Time is flying by!

I can't believe how fast the time is flying by here.  I think it's only been a couple of days since I've posted only to realize it's much longer!

Not that any of you are waiting with baited breath or anything but I do apologize.  

At last Tuesday's yoga class I invited my Canadian Parelli instructor friend, my landlady, and her daughter to come and have dinner and play some cards with me this past Friday. 
So that was a good kick in my pants to get the house fully clean.   I needed to do it anyway. 

They all arrived and I cooked spaghetti and meatballs with garlic toast, garlicky cooked mushrooms and salad. 
My landlady brought some little tarts and they ate them with the ice cream my husband left in my freezer when he was here last time.

We were talking and laughing so much that we never did even think about playing cards. 
Nobody stayed really late because all of us had to get up and get things done so we could all go to a fundraiser for a Parelli instructor named Jerry Williams. 
He had a head injury and still isn't quite right so they're trying to raise money so he can go to Washington DC and get some help.

Lots of instructors were giving their talent away for this event and it was just great to see so many people come and support him.   I got brushed up on several knots I'd forgotten how to tie also. 
Dancing Pete had everyone doing great games to teach how to "go with the flow".
Lots of great items were donated for the raffle.  I bought some tickets and I hope I win one of those great items.  We don't have to be present to win so I hope I get a call later today.   :)
I did make a donation and bought some garage sale items also.

They're out there again today doing the same thing but I didn't go because my hubby arrived about two hours ago. 
C.C. was so very happy to see him and he couldn't even get over to me to hug me because it was all about her.  Hehe...it took five minutes of paying attention to her and settling her down before he could give me a proper hug.  :)

He'll be here all week and I'm looking forward to it.  

I was awakened around 4:30 this morning by a heck of a storm.   I looked out the back window and the light out there showed me that the rain was going sideways!   Unfortunately, it was driving the rain into C.C.'s doghouse.   So I blocked off a small area for her next to the washing machine and dryer in the house for her to spend the rest of the night.   
I'd just gotten her settled inside when the electricity went off. 
Phooey.   My landlady has ticking clocks all over the house and here I am at 4:50 in the morning trying to get back to sleep with no avail.   I always use a fan set on low to have some white noise to block all the noises out, but with no electricity........

Finally, at 6:30 a.m. the fan came back on and I got back to sleep.   
Paul wants to go eat at a seafood place tonight so I bet I'll eat a little more than usual so I also bet I'll sleep really well and hard tonight.  

The storm brought in cooler weather.... once again, I blamed it on my husband's arrival. 

Oh well, it'll warm up again very soon.  

No horse time the past couple of days but they've been wearing a saddle for their play times this past week.  This coming week will be the first time I'll actually be mounting up.  
If all my play on the ground has been done correctly it should go as smoothly as silk.

We shall see.   


 

I'm back to normal...finally.

I can't believe it took this long but I finally feel back to normal.  I'm back into my regular exercise program and feel stronger and raring to go again.   The past two weeks, while I certainly moved and did alot of things, I just didn't get as much done as I usually do and didn't feel like I had as much energy.   Waking up in the morning was tough, etc.  
But now I'm back to normal.  Yay. 

Well, the rain is gone and the grass is for sure growing. 
I'll mow everything at the end of this week right before my husband gets here on Sunday so it'll look nice.

C.C. has become obcessed with a tree near the barn that she thinks a bird is in.  She saw one in there a couple of days ago and so now she thinks it's in there all the time.  She'll bark and bark while looking up into the tree. 
I finally had to yell at her to shut up today, she was driving me nuts.  Ugh.
Funny, she paid no attention to the cat that was ten feet from her under the logs.  One growl from the cat and C.C. decided that wasn't something she wanted to pursue. 

I spent some real undemanding time with Will and Lily today.  Just the way they look at me and get close to me lets me know how much they really like that.
I have to laugh at myself.... hehe..... what's the chance I'm being anthropromorphic. (I know I didn't spell that correctly.)

Went to do that difficult yoga again last night.  I really sweat during her sessions, but I feel like it's helping me get stronger.
Theresa is very good.  She always gives us wash cloths that are infused with lavender to place over our face before and after our session.   It smells so good.

A Parelli instructor friend of mine came to yoga also.  She's from Canada and since she's got workshops scheduled she's heading back to Canada BEFORE I'm heading back to Virginia.
Too funny. 
My husband will make dinner for her when she overnights at our place in Virginia.  He's so good about that.

