Great lesson today

Peter came with us to Jennifer’s house and brought his camera. He took over 400 photos and ended up with 50 he liked really well. Here is the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/pyovich/LessonDaySeptember2008#

Unfortunately, when I see photos of myself riding all I think is “oh, gosh, I didn’t feel fat till I saw the pictures” So, I have to take a deep breath and remind myself that we just have more work to do and then not beat myself up.

Today Maggie spent time playing with one of Jennifer’s horses while Jennifer worked with Dixie on the ground. Dixie proved to be really good at tuning Jennifer (and Maggie) out and Jennifer spent a lot of time smacking her with the carrot stick and rope. Jennifer hates smacking horses, but she had to get her attention and keep it! For now we have decided to take more lessons and spend less time competing…For Maggie that translates to no time competing. No fall NATRC rides for her or me. We want to wait till Maggie is really good and can be competitive and can have nice comments written on her card. Her next attempt will be the trail challenge at Teresa’s the end of November.

My lesson was another passenger lesson. IT started out by Jennifer showing me some tips for teaching Liberty not to crowd the next horse only it morphed into something completely different. She discovered his draw was broken. HE has never been “drawable” in the round pen and always does outside turns. He never just comes in. So, I rode and she directed. I rode with no bridle at all and when things got fast I was instructed to sit deep and tight in the saddle. It was pretty exciting at times and I felt like I was being whipped right and left, but I stayed on and we had so much fun. She showed me how to actually move him sideways on the ground, which is something that so many people say (teach the sidepass on the ground first) but no one has ever actually shown me how to do that before today. I have pretty light hands (according to past dressage instructors) but every time I go without a bridle, I see how much I’m really pulling. I started teaching him how to backup without reins today and I learned a lot about how to steer him without a bridle too…he wasn’t very good at some of it, and it made me aware again how much I resort to using my bit and reins. I think if I’m practicing this alone, I will have to have a bridle on him because I need the ability to steer if he doesn’t do as I ask but I now have a ton of things to practice.

The practice comes at a good time. Next weekend is the Parelli Tour so I won’t be trailering anywhere, but just riding at home for the next week. The following week is the Benefit ride, but it looks like I won’t be going to that either…I don’t think. I’m torn about taking myself to it and competing, but I know that Maggie would be sad if I went without her.

I don’t think we’ll stay off Dixie altoegher, but I think that we’ll spend more time on the ground trying to get her softer and lighter.

Maggie swimming with Doc

Maggie has been attending camp in Aledo this week at Ironstar Farm. She has had so much fun. I heard Monday that they were going to have a surprise today, but since it was a surprise I didn't know about it ahead of time. Maggie has grown to really like all the Parelli games and is now wanting to get her Parelli level 1 certificate. I have never been a huge fan of Parelli, but I admit that his followers really seem to enjoy him, so I'm willing to give it a try.

Camp is keeping her busy every day and she is active. The other thing keeping us all active is the new Wii. I have lost 1.8 pounds since Sunday (could be normal fluctuation, so we'll see) and Maggie has lost 1 pound. Tomorrow am we're going to get up and do 15 minutes on the Wii and the treadmill and then switch so we get 30 minutes of exercise in first thing in the am. My abs and side muscles are so sore. One of the games at which I really stink is a hoola hoop game...I am just terrible. I can only spin about 30 times before I lose the hoops and they crash. Peter is currently the king at 303 spins. The other game that I keep practicing is a game where you have to keep good balance while a team of soccer players kicks balls at you. You have to head the balls and dodge the shoes and panda heads. You lose a point for every shoe that hits you and lose 3 points for every panda head. You gain a point for every ball you butt. It's hard b/c the panda heads look a lot like the balls as they come flying toward you. I've been surprised how little control I have over parts of my balance. I also am very sore in many of my deep muscles. There are also aerobic games and strength and yoga games. It's really so much fun. My goal is to log 30 minutes every day.

Maggie is looking forward to going to see my mom next week. She is going to go to Silver Dollar City and a couple water parks...I guess that means that Peter and I get the Wii all to ourselves.

Rainy Saturday and Muddy Sunday

No lessons today b/c of the rain we had yesterday. This is the first Sunday in months where I haven't been out of town or teaching at the barn. I changed the one lesson I had today to tomorrow. I will be going to do a massage or two here in a little bit, but at the moment I"m still in my jammies.

