Nomads on Horseback

I can't even believe I'm saying this, but we moved barns AGAIN!!! Barn #6.  Seriously.  6 barns in the 4 years I've ridden with her.  I've moved houses less than that in my lifetime and these horses have breezed in and out of barns like they're on vacation.

But, I'm pretty sure this is THE ONE.  R-ster is actually part leaseholder on this one, so she's the boss.  I think this will make a big difference.

The barn was a barn full of horses years ago but for the last 20 years it's been kind of empty.  There's fuzziness on whether or not someone had horses in there about 10  years ago.  I don't think I remember ever seeing horses there but it's a great piece of property that's just dying for horses.

Because it's been empty for so long, there are a million things to do and r-ster had to move in before it was really ready, so things will be done as they come up, I think.  I've helped with painting, installing fences, cleaning, and it's not done by a long shot.

I had a lesson there today and we wondered what Tucker would be like.  It's more grass than he's seen in years and there is no official riding ring yet.  Since the fenced area is huge, we didn't want to ride into the abyss and let him take me on a tear across the field, so we just did the lesson in his paddock.  Not a terrible thing, but it's such a small area compared to what we've been using!

He was the best he's ever been.  It's so peaceful there and he was so cooperative.  He was AWFUL in the cross ties when I was getting him ready and I figured he'd be awful outside but he was a perfect student.  He was awful once again when I brought him in to take off his saddle and tack but then he was fine when I washed him down.   So weird!

The first night they were there, she brought them over around 5pm and let them play and graze in the paddocks for a while.  They were hysterical.  They kept running around like "can you BELIEVE this?" and then when they went into their stalls they all acted like they were doing something naughty and the jig would be up any second.  She said when she put them out in the morning they just ran and ran and ran like she'd never seen.

All of the barns we've been at have had limited space for running around.  All of them have had paddocks for them, but most have been about 10x10 or slightly larger.  At barn #3, they could go in and out as they pleased, but there wasn't much space to really rev it up.  At that barn though, they could be put into the riding ring and race around if they wanted.  At barn #4, there was no fenced ring, so any exercise they did was when they were ridden.

For a while, at least, they will have these enormous paddocks and be free to do what horses do:  eat grass and wander around.  I love the lack of mud right now.  The last place had very muddy paddocks for Tucker and Quinn and it would be awful after rain.  Right now, the land is very grassy and has bee for a long time, so it will be a while before it's torn up.

It's been very idyllic in the couple of days they've been there.  The first night was picture perfect.  The first full day was the bluest sky with the perfect temperature, horses snorting and blowing their noses all day, endless grassy fields.  They look endless because from the barn, they go up slightly, so you can't see the end of it. 

There's lots of this:

 This is not me but it's nice to see someone riding!

Still not me!  The buildings here will soon be torn down to make way for senior housing, which has nothing to do with the barn.

Isn't this great?  It looks great on the outside.  The inside needs some work but when the concrete gets poured for the aisle, all will be well.

The current paddocks.  There are horses there, it's just so big you can't see them!  They don't know what to do with themselves, they're so excited!

Tucker, very busy eating grass after his lesson.

The inside needs work, as I said.  I think it's very old fashioned to see doors like this!

I love this little deck upstairs.  No one would really ever sit there and it doesn't really look out over anywhere that the horses would be, but I like it anyway!

Just so I never feel like I'm far from home... I have no idea why this trailer is there, but until the bathrooms are finished, I guess we'll be using this as a bathroom.

No one received the message that I hate painting more than anything else in this world so when I asked what I could do to help today, this is what I was given.  Gee, my favorite.  And the wood is old, so it just SUCKED up the paint and took forever.

There's nothing better than snoozing in the afternoon sun after you've been ridden, had a shower and eaten lots of grass.

Linking up here:
http://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/

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Remember to enter my Cool N Serve giveaway through the rafflecopter form below. You can enter every day, if you'd like, through May 31. Just in time for summer BBQs and parties!

Can't wait for May 31? You can buy your own right now.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Shoo Fly Pie

Never had it, have you?  I can sing you a song about it....

Anyway, do you have shoes that you sometimes banish to the back of the closet because you think they are uncomfortable and then one day you bring them out and they are like slippers?  This happens to me once in a while and I'm always amazed.  I don't know what makes me put them back in the closet because when I put them on, they feel great.

This happened with these shoes this week.

I bought these at Bass about 100 years ago and when I bought them, they seemed stiff but I liked the inside of them.  It's a nice soft fabric.  I remember wearing them a few times but I think the toe area was kind of stiff.  They are also kind of a funky color.  Sort of a rusty color that's sort of brown but not.  I can't really explain and this picture does nothing.

I was looking for a different shoe the other day (I get stuck on one pair and then they dont' match something and I don't know what to do) and I took these out, doubtful that they would work.  Not only did they work, they felt great ALL DAY!

I have no idea why I had banished them!  As I wore them, I remembered having the same thought the last time I wore them.  There's some overarching memory of them being tight but the reality is they are great.

I seem to do that with pants and shoes often.  I will leave them there and they taunt me day after day as some fictitious memory of them being uncomfortable lurks from the closet.  Then I will just wing it one day and throw them on and they are just great and I regret all those days I wouldn't wear them.

I talk about shoes and feet  a lot around here and here and here and here.  Probably because I am constantly on a quest for the most comfortable, stylish shoe.  And because I stand around all day in the classroom, I quickly learn how uncomfortable shoes can be!

No, I was NOT driving when I took this.  I had parked and probably freaked out the person next to me by photographing my foot.

Linking here:
http://www.2justbyou.com
http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2013/04/wednesdays-adorned-from-above-blog-hop_23.html
http://www.myturnforus.com/
http://www.whatjeanlikes.com/2013/04/aloha53.html
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Remember to enter my Cool N Serve giveaway through the rafflecopter form below. You can enter every day, if you'd like, through May 31. Just in time for summer BBQs and parties!

Can't wait for May 31? You can buy your own right now.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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On a different note, can you help me help my sister?  She's a sewing aficionado who blogs at Call Ajaire and  has recently been featured on Joann Fabric's youtube channel.  Click here and go check out her video for a simple way to make a belt for toddler pants.

Expanding My Horizons

Two years ago, I created garden #2 because garden #1 was running out of full sunlight.  What a difference it made to have a garden that was an actual rectangle and not the wild and crazy sort of circle that I have for garden #1.  I can actually plant in rows and it means something in garden #2!  In #1,  just as I create rows, I run into a curve and I end up with groups of things all over the place.  It was all I ever knew until I created #2.

I also enjoy garden #2 because it gets full sun all day.  And it's right out my back door, rather than across the driveway like garden #1.  Like a difference of 100 yards, but still, it's a difference!

This year, I decided to increase garden #2 so it's twice as big as before.  I only had to buy 4 more fence posts to make that happen and I was super lucky that I had enough chicken wire left over from when I did it two years ago.

I already had the gate and didn't touch those posts, so all I had to do was put in the new posts where I wanted them, move the 3 that were in the center and put up the chicken wire.  I was thrilled that the chicken wire I had already used was fairly easy to get off the posts that I moved, so I just moved it around the corner.  Nothing was wasted.

Things are a little slow in the greenhouse right now, so I don't have a lot to plant.  It's also not as nice as it was last year at this time, and the cold is slowing things down.  At this point last year, I had tons of stuff just growing like crazy.

I planted more seeds today in the greenhouse, so in a couple of weeks, I hope this place is hopping with plants!

Now, if you have a real eye for detail and you see something in the background that looks like a rocket launcher, relax.  It's not.  But, can you guess what it actually is?

Linking here:
http://www.skiptomylou.org
http://www.cherishedhandmadetreasures.com
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/04/clever-chicks-blog-hop-31-crayon-wreath.html
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Remember to enter my Cool N Serve giveaway through the rafflecopter form below. You can enter every day, if you'd like, through May 31. Just in time for summer BBQs and parties!

Can't wait for May 31? You can buy your own right now.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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On a different note, can you help me help my sister?  She's a sewing aficionado who blogs at Call Ajaire and  has recently been featured on Joann Fabric's youtube channel.  Click here and go check out her video for a simple way to make a belt for toddler pants.

Cool N Serve Tray Giveaway!

I have a really great product from Pampered Chef to giveaway this spring. The Cool N Serve tray is my favorite summer product because it's so versatile. It's great for serving things that need to be kept cold like veggies and dip. It's also perfect for bringing cupcakes to a party. My favorite part is the deviled egg holders. I don't make deviled eggs, but if I did, I'd use this every time!

Watch how I expertly demonstrate why I like it.

Enter through the rafflecopter form below. You can enter every day, if you'd like, through May 31. Just in time for summer BBQs and parties!

Can't wait for May 31? You can buy your own right now.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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On a different note, can you help me help my sister?  She's a sewing aficionado who blogs at Call Ajaire and  has recently been featured on Joann Fabric's youtube channel.  Click here and go check out her video for a simple way to make a belt for toddler pants.

We Are Secretly Party Hounds

I did not grow up having lots of parties in my house, but it seems like we've had more parties in the last 10 years than any normal person would have.  Retirement, birthday, anniversary, wedding, the Bauer BBQ- it's just endless.

 Most of those parties have been in my parents' back yard but last night, we did a surprise party for my father at a Mexican restaurant that he really likes.  It was a surprise and there were about 20 people there.

My sister e-ster knows someone who makes dairy free cakes, so she had her make one for this.  She puts real flowers on her cakes to jazz them up.

Here's the lady responsible for this party.  She reserved the back room, sort of, and when it came time to sing, there was a huge chorus of people singing.

Lots of laughs were had by all, including the birthday boy.  I don't know what j-ster was saying, but he had the table in stitches.

My father doesn't like surprises but this one went over pretty well.  Even the cake and singing were deemed tolerable. 

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On a different note, can you help me help my sister?  She's a sewing aficionado who blogs at Call Ajaire and  has recently been featured on Joann Fabric's youtube channel.  Click here and go check out her video for a simple way to make a belt for toddler pants.

Sharing My Potty Expertise

If there's one thing I know a lot about, it's toilets.  I seem to spend hours of my life running to the bathroom.  I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with me, I just drink a lot of water and can't stand having to wait to go to the bathroom.  I've been checked, there's seriously nothing wrong with me.

Other ladies in my family have the same problem, so I am sure it's just a genetic predisposition to detest the slightest bit of pressure in the bladder.  My grandmother could wait for days to go to the bathroom because she hated public bathrooms.  Not me.  I can tell you the location of every bathroom in every store in my town.

This gift I have allows me to check out toilet models I never even would imagine unless I saw them face to face.  I haven't seen those crazy things we hear about in Asia where they warm the seat and blow your butt with warm air and the like.  I bet I will someday.

I've seen the old fashioned tank up on the wall and pull a chain variety in Europe.

I've had the distinct pleasure of using the "turkish" style "toilets" in France which are really just holes in the floor with handrails for balance.

I've used bus bathrooms, train bathrooms (once, on a European train, I saw the ground below the hole in the toilet), plane bathrooms, ferry bathrooms and motorhome bathrooms.

It takes a lot for me to say no to a toilet when I really have to go.  I have amazing balance and the ability to touch nothing when I use portapotties and scary public bathrooms.  I'm the master at locking and unlocking the door with anything but my actual fingers.  Feet are a most amazing tool for flushing, opening and closing the slide locks on doors, etc.

