be cute! To the left of the acorns are some clasps that look like leaves. Very pretty! Under them are some tree charms that I think are pewter. I have a feeling they're going to be used with the acorns... Time will tell! Back up at the top to the right of the birds are some leaf charms. They are brass, and long and thin. I think I want to use them with seed beads shaped into flowers... Hopefully my idea will work, and I can show you what I mean... If not, just pretend I never said anything. Next to the leaves is an owl pendant. Owls are all the rage this season, so I was excited to see him in there!
I think my FAVORITE thing in the box is that beautiful green disc in the center. The obvious plan for that is to make a necklace, but I think I may try and make a bracelet with it. I really need to get some leather! Lastly, in the bottom right corner is a bonus gift for the Christmas season. it's Santa and a Christmas tree! They're going to be made into a gift for my niece for next year. Let's hope I don't forget between now and then.

Attempted closer look at the trees and the clasps

Blueberry Cove includes a challenge on the info card. This month it is to make a necklace using at least two items from the box. Winner gets next month's box for free! You can post your creation to their Facebook, Twitter, or website. I've been running around like crazy this past week/weekend, so I just threw something simple together. I made this necklace:

I know it's nothing fancy, but it fits perfectly with the woodland theme! In my completely partial opinion, it looks pretty cute on too! Even if I am wearing it backwards. Oops.

I REALLY love this box. Maybe it's because they jumped right in with my favorite color scheme? I'm not sure... But I love it. If I had one suggestion, I think it would be nice if they also included some stringing materials. Many subscribers probably already have something around to string with, but it might be more appealing to new beaders to not have to head to the store before starting their first project. Other than that, this box is perfect. The quality and quantity of the items is really impressive, especially for the cost.

If you're interested in subscribing head over to Blueberry Cove and get signed up! You can tell them I sent you, but as far as I'm aware, they do not have a referral program.

Halloween!

I didn't have any plans for Halloween other than riding my horses after work, as per the norm. But it was fairly quiet Friday at my job, so I had some time to brainstorm ways to embarrass my four-legged kids. (There's a small chance I'm turning into the equine equivalent of the crazy cat lady.)
Here they are in their costumes:
Pia and Artie:

Ducky, Jamp, and Rio:

And in case you couldn't guess what they dressed up as, here are the side-by sides for your comparison:
Pia as a Pink Fairy:

 Artie as Derek Jeter:

 Ducky as my old horse Bud (aka Just Humour Me):

 Jamp as Rio:

 Rio as Harry Potter:

I think the kids did a great job with their costumes! Hahaha! Yes, clearly I have too much free time these days. But come on, this is hilarious, isn't it? I think Jamp as Rio might be my favorite.
I didn't dress up this year as I didn't have any plans. But I DID wear my awesome pug PJ's to bed.

Did you get wild and crazy for Halloween? What did you dress as? Do you embarrass your pets with costumes?