Saturday, May 18, 2013

Recital 2013

Lyrical
 After much anxiety and prayer, Victoria took a leap and switched dance studios for this year.  After 10 years at the old studio, I suspect great courage was required to start classes with new girls and new teachers.

The primary enticement to make the change was the new ballet teacher, Val Salnikov, a professional dancer from Russia.  What a treat to have such a seasoned classical ballet instructor!  June 10-14 will be a real test for Victoria's ballet passion - A Russian Ballet Summer - a ballet camp with Russian instructors.  My toes hurt just thinking of dancing that much.




Hamming it up for the camera

Warming up for rehearsal


Do ballerinas get pep talks?
 
 While you may not be all that impressed with the action photography; in my defense, I was simultaneously taking pictures and videoing with the ipad. 

Friday, May 3, 2013

Missing Captions




Victoria is considering entering a few photos in the Georgia 4-H Photo Contest.  The first picture of Hannah and Grace can be entered in the in "Focus on 4-H" category since it's of a 4-Her working on her state project.  However...we need a caption and we're at a loss.  Suggestions?

Which bottle brush photo do you prefer?  I won't bias you by telling you my favorite.  This would be entered in the general division and I was considering a caption like "Like a 4-Her: Bursting with Potential"  but that seems a little cheesy.  Any better suggestions?

Two photos can be entered in each division and she just plain likes the rose photo.  While not horribly original, the color is fabulous for being unedited.

How 'bout a contest?  If we select your caption, I'll send you a print of the picture.  Okay...so that's not that much of a prize, but it seems fitting.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Distraction or Destination


School, home-school co-op, Care Net Bible study, horses, dancing, stall cleaning...oh, yeah...cooking, cleaning and laundry.  Do you ever start to feel overwhelmed when you realizes just how many directions you are pulled in a day?  Add to that the fact that I'm a homebody who will go to great lengths to manipulate my schedule to leave the house as little as possible.  As a result, when I do have to be out and about, I  try to cram as much into that day as possible, leaving very little margin.
That was true of my schedule last Thursday.  Hannah needed some adjustments made to her western show saddle (long story - please don't ask me to explain) and the only saddlemaker in the area lives in Kingsland, about 45 minutes south of us.  I made arrangements with Mr. Lopez to be at his shop sometime in the early morning so that I'd have plenty of time to return home, prep for the World History class that meets at our house at 12:00 and then drive to Oglethorpe Elementary to pick up my niece Caitlyn by 2:15.  Seemed perfectly doable.  Aren't those famous last words?  Then Patrick ask me to swing by the Camden County Care Net and pick up something from their office.  Ummm...no problem.  That would only add 15 or 20 minutes to the trip.
We arrived at Rancho No Tengo, Mr. Lopez's saddle and leather works shop, a tad later than I intended, but since I was only planning to have him look at Hannah sitting in the saddle and then leave the saddle to be fixed and picked up another day, I knew we were fine. We introduced ourselves.  He showed us around the shop.  Hanging above us were completed saddles, partially finished saddles, and the "guts" of saddles that looked pretty old (and useless?).  
He had me measure Hannah's inseam, and then had her climb into the saddle as it rested on a saw horse of sorts.  All as I expected.  Then he pronounced judgment.  He could make the adjustment in about 45 minutes - Why don't I take Hannah to McDonalds for a mid-morning snack while he works his magic.  Perfect...sort of!  It would save me driving back to Kingsland another day.  I did some quick mental math and figured we will still be home in plenty of time for my World History commitment.  
  I used the spare time to run the Care Net errand for Patrick and grab a yogurt parfait at McDonalds (Kinglsand has no Starbucks or quaint little coffee shop) to burn the remainder of the 45 minutes.
 
Back at Rancho No Tengo (literally translated "I have no ranch") we strike up some small talk about his leather work as he refits Hannah in the saddle.  The next thing we know, we are getting real, live history lesson on Civil War saddles.  Turns out those useless looking saddle guts that I saw earlier are actually the "tree" (real saddle term) of saddles from the Civil war that he is restoring for re-enactors.  He proceeded to pull out a book and show us various saddles and then stopped at a drawing of a McClellan saddle - the kind he was replicating.  Did you know that saddles belonging to Southern troops were not made of leather?  That's right...not enough leather available, so they used canvas instead.

