Happy fourth

I know I'm a bit early on this one but I took next week off and I might unplug for a bit.  

I'm kind of addicted to Instagram.  I don't have a lot of followers(nor do I care to). I follow mostly people I know, and who are my friends on Facebook. I love to see the world through other people's eyes. A picture conveys so much more to me than one sentence on Facebook.  I wish more of my friends would join.  I haven't been very good at documenting my life with my "real" camera(even though my sees-ter gave me a very nice dslr for my birthday).  With Instagram I find myself taking more pictures, even if they are just with my phone. I can print the pictures in cute 4x4 squares right from my ipad  to use in my smash books too.  Loving it. 

Here are a few pictures I have taken lately 

I asked joe to bring me Popsicles for my sore throat and he brought me this:  best husband ever.....lol.

It did the trick nicely.    ;)

This has been my best friend.  It tastes horrible but it's the only way I can sleep.  So over the coughing. 

I live four minutes from a Little Ceasers.  Their pizzas are five bucks.  We eat far too many of them, especially when I am not feeling well and don't want to cook.  Pizza pizza. 

It's been awhile since I bought an actual book.  I do a lot of reading on my kindle or ipad.  I started collecting a few to take with me on my trip, as neither the kindle fire or the ipad are conducive to reading outside.  I forgot how good it feels to have a stack of books on my nightstand!

My new cell phone case.  Whooooooo.   Love it. 

My new favorite summer side dish.  Roasted zucchini with olive oil and Parmesan cheese.  Yum. 

Joe bought this at Walmart because "he wanted to smell like a werewolf".  Okey dokey then.  It actually smells kind of good!

I am officially on vacation. Unfortunately I have also come down with a nasty chest cold and have been laid up in bed for the last few days(when I wasn't at work).  Well, I did  actually miss yesterday because I simply couldn't get out of bed.   I can't remember the last time I was this sick. Blah.  I'm on day two of a Z pack though and I hope to be almost well by the time I leave on Monday.  

I'm headed up north to spend the week with my sees-ter. We'll hang around close to home for a couple of days, including playing tourist one day and taking BART into the city. Then we'll head even further north, near Sonoma to the Russian River where I plan to park my butt in a beach chair with my feet in the river and a drink(and a book) in my hand relaxing.  Ahhhhhh......I can hardly wait!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth of July!

Summer so far

So far my summer has been good. 

What  have I been up to?  

Pretty much just dragon boat and horsey stuff.  Having so much fun with the horsey stuff!!

Loving it!

It's such a stress reliever after a long work day. 

 Work is crazy. People are crazy.  And sometimes mean.  It's astonishing actually, how some people act, especially when they can't get their way. They should be ashamed of themselves.   I mean really people!  I worked with kindergartners that acted more maturely than you.  

Geez.  

Rant over. 

So I'm loving the stables.  

And dragon boat practice.  

I'm still conflicted about what to do about my living situation.   I didn't think I would be living here this long. I was hoping for some changes so that joe and I could find a place together but they don't seem to be happening.  I pray for them every day but still nothing happens and I am beyond discouraged about it. 

Meh.  

In a week I am going to have seven days off and I am so excited.  I'll be spending it with my sees-ter up north.    It will be just the two of us and I am so looking forward to it.  

I am in need of a vacation. The last one I had was at Christmas! It's so great to be able to get paid for it too.  We can accrue up to three weeks of vacation time which is pretty great.  So different than my last job.   I'm coming up on two years there in August! 

Five more work days.  I can do this.    :)

My new horsey hat

The stables are so peaceful at the end of the day

This horse reminds me so much of my first horse.  He's so sweet too.  

I've only braved the trails once.  I was waiting until I got a helmet and my friend Kelli got one this weekend.  Safety first.  I'm not fifteen anymore!

He's so gorgeous.  :)

It was a beautiful day today out on the water

Summer lovin'

Or not.  

I'm about to say something that will probably make a lot of people gasp.  Or think I'm crazy.  Or both. 

I'm not a big fan of summertime. 

There.  I said it. 

Maybe it's because we have beautiful weather year round(for those that have actual winter I know you're thinking yep, that has to be it). 

That's probably part of it. 

I think it's  also that for sixteen years I worked at a school, either teaching Pre school or running a day care center.  I liked the predictability of the school year.  The schedule.  The continuity of the school day.  

Every year as the school year came to a close all of my teacher friends would pack up their classrooms and leave for the summer while me and my staff would be preparing to have fifty kids at our center for ten hours a day for twelve weeks. 

Summer was just three long months with too much time to kill.  

I never really outgrew that feeling, despite being out of that line of work for the last six years.  

It also gets pretty hot where I live in the summertime and I'm not a big fan of the heat. In fact, because of my kidney disease I have to stay out of the heat for the most part. That means staying inside for the hottest part of the day, breathing the artificial air that is circulating.  Yuck. Give me an open window and a nice breeze any day.   

Summertime is also a time when more  time is spent near water, and inevitably in less clothing.  Me and less clothing don't mix. I hate the way I look  in a swimsuit. I hate the way I look in most clothes that show more skin than I want to. Shorts, tank tops, bathing suits.  Yuck.  I'm going through an "I hate my body phase" and I want to be as covered up as possible(I'm working on that but it's slow going at this point). 

So I've never been a big fan of summer. 

And then dragon boating came along.  It helped alleviate some of the "I can't wait until this is over" feeling (I really do feel that way.  August is the longest month in the world to me, and I find myself waking up every day during that month wishing it were fall)

Dragon boating gave me something to look forward to in the summer, but it was only one day a week for 11 weeks.  That still left a lot of time to kill.  

But then something happened this year that could be a game changer for me. 

My childhood friend sent me an email letting me know that she was going to be moving her horse to a stable locally but that she would be needing someone to help care for him and would I be interested in helping her with that?

I had to read the email twice to make sure I understood exactly what she was asking.  

Help care for your horse?  Like go to the stables and brush him and turn him loose and ride him?  WHENEVER I WANT?

Are you freaking kidding me??? Heck yeah I am interested!! I haven't owned a horse in 18 years. Prior to that I spent all of my time at the stables growing up. The best times of my life.  I have missed it greatly, especially in the last few years when opportunities to ride have been few and far between.  

And so last Monday her horse moved into a stable 15 minutes from my house(15 minutes! :)

Since that day I have visited the stables four times. I have groomed.  I have run around in the arena after him.  I have mucked out a stall(oh how I love mucking out stalls!).  

I usually find myself there in the late evening, as the sun is setting, leaving long shadows and beautiful diffused reddish orange light.  

Usually everyone  has already gone home for the night so there is not a soul in sight and the horses are quietly munching on the last of their hay.  It is the most peaceful thing in the world.  

It has been glorious. 

I haven't ridden yet but I plan to after he becomes acclimated to his new home.  They have miles and miles of trails to ride on.  

So this summer I'm looking forward to:

Authentic Hawaiian Shave ice (we found a place right near my house)

The county fair

Dragon boat practices and races

And now the stables. 

It's shaping up to be one fabulous summer. 

Maybe this will be the summer that changes my mind about the season.  

But there's still that swimsuit thing.  ;)

Thanks to my friend Kelli for giving me this opportunity. I am so thankful!