horses and information science

French class and other stuff

2012-01-23T05:44:00.003-06:00

Dean and I started our French class. Despite my years of French ( yes, a million years ago), I think he will blow right by me. Between his great English vocabulary, Spanish, German and Latin, he seems to know every word already and if he doesn't, he can guess or memorize it immediately. Here's an example: Dean, do you know what the word souris is? Must be MOUSE, I was just reading about the Souris River in North Dakota. Crap!!!

Anyway, it is fun to be doing a project together again. When we first started riding, we were so into it. We had fun buying all the stuff, reading and talking about it and actually riding and going on riding vacations.

People have been dropping in and out of the beach vacation. Right now, MIL is out BIL is possibly in and long-lost niece is probably in. I would like her to come.

I got a cortisone shot in each wrist and feel much better. This is the only shot he will give me so I have to be extra careful and take advantage of it. I actually can't really do anything. I'm supposed to keep my arms and wrist straight. It's hard to type, write, hold a book, wash my hair, talk on the phone, etc. Waling makes my arms ache and the bike at the gym is so big that it is just plain uncomfortable, not to mention boring. Dean had been doing everything in the house and driving me around (hardly go out) and I have been sitting around watching TV.. I am quite sick of it. Got Downton Abbey from Netflix and my sister sent me some DVDs of NCIS. I just started watching it even though it has been on since 2003.

I am going today to drop out of band for this semester since I can't keep my elbow bent to hold it while playing. I hope to get back in in September.

Can't go help out in SF and can't go to Florida to help parents because I could not handle being in the airport with purse, luggage, etc. and anyway would be useless while there.

Why oh why don't the people next door ever walk their three dogs??????????

Not today :( - and other stuff

2011-12-29T08:42:00.005-06:00

Rats, just when I decided to go see my horse, his leaser is riding him! I guess she changed her riding days again. And why can't I burn the dvd I downloaded to a blank dvd????? Two weeks til I go see a new shoulder dr. I think I see an mri in my future. New year's resolution which is the same as usual but which I will break immediately: To my sisters- "Don't tell anyone else, but . . ." hahaha. Parents will run out of money by the end of 2012 and then what?? Lose the 10 pounds I gained in the last 5 months. Must get out of the house today, maybe will go to the barn anyway but just a little bit later. My driver can deal with the traffic. Will I be able to take my band class or will my shoulder/arm problem be too much? I will sign up anyway and see. Trying to talk Dean into taking a French class with me. I gave him two German short story books for xmas and he can read them! There is an English translation on the facing pages so I just read Franz Kafka's The Judgement (in English of course) and now will read The Metamorphosis which I have not read in a long time. My fav short story is Conrad Aiken's Silent Snow Secret Snow. I think I could be Paul if I let myself. Lovely beach vacation coming up this year. Various relatives will have to be dealt with but the early morning hour on the beach when everyone is sleeping will be worth it. Big family reunion on Dean's side but those are strangely the people I really like. I just love everyone in his family even tho some of them are a little weird. Hoping that BOTH of my kids and their kids come. We rented two houses to accommodate everyone. Thinking of moving to Florida to take care of parents. We would have to sell this house but I don't want to buy one in Florida and I don't want to leave my horse even tho he is not mine anymore. The real estae market in Florida has totally cratered. There is a great house I would love that has been on the market for a while but u would have to pay $70K in club dues every year. as if. This is all one paragraph.

Wiz

2011-11-18T09:35:00.003-06:00

Groomed my beautiful horse yesterday. He was just interested in eating grass though. It was hard to hold onto the lead rope and groom at the same time! U would think he had never eaten before.

Anyway, he was sweet and I was very happy to see him. The whole row of horses got some carrots except for the one horse I didn't know. :P poor guy. There was a horse's head sticking way out of every stall!!! Amazingly cute, but I was too dumb to get the camera phone out of my pocket to take a picture.

Concert!

2011-10-24T07:39:00.003-05:00

Our band concert is on Wednesday night. The full band got together for a rehearsal yesterday afternoon. It is going to sound awesome. Nevermind that I am faking playing two of the pieces!! Next week we will start practicing for our Christmas concert and our mini concert at Old Town Spring.

Here are our concert pieces!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zOyi60e7Do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WeytMAO06A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkEaMb8JLgo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnzWHTSEYKo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQNiqTTvcng

I really don't care for the super fast ones too much. Sounds like just loud noise!! Plus they are too hard and fast for me to play.

I'm not doing such a bad job though considering the fact that I have not really played since 1968. I got my flute in 4th grade (1959) and it is still going strong. I've had it overhauled twice but right now it seems fine. One key was sticking but all of a sudden it is okay again!!

My mother said hello to me last night.

2011-10-21T04:52:00.000-05:00

That's about it, a few minutes later I could hear her snoring.

Oh no, I canceled my vacation!

2011-08-16T20:55:00.002-05:00

I just don't feel like going to Rhode Island. Dean hates the beach and what else is there to do? I did want to go see Slater Mill, get clam cakes and chowder and walk on the beach early in the morning. Plus it will be cool there and you can smell the ocean and hear the waves.

But somehow, a nice clear stretch of time with no trips seems even more soothing this year. I can get stronger in my silks class, go to band practice and go see my very own white horse lots more.

I know I have to make a trip to Florida in December and I do want to go to SF in November. I'm just tired of packing and unpacking and being away.

There is something about taking trips that makes me gain weight no matter how much I swear I will not. I have gained 7 pounds in the last 2 months. That's why I had pizza tonight - to celebrate the start of a diet tomorrow!!! right.

I have not been riding or doing yoga since my two classes at my gym got canceled. So the lack of exercise is really telling. I will go up to the class in the Woodlands tomorrow morning. I did climb to the top of the silks today - all the way up to the ceiling of the gym!

Tonight I am half re-reading a trashy regency romance novel and half watching an Astros/Cubs game and in the meantime, Dean keeps muting the game and telling me about the German verbs he is having trouble with since he is half studying German and half watching the game. No one has to clean the kitchen since we had pizza-

Poem that I like

2011-08-16T20:53:00.002-05:00

A dream is an apparition
A phantom of life in its most unreal moments.
It eludes you
It slips through your fingers
It is nothing.

I love my blog!

2011-07-24T07:41:00.002-05:00

Not. I'm seriously super depressed. I don't really know why.

But enough whining about it.

I'm back to my silks class and still loving it. I started out the week (after a week off in Florida) with absolutely not strength or stamina and now am about back to where I was before. I can't wait til Laura comes and tries a class with me. I am learning some new tricks and maybe I'll take some new videos next week. I like to use the vids to watch myself partly to see my progress and partly to see what I am doing wrong. Right now I have gained some weight - only 4 pounds but it seems like more.

omg, what am I doing with my hair????? It looks so bad that it is almost funny! Hear me laughing?? . . .

I need to do some cleaning and grocery shopping. I will probably spend most of this week investigating possibilities for my parents care.

Also, I want to get my rings resized or buy a new wedding ring but sort of like not wearing any rings. One more thing to obsess about and not resolve. I guess if everything was accomplished, life would be just too boring.

shape!

2011-06-24T08:02:00.003-05:00

I was told that doing the silks class would change my shape and I can't believe it, but in just 3 months, I have a smaller waist and a flatter stomach. I can see the difference and my clothes fit in a different way. Now lets just get some plastic surgery to get rid of all that extra skin from two pregnancies -haha.

However, I now have a pulled muscle in my chest (due to who knows what - stretching I think) and had to cancel my classes this week in silks and yoga. Also, I have not been riding in a month.

I started a new needlepoint project (with two others unfinished). These are going to be coasters, each one done is a darkish color and then a picture of this on it in a contrasting neon color.

We'll see how they come out!!!

Thoughts from another blog:

2011-06-11T10:16:00.000-05:00

Be kinder.
Be more curious.
Be more aware.
Praise more.
Laugh more.
Be in the moment.
Be flexible.
Be humble.
Be grateful.
Be amazed.

Silks ahoy!

2011-06-10T11:04:00.005-05:00

I am really progressing in my aerial silks lessons! I can do things I thought I would never be able to do three months ago.

I can now do a Russian leg wrap which involves hold myself up by my arms and then holding my legs out in front of me while they let go of the silks and one foot wraps the silks around the other. I can climb and let myself down using mostly arm strength. My favorite is now a leg wrap where I have one foot in the Russian wrap and then spin around one of the silks three times. I'm not sure what you call that move.

Here's my video from yesterday.

I was kind of trying to copy this amazing and truely beautiful routine:

beautiful

Music breakthrough

2011-05-10T15:37:00.002-05:00

Preparatory to my first Lone Starr college band practice, I have been fluting around and seemingly getting nowhere but today, the nice sweet high notes came out without all the low tone creeping in. Miracle. My flute is 52 years old. I got it in the 4th grade. It has been re-padded twice over the years.

After a half your, I can't play anymore so we'll see how a 3-hour band practice goes. I can't wait to hear everyone tuning up. Band was the most enjoyable part of high school for me. A little clique that I kind of fit into. And All State band - heehee, the boyfriends!!!

The youth philharmonic was another romp thru a bunch of boyfriends, and these were not my sister's castoffs because she was not in that group!

Where are they now one wonders? But not for too long-

Miracle aides

2011-05-06T07:52:00.002-05:00

Only time will tell, but I think we have the perfect combination of aides for my parents. My two sisters are going there (arriving today and Sunday) and then we will get a real picture of how things are going. My mother is more alert and is saying a few things. I tried to get her to say the days of the week and didn't hear anything but the aide said that she was moving her lips.

Boring

2011-05-06T07:46:00.002-05:00

This is the most boring blog ever. Here's an example of just how boring. Yesterday, I spent the entire day cleaning my family room and never even finished. Most of the time was spent vacuuming cat hair off the furniture. Rearranging books. Scraping those little white spider specs off the dark wood floor and them polishing it by hand. That is the part that is not finished. Also, another area rug to shake out and vacuum. Then I have to drape all the towels and blanket over the furniture in the cats' favorite spots and put the zillion throw pillows back. So when I am done, it will look just as annoying and messy as ever.

The impetus for the actual cleaning was that I am finally going to get some drapes made and they are coming over to measure next week.