When I go to someone's house, I rarely leave without using their bathroom, whether I've been there for 5 days, 5 hours or 5 minutes.  It's something I've just trained myself to do- never leave the house without going to the bathroom. I just sometimes forget it's not necessary to do that in everyone's bathroom.

This makes me take notice of people who visit my house and if they use the bathroom.  I have a friend who can come for dinner, spend several hours and never once use the bathroom.  And she has a 20 minute ride home!  That's a bladder of steel, I tell you and it does nothing but fascinate me.

I seem to have a knack for going to people's houses and breaking the chain that makes the toilet flush (not the pull down tank mentioned above, but the normal chain in your toilet tank that pulls up the rubber thing that lets it flush.)  We were at a friend's apartment and I did it within seconds of arriving to a party and everyone was screwed for the night.  Imagine my horror when I realized we might be spending the night in a place where I couldn't flush the toilet.  Thank God someone knew how to fix it.

But I worried all  night that I might break it again and I don't sleep well when I have to go or think I might have to go.

I bring this all up to tell the tale of my sister a-ster's toilet.

When I visited the last time, within the first hour of being there, I broke her chain.  She wasn't worried because the chain was broken and they had been using a paper clip and the paper clip just rusted through.  It was a simple fix, with another paper clip, but they had this kind of toilet:

And I didn't know what to do to get the top off to fix it.  While it looks fancy and European, it is scary to realize I couldn't secretly fix it if I did it again.  It made me realize that a normal toilet is really a better choice when picking a new one.

And when I visited again this week, what was the first thing I did?  Of course.  That dreaded paper clip had rusted through.  It is so embarrassing to use the toilet and then have to go tell someone you can't get it to flush.  I don't care who you are, even with a fancy toilet like that, it's not fun.

The next morning, my brother in law got up and announced a family trip to buy a new toilet.  I figured I had to go along because if there are 2 experts in toilets, it would be any two of the females in my family.  He found one he liked right away and loaded it into the cart and back home we went a with a "normal" toilet.

My sister was excited that she would have a toilet with a flat top (this one is sort of a hump) so she could actually set something down on it and it wouldn't fall off.  She also wants to put some sort of cabinet or storage over it and with the old style, you had to have room to pull up the flusher without banging your hand, so that was always an annoyance.

We got home and in seconds, the old toilet was out in the carport and the new toilet was en route to the bathroom.  S-ster was whistling away, raving about the simplicity of installing a new toilet.  I was amazed that the old one came off so easily because I picture trying to put a new toilet in my house and it taking an entire day and 4 guys to make it happen.

He put the new toilet on and came whistling out, asking who would be the first one to try the new toilet and did anyone really need the directions to know how to use the toilet.  I was at the table, shocked that in less than an hour, he had removed the old, installed the new and was calling it a day.  It really WAS that easy.

Until he went in to clean up and it was leaking.  That's when I learned that s-ster has quite a vocabulary.  He rattled off some really colorful expressions that I really hadn't ever thought to put together before.

When all was said and done, the new toilet was firmly installed with no leaks and it worked like a charm.  It didn't take long, but there were some tense moments when I thought he might get crushed by the toilet or just throw the whole thing out and we'd be going "turkish" for the rest of the week.

I no longer felt like I was in a house of royalty with their fancy toilets.  Just a good, old, normal flusher.   I admit I was a little afraid to use it because of my luck with chains.  I waited until it had been used a time or two and decided to try my luck.  For the rest of the week, I was a little bit afraid.  I pictured using it in the middle of the night and causing a flood.  Or worse, it would fall off the wax seal and I'd go for a ride and break the new toilet, not to mention my butt on their tile floor.

All is well and they have a nice, new toilet.

And I'm sure having this guy with his mocking face made it that much easier to install it.

I wouldn't know because I stayed safely at the table, imagining the scene I could only hear as it played out in the next room.

