03.02.2010 Catch Up???

If you thought that last post about a typical week made your head spin...the last 2 weeks have been even more so.

Praises/Good News! = We are completely moved out of old house. We got a check. I ordered doors and hardware. The concrete was cut and new plumbing put in the basement for bathroom and mudroom. (We thought we wouldn't be able to do this until this summer!) We got a bathtub for bathroom, shower enclosure for mudroom, New shelves up in garage, and Craiglist has become my new BFF.

Speaking of Craigslist - I recently sold our Pool Table, the snowmobiles/trailer, a Dresser, and my Wine/Curio Hutch. We have 2 other items that are sold in "trade" deals so they are still ours until the work is done. I also listed 2 ads in the "wanted" and trade for both a Barn Builder and a Horse for sis. I got responses for BOTH! We will have people coming out for quotes for barn this week and *small world* someone called with a PERFECT horse..and it turns out i actually know them. Also one of the construction guys & i started talking horses too. And some random stranger emailed me a photo of his horse (slightly out of our price range but awesome!) I know we need to finish the house and take a deep breath before embarking on the latest area of our lives (HORSE PEOPLE) but Sis is so excited to start 4H and she LOVES all things horsie. It doesn't hurt that her mommy is madly in love with them too! Bubba can't wait to ride - and i saw some cute tandem/buddy saddles on eBay that you can hook on the back of a saddle for tandem riding. Oooh fun.

Anyway - I'm so very sad that the camera is missing. I take it EVERYWHERE and cannot find it at all. Here's to hope and prayer that it turns up. I do SO want a Digital SLR but there is no way on this Earth that is possible. I checked Costco - i had NO IDEA they cost so much. So there will be no photos for a while.

Ok, maybe one...I'm gonna throw in the horse photo the guy sent me that is trying to sell me his horse. Cuz he is just so stinkin cute! Oh and he has long fuzzy hair bcuz here in the Frozen Wasteland the horses hair grows out in winter then you use a shedding blanket and comb to remove all that come spring and they look all pretty and handsome. Just an FYI for inquiring minds that may think he looks shaggy. It's just his winter "furr coat" LOL. Ain't he the cutest?!!

Look at those EYES - so hard to resist eh?

02.10.2010 Week Recap & More of the Horse

Sorry for the lack of updates. It's been a busy week and no time for sitting at the computer. (Except of course the 15-20 minutes of blog stalking others...but that doesn't count) It was a crazy busy week for many reasons. I am so blessed that i CAN do all that needs to get done. That i can get up each morning. That i get to live this crazy life. Lets see if you can keep up. Mon/Weds/Fri are always like this...
MONDAY - Drop kids off @ school, go to work, Stop my day at 11:30, pick up Bubba from 1/2 day Kindergarten, drive him across town to Public School for Speech therapy & 1/2 day school there. Pick up kids 5:30, run to friends house, Bible Study.

TUESDAY - Wake up - scramble to get kids ready & clean house/move stuff for Drywaller to come. Drop off kids @ School, Stop my work day to pick up Bubba at 11:30 from Kindergarten, Hand Bubba off to Daddy , go to Dr. Appt (new medicine-more about that later-yay!) *Drywaller a no show =(*, work rest of the day, pick up kids rush food down their throats, off to Kyukido, get kids ready for bed.

WEDS. - Drop kids off @ school, Pick Both kids up (early out) take Bubba to daycare, Hurry to eat lunch, Take sis to rescheduled Horse lessons, Work, Meet 3 friends at Old House to finish the inside packing, Finish at 9pm, pick up kids take home to bed.

THURS.- Wake up early to get all things ready for sis & daddy to go to Ski Day. No school for Bubba, he stays w/ me all day (thus inhibiting my actual ability to work), Studied internet for barn buildings and horse stuff, Dad & sis back at 5pm from skiing, Order Pizza, work @ ofc till 8pm. Help kids with Valentines. Last minute American Girl order to get here for sis Bday. Go home-kids to bed, watch my DVR'd Greys Anatomy scramble to clean house/wash sheets for grandpa to come tomorrow, watch some DVR'd Private Practice.