Ice Skating ****

2011-04-21T14:17:00.003-05:00

I did fall and I do have a bruised elbow but I still want to go again. We skated about 45 minutes with lots of rest breaks. I got better as I watched other people - my body sort of automatically copies them. Talked to a teenager who was very nice and had asked OH if he needed any help.

It felt like a big strain on my shins for about the first half of the time but got a bit better as I started to relax. I suppose that if the foot of my skates had been tighter, it would have been a bit easier.

Anyway, I loved it and can't wait to go again. OH says he would not mind going again either.

4 stars

New activities?

2011-04-20T10:14:00.005-05:00

Okay, I'm dragging OH to ice skating and bowling at some point soon! Ice skating sounds like the most fun. My sister is afraid that I will get hurt.

Well, I skated on a frozen pond near my house as a kid. I loved skating next to my mother, holding hands with our arms crossed in front of us! I also fished there with my father and once caught 3 little tiny unidentifiable fish. OH's high school had hockey teams and he skated there every winter.

Bowling is another story. Of course I was on a ten pin bowling league as a kid but have only used the large balls about 3 times as an adult and it was not pretty.

XOX

2011-04-04T08:23:00.001-05:00

I love you Wiz,, but you are NOT supposed to follow me when you are with someone else!!!

Silks video

2011-03-30T09:55:00.003-05:00

Here's me in my second class.

I went again yesterday but now realize that to really be able to do this activity, I need to be much stronger. For instance, I need to be able to hang my my hands and lift both legs out in front of me, be able to pull myself up with my hands (like a chin-up), and be able to bend much more, not to mention be able to do a regular split and a side split. Since I can barely hang by my arms from a rung, I see I have a long way to go.

However, there are lots of other things I can do on the silks despite not being able to do those things I mentioned. She is going to show me some when I go on Thursday.

Silks again

2011-03-15T07:53:00.003-05:00

I am going for my second class in the silks today. I never had such a happy feeling as when I finished the class last week. Here is a routine I would love to be able to do!! I wanted to go right back and do the class again.

Silks

2011-03-11T07:04:00.001-06:00

I want to try this today!

bad dream

2011-03-11T06:39:00.003-06:00

I had an awful dream Tuesday night. My mother, Dean, J, and I were all sitting at her kitchen table in Florida and all talking and laughing and my mother was perfectly normal. She got up to do something and as she got up and took one step, we all of a sudden (my mother included) realized that she could not actually do that. In slow motion, she started to fall and we all just froze in horror. I woke up before she hit the floor. Did not even try to go back to sleep but just got out of bed at 4:30 a.m.

2011-03-08T06:49:00.000-06:00

Wizard does not like to be in cross ties.

OMG, those trees!

2011-03-07T06:37:00.002-06:00

I was back on Popcorn yesterday and we mostly trotted and cantered through the woods for two hours. It is kind of scary to be whipping around and between trees at that kind of pace on a narrow path with all kinds of twists and turns!!

In the past, I have done that kind of ride and ended up just hanging on to the saddle from being to scared and tense. But this time, I was feeling pretty good about it and able to relax, set my pace and feel in control. I guess that means I am getting better but still look at other people and think how much better riders they are. Maybe I need to film myself at a lesson and see how I actually look. But - maybe I would not like the results.

CT is such a zoo. People cancel their rides at the last minute or show up super late and mess everything up. Our 3:00 ride started 45 minutes late. The horse I had requested had been given to someone else and I almost had to LEAD our ride! That would have been disaster because I can't ever remember where I am out there. I mean you can't actually get lost and the horses are zeroed in on the barn, but I don't want to be the one responsible if something goes wrong.

Long canter!

2011-03-05T08:43:00.002-06:00

I rode a really nice horse called Smurf out at CT yesterday. The cool part was that I cantered all the way down the long one-mile stretch by the creek without getting out of control. (read horses racing each other!) I have been avoiding cantering there be cause of some wild and scary experiences, but this one felt great.

Smurf was sweet when I groomed him. He has a long long mane and I found two big twigs tangled up in it. When no one was listening, I sang Somewhere My Love to him. I could tell he liked it because he was licking his mouth and putting his head down. Wiz loves this song too. Maybe it is something about the melody that is kind of soothing.

I have to ask though, why do I meet so many big men out there who say they have ridden all their lives, but who slunp back with all their weight on the back of the saddle? Thank goodness he was behind me and I didn't have to watch him the whole time.

2011-02-28T19:52:00.002-06:00

Spent yesterday at the barn just hanging around with the horses. W was cool, I got there early to be with him because one of his riders was coming for a lesson so I knew she would want to take him. We went into the round pen for a few minutes and he cantered around. Otherwise, sun, friends and horses eating grass. Very relaxing.

prancing horse

2011-02-24T10:46:00.002-06:00

After my lesson on W yesterday, I was riding back to the arena and W was curling his head (loose rein) and taking little jogging steps. So cute. I need to re-learn how to massage him. He was all relaxed and sweet when I was grooming him and singing to him. Too bad my singing has to be very private because I cannot carry any kind of a tune. You would not even recognize the song unless you knew the words.

lovely horsie

2011-02-07T16:04:00.002-06:00

I saw my best friend Wizard yesterday. I'm happy but kind of desperately and quietly sad. I wish he was all mine. He lives in a nice place though and has good horsey friends and I know he loves his mom, who knows just how to take care of him. I fussed over him for a long time with the grooming stuff and he was doing his usual stare, which I am told is typical arab. We went through all his old clicker tricks (without the clicker) and he knows them perfectly. He got an apple, two mini carrots and some grass.

We walked all around the property, even the scary places. He's so funny when he gets a bit anxious and starts the heavy breathing. I just stop and stand there and he calms right down and is ready to go on. Head up, stop. Head goes down, go. He and new Pony went into an empty field and ran, ate, rolled and made a couple of new horse friends (in the next field). They came when we whistled and let us halter them.

Pony knows his new mom, I could tell. Watched KB do some magic with him and teach him to step sideways. I wish I knew all the things she knows about horses. Pony was adorable and seems to be a very fast learner and very willing to learn! Totally cute.

I still feel happy from yesterday and wish I could have stayed longer. He got a million hugs and kisses and gave me lots of kisses back, or what I call kisses which is nosing me all over the head, face and neck. And standing really close to me and breathing on me. Yuk, you might say but you would be wrong! And his neck DOES smell like peppermint-

Florida again

2010-12-07T10:38:00.002-06:00

Off to Florida tomorrow. Father went into hospital yesterday - seems to be resting comfortably. Mother basically bed-ridden. Both sisters and one husband are going at the same time. How small can I make myself? Must have some images to hold on to. Wiz breathing on my neck will be one. Waves on the beach-

My pretend horse

2010-12-03T17:13:00.002-06:00

I went to see him today. It was so nice. I groomed him and then we spent a long time pushing the ball back and forth to each other. No clicker or anything and no treats, but just playing!! He was very interested in it.

I petted all the other horses stabled around him. They are all so big and smooth and warm. They all have soft, kind eyes and soft noses. I love to watch them eat grass to see how they choose what to eat and what to skip over.

I gave Wiz a small apple, one bite of carrot and let him lick some crumbs out of my hand from the oat bar that I ate. I think about him a lot especially at the end of my yoga class when we are supposed to be relaxing. Horses are very peaceful.

Crash and Burn

2010-11-27T07:15:00.003-06:00

I would like to just erase this month and the next right out of my life.

Riding

2010-10-10T13:42:00.000-05:00

Great ride at Cypress Trails yesterday!

yoga

2010-10-07T22:26:00.003-05:00

Will have a private yoga lesson tomorrow morning! I think this will be my only private lesson due to the cost but starting in November, a friend will be splitting it with me. I will be in FL next week so I will miss the Thursday class but make the monday morning.

Still no riding. I guess I will just let it go and take a break from it. It's hard not to think about it though.

ugh again

2010-10-02T10:59:00.002-05:00

Soooo aggravated today. Yelled at OH, then cried and now am in a flurry of cleaning.

Woke up dreaming that I was on a Topp Cheff kind of show. We had to put hummus on crackers and then put on some toppings, choices were grapefruit, oranges and some kind of raw beef. We had four hours to get it together. wtf????

Yoga and things

2010-09-27T13:04:00.003-05:00

Yoga class this morning - first time in a long while. My yoga teacher is now teaching private classes so I might do one or split with someone else. I love my yoga teacher!

And how did I get so fat? I have put on 6-7 pounds in the last 2 months. Just over-eating and not exercising. Now that the weather is cooler, I will walk and ride my bike. I have not been riding and quit my carriage driving classes so I need to find a substitute exercise.

I guess I will not be moving to CA any time soon so I need to find something to occupy my time in between trips. Yoga and a new needlepoint class and walking and bike riding. I miss my horse. I looked at all his pics last night. So I will go see him this week. I just don't have the heart to ride another horse right now.

Eaten today - one yogurt - 100 calories.

Ugh

2010-09-08T12:01:00.002-05:00

Truck will cost at least $500 to fix.

And anyway, "ugh" in general.

Pool equipment also not working.

No horsie.

J had horrible trip to Florida.

Internet just came on after 3 days of not working.

Up reading and drinking milk for an hour in the middle of the night last night.

Other stuff

2010-09-05T07:21:00.002-05:00

My mother's doctor is starting her on new meds. The one she was taking made her worse!! J is there now and had a birthday party for her - she was 91 on September 1st.

Went to see Wiz yesterday. I hope he was glad to see me - I think so. I walked him around a lot to get to see everything but he was just interested in shoving his nose into the grass. It's an hour drive from here. I listened to Car Talk on the way there and they were kidding each other about Boston accents. What does "flahwiz" spell? And "kakis"? haha

Minnie is moving into her new house! I love it. It has so much light and plenty of room. Plus close to come neat shops and restaurants.

There is a really cute house on redfin that I would totally buy over the internet if OH would just say yes. Will it still be for sale in 2 weeks when I get there????

