Back in the Saddle

Last Saturday my friend Carla let me tag along when she went out to visit her horse. She even let me ride for a bit.   I didn't ride for very long because holy cow am I out of shape! I am kind of embarrassed to admit how sore I was the next day though.  Riding is a good workout!

I had a blast though, riding and grooming and just hanging at a ranch where horses were.

It has been a long time since I got to do any of those things.

This is Carla's horse Jessie.  Isn't she beautiful?  Carla has had her since she was a baby and she even broke her herself!  That amazes me.  She is so sweet and mellow and such fun to ride. Carla has done such a great job with her.

Riding Jessie brought up a lot of fond memories for me.  I had forgotten how peaceful I feel on the back of a horse.


For many many years horseback riding was a huge part of my life.

I used to be a stable girl.      :)



From the ages of 12-26 I had a horse.  Every day I hung out at the stables.  I met some of my best friends there, and we are still friends today.

Riding again got me to thinking about the horses I had over the years.

I wish I had pictures of my first horse.  He was an Arabian named Karim.  I loved him so but soon I wanted to be more serious about riding and showing so I gave him away to a friend and got my next horse, Sandman.

This is Sandman.   He was my baby.

He was supposed to be my show horse but it turned out he didn't have it in him so he was delegated to my best friend and I showed other people's horses from then on.  

Oh how I loved him.  And my bangs in this picture.  Awesome.

Riding consumed every moment that I had outside of school. 

Here I am with my Sees-ter and her horse Shuttle.

I showed in a couple of small horse shows close to home and loved it so much I decided to get serious about it.  I had wanted to show Quarter Horses but showing Sandman didn't work out and somehow found myself on the Appaloosa circuit instead.

Appaloosas are beautiful horses.  So colorful and each one is unique.


This is Cara.  She was owned by my trainer and was the horse I showed for on for 4 years.

I think am about 14 in this picture.  I can't believe I was ever that thin.

This is Sunny.  I showed her only for a year or so.  She was sweet.

Kind of a blurry picture. 

I rode Sunny both English and Western, but I only showed Cara Western. That was my real love.  

I never really took to English riding.

Here I am with some of my trophies.  I had never competed in any kind of sport before so it was pretty cool to compete and win so many awards.   I did quite well showing and one year was number one in the State of CA, and 7th in the nation.  

In 1993 I was asked to ride in the Rose Parade with a group of riders who placed top 10 in the state of CA.  It was so much fun and such an honor to be asked!  I don't have many pictures from it though.  

What a fun walk down memory lane.  I miss riding.  If I had the chance (and the money and time) to own another horse, I would in a heartbeat.

And now my niece Grace is starting horseback riding lessons and Lisa says she loves it as much as we did when we were her age.  Lisa and Scott  are in sooooooo much trouble.

I am hoping she will let me her ride her new horse next time I come visit!  ;)

Busy

I promised my new job wasn't going to cause my blog fall by the wayside.

I am terrible at keeping promises. Apparently.

I think about writing on my blog all the time.  Yup, I think about it. I just never do it.

My job is mostly to blame.  It is crazy busy.  Like have no time to breathe busy.  Then when I get home I am so tired.  I surf the internet for an hour and then I watch a couple of hours of t.v. and then fall into bed.

And start the whole process over again.

My job is  great. But I can honestly say I have never worked at a job that has been this busy.  Even when I worked with kids, and it was crazy and loud and messy at least I had moments where I could breathe.  Not so with this job.  They have 5 lines and they ring off.  the.  hook. We turn away new patients every single day because we are booking into December. It's crazy.  I had no idea so many had problems with their skin.   :)

I barely have time to choke down some lunch on my break and many days my break doesn't even consist of a full hour because I can't go to lunch until all the patients leave and one of our doctors is *always* running behind.

It can be exhausting.  But I have been logging a lot of overtime and they pay me time and a half for it, so I can't complain about that.

Weekends have consisted mostly of catching up on sleep and watching movies and just hanging out in my p.j.'s.  No complaints there either.

