Monday, January 18, 2010
Horse Riding Lessons
As I mentioned before, L. took horse riding lessons through all of the summer and into the fall. We weren't able to get too many pictures as we didn't want to startle the horses in the barn with the flash going off. L. took the lessons at Shadarobah horse rescue and some of the horses are timid around humans and not very trusting due to the situations they were rescued from. One of the best things about the lessons is that L. was able to share them with her cousin E. After being apart for almost a year, it was great that the two girls got to do this together.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Phtt. Phtt. Phtt. Time to Blow the Dust Off!
Shhhh! What's that? Shhh!!! No, that! Did you hear that? It can't be can it? I believe it is the sound of Angie punching away in her sophomoric style on the keyboard while signed into her long long, I mean LONGGGG neglected blog.
Seems to be that time... Time to blow the dust off the 'ol blogger account and get back to the business of sharing, because I am after all, as we say around here, a sharer.
I guess this would be the proper time in my post to apologize, to beg and plead for forgiveness from the four people who once upon a time checked my blog regularly, so here goes. If you're still out there...
Good! Thanks! I appreciate your understanding and your forgiveness. Time to move on with the show...
So, what you may ask, have we all been doing around here that I have been neglecting to share?
Let's start with me, not because the world revolves around me, but because I rarely in my life go first. I have been working, spending time with my family, trying to give our children a noteworthy educational experience and doing volunteer political work. What? Oh, I see. You thought I was off doing something glamorous like working for Habitat for Humanity or managing a philanthropic foundation. Nope. That's for the next decade. Until 2021, I am dedicated to the life of mom, homeschooler, business owner and political activist. If that's not glamorous, I don't know what is. I also have finally quite smoking! I've made it past four months and there is absolutely no going back this time. How did I do it? I got really angry at big tobacco and decided I was never giving them another cent of my money. I personally think it's healthy kind of anger...
Scott took last summer off from taking classes which means he is taking his very LAST class this semester. Taking the summer off was totally worth it as he was able to go with us to every one of C.'s t-ball practices and L.'s horseback riding lessons. We also went camping and spent lots of time outdoors. It was a wonderful summer! It was a tough fall though. It's always tough when you are ALMOST done and so looking forward to being done, but just have a few things to finish up. So we are very very excited for the spring when Scott will finish his last class. Scott has also continued to build his freelance graphic design business in the last year. Together, we got some major projects done around the house, repairing, painting and redecorating our stairwell, upstairs hallway, the bathroom and C.'s bedroom. Finally, Scott had to put up with me quitting smoking, which I can tell you was not pretty, but he was awesome and supportive without ticking me off - a talent not many have mastered. ;)
As always, L. and C. have been quite busy. L. began horseback riding lessons last spring at Shadarobah Horse Rescue. She took lessons throughout the summer and into the fall. She got to know dozens of horses who had been rescued from a variety of sad situations, she learned so much and working with the horses helped her focus on her immediate tasks. Since October, L. has been taking gymnastics classes. She is enjoying it immensely. Thank goodness she does not have the timid heart and self-consciousness that always plagued her mother. In the last six months, our little reluctant reader has blossomed into an avid reader. Much like her mother, she does not want to put a book down once she has started it.
C. gained a bunch of confidence this year with the help of his T-ball practices and some very nice coaches who were patient and allowed his parents on the field during the first few practices until C. got comfortable. C. also discovered the joy of bowling. Last summer we went to a birthday party at a local church that has a bowling alley in the basement of one of its buildings and C. played his heart out. In the fall we signed him up for bowling classes. He's now got more strikes and spares under his belt as a 6 year old than I do as an adult. He has expressed an interest in golf too and I have to just chuckle to myself. When he was a baby I used to talk to him all the time when I was holding him and one of the many things I used to "suggest" was that he would much rather bowl, golf or play baseball than play football. C. has also become an avid reader and yesterday when I served lunch, he was in the middle of a book. He asked me if he could please read while he ate. Man, I would've loved to have grown up in a bookstore!
Most recent picture of our two beauties.
