Vanishing snow

Yesterday's plans for riding lessons were interrupted by snow. We woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground and more coming down. It snowed pretty hard most of the day but within 30 minutes of it stopping it was all gone. I didn't even get a picture since it disappeared so quickly. It was the oddest thing, it abruptly stopped snowing and then vanished.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week changes by the hour. They can't decide if it's going to be sunny, or rainy, or if it will snow for the rest of the week. Lorna's riding instructor will be calling us later in the week to reschedule since the changing predictions make it difficult to plan more than one day in advance.

Change of Plans

We never made it to the doctor's appointment or IKEA because the I-5 was closed due to snow. It was closed all day with no plans to reopen and then we got hit again last night. Since they are expecting a huge amount of accumulation over the next few days we are going to postpone our Sunday plans as well. Waiting one more week to go to church won't be the end of the world but it's still a little depressing.

Since we made it all the way to the closed section of freeway we spent the day in Bakersfield shopping. Most everything was horse related but still fun. We went to 3 different stores that sell tack and still came away without a new blanket to match the purple tack Lorna picked out. It took all of 5 minutes online to find exactly what we were looking for and at a price lower than I expected. Sometimes I think we would be better off shopping online exclusively. I also got some ideas about how to go about making our own colored nylon tack. I can't seem to find a complete set in a color that Lorna wants but I found all the components needed to make it myself. It's something I want to look at doing in a few months.

The best news of the day was that the kids' insurance was renewed for another year. I've been fighting with the state since the beginning of October. We faxed 5 different proof of income documents only to have them deny us. Since we did qualify I appealed and they finally reversed the decision. This is the last year we need to do this since we will be able to add the kids to Paul's employer plan at the end of the year, it's not a great plan (65% coverage after the deductible is reached) but at least we won't need to use the state plan any longer.

Inside projects

I'm still plugging along trying to get things cleaned up around the property but the weather has turned my focus inside yesterday and today. I managed to get my room straightened up. You would think that a small house and bedroom would mean that it's easy to keep things picked up, but that's not the case. We have a table in the corner of our bedroom that had become a catchall. I finally got everything from the table either put away or thrown out. I'm hoping to get at least one scrapbook page a week done now that I have a place to set out my supplies. I just realized that I didn't get one single page done in the last year so I'm hoping to change that. I've got pictures everywhere that need to be put in books and no lack of supplies.

Today we cleaned all the baseboards and floor moldings around the house. Since we have laminate flooring there is a quarter round that sits in front of all the baseboards. Dust and dirt seem to gather in all the little cracks and it makes the floor look awful even when it's just been mopped. We each took a section of the floor and had it done in 5 minutes. Since these projects are so easy the kids are more than willing to help and have actually been asking if they can come up with some!

I got a bonus project done this morning while waiting for the kids to finish up their schoolwork; I was able to clean out the top drawer of our file cabinet. That drawer holds all the files that we access on a regular basis. Instead of having to force things in the files now everything just easily slides in place. Since we will be gone all day tomorrow for a doctor's appointment with the surgeon who will be working on Lorna, I'm glad I got an extra task done. We plan on going to IKEA after the appointment and now I don't have to feel guilty :)

I also wanted to share our great news; Paul will be back to working only one job by the end of next week. At the end of last year Paul's day job rolled out a new compensation plan for the sales staff. The promises were big and exciting, but having been disappointed by previous employers we were skeptical. We both were optimistic but wanted to wait for the first paycheck to really see how things would go. Now that we have seen that all the promises are true, Paul was able to give his notice at McDonald's. We are so excited that Paul will be home every night!

Outside clean-up

I don't really set myself goals for the year but I've decided that I need to start working at getting the property cleaned up some more. Lorna's riding lessons and gymkhana shows have really helped me be more positive about the area we live in. I still run across lots of rude and unhappy people but I've been able to find others that more than balance them out.