Peter, Maggie, Jena (cat's daughter) and I have been playing with our American Idol Karaoke game. I have changed the judging to harder on my singing to make it more fair, but I still keep winning. Fun to win, but I wish that they would win sometimes. I even changed myself to random song so I could get songs I don't know...Poor peter got an even harder song on random than I did. Sometimes he just gives up and starts cutting up. I laugh so hard I cry. LIke now...he's singing "Don't let the Sun Go Down on Me" and it's really awful and I can't help myself. He is so much fun and tries so hard.

I got a couple songs that I don't know and I bombed too, so we're even.

Now the girls are starting a new game and we're all going to do it on random. I've promised to change my vocal judging to medium to level the playing field b/c even when I don't know a song I typically have a good enough hear to hear it. I can usually gather enough points by the end not to lose completely. Now it's set up for hte game to choose a random song...last round I cheated and picked different random songs for Peter since the one he got wasn't a good choice. Unfortuantely the one we ended up with wasn't in his range at all! It's been a fun day.

Tomorrow I hope to ride Liberty and teach my lessons. It will be a busy day to be spending with no school.

Playing Catch up again

Frankie and Willie had another go round this week. My friends say that the only reason frankie is still alive is b/c i love him. They are problaby right...I've never known a dog that is this big of a pain. I talked to the vet about putting him to sleep b/c of his aggression toward other dogs, but they urge me not to. I have tried, once again to find him a home, but I'm having no luck at all. No one wants him. If I tell people about him, they really don't want him...I can't imagine him being here for the next 10 years of my life, but then I can't imagine putting him to sleep either. I feel like if I just could get him enough exercise we'd be ok...so I guess more exercise it is.

I spent the day grocery shopping. My Christmas cooking is very expensive and detailed, but I won't be buying anymore groceries after this is over! I have food to be able to cook in the next week or two and that's good. I've been eating out way too much! After hitting a low of 198.8, I'm up to 204. I haven't done anything different that I can tell either, so I don't know what's different. I hate that! I lost it easily and gained it just as easily. sigh. I'm back to weighing each day b/c I find it helps me stay on track.

We have a nice couple of days planned...My food is mostly cooked in the crock, which will be nice. We're having a crock pot version of Cioppino for Christmas Eve and Shawn is coming over. I'm making Rachel Ray's Christmas pasta on Sunday. Both will go well in the crock so I won't be tied to the kitchen. Usually we go to the barn to play with our new horsey toys on Christmas day, which we will do again this year. Alexa is coming over for the Christmas dinner portion of the day...I have to get to the barn for a little while anyway...I'm not sure we have times set for eating yet.

The day after Christmas, we are going to rearrange our house as we often do this time of year. We're going to put the living room in the front room, like it was in the original days of this house. Our couch just fits in the room so that will be cozy. We were talking about how we need a flat screen TV to put in the room...but I don't think we'll be doing that this year. We're going to clean really well for my dad coming and move our office back into the big room so we have more space. We have a lot of "stuff" that will go into the room that we now use as a bedroom and it will be for music and massages and just a "quiet" place. I've already started to dump a lot of stuff like books and just other stuff. I get new stuff at Christmas and then I purge...or I purge before I get.

I finally got Peter something for Christmas that he'll like...took me awhile to find something. I did have one thing i forgot to buy b/c Cat was with me and i just got distracted. But, I did get him some things he'll like I think...More on that later.

We have my computer working for now, but it's not great yet. all of a sudden the wireless is working (don't know why) but it's still not burning cd's. If it keeps working, I'll try to get around in the next day or two and say hi. My sims are still going...they've been fun.

I had a lesson with Liberty yesterday. He's just doing ground work for now and he's going to be great. I have been paying Renee, at my barn to help me with him. She's a fantastic horse trainer. I hope to get with her again next week as well, but I have to wait and see what the weather is going to be like. I have been doing a ton of clinton anderson stuff and he's doing it really well. She's teaching him more John Lyons type stuff and he's learning that quickly as well. He's so smart!

on getting bucked off

It hurts more to get bucked off a big horse than it does a small horse. I had gone 3.5 years without being bucked off and it was lovely. Yesterday, that all changed when I over cued a green horse and fell off after 2 bucks. It was not pretty. The people watching said that besides the one expletive I uttered that I said "I'm going down" and then I hit the dirt. I was fine and I got back up and rode Merlin some more...but I didn't ask him to canter again. The worst part was that it happened while I was teaching and everyone at the barn was watching the lesson or just sort of hanging out. It was really embarrassing.