Seems to be that time... Time to blow the dust off the 'ol blogger account and get back to the business of sharing, because I am after all, as we say around here, a sharer.
I guess this would be the proper time in my post to apologize, to beg and plead for forgiveness from the four people who once upon a time checked my blog regularly, so here goes. If you're still out there...
Good! Thanks! I appreciate your understanding and your forgiveness. Time to move on with the show...
So, what you may ask, have we all been doing around here that I have been neglecting to share?
Let's start with me, not because the world revolves around me, but because I rarely in my life go first. I have been working, spending time with my family, trying to give our children a noteworthy educational experience and doing volunteer political work. What? Oh, I see. You thought I was off doing something glamorous like working for Habitat for Humanity or managing a philanthropic foundation. Nope. That's for the next decade. Until 2021, I am dedicated to the life of mom, homeschooler, business owner and political activist. If that's not glamorous, I don't know what is. I also have finally quite smoking! I've made it past four months and there is absolutely no going back this time. How did I do it? I got really angry at big tobacco and decided I was never giving them another cent of my money. I personally think it's healthy kind of anger...
Scott took last summer off from taking classes which means he is taking his very LAST class this semester. Taking the summer off was totally worth it as he was able to go with us to every one of C.'s t-ball practices and L.'s horseback riding lessons. We also went camping and spent lots of time outdoors. It was a wonderful summer! It was a tough fall though. It's always tough when you are ALMOST done and so looking forward to being done, but just have a few things to finish up. So we are very very excited for the spring when Scott will finish his last class. Scott has also continued to build his freelance graphic design business in the last year. Together, we got some major projects done around the house, repairing, painting and redecorating our stairwell, upstairs hallway, the bathroom and C.'s bedroom. Finally, Scott had to put up with me quitting smoking, which I can tell you was not pretty, but he was awesome and supportive without ticking me off - a talent not many have mastered. ;)
As always, L. and C. have been quite busy. L. began horseback riding lessons last spring at Shadarobah Horse Rescue. She took lessons throughout the summer and into the fall. She got to know dozens of horses who had been rescued from a variety of sad situations, she learned so much and working with the horses helped her focus on her immediate tasks. Since October, L. has been taking gymnastics classes. She is enjoying it immensely. Thank goodness she does not have the timid heart and self-consciousness that always plagued her mother. In the last six months, our little reluctant reader has blossomed into an avid reader. Much like her mother, she does not want to put a book down once she has started it.
C. gained a bunch of confidence this year with the help of his T-ball practices and some very nice coaches who were patient and allowed his parents on the field during the first few practices until C. got comfortable. C. also discovered the joy of bowling. Last summer we went to a birthday party at a local church that has a bowling alley in the basement of one of its buildings and C. played his heart out. In the fall we signed him up for bowling classes. He's now got more strikes and spares under his belt as a 6 year old than I do as an adult. He has expressed an interest in golf too and I have to just chuckle to myself. When he was a baby I used to talk to him all the time when I was holding him and one of the many things I used to "suggest" was that he would much rather bowl, golf or play baseball than play football. C. has also become an avid reader and yesterday when I served lunch, he was in the middle of a book. He asked me if he could please read while he ate. Man, I would've loved to have grown up in a bookstore!
Most recent picture of our two beauties.Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Best T-Ball Player in the World!
Our little boy took T-Ball classes this summer!
Weeks and weeks of fun!
He needed a little convincing when the whole thing started...
But by the third practice, he looked forward to it immensely!
Here he is with his buddy from the neighborhood.They were part of a great team!
Scott decided to drop his summer class so we both got to go to every practice!Good choice honey!
I think the Reds might want to look into this kid!
His skills are pretty amazing!
What? Wildcat next summer? We'll have to see...I think we'll need to talk him into that too.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Decades Apart
How do you grieve? I grieve alone. Well, almost. The whiskey manhattans have been served... a promise made IS a promise kept, my dear beautiful sweet friend. And now you're gone... Some roads lead us to places we never expected. It's wonderful when those places are good. My friend Jan was good and I miss her.
