just 10 more

We are back and I’m doing mountains of laundry and trying to put the house  together after having dh here on his own for almost 2 weeks (a nightmare, believe me).  I think I’ll probably have to spend a good part of the next month getting caught up; as if one EVER does.  We ran into some heavy rain from Faye (?) on the way home.

The trip was fantastic; no fights or even little tiffs with my daughter.  We got along great and made some wonderful memories. The dog proved to be a super camper (of course SHE was the only one who had her bed along).  First night we stayed in Falling Waters, WVa.; lovely little campground.  Camped right on the bank of a stream (I kept having visions of a flash flood); only drawback was that I could hear some of the trucks from the highway.  This was where I learned that tall tree stumps look just like bears in the middle of the night when you have to crawl out to pee.  I also learned NOT to drink after 5 pm and avoided this problem the rest of the trip.

The next evening we arrived at Knoebels and set up camp there and spent a lot of time in the park.  We used it as our base to visit relatives and friends (most of whom thought we were crazy not to accept the invitations to stay at their homes) and had some visit us at the campground.  One day I took A. to see where my father grew up; a small town called Glen Lyon.  It was very sad for me; my grandparents home is in terrible shape—really hard to see it that way.  I visited my parents graves; weeded and watered the geraniums.  We went for drives, saw Amish people and hex signs on barns and went to World’s End State Park.  We had some chilly nights where it got down in the 40’s.   We had a campfire, toasted marshmallows, etc.  I swear we were the only 2-person tent anywhere; everybody either had RV’s (thought about you, Patty!!!) or huge tents with multiple rooms that sleep about 9.  Since all we were doing was sleeping in it, the tent was fine for us.  Only one morning of rain and the tent did leak a bit—–well, my dh did buy it back in the 1970’s overseas and it’s just been stored in the garage.  Anyway, no problems sleeping; in fact, one night, I slept over 10 hours—got to be some kind of record.

On the second day of the trip back, in the rain, we stopped at a horse show in Warrenton for A.  Betsy was terrified of the horses.

My butterflies (black swallowtails) emerged today within hours of each other and I set them free, so glad I got here in time to see them do it.  I have one left of the three in the house and it’s still in cat stage.  I set up a cat observatory for my neighbor tonight; she’s got a couple fat ones that she’s been protecting in her yard and wanted to see the whole process w/o having to run into her yard to check on them 50 times a day.

Good to be back, chickadees!!!!  Have not been NEAR a scale; don’t even want to talk about it.  Will get caught up on blogs over the next few days!  Hope everyone is doing well.

RubyJean was writing about fascinating and favorite words; well this is one of mine.  I have always been fond of the way it just kind of rolls off the tongue…..and it’s sort of a happy word too. Makes me smile. Right now I have a plethora of swallowtail butterfly caterpillers on my parsley.  In fact, since giving them some simple protection in the form of window screening they have decimated my parsley and I’m buying bunches at the grocery store to keep them happy and growing.

Things with A. are still not right; it’s like living with a thunderstorm.  I realize she’s acting out about the no running and limbo of the status of her foot but that doesn’t make it any easier.  I’m updating here now cause I don’t know when/if I’ll get another chance for a couple weeks.  We leave Monday on our epic wandering camping trip…..A, me, the dog and a 2-man tent.  Ultimate destination: Knobels Grove Amusement Park; mid-eastern Pa.  Talked about taking the laptop along and the verdict is no from dh who won’t let go of it.

A. is working at a birthday party as a pony walker right now.  When she gets home, I’ll take her to one of her mowing jobs.  She bought her first bikini yesterday; always had one pieces for swim team.  She did OK; bought 2 tops and one bottom, at Target, pretty conservative considering what I thought she’d end up with. 

Made it to the gym yesterday: tm and ladies lite aerobics.  Food has been so-so; still not about to get on a scale yet.  Bought a large cooler for the trip so I will not starve; yeah, like there was EVER any danger of that happening.

Have to show dh how to care for the caterpillars, how I water the garden, how to mix the sugar water and clean the hummer feeders——hmmm, it would be easier to just stay home as I know I’ll worry about all this.

Take care, chickadees, and think of me at night and please send out a wish that the ground I’m on is not too hard as you all snuggle in your nice comfy beds.

Inspired title, huh?  Just kind of blah and numb now—life goes on and all that; oh, and still angry, don’t forget angry.  Sure tired of feeling like this but can’t shake it.

OK talk about something else……made a pretty good chicken dish the other night:  Took about 5 breasts in a casserole dish, sprinkled with ginger, splashed with soy, and spooned crushed pineapple over all, covered and baked, took the cover off the last 1/2 hr. and it turned out pretty tasty.

A. has her learners permit—been out with her about 5 times so far, can’t say that she has any kind of natural talent for driving.

Still all quiet from Rachel’s owner.  Bought Rachel some supplies she’s needed for a bit.  Saw her Friday—she’s back to being pretty much an angel other than a little minor bucking.

Been up since before 5am…..8K mud run today on a military base.  Helped set up, then I was in charge of directing runners into the corral at the end of the finish line where and how to get their chips taken off.  With 23oo runners it’s important that they keep moving and not stop on their own, bend over, and work on getting their own chip off blocking all the rest and creating safety issues.  Got to yell and scream (mostly cause the music was so loud) a lot at  tons of gorgeous dirty almost naked men.  Probably was a little bit of stress release for me, come to think of it.  Yelling instructions at marines— I could get used to that; could I have been a D.I. in another life?

 Took A. to her pony ride job and killed time window shopping.  Dying of hunger about 2pm—all I’d had was coffee and a banana at the race so I had a pork barbque sandwich but didn’t eat the bread.  Later took A. to her mowing job and later still, had a huge fight with her.  That kid can get on my last nerve sometimes and I said something I regret but she just pushed too far.

I did make it to ladies lite aerobics and did some rowing on Friday.  Time to get back on this wagon with food too.  Afraid to get on the scale.

Books…..finished The Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver……now on The Innocent Man (true story) by John Grisham.

Movies:  The Mummy——-not my choice, didn’t care for it

Good news:  have more swallowtail butterfly eggs just hatched on the parsley; tented some screening material over them, maybe we can protect these from the birds, fingers crossed.

G’nite, chickadees, sleep tight.

Yep, middle of the night and here we are; this is how my body deals with stress. denies sleep.  When I’m super, super upset my vocal cords get almost frozen and I can’t squeek out much of anything.

The horse situation is still up in the air; haven’t heard back from the owner of Rachel yet (thank God).  Can’t believe we went from:  “She’s doing such a good job with Rachel, when I get settled in this new job, I’m going to eliminate any monthly fee on your part” to the $150.00  a month increase.  It ticks me off, A.’s spent almost all her birthday money on that horse–a new halter, a shaver, Listerine, medicine for rain rot, stuff to make her coat shiny.  I’m starting to think he’s a few slices short of a loaf.  Going to speak with the stable owner tomorrow and get her take on what he’s told us.

Nothing new with the foot; we see the new physical therapist on Thursday, I believe. A is angry and “majorly annoyed” about the situation.   I sent an email with an explaination of the condition and prognosis to the c.c. coaches, both men, last Saturday.  Expected to get SOME kind of reply for her—not looking for sympathy, but some acknowledgement along the lines maybe of: sorry, we’ll miss you, hurry back—SOMETHING!!!!!!  Nothing—thanks guys, your compassion and support is underwhelming, to put it mildly.  

Bluntly put—I am pissed at the entire world at the moment.  This kid has consistently had more bad luck than anyone I’ve ever run into.  Stress fx of the tibia in 2nd grade after doing a round-off in p.e. kept her in a cast a lot of the summer that year,  tendinitis twice resulted in weeks of physical therapy both times,  fainted a few days before district finals (which she worked like a dog to qualify for) were run in 9th grade and doc refused to let her run.  She’s had terrible luck in other areas too.  She won first place the Reflections contest at her middle school with a beautiful poem, they “forgot” to enter it at the city level.  At the end of 8th grade ( after I called to make sure her package was complete) her guidance counselor screwed up her applications by sending incomplete ones to every academy she applied for in high school—we couldn’t understand why she got all these rejections (she was devastated!!!) and it took me months to get to the bottom of it; I was stonewalled everywhere I turned–the principal and everyone else I spoke with thought it was just sour grapes on my part.  Finally, I convinced one academy head to actually investigate, uncover what happened, and straighten it out.   When I called her principal—who had promised to look into it and in reality did nothing, the only thing he could say to me was that they were “getting rid of” that guidance counselor…..boy, I had a few choice things to say to that man!!!!!!  I’m pretty sure one of the reasons she tested and switched from Legal to IB in 10th was just to prove she could get in.  The really sad thing is that our city supposedly has the best school district in the area.