Maggie has been sick with the stomach bug, and I'm thinking it's happening to me now. I have a slight fever and my tummy is growling, but so far so good. I almost never throw up and hope to keep it that way.

The weather here is been amazing! Next weekend a bunch of us from my barn are going camping. I'm still trying to work out the details. Originally it started out being adults and kids b/c some of the folks had to take the kids or not go. Now some of it has changed and I find myself wishing that I could go without maggie and have an adult weekend. But, it will be fun.

I'm starting to plan next summer out already. Maggie is going to camp in Bar 50 ranch to camp in mid-july. I did that math and figured out that it was cheaper to stay the week there than it was to drive there and back on either end of the week. Plus, Maggie will be more likely to have fun knowing I'm close by. I know it's too early for most people, but I'm hoping that I can get friends to come spend the week with me. I can camp and ride and relax and swim and be there so Maggie isn't worried or alone since she's never done overnight camp before.

I'm afraid I'm getting her bug...Signing off now b/c I'm not feeling so hot.

Life Lessons of a Ranch Horse by Mark Rashid

First I have to start with a brag. I weighed this evening when I got home and I was 199, so I am now under the 200 pound mark. Only 7 pounds to go to be where I was when I had my 6 week check up after giving birth to Maggie. Of course, this isn't my official weighing day...that's on Wednesday, but it was still good to see. I find that I am puzzled, yet thankful, for my continued weight loss. I never felt like I did anything abnormal that made me fat, and I don't' feel like I am doing anything extraordinary to get thin either. I'm just praising God that the weight is coming off!

I got to ride Liberty again today and he was just a bit of a turkey. Nothing major, but he was ornery not wanting me to pick up his head from the grass. I swear that little horse lives to eat! I taught a lesson while I was on him and made him do a couple of leg yields. It was really, really exciting to have him move sideways off my leg that way. It's so cool to work with a horse who is a blank slate. He tries so hard and he's such a dear. I know he's eventually going to be Maggie's, but in the mean time I"m having her ride Freeley. She needs to learn from him, and I want to ride this sweet little horse before I have to give him up.

What I wasn't happy about today was the way I taught part of my lesson. I wasn't very successful at explaining the leg yield to my adult student or the daughter. The daughter did it better mainly b/c she is looser, but I feel like I failed the dad. He is very concrete and is looking for black and white answers. Riding isn't black and white. IN the beginning you pull a rein and use a leg and it's sloppy, but the horse goes. As you go along things are more complex. The leg and the hands are static, they are on a continuum. They are elastic. After having given one instruction in the beginning to ride a certain way, I'm trying to get him out of that mold to move a different way. I'm going to consult a couple books and some other instructors to help me find the words to teach this maneuver better. They did walk/trot/canter and they looked good. They are in more control and they are handling whatever horse I put them on so much better, but to me it's superficial. I want to teach them more than the basics. I want to teach them about circling and reversing. I want to teach dressage even though they have western saddles on the horses. I know they are probably just coming to ride, but I have hit a wall and I want to go beyond the wall.

Enough rambling for the night. Mark Rashid's book Life Lessons of a Ranch horse is calling. The title has a link to his web page.

Still Struggling

Today I am leaning toward taking Liberty back. I don't want to take him back, I just wonder if it isn't the smartest thing to do. Maggie needs lessons and that would be a better way to spend the money. Of course, if she doesn't have a horse to ride, that's not so smart either. I still have a week to make up my mind. I just have to keep thinking on it and praying. So far I'm not sure I have my answer...or if I have my answer, I don't really like my answer so I keep questioning whether I have my answer. Funny how that works sometimes.

I'm really struggling today with some things that I need to help Maggie with. Her attitude toward people telling her what to do is terrible if she doesn't like them. She outright dismisses people she doesn't respect. I need to teach her how to respect people she doesn't like and listen to them even when she doesn't want to. I took a long time to learn that and I hate to see her go through it...but it may be something that has to happen in it's own time. Life may have to bite her for her to get the message. Some people have told me things that she did or said over the weekend that I'm not happy to hear. I have talked her about them and she says that her actions were misinterpreted. I do actually believe her, but I'm disturbed that people think she was behaving inappropriately. I'm trying to teach her that what other people think does matter, at least in some things.