At the peak of our friendship, Jan was in her mid to late sixties and I was in my mid to late twenties, but Jan was a fireball of experience, fun, wisdom and opinion. I loved her opinions! We didn't always agree and sometimes I think I left her truly mystified but the banter was always friendly. We were four decades apart and yet, some of my best times were hanging out with Jan... talking, laughing, dining, drinking, going to shows and parties and trying to understand why the world wasn't the way we wished or thought it should be... Sometimes, I think Jan was living her sixties years as she had wanted to live her earlier years. I was honored to be one of the people she liked "living" her life with.
One of the best things about my friendship with Jan was that she accepted me truly for me. She never asked or expected me to change a thing. I made mistakes in those years we hung out. Some of them ridiculous and some of them seemingly monumental at the time. We'd laugh and then she'd tell me about some mistake she'd made in life and we'd laugh, because what did it really matter when you were sitting with a good friend enjoying the moment?
I grew up a lot in those years. Jan was a witness to my stories as I muddled through boyfriends that didn't make sense, got my first teaching job, married my best friend, tried to figure out why some of my friends were making some of the choices they were making, rejoiced in the success of the people I love, became a mother for the first time, watched my own mother die and slip from my life, gave birth to my second child, quit my career and followed an entirely new professional path by the seat of my pants. In all of this Jan never flinched. She watched. She listened. She talked. I listened. I talked.
The second best thing about our friendship is that I accepted Jan for who she truly was. When I first met Jan, I was introduced to her by her given name, but I soon discovered Jan in the shadows living a life expected of her by society, family and work. Who doesn't do this in their own way? When Jan retired, she said hell with it all and lived her life for the first time as she had always wanted. I loved her for this. I loved being with her and knowing that I was a part of her life and her happiness. Jan was my mentor, my sometimes parent, but most all she was my friend.
Life is complicated and riddled with the emotions and expectations of people who sometimes don't see things the way you want them to. Sometimes family comes first and Jan and I made a choice about two years ago. We stopped calling each other and going out. This is another story entirely and the choice we made probably should have happened years before it did for everyone else's sake but ours.
Jan is gone now and I miss her, but I have been missing her for awhile now. We used to joke that if reincarnation were real, we would be born twin sisters that looked like Julia Roberts in our next life so we could grow up together and cause all kinds of trouble... I miss Jan and I hope she waits for me...
Finally, I am tired of grieving alone, so let it be not alone this time.
For you my friend... The best part of being a woman is the prerogative to have a a little fun...
We had a lot fun didn't we? I love you Jan.
Man! I Feel Like a Woman - Shania Twain
At the peak of our friendship, Jan was in her mid to late sixties and I was in my mid to late twenties, but Jan was a fireball of experience, fun, wisdom and opinion. I loved her opinions! We didn't always agree and sometimes I think I left her truly mystified but the banter was always friendly. We were four decades apart and yet, some of my best times were hanging out with Jan... talking, laughing, dining, drinking, going to shows and parties and trying to understand why the world wasn't the way we wished or thought it should be... Sometimes, I think Jan was living her sixties years as she had wanted to live her earlier years. I was honored to be one of the people she liked "living" her life with.
One of the best things about my friendship with Jan was that she accepted me truly for me. She never asked or expected me to change a thing. I made mistakes in those years we hung out. Some of them ridiculous and some of them seemingly monumental at the time. We'd laugh and then she'd tell me about some mistake she'd made in life and we'd laugh, because what did it really matter when you were sitting with a good friend enjoying the moment?
I grew up a lot in those years. Jan was a witness to my stories as I muddled through boyfriends that didn't make sense, got my first teaching job, married my best friend, tried to figure out why some of my friends were making some of the choices they were making, rejoiced in the success of the people I love, became a mother for the first time, watched my own mother die and slip from my life, gave birth to my second child, quit my career and followed an entirely new professional path by the seat of my pants. In all of this Jan never flinched. She watched. She listened. She talked. I listened. I talked.
