Everything to do with . . .

"I found the diary she kept the year she was pregnant with me.  'July 17th. What a night! We danced on the beach, and we kissed on the beach, and dot, dot,dot.'
- What?
'Dot, dot, dot.' That's what they did in the olden days."

hahaha credit to the script writers of Mamma Mia for that one. Love that line :) And now, if you didn't before, you should get the title...

So yes, after the Pat Burgess clinic got cancelled (booo! But hopefully Pat's doing okay! Had to have a hip replaced -- a whole lot less fun than teaching riding I'm sure. Especially with Lexi there to provide the entertainment ;)  Anyways -- that was sure to provide all sorts of an entertaining post, but since it was cancelled, I had to find something else to write about.  So Chris and I ventured to the Everything to do with Sex Show.  Yup.  It's a thing.  Heard it on the radio.  Admittedly have never been before, but figured it was worth a go.

Took place at the Direct Energy Center, and when we arrived we immediately noticed there were two separate audiences.  Sure enough, two different shows.  The one we were attending, and a zoomer show.  Zoomers being the portion of the population over the age of 45.  And, admittedly, the show seemed to target those greatly over the age of 45...  But what really made me laugh was a sign on the door as we entered -- our entry would also get us into the zoomer show.  hahaha woohoo!  Am a little curious how much business that earned them. And, conversely, if they had the same offer on.

So as with any trade show, there were lots of booths with people selling things, some food, one seminar room that we didn't end up sitting in on, several stages of what was theoretically education or entertainment but really a thinly disguised sales pitch, and one stage that was purely entertainment.

The first thing we noticed was the surprisingly large number of people who seemed to feel this was a clothing optional event ;)  Which in itself would be fine, but I'm curious as to how they got there -- I'm not entirely sure the average weekend afternoon GO Transit passenger would be okay with it.  And, well, it's not entirely warm out!  Some were clearly employed at the show, so fair enough.   They also tended to be the ones who could pull the look off...   Unfortunately many of the others...  *shudder* What has been seen cannot be unseen...   But hey, at least they have a strong sense of self confidence.

For lack of any better idea, we headed over to the entertainment stage first.  The MC I could definitely have done without, and the time killers in-between acts were so ridiculously juvenile it was painful to watch.  But the actual acts were surprisingly good.  They seemed to alternate between targeting the female audience and the male -- and we caught one of each.  The male dancers were first and clearly felt that once the show was over there was no need to get redressed as we continued to see them wearing nothing but their undies wandering around the show for the afternoon.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is a bad thing ;-P   I was just a little surprised by it.   On the flip side, for the guys was a burlesque act that was quite well done.  When we saw the ladies after they were far more dressed than their male counterparts.  Admittedly in costume, but a start costume rather than an end one.   I'm sure that says something about society, but honestly I was just there for an amusing afternoon so I really don't care what.

So then it was time to hit up the booths.  You know what would make this show a lot more fun?  Applying the premise of the One of a Kind Show.  Because honestly, the fastest way to make anything boring, even dot dot dot, is to repeat the same thing over and over and over.  Which is essentially what  the vast majority of the booths did.  There were, however, a few that stood out.

There were at least two booths selling Sexy Surprise.  Sealed bags you couldn't look in.  I only spoke to vendor at one of them (and she was by far the best of the sales people I spoke to that day) but their premise was they would guarantee the overall value of the bag would be at least double the cost and that it would include certain categories of things.  But what, exactly, was a surprise.  Now my very logical and rational partner did not seem particularly interested in this concept.  After all, why would you spend money on an unknown when you could go buy exactly what you want in any one of the dozens of other non-one-of-a-kind booths?  And he's completely right.  But I, on the other hand, am a complete sucker for surprise, mystery and adventure.  And that little black bag potentially held all three!

Have you ever read the "What If?" story?  It was a favourite of mine in junior high...Doing this from memory here so forgive me if it's not, in fact, perfect ;)

What if life were perfect?

What if you lived in a perfect world
of perfect people and perfect possessions
With everyone and everything
Doing the perfect thing
At the perfect time?

What if you had everything you wanted
and only what you wanted
Exactly as you wanted
Precisely when you wanted it?

What if after living in this perfect world
for the perfect length of the time
You started to feel that
Perfection is a perfect bore.

What if at precisely that point
You notice for the first time
A button marked as "Surprise"

What if vou walked over,
considered all that may be contained
in the concept of "Surprise"
and decided "Anything is better than perfect boredom"

What if you took a deep breath,
Pushed the button...
And found yourself exactly as you are right now
Feeling what you,re feeling now
Thinking what you are thinking now
With everything in your life precisely
The way it is now
Reading this blog and wondering
What if?

Okay so I might've added the last two lines, but the rest belong to somebody else.  Would you push the button?  Cause I'm definitely that person ;-P  And credit to Chris, when he saw I wanted one, he waited very patiently in line with me and completely refrained from any commentary ;)   I wanted the mystery -- it's the same reason I don't cheat and look at Christmas presents.  It's fun to wonder.  And because of that there's no way I'm telling you what was in that bag.  You're welcome.

But credit to them -- by selling a surprise and an adventure rather than a specific toy they differentiated themselves,  And as a result got the sale.

The second group of booths that distinguished themselves were the ones coming up with grown-up games for childhood toys.  Hula hoops, swingsets, bouncy balls...   What items from your childhood have you corrupted?  Are you brave enough to post in the comments? ;-P  For the sake of my innocent childhood, I'm going to forget I ever saw these.  For the sake of my entertaining adulthood, maybe I'll let them stay in a corner of my mind.  In my world, those two things can, in fact, coexist.  Surprise!

The last group of booths that stood out were those that really didn't fit in.  Arguably if they got together with the guys from the last group they could be corrupted in such a way as to fit in ;-P  But they weren't even trying...  Skydiving, paintball, pinball machines...  So random.  Amusing, but random.

Would I seek it out?  No - been there, done that.  Wasn't terribly exciting which, given it's topic, should've been   But would I go back?  Sure, if I had nothing better to do.  It was a moderately amusing way to kill a few hours.  And one that could potentially lead to significant future entertainment.  So why not?