Fri.- Get up early, finish valentines & candy. Cut up fruit for school party. More laundry put in. Drop off kids @ school. Pick up Bubba @ 11:30 take to other school. Run up to NEW house to pick up cable & stuff for a job DeRell is doing, miss lunch w/ a friend-but get 1hr phone call w/ her instead (while multi tasking), back to work-productive day, Pick up kids head home, scramble to actually clean house bcuz honey throws on me that a designer/contractor is coming at 7pm to look at house. Meet w/ contractor, kids to bed, watch some olympics, stalk a few blogs, CRASH.

I do love my life. But it is so Fragmented it makes me crazy sometimes. It's a wonder i can finish a thought or get one thing done - all the while my "work" day consists of doing 2 jobs...my contract processing & holding down our store/helping customers. It makes for a crazy busy day just about everyday.

Did i mention that sis B-day is Tuesday? I have planned NOTHING. I was honestly hoping we would be in California next week so i wouldn't have to do it. Looks like that is 2-3 wks away.

So back to Wednesday..usually our lessons are Thursday. Her school has Ski Days 2x in February so we couldn't do her lesson on Friday since the Ski Days were this Thurs and next Thurs. Since it was Early Out Weds., we did her lesson that afternoon.

I had my camera Weds...but *gasp* I had taken the battery out of it to charge so it was useless. I was however, armed with my cell phone. It it my 5th appendage so it pretty much travels wherever i do. So i got some not so good, really far away video of sis riding solo. She was back on Spice so that was good, but the darn horse was soooo tired that it behaved even worse than the old guy we were on last week. She couldnt get her to move - and we had to put spurs on her toward the end bcuz she is so little the horse really didn't care when she kicked her to "go". LOL The problem is that i didn't have my microSD card in my phone *doh* so it is saved on my phone only. And now my camera is missing.....
Just another week in Paradise!

02.04.2010 More Horse Lessons

Sis had another lesson today. Because of icy roads her instructor couldn't trailer her horse over to the arena so we got to ride a different horse.

It was a good thing. "Jag" was a full One & 1/2 hands bigger than "Spice" and 8 yrs. older. It was good practice for her to ride a different horse. He definately performed different and she had to get the hang of continuing to "kick"/"urge" the horse to go...cuz lets face it...he was old and not really feeling like playing along!

She tried something new, getting the horse to go over a small bar that was elevated - only about 12 inches though. (2nd picture)

The sun was bright streaming thru the top of the arena so sorry bout the pics.

p.s. Kelly the song playing is for you!!!!

01.28.2010 Sis takes Lessons

Ok, so i talked before about this. My girl L.O.V.E.S. horses. She had been doing some Equine Assisted Therapy for some issues she was having and did VERY WELL. The only problem was - she didn't get to RIDE the horses and at what we were paying for "therapy" she was being cheated out of what she really wanted.

We found a local girl who offers private lessons (usually to people with their own horses) and she let us use her horse "Spice". Sis went once (for a 1/2 hr) and did so well she called us back to say she would really benefit from a full hour, and gave us a discounted rate!

She had a fun time. I actually got video this time (in hopes of finally figuring out how to get one from Picassa to the video service to my blog. Guess what? I think i did it!! Anyway, the video quality is BAD as i took it from my digital camera w/out a tripod (sorry for the shakes)!

She leads the horse and all by herself, but when it came time for the "tasks" of directing the horse Shannon (the trainer) is holding a loose slack lead rope to be sure the horse was doing what Sis wanted it to do. Plus it was easier for her to give her instruction being that close. Next time she will do it all unassisted
*yay!*

Sis Rides a Horse from Missie Chandler on Vimeo.