Needlepoint progress

2010-09-05T07:12:00.002-05:00

I took the needlepoint horse and the heart ornament in to be finished. Horse will be a wall hanging and ornament is for nephew. The sea scape for my BIL was taken to Jerry's Artorama for framing. It's got the Del's lemonade and the anchor but left off the Mr. Potato Head. Spent about 45 minutes talking to the framing guy about cars, trips, snow, etc. He wants to see my duck shoe needlepoint!! hehe

Today I need to swill out this house. I need a hose and a yard blower. Okay, if I just put all the needlepoint stuff away I will be doing great. With those 3 projects finished, I can get all the yarn and stuff from them out of the way. Next I am going to finish the duck shoe and make a plan to work on the new horse np. I have decided to put the lace background on the duck shoe so that will take some careful work. I so love this one that I may actually keep it for myself! I have given all my others away. Or if it comes out really nice, I will give it to someone special that I have in mind.

movie

2010-07-18T10:19:00.002-05:00

Watched Three Coins in a Fountain last night. Predictable (no suspense), all ends well (no tragedy), made in 1954 (no violence, etc.). All three criteria for my liking a movie. I think I was a teenager the last time I saw it.

My grandmother used to babysit for us on Saturday nights when my parents went out with their friends and we always watched the Saturday night movie. It was always good!

While I was in Florida, the Netflix movie that came was Superman. My mother slept thru it but my father watched.
The beginning: he asked me if it was a foreign film. I explained the baby superman, the planet Krypton, the exploding planet and the baby sent off to earth.
Teenage Superman: he had no idea.
Regular Superman enters: my father does not have any idea who the Superman character is. He never heard of him.
The whole rest of the movie: well, he watched it at least.

2010-07-06T20:09:00.004-05:00

So here's the net finished.

Purple flowers started.

Lighthouse finished. May add something which I will show if I do!

Needlepoint progress

2010-07-04T09:10:00.006-05:00

Here's the net I am making. Instructions from np instructor were to lace all the strands one way and then the other and tie each intersection down. I tried it but didn't like it. I have an anchor that I want to have caught in the net. Then tried lacing the pattern on a card with the intention of cutting out the card and transferring the net to the canvas. Didn't take long to realize that would not work. Finally, I looked up "making a net" and found a perfect youtube video. It ended up being really simple and exactly like the plait I make in Wiz's mane!! It's almost done but I realize that it will not be quite perfect because I followed the pre-painted lines and now the sag of the net will be problematic.

Beaded fringe on the saddle pad. Almost made me have a nervous breakdown due to the tiny beads, the thin needle and the thread. Done now tho so :P:P

Will put a batting on the back and a black cloth back with tabs to make a wall hanging. Should I roust out my sewing machine that has never been unpacked from the 1998 move? I dont think I even remember how to thread it!

Quiet trail riding

2010-07-01T11:51:00.002-05:00

A post in this blog, http://annablakeblog.wordpress.com/ , is about the similarities of trail riding and dressage. I particularly like this part:

"Perhaps there are as many obstacles in an arena as on a trail. If you don’t believe me, you might want to try experiencing the invisible obstacle course disguised as a dressage test. "

I have just started trail riding on a regular basis and I'm trying to be a quieter rider. I'm naturally a fidgety, quick-moving kind of person and get horribly annoyed at the slow-moving, deliberate people of the world. Why not do 2 or 3 things at once?? Why can't they think a few steps ahead?

Of course that is exactly the kind of person who makes a good horse person. A calm, relaxed person makes a calm, relaxed horse. Now my trail riding partner is one such person and her horse is just Miss Laid-Back. With her as an example riding in front of me, I am doing better at just being quieter as a rider and I'm watching my horse to see how he is feeling. Any head coming up makes me take a close look at why.

And my favorite doggie whispering guy - he says picture what you want and make it happen. Don't picture what you are afraid of hppening!

Awesome Bystander strikes again!

2010-06-29T11:01:00.002-05:00

Awsome Bystander (see 6-20-10 post) is taking pity on me and helping me figure out when I am when we are out on the trails! I am always completely clueless. Plus, yesterday we saw our family of ducks, a diving duck of some kind catching fish and what I think is a small blue heron. This heron flew in hops along side of us for quite a way, both horses not scared at all.

trail riding and stuff

2010-06-23T18:38:00.002-05:00

I am having lots of fun trail riding. It is not too hot at 7:30 in the morning. Wiz is enjoying it too and getting very brave and didn't even spook the other day when a hawk flew back and forth in front of us. He loves to slosh around in the water whenever we cross some or go the the little beach place in the woods. We have been riding around a retention pond by a newly cleared area where some housing will go up and he is cool with that. We saw mommy and daddy ducks swimming in the pond with several babies in between them. They were swimming in a very straight line. Super cute!! Today there were some ducks standing around on the edge. Also, some strange rustling off in the woods on one of the trails so we quickly turned off into another area - . Also working on going slowly up and down the banks of the creek we have to cross. He wants to just run at it! Nooooooooooooooo

Today, I also worked on getting W into the wash rack outside the front barn. It is out in the open and is a U shape. The object is for the horse to be tied in there and stand to be hosed off. Finally got W to walk in there and stand by me but would not be tied and would not be washed in there.

Yesterday, I took the neighbor's dogs in the pool with me. One at a time since neither will actually go in by themselves. Last year, they were frantic in the pool. After watching the dog physcology show on TV and copying what he did, I can now gently coax one of them in and hold her til she is calm and then she will quietly swim back to the steps. I think she finally realizes that she should go to the steps and not try to scramble up any old edge. The other one will get on the first step on her own but then I have to pick her up and carry her in the rest of the way. She, however, did completely relax in my arms and let me hold her belly out with her back up against me and her head resting off to the side on my shoulder!! Cutie! She has no idea yet about swimming to the steps to get out. lol

Have a brilliant (I hope) idea for my duck shoe needlepoint. I'm back to the lace idea for the background after messing with some alternatives. I think I can take some thin white crochet thread to form the pattern and then needlepoint over it in white floss! We shall see.

Going to Florida in two weeks. I'm going to take some knitting and let my mother watch. She taught me how to knit when I was about 9-10. The whole time I was growing up, she had and unfinished pair of mittens in her bureau. She had started them in college and I think they just needed the thumbs but she never finished them. I remimded her of this the other day on the phone and she said, "I love you very much." Oh dear, that is a long sentence for her and she hardly ever says anthing without some prompting. If I can't tell if she still has the phone to her ear and can hear me, I start saying, "10, 20, 30" and she starts counting by tens up to 100.

Who wouldhave thought?

2010-06-11T07:02:00.002-05:00

that I was even slightly artistic??? When I was a senior in high school, I begged my mother (guidance director) to let me take art as an elective. But no, I was forces to take fucking Latin IV, where Frank J and I whiled away the year fooling around and being pains in the ass in class.

I still don't think I am particulary artistic, but all of a sudden, starting last year, I am drowning myself in needlepoint projects. Never again the already painted canvas. No Santa Clauses, hearts, flowers, etc. (not that I have ever done a Santa Clause or heart thank you), but I will be drawing my own designs. So far, I have just traced a couple of pictures onto canvas (duck shoe and kb's horses), but I have a couple more in mind.

The instructor in my np class can't stand me because I change so many things, even in the pre-painted canvases. OMG!!!, the sacred painted canvas!!!

The sea scape I am working on now has 5 different scences on one canvas. (pic when I get a chance). I'm so sorry I even bought this canvas from her. It is incredibly boring. So far, I am running the scences into each other and I have put a Del's lemonade and a Mr. Potato Head onto the table under the beach umbrella. This is because this project will eventually be the Christmas or birthday gift of my BIL in Rhode Island, and Del's lemonade and MPH are both based in RI and so it will be a bit personalized. There is a sailboat that may have either an anchor (on the RI state flag) or a crab or lobster. There will also be a needlepointed sign that says Rhode Island hanging from the gate somehow.

My running horses canvas is now stripped of all its previous threads and new ones are bought. The threads are like little colored jewels, waiting to be a finished picture. I can't wait to start it but I have to get rid of all this other crap first.

2010-06-11T06:09:00.002-05:00

I found a new needlepoint shop. It's closer than the one I have been going to (at least I don't even have to go near 1960). Their prices are cheaper and the women who work there are really nice. They have better needlepoint supplies too. And they are not all stuck up . . .

2010-06-11T06:05:00.003-05:00

I watched the Messiest Home tv show the other day. A woman had 4 kids and when they were young, they had each worn a lion costume for Halloween. They persuaded her to give it up. Nooooooooooooooooooooooo

finally going to ride!

2010-06-05T06:25:00.003-05:00

I've been babying my sore back but I'm just sick of it. I'm going to ride today no matter what. Well, if it doesn't rain that is. And if I'm not asleep from getting up at 4 a.m. this morning.

I'm almost finished with one of my needlepoint projects.

I think this is it before I started it. I just have to finish some of the background and put in the beaded fringe on the saddle blanket. I'm not sure if I am going to frame it (too expensive) or put a backing on it with pocket tabs so it can hang on a rod. (lame) This has been very labor-intensive, mainly because my needlepoint instructor suggested little cross stitches for the background. It looks pretty but it is taking forever, uses a lot of thread and is hard to see.

After this one is done, I have to finish a sea scape I started for my BIL and then can work on my duck shoe and my running horses canvases. I just found another np shop and I'm going to take some of this stuff over there for suggestions. I know what I want to do and how I want it to look, but I'm just not sure how to actually get the effect I want.

yoga injuries

2010-05-29T08:54:00.002-05:00

Okay, this is the third time this year that I have hurt myself doing yoga. The first time I tried to do that pose where you are on your hands and try to kneel on your elbows. Elbow still hurts. Second time, pulled hip flexor muscle doing pidgeon. This time, I hurt my lower right back muscle trying to do twisted pyramid pose. Does it sound like I will be 60 a week from today???

2010-05-24T07:21:00.003-05:00

More work done. I haven't worked on this for quite a while due to working on 3 other projects!

Duck shoe

2010-03-15T14:30:00.003-05:00

I just traced it on the canvas! Yarn is picked out and mostly bought- some of each color anyway. Need to figure out how I am going to do the lace. I'm eager to get started so may just start the shoe while figuring out how to do the lace.

where does my time go?

2010-03-12T08:31:00.004-06:00

I need to take a couple of days off from going anyplace and: vacuum my house, catch up on paperwork, get some groceries. I have not been able to get any of this done this week. The trouble is that once 3 p.m. comes along, I just give up. I am full of energy and plans in the morning. I keep adding to my list of chores and not getting them done.

Not getting chores done and not getting any of my other activities worked on either.