After our Civil War lesson Mr. Lopez continued our tour of the shop, showing us tools and a wallet he was in the process of making.  All the while I'm looking at my watch and trying to mentally calculate if we are going to be home in time.  Then, at some point, I gave up.  I decided I'd call the World History kid and tell him we were running late.  I decided this distraction really wasn't a distraction - but a destination.  Mr. Lopez is a veritable fount of information - but not like a teacher lecturing in front of the classroom.  It felt more like our grandfather was showing us his hobby, hoping we would fall in love with it as much as he has.  Once I made that decision to ignore my intricately planned schedule, I enjoyed seeing the tiny little harnesses he'd made for his miniature ponies, the huge paint horse and all the other horses that made up his little farm.  

Not only did Hannah and I enjoy our time with Mr. Lopez, we figure we should take the whole 4-H Horse and Pony Club for a field trip and let them partake of his wisdom.  Racho No Tengo is definitely a destination worth our time.



Monday, March 11, 2013


That's the true harbinger of spring, not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on a ball. 

      ~Bill Veeck, 1976

 

 People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball.  I'll tell you what I do.  I stare out the window and wait for spring.  ~Rogers Hornsby

 

 

We couldn't miss capturing Bryce Harper.  Kinda makes me feel old that some baseball players are now YOUNGER than my kids.  How did THAT happen?

Baseball is indeed magical - making friends of sisters.

  

 

 

                              Only at baseball games can we eat burgers and fries, sausage dogs with onions and peppers, peanuts and cotton candy, wash it all down with Coke (in a souvenir cup)  and not feel one bit guilty.


 Sadly, despite perfect weather the day was less than perfect.  Noticeably absent was daughter #1 who was not yet on spring break and couldn't miss her Friday classes to join us for our day trip.  I also couldn't help but feel nostalgic for the spring trainings of years past.  This was just our second time since we started our Spring Training tradition (16 years ago?) that we haven't spent the night at Grandpa Ned and Grandma Aurel's house and the second time we haven't taken one of them to a game with us.  

Historically, our family would take in one game and then we'd spend the night at the Mack Bed and Breakfast.  The guys would leave mid-morning for game #2 while the girls would say behind with Grandma and play cards, go shopping, ride around in the golf cart or, if the weather was on our side, take a swim in the pool at the clubhouse.

For so many years, this trip defined our spring.  Sadly, time has taken it's toll.  Grandpa is no longer with us, Grandma isn't making the trip to FL and able to say alone, and the kids' college schedules don't mesh.  We've seen the last of spring break trips as a family visiting grandparents - and I'm not exactly taking the change well.  Kevin leaving home was difficult enough.  This trip, while fun, only seemed to magnify the changes our family is undergoing.


Cherishing the time we have left with the girls before they fly the coop.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Decending into Dante's Inferno

 
Hannah's showmanship pattern - Youth 14-18

Okay, so maybe that title is a bit dramatic and possibly even enigmatic for those who have not recently (or ever) read Dante's Divine Comedy, but Hannah's most recent Quarter Horse show was miserably cold.  We shivered from the moment we set foot on the fair grounds and barely stopped until the cab of the truck warmed up on the way home.  Somewhere in the afternoon, mounted on Grace, Hannah declared she was sure this must be a taste of Dante's hell.  You see, Dante's description of hell was somewhat unconventional - his hell is cold.  The further one descended, the colder it became.  I'm not sure what level we had sunk to, but even riders from New England were complaining.

I've about decided Perry knows only two temperatures, as cold at Dante's hell and as hot as the conventional notion.  

Friday, March 1, 2013

Love and Marriage:The Greatest Show on Earth

After not one, but two day trips to Atlanta, I faced the thought of riding back and forth to Atlanta for the third time in the week a bit like a child getting ready to swallow a dose of bad tasting medicine. Okay, okay...so if the truth be known, I whined like a toddler...repeatedly, until Patrick finally gave in and said, "Okay, if you don't want to go, let's just stay home."

While that thought was tempting, I knew I needed to act my age and fulfill the commitment Patrick had made for us months ago.  Oddly, I think Patrick was looking more forward to the weekend marriage conference than I was, so I couldn't bring myself to be the one to call a halt to the plans.