Our new phone line was dug today.  I’m still eating wrong and way too much.   I’m  so angry that this has happened and damn frustrated.   I just ache for her.  I really need to go to the gym and work some of this out.

G’nite, chickadees.

It’s not been a great couple days to say the least.  Pardon me while I vent and whine.  Warning—it gets worse and worse.

First, all my swallowtail butterfly caterpillars got eaten by birds; there were 8 on the parsley—all gone because I didn’t get the netting on to protect them in time.  Bummer.

Yesterday was the summer camp orchestra event.  My daughter has been a student of this guy for 6 years (!!!!)—-6 years of summer camp, 6 years of year round lessons weekly with a monthly check from me with my name on it; a last name with only 6 letters and pronounced like it’s spelled.  She was one of two students acknowledged on the program as student staff—–with last name spelled wrong!  A bit much after 6 years, I think.   I was NOT pleased.

DH and I are fighting today—I had an awful am and didn’t need to be questioned about lunch and there were major fireworks and bad feelings all around.  Plus a slammed door or two and plenty of under the breath comments and cusses.

A. and I (notice dh gets involved in none of the day to day stuff) saw the ortho doc at 9:00am today for the results of the MRI on her foot; about as bad as it could be.    She has an area of osteo-necrosis (bone death) at the top of first metatarsal head, possibly due to repeated impact (soccer? remember when I didn’t want her doing that?).  Reactive brusitis in other areas and a ganglion cyst on the third toe.  The necrosis is by far the most worrying; this is something just NOT found in children.  He researched it and could only find one similar case written up in existance.  No sports for her—-PERIOD, an x-ray every month and a visit with him, a re-evaluation of her orthotic inserts by HIS physical therapist, surg. if the bone doesn’t re-generate—-and, because this “just doesn’t happen”, no idea of a timetable.  Her last two years of h.s. with NO sports—great, just fricking great.  Stuck in that pressure cooker IB academy with no way to let off steam. 

I’m eating what I want today and God help the person who gets in my way.   Hope your days are better than mine, chickadees.

Later:  I was taking A. out to the barn to see Rachel (who was a total pip tonight, BTW) when I got a phone call from the guy who owns the horse.  His parents want him to pay back money he owes them NOW; so his solution is to raise our lease fee by $150.00 a month, cut A. down to only three days a week  with Rachel, and allow the barn to use her as a school horse in the English riding program the owners are starting.  If I don’t agree to this he says he’ll have to sell her—the guy sounded like he was almost in tears.   I didn’t even mention that we have a signed one year lease.     A. is doing better with the foot thing for the moment than I am; of course, cross country is her fav. kind of running so she’s bummed.  The thing with Rachel really has her upset; extortion, she’s calling it.   Soooooo…a bad day ended on an additional bad note.

G’nite, chickadees.

Hot and humid.  I swore I wouldn’t complain about Va. summers after the 3 years spent in South Carolina but we’re in the dog days and it’s wearing…..so humid, it’s juicy.

Tomorrow is orchestra camp concert; then that’s done.  Cross country practice will start up in earnest soon—-speaking of which, A. had the foot MRI on Monday and we get to see the ortho this Friday.  Will tell all when I know, suffice to say I’m NOT letting myself get upset over the medical gobbledygook.  At riding lesson tonight, the instructor took me aside and advised me to contact what sounds like a pretty expensive show barn so A. can “advance and work on what her goals are”.  HUH????  GOD, this kid talks a good story!!!!  I CAN’T believe she’s beyond this instructor already; it’s only been maybe three months and a week of camp with her.  What in the world is A. telling her????  (Probably that she wants to train to ride in the Olympics!!)  I see money flyng out the window on this one—-I KNEW this horse stuff would be a slippery slope!!!!!!!   Hmmmmmmm.