Ironically the one thing I did find that I love was not actually about sex, but rather romance.  Of the g-rated, pre-dot-dot-dot, Disney princess style romance.  You know, the sweep you off your feet, embarrassingly cliche type of romance that you scorn in public and yet secretly hope for?  Yeah - that.  It's a series of cards -- half for him and half for her -- and the premise is that you take turns drawing one each week and then follow up on it.  And they're scratch cards, so you can't cheat and see what the other person has in store for the future ;)  Not that I'd do that of course (were you here a few paragraphs ago?).  Alright, maybe I'd peak a little -- a year is a LONG time to wait.  But now I can't, so it reinforces mystery.  If C chooses to play of course *g*  Also a mystery.  You'd have to read his blog to find out about that.  But to give you an idea -- the first one I looked at said something about "write down three things you love about him.  Hide them around the house for him to find through the week."   See what I mean about cheesy?  But who here, of either sex, wouldn't love to find those?  So my question for you is -- and not rhetorical this time, you can answer in comments or fb post -- any of these:
What's the most romantic thing you've ever done for somebody?
What's the most romantic thing anybody's ever done for you?
What's the single most romantic thing you wish somebody would do for you?
If there's enough response I'll compile stories (with or without names as you wish) in another post.

Have fun :)

I'm glad summer fell on a Wednesday this year.

Today was the kind of day that summer dreams are made of.   It admittedly started out less than ideally, I will admit, with a trip to the vet...

Ah the vet.  Yes I would have the dog with the random almost-unknown syndrome. Back story -- *twice* this week, and never before, while playing frisbee Sasha's hind legs seized leaving her temporarily paralyzed.   Yeah - you can imagine my reaction the first time.  Except she appeared to be in absolutely no pain, and twenty minutes later was totally fine.   And then it happened again later that week.  Exactly the same.  Seems to be falling-down drunk.  If she manages to stand, her legs cross and she falls over sideways.  Super high respiration and quieter/more sucky than usual, but otherwise no signs.  And twenty minutes later fine.  Cool huh?   Yeah - I thought not.  But Google to the rescue comes up with some variant of Exercise Induced Collapse.  Apparently found in young, very fit, dogs.  Usually labs -- less likely in Aussie's.  But sobeit.  Anyways -- even though Google's description and videos matched exactly what I was seeing, I still wanted her checked by an actual vet.  So this morning started with a trip there.

First challenge -- getting in the door.  Sasha's afraid of other dogs and there were four in the waiting room.  One of which was huge, about 5' away, and lunging/barking at the door.  Owner had it on a short leash, but still.  I understood Sasha's hesitation.   Fortunately the nurse (tech I suppose really, but same concept) realized the problem and said I could wait to weigh Sasha till the scary dog beside the scale was gone.   So we moved over to an unoccupied area of the waiting room to hang out for a bit until our room was available.  

Couldn't believe some of the owners I saw.   One, with a very big fluffy type dog that was completely out of control.  Had a choke collar on and was in full use pretty well the whole time.  Talking about the specific grooming she wanted done while the dog was climbing on the counter (ummm my chest height - to put in perspective), lunging at the cat, etc etc.   Tech/nurse took dog and had it under control, sitting quietly, in about half a second.  Another owner one let her dog leap on a second dog (second dog was being exceptionally well behaved, lying at its owner's feet), saying "oh don't worry, he won't bite."  Ummmm in what world is that acceptable?  I was completely appalled.  Of the half-dozen or so dogs that came in in the 15 mins I was in the entrance, only one seemed under any form of control.  It made me appreciate Sasha a whole lot more ;)   She's certainly not the best dog on a leash by any means, but in every other instance...

So anyways -- we got into the room and were there about an hour as our vet did some research and talked to people.  Seems Google was likely right; vet's trying to confirm if their lab can run any tests that will be useful to confirm or not.  On the down side, absolutely terrified me when I saw the symptoms.  On the plus side, easily enough managed and really not tragic.  The vet asked me to try and get it on video if it happens again.

Leaving the clinic was a very different scene than entering it.  There was only one little puppy, who was super excited.  And his owner *was* making a concerted effort to make sure he will one day be well trained.  But what really impressed me is she *also* had three young boys, all under the age of 5, with her who were as rambunctious as the puppy, and she managed to keep them *all* under control.  Especially when contrasted with the people I met coming in, this woman was a super-star.

Alright so, have to try to replicate the issue.   Go home and play a solid 45 minutes of frisbee.  End result -- a thirsty and very happy Sasha.  hahahha I strongly suspect adrenaline plays some role in EIC -- both times it happened before she was super excited.  Wasn't that today so it was just normal exercise.  Of which she gets lots.  Vet confirmed heart super healthy and athletic, and all joints/limbs working as they should.   

Abandon that idea and go to the barn to visit my sorely neglected horse.  Haven't ridden her in...  well we won't acknowledge how long its been.  Sandring footing was super sloppy and of course I had *zero* focus from Lexi.  So gave up on actual work and decided since summer had shown up, we'd go hacking.  Except, of course, Lex hasn't been ridden in a while.  And doesn't always hack well ;)   And I had Sasha with me.  So we hacked at a power trot/very collected canter...  With the occasional spin/stop/go.  And Sasha, for the first time ever, stayed perfectly with us.   I was so proud of both puppy and pony for behaving themselves to the best of their abilities on that hack.  And what a great way to spend the day.  If I'd had a *little* more control of said pony, I could've had the ultimate "through the ears" shot with Sasha leading the way up ahead.  But I wasn't risking losing the brand new phone to take a photo on my not-so-quiet soon-to-be event horse ;)

After finishing playing with puppy and pony, head to my parents' place so Sasha could play with Bailey while I went sailing.  What an absolutely perfect night!  Warm, sunny, decent wind and quiet water.  I think it was the fastest race I've been in yet.  And of course we won ;)  We won by enough that we had time to go for a cruise after.  hahaha perfect end to a lovely summer day.  

How to plan a wedding in 10 steps

Jael sent me this and it was a laugh or cry moment.  Amused me enough to share though.  Enjoy:


Entirely too accurate!  Have been mailing and receiving all kinds of fancy litter lately ;)  And I'm pretty sure there was a whole post about the registry...

On the plus side, we have yet to hear a negative comment from anybody who's been to the resort we've chosen -- and a surprising number of people seem to have been there.  So that's all good :)   And winter's supposed to be particularly hellish this year, so escaping in February will be a great life choice.

And, well, simply because we haven't had a Sasha picture in a while:

Wishing the rain would stop so she could go to the barn...

You're welcome :)

Diamonds are forever. Email comes close.

So I am bad, *really* bad, about not deleting messages from my personal inbox.  Which is sort of amusing since my work one is always so very anally organized.  But between the ability to flag (my flagged messages are a reasonable number) and a reasonable ability to search, I can find what I need and so tend not to delete.  As a result, I have (I mean - "had") more than 10,000 messages -- about 2000 of which were unread.  And randomly decided this week I'd get them under control.