Here are some pics of a new needlepoint project - not started yet of course. Duck shoe with lace background stitched on. Thank you Anthropologie.

ranch vacation

2010-02-23T20:09:00.002-06:00

Okay, first, the new aides never happened so the old ones are still there and not happy with me.

We are going on a horseback riding vacation to Wyoming this summer!

http://www.bitterrootranch.com/videos/bitterroot-ranch-video-2.htm

New aides?

2010-01-03T07:18:00.003-06:00

OH and I spent Christmas week in Florida with my parents. Both of the regular aides were on vacation so there were two new ones (one subs sometimes). I really liked them both! When I got home, I called them both and asked them if they would like to work for us on a permanent basis and they both said yes. So now comes the task of replacing the two who are there now. Some time in the next two weeks or so, I must make the switch.

OH was really super as usual. Every day, he got out his "Italian in 10 Minutes a Day" book and worked from it with my father. I read some French to my mother and she really enjoyed it. I also brought her into the kitchen with me and we made brownies and veggie soup. We found two parks close by. One had a cultural center with interesting art work, paved walking paths (wheelchairs) and a carousel. The center has various shows during the year - plays, concerts, etc. which I would love to take them to. At the other park, we watched wave boarding for quite a while while sitting in the shade of some trees. We did not get to the beach but maybe next time.

I went to a needlepoint shop and saw some awesome work done by the daughter of the owner. I also liked some of the canvases, done by Sandra Gilmore, but they were between $200 and $300 just for the canvases. I don't think so!!

The results of my mother's neurology tests are back. The doctor is thinking of putting her on one or two new meds but insists on a personal consultation with one of us first. So that means that it will have to wait until risis goes there at the end of January. My mother was making a real effort to talk while I was there.

That fuzzy white horse!

2009-12-11T07:04:00.002-06:00

How could he be any cuter?? I went over to see him the other day. The paddocks are a muddy mess so no one had turn out. First I got him a big heap of hay and then mixed his supplements with some warm water and he pigged out on that. Then we went wandering around so he could eat some grass wherever he wanted.

No one was in the covered arena so I took him in there and took off his halter and pointed off to the side and said, "trot" and he took off running. Every time he stopped, I would just point again and off he would go!! And he was going in which ever direction I pointed. Then my cell phone rang so I was kind of walking around looking at the ground and talking for a minute or two and then turned around and looked up to see where he was and I was nose to nose with him! He was about an inch behind me!!! He followed me all around the arena while I was talking and stayed with me like he was tied to me.

I left him in his stall munching his hay with his blanket on and went back to my real life which is some kind of bad dream right now.

Parents and family

2009-12-11T07:03:00.001-06:00

Can I just opt out of this family? I really mean it this time.

Flute

2009-11-20T08:51:00.002-06:00

I have been practicing my flute playing and really enjoying it. By some miracle yesterday I was able to hit all the high notes without any trouble! I was playing Christmas carols and some old songs that my old Italian flute teacher, Mr. Iascone, wrote out for me. He was my teacher when I was in the 6th grade and when I look at the music and exercises I played then, I just can't believe it. All hand written by him!

I have been needlepointing without stop due to being sick and having to sit around. This morning is my class and I hope to get some stuff finished up but still have to go down to the Westheimer area to buy a certain color yarn that my shop does not want to order for me because I just need a little bit of it.

Getting sick has been a huge pain since I can't seem to get anything done and plus have not been able to ride. I actually feel much better though. I don't think I had the flu but just a bad cold and cough. Now to get myself off Afrin!

I'm actually doing well in a thorough cleaning of the house. In between feeling sick and just wanting to rest, I have been getting a few things done. Got oh to help me wash the family room windows inside and out the other day in a spurt of energy and moved the furniture to really clean that area of the family room but ran out of energy and nothing has been put back so the fr is kind of an obstacle course.

I still want to buy a new mattress for my bed but do I have the money? I would rather spend it, if I can come up with it, on a trip to SF but don't want to take two trips in December and we are going to FL over Christmas week. Still, I would like to get a good nights sleep for once.

OH is loving his German class! I think he has a slight crush on his teacher. He gets that naughty little boy look on his face!

too much stuff

2009-10-12T08:15:00.004-05:00

I've decided to get rid of lots of stuff I own that has no possible use in my life now. I've started in my clothes closet. Old purses that I like but never use -out. Shoes - out. Well, except the cool boots and 1960's fancy madras espadrilles with wedge heels (haha).

I've already taken one bunch of clothes to the resale shop. There are lots more I can take. Or just give away. I mean, who takes their clothes to the cleaners in prep for the resale shop??? I would rather just give them away. I just want to be living in a house that is not, under the surface (think closets and drawers), just a holding place for a past life.

I'm a bit of a hoarder. A square of cardboard? Must save. Why?? I won't use it and if I ever ever ever by some unforseen event need a piece of cardboard, I can go buy one. Boxes, pads of paper, old magazines, old t-shirts, and especially old blue jeans - saving them is a very annoying habit. If I ever fit in those jeans again, they will be sooo out of style!

Old pillow, old blankets, old sheets, old sweaters that I love and fit and look nice but haven't worn in years, old files (who cares what my scores were on the sats and gres??), scrapbooking crap (should give to my niece), omg, the boxes of old photos, two gigantic boxes of hotel pads, old Christmas cards, a paper grocery bag full of pantyhose (haha), sandals that are cute and fit but that I never wear, 3 adorable pairs of dress shoes that I could gets lots of $$ from at the resale shop- I could go on.

I have gone thru my house in the past and taken truckloads to the Good Will and Salvation Army centers, so why do I still have all this stuff? All I do is re-organize it periodically instead of getting rid of it.

I will keep my huge pile of old flute music, just in case I ever decide to become a flautist for real. (have the flute, the one I got in 4th grade and have had reconditioned twice already). :P:P

Lonny

2009-08-22T06:35:00.002-05:00

Feeling so sad that my BIL died. He would have been 58 on August 18th. I can hardly sleep or do anything. I wake up every morning thinking about him. This morning - up at 4:30. RIP Lonny.

paint!

2009-07-21T10:07:00.002-05:00

Okay, painting my kitchen today. There has been a big green splotch on the wall for over a year - hehe

My sweetest horsie!

2009-07-20T08:41:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, he came all the way across the paddock where he was standing with his buddy when I came in the gate. Then later, after my lesson, after his bath and after grazing for a while, he came over to me and stretched out his head and put it right in my arms so I could pet his forehead. He just stood there like that really soft and quiet.

He looked like this:

Poor horse

2009-07-06T18:44:00.005-05:00

Pictues of a horse at our stable. How can the owner let this happen?? Why will no one do anything?

Grandma's china

2009-07-06T18:32:00.004-05:00

Grindley Creampetal - pattern: Oban

border

gravy boat

coffee cup

2 platters

covered casserole dish

There were originally 12 place settings and most of it is there! My mother says she got the set as a wedding present (1916) but according to an internet site, the mark on the back was not produced until 1936. Hmmm.

Anyway, I'm glad I had it sent from Florida last week. Thank you ups store man!!! If, in the future, anyone needs bubble wrap or packing peanuts, just ask me for some.

Serious cost cutting trip to FL this time. Way too much money is being spent. I got my mother 4 pairs of wash and wear pants and 5 new tops (Target) and for my father 4 pairs of no iron Dockers. Sister, no more linen pants and silk shirts and fancy tops and skirts from t-albots for them!!! No more $100/week cleaning bills please, plus the cost of the errand lady.

Next is to figure out the actual living situation. I was supposed to look into it last week and did not do it and did not do it today either. lasis is disgusted with me.

pacemaker!

2009-05-27T20:10:00.003-05:00

Father went for pacemaker check up today and the battery was dead! So the whole thing was replaced and he was sent home. Ugh.

Closet Project

2009-05-18T21:24:00.005-05:00

OH's closet before and after. Before, it was the classic nightmare closet that you would typically see in a closet organizing ad. Everything shoved on the top shelf. So I have been mentioning for about 2 years that I am going to put some shelves in and lo and behold, little by little, he got used to the idea. But even the day I was going to start it, he would not come to the Container Store and look so I went myself and figured out what I needed. The next day, I drove while we were out doing errands and just drove there with him! We got the stuff and will only a couple of times did I have to walk out of the closet due to our differing ideas about how to measure. The CS is so great, we just put 6 drywall anchors in and the rest just snapped into place. Note the cool wallpaper from Anthropologie (previous project done entirely against his will and costing $250 for that one little wall!

sick

2009-05-17T08:49:00.002-05:00

I woke up yesterday with a stuffy/runny nose and got worse during the day instead of better. Now OH has a sore throat. Can it be allergies? It's hard to tell but I guess I will just rest today and hope it goes away! I have not taken any meds except Afrin because I always can't sleep when I take something and I was super tired last night.

I still want to work on putting up some shelves in OH's closet today. I have all the stuff, bought at the Container Store. But I need to get out the drill and drill a few holes for the one bar that goes across the top. Then everything else just snaps into place. OH was NOT happy about doing this project (how unusual, lol) but is now coming around (as usual). I guess I will just have to get everything ready and start and he will come to "supervise" and then start helping. Oh, the manipulation!!! hahaha I am an expert.

I finished some very small needlepoint projects but still have one really hard one that I need VERY good light for, one big one started but hardly worked on at all and one canvass that I have not even bought the yarn for. I think I also have another one not started from a long time ago and one on a rack that is about half done from absolutely ages ago. The problem is that I need to work on them during the day to have good light but then I feel like I should be doing something else rather than just sitting around with needlepoint. I will pick one today and do some work! I will bring the small difficult one with me to fish camp. I really really want to get that one done.

Why am I addicted to crossword and sudoku puzzles? What a stupid waste of time.

2009-05-14T07:23:00.002-05:00

Lets see, what has been happening? Not much really. Took a trip to Florida with risis which went well and have another one planned for the end of June.

Had my baby for a week and he was super cute the whole time. He seemed to love every minute and his favorites were eating nasty pre-cooked sausages for breakfast, playing in every room of the house, playing chase downstairs, playing on the twin beds (put together) upstairs with all the stuffed animals, playing with the cars and legos and little people and toy animals in the playroom, going to toy stores to play on the bikes and big cars, pushing the button to close the garage door, and bringing OH the remote to turn on cartoons. I will see him again next month when we go to Fish Camp!