The second best thing about our friendship is that I accepted Jan for who she truly was. When I first met Jan, I was introduced to her by her given name, but I soon discovered Jan in the shadows living a life expected of her by society, family and work. Who doesn't do this in their own way? When Jan retired, she said hell with it all and lived her life for the first time as she had always wanted. I loved her for this. I loved being with her and knowing that I was a part of her life and her happiness. Jan was my mentor, my sometimes parent, but most all she was my friend.
Life is complicated and riddled with the emotions and expectations of people who sometimes don't see things the way you want them to. Sometimes family comes first and Jan and I made a choice about two years ago. We stopped calling each other and going out. This is another story entirely and the choice we made probably should have happened years before it did for everyone else's sake but ours.
Jan is gone now and I miss her, but I have been missing her for awhile now. We used to joke that if reincarnation were real, we would be born twin sisters that looked like Julia Roberts in our next life so we could grow up together and cause all kinds of trouble... I miss Jan and I hope she waits for me...
Finally, I am tired of grieving alone, so let it be not alone this time.
For you my friend... The best part of being a woman is the prerogative to have a a little fun...
We had a lot fun didn't we? I love you Jan.
Man! I Feel Like a Woman - Shania Twain
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
I can't believe it's been almost two months since I posted. Oh well. Thought I'd share these. I just finished reading an article about laughter being good medicine and then found the Bonnie Tyler Total Eclipse of the Heart (Literal Video Version) linked on one of my FaceBook friend's pages. Funny stuff!
Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart (literal video version)
Billy Idol - White Wedding (literal video version)
Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart (literal video version)
Billy Idol - White Wedding (literal video version)
Thursday, April 09, 2009
My "New" Relationship With My Computer
I can't believe it's been a month since I posted. I haven't even been reading any blogs and I apologize. I miss reading all your blogs, but I've really been spending very little time on the computer unless it's work related. Ever since we moved the store last September, I've been so focused on getting the store in shape and expanding the business that most other things have taken a backseat; i.e. my social time on the computer, my social life period. The extent of my social life at this point revolves around FaceBook (it's quick and easy like frozen fish sticks for dinner) and seeing our friends when they come in the store for the children's activities and classes we hold. So my social life resembles a big black hole, but that's okay because the business so far is somehow making it through the economic downturn. I can't tell you how many businesses have shut down around here in the last six months. Hopefully, we can continue to hang on until things start to improve again.
When I'm at home, I try to steer clear of the computer because I just end up doing work related stuff. And I've been trying to be at home when I'm at home. It's hard to leave the store at the store and I don't always do a bang up job of it, just ask Scott how many times he's tripped over the boxes of books I bring home to list in my inventory, but I decided over the winter that I really must try harder so that I can focus on our family, our schooling, our new puppy, our cats (although they're really not crying for attention) and our house.
Recently Scott and I got new cell phones and I seriously considered getting one with internet capability for the business and then, I thought better of it. I really love my computer and I couldn't run my business without, but I must draw the line somewhere.
When I'm at home, I try to steer clear of the computer because I just end up doing work related stuff. And I've been trying to be at home when I'm at home. It's hard to leave the store at the store and I don't always do a bang up job of it, just ask Scott how many times he's tripped over the boxes of books I bring home to list in my inventory, but I decided over the winter that I really must try harder so that I can focus on our family, our schooling, our new puppy, our cats (although they're really not crying for attention) and our house.
Recently Scott and I got new cell phones and I seriously considered getting one with internet capability for the business and then, I thought better of it. I really love my computer and I couldn't run my business without, but I must draw the line somewhere.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Saturday, March 07, 2009
I'm Baaaack....
Oh, don't fret. I haven't really been gone... I've just been hibernating and working my tail off at the same time. Considering that, my life is certainly a mystery isn't it? I always struggle through winter. ALWAYS! But this year has been exceptionally hard. This winter has brought a great deal of destruction and death around. I won't go into detail, but it's been hard. I am most thankful for my family who keep me sane on a regular basis and put up with my "idiosyncrasies". I am also extremely grateful for my friends who never gape at me when strange words flee from my mouth or I'm in a "mood" which has been for most of the last four months. I am urging spring on from the depths of my being and cannot wait for the daffodils to emerge. We always have a ton in our yard so hopefully our new puppy won't be able to devour ALL of them.