Made muffins and took them and a thank you card to the guy who gave us a round of golf. 
C.C. went with me.

Okay..........................I'm officially B-O-R-I-N-G.

Rain, rain.

Been raining for two days.   I've been spending time in the house getting caught up on Parelli education materials. 

I just don my rain gear and go out every once in a while to make sure the horses have hay and water.

C.C. is getting bored because the only place to keep dry is her dog house.   

Gotta order some garlic and stuff because I have a feeling the weather will be getting even more summer like very soon and the bugs may come out.  

I stayed up too late last night because I watched the "Oscars". 
No surprises there.   I haven't seen any of the nominated best movies.  Sigh....

My house is all clean and the laundry is done.  I'm back on a good exercise routine.  In fact, tomorrow night I'm going back to do more of that difficult yoga with Theresa. 
Oh joy.   (eyes rolling)  

The weekend's here!

Not that the weekend is any different really from the weekdays.   :)

Another warm, sunny day in Florida.  (As usual)   :) 

Spent the morning doing chores and did quite a bit of mowing.  It always makes a place look great when it's freshly mowed.   That little bit of rain we got gives everything a little punch of green for a few days.

Took C.C. with me to run some errands.  I always try to keep her in the seat next to me, but she often gets scared when she sees people and will dive into the floorboard to hide. 

She was doing so well with cars and people, then this idiot "hell's angels" kinda guy on a motorcycle comes right up to the passenger window to talk to me.   Ugh.  C.C. dove into the floorboard and I asked the stanger to walk away explaining quickly that she was a rescue and really afraid. 

Then I had to go into the gas station building to get a receipt and that same guy yelled at the top of his lungs for the manager.... not once but twice.  He wasn't angry or anything, he just knew one of the attendants needed the manager and couldn't seem to find him.

Those kind of people want attention and I was so glad to see that the people standing in line just ignored him even though we all had to cover our ears he was so loud.   Like I said he wasn't angry, just really LOUD.  And obnoxious. 

C.C. and I went to the dump place to take our trash, then I tried to get a photo CD copied at a CVS to no avail.  Poor C.C. had to wait in the truck for at least an hour because nobody could seem to make the computers work.   They're working on it and I should be able to pick the copy up tomorrow. 
I then stopped for a couple things in the grocery store.

I saw three veterinarians trucks today.  Every time I see one it reminds me of my sweet daughter-in-law who's working very hard in vet school.   Her husband is my oldest son who lives in Texas.  
I sure do miss them. 

After we got home I had the best play sessions with my horses, BOTH of them. 

Lily wanted to be right brained about the back side of the playground but I handled it perfectly for her horsinality and it just took a few seconds for her to trust me and she was all mine heart and soul for the next 30 minutes.   :)   
She did sideways beautifully today. 

Will also did very well.  Still having to have a tremendous amount of patience with him while I teach transitions on the circle.   
I've never seen a horse walk slower than Will.   He can make one revolution of a circle at the walk that takes five minutes.  I'm as serious as a judge.  
The minute he stops without me asking though his butt's got to get in gear.   I'm not going to do that but once or twice though because I have to stay ahead of him, mentally.    As soon as he gets bored on the circle, he'll know that if he stops then something exciting will happen.   So I have to stay on top of the mental aspect of our play.   Hehe, that boy.... he's so much fun. 

You won't believe what happened this morning.  I was trying to get some things done last night and didn't get to bed until 11:00 p.m.     When the alarm went off at 7:30 this morning I shut it off.   .... And that's the last thing I remembered until I woke up at 9:15!!!!!   
I haven't slept that late in forever!!! 
I did get sunburned yesterday, and have been working my body pretty hard.  I guess I was tired huh. 

I'm going to bed early tonight. 

TaTa for now.

A good day.

It was warm and muggy today.   I think I'm going to have to get fly sheets for Will and Lily.   The natural fly spray I bought isn't working out so great. 

Jim Crew, the farrier, came again today.   He trimmed more off of Will's inside edges.   One more trim and he should be almost 100 percent straighter.    :)
Jim and I have a golf date next week.  C.C. almost took a treat from him.... that's really good for her.

I picked up lots of poo from the playground today and did some mowing, it's looking better and better out there and I'm getting more and more room to play.  

 Then I played with both of my horses.    I apologized to Lily for being so direct line yesterday.   It took about 20 minutes but we didn't start our session until I had her trusting me.    It paid off and I got her hind end only on the pedestal.   :)   I was able to ask for her front end to move around the pedestal too.   Then I put her front end on the pedestal and she moved her hind end around.  

