Still no keys

I have been looking for my keys for almost 3 hours now and they are still missing...I can't figure out where they would have gone. Cat even came and helped me look. I'm totally stranded here for the day. It's not too bad though since my house will be really clean by the time I'm done searching.

Feeling really stupid

I was headed out the door just over an hour ago to do my music therapy rounds when I realized my keys weren't in my purse. I figured they were in one of the few places I set my keys (I tend to be methodical about the keys b/c I really don't want to lose them! I have searched for over an hour and I finally had to cancel my rounds today in Springtown. Do you know how stupid I felt calling up the school and telling them I couldn't get there b/c my keys were missing? OK, well, I didn't quite say that. I said I couldn't get my car to start, which is actually, the truth, sort of. Cat is coming over in a few minutes to help me look for them some more, but I'm going to take the point of view peter often does in these situations: what a wonderful opportunity this will be for me to clean house while looking for my darn keys. I'm pretty discouraged that they are missing. This is very unusual for me. I "always" put them on the table, or in my purse, so the fact that they aren't either of those places is distressing. I have even looked in my garage, my bathroom and my kitchen, as well as the back of my truck.

Speaking of the truck: I have 2 other vehicles here that I could drive with the spare keys. I found the spare keys where I keep them, but I didn't realize the escort didn't have a spare. I unlocked Peter's car to see if they had fallen out of my purse after supper, and I called Cracker Barrel to see if they fell out during supper, but no such luck.

I'm in the process of accepting that I am just supposed to be home today. I'm just really, really frustrated that I'm not home by my own free will.

My dad came to town last night on his way to a football game in San Antonio. WE had a nice visit and ate supper together. THere was a lot of sodium in my meal though b/c my weight was way, way up today. Yuck...

I have a headache

My head is killing me. I have taken Aleve, I have eaten, drunk coffee and taken sudafed even though I hate the buzz, but my head is killing me. Tomorrow I will go to the chiro and get a 30 minute massage (not long enough, but since it's covered by my copay, it will have to do)


I'm including pictures that Maggie drew. One of them is an invention she created which would be really cool if it could happen...She's invented a new way to hold on Easy boots.

My Head is Killing Me

My head just is killing me today. I'm sitting here watching TV with maggie and then I plan to run to the barn. Maggie is still crouping, so she can't go today. I'm going to take the opportunity to get organized for the ride next week, ride Liberty, ground work with Freeley to see if he's going to be sound for me. Maggie has to stay home and heal before Sunday b/c she is doing the barn with Jena. She is actually looking forward to working b/c she wants the money. I'm happy to hear this since she is learning a good work ethic for how hard it is to work with horses.

Today I would love just to stay home all day, but since it's going to rain tomorrow I figure I'd better be responsible and go put a blanket on my horses so they won't be cold. I just wish my head would quit hurting. I'll stay home and watch TV and play games tomorrow.

I'm considering getting Lasik done on my eyes. One of my friends did it this week and woke up the next morning being able to see beautifully. She told me how much it was, and it was "only" $3000 for both eyes. I didn't think that was all that expensive. Of course, I can't do it now, I have to save up to be able to do it. I told someone yesterday about it and they made a big deal about how much it cost. I can't do it till I save up for it anyway, so it's not like I can do it tomorrow, but I've been so blind for so long, I'm dying to get it done. I can't hardly wear contacts anymore. I always said that if I couldn't wear contacts then I would get my eyes done. Since I have been wearing my glasses so much, my friend says that I could probably get the initial appointment and the surgery done the same week, when usually you have to wait for awhile to get it done. My girlfriend says her surgery took 10 minutes and she woke up able to see the next day. I think I have a new thing to save my pennies for...they have financing, but I can't very well finance my eye surgery if I'm not willing to let Peter finance a new(er) car...so I wait.

Thanksgiving day and weight loss

I weighed this am before going to my Thanksgiving dinner and I have hit a new low since just post pregnancy...I'm now 198.8. The lightest I was after childbirth was 6 weeks after Maggie was born and I weighed in at 194. I was 186 or so before I got pregnant, so felt pretty good about that. Then, just a few weeks later, I broke my shoulder when I got bucked off a horse and sat around in a chair for three months, not exercising and being fed by Shawn, my large ex-husband who is also a really good cook. When the dust settled I was around 208 and it just went up from there. IN 2003 I topped out at around 224 before I found distance riding and starting working more. I have bounced between 202 and 218 for several years until my body seemed to finally get the hang of this weight loss thing this fall. I contribute it to working and being too busy to eat, moving move and giving up diet sodas. Now, we'll just have to see what I weigh after Thanksgiving...there's the goal, to drop a bit more weight after this week.

Maggie is sick with a bad cold and cough, but we are heading to Thanksgiving at Nick and Stacy's house. She will have to stay away from the baby, but she will be OK. I have inhalers and we'll take the nebulizer if we need to. Poor thing has been sick so much this fall. Sometimes I think it's in direct relationship to my need to work. When I was home it seems like she was never sick and now that I need to work, she is always home. IT's probably not any different. I probably am just reacting to the small amount of time I get to be home these days.

ON a positive note about work though: I found out that I can become certified as a Therapeutic riding instructor and teach lessons through my agency. I'm so excited. I can make $60/hour as a TR instructor through the agency that already employees me.

A quiet evening in my chair

I'm sitting in my chair. I love this chair. It's a big, striped double chair with an ottoman and it came from the salvation army a couple years ago. It's in bad shape, and some of the fabric is rotten. Plus, when I sit in my chair, I'm an island so we don't all sit together. Peter would like for us to sit together. Tonight is the last night I will really spend in my chair since on Saturday our new sectional sofa will be delivered. It's got a chaise lounger at one end and 2 ottomans so we will have lots of room to stretch out together on the sofa as a family. I'm really looking forward to it, but I am going to miss my cozy chair. I don't think there is room for it and the new sofa both in the living room.

I'm going camping with my girlfriends over the weekend. Originally a bunch of us were going to take our kids and slowing the kids dropped off till it was just Jena and Maggie left Cat and I decided that we would ditch the kids on Peter (actually, he volunteered happily) and we could just have an adult weekend. We don't get those often so it will be a blast. We are going tomorrow afternoon and will be back on Sunday. It's all been made possible by my friend Alexa, who is going to let Maggie hang out with her on Friday. I'm very grateful and will have to do something nice for her...we're going to breakfast first thing. maybe I'll buy her breakfast?

I'm very tired tonight. It's been a long week. I will get up in the morning and pack up the truck and hit the road early so we can get on the road and get set up and get busy with the process of hanging out.

I lost .2 pounds this week. I forgot to report last week. I was up .4 pounds last week and I lost .2 this week, so I have hovered between 199, my lowest and 200.4 the last couple weeks. I have stepped up exercise and I'm eating better. I can really tell now when I've had too much sodium b/c I feel bloated. On the flip side I'm wearing clothes I have owned and not ever been able to wear and I had to return a pair of pants I ordered that would have been the right size not too long ago. That's a good thing.

Maggie has taken up running with alexa...I'm going to have to start running to keep up with her.

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.