Positive news

Since I've been so negative I thought I'd post some positive news.

Paul has finally had some calls back on applications he sent out so there is at least one interview in the works.

I went to the county job agency yesterday and was actually pleasantly surprised with the results. They had me do up a few more resumes, tailoring them to a few different situations. I went back with those this morning and they found 3 jobs for me to apply for. The jobs sound way too good to be true, not in the compensation, but in the fit for my qualifications. The jobs just opened and will be filled within 2 weeks so I won't have to wait very long to find out if I am chosen to interview. If you are the type of person to pray, please pray for us. My immediate response is to pray that God would give me one of these jobs but I'm praying for His will to be done and the strength and faith to deal with whatever the outcome is.

More negativity

I been avoiding updating my blog because I've been so very negative but I just couldn't help it, I had to blog about today's happenings.

I've spent countless hours applying for jobs over the past few weeks. I finally decided to try AppleOne, an employment service. In order to get an appointment you have to fill out lots of paperwork online. I spent about 2 hours filling out all their online stuff and was scheduled for an appointment tomorrow at 10:30. I just received a call from them to "verify" my appointment. They wanted to see why I had no recent job experience. I explained that I have been a homemaker for the past 9 years but that I have done some volunteer work during the last 2 years. The office canceled my appointment, according to them I'm not the kind of person they can help. You have to have a stable work history and I don't have it.

I asked the woman who called to please explain who could help, she suggested the county work agency. I explained that I had attempted to get a job working for minimum wage but that I was turned down due to being overqualified. She was surprised but said an education without any recent experience was pretty much useless. I'm still wondering how I'm supposed to get that experience if no one will even talk to me. I called the county agency but the person I spoke with was unsure how they could help. I'm going in tomorrow to fill out more paperwork in the hopes that they can help me find a job but the person didn't sound very hopeful.

So here I am with a BA in Math and no way to get a job. I looked into substitute teaching but the high school district isn't even accepting any more applications for next year, there are just too many teachers out of work. I could start being less than truthful on applications saying I have no education beyond high school but I highly doubt employers want a liar working for them. I am so out of ideas!

I'm trying to have faith that things will work out but I seem to be running into one stumbling block after another, I could really use a break and some good luck!

Regrets

I have lots of them but I have to say at the moment that one of my biggest regrets was ever going to college.

I have another 10+ years left on my loan and I can't find a job.

It seems that having a degree is keeping the local employers from calling me back. I could lie and say I only finished high school but then I would have to lie about my work history. I'm sure employers don't want to hire liars but most won't even give me the time of day.

I had an interview yesterday at another local market. Once again I was told that I would hear back within a few days. I thought the interview went well but now I'm wondering if that's just wishful thinking. I know that if I haven't heard anything by tomorrow afternoon I didn't get the job since the hiring manager won't be in on Thursday and she is in a rush to hire 2 people.

The frustrating thing is that I've even been applying in the big city near us. I'm over-qualified for some things and under-qualified for everything else. I just don't fit in anywhere. I'm sure some of the companies have looked at where I live and just skipped my application but since there are a number of people in our area who drive into the city that can't be the only reason I'm not getting any calls back.

Paul hasn't had any calls back and he has probably sent off close to 50 resumes and applications. He's gotten a couple of emails from companies telling him that they are pursuing other candidates, at least that's something, but the vast majority of places don't bother giving you any information. It's really frustrating! He still has a job at the moment but what he's receiving isn't even paying for his gas to go back and forth to work, the only reason he is still going to work is for the medical insurance. I'm sure that something good will come out of all of this, I just hope it's soon!

Catching up again

I wish I could say that time flies when I'm having fun but for me time just flies.

Paul's job has taken another turn for the worst. He's actively searching for something to fill in the gaps and I'm actively searching for anything. One thing I've learned is that a degree and no experience will get you nowhere. I had an interview at the local market, they were concerned about my degree and my advanced age (I never thought 35 was all that old). I guess you need to be young and uneducated to bag groceries... I've applied at numerous places but haven't received any calls back, contrary to promises made when I dropped off some of the applications. I've applied for jobs that require a degree and no experience but I have yet to hear back from any of those either. I'm feeling really useless right now.

We need to get out from under our mortgage so we are planning a move to a bare piece of land. It's flat, easily accessible, and the owners' are willing to carry. Of course you can't get electricity around here without an address or a well. You can't get phone service without an address, and you can't get an address without a permanent livable structure. So we are going to be doing without all of that once again. We purchased an old RV that will be towed to its new home once the land closes and we will be moving onto the property sometime in the next few months. The kids are ecstatic, their parents are just tired. From our last experience off-grid we have a pretty good idea of what to expect. We've made plans to buy water from someone local and we have a backup in case that falls through. There is a generator in the RV and we are looking at setting up a small solar system for power. We are building a composting toilet to handle waste and we have someone lined up to scrape the sage brush off of most of the land. The biggest hurdle we've run up against is the lack of phone service. There is no cell reception within 12 miles of this area. VOIP might be an option but since we are on satellite internet that's kind of iffy. We are looking into a satellite phone but the equipment is really pricey, I know we will come up with a solution eventually. I'm sure there will be other little bumps along the way but at least the basic are planned for.

So we are in the beginning stages of another adventure. Right now it's kind of difficult to get too excited but at least we have a plan...

April Gymkhana

No pictures yet but I just had to share.

This was our club's first ever 3 day show. Although the kids didn't win any of the overall awards they received lots of medals for placing in the individual events. In order to have an idea of what I'm talking about I'm going to explain about divisions. There are a number of divisions in gymkhana. The FC riders are the slowest, you can go anywhere from a walk to a slow lope and be in this division. The next is A, then AA, then AAA, and finally AAA+. We had a number of fast riders this weekend from out of town and we still only had 2 AAA+ times total, so that gives you an idea how difficult it is to run those kind of times.

