Ups and downs.

First for the up part. When Hubby and I first married I started work at a horse farm in exchange for dressage (English riding for those not familiar) lessons. It wasn't my main job of course, I had one that actually wrote me a paycheck but this was the job I lived for. I spent many happy hours in the barn shoveling poo, lugging hay bales, and filling water buckets and once or twice a week the owner would have me saddle up Max -who was in his mid 20's, quiet elderly for a horse - and teach me to ride. I loved it and spent tons of time at the farm and worked there even after Max went lame and there was no longer a horse for a beginner to ride. Soon life took over, we moved from the outskirts of the city and were quite a ways from the farm, my mother became ill and had to be taken care of for several months and the owner of the farm sold the place and moved to the Houston area. I haven't been on a horse since. Well looking around and in boredom one night I googled and found a very nice dressage facility nearby and decided to e-mail them with the proposition to work for lessons. I didn't hear from them for a couple of weeks and figured that they were not interested, however today I got an e-mail from them and they are! I'm so excited and can't wait to start work and riding. My husband says I'm a little girl that never grew out of her horse phase and I guess he's right. There's just something about a soft muzzle and the nature of a horse that calms me from the craziest stresses. My only worry is that my old body won't hold up to the stresses of riding anymore. My left knee has gotten cranky, not from any known injury but just seems to hurt occasionally for no apparent reason and I fear riding will aggravate it. I also know the first few weeks of lessons will near kill me in relation to soreness. I know that my very first lesson years ago the next day even my hair hurt. That passes as the muscles grow and learn however it's tough.

The downs - Sonny Boy had decided he wanted to be an astronaut for Halloween. Oye! Anyway I managed to scrap him up a helmet on e-bay that was reasonably priced (because of course you have to have a helmet) and sprung for the expensive astronaut costume. Everything was ordered and should have been hitting the front porch any day now until I checked my e-mail this evening and the helmet I had ordered would not be shipped due to some snafu. The e-bay seller did refund my money but there were no more inexpensive helmets to buy and now I had the expensive costume on the way! Well I sprung for the expensive helmet which cost as much as the costume because Halloween is only a couple of weeks away now. So now Sonny Boy will get to wear the costume for Halloween - he better not do any damage to it - it will go in a box and next fall I'll auction it off on E-bay in hopes of getting at least close to the miserable amount of money I paid for the thing back. The things we do for our kids.

The downs - there has been gobs of rain in the area for the last couple of days. Today it has rained non-stop. Guess what has happened to my basement. Yep leaks and several boxes have gotten wet. I don't think anythin is ruined but there is a mess down there. Hubby I went and piled things on top tables, the ironing board and some shelves that were built in down there to get things up off the floor. I hate this house.