Well at the moment I'm down to 1600 messages, of which 194 are unread -- and will be even lower by the end of the post ;)   But what's been interesting is that in some ways, it offers a strange review of life.  Strange in that it is thoroughly warped, but it's been both fun and frustrating to go through.  My email history went back to about the time I went to Denny's.  So close to the same as the start of the blog.  But things like messages from the guys at Overdrive.  I always used my work email there, so anything in this inbox was fun stuff like photos from entertaining team nights or even just randomness on our way to meetings.  Then there were the zillion and one (that's only a *slight* exaggeration -- a disproportionate number of the 10k belong in this category) emails horse shopping when I started GRS. All the horses I didn't buy, and even more exciting to remember, the ones I did.  Circus school and various clinic arrangements. The frustrations of all the paperwork for starting the business and the excitement of new clients.   Then later, all the emails about moving and two years of life at Lochland.   Client emails looking for "assessments" who I now consider close friends.  Really cool.

Of course the challenges are also recorded.  Clients who didn't work out for one reason or another, things that did work out but went through rough patches, things that I wanted to happen that didn't (I loved that little event mare!) and things that I didn't want to happen that did...  And of course more recently, the job hunting -- the excitement finding a job I'd love and be perfect for, and the disappointment of the auto-rejection.

Definitely one of the most fun things to review were all the comments and responses on the blog -- both the normal section and the flash fiction.  Everything leading up to my first story being published in an anthology, and then publishing my first book.  None of that would ever have happened if it hadn't been for the exceptionally warm welcome I received to #fridayflash.  Reliving all of that has been very cool.  Esp as while I get hard copies made of my regular blog (although haven't done last year yet -- need new software.  Any suggestions?) and they include comments, I haven't done it with my flash...   Although now I'm inclined to cause it was really cool to reread.  Also makes me want to write more. We shall see.

Ah well, I was amused anyways :)   And my inbox is under 1000 now ;)   Back to work.

On shoes and horses, but not horse shoes

It would seem an alternate personality shortly invaded my body today.  Running errands that involved walking from one store to another as they share a parking lot.   In doing so I walked past a shoe store.  I hate shopping for shoes.  Usually opt for the Walmart version that I pick up while doing groceries or some variation.  Super fashionable let me tell you.  But as I was walking past I happened to think "Hey, I'm getting married on a beach in February.  It's *really* hard to find summer shoes in Canada in February.  Maybe I should look for my wedding shoes now."  Go me.  And yes, I learned that the hard way when trying to find flip flops to go to Cuba ;)

Anyways, since my brain was giving me good ideas, I had a few minutes, and Sasha was safely home I felt I should, perhaps, consider listening it.  Took a deep breath...   And entered the shoe store...

Was promptly pounced on by TWO sales ladies.  Fortunately one of them realized that was a little excessive, laughed, introduced both of them, and then disappeared.  The other one also just stayed off to the side having said hello.  I took one look around and realized that without Steph there, this was just not going to work.

But there were the two eager sales people -- who were smart enough to back off right away.  Maybe one of them could be useful.  So I explained the basics, getting married on a beach and need flats.  She told me about the perfect pair she had -- last year.  Sheesh ;)  Showed me a couple pairs which I promptly rejected, but she paid attention to why.  Finally she said she had one last pair that might work.

Saw them and thought, yup, serious potential.  Looked at the price tag and decided I'd wait and check them out later ;)    But then I tried them on.  And totally fell for a pair of shoes.  Not only that -- a *glittery* pair of shoes!   Who IS this person???   Seriously -- even a blog post (well half a blog post) about the experience.  Fairly disturbed let me tell you.  But not disturbed enough to let them go.  hahaha let's be honest -- I found something I *really* like that's completely suitable.  Why on Earth would I leave it behind just to force myself to keep shopping?  I'm a lot of things, but rarely an idiot.

So I purchased them.  Stupidly expensive, even on sale, and with the...  get this...  Bridal discount!   Bahahaha best thing ever!   I firmly believe it should apply to everything I buy between now and the wedding ;)   I'll take 10% off that ice cream thanks.

All sorts of sparkly ;)

However, this new Lauren was scaring me a little, so I retreated to safe haven and went to ride my pony.  She's been sorely neglected the last few days.  And will be again on the weekend *sigh*   Just not working out.   But the next couple weeks should be back to the regularly scheduled program.   Anyways -- we had a bit of a discussion about the fact that she really *does* have to pay attention to me and not the squirrels or the butterflies or the ponies or the camp kids or the . . .   well you get the point ;)   And also that both moving forward and into a contact are, in fact, in her contract.  But we got there and all was good.  And since I didn't have long to ride and was just playing around, I deemed serious dressage could wait till next week and hopped around the camp kids' course.  It was set at about a foot and a half ;)

One of my students from my next class was watching so I asked her to come in and set fences.  Put them up a bit -- I'm not sure she's ever set fences before, but she gave it a solid effort :)   Jumped around.  There was a one-stride that was riding remarkably well once they were a bit bigger, so I asked her to raise the second one.   By this point K had joined the ring crew and she is good at it, so was able to help with that.   Jumped it, put it up.  Jumped it again, put it up.  Rinse and repeat until the back rail is at the top hole of the, admittedly small, standards.  That'd be four feet.  Lex cleared it by a ton with her front legs, overjumped the width by about 3' (there could easily have been a third rail), and managed to knock the front rail of the oxer (about 3'3") with her hind feet.  Cleared the high rail, but not the one in front.  *sigh*    hahaha we did it a few times -- of which she only cleared *both* rails once.   All the other times she knocked the front rail with a hind leg.

Ah well -- plus side, pony can jump and seems to *really* be enjoying it.  Down side, we're in for several months of dressage and cavelletti to get those hind legs a little stronger and faster!   Next year, when we get around to competing for real though, she could be a ton of fun!

Went out for a short hack -- which other than cantering home to avoid the super-nasty stinging bugs, was lovely and done just in time to teach.   Great end to a fairly amazing week :)

Next week -- cross country!

A girl moment

It's been an exciting couple days.

As of this afternoon, the dress is bought!  Wow.  It's all kinds of real now :)  I didn't expect to go all girly on this one but have to admit was feeling pretty sappy after.  I asked our sales lady (small shop owned/run by her and her mother.  The mom helped me last time we were in; they were both there the first time.  Are you counting? Yes this is the *third* time I was in this store -- oh the insanity!)   Anyways - I asked her about the drama she sees and she informed me that "Say yes to the dress" is not, in fact, exaggerated.   Mentioned laughing, crying, screaming matches, arguments...   I've never actually seen said show, but now I'm half tempted to watch just to see what all goes on.  Now that I'm past that stage after all ;)   Yes there are pictures -- you can see them sometime mid-February.