We have been loving the new Fall television lineup.  We watch a lot of t.v.  Most of it we record and then save up and watch it all on the weekends. Sometimes there are so many shows we can't even watch them all in one weekend (Did I mention we watch a lot of t.v.?)


I am still hanging around a lot on Pinterest.  I just love it there.  I can't even tell what it is about it that is so addicting but when I do get the chance to be online I find myself heading over there more often than here or FB.

I'm kind of done with FB.  They have been making a lot of changes and they are about to make a lot more.  The new ones look really cool.  Most of the changes I like but some of them I can't stand.

I know, I know, it's free(I wish I had a dollar for every person that said this to me).  But I can't get behind some of the changes to privacy so I just won't be over there as much.

I will still be there, posting ocasional status updates or pictures, but if I want to comment on something I will use a private message or an e-mail.

I have been posting more on Google + so if you are over there, look me up.

I suppose that's it.  A really boring update to my blog.  Nothing exciting going on here.

I did get to go horseback riding last Saturday and that was super fun.  I have been thinking about doing a post on that but I can't promise anything.

Because I am terrible at keeping promises.

Soap for a good cause

My friend is selling some lovely hand made soaps as a fundraiser to bring their second kid home from China.  Handmade soap is one of my favorite things and I have ordered a few of my favorite scents.  I can't wait until they come!

They have a bunch of great scents to choose from. These would make awesome teacher's gifts.

You should go over and check it out!

Click HERE to go to their site.




I saw this on Pinterest last night and it cracked me up.  (This is for you, K)

Have you all heard of planking?  I am strangely fascinated by it.  Mostly because I don't get it.  No really, I don't get it at all.  But I can't help myself from looking at pictures of people doing it. (Google it) People are WEIRD.

Tired

(How cute are these pandas?)

That about sums up my life right now.   Tired.

The new job is partly to blame but the fact that I don't get enough quality sleep is mostly to blame.  I don't sleep well most nights.  Either I toss and turn all night or I go to sleep fine but wake up at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. and can't get back to sleep.  On those days I'm so exhausted I can't see straight.

I do take medication to help me sleep, as well as Melatonin(which honestly does nothing for me) and I am very strict about "sleep hygiene" but many nights per week it just doesn't work.   It has been decided that sleep will probably be a lifelong problem for me.

My sleep apnea has been worse lately too. Joe says he can hear me snoring from the other room on some nights and I wake myself up quite often due to snoring as well.  I don't have my machine anymore, as I need to re-do my sleep study and I just haven't had the time to do it.  Yes, I know it's important.  It's just a pain to schedule an overnight appointment and now with my insurance changing I have to wait until that is all sorted out.  Not to mention I really want to schedule it on a day I can either have off the next day or go in late because I swear I may have slept a total of one or two hours the last time I did one.  I'm not even sure how they got the info they needed for the study.  They should have called it an awake study because that's what I was for most of the night.

One more thing put on the back burner for now.

My body has also been slow in adjusting to working five days a week.  Working four days per week really suited me and helped with the chronic fatigue I suffer from due to the kidney disease.  Not much to be done about that though.  I just really try to get plenty of rest on the weekends.  I also started working 8:30-5:30 instead of 8:00-5:00 and I am finding that little extra time to sleep in in the mornings is nice.

Aside from working five days I am really loving my new job.  It is stressful at times and crazy busy but the day just flies by.  I swear I look at the clock one minute and it's 8:00 a.m. and I blink my eyes and it's time for lunch.

I love that.

The other thing I love is how thankful they are to have me.

Almost every day someone thanks me for being there and tells me I am doing a good job.

That is so weird for me.  I have never experienced that before.  And I don't just mean from my old job (where they pretty much told me the opposite.  Nothing like having your boss tell you you suck at your job).

I mean even from my job before that, where I worked for 15 years.  I always got excellent yearly reviews when I worked there but no one ever just walked up to me and said "Hey, you are doing a great job".

But they do at this job.  It kind of makes me uncomfortable actually.  I'm just not used to it.

