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Saturday, August 13, 2011

I'll just bet you thought that was a typo, didn't you? Ha; 'fraid not. DH's hours have gone back up at work, so while I'm waiting for him to find the time to finish our visitor area (I am SO not a builder or plumber). I decided to address my office/craft room's current decor of Early American Hoarder to something a little more efficient by replacing the floor and moving some things around. I managed to talk DH into ponying up enough money to replace the floor and buy some track shelving for the closet so my computer was unplugged for several days as a result (hence my absence and the tardiness of this post). I found a long piece of painted plywood for $3 at the Habitat Store that was nice and thick and perfect to host my printers. Some cheap 2x4's (DD hit 'em with the router for me) and a leftover laminate shelf netted me a nice long printer table (below left) with lots of storage space underneath for less than $10. Boo-Yeah! To little Miss T.L. - you see where the cute ceramic snail you gave me is, don't you? Right there next to my calendar :o)
Although I'm making progress, I'm currently alternating between snarling at those idiotic tiles and kicking myself for not having started this about a month ago (back to work next week - ack!) The idea that started out as Jen's little office makeover fantasy has morphed into a death by vinyl flooring tragedy (yeesh - what the heck was I thinking?!?). I have made a spectacular mess; one so colossal I'm betting even #1 son, slob extraordinaire, would be duly impressed. I did find the top of my desk, which I haven't seen for a couple of years. You know how you have those "catch all" drawers in the kitchen? Well, my office was the catch all for an alarming amount of stuff. File piles, craft piles, scrapbook piles, medical paper piles, piles, piles, piles...miles of piles *sigh*. One of my piles - a ginormous towering one - avalanched the other day (which is what set off this re-organizational bender), and I found myself just sort of sitting there looking at it with absolutely NO intention of picking it all up. I'm now praying I can finish before school starts next week.
Last week things got a little heated around here (literally). Temperatures shot back up into the triple digits, with heat indices (isn't that a weird plural?) creeping up as high as 110 - blech. The horses are, of course, sweating like crazy (ha, me too!) I do love to see Rina's coat in the summer sun though - it shimmers and shines and the tip of her mane turns a fiery red, which is supercool. As much as I don't want to go back to school/work this year (and how awful is that? ;o) I am ready for fall temps. It occurred to me the other day that this is the first summer since 2005 that I have not had either surgical procedures or really big medical issues. Can you believe that? Woot! I'm tickled BC survivor pink to be even semi-productive. How about you? Are you ready for fall? I walked outside to feed the other morning and got a good look at the sweltering sky and thought I was someplace else on a desert safari; look how unbelievably hazy it was (this is straight out of the camera, too. Wow.)
Since we are headed back to school all over the country, maybe we can have a little giveaway to brighten things up a bit. A lovely little hodgepodge of goodies just in time for fall. Let's see what we can find around here...Aha!
How about this cute little tote that was donated to us by a teacher friend, an awesome horsey book cover, a horse story, and a totally cute little "School Buds" photo frame from the Second Chance Thrift Shop. I might even find another little item or two to tuck inside. I'm going to try really hard to visit the Second Chance periodically and see what kind of trouble things I can find over there to use for giveaways. I love doing them - it's like Christmas *grin*. All of the shop's proceeds go to the local animal shelter and their items are very inexpensive, so I figure that's just about perfect all the way around. 
To enter, you can add our new fund raising widget to your sidebar, web page, or forehead (kidding). It comes in many different formats (just replace the old one if you added it the last time - it's expired), you can follow us here and like us on Facebook, or you can tweet this (or another) post. Leave a comment letting me know what you did and I'll put your name in the hat. If you do more than one of these, I'll enter you more than once. Donations will count for two entries each. Sound okay? Winner will be chosen on the 26th of August, and announced in that weekend's post. Thanks so much for helping us out, and good luck!
On Friday, I was invited to visit some fourth graders at a local school to talk about horses. Because it was during science, we talked about teeth and bones and hooves and vision and all kinds of cool stuff. Since no one fell asleep - if they did, they didn't snore - or threw anything, I think it went okay. I ended up speaking to three different classes and about 60 kids. I had a great time and although it's been awhile, fourth grade definitely still rocks. I told the kids I had to go back to school next week and mentioned that I was in the fifth grade last year. One of the girls looked me up and down and gave me an "I don't think so lady" look that made me laugh (although she was too polite to say it out loud) and another asked me if I was a teacher. I explained that I was an interpreter for a deaf student and got a collective Ohhhh ;o) I guess most of them paid pretty good attention to what we talked about because they did a bang up job answering all the questions I asked them at the end...
Speaking of school, Mad Max has recently been enrolled in a home school program - albeit belatedly - and I'll have some photos and progress reports for you in the next week or two (I hope). I haven't figured out how to take pictures of myself and Max working yet *laugh* so I'm at the mercy of DD's schedule. When you consider where we're starting, he's got lots of room for improvement. Max is quite possibly the most obnoxious horse I've ever met and needs work on absolutely everything. He does not stand still at all, but dances around in your space (for which he has no respect) and gets up in your face ducking and dodging the whole time because he knows it's annoying. He's like a bull in a china shop, and it's been quite a challenge trying to find something (anything!) to reward him for. I've got bruises all over the place from him dancing around and knocking into me. The other horses bite him, kick him and run him off constantly because he's such a pain in the posterior. It'll be interesting to see what happens (I feel like I'm about to partake in a cliff diving lesson, go alligator wrestling or some other ridiculously dangerous endeavor ;o) I'll let you know how it goes; or maybe I should say IF it goes *laugh*. Have a blessed week everyone!