So after entirely too much shopping and lots of assistance, the choice had been narrowed to two.  And I was having a horrible time deciding.  Photos of the two were sent to my bridesmaids and both moms and opinions requested.  Some also sought outside opinions ;)   And to a person they all came back with the same choice!  Perfect right?   Except I found myself disappointed by that, which, in itself, told me which one I wanted.   And then I remembered it's not a democracy and picked the one I liked better.  hahaha Mum helped me justify the choice by reminding me that the dress everybody else liked better would require one pretty serious alteration that the store's people wouldn't be able to do because it was a "design change" and goes against their contract.  Without that change, the dress wasn't nearly as appealing.  Sooooo - good to go!

Now just have to wait till December or January (?!?!?!) for it to come in!  Was a little appalled at that, but such is life.  I'm hoping they're underpromising on that one and it will actually come in earlier, but we shall see.   Was somewhat bemused by the fact that when they measured me for size, I'm apparently three different sizes depending on where they're measuring -- no wonder I can never find clothes that fit!!!   I told her at the beginning though that I'd be between two sizes (always - everything I buy is one or the other) and her eyes widened when she checked the measurements as it balances exactly half-way between the two *sigh*   Classic eh?  Her seamstress is going to have some work to do when it *does* get here!

And with the official deadline for our wedding trip having past, we now have a fairly good idea of who all's coming so I'm super excited about that!   Really can't wait now!   I never plan travel this far in advance -- just doesn't seem right to have to wait so very long.  Anybody who does still want to join us can!  Just let me know :)

So yeah -- pretty wired and excited.  And all this after my birthday yesterday which was all kinds of amazing.  Chris took the day off work to spend with me.  Pancakes for breakfast and a trip to the beach -- felt all kinds of spoiled :)

The only downside to the two days was not enough Sasha time, so she and I had a rousing game of frisbee/ball when I got home this aft and all is good again :)   Lexi, however, is greatly enjoying her mini-vaca and I'm sure will be all kinds of unimpressed when she goes back to work tomorrow.

Lexi's sixth birthday

Short version:  Lexi went to her first show and nobody died.

Long version, read on:

So last week...  Was it only last week?   Calendar says yes, but I'd've sworn it was ages ago!   Anyways, last week Lexi went to Caledon to school XC and was an absolute superstar.  Jumping mostly PT with the occasional entry or training fence thrown in for good luck.

Superstar!

She was all kinds of confident and really a superstar.  So this week I took her to Grandview -- where suddenly she was very much a baby horse.  hmmmmmm the difference?   At Caledon all-the-horses went to jump one and took turns jumping it.   Proceed to jump two with all the horses.  Etc etc.  So while she wasn't actually taking a lead, she had friends at every jump.  At Grandview, she had to go out on her own and was *very* sticky.  Not super nappy -- I could mostly steer and she was willing enough, just looking and hesitant to jump.   Ditches, banks and water we've got down ;)   But actual jumps are in short supply at home so they're still exciting.

So fast forward to Friday when I realize one of my students will have to scratch her entry on Saturday and none of my other students were in a position to take it.  hmmmm.  It's at Glenarden which has a short, flat course so shouldn't pose a fitness issue.   Maybe...

Now all kinds of stars had to align for me to claim the spot.  The times had to work so that I could ride and coach at the same time.  Amazingly, they did.  The organizer and secretary had to agree to the switch -- they did.  Cool.  I had to find a groom, and it had to be a competent one.   Lexi's somewhat known for her airs above the ground when she gets excited and I had two other students there to teach so whoever was helping would have to be able to handle her alone and safely get her tacked up while I was on the other side of the property.   This leaves me about three people to choose from -- and fortunately Kennedy was available and willing to come help!  Woohoo!   She's dealt w/ Lexi in the height of a meltdown before and when I offered to take over she just laughed and said she was fine, so I knew she'd be able to handle any games Lex might choose to play.   I asked my coach if he had any objections and he said go have fun.  So then as a last test, I decided to check the weather.  25deg and sunny with zero chance of rain.  Doesn't get much better than that.  I guess that means Lexi's going to a show.  Woohoo!

I was more excited than this warranted on Friday *g*   But got myself organized, pony bathed and braided, lessons taught, etc.  By this point Lexi had gone XC on Wed, been thrown in a lesson on Thurs, and done nothing on Fri -- none of which would've happened if I'd been intending to show on Sat, but sobeit.  Actually even printed my dressage test -- all kinds of prepared!

So after no sleep on Fri night, get to the barn on time and bring in and feed the ponies.  Everybody happy.  Braids still in.  The world is good.  Bobble braids -- more of an adventure than braiding was!  Definitely took longer *sigh*   Run a comb through that insane tail.  Get all the poo stains off (why, exactly, did I buy a grey horse?   I don't even *like* grey horses.   Sheesh!).  Pack up the car, which is far more of a challenge than packing the truck, and ready for the trailer.

Which didn't arrive.  I've been trailering with the same person for years and he's *never* late.  Ummmmm hmmmm - how long to wait before calling?   I didn't wait long, maybe fifteen minutes.   Turns out there was a miscommunication somewhere and he was expecting tomorrow.   Frig.  But he rearranged today's trailering to fit us in.   It did, however, make our times *very* tight.  I had Em ship Charlie tacked up and ready to go and sure enough it was about her ride time when they unloaded.   She trotted over to dressage and by the time I got there was still in warmup.   Apparently there'd been some confusion over the numbers, but the whipper in was *awesome* and sorted it all out, so Emily got her turn.  Woohoo!

Rowan showed up just as Emily was finishing and both girls had solid tests.   Rowan's test got interrupted when the judge thought she'd gone off course -- but she hadn't.  That was all sorts of confusing, but she actually rode even better after restarting!   Awesome.  The girls and I walked stadium which looked pretty nice and inviting for everything other than fences two and three which were in the shadows and going away from home.  Then I booked it back to the trailer where Kennedy had Lexi all tacked up.

Show time.   Our walk over to the dressage ring was remarkably uneventful.  When we got to warmup she was looking around and a little high, but pretty calm all things considered.   We did tack check -- carefully.  Still all good.  Walked for a bit, some circles, she's starting to relax and stretch into a contact.  Impressive baby horse!

