Rainy days and Mondays

Ok, I started that title, then we had a fire drill. I went outside to find that it is sunny and warm...go figure! That's what you get when you don't have ANY windows in your room, you are oblivious to the weather outside.

I meant to write this entry about TIME, the value of it, the lack of, and time spent or not spent together....was feeling rather down. But how can I stay down when I go outside suddenly, and what was a dark and rainy morning at 7:30am has turned into bright sunshine? There just aren't enough sunny days in one's lifetime to spend one of them feeling angry or depressed.

But anyways...time...what a concept. We all have these really compacted, filled lives and our personal time has to be divided up between work, play, duties, and time spent with people that are important to us. The sad thing is, often people take 'important people' for granted. You know what I mean - you have someone very important to you in your life, but since you know (or assume) that the person will be around you for a lifetime, you consistently shove them to the back burner in order to spend time with other people or doing other things. One thing I do know, is that NOTHING is forever, not even time. Time NOT spent is the biggest regret people have in their lives. I don't regret the things I have done, but rather the things not done.

I often heard that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Unfortunately, this isn't necessarily true. The industrious person will go get the grease. The lazy person will just toss the squeaky wheel out and look for a new maintenance-free one to replace it. Hmmm....that's an interesting thought. I'll have to ponder over that for a few days.

Ouch, my neck!

We are back from Congress! Corky was wonderful, she handled everything really great. We finished somewhere in the top 14 of the class :-]. I was one of the only non-professionals in the class...very proud to show my own yearling that I bred, raised, and trained without any outside help. I don't have a lot of respect for people that buy their youngesters and them ship them off to trainers to do all the work, or hire big names just to show their horse for political reasons. People like that are what creates and enables politics in the show ring. OK, off of the soapbox!

I spent saturday night in the hospital emergency room...finally broke down at midnight and admitted that the pain in my neck was too bad to live with. When I turned my head to the left, my vision went black. Seems I have a pinched nerve and an 'acute cervical sprain' (ooo, sounds serious LOL!). Unfortunately I cannot stay on the drugs prescribed, because then I can't work. So I only took the meds on Sunday, and have been toughing it out for the past 3 days. I refuse to be a baby and complain all the time...I haven't even told anyone about the pain (other than my poor husband who had to sit for 3 hours in the hospital with me!). I just keep telling myself to suck it up and get on with it!

Being in pain really makes one appreciate good health. I have taken it for granted for so long...never even considering that I might one day not be able to do the active things I do daily. I hope I never slow down physically...that would be so depressing. I want to get even stronger and more fit, so that very little will tire me out. I need to get stronger so I can be more secure when breaking Corky to saddle this winter. She is going to be a strong one...I need to stay stronger. Having my neck injured really makes me a bit more paranoid about back/neck injuries. Without a good spine, one is pretty useless. I need good strong legs also, plus arms. Hmmmm...if I had to sacrifice a body part, whcih ones could I live without? I suppose maybe one of my inner toes, like the second smallest one? I don't think that one gets much of a workout. I already sacrificed the end of one thumb, I don't miss it all that much. I could probably live without a nose, but then I would look funny and how would my glasses stay up? Ok, I think I will go home and take some vitamins (Bugs Bunny, of course!).

This is it!

This is it!!! Corky and I leave for Congress tonight after work. I am a bundle of nerves...hoping to get this all out of my system before we leave! Everything is packed except the horse (would be bad to forget her!). Now I just endure the day until I leave.

I am trying to set my goals low, and not get my hopes or expectations up too high. I don't want to leave the show arena disappointed...I want to remember that it is a miracle that we are even here and that Corky is healthy enough to show, and that by just being here I have 'won' something. I hope Corky behaves and does her longe work well, I want everyone to see what a cool horse she is. Most of all, I want to have FUN! I want to erase my last memory of Congress and the disastrous equitation class in 2003 with Taylor, and I want to leave with a positive, happy feeling. Wish us luck!

Personal solar needs

I feel my mood getting darker, we have had 5 straight days without sunshine. Ugh. I need to invest in one of those sun lamps that they sell to chronically depressed people to sit under.

It's Friday, it's cloudy, and it's another football game tonight (do you sense my excitement?). Tomorrow is another trip to Congress to make sure everything is in order for next week. I leave Monday night with Corky in tow...we show Wednesday morning. This still feels miraculous. A month and a half ago I was just hoping to get her sound enough to walk...now she is preparing to show! We lost all that training time so we are far behind the others...that and the fact that we are the only non-professionals in the class makes it very tough. Oh well, I am just THRILLED that we are going!

In honor of the week long clouds, here is a new list! This is a list of things necessary in life to keep me happy:

• Sunshine (that's obvious!)
• Sleep (7 hours is best, but I rarely get that)
• Pretzels and Diet Pepsi every lunchtime
• Time in the morning to slowly get started (I hate rushing in the morning)
• Happy people around me
• Fresh books (to smell - love the smell of new paper)
• Pasta for supper daily
• A good supply of shoes that feel good
• MONEY (haha can't get around without that!)
• Gas in my truck
• Healthy horses
• Healthy family
• Good trumpet chops
• Caffeine

I can't think of much else...it's early and my brain is still foggy.

Kevin saved my butt this week - took care of taking my flat tire off my horse trailer and getting it fixed. Sounds like no big deal, right? You have no idea! With Congress next week, and being swamped at work...I was really stressed as to what to do. He always comes through when I need him. In honor of this, here's a fun pic...

This was a fun trip...snorkeling in the Caribbean. Just so you don't think I wasn't there...here's another pic: