2 Down, 1 to go....

Two papers are down. I have a little editing and a resubmission to do, but that will take about 3 minutes....once I get the notes back from my instructor, of course. One paper is left, and that is my actual final for the class. I'm not looking forward to it. Seriously, who actually likes to evaluate their own writings? My stomach turns at the thought.

Today has been a lovely day. While others out there are griping that it's 21 degrees and snowing, I am thrilled. There's just a dusting on the grass now, which is weird because this morning we had close to an inch, but it's all a good thing because it's one less day this winter I need to worry about putting a sprinkler on. Yes, I know that sounds strange, but in this kind of area if it's a dry winter the plants and lawns still need to have water applied. Otherwise, I'm happy. It's the time of year I enjoy snow. There's just something difficult and a little sad when it's the Holiday Season and there's no winter weather. Hawaii was the sort of exception because of the location.

It's also a fun time of year to look at how everyone decorates. The lights are up in force, the inflatable snowmen are smiling at the cars, and the Nativity scenes remind us of the real reason we celebrate (despite the Pagan roots of the date). Last night I was sitting in my living room and enjoying how we do things. It's not simple enough to be considered plain, or even simple by certain Conservative people, but it IS very simple. Just our little 4-foot tree with heirloom ornaments, stockings, a wreath on the door, and the kneeling Santa in the corner. That's it. So simple and understated that I feel it's perfect. I enjoy other people's displays, I just don't want to contribute too much. We might get a chance to put the string of lights around the overhang of the roof, but that's more than enough for us.

I can finally hold my boy again, which is wonderful. The hard part is that I can only hold him for very short segments of time. He gets frustrated, I get a little flustered. It's going to be a little bit before I can carry him all over the place again, but it's a start. It's amazing how much muscle tone you lose in such a short amount of time! The other good thing is that I can get on a pony again. Granted, it's going to be a bit before I can jump courses, or even a measly little cross-bar, but I can get on and do a few minutes of walking and trotting. Maybe I can get a little canter in before January....but we'll see. Thank goodness I have a whole pile of fat and fuzzy ponies who are in dire need of work! We can get back into shape together...and Luke can even start trotting.

I pulled our saddles in and cleaned them a short time ago. Luke insisted on sitting in his, so I let him. Despite being barefoot, he managed to stand in his stirrups when I asked him to. It was the first time he did it, the first time I think he actually understood what I had been asking him. He's such a big kid with an impeccable sense of balance that I've only been waiting for the moment he demonstrated he could stand in his stirrups to ask a pony to trot with him. Jack will be the one to teach him because I can trust him to just shuffle along without being too bouncy or getting tired. Maybe, just maybe next summer he can enter his first walk-trot class. It's a lot to ask of a (will-be) 3-yr old, but if he can do it himself and wants to, I'm all for it. Otherwise, we'll hit as many shows as we can with leadline classes. I'd love to take him to Upperville, but I'm not sure how that's possible since it's in Virginia, we'd need to ship a pony or find one that someone would let us use for the class, and it'd be an expensive trip for a 2-minute class.

Can you tell I'm in a rambling mood? I have some things to do in the house today, namely to clean out and organize the stupid linen closet, but I thought I'd touch base and let everyone know my brain has not slowed down. Despite writing papers on equine cloning, vaccines, and figuring out how to evaluate my writing....scary, isn't it?