I had arrived home from TeenPact about 10:30 p.m. Thursday evening, threw some clothes in a suitcase, and went to bed with a messy house and an even messier laundry room (think 2 girls just back from camp where they had to wear dress clothes during the day and casual clothing at night).  I woke bright and early to face not only a long drive in a church van, but a 7am dentist appointment.  Yes, I know...you're thinking, "Who in their right mind goes to the dentist at 7am?"  Well, that would be Patrick and I.  Really, normally it's nice not to interrupt your day to get your teeth cleaned (and they're never running late since you are their first appointment).  But not this time.  It was as if fate was conspiring to make my weekend miserable - the good doctor even had to numb me up to take care of a little problem I'd been having.   

At 9am twelve adults and their luggage, riding in a 15 passenger van, pulled out of the church parking lot.  Let's just say riding three adults to a bench seat did nothing to improve my attitude.  Stopping at a cafeteria for lunch did even less for my attitude.  Ultimately, I survived the ride, we checked into the hotel, and I thought "if I can just get a nap before the evening session, I'll be as good as new."  My head had barely hit the pillow when Victoria called and reminded me that we had double booked Alyssa for Saturday night.  She was supposed to be babysitting for Caitlyn and Matthew as well as taking Patrick's parents to Jacksonville.  Yep...you got it...I spent the rest of my nap time on the phone with Chrissy and Alyssa trying to come up with plan B.  Thankfully Kevin's girlfriend Lauren came to my rescue and agreed to help Hannah babysit on Saturday while Alyssa and Victoria taxied Grammy and Grampy to their concert in Jax.
Yes, one child was horrified that we kissed in the photo booth.
Despite me wanting to just stay in the hotel room and sleep (and I'm pretty sure Patrick could have been persuaded), we joined the rest of the group to ride to the first session.  We walked into the lobby of the church and found a circus - a lady on stilts juggling, a circus elephant (not a real one - but life size none-the-less) and bags of kettle corn.  Shockingly, I found it hard to maintain a stinky attitude.  I mean, really, how could I keep a sour demeanor when lights were strung in the sanctuary to make you feel like like you are under the big top!

So after I shaped up, we had a good time...learning and laughing together.  While none of the teaching seemed new - after all, we've been to enough marriage conferences that not knowing what to do is not our problem - but it was a good reminder of what I should be doing to make our marriage better.  And, though it pains me to admit it, once I got past acting like a toddler who wasn't getting my way and embraced the circus atmosphere like a eager child, it was good to get out of town for the weekend and enjoy "Love and Marriage: The Greatest Show on Earth." 

Sunday, February 24, 2013

So Much to Learn

 Did you ever make plans that sounded brilliant while they were in the planning stages; but the more time that passed, the more you wondered why you bothered in the first place?  Yeah, TeenPact sounded like a terrific idea until I realized I was going to have to drive back and forth to Atlanta in one day - twice in the same week - and then ride a church van back and forth to Atlanta, bringing my total number of trips back and forth to three in one week.

Alas, we survived the week and learned some vital lessons in the process.
1. Delilah, as we affectionately call our GPS, lived up to her name (as a girl who can lead you astray) as I searched to find the Calvin Center, the camp where the TeenPact kids were staying Monday through Thursday.  Apparently Upper Woolsley, Lower Woolsley, and Woolsley Roads are just too confusing for her to keep straight.  We left home at 5:10am which should have given us plenty of time to drop off luggage before traveling to the Capitol. And while we did eventually find the camp, we barely had time to eat lunch at the Capitol and get the kids where they needed to be by 1pm.  We owe no thanks to Delilah.  Did I mention another mom with a car load of boys was following me, making Delilah's errors even more infuriating and humiliating?


2. Just because the parking meter gobbles up dollar bills, law abiding citizens who live 5 hours from Atlanta have little defense against parking citations.  Long story...but the short version is...I can appeal it (Can you just watch video surveillance you have?  I am the lady in the red jacket who at 11:55 fed money into the machine only for your machine to fail to produce a receipt or to credit my three dollars to parking space 268?) but I have to appear in court and the appeal takes 45-60 days.  By then, were I to lose the appeal, the fee on my ticket would have doubled (or more) after spending $80 to drive back and forth to Atlanta.  Nothing like paying $38/hour ($3 in the meter and $35 in fines) to park.  Welcome to Atlanta.  We are so glad you are here!

3.  The girls can indeed wear skirts that hit below their knees without looking completely out of fashion (i.e. like geeks).  I have just one thing to say...thank God for pencil skirts.  While they still groaned at having to accommodate a strict dress code, they certainly looked like they belonged amongst the politicians and lobbyists.
Five of the six kids, scared and nervous, before their first session Monday afternoon.

