Hexing Men & Flexing In The Gym

Am I productive human being? No. Did I make venison chorizo Mac n cheese ball bites and lavender blueberry lemon cookies? Yes. Yes I did. And my husband made elk shotgun shells. Why can’t someone just pay me money to do all the hobbies I love. 😩

A few months ago I opened our first LLC intended for our ranch property investment and hunting/land management. Now I l’ve opened an LLC for my taxidermy business and it’s starting to feel really really. Pulled my first deer cape out of the freezer yesterday and my husband bought me a new power washer so I can more easily flesh and clean skins, hopefully without getting the HOA on our asses. We renewed our lease for one more year and he promised come October 2027 we’ll be moving the hell out of here and getting us a place closer to our new land. He said we’d find something where I can get my own little shop set up. So here’s to manifesting my little business coming to life🖤🤞🏻🖤

It was a really really hard shit day at work. Is it too late for me to get rich selling feet pics?

I’m getting a little irritable. I was dead set on not doing a diddly dang thing this weekend besides grilling tomorrow. We got sucked into going to the lake with uncle from the ranch and his side of the family. He told us to arrive around 10:45-11. It’s now after noon and we haven’t heard or seen from anyone as we sit on the dock sweating. This happens every single time. My husband pushed back and said no it doesn’t, it never happens. Only for us to arrive and oh ho, I was right again. At least the cooler is full of alcohol. 🥂

Finally home and my brain is mush. It’s more than mush, it may have just evaporated. It was such a jam packed weekend full of learning. I sat in on a mule deer seminar yesterday where the mentor mounted the whole thing from making custom bondo ears in front of us (first for me) then prepping and mounting the form. His seminar was only scheduled for 2 hours but myself and three other people stayed over 4 hours while he sculpted, sewed, and tucked all the skin. I asked a million questions and still have so many more. But I learned a shit ton that I can now go apply to my own practice. He also offered if I wanted to come to his shop to learn, the door was always open. Downside—he’s five hours away from us but only about an hour outside of where we’re looking for land. He runs a shop with an all female taxidermist staff and they’re a bunch of badasses. He even offered to house us for a long weekend if we just want to come work and learn so I’m absolutely going to take him up on that. Biggest takeaways; ask all the questions, don’t be afraid because everyone is nervous and always learning too, find your mentors and lean on them! I always have a hard time asking for help but we can’t grow if we don’t admit our own shortcomings and open ourselves to some criticism (this is the hardest for me). I never want to take advantage of anyone and my goal is to one day teach and mentor someone the way these incredible folks already have poured into me. Taxidermy is a HARD field but damn it makes me so excited!

Everyday this week I’ve thought it’s Thursday when it’s only Tuesday. My horseback riding class is Thursday and now I swear my entire algorithm is horses, barrels, and western riding. I’ve missed it but seeing it all over my social media is giving me hella anxiety. Because the trainer and I haven’t even done a deep dive yet. We haven’t gone over expectations for the first class, what to expect, what’s expected of me. I just know to show up in jeans and boots which is a given. But I did text @midst-of-the-storm freaking out over the weekend because it’s already 99 degrees and 60% humidity here in Texas and I want to wear leggings and I was debating if I’d be judged for that because…horse people can be fucking judgy to be honest. But I said fuck it and got a pair of comfy riding tights after some much needed tough love so hopefully I won’t die in this summer heat. I’m just preparing to be very very BAD. But I’m hoping since I’ve stuck with my Oly weightlifting and conditioning that it will only help me get back in the saddle faster and maybe result in fewer injuries when I inevitably eat dirt at some point. The ground is a lot harder at 36 than it was when I was 13. 😂

After months and months of debating it, I’m starting horseback riding classes for the first time since 2011. I was really into riding in college and that all fell to the wayside when I met my husband and we moved to Houston. But I found a barn about 45 minutes from our house and they offer western disciplines including barrels. I was getting into cutting horses just before I graduated so I’m excited to brush the rust off and potentially explore dipping my toes back into the western horse world. My husband said I need to stop adopting expensive hobbies but I’m just a girl. 💅