Will get to have my other grandson for a week in August and have several things planned. I think he will want to ride the same horse he rode 2 years ago, the children's museum, the pool of course now that he can swim, I'm hoping to borrow a bike so he can try to ride it, he may like the dogs next door (?!), there is the library, the natural history museum, the Potter's Wheel, the playground, and secretly OH has planned an Astro's game (heh, liz if you are reading this don't freak out). Of course it will be very hot and he will probably just want to hang out and read. We have so many books for someone his age so I hope he will be interested in some of them! I am looking forward to this visit because I feel like he is growing up (9 now) and not a little boy any more. Oh, and the original "hide the animals" puzzle will be fun!!!!!

I got horse to get next to the gate yesterday and then got it open! I have been working on this for a while. He got a big piece of watermelon for his efforts :P

Today I think I will clean the outdoor grill and hope OH will work on the practically green pool water. The we are going to see Star Trek! Can't wait. I also want to sneak in a visit to horse but not sure. We have decided to do something together every Thursday (my effort to get OH out of the house). He has signed up for a German class at the community college for this summer! He will miss the first class due to Fish Camp.

2009-01-30T06:01:00.005-06:00

Hurry up Labor Day!! Only a few steps from the beach: 3,000 sf house, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths.

New year

2009-01-05T06:31:00.002-06:00

2008 year of opposites! The bad: parents. The good: riding.

This year I would like to go riding in Wyoming but I'm sure that will not happen. So next best (maybe better) is going to spend a while hanging out in RI at the beach.

There is nothing else like it. You can have your tropical beaches (altho severely tempted by Maui). In RI, you get cold, deep water. If you are hot sitting on the beach, go get purple in the nice cold water! Get on some suntan lotion, get an iced coffee, get a book and veg on the beach all day. Watch the people, watch the kids completely preoccupied digging in the sand and dumping water into holes, watch the surfers, take a long walk, have a Del's lemonade and some French fries with vinegar or some Italian pizza, shake the sand off your blanket periodically or just lie in the warm sand and get it all over you. In the late afternoon, the peope will start leaving and the sea gulls will swoop in to look for food. Now it's warm but not hot. Don't leave til it gets dark.

another horrible florida trip

2008-12-15T06:55:00.002-06:00

This time it was a heart attack and stroke, all combined. Thank goodness lasis came with me and mostly did the hospital thing. They are now spending a fortune in 12-hour shift aides with no end in sight.

I did not do any of my holiday baking altho I will probably do some and send them out late (but maybe not!!!) I do have to go to the post office with 2 more gifts this week. I'm hoping to send OH - he is used to going and has all kinds of strategies for when to go!!

I have so many projects around the house started - 2 rooms are all upset with started things and they are not getting finished. And what is up with the 9X12 rug rolled up and on the floor of the front hall???? We do not want it and it is too heavy to move. Our only tribute to Xmas, a little light up tree about 2 feet tall is not lighting on the top half. Plus, the end table i used to put it on is now doing another duty so the tree is on the floor next to a plug but of course is not plugged in since the lights don't work. Must make cookies this morning for a barn lunch thingy. omg, 2 sticks of butter and a package of cream cheese, not to mention the sugar and chocolate chips. The sad part is that they are really good and I will probably eat several of them.

How many times must OH say, "Where's my corgi?" ???? He is in love with kb's puppy!! I will try to put a picture of him up if i ever download them from my camera.

I do not want to go to this lunch today. Plus, I did not do my rda care-taking this weekend due to hanging out with W most of Saturday (much nicer I must say). He showed off his fabulous clicker skills to his pasture mate's owner and her niece. What a cute little girl! She was all giggley because W was nosing her all over looking for treats.

It is getting light out now. Must make SF reservations today!!! I want to see my babies!

i really meant it but

2008-12-02T05:07:00.004-06:00

I just can't apply for the library shelving job!!! I went there very determined but just a couple of questions to the circulation guy solicited such a sad stream of complaints from him. The pay, the people, the administration who don't care about the branches, etc. No thanks. Plus, I looked around for about 30 minutes and could not find one book I was interested in. I took out a library card but left without using it. One book about horses (mustangs), no movie I cared about, only a level 3 French language tape, NO free computer to even check the catalog!!!! I could not wait to escape from the building. I forgot how much I can't stand the jr high age crowd. I can't stand the way libraries like that are all geared to kids and people who just want the popular novels. I used to love hanging out in the storage floor at my old library - they had such a fantastic collection of every old book and magazine. Sadly, they had to weed so much of it - I am glad I was not there to see it.

So OH was kind of relieved that I came back disgusted and said, "I'll apply for SS and share the money with you!" That made me laugh since there is really no question of sharing per se. Anyway, I'm still planning to keep my riding since it is the only thing I have ever done for myself and I am definitely going to RI this summer. I don't mind going by myself if I have to. I can rent a car and stay at Bonnet with whoever is at the house. A stack of books, a beach chair and that's all I need. Of course OH will come (not really caring about going to the beach) but maybe I can stay longer on my own and set my own schedule.

I have to do a ton of baking this week to send everything out before Xmas. I am rapidly losing interest in doing it though. Plus, I forgot all about that when I bought my mailing boxes so will have to go and buy some just for that.

Oh why did I get up at 4:15 a.m. this morning????? Anyway, I am making plans to go to SF in January. I tried to figure out a Florida schedule for the 3 of us for 2009 but it seemed to complicated. If lasis goes at least twice that would be great and since risis goes every 6-7 weeks, and I go 4 times, that should cover it. The only problem is that there are some months that no one wants to go or can go, esp towards the end of the year. It is pointless to even try to plan it though since 2 of my one-week visits this year turned into a much longer stay.

Another morning spent on the phone!

2008-10-28T10:42:00.001-05:00

How many phone calls does it take to decide if we don't need the aides/therapy anymore??????????? Still waiting for 2 more phone calls back.

Another day spent doing things for parents-

2008-10-27T20:49:00.002-05:00

Bought a wheelchair on ebay! I just have my fingers crossed that there is nothing drastically wrong with it. If it was up to the others, it would never have been bought - never mind as cheap as I got it. (lets hope not too cheap!) Then the drama with the amount of money spent on the woman who does their errands, dr appointments, etc. Now I still need to figure out how they can be spending almost $100 a week on dry cleaning! I mean they don't even go anyplace. So between food, dry cleaning and the fees for that and dr appts, it cost between $1-2K per month. Is that possible????

Well, those two items meant tons of phone calls and emails. Including the physical therapist in Fl to make sure the wheelchair was not too small. Then OH would not get off his butt and clean up the mess in the pool after 4 days away so I had to do it plus the laundry (not completely done yet).

Throw in grocery shopping and cooking and I did not get to go ride my horse which I really wanted to do. Tomorrow I will go first thing.

somebody kick me

2008-10-27T08:25:00.001-05:00

the next time I say I'm going on "vacation" !!!!!

boring

2008-10-22T19:51:00.002-05:00

Nothing much going on. At least I could be doing stuff but I'm not. Taking trip to Maryland to see MIL tomorrow - that will be fairly boring but sort of comfortable. It will be nice for the 4 brothers to get together and the long lost niece will be there and it will be the first time I've met her. MIL is very nice but also super de duper boring. No one else can get a word in. Thank goodness we will be staying at a hotel. I wish I could go away somewhere far far away to a beach preferably.

Brennan born today by C-section - 9 pounds 3 ounces!! Very exciting!!

Had long rambling conversation with aide today and I never actually figured out what in the world she was trying to tell me. I have pushed the whole problem off on risis since I am leaving tomorrow. Never mind that the whole thing has to be done by phone but I just don't feel like doing it.

At least I got to watch Wiz eat grass for an hour or so - very relaxing- it was a stunningly beautiful day.

dreary thoughts

2008-10-13T05:48:00.002-05:00

Very very depressed about my parents. I woke up at 4:30 this morning thinking about them. The only time I can stop thinking about them is when I am at the barn messing around with W.

They are in a good place with really fine people caring for them but it is not the same as one of us sisters being near them. They did choose to live there and insisted on it, but what a way to end your life, having total strangers take care of you. Daddy would like to be near lasis and ma would like to be with risis, but I seem to be the one who has the time to go there in a crisis. Hmmm. I just re-read that last sentence. The last word is just too funny. I should go back to bed but I have already had too much coffee.

2008-10-09T07:03:00.003-05:00

How is it possible to spend half a day on the phone? Between risis and dealing with parents affairs I can hardly get anything else done. I am still not done. I have to fax my power of attorney to the insurance company and get them to cancel the unsolicited credit card and checks they sent my parents and also increase their car insurance liability to cover the new aide who will be driving them to therapy.

My neighbor brought over her kids' ant farm - cute!! I should have added the ones I found on my kitchen counter this morning.

I liked watching my RI riding a new horse yesterday. His owner has offered to let OH ride him but he is being stubborn. It would be so much fun!

3 weeks??

2008-10-03T07:01:00.002-05:00

I ended up spending 3 weeks in Florida. I went a week early because my father had a stroke. Thank God for the aide who called 911 when he got up in the morning and his speach was off by a mile. Sit in the hospital, then sit in the rehab hospital. I went to the rehab twice a day - so 2 hours on the road and many hours of sitting around just to be there since he was fairly disoriented for most of the time. Then lasis came for a week and took over the rehab duty except for one night when I made her stay home and go to bed early. Somehow over the week, she got completely irritated with me and I could not do anything right in her eyes. This made me sad but I could kind of understand it. She thinks that with the right therapy, my mother can be back to normal but you cannot turn back the years and make her the same as she was. More annoying was risis who shouold have come in my place for the last week I was there but had lame lame lame excuses and now is breezing in for 4 1/2 days. And I had to talk to her on the phone the last night I was there for 45 minutes to tell her what to do. Who told me??? And no, she cannot take them out to eat at their favorite restaurant! Daddy is on a strict diet (mostly pureed foods and pudding thick everything and is still not swallowing all that well. (he is coming home today and she got there yesterday afternoon). Her other idea was to wheel ma into the kitchen after dinner and let her dry the pans. What??????? She cannot hold a pan nevermind dry it. omg, what planet is she from.