The famous gold dome
 4.  Some lobbyist tell TeenPact students that the company for whom they work forbids them to talk to anyone from TeenPact.  Okay...now that's a little sketch.  You are forbidden to answer questions like, "Who are you advocating for?" and "What made you want to become a lobbyist?"  Serious trick questions that some 15yo could one day use against you.  Simply reaffirms my belief that lobbyists are just one step above used car salesmen.
Our group on the floor of the Georgia House with Representative Chapman - By this time they are pros at navigating the Capitol and can tell us all about parliamentary procedure in the Georgia Legislature.

5. If the girls return to TeenPact and stay at the residential camp, Patrick may have to be a chaperone.  My girls are not used to receiving such obvious attention from the opposite sex.  As Hannah says, "Around here, everyone knows my dad and it's like I have an electric fence around me that no boy is willing to get near."  Apparently that was not so in Atlanta.  No worries though, Victoria.  Your dad can still scare off the boy with the awful bowl hair cut.

6.  A grande Americano with an extra shot of espresso is all that is needed to keep me fully awake from Macon to Brunswick.  Yeah...Starbucks thinks I moved or was vacationing - 3 drinks credited to my account this week....all from the same store in Macon.

Coming Soon: Love and Marriage: The Greatest Show on Earth

Monday, February 11, 2013

A Recipe Blog?

In all my years of blogging, I don't think I've ever shared a recipe.  And there's a good reason for that.  Generally nothing I make is noteworthy.  I mean, I have some dishes that are family favorites but it just seems so braggadocios to post a picture of what I cook and then expect someone else to want to imitate me.

But these cookies are the exception.  One of Patrick's co-workers made some and they were quite the rage at Care Net.  I didn't bother asking for the recipe...really...how different can a chocolate chip cookie be from the recipe on the Toll House bag?

Then I ate one.  And I admit it was superior to any other chocolate chip cookie I'd ever eaten, however I still wasn't motivated enough to ask for the recipe.  But when a friend who lives half a world away posted the recipe on her blog, I knew I had to try these delicacies for myself.

These seem the perfect follow-up to our toffee filled holiday.  Oh...I forgot to tell you about that because I wasn't blogging then.  The girls and I perfected toffee making...and nearly made ourselves sick, on occasion, eating one too many pieces.  Because of the brown butter and brown sugar, these have a definite hint of toffee in every bite.  Perfect...absolutely perfect.

My warning: If you have children who are inclined to snatch bites of dough, DO NOT make these while said children are present.

This is copied directly from my friend's blog.  She made a couple of modifications from the original that she found here.  I didn't have walnuts on hand, so mine are sans nuts.

Brown Butter, Brown Sugar and Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt (fine)
2 cups unsalted butter
3 cups brown sugar
2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks
2 Tablespoon full-fat yogurt (but I'm sure lowfat would work fine, too.)
2 teaspoons vanill extract
1 12 oz. package of dark semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 to 11/2 cups chopped walnuts
coarse sea salt for sprinkling

--Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, 175 C.
--Melt butter in a heavy bottom saucepan over medium. Once the butter begins to foam, continue whisking the butter just until it begins to brown  and gives off a nutty aroma. Remove it from the heat and transfer to a mixing bowl right away so that the butter doesn't continue to cook. This extra step of browning the butter is very worth the effort! Think toffee-flavored cookies. Monique provides a great pictorial tutorial for this step. Let the browned butter cool for a few minutes before continuing...
--Mix butter and sugar with an electric mixer until well blended--I use my Bosch. Beat in eggs, yolks, vanilla, and yogurt.
--Add the dry flour, baking powder, salt. When all is well blended, stir (or mix) in chocolate chips and walnuts.
--Chill dough in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
--We used a small cookie scoop to size our cookies, but you could roll them into balls. Place dough on a cookie sheet and press down slightly to flatten. I use the back of a flat spatula. Sprinkle the cookies with just a little bit of sea salt.
--Bake the cookies about 10 minutes--our gas oven isn't well regulated so we check them regularly. The edges of the cookies will be firm and the cookies will be golden brown when they are done. Since the recipe calls for all brown sugar, the cookies will be a little but darker (see picture above), but they are chewy, rather than crisp.
--Cool cookies on a wire rack.


