Wednesday, September 28, 2011

My Parents (If They'd Thought Of It)


Swiped from shoeboxblog.com

28 Degrees

Frost on the pumpkin, indeed.

I failed to mention the "termination dust" on the mountains last week. Snow starts appearing at the higher elevations and gradually creeps down until it reaches us. Hope the rest of the leaves hurry and fall off the trees. I hate it when it snows before they're all down - makes spring clean-up so much messier. Maybe I'll trim back my neglected perennial bed today. It's an overgrown mess.

I'm trying to keep myself from calling the realtor to look at houses. It's totally impractical right now but I'm so curious as to what they look like in reality. I'm happy being a tire kicker but I don't want to waste his time.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Saturday

The motorcycle was missing from the garage when I got home from my riding lesson. Seems my husband decided to take advantage of the dry weather and rode down the highway overlooking Cook Inlet. He met a group of Christian bikers that he rode back to Anchorage with.

When he got home he said he'd sent me a bunch of e-mails about puppies for sale. He is very interested in a nine week old female German Shepherd and wasn't very happy when I said I wanted another male. We've had two females over the years and I just don't find them as affectionate as the boys. He really wants to take a look at her. I said, "Fine, go look. Just don't bring her home." Impasse.

Saw a newly listed house yesterday that seems too good to be true. Excellent price, decent location and seems to have all the bells and whistles we're looking for. Of course I find it after I finally booked a flight to California. I usually go down in late October. This year I kept putting off making reservations. I've decided to go down for Thanksgiving. This will be the first time since 1974 that I've spent it with my family. I've never been to Bates Nut Farm so we're planning to go there; there will be a huge craft show at Del Mar, along with some kind of Christmas light show at night featuring over 400 displays. It costs $14 a carload but I'm pretty sure it's worth it. My husband and I have tried to view Anchorage's best lit homes in the past but that usually ends up in an argument over the best way to get from Point A to Point B. Del Mar will also be hosting a "Jingle Bells" horse show which I may or may not insist upon attending one of the days.

Oh, the point I was going to make is that it wouldn't be very wise to go on vacation while in the middle of either negotiating for a house or actually moving. I haven't decided whether to show the listing to my husband or not. It's a cute house; reminds me of the one on "Leave It To Beaver," although when I actually Googled a picture of that house it's not that similar.

As predicted, we've raked leaves twice this week. We did it yesterday and you'd never know it looking at the lawn today.

May go up to the barn today and/or tomorrow as my trainer smashed her fingers in one of the doors and might have broken some fingers. I'd like to help out if needed, although I've noticed that there are a lot more people there on weekends than during the week.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Argh!

Decided to order an Elmo DVD for the kid's birthday since she, like every toddler I've known since he was created, seems entranced by him. Of course, then how could I resist adding three books for myself? Curse you, Amazon, and your free shipping for orders over $25.00!

A Whole Lotta Nothing

Had another fabulous riding lesson Monday. I grabbed a crop and asked my trainer if she thought the horse would stand still better as I mounted or head for the hills when she saw it. Her response was a reassuring, "I dunno. Let's find out." The mare did stand better but I still need to get my butt on her back faster. I have a subconscious feeling that she's going to move which is probably a self-fulfilling prophecy, so then she does. I need to focus on imaging myself mounting easily without hesitation.

I decided to buy my very own crop. I secretly want a purple glitter one but went with the boring basic black. I tried applying purple hot glue to the handle's end but it peeled right off. I then rolled it in black pigment stamping ink and applied black glitter embossing powder. Snazzy but discreet if I do say so myself. I added a few coats of clear nail polish so the glitter won't flake off. Currently, I am wearing dark purple sparkling nail polish with large glitter topcoat. The glitter sparkles like diamonds. My husband hasn't commented on it so I'm pretty sure he disapproves. I need a little bling to brighten my life, so sue me.

Made a trip to Home Depot on Wednesday. I bought five bags of mulch. As I was loading them into the back of the truck I mused on how in my younger, thinner, blonder days, guys would have been swarming to help me. Now they leave the decrepit, fat, old lady to manage on her own. Just as I was finishing that thought a young guy came along and loaded the last bag. Does this mean I've still got it? I doubt it; he was probably just a former Boy Scout.

Back at the barn the yearling was nosing a giant ball around one of the arenas. He moved it close to where I was standing so I gave into the impulse to kick it. That set the other horse in there into a bucking frenzy which I thought was pretty funny. The owners might not have so I was happy there were no witnesses.

Babysat the kid Tuesday evening. Hard to believe she will turn two next week. I decided not to be such a slacker by sitting her in front of the television and actually read her some books (I now have Go Dog. Go! burned in my brain after about six consecutive readings) We practiced running and shrieking, always a favorite. Discovered she likes me bouncing a small beach ball on the top of her head. Who knew children were so easily entertained?

It's leaf raking time. Collected three yard bags full yesterday. We'll be raking at least twice a week until the trees are bare. Sure noticing the days getting darker earlier. More than three months to go before they'll start lengthening again.

I've almost given up house hunting online. Just don't want to quit completely in case the perfect home becomes available. We might just wait a couple of years and see if the one we made an offer on comes back on the market after the lease expires...

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Budweiser 9/11 Tribute

This is a class act. Very moving, a must see!!!!! Notice the World Trade Center buildings are gone. This is the commercial spot Budweiser produced after 9-11.

They only aired it once so as not to benefit financially from it - they just wanted to acknowledge the tragic event. I never saw this commercial until now..... it is quite moving.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

My goodness, September already. My brother was visiting and I never seemed to get enough alone time to blog. I did throw up a story now and then that I received in e-mails, both here and at Head In The Sand.

Horseback riding is good. About a month ago I had three consecutive lessons that were great. Me and the horse were in sync and everything was working as it should. Then things kind of fell apart and I was just riding so-so. This past week has been better. Mare was getting lazy yesterday and didn't want to trot. My trainer had me lose the stirrups and "kick the bejeezus out of her" to get her going. It worked. Now I have a new weapon in my arsenal. I also may ask if I can start carrying a whip. I don't need to use it but just knowing I have it perks her right up.

The two fillies are so cute. One of them is a pocket pony and will stand still forever to be scratched and stroked all over. I can see me begging to groom her in my future. The barn seems to be ever evolving with some horses leaving and newcomers arriving. Just when I think I know who's who, it changes.

Had a great time with my brother. We both like to read so went to different bookstores and stocked up. We went to the State fair one day and saw the movie, "Cowboys Versus Aliens" on another afternoon (it's entertaining but not great)

Was trying to find some interfacing earlier today and had to look in a bunch of places before I finally located it. I found all kinds of craft stuff that I forgot I had. I see many eBay listings in my future.

Still looking at houses online but haven't seen anything that I could get very excited about. I'm about ready to call in quits for this year, get rid of a bunch of stuff so I won't have to move it, and resume the search next spring.