Whoa!

I've been busy! We went to pick up the horses and after only minor complications they both arrived safely to their new home. (Complications included being locked out of the truck for three hours while waiting on the locksmith to finish "Eatin'". Meanwhile, our coats were safely inside the truck with the keys!) We decided to name the new members of the family Gibbs and Ziva. For all non-NCIS fans those are two characters from that TV show. So I now officially have a 3 1/2 year old AQHA registered quarter horse with Gibbs as his barn name. Gibbs was only on the ranch for a couple of days before being taken to the vet to be gelded. The poor guy is still swollen and I'm sure sore but he (and I!) will be much happier in the long run.
One of the first things the two newbies had to learn was what grain is. The first night their dinners just sat in the tubs. They had no idea they were supposed to eat that stuff and they sure didn't realize how tasty it was! They certainly aren't stupid though. After just a taste Gibbs is now in love with the sweet feed. He will come right up and stick his nose in the can for a taste of molasses.
My sister and I have been studying Parelli Natural Horsemanship techniques and we are planning on playing with our horses in this way. The Parelli method is based on the way horses interact with each other and teaches humans to communicate more effectively with their equine partners. For now its basically just the "Friendly Game" where the horses get plenty of petting, grooming and attention to reassure them that even though we look like predators, we are really here to help them, not hurt them.

Graduation Countdown: 9 Weeks!

I've been counting down the weeks until graduation for some time now. Of the nine weeks left, one is spring break and one is finals weeks so there are actually only 7 more weeks of classes!!! And to add to that wonderful news, I got my first graduation present this week. Well, I haven't actually gotten it yet but it is coming soon! I will share the story of my wonderful sister's great idea...
About a week ago my sister, Kim, got word from a friend about an online auction to benefit St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. The item she was after was a gift certificate to a "goodies" store from which she intends to purchase Northwest Bearcat cookies for graduation. (No, that's not the present I mentioned earlier, it is still coming!) While skimming through the auction items, Kim noticed a 2 year old AQHA registered gray mare up for auction along with her half brother, a 3 1/2 year old stud. (For those of you who don't know, AQHA stand for American Quarter Horse Association.) Kim called me to say she had been thinking about getting a horse and thought maybe she should bid on the mare. As we were talking we thought maybe she should bid on both horses and see which one she got. It was the beginning of the auction, the opening bid for each horse was only $100 and there was still a week left.
Fast forward to Friday, Feb 26, the last day of the auction. A little after 7pm I told Kim she should check her auction items. The auction was over and both horses were still standing at $100 each. So here's where the graduation present comes in... Kim wanted the mare, which she got. The (for now) stud, yep, he's mine. Also included in the gift is training done by my sister which is great since I cannot do it by myself. We have yet to pick the horses up but when we do, I'll be the proud owner of BB Zane Bonanza and Kim will be the proud owner of BB Ms Jet Marie Zane.

What a great day!

Oh boy, where do I start? The day started out basically normal with a little homework and A&G Soup and Salad. It just got better from there. Well, maybe not the WHOLE day but it at least got better by suppertime. I got back from class and was pumped to make green bean casserole, mac n cheese and fish sticks. I mixed everything for the casserole and began dumping the french friend onions when I got a whiff of the nastiest odor I've encountered in quite some time. It was the french friend onions. And it was too late. They were already on top of the green beans. I smelled the can and just to make sure my nose wasn't lying I put a small piece on my tongue. BAD IDEA! I was gagging and searching frantically for something else to chase the horrible taste out of my mouth. I checked the date on the can... 9/19/2003. I dug as much of the nastys out of the casserole as I could. It smelled ok now so I continued with fresh french friend onions. I sat the casserole aside and waited for the oven to preheat. I waited. And waited. And waaaaaiiiiitttteeeedddd... My aunt came in and told me the oven was broken and it wouldn't preheat above about 200 degrees. No problem, we'll just use the microwave. Everything seemed to be fine until we sat down to eat.
Shara was the first to quietly taste the green bean casserole. I was the next victim. It. Was. Disgusting! Even though I had dug most of the old onions out there were still stragglers that completely ruined the casserole. Apparantly Shara wasn't convinced because she just had to take another bite. She gagged and spit the green beans into her napkin. My aunt, Shea and I were all laughing by this time. (Aunt Ardith continued eating the casserole and even had seconds!!)
Supper was not over yet! I'm not sure where the conversation started but it rolled around to a man who had to go to the emergency room with a metal pipe stuck to his *HELLO!* Playtime gone wrong apparantly. This was good for another good round of laughs with several scenarios and mental images passed around the table.
Now it's time for The Hangover with the girls. Oh, there was just a "pipe" reference! That will probably be the ongoing joke around the house for several days now.

P.S. Another great movie quote from earlier today.
"That's the stupidest thing I've heard all day, and today has been straight up retarded."

Exercise is for the birds...

Seriously, it is. I've semi-decided that I would love to go on a cruise or at least a beach vacation to celebrate finally graduating from college (15 weeks to go!). Only took me five years! However, I do not wish to ruin honeymoons and scare small children as the beached whale on the trip. So, I have been forcing myself to use the new work out shoes I bought 4 months ago and climb on the treadmill. The first day was not so bad. I put on Maid in Manhattan, walked a little, jogged a little, and before I knew it, 45 minutes was done and gone. Tuesday was a little harder but with a good book in hand I finished the work out. Wednesday is full with classes and work so I gave myself the day off. Today I was back at it and let me tell you, I never knew how much stuff I had (or at least wanted) to do until I pushed Start. Pick up the book, put down the book, stare at the wall, punch myself in the face... you get the picture. May better be worth it...

The blogging begins...

As my first attempt at blogging, I'm apologizing up front if this is random and perhaps boring. I've made several attempts at keeping a diary but have never been able to stick to it for more than a couple of days. We'll see how this goes...