Friday, February 8, 2013

Loving What Must Be Done

I spend a lot of time thinking, speculating, even second guessing.  I'm not sure if it's inherent to my personality or if it's something thrust upon each and every mother crazy enough to embark on the home education journey.  Probably the former intensified exponentially by the latter.  In an case, I spend an extraordinary amount of time analyzing my failures as a parent and a teacher.  In some ways I'm pretty sure I've been a better parent than a teacher - evidenced by my children's lack of academic ambition - I mean...you haven't heard me talking about filling out college apps to Ivy Leagues schools, have you?

I consoled myself along the way with the thought that raising kids who love the Lord is more important than raising brilliant scholars.  It seemed I had the energy for only one of those endeavors - when in truth I only had the discipline for one (but that's a whole 'nother conversation).   I had this vague philosophy that if I could raise kids who were hard workers, were self disciplined and had a good foundation of the 3 Rs, my job would be complete - or at least be adequate enough not to churn out societal misfits.

As a matter of fact, I championed "self-discipline"...well, sort of.  I was convinced it held the key to so many good things for my kids and for me; yet like a greased watermelon, it was ever elusive (I suppose because I'm so naturally inclined to be lazy).  And it can become a task-master.  I've spent time exercising great amounts of self-discipline while I served others only to become resentful and bitter .  I spent so much time focusing on what I was giving up in order to be self disciplined that I grew to resent the people around me.
Enter the German poet Goethe: 

Cease endlessly striving for what you would like to do and learn to love what must be done.

Wow...why didn't I think of that?  I need to shift my thinking from what I could be doing to learning to love those things that can't be avoided.  That my friends, is a paradigm shift that could be a game changer.

But what does that look like in the midst of cleaning the kitchen, taking out the trash, and sweeping the porch?  And what does that have to do with raising kids or education.   I'll dive into some thoughts on that in the next post. (read that: I'm tired and need to go to bed)

How does that quote strike you?  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Movin' On Up

Wendy (Hannah's trainer, owner of the horse, and my good friend) and Hannah decided to see if Hannah and Grace could run with the big dogs - or in this case the big (and expensive) horses.  Not only did they hold their own, they were downright pleased with their first try at an American Quarter Horse Show.

If you've been a reader of my blog for very long, you know the riding pictures all begin to look the same.  The only thing that changes is the background.  But now, that doesn't even vary.  The AQHA shows that Hannah will ride in are all in Perry, GA at the same facility where we attend 4-H State and Federation State.  So yeah - same horse, same clothes, same venue.  Note her new number - 327.  Doesn't that seem like a nice, balanced number for the announcer to say, "And first place goes to three twenty seven, Hannah Eades riding Zipping with Chocolet".  It's a far cry better than her Coastal Empire number - 9.
 
About to ride her English Equitation pattern
Getting last minute instructions from Wendy
Sadly, I don't even have her placings.  Four judges placed the classes, which was good since Grace broke in the English Pleasure class.  But since only one of the four judges saw the error, the other three placed her somewhere in the top 9, with one placing her 4th.  And because there were more than 15 exhibitors in the class, Hannah and Grace both earned a .5 AQHA point.  Yes, that's right...while some people compete for money, saddles, or snazzy belt buckles...Hannah competes for points.
Analyzing the Competition

 Patrick and I needed to tend to responsibilities at church on Sunday, so we planned to head back to Brunswick after the English classes finished up.  By the time we got the horse and tack put away, we finally got on the rode toward home at 11pm. Ugh - that's a long boring ride on Hwy 341 from the heart of Georgia to the coast.   But the adventure wasn't over.  We soon received a frantic call from Hannah inquiring if we'd seen Wendy's wallet.  Turns out it was stolen and Hannah and Wendy were left in Perry with no money, no credit cards, and no identification.  About the time that reality started to sink in, we saw those dreaded blue lights flashing behind us.  My mind quickly went to...can this show get any more expensive?  Wendy just lost $250 cash and gained the headache of canceling her credit cards and replacing her drivers license, and now we're looking at a fine that could easily approach the amount Wendy had stolen.  Mercifully the nice officer from Telfair County issued Patrick a stern warning and nothing else.

Bundling Grace up for the cold weather - poor girl!
Thankfully Sunday started out much better.  Wendy was able to get gas (so they could get home) and Hannah wowed 3 of the 4 judges in the Novice Youth Showmanship class.  She walked away with a 1st, a 3rd, and 4th out of 21 exhibitors - earning 7 AQHA points.  In the Youth 14-18 Showmanship class, she again did well enough to place first  under one judge and earn another 2 points.

I don't have her placing for the two western classes, but she did earn .5 point in Western Horsemanship.  Overall Wendy and Hannah were pleased with Hannah and Grace's performance.  I guess pleased enough to feel like they made the right decision to move on up to stiffer competition.


Saturday, February 2, 2013

For my Niece

Okay, Katie.  Just for you.  I left of in June with Hannah's 4-H State Show.  Victoria had a fabulous time at Camp Broadway in Jacksonville and some delicious smoothies with her Aunt Cynthia.  In July Victoria headed to Honduras with a team from our church.  It was a smidgen difficult to let a 13yo go out of the country without a parent along, but she's the 4th kid, right?  We've relaxed a whole lot.

Hannah worked horse camps with her trainer and saved every dime she made.  In mid-July she found an affordable car to buy, so she was all set to be independent when that Sweet 16 rolled around in September.  Kevin was slaving away at Starbucks while Alyssa stayed at her job at Lai Lais and was a part time nanny for one of the Care Net nurse's kids.

Hannah showed Grace at the State Federation of Saddle Clubs show over Labor Day weekend.  She came down with a bad cold and fever right before the show and I worried about her getting dehydrated or worse.  Of course she'd worked so hard to be there, nothing was going to stop her.  She had a successful show that culminated with a first place in English Pleasure.

School started with Kevin and Alyssa both at the College of Coastal Georgia, Hannah in 10th grade and Victoria in 8th.  Kevin also had been working on his application to Highlands College, knowing the CCGA was nothing more than a place to get some core classes out of his way.  Sadly, we started the school year minus a student who had become a part of our family.  Caitlyn turned 4 over the summer and was enrolled in preK.  It is still a little strange, after four years of having that little squirt under foot, to be without her now.

Not having Caitlyn did open some other doors for us.  Hannah's trainer had knee replacement surgery, so for 6 weeks, 5 days a week we made the 25 min drive to Shady Oaks Stables to feed 20 some horses at 7am.  Between feeding, Hannah's job cleaning stalls and her riding Grace 5 days a week, it seemed that Hannah lived there.  Thankfully by this time Hannah had her driver's license and could go alone some days.

In early October, Alyssa received a fat manilla envelope from the Health Sciences Department at CCGA.  Enclosed was her acceptance letter to the School of Nursing.  Woo hoo!  Graduation is just 4 semesters away!

Christmas came and went with me missing the simplicity of last Christmas...when we "skipped" Christmas and went to Haiti.  Despite my objections, the season flew by and it was time to take Kevin to Birmingham to enroll at Highlands.  I sort of pride myself with being a no nonsense kind of mom...but I was a mess as we packed Kevin's room.  I was trying to hold it together, really I was .  Geez, I didn't want his parting memories of me to be of me crying and sulking around the house.  And I wasn't doing half bad until he picked up a box and said, "You know, this really does feel like I'm leaving my childhood completely behind."  Boo hooing ensued (and I'm misty eyed right now just typing it).

Thankfully I'm through the most severe pain (I hope).  He is happily settled at Cory and Sarah's house ( my brother and sister-in-law) and is now a part of their daily routine.  According to all accounts he's liking school there and, praise the Lord, feels like he's in the right place.

Hannah showed Grace in her first American Quarter Horse Association show last weekend.  Even with much stiffer competition she held her own.  That show deserves its own blog post now that I'm "back in the saddle" here at Imitating Steventen.

So there it is, Katie...your very own whirl wind tour of the latter half of 2012.   I have, no doubt, left off a few things like Victoria's participation in the Miss Golden Isles pageant and her change of dance studio.  She's now taking ballet from Val Salnikov, a take no prisoners sort of ballet teacher.  But what else would you expect from a Russian male ballet instructor?

Hope to see you back here at Imitating Steventon soon.  I've decided that a simple blog post that is complete and published is better than a witty or profound post that never gets typed.  That's my now motto, and I'm stickin' to it!






Friday, February 1, 2013

How Will You Vote?

Seven months.  That's how long it's been since I've published a post, but not for lack of trying.  I have had dozens formulated in my head and three discarded drafts...all brilliant thoughts at one moment, I'm sure, but they just never seemed worthy of having the "publish" button clicked.  I figure I can lament about what should have been, or I can simply ignore the unfinished works and move on.  And based on the somewhat chaotic state of my house, I'm fairly adept at ignoring unfinished tasks.

Not sure if I should begin with filling you in the last seven months or if I should just act like nothing ever happened and tell you about the latest news.  Hmmm....what's your vote?