Will was full of vim and vigor today.   It was totally his fault that he had to sweat so much.   :)    Every time he wanted to do airs above the ground from a tiny ask from me, I encouraged it just a little more than he wanted me too.   Pretty soon he figured out that if he'll just follow my suggestions he would move and work far less.  
Got some nice transitions and stops in the circling game today. 

Then I went into Ocala and did some shopping.  Bras, shoes, (two pair), items for the kitchen so I can do some baking, (not for me), groceries and most important....... a new cell phone.

I'd had it with my old one.  It just wouldn't work properly.   It was ancient so I had to just bite the bullet. 

Waving to all you followers...    I'm off to bed.  

Pain

Yes, pain.   And I don't usually have pain but it disabled me for a couple of days. 

I don't know what it was.  I actually still have a little of it, but not bad at all. 

My lower abdomen felt like someone was taking my uterus or ovaries and squishing them in their fist.   As I sat on the riding lawn mower trying to pick up poo, every tiny bump in the ground felt like someone was punching me.  

So needless to say I didn't get much done Saturday and Sunday.  On Sunday night my landlady reminded me about the red light and I used it that evening.   It was better yesterday.    She and I actually went out to the Make-a-Wish Foundation's fundraiser.   We watched Pat Parelli and Karen O'Connor compete for the top prize.   They didn't win, (Aron Vale and another cowboy did.), but it was sure alot of fun to watch.   The cowboys had to ride a hunter and jump a course, and the english riders had to ride a cow horse and do a reining pattern and wrangle a cow.    :)     I hope the foundation made a lot of money. 

The Parelli table was right in front of us and Linda's dogs barked like crazy when the cow got close.  It was too funny.  Pat's parents were there and a good time was had by all. 

My week with my family was wonderful.   Some of the highlights....

*Free golf at the head pros club. (That guy I met next door.)

*Dinner at a place called "Cody's Roadhouse" that was just too much fun.  (Had some lovely Margarita's.)

*Zip-lining the canyon.  This was awesome!   We did nine zip lines across trees, canyons and water.  Took three hours and it was incredible fun!

*Golf at the Country Club of Ocala.  Beautiful, (and difficult) course!   Loved it!

*Dinner at Cuvee.  A VERY nice restaurant.  Unique and I'll definitely be going back there.  Worth every penny. 

We spent some fun time at home too.  We played five games of Pinochle..... I won four of them.   :)
Hey, they're the ones that wanted me to learn the game!  Hehe.

It was very difficult bringing the dog with them as they reiterated to me more than once.  The dog needed to be walked and they didn't bring warm clothes with them, so when they stopped at a pet friendly place in South Carolina they nearly froze to death outside.  It was terribly windy and freezing.  

So C.C. is staying with me until my husband comes back in a couple of weeks.   She missed him for the first two days but she's in a routine now and having fun with me. 

We almost got attacked by another dog today on our walkabout.    The dog came out of nowhere snarling, and instinctively I jerked C.C. to the other side of me and yelled at the dog.  (Pit bull looking thing.)   The dog stopped about 6 feet from us and stood there growling. 
I stood like a tree, growled back and stared hard at him.   After a few seconds I guess the dog decided it wasn't worth it and backed down. 
C.C. and I went our merry way and the dog didn't try again.
Whew...disaster averted.   We were lucky.
Our walks will go a different direction from now on.

I can't believe I didn't gain weight while my family was here.  I actually lost two.   I've lost a total of 15 pounds.   I really do need to start back up on my exercise routine now that my abdomen pain is gone.  (Still don't have a clue what it was.)

I'll start tonight by going to yoga with my landlady.  She asked if I wanted to go along with her tonight to the Parelli ranch because Teresa is going to give lessons.  
Yoga will do me good I'm sure.

I'll be checking in more often now, I promise.   

My apologies!

I know, I  know!   It's been a long time since I've posted....but with good reason, I've been a very busy girl.   :)

My husband and son left a couple of hours ago to head back home.   I miss them already.  

Guess who's living with me for awhile?....  the dog.   Yes, C.C. is staying in sunny Florida with me. 

I promise I'll tell you all about what happened this week, but not in this post.  

I'm tired and I have some resting to do, and also a lot of cleaning and laundry. 

I'll post everything that happened this past week tomorrow.