I had ordered them some absentee ballots about a month ago. Then I read in the paper last week that for absentee ballots, the person's signature has to match the one they have on file. Okay, my mother has no signature anymore. So they are mailing a new signature card where the person can put any kind of mark. So risis has to get her to make the new sig, mail it in, and help her and daddy fill out the ballot, make the mark, and mail them in. She had better do it. My mother is writing in Hillary Clinton for president.

Risis had also promised to give the aide the old TV that was hanging around way early in the year for her bedroom. Instead, she gave it to lasis for her RV. Since I had never heard any of this, I was appalled that that had happened and also that I had never even thought of her having one. So we put ma in the car, went to BB and I bought her a 22 inch flat screen tv with a dvd player in it and a cord to attach it to cable and now she is in 7th heaven!! Plus I am going to give it to her whenever she leaves them. Her hubby just lost his job as a valet parker. She is an absolute gem and takes super care of my parents. I would do anything for her. We are paying her extra on the side from the agency and will probably increase that amount soon as the problems get worse. I was all clueless about which tv to buy but made a quick decision when confronted with the choices. Then how to hook it up? Is it as easy as buying a cord and connecting the ends? Everyone in the store insisted I needed an hd box, etc but a quick call to oh nixed that. I mean we don't have one and ours works fine. So we connected the cable cord and the plug and I put the batteries in the remote - and - nothing!! hehe, finally figured out that the batteries were in wrong. Then it was on and we went thru the auto set up and everything was perfect.

I did not hear from risis yesterday thank goodness because I was in no mood for it. My friend came to stay with me last night. We were all tired but I was really glad to see her. I will get to spend this afternoon and tonight with her also which I am looking forward to. Her house in Bolivar is no more. Just the pilings are left. And she is dealing with some relatives-in-law here in Houston who are in the same age-related situation (except worse) as my parents. Too bad the pool water is actually COLD or we could laze around this afternoon and swim. Maybe we will spa instead.

Last week instead of going home from rehab in the afternoon and then coming almost straight back in the pouring rain, I went across the street and had a manicure and pedicure. I normally do my own nails as I feel like a right ass paying someone to cut my nails and I never use polish since I am too lazy to keep it up, but I was exhausted and my nails were long a gross. The lady actually did what I asked her for once and cut them very short and I was happy. I almost gave in to clear toenail polish but nixed it at the last minute, thank goodness.

Must go now and start getting ready for my riding lesson. Going to see my baby and I hope he will be glad to see me. Did oh buy carrots for me?? If not, I have an apple.

early morning

2008-09-08T07:30:00.003-05:00

Okay, I am dreading this next trip to Florida. My mother is much worse each time I see her. It is painful to talk on the phone because she can never think of the words she wants to say.

At least lasis will be there with me so there will be someone to take charge and I can just hang out in the background. She will cook up a storm which will be kind of nice. We are going to make osso buco from ma's recipe and who knows what else??

I'm sure I will be sleeping on the couch right outside their bedroom so will be the one to have night time bathroom duty. Thank goodness lasis will be there to deal with daddy. I am always so focused on ma that I totally ignore him.

And that STARE AT YOU thing he does creeps me out. Ask me how I learned to be a complete blank whenever I want and that's why. I also hate the way he makes everyone come to the table to eat when he wants to eat. Bah!!! Whenever I can, I fix his food and give it to him and then fix mine while he is eating. He has, in the past just sat there letting his food get cold and waiting for me. Ha! I mean who can enjoy a meal with someone staring at them?

My Powder Room!!

2008-09-06T12:52:00.004-05:00

Here it is before

Inspiration

After

After

Chair rail detail

3.0000000000000000000001 ways

2008-09-06T12:44:00.003-05:00

to get something down from the top shelf in a grocery store.

Climb up.
Ask someone for help.
(If it's something light) Jump up, knock it off, catch.

Okay the last way is the "Beam It Down" concept but I am starting to suspect that that is just a phrase made up by Gene Roddenberry for his Star Trek series.

fat

2008-08-25T07:42:00.002-05:00

How can a person who was never over 105 pounds til age 40 now weigh 120 pounds?????? A month after both my kids were born, I was right back to 99-100 pounds. I am just lazy and don't exercise enough, besides eating too much. ugh.

where i will not buy meat again

2008-08-21T08:13:00.003-05:00

I made bracciolis last night from some meat from wallmrt. Why did it taste like it had been soaked in salt???? Ugh, never again. I have bought this very thinly sliced top round there before and not had a problem.

And why was I crying on my way to the barn yesterday???? All I have to do is feel kind of sick and then start feeling all sorry for myself. I won't even say what I was crying about because it will make me seem like a total wimp. I did snap out of it after riding for a while since that always makes me feel better.

Once when we were at a dude ranch, I decided to play softball with a bunch of the other people. I love baseball. Well, what do you know, they had 2 team leaders who actually took turns choosing their sides. Oh, the misery of being picked last! I mean I am actually good at baseball but even the kids were picked before me. The person who finally had to have me on their team looked like she would rather fold up and die rather than have me. I only had one turn at bat but I whacked the ball really hard and got a good hit. The next morning, I woke up crying about if and cried all morning. omg, how sick. When I was in grade school, and a freaking tiny, skinny midget, either a girl called Sally or me were always picked last for teams. Gym teachers, please have your kids count off into teams and do not make the little tykes feel so bad.

up at 5 a.m.

2008-08-19T05:26:00.002-05:00

Stupidly turned over and slept on my stomach at some point during the night and woke up at 5 unable to breathe. After several attempts to go back to sleep I decided to get up.

Last night we went to a big discount store to see if we wanted to join. The major lure is their yummy apple pie which I first tasted when la-sis was here a few years ago. After walking thru all the grocery section (no apple pies left), we decided that if we had about 5 teenage boys in the house, it might be worth it. So then we went to WM and bought a ton of cat fud. They eat those little containers of food - 3 a day (split between them) and they were 48 cents vs 69 cents at the grocery store!!

Ring is still off.

Cleaned my kitchen yesterday (finally!) Everything is clean in there now - even the inside of the toaster!! Floor was not done due to heavy rain and the stuff to wash it with being in the garage -

Did a lot of organizing of papers, magazines and books yesterday. Oops, one of the books I bought last week I already own. Thank goodness I still have the sales slip so I can return it. Finished reading the last book in my current series. I did not like this series as much as some of the others.

I did study French yesterday. I am working with the online site and also 2 books. OH is further along with German because he studies every day and I skip days sometimes. Plus, I know lots of French anyway and he started from scratch with German.

Rain rain rain today. Want to go see horsie even if I don't ride. I want to take his bridle apart and clean it but I'm afraid I will not put it back together the right way! I have never taken one apart and put it back together. So that has been keeping me from doing it even tho I keep meaning to.

Last week I cleaned up the piles of papers that were sitting around the study. They are now in one pile (hehe). Seriously, I plan to do something about it.

Reservations made for trip to Maryland. Two days traveling and two full days there. I will plan what I want to cook while I am there. One irritating thing is that there is no salad spinner. How did I ever make salad without a salad spinner?? I want to get her one for when I'm there but is that a little selfish? Then she will have to store it somewhere the rest of the time since I doubt if she will use it. Which reminds me, I want to steal the rasp grater from my mother! I love it and I have searched for it online diligently and cannot find one exactly like it. This time I am bringing it home with me. La-sis wants the mini cuisinart for her RV so I'm going to make her mail it to herself when we are there. I wish I could send myself the set of china that is there in storage (already given to me by my mother). It was my grandmother's which is why I want it. I don't think that all the pieces are there but it's a pretty delicate pattern with green and blue I think. Maybe I will just take it somewhere and have them pack and send it to me. All right, I would have to find a place to put it in here - I guess I could go in the bottom of the china cabinet which also belonged to my grandmother and I spent a fortune shipping here when the Narragansett house was sold.

Why do I have so many rugs? The biggest one is the one that was under the dining room table. It is 9X12 at least and too heavy to move. It is now rolled up at one end of the dining room. I wish I had vacuumed it before I rolled it up because now I have to somehow unroll it and clean it, wrap it in something and find a way to store it!! I could sell it but I'm imagining a different house someday when I would want it back. I bought that rug in Detroit and it was the only thing in our otherwise empty dining room. The other one I want to store is in the upstairs library room. It's smaller and manageable and I had it down here in the living room but now I don't want to put area rugs on top of the new carpeting. Most of my little orientals are rolled up and in a bureau drawer or on top of bureaus, chairs and sofas. I got all the little ones in Venezuela where they were super cheap. The other big ones are littering the family room and study wood floor areas.

I sent an email to the person in charge of the volunteers and the rda place saying I would organize the buddy program and have not heard back from her. I am pretty disgusted with the whole thing because they did not put us on the volunteer list for the summer and did not ask us to help with the new orientation which I had been looking forward to. It's possible that she is on vacation but I am thinking of checking out one of the other locations even tho it is a bit further away. Can they turn down an offer to take charge of the organization???? They did not have time to organize it ALL LAST YEAR!!! I offered twice last year to help the man who takes care of the horses and trains them, etc. and he never took me up on it. I mean those horse could certainly use a little extra grooming at least. But nooooooooo. There is something seriously wrong with that group.

rings

2008-08-14T08:43:00.002-05:00

The other day my finger was itchy under my wedding ring and I realized that I could not get it off. So yesterday I went to a jewelry store and bought a new watch strap and actually got the ring off my finger. Now what to do? I was kind of pissed off that the people in the store had no recommendation as to a new size for the ring. Current one is a 5 1/2. So I tried a 6 1/2 and a 7 but could not tell much of a difference. They could make me a 6 3/4 she said. Okay so I can't decide so ring is now off and will stay off. My little diamond ring is a size 5 and needless to say I have not worn it for years. I have a funny idea that I don't want to re-size them. I want them to stay just the way I bought them.

So should I go without? Buy a new and different ring? (seems kind of silly) OH has never worn a ring. First we couldn't afford one and then he was used to not wearing one. For now, I will go without one and then probably never get around to doing anything about it.

Did not do most of the things I was going to do yesterday altho I did study my French and sort of clean up the kitchen. We went to the bookstore the other day and I got the next 2 books in the Immortals series I'm reading. Then got 2 other books, a yoga tape (must try out today) and some birthday cards. My mother will be 89 on September first. How many times have I turned the August calendar page to September and said . . . omg, it's her birthday!!