I'm so grateful to have this job too, which really changes your outlook.  I'm just very grateful.  I'm sure a little of that will wear off as time goes by but for now it's a pretty good place to be.

Appreciated and thankful.  Two things I haven't felt in a very long time.



Anyway, I swore that I wouldn't let my blog go by the wayside if I started working full time, so this is my boring attempt at at least posting something semi-regularly.

Sorry it wasn't more interesting.  Did I mention I have been tired?  :)

Update on the new job

I have been meaning to do an update on my new job but when I get home from work I am too tired to do much on the computer and then time kind of slips away from me and I totally forget about it.




My new job sucks and I hate it and I wish I never left my old job.


I'M JUST KIDDING!!!  I know some people who probably hope the above sentence  is true.

But too bad. Because  my new job is going well.

Very well actually.

The first week was stressful and I had a hard time adjusting to all the changes.  Week number two was easier.

And as I finish up week three (can you believe it?)  things are pretty much awesome.  I caught on quickly to how their computer software works and know my way around pretty well already.  Of course there is a learning curve and I still have so much to learn but so far so good.  Very good.

Plus it has some really great perks (aside from the better pay and excellent benefits).

I get a deep discount on some excellent products. If you need something and we carry it, drop me a line.  I will hook you up.

Pharmaceutical drug reps come by quite often.  Not only are they easy on the eyes, but they bring us treats quite often.  They actually have us fax them a request sheet for everyone in the office so we all get exactly what we want.  Starbucks.  Juice it Up.  Gourmet cupcakes.  It's pretty sweet(literally).

Then two days a week we have catered lunches as well.  This totally rocks because I have been packing my lunch every day and I already have the lunchbox blahs when it comes to deciding what to pack each day.  And the food they bring in is not only delicious, but healthy.

I have actually lost 6 pounds in the last three weeks.  I think part of it is stress but the fact that I'm not eating crap every day is definitely part of it.

It's only going to get better from here and I wake up every day grateful to have this job.



Although things overall have been very good, yesterday was a nightmare because we had a power outage around quarter to four.  All of the rooms but one in our office don't have windows, so people were lying on tables half clothed in the pitch dark.  And not one flashlight was to be found(nice emergency plan there).  The doctors were having to use their cell phones as flashlights so the patients could get dressed.  What a nightmare!  Then people were still showing up for their appointments and they were pissed that we couldn't see them. People are crazy.  We had no lights, no phones, no air conditioner.........you know..........NO POWER.  What part of that is hard for people to grasp?  All of our charts are electronic too, so no access to those either.  One woman actually asked if the dr. could just freeze off her child's warts, since they drove all the way down there and all.  She wanted her daughter's warts frozen off....IN THE DARK.

Crazy, I tell you.

Then the nightmare continued for me as I tried to drive home only to discover that none of the traffic signals were working and the streets were completely gridlocked.  I tried driving the opposite direction of my house hoping the signals would be working elsewhere an d I could work my way back, but the power was out in all of the surrounding cities too and there was nothing but rows and rows of cars just parked.  Plus I have no air in my car and it was at least 90 degrees out.  I was soaked in sweat.  It took me almost exactly two hours to get home and I live only 25 minutes away.

Like I said, nightmare!

We have power at home now but I hear the power is still out over there and all of San Diego County as well.  I hope they sort it out soon.  What a pain for all those poor people.  My little inconvenience last night is nothing compared to that.

I was very happy to see Friday roll around this week, even though it was a short one.

TGIF!

And The Winner Is............

I drew the name for the winner of the digital scrapbook software this morning.  I meant to get to it last night but I was too tired.

I was also going to choose the winner via the random number generator thingy but it costs money to use it (and I am cheap) so I went old school and just wrote everyone's names on a slip of paper (for however many entries you got) and pulled one name out of a basket.

Anyway, the winner is.......................

Tracy at My Minivan Rocks!

Congratulations Tracy!  I will be in touch to give you the code to redeem your software.  Happy scrapping!

For those of you that didn't win, My Memories  is offering this coupon code for $10.00 off the software, plus a $10.00 credit in their digital store.  Just use this coupon code at check-out:

STMMMS68603


Their website is HERE

Thanks everyone, for playing along!