Slept out one night—2 person tent, on the ground—practice: we are thinking of doing a short camping trip.  Surprised myself by sleeping really well; need to do it a couple more times in the yard to make sure the good rest wasn’t a fluke.

Picked my first ripe big tomato; have had lots of little ones but this is the first Better Boy.  The Park’s Whopper is about a foot taller than me and getting wrapped by the moon flower vine.

Anyone looking for a great book:  The Book Thief    It’s just staying with me; crosses my mind every day yet….unforgettable!!!!  Read it; you won’t be sorry!!!!!  Another goodie:   The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls;  True story and excellent.

Up a pound today—had to be water, pizza last night and my lips felt puffy this am.

Phone still unreliable; ATT worker here again, says we need new line dug; we’re jury rigged for now but it’s working pretty well but who knows for how long.

Ready for my hot milk and bed.  G’nite chickadees!

Hey!  Hi, y’all!  Phone (and computer) restored sometime Monday but I haven’t been here much; mainly just to sleep.  Knew it was not working right for WEEKS but good old dh didn’t see anything the matter until it finally completely and totally DIED.  Will get caught up on blogs but not right now as I have to leave to move A. from orchestra camp to volunteering at one of the historic homes, then to cello lesson, followed by riding lesson.  Doesn’t make sense to come home inbetween so I’ll go to the library or just browse stores.  She’s added a new job—pony ride walker for a company that does children’s parties; not bad pay for a kid, either; more than she’s ever made before.  Not quite what she had in mind when she said she wanted to work with horses but it will have to do and I’m happy with her doing this.  Plus it’s a bit more in the college fund.  Yesterday was her 16th b-day.  The running club had one of it’s summer races so we turned it into a bit of a celebration for her—they all sang Happy Birthday and I supplied brownies for 200.  Not the semi-formal dinner cruise her friend had last month but A. was happy with it.  She’s having an MRI on a foot Monday; ordered by ortho doc; I’m a bit concerned but will write more when we know something definate.

Weight stable—-no time for gym, just madly running around…..gotta say food hasn’t been too bad.

Thanks for the emails, etc. when the stupid thing was acting up and afterward.   Missed this place something awful!!!!!  G’day, chickadees!

Later: got off on the riding lesson thanks to some big thunderstorms and actually got caught up on a few blogs.

Just finished a book A. MADE me read–a young adult—not something I’d usually pick…….The Book Thief….and she was right: very, very good–moving, powerful.  Now started The Glass Castle.  Have looked twice at the library for Ellabella’s  pick:  Gone to Soldiers, really shouldn’t as I have easily over a hundred around here needing to be read.   Finally saw dvd of Babel—loved it, can see why it got all the awards it did.  Both dh and neighbor thought it was too slow; I thought it was paced perfectly.

The young chins need to be adopted and A.’s friend offered them to us.  I loved them but think they should go to a household w/ kids who will adore them for years and years—I was more fascinated w/ them than A.  We’ll see.  Plus I’ll forever have to worry about the dog getting into their room.

G’nite, chickadees; time for my hot milk and bed!

Official sounding, huh?  Sunday night, I’m beat.  Quick note, then off to bed.  We had a local friend on vacation all week and have been constantly going and doing.  Tonight A. has a girlfriend over; I spent most of the day trying to clean this place up a bit after not being here except to sleep for most of the week and then running them around.  They are upstairs now watching movies.

 Anyway……..going to D.C. on the 3rd was quite nice!!!  On the 3rd it was not busy at all, with most who work there already on a long week-end.  We were up before 5am and got there by 10:00am—did 2 galleries first:  Freer Gallery of Art and The Sackler Gallery–beautiful paintings by Whistler and Oriental, African, and Indian Art.  I could have stayed in just these two places for days.  Then off to a small garden and the Smithsonian Castle and a ride on the carousel on the Mall.  Next, a late lunch at L’Enfant Plaza.  Must say the weather was good—quite warm but a good breeze all day and not humid.   Then we braved The Natural History Museum where I (no one else would go with me) paid and went into the special butterfly exhibit—extremely hot and humid inside but the most gorgeous collection of butterflies and moths you’ve ever seen!!!  Flitting all over the place!!!  This was the only place that I can honestly say was crowded…kids, kids, kids.   But it should be, since it is for them.  On to the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden then the Air and Space Museum.  Finally on the Metro and to the parking garage then the drive home.  Logged well over 12,000 steps and outlasted a 15 yr. old—pretty good!  Home by 1am.  Every single person we spoke with was friendly and went out of their way to be helpful; a wonderful day in all ways.  (Well, we aren’t going to discuss food, he, he.)

Saturday went up to Williamsburg again and took the tour we missed earlier in the week.  Afterward we ended up getting an impromptu  private tour of the behind the scenes work of the stable  and tack room from a very nice woman who conducted the original tour and A. got to try out a sidesaddle.

Last night and today we finally have gotten some rain!!!! YAY!!!!

Reading:  There’s No Place Like Here by Cecelia Ahern—daughter of Ireland’s Prime Minister, only 26….very talented young woman.  This is not my usual; I picked it up expecting it to be a mystery; not sure how it’s going to turn out but suspect it is becoming a bit too much fantasy-like for my taste; we’ll see.

Food the past few days had not been terrible but I can’t say it’s been exactly good, either.  New week, new wagon.  Will get caught up on some more blogs tomorrow.

G’nite, chickadees.  Sleep tight!

Been running around all day every day.  Hope to get caught up on everybody’s posts and news sometime this week-end.  Tomorrow will be up before the crack of dawn for a day trip to D.C.; we drive to north of Fredricksburg and catch the Metro in.  Going to be awfully crowded and hot; not looking forward to this at all.

Food has not been too bad….it’s funny though, yesterday I did have one of those little bags of chips they give you along with a sandwich.  I ate the chips—told myself –just half; well you all know how that goes.  Anyway, this am, as soon as I opened my eyes, I knew, I just KNEW I was retaining water from those chips–my LIPS felt puffy!!!!  Sure enough, hopped on the scale; up a pound and a half.  WHEN will I learn????  My lips are like my barometer or something if I have salt.

The 2 wildfires are still going strong; one had been “contained” but recent winds put an end to that.  Smoke, haze and smell!!!!!  It’s awful and will be with us for quite some time yet.  Need rain!!!!!

Gotta get some sleep for tomorrow.  G’nite chickadees.

Hmmmm…..came across one of those lists of  25 “no sweat” ways to lose weight and it has left me scratching my head and a bit steamed at the supposedly “easy” ways to lose weight.  Maybe I just haven’t waited L-O-N-G enough.  Suggestions like—switch to 2% milk and 25 lbs. will melt away in a year; HA!!!  I’ve had nothing BUT SKIM for at least 5yrs.  Cut out sodas and lose another 20 easily—-I had some diet Sprite last month (about 4oz.) ; must have blew that one!!!  Can’t tell you the last time I had a real soda.  Maybe these suggestions expire with age—they don’t work on anyone over 40 or something.  Makes me wonder how heavy I’d get on a month of eating like a NORMAL person!  Like I USED to be–sniff, sniff. Enough!!!!

Anyway, horse camp  finished with a show for parents this afternoon.  A. did her dressage exercise w/o errors.  Yay!  Handled her horse (Usher) well in the flat work and jumps.  I was told today (by a parent) that her horse has a bit of  ”personality” and history and has thrown many a rider and the regulars at that barn are a bit leery of him which is why she ended up with him all week.   Seemed fine to me.  He just seemed small  compared to Rachel.

No transgressions in the food dept.; been really good for a grand total of maybe 2 days.  I read that people have been on their food plan w/o erring for X number of  days, or that they’ve exercised X number of days in a row and I wonder how in the world they do it…(and X is a huge number!!!!)….I am amazed by some of ya’all.  I have come to the conclusion that I need to stop grabbing handfuls of cashews as snacks; they may be “good” fat but too calorie dense and fat is fat whether good or bad.

Got a list of books and authors to Ruby; reading Marcia Muller—The Ever-Running Man—–right now.  Walking my neighbor’s dogs with A. (2 huskeys–yep, she got another one) while she’s away. Poor Betsy, we come in and she smells them and gets all upset but hard to handle 3 dogs even with 2 people especially since Betsy doesn’t like the new one who insists they will play. 

Off to bed with my book and hot milk (life in the fast lane, dontcha know); g’nite chickadees.