Straight A's

This one will be a quick one because I have only been back in the states for 12 hours but my son got straight A's in his Oxford course work. The physics and biology professors both encouraged him to consider careers in those fields. A bit soon, he is still 12.

Once I get more sleep, I will post more info (plus pictures) but my my baby got straight A's in Oxford!

If I curse myself...

I will shoot myself.

I have been dying to get back into horses. Now that the boy is essentially a teen and all I am is transportation and grade overseer, I am finding a little time for me. I have the situation with my mom down to a science as well. My wonderful hubby has been asking me why we do not look at buying a horse. I had (and still have) my reasons:

• Evacuations. I would want a horse I could go see before work and to have one that close means I would have to have a hurricane evacuation plan in place. 
• Do I REALLY have the time I think I have? That still needs to be answered in my mind. 

My aunt and uncle ride and have been riding competitively for years and I was at their house for the 4th of July. My uncle showed me the last picture of him and his horse after a horse show - I wispily told him that I miss riding and just being around horses so very much and if I could even just go to groom him and saddle him I would be thrilled. He told me that his horse hurt his neck and would not be jumping soon and I am welcome to work with him when he comes back from rehab in September. He knows that I stopped jumping when I had to have my shoulder rebuilt from a fall and that his horse has dressage training so this might be a good fit. I had started dressage and really enjoyed it. 


SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! Really? Oh my! I nearly fainted. I told him I needed a tune up and would start lessons as soon as I got back from England (got to go get the boy) which will give me 2 to 3 months to get in shape, see if I can catch up as fast as I think I can AND see if my uncle is comfortable with this little plan of ours. And you know what, even if he does not feel OK with me and his horse, then I will have 3 months under my belt and maybe will be able to pull the trigger on seeing about a lease. 


Soooooo, that is my news, I have been surfing looking for horse stuff - I am not sure my saddle will fit his horse (my mare was 15.2 hands, his is 16.3), ok so I am pretty positive it won't. Either way, I am headed in the right direction and am so happy I can't see straight. 


I am imagining hugging a horse right now - can you guess which one it is? ;) 

Happy 4th!

No report from the boy today but I got to spend some time with my wonderful cousin from Washington and her daughter. She is the little sister I always wanted and I love that baby. So for your viewing pleasure, here are toes:

And the beautiful girl herself! Complete with manners and a huge smile. 

Sorry for the fuzzy pictures, she moves around alot!

I may have horsey news in the next couple of months so keep your fingers crossed for me!

And my boy is in Oxford

It has been a while since I posted but I am pleased to say my son is safely settled in his dorm room at Oxford. I was kind of a nervous wreck - not only is this the first time I have sent him away for an extended period of time, but sending him overseas had the be the first place? What was I thinking? I was thinking it would be a wonderfully educational experience (he is studying mathematics, physics, biology, photography and debate) and they have a great program for kids his age (12 - 15). We have spoken a couple of times since he has been there. The first was last night to make sure we were watching the soccer game and the second was this morning because his credit card was not working.

He sounded so happy so my anxiety is pretty much gone. I will say the house was way too quiet over the week-end; I even contemplated Skyping some of his friends. But speaking with him made me feel really good so I am hanging in there.

I will be picking him up at the end of July - I am going a few days early so I can enjoy England. Hubby can't go because he started a new job and does not have enough time accrued. (Boooo!).

Hug your imaginary horse today! I am imagining hugging my boy.

News of my demise...

has been greatly exaggerated.

Mini here. What the heck is going on with my humans! Don't they understand that I am tired from those crazy lunatics poking me, sticking something up my butt, taking my blood - are they vampires? And then I start to feel a little better and my human dad takes me to the lunatics who stick me with needles once a year and LEAVES ME THERE!

Mom apparently wised up and rescued me from the second set of lunatics. But she has been driving me crazy petting me all the time, watching me eat trying to get me to drink. Hey, if a horse isn't going to do it, why should I? I mean I heard they were "pushing fluids" and frankly, I was just not thirsty when I got home.

Off balance? Wouldn't you  be too if you spent 24 hours with something shoved into your arm (which they shaved and looks absolutely ridiculous)? Sure, I tried to jump down and fell on my face but I was tired. Mom, do you even know what TIRED means?

The humans finally left yesterday and I got to sleep again. Mom got home and when I got off the couch without falling on my face she scared the poop out of me. All that whooping and hollering - what a drama queen. I do like the extra petting and I get the best spot on the sofa but really, this has to stop. Well with the exception of the extra treats.

So in the peace and quiet this morning after mom woke up the boy, I decided to try to sneak and drink from the sink (dad left the water running for me). Dad was there and quiet but as soon as Mom saw me, she started the noise again. Sheesh. At least Dad was able to calm her down.

So, don't believe what drama queen mom is saying, I will do what I want to do when I want to do it and that is the way it has always been!

Human mom back in here: My plans tonight include petting Mini and drinking heavily!