There is a cat sitting on my mouse pad.

Yesterday I rode W and the stablehands were like, following us around with the weedeater!! No matter where we went. We cantered up and down one of the paths lots of times - fun!! I let him loose after his bath so I could put the tack away and instead of eating grass, he followed me back and forth from the stall to the locker as I put things away. HAHAHAHA what a silly horse!!!

Doesn't it always happen that as soon as you decide to get your hair cut, all of a sudden you like the way it looks?? My hair has been horrible but yesterday I just let it dry curly and it actually came out nice. Too bad there is a decided gray part tho- - -

boring stuff

2008-08-12T09:41:00.004-05:00

September Florida trip planned and la-sis is coming with me. So there will be 2 of us there and we are determined to get in some time at the beach. We both like the "I'm reading, leave me alone" approach to the beach so things should work out. Absolutely no "who was treated worse as a child" discussion will be allowed which I dislike being involved in and refuse to ever participate in (except recently in a kind of humorous way for entertainment purposes only to someone who requested said story!!)

November trip to be scheduled.

Oct trip to mil shaping up but not completely finalized. More research into pet-friendly hotels needed for bil.

Dec trip may not happen in December lol.

Otherwise have been wasting way too much time. My needlepoint project that was not finished for last Xmas is not much further along. Cataloged all but 2 shelves of living room books on librarything - project stalled due to them being ohs books. I will probably have to finish them. Recipe organization project from last week still sitting on kitchen table along with the pizza box that kitty has been sleeping on every day for the last month.

I signed up for free French lessons online here (hehe, just figured out how to do that type of link). Anyway, I get a weekly email from the site showing me the next set of lessons and I got my second one yesterday but have not finished last week's lessons. OH is doing the same think in German. Right now he is studying his lessons and I am doing this blog instead. right.

Plan today is study French, get some FOOD at the grocery store (making list/menu and going thru coupons first), get car inspected and oil changed, empty kitchen countertop and clean it, clean stuff that was on it, and put everything back. Spilled a cup of coffee this morning and it went all under the microwave. WASH KITCHEN FLOOR - must do. Watch equestrian olympics which should be on from 5-7 p.m. Mess around with laundry. It is supposed to rain -

Went riding last night and W was so good. I put up the reins and he put his head down. I lifted up the rest of the bridle and he totally put his head down and turned it towards me and opened his mouth for the bit. !!!!!! I worked on all this last week did not see any improvement on the weekend but last night was a different story. So I will see next time. I did hold the bridle differently last night - with my hand around to the side. But the point is that he opened his mouth for the bit!!! hehehe

So it's 10:30 and I have done nothing but look at the paper, eat yogurt and mess around on the computer since 7 a.m.

What? Five more trips this year?

2008-08-04T06:05:00.002-05:00

Keeping to our schedule, I have to go to Florida at least 2 more times this year. September and probably November.

All the brothers are going to visit my MIL in October and I actually want to go on this one. I have not seen her for a year and a half and I like being with them. Plus, I am the only one who can cook, altho I can't really speak to my SIL.

There's 3 trips.

The next two could actually be combined but it sounds like a giant hassle. One to see my soon-to-be nephew in S Ca and the other to see the kids in N CA. I can't go 5 months without seeing them. This one would mean 2 plane tickets to sc, driving to nc, hotels, eating out, driving back, plus the cost of pet care, plus missing so many riding lessons!! Nooooooooooooo!! Am I crazy??? Oh kids, listen up! Why don't you come visit us??? I would not ask it really because I always had to do it when you were little, but . . .

Next year I am going riding in Wyoming for a week, no matter what.

2008-07-31T06:02:00.003-05:00

When am I ever going to get myself to go thru all this?? I mean it has mostly been sitting there forever so I must really not need any of it. Buried in one pile is a bunch of Christmas cards bound with a rubber band and meant to be gone thru to update my address book - hahaha

I have still not gone thru my cards from BlogHer - is it the heat here that makes me not want to do anything? I think I am still recovering from all the work I did this spring and all the trips. It's too hot to even go swimming. I walked the neighbor's dogs yesterday morning and then goofed off until it was very hot before I went riding. I had fun tho.

I was only a teeny bit homesick a couple of times on my trip. I guess I was so busy that I didn't have time to be homesick.

Already planning my next trip to Florida - probably over the Labor Day weekend because J is going then for my mother's birthday. If we go together, things will be easier to handle. The other day, I called J there and my mother wanted to get on the phone. So she starts off, "I . . .I . . .I . . . (she usually can't think of what she wanted to say), I . . . I . . . love you."

WHAT?????? Our family NEVER says that to each other!!!!! omg, you will never know how funny and sad that is all together.

J sent me a DVD of a compilation of old home movies my father took. Lots of WWII vids and then the family movies. J and I when we were baptized, first communion, confirmation, beach, snow, Easter egg hunts, etc.

My horsie saw the chiropractor!

2008-07-15T19:17:00.002-05:00

After watching Wizz walk, the chiro said that his barrel was not swinging to the left - meaning his sternum is displaced to the right. So she reached under him and pulled it over. An adjustment to his left shoulder left him lowering his head and licking his lips in relief. An adjustment to his left stifle - same thing. Then some lower back work and 2 right ribs pushed into place and various other pokings and proddings that I could not tell you about.

Poor guy, no wonder he kicks out when asked to canter on the right rein! And he was his usual sweet self throughout the session. Love him! No riding for 2 days and then a follow up appt in 2-3 weeks. XOX

all set for blogher

2008-07-15T17:28:00.002-05:00

I am packed and am bringing both pairs of dress shoes.

I am bringing an extra suitcase with my riding gear because we are taking a day to go horseback riding here: http://www.westerntrailriding.com/Trails.html I will probably bring my helmet on the plane with me. I would not trust the helmets they have there because if they are 3 years old or have been dropped or left in the sun, they basically have no protection left at all. I get to check a second bag for free due to my special, super-de-duper, fabulous "elite" status. lol

I have also packed my new bathing suit. It is a halter, which I never buy, black and white stripes and a very nice scoop neckline. The bottoms are a short skirt over the typical bathing suit bottom and the skirt has a zipper and snap and white top stitching so it looks like a jeans mini mini mini skirt!! No pic but it is very cute.

my old jobs

2008-07-15T07:52:00.003-05:00

I don't think I have said much about my jobs. Since I'm retired not (one year and one month!), I don't have much to do with them.

I got a master's in library science in 1984 and went to work for the H Public Library main location in the Business, Science & Technology (BST) area. I worked there for a couple of years and then made a brief foray out into the business world as a librarian at Pt Marwk. They then promptly disbanded their library (I hated the job anyway) and went back to HPL as the assistant manager of BST. This created a lot of bad feelings in the department since many much more qualified people applied for the job. There was some objection to all of them tho. One had made no secret of the fact that she was about to retire to NJ, one was a very good librarian but had the reputation of being kind of lazy, one was fairly sick (died a few years later), and one was buddy-buddy with the "witch" of the department. So I muddled thru and finally won the respect of most of the people by being very fair and not encroaching into their particular areas of expertise.

A lot of my time was taken up with scheduling 15+ people everyday for time working at the reference desk. The worst part was scheduling Sundays and no one was ever satisfied.

The part I liked best was collection development. During my 12 years there, I had 2 collection development areas. Both of them were very complicated since they involved both the business and the science departments, so it was like having 2 CD areas instead of one!

The first was Transportation. Oh, and keep in mind that this was pre-internet!! so everything had to be found in books or journal articles!!! Transportation in the science department meant everthing to do with cars, planes, boats, motorcyles, ships, railroads, etc. (except "how to" which was in the Fine Arts dept.) Blue Book values!! Indentification of cars!! Fixing cars (omg, Chiltons)!! Boat motor repair!! Driving test booklets!! In the business dept, it involved, of course, the business and history of transportation and a lot about ocean transportation of goods - shipping.

The second area of CD I had was Energy. Needless to say, for Huston, this was a massive undertaking since we had to have a comprehensive collection. For science, we had everything about geology. Geology is the most highly documented area there is. We had an immense collection with many series that had to be kept up-to-date plus an old donated collection that was falling apart but was not supposed to ever be weeded. My boss and I finally did weed it and I bought achieval-type boxes and paper to neaten it up and keep it as safe as possible. Aother problem with this collection was that it was not in the electronic catalog. It was in the card catalog though (we were in the process at some point of switching from the card catalog to a CD-ROM-type of thing which was horrible - one long tape inside that you had to scroll thru). So we laboriously pulled all the cards and kept them in an alcove as the means to finding things in this collection Unbeknowst to us, however, one of the street people was pulling the cards out and using them as scratch paper!! So much for that!!

In business, the Energy collection included all the directories of oil companies, and the STATISTICS for oil and gas. Let us just say that it was hard work but I loved it for some reason.

Another thing we did a lot of was stock quotes. Before the internet, how would you have found a stock quote for any particular date? hehe, we had a set of books that helped but a lot of WSJ on microfilm was used. Ugh! And oil companies are notorious for merging and changing names. There were books to find out about that also.

A couple of science reference questions that stand out in my mind:

What color is the equator? (came from a grown woman) after much discussion about how the equator is an IMAGINARY LINE, ended up with, "okay, you can think of it as green over the land and blue over the ocean)

What is the "angle of repose" for a pile of crushed cement? hehehehehehe (found it btw)

Besides working in BST, we all had turns working in "Telephone Reference". This was a separate area that up to 7 people could work in at once and had a "ready reference" collection designed to answer all general questions. If questions could not be answered with that collection, the call was transferred to the subject department.

Add to all this, various committees, conferences, and general goofing off (not much really) and you have the picture. I mostly liked being on committees. For one, you were off the reference desk. Second, I quickly found out that I would have a "vision" of how I thought things should be for any given situation and most people would not volunteer their thoughts so the one who did usually had their way!! I do have to say though, that HPL is notorious for forming a committee for something they actually had no intention of doing. So the several committees on "selling the business department's services to the business community" never amounted to anything which was extremely frustrating, especially when there were so many documented accounts of other libraries across the country that were actually implementing this idea. So many conferences attended with this idea in mind, so many reports written up which were ignored - sigh. I don't care any more though so HAHAHAHAHAHA.