And then we trotted.  huh.  About that.  And then we practiced standing on two legs (Chris said we get extra points for that ;).   At least she wasn't going high, just making her point *g*  And then we lept around somewhat.  And everybody kindly just gave us space.  No evil glares or muttering and after what seemed like forever but was really a very short time I got her going forward on a circle.   And shortly was able to bring her back to a trot on said circle.   And then migrate the circle a little.   Going around the outside wasn't going to happen and there were exciting moments when Lexi felt another horse was getting too close to her personal bubble (it's a *big* bubble).  Soon we could go both directions in trot and canter short bursts.  Canter wasn't terribly successful and walk didn't actually exist.  But who needs those gaits?

In warmup

So our turn came and she was better than I'd expected about leaving all her new best friends to go around the dressage ring alone.  Very sticky -- both my stick and the old-school pony-club kick were involved.  But she did it.  With no drama.  The test itself?   Well it was rather interpretive.  Our left canter circle, for instance, was neither round nor in canter *g*   Well some of it was in canter -- on the right lead.  You know, the one she doesn't like.   Sheesh.  Some of it was in a sticky trot.  Some of it was half trotting and half cantering.  We might've even had a stride or two in left canter right before the official trot transition.   hahaha the rest of the test was better, but certainly showing what a lovely shade of emerald she was.  BUT -- she stayed in the ring, with none of the warmup drama, and even had moments that were good and showed her promise.  So it's a start.  It was, however, a start that left us tied for last place *sigh*

We survived phase one :)

Next up Emily got to jump stadium, which she did beautifully.  Then the three of us headed out to walk XC -- Em on PE while Rowan and I were doing E.  Fortunately the courses run close to one another so I could talk to both girls as we went along.   Emily's course was very simple and inviting -- well within her abilities and she was able to pick out which would be Charlie's scary fences successfully.   Sweet.  I was kinda wishing that was the course Lexi would be doing.  But no.  Her course started with two maxed out and not particularly inviting fences going directly away from home.  Awesome.  Three was friendly enough -- it had one side decidedly higher than the other, so we planned to jump the low side.   It was also pointing directly home, so sb no problem.   Four was a down bank -- unusual for entry, but as previously mentioned, all my horses are comfortable with banks since they get a lot of practice.  Five and Six were coups that sb very easy except they were far away from home -- over by show jumping -- and for some reason they always look at those ones.  Ah well.   Seven was a random log.  Eight a raised log pointing toward home.  Then a nice long gallop to nine which was a replica of eight, but then a bending line to the right over a ditch.   Fun.  Then away from home again to a bench followed by two houses on a bending line.  All good.  From there heading roughly back to the start was a nice friendly roll-top and a flowerbox type coup -- with no flowers.

Logically aware Lexi would have absolutely no issue jumping, my concern was more about the nappiness and/or if she was sticky as she'd been at Grandview, I didn't want the course deteriorating.  But no way to tell till we got out there.

First though, we had to show jump.   Rowan was up before me by about 20 mins, so Lexi had a long time to learn to hang out in warmup.  She was *much* better there than she had been in dressage, but becoming very attached to Lissy.   Rowan put in an excellent clear round -- and then kindly stuck around with Lissy so Lexi would have a friend.  Does she need to grow up and do it on her own?  Absolutely.  Today?  Maybe not.

And you know what?   She was good.  Really good.  Got the whole canter and jump thing down.  Couldn't really turn or rate the stride at all, but whenever she was pointed at something she picked up the canter and went for it.  Sweet.  A little overly ambitious for the size of the fences *g*   But she did a great job.   Pulled one rail and then wasn't going near any of the others.  hahaha lots of air time!   Good though and eager.  A decent sign for future.   We do need to work on our ability to canter turns though.  hahaha minor detail.

Not touching that!

Em was off on XC next and rode *really* well.  Charlie looked at the ones she though he would and she handled it like a pro.  Sweet.  Then we actually got a break.  And I admit I left my horse with Kennedy -- who was being super helpful -- and had a drink and sat for a couple mins.  So spoiled :)

Rowan was about half an hour before me in XC so again we took both horses over together.  Lex was basically sleeping hanging out w/ Lissy.  Until Rowan left for her round.  Lexi tried to turn herself inside out to get on XC with them.  Omg.  So as a result I didn't get to see much (read any) of Rowan's round as I very definitely had to focus on Lexi.  But I was listening and the announcer said she was clear.  Sweet!   Since when they came back Lissy wasn't at all stressed, I asked them to hang out for a bit to make my life slightly easier.  And it did.  Slightly.  But now Lexi had had enough of this warmup ring game.  And then they wanted to bump my time for other people, but I begged back in and the whipper in (same awesome one from dressage) saw my horse dancing and deemed I could go in my original spot.  Phew.   Head over to XC and you could actually see Lexi's brain falling out her ears....   hahaha oh dear.   Start box was on the other side of a treeline and Lexi was having none of it.  We were back to the standing on the hind legs.  For a second I wasn't sure I'd even get her in the box, but we managed it and with perfect timing since halting would not be an option.  The tight turn, however, did get us a walk and so we *walked* out of the box.  hahaha after all that drama, we had the slowest xc start ever!  Picked up a trot which broke into a canter.  Lexi was doing a great interpretation of a llama and completely oblivious to the jump that was rapidly approaching in front of her.  Tricky.  But I just kept pointing her at it with leg on and she cleared it easily.

Wheeeeeee

Second fence was terrifying, but she wasn't the least bit hesitant about jumping it.  No, instead she cleared it by a few extra feet ;)   Three we jumped the high side.  Of course.  It took everything I had to slow her down before the bank -- but then we were pointing away from home and did the funkiest trot ever toward fences five and six.  They were a *long* way away at a llama-trot ;)    And the rest of the course continued that way -- awesome gallop toward home.  Out of control, but super nice to ride ;)   And very sticky trot away from home.  The jumps themselves might as well have not even been there.  Was a ride and a half, but in the end she was clear with just a handful of time faults.   Not too bad for baby horse's first show.

When I went to check the scores she was in sixth, but somebody behind her challenged their xc scores so Lexi ended up seventh.  Which is fine -- it's a better colour anyways.   Not as good as red, mind you, but certainly better than pink ;)   Rowan was also seventh and Emily showed us both up with third!  And both girls have now qualified for champs.  Woohoo!

Not half bad :)

So yeah, a bit of a rough start and an entertaining ride all day, but overall a great first show!   And pony learned how to gallop!  Woohoo!

Here's to having a brilliant bridesmaid!

They say that every girl dreams of her wedding dress.  And there's a slight possibility that may actually be true.  Or at least the wedding -- I'm about as ungirly a girl as you can get, but I still have always had some idea in mind of what type of wedding I wanted.  Including - gasp - the white dress.  But what I would vehemently argue is that not every girl dreams of *shopping* for said dress.