My heart is heavy today.

A Long Hot Day--BEER

I have to start this blog talking about my daughter. I know I talk about her a lot, but it's b/c I like her so much. I don't just love her, I like her too. She's sweet and she's funny and she's just an all around great kid. This is a photo of her taken in Arkansas when we were on our trip.

Peter has been out of town this week and we have been busy running around, watching TV, etc. I have let Maggie sleep with me but usually I don't b/c she kicks and she kicks bad. Last night we were both so tired that if she kicked me, I never noticed. I told her she could sleep with me again tonight. She's so happy.

We've been sitting here watching Psych, the TV show on USA on Fridays. we love this show. It's so funny. It cracks us up completely. It's almost over and then she's going to go shower and we're heading back to bed.

I had about quit watching TV until we got the dish with the DVR. I love the DVR...I am now a computer/TV addict while I watch the DVR.

I have discovered a new beer. It's called Blue Moon. It's really yummy, especially when served with an orange. I didn't have an orange so I've just poured it into a glass. Tasty stuff this beer.

I taught 2 lessons today and then I saw one music therapy client. then I came home and just melted from the heat. I have done some paper work for my job and made some phone calls. None of the parents called me back, which was rather discouraging...oh well, I'll try again tomorrow. I wanted to get the appointments schedule and done b/c I would like to get paid sooner than later. It takes a month before you get paid, so I wanted to start filling up the shoot with clients. I was so bummed that no one called me back.

Off to bed, pretty tired!

Finally, time for a longer note

This week has been crazy. It's been just like having a real job this week with getting up early, buzzing here and there and just generally staying busy. I've seen clients and go to the barn every day this week to help Tracy, the new girl, do her job. It's been a very active week. I go back tomorrow, but Jackie has said that she wants her to do it alone next week, so while I may stop in on her next week, I won't be running out there to do everything for her.

I've told Jackie that I'd be happy to do 2-4 days a month to deduct from my board like we used to do. It will be nice not to owe any money on the barn if she wants me to do it. I am not teaching as much as I'd like right now and I need to fill in the gaps. It doesn't do me much good to have more music therapy money if my other money drops off. I seem to be stuck at about $500/month for income. Of course, once school starts I may have more clients, massages may be picking up and I may have more students. sigh...

I'm sitting here at my desk writing notes for music and massage therapy. I had a client cancel on me again this week and it's so frustrating. IF I don't see them, I don't get paid. This client is an adult and she doesn't talk to me directly, but calls her mom to have her cancel the appointment. I guess when they get back from vacation I'll have to let them know that she is going to have to be consistent or the agency will take the service away from her. She has been having pain in her jaw and has finally gotten to a doctor. They are also trying to get her a massage consult, so she'd be another one I can see for 2 hours and I could go during the day which would be great for my schedule. I just have to get her on track. I have a horrid time making myself write my notes. I should write each one when I come home each day, but somehow it's easier to just get up on Saturday am and write them all and mail them.

We're off to see the new Harry Potter movie in a few minutes. Maggie has been in her room finishing the book off on CD. I wish that I could get her to actually read everything that she absorbs so well listening to. Some day there will be something she wants to read and it won't be available on CD...

New post for the day

I was posting a lovely blog on myspace about my camp today and it was quite clever, slightly funny, a bit of irony thrown in...I saw something I wanted to change and I made the terrible mistake of hitting the back button and POOF it's all gone. Sigh...now it's almost 10 pm and my tired self is winding down for bed. I hate it when that happens.

Well, we had riding camp today and it was fun. I had two of the kids from last w/e, and 2 new kids. One is a brand new rider, full of spunk and a great student. She is definitely above average and I found out she's a child actress. She was so embarrassed when her mom told me that. I guess she spends time just wanting to be a normal kid. I think Maggie will like her. She seems to be a good little rider.

The other older girl was in camp all week and she was a bit shy to start with, but I used her as a helper a lot and she really rose to the occasion. She helped me with the two little kids...the little boy was, well, a boy, but I think I was better prepared to work with him this week. I think perhaps he's just a little ADD and he's really smart. He asks tons of questions but isn't always very good about thinking through his actions. I found him crouched by Joe Bear studying his back legs and trying to get the caked on mud off of him. I made him sit for awhile after that and he was in "time out" He said he didn't like time out...I told him I didn't like sitting in the ER with my riding students. He didn't have much to say after that. hehehe.

rain, rain go away...Vacation chatter

It has been raining for days. Well, at this exact moment it's not raining, but b/c of a low pressure system it keeps raining. I have gone too many days without riding.