I seem to be coming out of my funk of just reading and have decided to try doing one small outside project a day. Yesterday we cleaned up junk in front of the house. It seems that this is going to be a task that needs to be done every month or so since the wind brings stuff onto the property. Today we moved all the firewood into the holder and under the carport. It seemed like the perfect thing to do since it may rain tonight and tomorrow. Doing just one thing every day for a few minutes makes it easier to motivate myself to keep going. It shouldn't take more than a few weeks to get everything outside completely cleaned up and organized. I figure I might as well do the same thing inside on days where the weather won't cooperate with outside work.

January Gymkhana

Today's show went great! Lorna rode Ginger for the first time in a gymkhana show. She received 4 1st places, 2 second, 1 fourth place, and the Hi Point Award for her division. Her new instructor told her she did incredibly and thought that both Ginger and Lorna looked relaxed.






Malachi spent the day picking up manure again. He's such the little businessman,he came away with $22 from the riders. Most of the riders are very happy not to have to worry about cleaning up after their horses.

New trailer

Paul and I have spent the last few months talking about getting a new horse trailer. The trailer we have is a 1963 front load where one horse stands in front of another. It served it's purpose of moving Ginger from CO to CA and is fine for twice yearly visits to the vet but really won't work for the 3+ trips a month we will be making to lessons and events.




As I was looking at what we could realistically afford I stumbled upon a promotion for a local dealer. They were offering to pay all fees and taxes, which can be substantial. After visiting the dealer and looking at the trailer we wanted, we decided to take the plunge. The dealer even took our old trailer on consignment so we don't have to worry about selling it ourselves. Paul towed the new trailer home for me and said it was amazingly quiet to pull. Our old trailer was loud and made the truck shake at times. I keep thinking about all the neat features like 4 wheel brakes and a tack room.





Of course nothing can go entirely smoothly, we found out that the wiring harness on the truck isn't working properly. The blinkers won't work, we think that when they replaced the fuel tank the dealer might have nicked the wires. But even with that little problem I'm really excited to try the trailer out this Saturday!

Lessons

We decided to change instructors for Lorna's horse lessons. There were plenty of reasons including money and flexibility. The new instructor is not only cheaper but willing to work with Lorna and her horse, the previous instructor would only do lessons on your own horse if it was boarded at that facility. This morning was the first lesson and it went really well.



They spent the morning working on the events for the upcoming Gymkhana show on Saturday. Instead of just running through the events the instructor talked about leg position, how to get better control on the horse, and gave her some things to work on at home over the next 2 weeks. Her goal for Lorna and her horse is that they learn to trust one another and to have Ginger listen better. I'm happy to report that Ginger did not even attempt to throw Lorna off. The only time she got uppity was when the instructor was making her work in the round pen without Lorna on her back. I think this particular instructor is going to be a great match for Lorna and Ginger.


Just in case you are wondering the pony on the right of the picture, the one the instructor is riding, is a Chincoteague pony.

Primaries

I so sick of hearing about the Presidential Primaries that are currently going on. I'm even more tired of reading different things about the 2 main parties, as if there is really much of a difference! I'm saddened by the number of people who feel that voting your conscience is wasting your vote. As long as people continue to think like that there will never be change. Since I'm sick of hearing and reading about it already, it's going to be a long 10 months until the November election!

Lack of motivation

I've spent the last few weeks hiding behind a book trying to ignore the mess around the house. Now I'm trying to convince myself that it's time to get things back in order so we can start school again next week. I just cannot get motivated to do much of anything. My lack of motivation seems to get worse the more Paul works, he's spent the last 3 days working both jobs so nothing has gotten done around here. The house isn't filthy just extra cluttered. Since we spent so much time away from home the past 3 weeks it was easy to ignore but now it's staring me in the face. All this junk lying around has made me realize that we need to go through everything over the next year and weed through our possessions. I think it's safe to get rid of movies and toys that haven't been touched in months or years. I'm really shooting for getting rid of half of our possessions, it will make living in this tiny house so much more pleasant.