Linking here:
http://mylifeandkids.com/
http://meltingmoments.net/2013/04/18/fly-on-by-friday-time-to-get-sociable/
http://www.myturnforus.com/
http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2013/04/wednesdays-adorned-from-above-blog-hop_16.html
http://www.cherishedhandmadetreasures.com/
http://www.whatjeanlikes.com/2013/04/aloha52.html
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/
http://www.2justbyou.com/?utm_source=Meet+%26+Greet&utm_campaign=e7d2997c52-Meet_Greet_142_15_2013&utm_medium=email 
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On a different note, can you help me help my sister?  She's a sewing aficionado who blogs at Call Ajaire and  has recently been featured on Joann Fabric's youtube channel.  Click here and go check out her video for a simple way to make a belt for toddler pants.
**********************************************************************************
Remember to enter my Cool N Serve giveaway through the rafflecopter form below. You can enter every day, if you'd like, through May 31. Just in time for summer BBQs and parties!

Can't wait for May 31? You can buy your own right now.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Not A Loser

A few weeks ago I asked for your help to decide which picture I should use to enter a contest to possibly win a trip.  I was very mysterious about this contest because I was afraid to get too excited and jinx it.  I didn't want to get so invested that if I didn't win, I'd be crushed.

Right after I applied for the grant, I found out I'm changing programs next year and moving to a different school. I'm excited but suddenly, the need to go on this trip was not so great.  I will still teach French and everything I wanted to do would totally be valid in this new position, but as it will  be my first year doing it, my priorities started to shift.

The grant is through the Hilton hotels and it's a travel grant.  Teachers can win a grant up to $6000 to do something really wildly creative in another country, to bring back to their classroom.  I thought spending a few weeks in Paris and Normandy and taking some courses at Le Cordon Bleu was a great idea.  I imagined spending most of July in France at the expense of Hilton.  I was finally going to visit the school where we do penpals in Normandy and spend time in that region since I know so little.  Then I was going to come back and offer cooking classes to teach what I learned to my students and also to the public through our local cultural center.  I couldn't wait to take some classes on Mediterranean cooking.

Then my world shifted and the thought of being gone for any time this summer started to weigh on me.  I won't spend the entire summer thinking about my new position, but being away for a while will really make me feel frantic to get things done when I get back.

We might say I get a little possessive of my summer days and while I love learning more about France, going away does take a lot of time away from the "me" time I so crave each summer!

I was kind of hoping I wouldn't win.

And I didn't.

At first, I was relieved but quickly disappointed and then annoyed.  30 finalists were chosen for online voting and 15 of those will actually win.  Why wasn't I one of the 30?  Wasn't what I came up with a kick-ass suggestion?

I went to the site so to see these 30 finalists and to see why I didn't get chosen.  Many of them are doing wild ass things over several continents and in god-forsaken places I have no interest in ever visiting.  I can understand the judges being oohed and ahhed by people visiting Africa and Bangladesh and Haiti.  But Paris and Italy are in there....

However, one woman caught my eye.  She wants to do just about the same thing I proposed, but in Italy.  I don't know why she was chosen over me because what we wrote was quite similar and I even took it another step further to say that I would share what I learned through cooking classes in the community.  But, I want her to win because her idea is so similar to mine. 

See, I'm not a sore loser.  A sore loser would have said 'screw them all' but I actually did vote because I want her to win!

So, go here and vote for her, just like you would have voted for me if I had been a finalist!

Click here to vote.

I am not at all being compensated by the Hilton hotels and I have no affiliation or personal stake in anything to do with them.  I do not know the teacher I am recommending, I just like what she had to say.  I want to see a teacher fulfill a dream!
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On a different note, can you help me help my sister?  She's a sewing aficionado who blogs at Call Ajaire and  has recently been featured on Joann Fabric's youtube channel.  Click here and go check out her video for a simple way to make a belt for toddler pants.