My Memories Scrapbook software {giveaway}

Last chance to enter the giveaway for the scrapbook software.  I will be closing the entries tonight at 10:00 p.m. and drawing a name tomorrow morning.  There aren't that many entries so your chance of winning is pretty good!

My Memories Scrapbook software review {and giveaway!}

I used to be an avid scrapbooker.  I created a book every year that we were married.  I loved the creative process, and having a keepsake of our lives.

Over time, I found myself scrapping less and less.

FB and the blog had a lot to do with it.  My blog is kind of like my scrapbook now.  But I still miss having actual books to pull out and look through now and then and I miss the creative and cute layout ideas I used to arrange my pictures in a scrapbook.

I have looked and looked for a digital scrapbooking program that  I liked, but I never could find one that was suitable for MAC and had all the things I was looking for.  This software has two versions, one for Mac and the other for Windows.  You choose which one you want to download after purchase.

I was contacted by the company My Memories Digital Scrapbooking and asked if I would like to try their product.

I replied and told them of course!  So I downloaded the My Memories Suite and started playing around with it.

What a cool program!

I made this page in just a few minutes time, with some free elements I got off of the My Memories website for free!

They also have some great designer kits that you can purchase as well.  You can also use Photoshop Elements with it as well.

I found this software extremely easy to use.  I was able to use my own scrapbook kits with it, as well as the free elements I downloaded from their website.  If you find digital scrapbooking daunting, this software is for you!  The My Memories website is full of easy to understand video tutorials as well.  It only took me a few minutes to make the page above!

This is going to put me well on my way to creating cute scrapbooks that I can print out and share again.

My Memories has given me one Digital Scrapbook software to give away to one of my readers!

Here's the deal:

For one entry, visit My Memories.com and take a look around their site.  Come back here and leave a comment letting me know which of the digital kits or layouts are your favorite.  You must do this step to be entered in the drawing.

For one extra entry you can follow their blog:

Blog  http://blog.mymemories.com/

For one extra entry follow them on FaceBook

http://www.facebook.com/mymemoriessuite

Or Twitter:

http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite

So that is four possible entries per person.  Please leave one comment per entry (one comment letting me know your favorite product, another comment letting me know you follow their blog, etc.)

I will keep the giveaway open until this Friday, September 2nd and then I will randomly choose a winner.

If you don't win a copy of the software, My Memories also gave me a Promo code to give out to all of my readers that will save you $10.00 off the price of the software, plus a $10.00 coupon to use in the My Memories store.  That's a $20.00 value!

Sweet!

To order the software, go HERE and use this Promo code:

STMMMS68603


Happy Scrapping!

My Memories provided me with my memories suite digital scrapbook software to try and one program to giveaway.  

I received a complimentary copy of this software to try in exchange for an honest review/opinion. I received no monetary compensation.  I was not required to write a positive review.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Change is Hard

I have never done transitions well.

I don't like change.

As a kid I used to dread the ending of the school year and the start of summer.  Not because I didn't like summer, because hello, what's not to like about summer when you are a kid?  No, it was because my routine completely changed. I didn't get up at the same time.  I didn't get to see my friends every day.  I didn't have a schedule to follow.  All of those changes left me feeling very apprehensive.

I have always had a hard time when my routine is disrupted.

You can probably see where this is going.

I am having a hard time adjusting to my new job.

I was expecting this to happen.  It doesn't make it any easier.

In the end this job will be a great thing for me. I know this.  I will adapt.

Everyone tells me to just give it time.  But I am impatient.  I want things to be easier now.  I really need to get over that.

But last week was rough.  I am exhausted from it.


So exhausted.

I have so much to do and so little energy left to actually do it.



I'm supposed to do a giveaway for some scrapbook software that I was given to review.

I want to do a post about an awesome fundraiser that my friends are having to help bring home their second child.

My car is a disaster and badly needs a washing and to be cleaned out.

I should plan out our menus for the week.