I have house work to do, but I don't want to do it. I have massage therapy sessions this afternoon and I don't want to do it that either. I just want to sit in my dark room and watch TV and do nothing...

Well, I never finished that post yesterday. In spite of my desire to bury myself reading blogs and doing nothing, I actually did quite a lot yesterday. Then today, we got up and ran to the barn because I was supposed to teach lessons today. We took Jena, Cat's daughter, with us to ride too. Today we played horse swap. When my lesson was a no show, Maggie rode Freeley, I rode Jena's horse, Dixie, a cute little pony type horse, and Jena rode Joe Bear. Since it was wet and muddy our goal for the day was just to ride at the walk in circles...mainly, we just wanted to sit on our horses. They have all gotten used to running alot, so we just walked and walked and walked some more. Ok, not too exciting, but good practice for Dixie and Joe Bear especially since the kids spend so much time running.

Then we drove my trailer all over Ft. Worth getting my trailer weighed and inspected. I took the girls to lunch at Cheddars and then we also went to Cabela's. I bought a sleeping pad that I found really comfortable. I also looked at a cot tent that puts my old, rickety California sleepers to shame. Unfortunately, we stayed at Cabela's too long and we had to drive home in the parking lot that is I-35W on Friday afternoon. I was tired just sitting in the truck trying not to have a wreck.

Tomorrow is more riding camp. Since Nicole is doing camp every day, she decided she didn't also want to do camp on the w/e's and she subcontracted it out to me. It's been great for my bottom line, since I'm starting to use the money I earn to pay all my horse expenses. I now actually have an income to tax to pay for the horses. Peter has asked me to do that, and I'm working very hard to make that happen.

I have two new music therapy clients starting next week. This is great! Though one of the folks is down in Benbrook...that's close to the barn so I'm sure I can make it work, especially if I get on well with the clients. I still have one more hoop to jump through for the other agency. I have to get my CPR classes done, but then I will be working for DSSW as well. I'm going to be busy come fall, and that suits me fine. The only part I won't like is that I will have to work in the afternoon and evening. Fortunately, since maggie has Fridays off, we will get to be together on Fridays and the weekends. It's not my favorite schedule, but it will be good for now.

The summer is one third over. Maggie and I were supposed to go trail riding for our vacation next week to the Hill country Natural Area. However, all the trails are closed due to all the rain we've had in TX this month. It's over 6 hours away, so I won't be going if the trails aren't open. It's just too far to drive. I wills end my friend Bambi for my portion of the camping, but I won't drive that far. If it rains, we'll go somewhere closer, or just wait and go later in the month. I also had planned to go have Centered Riding Lessons with Lynn Larson in Georgetown and Maggie is supposed to go to her grandparents with her dad...so I have to figure it all out if the weather messes up our plans.

In August we'll do our Missouri tour and go see my family. I'm going to take maggie to Worlds of Fun, in Kansas City...one of my favorite places growing up. I think we're going to Silver Dollar city with my brother, mom and my brother's kids. I wanted maggie to fly up to see my mom early, and let me come and get her and continue our trip, but they wanted her to come on Monday, and then have me come on Friday. For whatever reason, Maggie just isn't comfortable going up there alone. Mom is not pleased that maggie won't come, but she is just really nervous about being away from home this year without a parent.

I guess that's about it for now. I want a lazy day.

Busy week, Hot Saturday, Last stargate

I haven't had much time to post this week, but we're watching TV and I thought it would be nice to write something.

I took Cat yesterday for a pedicure b/c it was her birthday. That was nice. Peter then took me out to dinner to the fondue restaurant. We hadn't done that in a few years and it was great. I ate way too much! So much so, I guess, that when I weighed today the scales said I had gained about 40 pounds. Obviously, this is not true, since I had a 3 pound weight loss on Wednesday when I weighed in.

I taught riding camp today. I had four kids and 2 were great and two were a little young. It went well though and I will earn some good money this w/e. I have to go do it again tomorrow. I confess it makes a bit for a long day.