New Year's Day

We spent our day at a ride put together with the gymkhana group Lorna belongs to. I didn't get any pictures because I was too preoccupied with trailer problems.

We left the house in plenty of time to get there for the breakfast potluck but we barely made it in time for Lorna to ride. When we got to the bottom of the hill I go out to check the trailer, as I always do, and I found the trailer wires pulled out of the plug. One of the tight turns coming out of the driveway most likely pulled them out. It took about 45 minutes to get it put back together enough to drive it the 15 miles to the ride. Once there I played with the wiring a bunch and at least got the breaks working but nothing else, that will be a project for next week.

Lorna had a good time until about half-way through when Ginger threw her off. She got back up on the horse but spent the rest of the ride nervous. This was after having tack issues that caused her saddle to slip. Overall it wasn't the best ride. The head of the group suggested we consider getting another horse and selling this one. We've considered this numerous time over the last year but we really feel she is getting better. It's been over a year since the last time she threw Lorna off and she's really only been worked with consistently for the last 5 months. She's never been on a trail ride before so we figure something spooked her. Besides there is never a guarantee that the next horse won't do the same thing or even something worse. If we had a lot more money it's possible we could buy a horse that would never do this sort of thing but those types of horses cost as much as a small new car!

I really want Lorna's lessons to start including the horse too, that way we can see if it's the way Lorna is handling the horse or a training problem. We are considering changing trainers because the one we work with charges an additional $20 to bring your own horse. She also has rescheduled 5 out of 12 lessons. The last lesson was cancelled with no make-up day in sight so right now we have no idea when her next lesson will be.

Taylor Swift

Lorna received her first CD yesterday. She listens to a lot of our music but this was the first time she asked for something that would be hers. I was able to get the deluxe edition of Taylor Swift's CD for her stocking. One thing that jumped out at me was the wholesomeness of the songs. Normally when you listen to music sung by young artists the songs are about mature themes, this wasn't the case. The songs were fun and cute, exactly what I want our 12 year old listening to! There was also a DVD included that had some videos and interviews.

Our day seemed a bit harried but that's always the case when we spend the morning at church. Due to the long drive and getting up so early we didn't actually get around to opening gifts until 5pm after we all got up from our naps. It made for a very relaxing evening that ended way too soon.

Good & Bad

Lorna had her quarterly visit with the pediatric endocrinologist yesterday. There are no useful specialists near us so we have to drive 3 hours to Los Angeles which makes for a really long day. Usually these visits are a whole 5 minutes but this time was a bit longer. The actual doctor isn't the one who does the visit, we always spend most of our time with the doctors in training. The actual endocrinologist only comes in at the end to say hello. This time we met a very nice woman who is in her first year of specialty training. She asked us all kinds of questions about what surgery Lorna had as a baby and if we would do it again given the chance. It seems there is a vocal group who feels the non-life threatening surgery usually done on infant girls with this condition shouldn't be done until the teen years. They feel these girls should be able to decide for themselves. Funny thing is, this has to be done once you reach puberty so I don't understand what the issue is. The new techniques now mean it's a one time thing, unlike Lorna's which will be have to be completed with a second surgery in the next few months.

The good news is that the labs look great, the bad news is that she hasn't grown any in the last 4 months. The doctors feel that she won't be growing much more. They said she may gain 1/2 inch over the next few years but they don't expect her to hit 5 feet. We already knew her bones had started fusing early but we didn't realize she was this far off in bone age. They were concerned but I didn't get the impression that there is anything they can do about it. She took the news really well and said that she would just have to get small horses to ride.

Wal-Mart

Is Wal-Mart really any different than any other retailer?

That's the question I'm asking myself after reading the Wake-up Wal-Mart site. Statistics can be skewed any way you want. What I found somewhat amusing is the idea that Wal-Mart costs taxpayers money. The complaint is that they don't pay their associates enough and the costs for medical insurance are too high.