Mini alert

Haven't blogged lately - life has been getting in the way. My mother had a COPD flare up but is recovering from it. While she lives 20 to 30 minutes from me, it is extremely difficult for me to get there in the mornings and evenings when she needs my help. I am currently working to see if I can get her moved closer to me. My father's last year, I had him two doors down from me and it made taking care of him so much easier. I am thankful I was able to give him that so he was not in a nursing home. I know God will see me through this.

It is also finals time for my son. He is smart and trying to convince him he actually needs to study more than a day in advance has been a struggle. While I am glad that he is able to go on brain power alone, I fear that not developing the study habits now will come back to bite him in the...you know what....later.

I have a major situation going on at work and is sucking the energy out of me. Trying to remain professional when those around you are stabbing you in the back is very difficult. I keep on thinking of one of my favorite quotes:

"Sir! We're surrounded!"
"Excellent! Now we can fire in all directions!"

In the middle of all of this, Sunday night I noticed that Mini was sitting in an odd position on some clothes. I called my husband because I felt like something was wrong. He picked her up (she didn't complain) and put her on the bed and she sat there lethargically. I looked at her eyes and they were half open and she was obviously miserable. I asked my husband to pick her up and hold her and again, she didn't complain and let him cuddle her. We knew something was terribly wrong then. I had to tell my son he needed to continue studying (he had 2 finals the next day) and we rushed to the emergency vet at 8:00 pm.

They were able to see her quickly and figure out she was extremely dehydrated. Pulled blood for all kinds of blood work and asked if we would let them keep her so they could put in an IV and rehydrate her (cha-ching). Additional tests would be a urinalysis, FIV and a bunch of other tests. Everything came back normal considering she was dehydrated (glucose and globulin were slightly elevated but that is "normal" in a stressed, dehydrated cat). She stayed the night to get her fluids.

The next morning, my husband went to get her and bring her to our regular vet. She was a little cantankerous, which for her is an improvement. The vet continued to rehydrate her and when he tried examine her, she was a hellion (a vast improvement). I went to pick her up after work and could hear her screaming through the walls when they were trying to put her in her carrier (my heart flew with happiness).

We got her home and comfortable and are now watching her. When I got up this morning, I raced to make sure she was OK - whaaaaaat mom? I was sleeeeeeeping!!! She is still lethargic but looks much better. I hope she is just tired after her 24 hour ordeal, after all she is 10.

We don't know what caused this but the next few days are important. How do you get a cat to drink when they don't want to? She is eating a little - we are bringing it to her but the water thing concerns me. I was just happy to have a good love session with her this morning and even got a very strong purr.

I will be on pins and needles until I get home tonight to check on her. And if Princess Ashley Pants (her newest nick name) walks up to her, sniffs her and hisses one more time, she may go for a 24 hour vet visit!

Picture Update: What, you want that paper?

If my body is a temple...

then I feel like it is The Temple of Doom.

I have been fighting fatigue for the past couple of years. I finally convinced my doctor to change my prescription from Synthroid to Armour (I had to have my thyroid removed in 2006). While things have improved a little in the fatigue area, I am still very tired a lot. This has not done much for my waste line - but THAT is another topic. I hope that she will consider upping the Armour during my visit with her tomorrow.

This week-end wore me out! Friday night, my son had his school concert - home at 9:30 pm. Saturday morning, he was in the Math Olympiads at school and I was a proctor for one of the rooms. Up at 6 am, at school at 8 am, 3 hours of testing and monitoring. I stress during this time because I want to make sure that I do things correctly so the kids do not get disqualified in my area. During the individual competition, I had two students wright their answers on the wrong sheet - luckily the judge allowed them to transfer the answers to the answer sheet. I kept on having to explain to the boy just the answer only because he was asking me questions. It was his first tournament and started getting really rattled; I noticed his handwriting was great and complimented him and that seemed to calm him down.

Math Olympiads ended at 12 and we ran home, took showers and got dressed up for my son's second concert at Loyola University. His rehearsal was at 1 pm, his call time was at 2 pm and the concert started at 3 pm. I had a parents meeting at 1:30 pm for the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra. The concert was wonderful and kind of bitter sweet. My son has been so stressed out with not clicking with his new violin teacher and everything that has happened last year (my grandmother's, his father's and my cousin's  death) so we have decided to honor his request to take a year off from GNOYO and try to start back up with his original teacher.

From the GNOYO concert, we went directly to watch one of his best friends play in a band for a set. His friend has had a rough couple of years and 6th grade has been brutal for him. I normally would have said it is too much, but it meant so much to both the boys that we ran from Loyola to the Marrero. We got there at 5:30 and his friend played around 6 pm. He was wonderful - he recently took up the bass guitar and was asked by the band to play. I got the chance to catch up with his mom, who is an angel masquerading as a human here on earth and his grandmother. They were so touched that we came to watch him, knowing the days we had. We left there after 7 pm and got home at 8 pm. It took me a little while to get to sleep.

5:00 am this morning, Endy needed to go out. So I hauled myself up, let him out and then laid back down...and woke up at 4 pm! I literally slept the whole day. All the things that I was supposed to do didn't get done and now I am getting ready to go back to bed.

Temple of Doom - do too much and I die!

Well, at least the imaginary horse had a fun day of grazing and relaxation - and there is always next week-end.