For now, Janis and I are going to wait for warmer days. See you at a blog near you soon.
For now, Janis and I are going to wait for warmer days. See you at a blog near you soon.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Now That I'm Getting On In Years
I'm officially turning 38 today. All month I've been in this funky moody that can only be described as being caught somewhere between the mashed potatoes and the peas in a traditionally prepared shepherd's pie. I feel too old to be young and too young to be old. I think that's how the saying goes anyway. Not too old to be off to a drag show with my friends in a couple days though! I certainly hope the Cher and Bowie impersonators are there! Maybe they'll sing I Got You Babe for me! I'm definitely doing up my 'do like Cher's in the second video below for my night out. Who's old? Not me! ;)
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Finally!
Well, I FINALLY feel like a human being again! That was one of the longest colds I ever remember having. I'm feeling better just in time for the homeschool science fair the kids are participating in this Saturday.
The kids are working on their projects and are super excited about them. L. has made an invention. It is an Automatic Cat Feeder made from all recycled materials. It's pretty cool. I'll have to post pictures of it in the future. We've also been reading about inventors and inventions. Between the toy store she runs inside our bookstore and her inventions, she's becoming quite the little entrepreneur.
C. (with a little help from daddy) is making a model of a volcano that actually "erupts". Daddy built the frame and then last night we all had fun coating the frame with plaster cloth. The mountain shaped object has been drying over night and tonight C. will start painting it. About a week ago or so I read the size limitations for the science projects to the kids and totally bummed my son out! As soon as I finished reading, he exclaimed, "Oh man! I wanted to build a life-size volcano!" This sent Scott and I into spasms of laughter (because we think our little boy is so darn cute). My spasm ended in a coughing fit as I was still fairly sick at the time. No one can say, our kids are not ambitious!
The last thing I'll babble on about today (can you tell I'm feeling better?) is our first puppy play date. Saturday evening we were invited over to our old friends' for dinner and so the dogs could play. JR and Heather have a well-trained and well-behaved Siberian Husky that is 1 1/2 named Koki. We have an 8 month Basset named Sissy who has now completed her second dog training class. We've seen progress, but we still have a long way to go to reach Koki's standards. :)
Heather made a delicious meal for our family and the dogs had a blast! Sissy played so hard she wore herself out and our usual energetic puppy was pretty docile on Sunday. Heather took some pictures while we were at their house. These are two of my favorites.
The kids are working on their projects and are super excited about them. L. has made an invention. It is an Automatic Cat Feeder made from all recycled materials. It's pretty cool. I'll have to post pictures of it in the future. We've also been reading about inventors and inventions. Between the toy store she runs inside our bookstore and her inventions, she's becoming quite the little entrepreneur.
C. (with a little help from daddy) is making a model of a volcano that actually "erupts". Daddy built the frame and then last night we all had fun coating the frame with plaster cloth. The mountain shaped object has been drying over night and tonight C. will start painting it. About a week ago or so I read the size limitations for the science projects to the kids and totally bummed my son out! As soon as I finished reading, he exclaimed, "Oh man! I wanted to build a life-size volcano!" This sent Scott and I into spasms of laughter (because we think our little boy is so darn cute). My spasm ended in a coughing fit as I was still fairly sick at the time. No one can say, our kids are not ambitious!
The last thing I'll babble on about today (can you tell I'm feeling better?) is our first puppy play date. Saturday evening we were invited over to our old friends' for dinner and so the dogs could play. JR and Heather have a well-trained and well-behaved Siberian Husky that is 1 1/2 named Koki. We have an 8 month Basset named Sissy who has now completed her second dog training class. We've seen progress, but we still have a long way to go to reach Koki's standards. :)
Heather made a delicious meal for our family and the dogs had a blast! Sissy played so hard she wore herself out and our usual energetic puppy was pretty docile on Sunday. Heather took some pictures while we were at their house. These are two of my favorites.
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