17 comments:

  1. That firs picture could almost pass for my craft room. Good job on the new printer stand and congrats on finding the top of your desk. I wish I knew where mine was.
    Even though everyone is ready for a break from the heat, I am so not ready to let go of summer.
    Oh and I changed out the widget on my blog for ya too :)

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  2. Ann: Awful, isn't it? *laugh* If I had not had so many stupid physical/health issues and had to hodgepodge it quite so much, it might not have gotten so bad (well, maybe ;o) It's kinda frustrating when you don't have pots of money to just tear everything out and start over, isn't it? Gettin' there though.
    Thanks so much for doing the widget!

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  3. LOL, your craft room reminds me of my shed and part of my bedroom (although we are still in the 'before' stage). You've done a fantastic job.

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  4. The "new" office space looks great. I put up the new widget. You should add one of those bookmarks like I won - I get a lot of use out of it - it's terrific!

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  5. Some things just have to get more messed up before they can get more straightened. (Not just a political view.)You are doing a great job on your office!

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  6. First and foremost I have to say thanks for the job you do! How wonderful to be able to interpret the hearing world for someone who can not hear! I am so intrigued by signing. When I used to go to meetings I would stare at the interpreter! We had a special needs boy at our school who couldn't talk - when he was in his teens the SPED teacher discovered that the boy could read and could respond to questions through signing. It was wonderful to see how his world changed when people realized how much he knew and could communicate. How tragic that it took so long!

    Love your office/craft room ... the 'old' version looks like places I have seen and lived in! The 'new' version is so beautifully arranged! Nice job!

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  7. Clancy: Welcome to the Sloppy Sisterhood Support Group *giggle* (according to Ann up there, she is also a member which makes enough of us for an official group - ha). Sure is nice to know you're not alone when neatness goes out the window ;o)

    Grace: Thank you on both counts! I'm delighted you like the bookmark, but I don't think I can afford to give away too many of those (they're from our Etsy shop ;o)

    Fisher: You know, that's quite profound (and alarmingly accurate ;o)

    Dreaming: Well I suppose you could say that I got into my job by default; being the parent of a deaf child (although most parents of deaf kids do not know how to sign). We always sat in the very back at church to make sure people paid attention to the sermon and not me, although that didn't always work :o) Signing video clips for the website and about our horses are on my radar (we're not quite there yet though). If you're interested, I did publish a lens about parenting a deaf child. It's here: H.I. Children
    That was a very poignant story about the little boy. Sad that it took so long yes, but at least it happened.
    I am a neat freak, although you would never know it by the state of my house right now. Between the cancer, muscle disease and some other health issues, housekeeping kind of fell by the wayside for a few years; for which I'm now being punished *laugh* :oP

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  8. Greetings folks from the Amish community of Lebanon county. Richard from Amish Stories.

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  9. Richard: Not sure if you're interested in the blog (or shameless self-promotion) but "Hi". I grew up just outside of Lancaster and even though I have moved waaaay far away, there is a Distelfink in my kitchen ;o)

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  10. Wow, you did a really great job on your new office. It looks so organized.

    I can't wait for fall, I've always hated summers and humidity/heat. Fall is the best season for me.

    Mad Max sounds like a handful. I wonder if clicker training would work for him? I'm just starting some on it now.

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  11. I liked you on facebook my account name is Susan Levy Herman
    Email susansweeps72@yahoo.com

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  12. GreyHorse: Thanks - I cannot WAIT to be finished with it *grin*. I'm pretty sure that my normal training mode would fall pretty much in line with clicker training; I just use verbal praise instead of the little clicky thing.

    Ann_onymous: Thank you so much Susan; I've tossed your name in the hat :o)

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  13. What a great looking craft room:)

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  14. Toyin: Thank you so much! I'll be glad when I'm all done. Sometimes crawling around on the floor is a great way to remind you how old you actually feel (and it's an awful lot older than my license says I am *laugh* ;o)

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  15. Great Read!

    I've filled up my desk and have started on my kitchen counter (where I relocated the laptop). The clutter MUST BE STOPPED!

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  16. You always seem to have a million things on the go Jen! Gosh... I would be tired keeping up with you!

    If you like... I could take some of that heat off your hands... mine is going fast!! :(

    Happy weekend to you!
    xo Catherine

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  17. YarnMiracle: Self-replicating clutter is most definitely evil, but those avalanches? Some seriously scary stuff - they can take forEVER to dig your way out of. Brrr *shudder* ;o)

    Catherine: I'd be happy to send you a bit of warm (I'd wondered how early it gets cold up there). If it's any consolation, I'm tired keeping up with me *laugh* ;o)

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