None of those things will likely happen this weekend.  I'm just too tired.

The second week at my new job will be better.


My thoughts and prayers are going out to everyone on the East Coast who is in Irene's path.  I have lots of bloggy friends out there who might be affected and I pray they all stay safe.  Stay safe bloggy friends!!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

A lot has been going on the last week or so.

The most notable being that I got a new job!  I have been looking for a few months(actually more like 6 months but only aggressively for the last three).

I went on a lot of interviews.  I was only offerred one of those jobs and it didn't have medical benefits so I couldn't accept the position.  Other than that I had a lot of interest in the form of interviews, but no actual offers.  It was disappointing.

There was one particular job that I interviewed for that I really, really wanted.  The pay was better than my current job but what really made the job stand out was their benefit package.

At my current job, when I started working there 4 years ago (almost exactly four years ago-can you believe it?)  we had benefits.  One week of vacation pay, paid holidays, health insurance and retirement.  As the economy took a down turn, our benefits were slowly taken away.  First our vacation pay went.  Then the paid holidays. Next we had to pay for half our health insurance. Finally the retirement plan was halted.  While I understood the need for some of these things, as business had slowed considerably, it  sucked.  Big time.  Coming from my last job where I worked for a very large company with an excellent benefits package, this was hard for me to swallow.  I began to feel bitter about it and I felt a general negativity towards the job in general.  I made a pact with myself that I was going to find a job that offerred up some of the benefits that my current job used to offer.


So, back to this job.  I went in for an interview and met with the office manager and the financial person.  That interview went for 2 and a half hours!  I have ever been on an interview that long and it felt promising.  Then they asked me to come back and do a "working interview".  So the next day I went and worked 3 and a half hours in the office.  I loved it there.  The office is beautiful  and I felt like clicked with the girls.  I was very aggressive about pursuing this job. I sent thank you notes to everyone in the office that I had come into contact with(which I would have done anyway). I called to follow up, not once, not twice, but three times.  It is not like me to be so aggressive.  But I have a really great group of women that I get advice from and they suggested I really let them know that I was interested in the position and that I was the one they should hire.

Well I didn't get the job.  The financial person said he admired my confidence ( I told him he would be sorry if he didn't hire me), and that they were still interviewing and that he would call me either way.

He never called. Why do they do that?  Why do they say they will call either way and then they don't?  It's rude.

 I was so bummed.

I went on with life and put that job out of my mind, determined to find another job with similar benefits.

No luck.

Then one day, out of the blue a week and  half ago I get this message on my cell phone from the office manager at that office.

The message went like this:

 "This is so-and-so from so-and-so's office, I don't know it you remember me (Ummmm...of course I remember you.  I worked there for half a day...LOL), and anyway, it came down to you and one other person for the position we had open and we hired the other person.  Well she didn't work out, and would you be interested in meeting with me again?  If you already found another job, or you don't want to I understand.  But when the position became open again your name was the first to pop into my head, because I liked you very much and I think you would be a good fit for this job."

I have to admit for a minute I was like "Ha!  See?  you should have hired me in the first place, and why would I want to come meet with you again, after you gave me the run around the first time?"

And then the logical side of my brain overtook the emotional side and I called her back and said

"Yes, I would LOVE to come and meet with you again and I am still interested in the position."


Insert one very long, emotional week while they did background checks(not that I was worried about that), and reference checks and a bunch of administrative mumbo jumbo until finally on Wednesday they called and offerred me the position.



Was I second choice?  (Or as my co-worker put it "Their sloppy seconds".  Nice).

Yes I was.  Does it matter?  Nope.  In the end I got the job and that's all that matters to me.


I started on Friday.

If I could do any part of it differently, the only thing I would change is how things ended with my current employer.   I wasn't able to give any notice, and I regret that.  This position needed someone to start immediately.


My current job knew I had been looking for some time.  At one point I was told that I wouldn't be replaced right away(although that was before our busy spell that occurs in late summer).  My leaving is creating a lot more work for everyone that is left behind, especially my co-worker.  I regret that.