We watched the last Stargate Sg-1 tonight and it was a terrible episode. I was so bummed b/c I wanted to see a great finale, but no such luck.

A sunday rant

I did not intend my blog to be a place to rant and be grouchy, but it seems that sometimes this is the best place that I can vent.

I teach riding lessons. I have been teaching lessons in western saddles because my barn has western saddles. I teach English riding but I use western saddles. I have been taking lessons in Centered riding and plan to get certified as instructor eventually. I like Centered Riding b/c it addresses all types of riding, it's neither English nor Western. Anyone can use the techniques. It takes you into any direction you want to go.

I recently had a student whose mother decided that I did not teach western enough. I'm not sure what that means exactly, but after I said something about teaching basic riding through my english experience in a western saddle, she dropped us from lessons and found a "western" trainer. Now I have a new potential student who isn't sure if she wants to take from me or someone else b/c they don't think I'm English enough. I have been doing dressage for 14 years. How English is that? Until one year ago I didn't even own a western saddle that I used regularly (I have had a couple through the years, but they were always the spare, "friend", saddle, not MY saddle). I'm just so frustrated. It makes no sense to me whatsoever.

This is why I don't like teaching. I feel like I'm stuck on the whim of each set of parents. I am a good teacher. I have a lot to offer, but I don't seem to ever get the respect I feel I deserve. It seems that folks don't respect what we do in CTR, or it's not english or western enough or something. I feel like I have to claw my way up the ladder at every turn. I have more years of experience than both of the other girls. I know that they are good teachers and the three of us have no arguments. We work together really well and get along great. I just don't understand why the parents think that at 24 they are more experienced than I am at 40. I have taken lessons and I have been riding for close to 20 years. I wish I could figure out what it is that doesn't gain me the success and respect. I also wish I could learn just not to care.

In good news, there was an error on my score card for the Indian territory CTR Memorial day w/e. I won in Horsemanship and Freeley won in horse. I knew about Freeley, but I thought I had come in second in Horsemanship. This means that if either of us wins another ride this year, we'll be noviced out. I'm so amazed that we're doing this well. I'm so pleased with my boy. He's so awesome!!!

How much can I cram into one day?

Well, today, the answer is a lot.

It looked like it was going to rain today, but the weather was all ok. We went to the barn and visited the horses. I had to trim Deli's feet as she's going to the CTR with me this w/e. I trim her every 3-4 weeks depending on how much riding she's getting. It's hard work, but I get the satisfaction of doing it myself and I save $75 ($25x 3 horses) every 6 weeks or so. I have been trimming for a few years and I have never been overly confident of my skills, but recently, I have begun to be more confident and I find that I really like the way their feet look so I keep at it. It takes me about an hour to do one of my horses and I typically can't do more than one horse a day. When I'm on schedule, I trim one horse per week on a 3 week rotating basis...Usually though, i'm not so on with it, and I end up thinking "shoot, there's a ride in four days and I have to trim her feet" I dn't have any particular trimming style. My friend, Betsy, who taught me to trim uses the Pete Ramey and Jamie Jackson trimming method and I just have followed what she's taught me.

Today marked the beginning of riding camp at the barn also. I am not doing the camp myself, though I do teach lessons at New Ground Farms. A lady named Nicole is doing the camp. She has four kids each week and it looked like the kids were really enjoying themselves. I did one camp last summer, but I didn't feel like being tied up all summer. So when Jackie said that Nicole was going to do a camp, I was relieved. This leaves me free to teach my students as well as rounding up more students on my own, but I'm not tied down to being at the barn all day every day all summer. Some other folks showed up wanting horses for their grand kids to ride, but I had to run, so Natalie, Jackie's daughter took over doing it. We helped them get ready. They used Joe Bear and Deli, who are great lesson horses.

I had promised Maggie we'd go swimming next so we ran off to the Maverick to swim. We only had a half hour, but it was fun to hang out in the pool. We had the whole place to ourselves. Maggie is still having trouble with her bubble blowing, so we spent a lot of time bobbing and blowing bubbles and I started to show her the different strokes and kicks. She needs a kick board so she can practice her strokes, but she has never really been interested in swimming correctly and now she is, so that was a nice surprise.

The day ended with us at Flint doing massage for a couple hours.

Tomorrow I told Maggie that I'd take her to the park to go biking. Then she's going to a friend's and I'll have a couple hours to myself before I go a music therapy assessment.