Sam, summer school, and other things floating through my mind

OUR NEW PONY, SAM

This is a picture I found on the Web that looks just like the pony we got today. Raelynn named him "Sam." I think the horse in this picture is a miniature, so it's lots smaller than our horse. When I think of how big a pony is, I imagined it would be much smaller than I found they actually are. Sam looks just like our other horses, just a little shorter. We already have 3 horses, so you might be wondering why we got another one. So a little background is in order here....

David loves horses. He grew up with them and had always wanted one (or more) when we moved to Mississippi and got some land. We got Cricket from David's dad. We then got Megan from David's sister. Megan and Cricket hooked up a couple of years ago and gave us a surprise that we named Magic. David has worked with all of these horses, so it's not like they're wild or anything. In the course of his horse whispering, he has also been working with Raelynn and her riding skills. So far, she hasn't really developed any. She has managed to fall off all of the horses we have. I think that each time she's fallen, she's the one that is responsible for the fall. So David wanted to continue working with Raelynn and just figured that if we got a shorter horse, that any potential falls would be less and thus Raelynn would be less scared. We bought the horse from a guy down the road that shows horses and is a horse dealer. Originally, David wanted to get rid of one horse when we got this one, but after having them around for several years, they've really grown on me and I can't imagine not having them all. We're going to see if our 4 acres can sustain 4 horses. Hopefully it will so none of our horses will have to find a new home.

So that explains the new addition to our family. Yes, I have a camera, but my computer runs really slowly and since I also have STUPID DIAL UP it makes it really hard for me to load pictures from the computer to my blog. But I did a real good job of finding a good picture of what Sam looks like so you get the picture.

SUMMER SCHOOL

David and I are both enrolled in summer classes. We are both currently pursuing our masters and are getting a little tired of the perpetual feeling of never leaving school. David is taking an online class this summer and working on his comprehensive finals. I am taking the National Writing for Thinking Project's summer institute. It meets everyday in June from 8 to 4. It's 6 credit hours and they pay the tuition. Free is good. We've already had an orientation meeting a week or so back on a Saturday. I didn't really have a good time. I'm hoping things look up for this class, otherwise it's going to be a long summer. Whenever I think of summer school, I always think of the movie of the same name with Mark Harmon. Somehow, I don't see my class as being anywhere as interesting as this movie. If you haven't seen it, you should rent it. It's fun.

SUMMER READS

I always look forward to reading some books over the summer, especially since I don't have lots of time to do that during the school year. So far, I've read all of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. My students love these and I can totally see why. There was one part about Shel Silverstein that had me laughing for quite sometime. The book that I'm currently working on is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I've already read this book, but with the movie coming out this summer, I want to be refreshed of the story line. After Harry, I'll read the two books I have by Jodi Picoult--Salem Falls and My Sister's Keeper. The latter of the two books is going to be a movie so I figured that I'd read it before seeing the movie. My friend, Kathy S., highly recommended this author, so I'm going to take her word for it. I recommended the Twilight series to her and she read them. She didn't fall in love with them like I did, but I won't hold that against her.

HOUSEHOLD CHORES

During the summer, my domestic side becomes more dominant. I actually like to spend time cleaning and organizing stuff. There's a great feeling ithe the cleansing and purging your place of unnecessary stuff. The thing is, I like to do other things in the summer like sleep, read, and watch TV so sometimes I put cleaning off. I really need to work on being more consistent in this area. I'm currently thinking about starting with the kitchen, followed by the bathrooms, the living room, and then the bedrooms. I usually don't clean unless I'm really upset by something, but during the summer, it's something I enjoy doing. I think that cooking also falls into this category. In the summer time, I don't mind it.

SPENDING TIME WITH FRIENDS

This summer I'm looking forward to spending time with Wendy and her family at her pool and also hanging out with Kathy S. If all goes well, I may be swimming with both Kathy and Wendy in Wendy's pool. Currently, Kathy is on a beach trip and Wendy leaves for a beach trip on Wednesday. When Kathy returns, her son has surgery scheduled and at the end of the month, Wendy will go to the beach and visit her family in Pennsylvania. So finding time when we can all be together will be a challenge. The summer usually flies by and I'm hoping to spend some of it with some of my favorite people.


SELF-IMPROVEMENT

This is something that I have often tried to do and have yet to stick with consistently. I need to take better care of myself. I need to eat more healthy and exercise more. I have a couple of health issues that would be greatly improved by eating better and reducing my mass. Then there's always the other smaller things I need to do for myself, like moisturize and take care of my feet. I don't know if I don't do these things because I'm lazy or because I don't really care for myself. Either way, this body isn't getting any younger, so I should start taking care of it now, so I'll have an easier job of it later in life. How does everyone out there manage to go through all their beauty regimes without losing their minds? It seems that for me, it would just add to my list of things that I don't remember as it is. If anyone out there has any suggestions or tips on this subject, I'm be interested in hearing them.


MY BIRTHDAY

David asked me the other day what I wanted for my birthday. My birthday is coming up and I never seem to know what I want. I thought that this year I might like getting an IPod so that I'll have something to use when I start back jogging. I'm not really what you'd call techno savvy, so I'm not sure what the IPod entails. Do I order music from ITunes on the computer, download them and then put them on the IPod? Do I use music from CD's that I currently have, download them on to the computer, and then put them on the IPod? We have a computer (obviously since I'm blogging on it) but I'm not sure if between our STUPID DIAL UP or capacity to handle any new programs, whether getting an IPod would be a bad idea. Oh...to be younger and more in touch with technology.... If you guys have any tips out there, let me know. If you can think of something that I should get for my birthday other than this, let me know.


In the meantime, enjoy your summer. I know that's what I'm doing with mine.