In 1998, we moved to Venezuela due to OH's job. When I came back, I worked as a temp for about 2 months for J, an investment bank, putting a ton of documents into an in-house database. The I worked for 6 months at Ricaroni University in a 2 person department that did paid research for businesses - mostly on DIALOG, a collection of fee-based databases. I did not like the commute and so quit, especially as they really wanted someone who knew chemistry and I knew virtually nothing about chemistry and the databases for chemistry are very complicated and specialized.

I then went to work at J for good as their librarian and loved loved loved the job for 5 years, then got tired of it. The last year I was there, OH had retired and was lolling around at home and I was supremely jealous. I have to say that I was very suited for this job since they did almost all energy-or transportation- related deals in Huston. I did have to help out the other offices with other industry deals but a lot of the information was obtained the same way and the actual industry didn't matter.

Factset, SDC, Investext, Factiva, Bloomberg, Disclosure - goodby!!!

back from florida

2008-07-10T09:03:00.003-05:00

So my parents are okay but it's really sad to see them the way they are. I did nothing yesterday but lie on the couch watching TV. Today we want to do something but are too lazy to think of anything fun. My just swim a while and go grocery shopping. I have not even unpacked one thing yet.

Dont want to go.

2008-07-01T19:29:00.003-05:00

To Florida. Way too scary. I'll be responsible for them from 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. every day!!! I plan to sneak out and go to the beach one day. I will say I am going to see Dean's cousin. I don't really have to sneak, but I don't want ma to feel bad that she can't go.

Trail ride today. They said early and last time they aimed for 9:30. So I was ready by 9 a.m. but didn't even see Christy til 10 and then she had to tack up and warm up and then go back for her helmet. We did not get back til noon. She got off and walked her horse on the nice straight trot/canter place so it was pretty boring after all. Plus we were in the sun some of the way and I did not put sunscreen on. So now have a slight burn on top of a tan.

Why can't people be on time???? I'm really sick of it.

I have a giant suitcase of stuff to go to Florida with. I think I will buy some of the things I usually take while I'm there and then not have to bring them. Such as a hairdryer, shampoo, etc. I can put it in the closet and label it as my box of stuff. I'm bringing my horsie needlepoint that I started last year for RI. Maybe I will actually work on it this time. I need to have really good light and time to waste!

Florida saga -

2008-06-29T16:43:00.002-05:00

Yesterday ma woke up early and needed to go to the bathroom so daddy got her up. Of course she fell, of course she cut the back of her head. He is supposed to get the aide. So the aide finally got her back in bed and put a towel on the back of her head. Aide went to get dressed and came out to find that daddy had gotten ma up and sat her at the dining room table, ready for breakfast!! He loses all contact with reality when something happens.

So nurse comes up, calls ambulance, tells aide NOT to clean up the blood (potential evidence in case of death) and off she goes. Daddy and aide follow later in taxi and somehow (didn't get the details) she gets home and is okay.

The stream of phone calls thruout the day - the less said the better.

J tried to teach ma to say, "Get the hell away from me!" when he tries to help her.

Yummy trail ride

2008-06-24T16:11:00.003-05:00

Went for a trail ride this morning and W was a star!! omg, what a sweetie he is!

What a brave boy and so happy. He went second in the line of three on the way out and first on the way back. He kept to a nice walk without any trouble at all. He wanted to trot but I did not have to struggle to hold him to a walk. He did trot a couple of times but was easily brought back with no pulling on the reins (well hardly any) - just holding the reins and saying "walk" and a couple of times I did the rein combing, esp when we went by the scary huge rusted out truck someone dumped in the woods. He even walked up the embankment after crossing the creek on the way back. Seen, but not by me - a big deer and an owl. I would have dearly loved to canter by the sand pit/retention pond, but we were good and just walked. W was thinking wtf is the matter with her, this is perfect!!??? All things in good time I guess.

Meanwhile, plumber is here fixing the incompetent work of out contractor's plumber - the master bathroom toilet is leaking thru a light fixture in the ceiling of the family room downstairs. crap.

On a positive note: making macaroni and meatballs for dinner and it smells good. Will get some rolls tomorrow for meatball sandwiches. So i imagine that i will pig out on pasta tonight and fall asleep on the couch watching some asinine tv show.

oh, the time spent!!

2008-06-24T07:20:00.002-05:00

How much time do J and I spend on the telephone organizing things in Florida?? It's ridiculous! Since last Friday, it's been a constant stream of phone calls. Daddy has an ingrown toenail which he just happens to mention on Friday so there is no way to get him seen by a doctor. So poor JW frantically tries to get him an appointment with his regular podiatrist but can't get an appt til next Wed. So he gets taken downstairs to the nurse and she gets him an appt with an unknown dr for Monday morning. The aide can't take him then, so the SC bus is supposed to take him.

I get all this from J in a very jumbled way via two long phone calls on Friday late afternoon. Well, that plus the fact that he has something in his eye!! (that no one else can see) I send JW an email and she immediately calls me back and talks for almost an hour. I get the straight story from her plus and update on her social life including the new guy she has met online that she is calling "the turtle whisperer". (JW is so nice - I wish she could find a really nice guy!)

So I call Florida and talk to daddy and tell him that he needs to soak his foot in epsom salts in the meantime and put eye drops in his eye since the last time he thought he had something in his eye and was taken to the eye dr, the dr told him he had nothing in his eye but it was just dry. He gets pissed off at this but wtf??

Saturday, call Alliance and arrange for an aid to go with him to the dr since it will be a place he has never been and he won't know what to do. Of course J doesn't think of this. I don't know why it takes an army of people to manage them. Call daddy and ask how he is and tell him someone will be going with him. Ditto on Sunday along with speaking to ma which is quite painful now and also to the aide who is almost impossible to understand once she picks up speed in English.

Monday morning, call and make sure things are in place. Daddy doesn't remember an aide is going with him, so also speak to aide and remind her. Monday afternoon, call and make sure everything went according to plan which it did. Do not find out anything about the toenail, but get a long impossible-to-understand story about my mother's Monday morning dr appt where it seems that she has very dry skin and needs moisturizer. Well duh-

Okay, you get the picture. Every week there is this kind of heinous back and forth phone calling over something.

On the good side, woke up ridiculously happy from having such a good riding lesson yesterday.

2008-06-21T07:29:00.003-05:00

Bathroom wallpaper is up (hidious 3 days of work for just one wall) and the drawers are ready to install. Pics later today. I want to go riding this morning but can't seem to get moving.

Did not go riding but got a lot of small houseworky stuff done and read all afternoon while it poured rain! Made brownies during the afternoon and OH and I ate half of the results! :P I have not made brownies in about 10 years or so!!

Stirrups

2008-06-19T20:45:00.003-05:00

My RI put my stirrups up 2 holes today. We couldn't figure out what was going on. After I left the barn, I realized that I had never checked them when I got on so who knows not what hole they should have been in!! I think I may have been riding in too long stirrups anyway so next time I will try shortening them from my usual hole 11 and see how it feels. I did a lot of work the other day with no stirrups.

Today, all of a sudden, a major jump to the side and wild canter off. I stayed on but pretty well wrenched my back in the process. I think he may have been stung by something or bitten by a horsefly because afterwards he was trying to scratch his back leg. He is doing so much better with contact now and I can get him back right away when he evades the bit.

I'm doing much better lately with my riding. I have to keep in mind my constant collapse of my lright side which I'm thinking is due to one, being right handed, and two, carrying a purse on my right shoulder all these years. I have to make myself think about weighting my inside stirrup and outside seatbone and keeping my inside shoulder back. The big improvement tho, is that I am developing a better feel for what is going on. The secret is to picture what you want to happen. I can watch someone do something and then do it whereas all the technical analysis gets me nowhere.

Lovely kitchenware!

2008-06-15T16:34:00.000-05:00

I bought all these at Anthropologie! After badgering OH for two or three years to agree to buying (useless) china, I came across these and the difference in price was so great that he instantly agreed to purchasing them.

These are rice bowls but we use them for salad. Salad bowls are usually too small. I got 4 of them!

Dinner plates

Dessert plates.

Bowls - soup size and small size.

Coffee cups.

my cats

2008-06-14T08:12:00.001-05:00

Bonnie, the black and white
Claude, the yellow and white.

so much to do

2008-06-14T07:48:00.000-05:00

Why is it that when I was working, I never had a list of errands and now that I am home, I have a never-ending list??? I could never understand how J always had so much to do. I guess part of it is this whole house remodel/organization/cataloging stuff I'm doing but I also think that some of it is just pure laziness. I could knock off plenty of small things if I would just stop wasting tons of time doing Sudokus (thanks Tim :P). Okay, 4 half days a week are spent on horseback riding but what about all the other time?

Also, with all this time on my hands, I wish I would plan better meals. Today I am going grocery shopping (only one can of cat food left!) and I need to get coupons out, decide which ones to use, plan some menus, etc. I get slightly sidetracked in the store when I see something nice tho or if something I want for a meal looks gross. For instance, why are all the green beans so horrid looking? I think I will get some watermelon and see if Wiz likes it!!! The other day I gave him a pear and he was in a state of bliss. I will buy some chicken today and grill it with this marinade:

1T lemon juice
t tsp deli mustard
3 T olive oil
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 T water
lots of minced garlic and parsley

This is from Cooks Illustrated and it makes the chicken taste like steak according to OH. I usually grill 6 chicken breasts with the tenders separated and we can eat for practically a week on that! I will buy some portobello mushrooms and make the chicken jambalaya recipie from The New American Plate.

Yesterday the drawers for our bathroom were finished and installed. Today I think OH is going to sand a couple of sticky places and prime them. Then they will have to be given 2 coats of paint. I need to sand the wall over the vanity and apply some of that stuff you put on before wallpaper (can't remember what it is called). I may wait til next week to actually put up the paper.

My next-door neighbor washed my king-sized mattress pad for me in her giant washing machine! So now I can make my bed up and get the bedroom looking slightly more put together. I would like to have an upholstered headboard made and get some decent lamps - oh, they must have big big fringy shades. There is not a decent lamp store in Houston. I need to find a good lamp shade web site (must look).

Ziggy cartoon in the paper today:
"I've got so much to get done today!
I don't know what to put off first!"