I only have our experiences with low paying jobs to look to but here is what we have found. The McDonald's in town pays it's workers $7.50 an hour (minimum wage in CA). The managers make $8.00 no matter how long they have worked there. There are no benefits given to the employees and no opportunities for raises. Wal-Mart is looking like a good employer right now. The unionized grocery store here in town pays better IF you can get hours. They are only required to give you 24 hours a week if you don't have any availability restrictions in which case they aren't required to give you any hours. The pay is better but at 24 hour a week you make less than minimum wage after union dues are taken out. The medical plans offered are useless, being more like a discount plan, and you don't qualify for medical for your spouse until you've worked there 4 years! Again Wal-Mart is looking really good.

If you want to just look at medical plans I can tell you that the plans offered by Paul's day job (outside sales) aren't any better than what is offered to Wal-Mart employees and for a higher premium. The plan we are currently enrolled in has deductibles of $1000 and only pays 65% after you have reached the deductible. To be eligible you have to meet a certain sales plan for the year or you don't get coverage for the next year. Just in case you missed it, we actually qualify for state sponsored insurance for our kids so you this supposed professional type job can be said to be costing the taxpayers money.

Putting aside all of the above I still question whether or not there is a problem with Wal-Mart. I get the impression that there is a growing idea that afforable medical coverage and high wages are a right. That everyone deserves these things no matter what they are capable of doing. If workers are unhappy with the pay and benefits of a job isn't it their responsibility to look for a better employer? The idea that kept popping in my head as I read the stories from Wal-Mart employees and the "facts" on this site is that Wal-Mart is no different than any other retailer. The complaints and frustrations of the employees can be heard at any other place that hires unskilled labor.

Medical Insurance

I've read an article that stated that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to make it mandatory that all people in CA have health insurance. If you cannot get the insurance from your employer then the state would offer insurance coverage. This is a problem on so many levels. We've had a recent problem that just proves this won't work.

We were unable to get private insurance for our daughter because of her genetic disorder. We had the option of taking the state Healthy Families coverage or going without coverage. We swallowed our pride and took the state coverage. The plan is administered by Blue Cross. As of October of this year we were told that UCLA, where her specialist is located, will no longer accept the insurance. Since then I've found out that the medical group in Fresno and San Diego has terminated their contracts. I was told that it looks like Stanford and San Francisco will also be going this route. The medical groups want more money and the plan administrator cannot authorize more since the state tells them how much they can pay. What this means is that we cannot get an authorization to continue seeing the specialist our daughter goes to. The plan administer has referred our case to another state program who can authorize different doctors for special cases. When I talked to them, the names they gave us were for doctors that I was told had retired! They can refer her to one hospital in Los Angeles county but having dealt with them in the past it is the last place I would feel comfortable taking her. Since all the patients from the surrounding areas will also be switched to that particular hospital I cannot even imagine what the wait for an appointment will be since it was 4-6 months before this happened. How can you require people to have insurance that no medical group will take?

I have no idea what we are going to do at this point. I have messages in to Blue Cross about an appointment we have scheduled next week. At this point I'm hoping to get them to cover this one appointment so I have time for the other state program to go into effect and find a doctor who will take it.

What is it?

We have a cast iron pot on the wood stove to add humidity to the air when we burn. Last night it gave a loud pop and actually jumped on the stove. I opened it up to find this.



We couldn't figure it out until Malachi gave a little sound and turned red. It seems he wanted to hide something from his sister yesterday and put it in the pot. He forgot about it and later filled the pot with water and set it on the stove. Have you guessed what it was? It's a golf ball.

Another sewing project

I put the pictures and description under this link so I don't scare anyone away. If you are easily embarassed by items of a personal nature don't look. If you aren't then have a look at my newest creations!

Boring

That's how you can describe my life right now, and I'm loving every moment of it!

