"This class is going to be crazy!"

We had a successful first horse show of the season! No, we didn't bring home a blue ribbon but we did bring home two ribbons from both our qualifier and our championship classes. We found a division that suits Mario, and had clean rides in both classes - no big mistakes! That being said, we did learn some things to help us improve as the season progresses.

The Park division is so much fun! It's a faster pace, and you can really ask your horse to step up and give it his all. Something that I didn't like about showing in Country Pleasure last year was that I really had to hold Mario back. This year, I have to push him! We had a lot of horses blowing by us, so I need to work on just letting him go. I'm really used to applying pressure to the reins at the canter to get him to slow down, but I need to ease up and just let that boy run. I learned that at this show.

Mario and I warmed up in a different ring than our competitors in our Championship class. When we came to the warm up ring where everyone else was before going into our class, there were two horses that were out of freaking control. "This class is going to be crazy!" I heard a guy say. He was right. One of those two horses nearly collided with Mario and me when we were cantering second direction of the ring in our class. I had to make a quick decision to steer Mario to the right to avoid crashing. Unfortunately the judge did not see this near collision and when I veered right, I came a little closer than I would have liked to the judge. It may have hurt us, it may not have - who knows.

I have to say though, something that my uncle Gary said to me really rang true as I reflected over the last couple of days about the show, "If you're having fun, the ribbon doesn't matter." So true. This horse show was the first time that I truly had so much darn fun that the ribbon didn't matter. My horse is so safe and I completely trust him. He listens to me in the ring. As I was watching some of these other horses I realized that he may not be THE best of the best show horses (I mean, he's pretty darn close) but he's also not going to hurt me. Some of those horses I watched this weekend made my pulse race and not in the good way! I'll take a horse that may take third/fourth/fifth over a horse that will win every time if I know I'm going to have fun and not fear for my life.

Our next show will be Bonnie Blue in Lexington, VA in a couple of weeks. I believe it may be webcast and will for sure let you know the information if I'm right about this.

I Am a Vegetarian.

Tonight I decided I wanted to be a vegetarian. I'm actually really excited about it, I think it's going to be a great and more world-friendly way to live. I'm on recipe hunts for really good vegetarian recipes.

I've been finding myself increasingly disgusted with how factory farm animals are treated in the United States. I believe in human rights and freedom, and I don't believe in killing. Animals deserve to be treated with consideration and respect. Killing them doesn't seem like the answer to this. I just can't just justify eating animals anymore. Its simply better for my health, the environment, and the world. I just want to live as peacefully as possible, I guess.

Boys. Dreams. Reality

I love having boys. I thought I wanted a girl, and then God gave me nieces  I love those girls I just don't want to call them my own. A girlfriend came over the other night and she brought her 2 boys one who is just 6 months old. He's a chubby guy with a nice round head and sweet disposition. She started talking about wanting a girl and if we wanted a girl. I proceeded to tell her NO and that it would be impossible because we "closed up shop" and Ernesto got snipped. It turned into a long convo about how we could get it all undone and how I love babies but I am just getting my life back (not really) and did not want to go thru sleepless newborn nights and fussy teething days and all that comes with newborns. Well 2 bottles of wine later between 4 of us and I was off to dreamland. I dreamed I had 5 boys and was questioning if I was pregnant again, which I knew in my mind was impossible. We brought all of our boys into the ultrasound room and sure enough the tech confirmed that I was expecting and it was a girl! I was thrilled and questioning when she was due...the nurse looked at me and said she could come out anytime (like it was my choice) and I looked over to the screen where I saw a beautiful moving creature that was as clear as a hd movie on the big screen. She had long flowing, glowing, blonde hair, big eyes and teeth! It was the most bizarre, vivid dream I have ever had. I felt every emotion, I saw every color in detail, heard every word as though I just spoken langueage for the first time. It was incredible. I was left thinking about having another baby that entire day. I still don't want another one, but I did think about it.
At this season in our life we are JUST starting a business, its scary, exciting, nerve-wracking. My boys are all in these weird stages, Isaac needs tutoring hence our trips to Kumon 2x a week, he does homework and kumon from 3pm till bedtime. He doesn't grow weary, I do. He's working his butt off making up for a lost 1st grade due to a horrible teacher. Lucas, a brilliant mind is learning to read, sounds out words perfectly (something Isaac never could do) loves to learn but constantly compares himself to his peers and what reading list they are on. Noah who is almost 4, is hungry for school, wants to learn, wants to do his brothers home work and has endless energy! Who is clinging on my arm right now asking if I am typing for him to go school and begs to play computer games. He gets wild and hyper by nights end and I've never had a child like this. Yesterday, while I was loading the truck with office supplies he quietly sat in the cart and said "Mom I know how to make a "W" I said "How?" He said " you just turn the "M" upside down! He just knows these things. And I like it!