“I found the guy! After more than twenty years of being single and jerked around and cheated on and alone, I found my soul mate. Pardon my French, but you think I give a shit about the flowers?”  ― Lauren Weisberger

bahahahha okay so I didn't write it, but it made me laugh and seemed about right.  I like flowers.  Flowers are pretty.  But I'll tell you -- having a destination wedding makes life so much easier.  I have a page of flower options.  I get to pick one of those.  Cake options involve chocolate or vanilla.  Food: steak or Italian.  No tasting, testing, exploring 800 options only to find out guest Y who is oh-so-important is allergic and the whole family will have a meltdown and never speak to us again if we don't change everything to accommodate.  None of it.  It is...  Awesome.

But the dress...  That one thing I am left to my own devices on.  They'll help me get it there.  And potentially even steam if necessary once there.  But the choosing and the buying?  That's on me.

Oh dear.  Have you seen my wardrobe?  Right.  And what clothes I *do* have that look good -- yeah, Steph found those for me.

Logical solution, Steph needs to help me find a dress.  hahaha and I am sooooo lucky she was in on this plan, because I would not have survived the first excursion alone.

Yes, the first excursion.  As in there was more than one.  I'm not even kidding.

Day 1: was picked because it was supposed to be rainy.  Wouldn't want to waste a nice day shopping after all.  Yeah, it was gorgeous.   Boooo.

We started in Dundas, which I've never been to btw.  Really cute little town -- quite liked it.  The store itself, however, was fairly intimidating -- rows and rows of white and an older sales lady behind the desk watching with an eagle eye.   There was one other group of women (apparently you're supposed to shop for your dress in a pack!) there who were farther in the back, but there were two (or possibly more) completely separate dressing areas, so other than being vaguely aware of their existence, we seemed to have the place to ourselves.   Ever brave, Stephy dove into the racks of white in an attempt to find the "just right".  Obviously one of the first things is weight -- I'm getting married on a beach in Costa Rica.  It can't be too hot or too heavy.  And probably shouldn't have all that long a train ;)   Then there's the fact that I really don't care for lace...  Or glitter...  Or flowers.  And please, above all, no lace flowers with glitter centers!   Seriously.  It was like somebody glittered my grandmother's drapes.

Okay, deep breath.  Stephy found some dresses that seemed suitable while sales lady watched from the distance, and I dutifully tried them on.   Except...   The stores seem to only stock one size of each dress -- and it's easier to pin them to fit a smaller person than to make them larger for a bigger one.  So they start at about size 16.  Which would be perfect if I were, in fact, size 16.  However, for me, it's sort of like trying to wear a big, white, shiny, tent.  But here the sales lady proved very helpful as she brought her handy Home Depot clamps in to make the dress pretend to fit me.

And I'll tell you.  The first time you stand on that platform in front of the three mirrors...  Surreal.  Totally surreal.   And just a little terrifying.  Fortunately, I really didn't like the dress.  hahaha so that took a whole lot of pressure off.   Tried on a few more in this store.  One was reasonable -- but when I saw the price I just about fainted.  Frig.  Without fail -- can always pick the most expensive thing in the store.   And we were in Dundas.  It wasn't a cheap store.  Suffice to say way out of budget.  And the internet had told me my budget (which admittedly is much higher than I can afford w/o finding a new job *now*, would be reasonable if I were working at all).  We quickly escaped that store in search of more affordable venues.

Relocated to Waterdown -- a surprisingly pretty drive.   I knew there were three wedding stores within a few blocks of one another so we parked where we found space and went to the closest one we could see.  This one was still a wall of white, but a younger friendlier sales lady, who may not have had as much experience, but was all for being pleasant and helpful.   However, this was a much smaller store and she had another group to help too, so she was doing her best but somewhat tied up with them.   It's all good -- I had Steph.  Who again pushed through the racks till she found things that looked promising.

Trying things on here was all kinds of interesting.  Again, giant sized dresses.  It's really hard to keep a strapless dress up while you zip it when it's almost big enough to fall off even when zipped!   But more of a challenge were the ones that laced up.  Which, I admit, I kinda loved.  But awkward needing help to get dressed ;)   Sales lady again appeared with clips -- slightly less intimidating than the industrial ones at the first store, but no less effective.  And at this store I think we found two plausible options.  One that would need some lace removed (apparently no big deal) and one that would need straps removed or changed.  But overall actual options.  And firmly within budget.  Phew.

Alright on to the next store -- across the street and down a block.  This one won, hands down, for best customer service AND least intimidating store.  Was set up more like a house with the dresses lining the walls but not all in the middle, so far more open and welcoming.  There was even a silly little white dog.  Just had to roll my eyes at that.  But this was the first place where they asked anything beyond who's the bride and when's the wedding.  It was also the first place where Stephy didn't have to do all the finding.  They asked what we were looking for, styles we liked, budget, etc etc.  All sorts of intelligent questions really.  And then started pulling dresses off the rack.  Steph was wandering looking at things on another rack and when she got too far they stopped her because those ones would be out of budget.  Appreciated that consideration.

Dressing areas were downstairs.  Dresses still way too huge, but by this point getting used to this concept.  Sales ladies brilliant -- as I was trying things on they were actively listening to what we were saying about them and rejecting other options or finding new ones based on our comments.  Here were two possibilities.  One I *loved* the back of and was okay with the front.  The other wasn't super-wow on anything but nice overall.  And both in budget.  Definitely getting better.

Last store of day 1 -- this was just atrocious.   Gorgeous old house that had been converted into a store, but dresses packed in everywhere in no apparent order.  Once the sales ladies realized we were there they seemed to fairly strongly resent our presence.  Dressing "room" was smaller than the average broom closet.  To put in perspective, the dress didn't actually fit in the room.  All  kinds of people milling about, some with a purpose, some clearly lost in a hell of white.  It was so unpleasant I just wanted out.  One possible dress whose main selling feature was price, but too stressful being in there.   We left fairly quickly.

And treated ourselves to the wonder that is Yogurty's.   Cause, let's be honest, we earned it.

Skip a few weeks cause, well, I have a life.  And then Steph and I tried again.

Day 2:  One shop only this time and mainly because they have bridesmaid dresses in the impossible-to-find colour that C requested.  hahaha but of course, while there, I had to look at actual wedding dresses too.   Here was the extreme opposite of the last place.  They had it down to a science -- almost felt a little *too* practiced.  Like a wedding dress assembly line.   Hostess greeted us and had me fill out some basic info about the wedding.  While I was doing so, she found us our personal assistant for the day.  She listed to what I wanted, but seemed pretty determined that I didn't know what I was talking about.  Which may be true actually, but when I say I don't like lace and you show me the entirely lace dress "because it's so pretty" -- ummmm no, it's not.  Here though they actually have dresses of varying sizes -- so she measured me and figured out what size I should try.  What a novel idea!  And the dresses were arranged by weight, so anything in the first 2 or 3 rows would be okay for the beach.  Sweet.