If I had been able to give more (well, any) notice I would have.  I simply couldn't pass up this opportunity.  I had to do what was right for me and I did.

Unfortunately there were hurt feelings and resentments between me and my co-worker.  I could have handled a few things differently.  But when I left my current office on my last day I got a cursory goodbye from my co-worker and my last paycheck and a pat on the back from my boss, and that was it.

Thankfully my other co-workers were very forthcoming in their sadness to see me go, which made me feel somewhat better.

But I worked there four years and it would have been nice to have had a pleasant send off and some  "sorry to see you go, but good luck" sentiments.

Oh well.  It is what it is and I need to look forward now.

Thus begins my first full week of work at my new job.  Wish me luck!


P.S., as for benefits, they almost equal the benefits I had at my last job.

3 weeks paid time off
9 paid holidays
Medical insurance completely covered, with the option to add a spouse or family member.
401 K retirement plan


Plus it's a completely different type of office (dermatology), so I am excited about learning some new things.

AND, the drug reps cater lunches for the staff twice a week!  How cool is that?

I feel good about this new chapter in my life and I am excited to see where this job takes me!

Busy

This summer has really been flying by.  I can't believe it is almost September and the kids will be going back to school.

We have had a really fabulous summer.

As I look back on the blog over the last 8 or 9 weeks, we have gotten to do some really fun things this summer.  I'm so grateful for it, as last summer was dismal and I have nothing but bad memories of it.

But that is not the case for this summer.

Yesterday I got to go and hang with my friend Joannah and finally meet the most beautiful baby in the whole world.  I might be a tad  biased.  But seriously, she is precious.  And how fun is Gymboree for little ones? Do those of you with kids have experience with this?  I have vague memories of attending a class or two when Cameron was a little guy, and yesterday had the opportunity to attend a class with Joannah and Michaela too.   So fun!  It actually made me a little wistful for my preschool teacher days.  Singing songs at circle time was one of my favorite parts of that job.  It has been a long while since I sat in a circle with a group of children singing songs and it brought back some good memories.  Even if the children were babies of only a few months old and had no recollection of what just occurred.  :)  It was fun. And very peaceful.

Afterwards I went for a walk with a friend down at the beach (thanks Carla!) and had a fabulous chat with her as well.  You are a good friend to me Carla!

Also very peaceful.  I could use some peace in my life right now.

What have you all been doing this summer?  Anything fun?

Not much on the agenda for today, except to plan out our meals for the week, and go for a bike ride.

Also, do some laundry and basically prepare myself for my first full week at my new job.

Oh yeah. Did I forgot to mention I got a new job?    :0

I have a whole post on that coming tomorrow.

Enjoy your Sunday!


P.S.  Can anyone tell me why all of my pictures from previous posts (like 8 or 9 posts ago) have disappeared and been replaced by a black box with an exclamation point?  This has me very upset!  I will take me days to re-upload those pictures into those posts!  Google has been no help at at all.  

Summer

Mostly just pictures today.  DeAnn and I went to the Fair yesterday.  We had fun.

Such a cute display in the tent

Love, love love this bunting idea.  Perfect for a party.

I have been looking into ways I can grow things on our balcony.  I am doing this for sure!  Hanging herb garden in soft drink bottles.  Love it!

Baby animals are always cute

So sweet

This guy was handsome

Baby cows.  So cute.

No piglets this year.  Bummer.

Hydroponics.  Joe wants to do this too.

Tribal masks and totem poles.  Had no idea these were popular. Or maybe they aren't?  LOL

Funnel cake.  Mmmmmmm.

Fair food.  Yum.

G Force

We rode this.  It was hard core.  But the sky ride we were on when I took this scared me more. 

On Saturday we went to a 40th birthday party. I saw this online and wanted to try it. 

I couldn't fit 40 suckers in the bouquet.  I still think it's cute.

I made this necklace that I saw on Pinterest as a gift.  I like the way it turned out.  I am going to play around and make a couple more.  I want one for myself.

I think it turned out cute

My new favorite picture of us.  Taken at the party.

That is all.