January 27-Brrrrrrrrr!

Checking in this afternoon at a balmy 19* and will be cooling fast as the sun, brief as it was, will be setting soon. This last polar blast has not been kind to our old pipes. Thursday night I was doing some dishes before bed and the water just slowly ran out until there was nothing but air. I hurriedly put my boots on, bundled up and grabbed a flashlight and headed out to the pump house. As I uncovered the box surrounding the pump I immediately noticed that the plastic around the pressure switch had melted from the heat lamp. I assumed that was the problem, thinking easy fix, just replace the switch. But äs we all know it is seldom as easy as we would like. The plumber arrived Friday around 2 at which time we noticed 2 broken pipes that were frozen solid. I swear I had not noticed those the night before. We had to break out the heaters and start thawing. The plumber came back around 5 and within 2 hours he had the pipes replaced and the water on. Just in time for Matt, Sara and Evie's arrival. Poor Evie seemed to have a touch of the flu all day Saturday and slept most of the day. And then, after two loads of laundry, I realized that the drain was frozen in the utility room and was running under the carpet and into the crawl space. The good thing is that as long as I don't do any laundry the problem doesn't appear to get worse.
This afternoon as it warmed up, funny how can be seen as warming up, we went outside to play in the snow.

Summer so far

Apologies for the lapse in posts. I was at horse shows for a lot of May and June and then I had the pleasure of being in a friend's wedding. In all of the hustle and bustle, I didn't carve out the time to sit down and write.

If I had to sum up horse show season thus far, I would have to say it's a mixed bag. We have had some good classes, we have had some not good classes. I did go home home with a blue ribbon from one show, but in thinking back to all of the rides so far this season, I would not count that one as my best. Our best class that I think we've had so far, we got third place, which was a good ribbon in a class of nice horses. We were on our game and it felt super satisfying exiting the ring with that yellow ribbon. I was proud of my horse for working so hard and we really worked as a team. That was a good one.

There have been times this season that I have questioned if this show world is really for me and I don't think I've really answered that for myself yet. I think maybe I will scale back and stick to the local shows and just have fun, rather than putting the pressure on myself (which no doubt my horse feels when I'm riding) and showing out of New England.  Not sure what I'm going to do, I guess that's a to be continued. For now, I don't have any plans to show next. I'm sure I will later in the season, but not for the next little while.

I'll leave you with a picture of our victory pass at a show in NH...

Camera Recommendations

Adam and I had a great day at the beach on Sunday. Such a gorgeous New England day! I took a few photos with my phone and for the millionth time I thought to myself, argh I really would like a REAL camera. I started looking online and then became overwhelmed with all of the choices.

So, I am asking for some recommendations for a good beginner digital camera. It doesn't have to be anything too fancy because frankly I don't currently know how to do much more than point and click. If you can't recommend a specific camera, is there a brand that I should focus on? And what should I be looking for in a camera? And I guess price isn't really a huge issue, I've waited this long to get one, so if I should wait a little longer and save up for something that would be worth it in the long run I'm good with that. I really appreciate any guidance.