My posting has been erratic because I just don't have much to say. Well, I could go on and on but I wouldn't have anything of interest to say. I've spent the last week doing laundry, more laundry, reading, laundry, and getting a few loads of water in town because I've been doing so much laundry. It's gotten cold so the blankets and warm clothes needed to be brought out. Unfortunately the tubs that contained said blankets and clothes had been opened earlier in the year and the lids were never put back on properly. That left dirt and spiders in the stuff, the tubs are kept under our deck since we don't have a garage. So on top of our normal laundry I had to wash all that stuff too. Luckily my kids do their own clothes and sheets so I only had to wash every one's blankets. This is one of those times that I'm really glad I made the kids learn to do their laundry when they were young. In case you are wondering how young, I taught them to do their laundry at about 5. I had to help with adding the soap but they had to put their clothes in the washer and transfer them to the dryer. At this point I don't have to help at all. They wash their clothes, hang them on the line, take them down, and put them away. I'm not picky about how they fold them and I don't look in their dresser unless I have to.

My other exciting and big project was cleaning out the closet. I told you my life was boring! Since our closet is tiny (2 x 5) and we don't have room for a dresser I have to switch out the summer and winter clothes. I spent yesterday doing just that since the clothes I washed were dry and folded. It's always fun to see the clothes I forgot I had. Today I'm going to make myself sit down and sew up some of the fabric I bought at a day after Thanksgiving sale, it's been sitting on the ironing board tauting me for a week.

Content

I was thinking about what it means to be content the last few weeks. When I think about being content I automatically associate that with being complacent. I’m not ready to be complacent, I’m still looking for ways to change and improve our way of life. I’m still looking at ways to implement my “less is more” attitude towards living. If I am content then that means I’m done looking and changing. That doesn’t mean I’m unhappy with everything in our situation, I’m finding things that this particular place offers us that we may not have elsewhere. At the same time I’m continuing to dream and plan about what I’d like in the future. So I’m not content with our life but that’s okay because I’m still striving for ways to make our life even better.

Christmas Parade

I couldn't have been more pleased with the way things went at the Christmas parade!

Just to give you an idea of why this was such a groundbreaking thing I need to explain how far Lorna has come with Ginger. When she first saved up and purchased her horse 2 years ago her expectation was that Ginger would be a great beginner horse. The acquaintance we bought her from had purchased the horse at an auction and only had her for 6 months before he sold her to us. He really wanted to help Lorna get her first horse so he sold her for a lot less than she was worth.

Lorna didn't have much experience with riding so she really needed a "kid-proof" horse. Ginger quickly found that she could take control and promptly threw Lorna off twice. After that Lorna would only sit on the horse and have us lead her around. Once we got settled here we told Lorna she either had to work with Ginger or sell her because the cost of upkeep was too much for a lawn ornament. She started lessons in August and now is able to maintain control of her horse. Today she proudly rode Ginger down the street with sirens blaring and people cheering. Never once did Ginger give her a problem, that's a long way from throwing Lorna off and running down the road! Lorna is now confident enough that she is going to ride Ginger at her next gymkhana event.

The group Lorna rode with (they won 1st place for the equestrian division).


Coming down the street.


Lorna and Ginger


Malachi greatly enjoyed all the candy the various participants threw to the spectators.

A Nontraditional Thanksgiving

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving like most others do. A number of years ago, after a failed attempt to hold a traditional dinner at our house where all but 2 people cancelled the day of, we decided it was a waste to do all that cooking for just our small family. In addition to that, none of us care for turkey and we just don't have the money to attempt such an extravagant dinner. We now have the tradition of doing appetizers all day.

I started the day by making homemade french and brown bread.


The french bread was used for a goat cheese spread topped with sun dried tomatoes.


Lorna made homemade crescent rolls for the next 2 snacks. These are filled with cream cheese, dried onion, asiago, and bacon.


The last batch was filled with cream cheese, asiago, and roasted red peppers.


The only ingredient that we bought special for today was the cream cheese so the cost was really minimal. And just so you don't get the idea that we ate junk all day I should add that our lunch consisted of chicken salads.