Then they had me don a corset and the most horrific slip you'll ever meet.   Full of crinoline and puffiness.  Kinda ridiculous when I told them I wanted simple...  It was also hot.  Very hot.  So after trying on the first dress with that, I ditched it.  Basically anything I try on while wearing it isn't going to appeal to me and I'm certainly not going to buy it, so let's get rid of it.   After that, things went better.  Our sales lady disappeared for a little while, which was slightly awkward as we were in-between dresses at the time.  But other than that, she was good and helpful once she got over the idea that I didn't like lace.  She was a lot pushier than the people at the other stores though and I was really glad of Steph's company AND fashion sense as I could only see "it doesn't look right" while she could tell them *why* it didn't look right.  This helped them narrow down pretty quickly into something that *was* right.  Fairly stunning actually.  And then in a super smart move, they took me to another place in the store where I could see it in natural light -- which made it look ten times better.

Wanna make a guess at price?   In what was essentially a budget wedding store, I once again, without even trying, picked the most expensive thing in the store.  *sigh*   Classic.  In my own defense, my second choice - that I genuinely liked - was the least expensive item I tried on.  Expensive one was technically within budget (ummmm well ignoring taxes), but alterations not included.  They were everywhere else.  Sheesh.

Ah well.  Then it was Steph's turn -- but apparently bridesmaids don't rate the same level of service.  Our handy sales lady directed us to the other half of the store, which had multiple rows of bridesmaid and mother of the bride dresses.  Impressive as most places had a single rack.  She sort-of told us which ones would come in the colour we needed to find and then disappeared.  So Steph did her thing and found dresses that might seem about right and started trying on.  I did a little bit of back and forth to find sizes for her, but otherwise we got it down to three plausible options.  Huge relief there as finding that colour in normal stores when it's just not "this season" was proving to be impossible.

Anyways -- down to the top two or three dresses now.  And some day soon (has to be soon, since these things apparently take months to arrive.  Sheesh) will go try just those ones on and make a choice.  But it's been an interesting game and the biggest lesson learned: have good friends and trust them to help ;)  Cause really, this would've been far more painful and likely less successful on my own.  Yeah for bridesmaids!

In our game, the ball has a mind of its own.

Lesson booked for 9:30 this am.  So of course last night Lexi felt the need to throw a shoe.  Superstar farrier agrees to come at 8:30 to solve this problem ;)

However, this was an unauthorized change from Her Royal Greyness's regularly scheduled program.   And she was not amused.  Oh dear.  Lexi is usually remarkably good to mount.  Today...  Not so much.  I got on a vibrating llama who was moving the second my foot hit the stirrup -- if she ever paused at all.  hmmm okay then...  Fortunately after a few strides she remembered she is, essentially, lazy.  This resulted in a bouncy walk -- which, really, is fairly ideal.  So I was okay with it.  The llama aspect I was less thrilled with, but sobeit.

She was also, as is her tendency when she is high, being remarkably spooky.   She's *really* good most of the time, but when that little switch goes in her brain...  Oh dear.  Amusing when combined with the laziness aspect as she doesn't tend to go very far -- or just straight up with all four!  But still less than ideal when you'd like something that vaguely resembles dressage.  

So coach shows up and we work and we work and we work and eventually the walk is moderately successful.  And then a horse gets turned out nearby and we start all over again ;-P  Finally we get something that can progress to the trot.  The left - her easy way - is pretty atrocious.  Just to keep life interesting, the right is mostly brilliant.  Awesome.   While pretending we actually improved and didn't just change direction, move up into the canter -- also pretty brilliant.  Woohoo!

And then go back to the left.  Oh dear.  I'd wonder if she needed her teeth done if she hadn't just had them done ;}   Yeah, that kind of ride.  Grab the bit, imitate a giraffe, and run.   On the plus side, most giraffes run with their butts tucked reasonably well underneath them ;)   This is something we've been working on.   Yeah for hill work!

Yeah, just like that
Alright so eventually we get something that vaguely resembles an acceptable canter and do some work on transitions.  Of course my coach wants the transition to sitting trot -- which, now that we've actually *found* the trot is proving to be a remarkable workout for my poor, abused, abs ;)   Pluses and minuses really.  It was, shall we say, one of those moments I was rather glad my students weren't watching.

Yeah, just like that

 However, eventually pony found a brain and rider remembered (sort of) how to ride, and the world was good.  All done.

Or not.  Apparently now it's time to jump.  Sweet.  I see no way in which this could be a poor life decision.  And the left rein was our challenging one so let's opt for gymnastics off the left.

She was a little ambitious about our tiny warm-up fence *g*   hahaha but I took that as a good sign that she wanted to play this game.  Fence grew and was a very simple concept -- placing pole, 9', vertical.  Out of the trot, no problem.  Out of the canter, jump the pole and the jump together.  Every. Single. Time.  Coach's response: "well you know spreads won't be a problem."  *sigh*

Spread the placing pole out to 12'...   You're not new here.  Yup, same game.   Apparently it's just easier to throw yourself over the fence from a ridiculous distance than tuck your butt even a little for that one extra stride.

Oh well -- ignore that minor detail for now (with instructions to do lots of bounces for homework...) and build up the gymnastic.  Last fence in the end is not super tall (maybe 3') but very wide -- wide enough that it requires a pole diagonally across the top of it so she's not inclined to step down inbetween.  Ummmm really?   Have you read the last couple paragraphs?   Definitely had to laugh at that, but if any horse would oxer the placing pole and then bounce the oxer, it'd be mine.  So the pole stayed on top.

Anyways -- it was a significantly bigger fence than I've been jumping with her and I was really pleased that it required no effort whatsoever.  Just felt like she was loping over it.  Woohoo!  Seriously -- she was putting more effort into the pole at the start of the line than the oxer at the end ;)

This grid was set along the fenceline, and she was drifting in (left) slightly.  Now the gate was open and is in the corner at the end of the line.  So option instead, jump grid, halt, turn right. Which we *almost* got.  Except we skipped the halt.  hahaha most balanced 90 degree turn out of the canter ever!  Seriously shocked the two girls coming out of the barn though -- got one of those "did you mean that to happen or is something going horribly wrong?" looks.   They stuck around to watch the entertainment of the next couple rounds and seemed to decide it was just another odd thing that crazy eventer was doing ;)

Anyways -- by the end she was jumping beautifully out of the canter, treating the placing pole like a placing pole three out of four times, and landing straight and on the correct lead.  And through it all, was jumping like a horse who has some idea how long her legs are and what to do with them.  So overall, I was pretty thrilled!

And after our ride, and the completely uneventful hack afterwards (yeah!!!), I turned her out in the valley and was super pleased to watch her go through the river of her own volition.  I currently have no xc jumps to train over, but I have a ditch, two steps, and water and she does all of them.  My horse is going to be a xc machine :)

So certainly far from a perfect ride, but it feels like we finally have *some* of the pieces to work with to start to put the puzzle together.  This is a very good thing.   And on that note -- sweet dreams.

Whenever you think you're having a bad day, just remember... some people have babies.

So it turns out a domestic goddess I am not.  Who's surprised by this?  Anybody?  Awww comeon....

hahaha and those of you who can identify and are looking for a light read -- The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella is reasonably entertaining.

Some of you may be aware I've recently moved to Paris.  No, not the exciting one that'd give this blog a whole new fun twist, the one that Weather Network doesn't even know exists in Ontario.  Whose sign at the edge of town reads "Home of the ".  Yup, that's right, it's blank.  Oh dear.  hahaha I'd take a pic but, you know, it's a good 45 second drive away.

Anyways -- I'm trying to settle here and having a whole day off with the place to myself, I figured instead of going to the barn I'd stay and organize, and just generally try to make things feel more like home.

It started out incredibly well!   As in I slept a *solid* eight hours.  Unheard of.  And woke up relaxed and happy.  Sweet.  And then I made my first mistake...  I got out of bed.  I had a book and a phone; I could've stayed there all day.  And it would've been wonderful.  But alas, I deemed productivity a better option.  Right.  About that.

Came downstairs to discover the couch had been turned into a beach.  Which would've been amazing if it meant we'd been magically transported somewhere tropical.  Unfortunately what it really meant is that Sasha brought the outdoor ring home from the farm.  Oops.  I even gave her a bath last night!  If she had that much sand in her left after the bath, can only imagine what would've happened if I hadn't bathed her.  So yes, the couch was completely covered in sand -- not a light sprinkling either, you could make castles out of this stuff.   And the floor had a fabulous exfoliating quality to it that it generally lacks.  Oh dear.

First task -- vacuum.   Np.  Like most boys, Chris enjoys his toys -- even the mundane work-related ones, and as such has a pretty top quality vacuum.   Which did an awesome job on the floor.  And then didn't want to release the hose to let me do the couch.  Boooo.  And being A - not mine, and B - likely more money that I'd be inclined to spend on a vacuum, I deemed it best not to force the issue.  And so the entire stand-up vacuum got loaded onto the couch to eradicate the beach.   The kinda awkward you'd see on a bad romcom *sigh*   But it did, in fact, do the job.   Score: Laur 1, Inanimate object: 0.

Let Sash back in the house and she curls up on the couch while I putz around making breakfast.   When she comes to see if I'm inclined to share, I discover...  Not a beach exactly, but a definite sandbar.  Poor puppy has to have another bath -- possibly her least favourite thing ever.  And I got to vacuum the couch a second time.   So. Much. Fun.   Let me tell you.   And Tucker had a huge temper tantrum when Sasha got a bath.  Barking and growling in serious attack mode.  Seriously dog?  You *really* want me to throw you in the tub too?   So random.

But now only part of the house is clean.  Which makes the rest of the house look really bad.  Argh.  Toss on some laundry and while that's going clean more.  Definitely not what I was aiming for with my day, but sobeit.  Plans change.  In my world they change more often than they play out ;)

Cleaning the kitchen and the stove is disgusting so taking the various pieces apart to clean.  Let me tell you, people may mock my microwave and telephone style of cooking, but my stove *never* gets dirty!  Significantly easier to keep a kitchen clean when you never use it ;-P    Anyways, lift off the burner protector (I'm sure that has a better name) and a huge piece comes off that, well, I'm pretty sure is not supposed to...  hmmmm Try to put it back on and it won't attach.  I can see how it *should* attach, but it's just not inclined to co-operate.   Gas stove.  Don't think I'll play that game.  Score:  Laur 1, Inanimate object 1.

Anyways -- with things a little less sandy, and slightly cleaner, I could start organizing.  Go to put up a picture...  And promptly knock another one -- that's actually my favourite -- to the ground.   Glass everywhere.  *sigh*   Score:  Laur 1, Inanimate object 2.   Get picture hung with minimal difficulty.  Add buying replacement glass and rehanging the original photo to my list of things to do.  Score: Laur 2, Inanimate object 3.

Okay so list of errands:  deposit cheque at bank, drop mail in mailbox, pick up some things at the store -- I even had a list!  Lists are good.  Especially on days when the inanimate objects have a chance of winning.  And now get new glass for frame.  And I got smart and brought the frame *with* me.  Score: Laur 3, Inanimate object 3.

Walk to town.  Yes seriously -- I slept through my morning run remember.  And town is...  Well not quite the size of Paris ;-)   Carrying my mail, phone, wallet, and keys.  The world is good.   Until I get to the bank.  Ummmm did you notice the cheque was *not* on that list.  Fail.  Score: Laur 2, Inanimate object 3.   Ah well, stupid should hurt.

The store actually had everything on my list!  Woohoo!  But, that unfortunately was counteracted by the fact that the photo store was not open.  Seriously.  Welcome to Paris.  Apparently they don't open on Wednesdays.  So random.  On the plus side, I also discovered an ice-cream hole-in-the-wall (literally, like a drive through window for ice cream).  On the down side, it was also closed.   Boo.   So just considering that a net zero on the score chart.

Actually remembered to detour and drop the mail off!   Normally that wouldn't be worth a point, but today I'm scrounging ;)   Score: Laur 3, Inanimate object 3.   Get home, still a little bummed about the picture frame fail and decide the porch needs to be swept.  You'd think I might've figured out by now that today is not a good day for domestic tasks?   But apparently too much sleep makes me stupid.  So sweeping away, reasonably productive, until I move something and come up with my hand covered in sap.  Ugh.   Score:  Laur 3, Inanimate object 4.

Giving up on the great outdoors, manage to get stuff put away all good, and decide to attempt the stove again.  This time after just a little fiddling it went back into place.  Woohoo!   Score: Laur 4, Inanimate object 4.

And I deemed that a good time to quit ;)  Will attempt another trip to the bank shortly, but for now I'm going to just pretend today hasn't started yet.