Malachi started out the season as an A rider. This show showed he has progressed and he is a solid AA rider at this point. He rode very cleanly and only had a few mistakes, mostly due to his horse. It's nice that he rode most of the events in AA, showing how consistent he can be.

Lorna was at a disadvantage because this was only her third show on her horse. Unbelievably she ran a number of AA times. Most surprising was the fact that she ran 3 AAA times! Her fastest time had her only 2 tenths of a second from AAA+. I couldn't help myself from jumping up and down. She was so excited I thought she was going to leap off her horse. Since there was room for improvement on her run it means that she has the potential to eventually run some AAA+ times. This weekend she not only had people cheering for her but she received many compliments on her riding.

Lorna's tack sales progressed nicely and she has orders to deliver next show. She also put one of her horses up for sale on Tuesday and ended up selling him on Friday.

The one low point to the weekend was that Lorna's cat died sometime last night. He was acting strangely the last 2 days so it wasn't a complete shock, but since he was only 7 and an indoor cat we weren't prepared to lose him so soon. With all the excitement over the weekend I don't think the loss has really sunk in yet. She really doesn't remember a time without her cat so I know she has to be grieving. In a way all the other stuff going on has been a good thing since it has taken her mind off of her loss.

New project

Along with all of the other sewing projects I'm continually working on I've been working on more horse related items. The braided tack is going well enough that we have decided to add helmet covers and splint boot covers to our product line. I made Lorna a helmet cover for Christmas and have since perfected the pattern and made a helmet cover for Malachi.



I'm still perfecting my splint boot cover pattern but here was my first attempt. In case you are wondering, splint boots protect a horse's leg muscles. They come in all sorts of colors but can be pricey. The covers would not only protect the boots but would allow you to change their look relatively inexpensively. I want the covers to be easy to put on but also fit tight enough that they don't slide around. The ones you can buy through the catalogs have velcro down the side. There are two problems with that, one the price of velcro and two the velcro can easily snag the lycra. Also velcro becomes dirty really easily around horses making it a high maintenance kind of thing. As of right now I have thin elastic at the top and bottom of the cover, it should keep the cover from sliding up or down the boot. Unfortunately the weather is too bad for Lorna to try them out extensively today.





I found an online store that sells some really great patterned lycra. I haven't purchased from them yet but their prices seem really good. I need to sew through the stuff I bought at a local discount warehouse first then I can justify getting more :)

Socialization

I rarely post anything about homeschooling because it's not just an educational choice but a way of life. Our life seems normal for us so I don't really think about it much.

A couple of weeks ago Lorna was out riding with a woman that pays her to ride one of her horses. Her employer had a guest riding along with them. This guest is someone we are slightly acquainted with through our gymkhana club, she has told us numerous times how wonderful our kids are. I guess this guest didn't know that we homeschool and when she found out decided to grill Lorna about our choices. This woman really doesn't like homeschooling, not because she has any experience with it or knows anyone personally who does it, but because of some stuff she's heard second or third hand. She said it was okay that I homeschooled because I was "qualified" but that most parents are not. I guess I'm qualified because I have a degree and spent 2 years in a classroom even though I've had no formal teacher's training. The arrogance of this woman to think she can say who is and isn't qualified to teach their own children was amazing.

Of course the discussion morphed into the socialization issue. Our kids are not around a lot of kids their own age. Those they are around are not really interested in making friends so the kids have filled their social circle with adults. I personally think that this is just fine since in the real world they will have to interact with people of all ages. Lorna, especially, has made friends based on common interests instead of age. This woman thought this was okay but insisted that Lorna needed to have friends her own age. Lorna tried to explain that she has tried but that since she isn't concerned with boys, clothes, and make-up this hasn't worked out. She also told the woman that she is happy with the friends she has, regardless of their age. Of course, all of Lorna's opinions fell of deaf ears.

Since this occurred while Lorna was out riding we didn't hear about it until later. I was proud of Lorna for attempting to engage this woman in discussion and not just agreeing with her to get out of the discussion. Lorna told me how she tried to steer the conversation away from these topics and how she tried to politely disagree with the woman. I'm so proud of her for sticking up for herself. A few years ago she wouldn't have done this but with all of her activities she has gained enough confidence to realize that her opinions matter. I can't say we were pleased to hear that she was attacked for her parents' choices, and there really is no other way to describe it. I couldn't believe the audacity of this woman! It's probably a good thing I haven't seen her since I found out about what she said. I'm still extremely angry and do not want to be put into a position where I will have to interact with this individual.

I watched Lorna talking with her fellow chorus members last night at rehearsal. I watched as the adults around her not only listened to what she had to say but asked her opinion on a few things. They don't treat her like an inferior child but as a fellow member with valuable ideas. She has made a couple of good friends within the chorus and they don't seem to value her any less because of her age.

Conflicts

This was the first time we had conflicting activities and ended up splitting up for the weekend. Malachi had gymkhana, where he had an absolutely spectacular day, and Lorna and I had our annual regional contest for Sweet Adeline's.

Due to splitting up I don't have pictures of either event to share. Paul took the camera and videoed most of Malachi's runs so that we could see them when we got home. I was really glad since Malachi had such great runs which culminated with him winning high points in his division!

We had a great contest weekend. I know Lorna had been getting burned out with singing and was really unhappy with not being able to attend gymkhana, but this weekend helped her remember why she does Sweet Adeline's. Our chorus placed 3rd in our division and won the Audience Choice award again this year. We improved our score over last year so we met our goals. The best part of the weekend is always Saturday night after contest when we go around and listen to all the region quartets perform in the various hospitality rooms. There were a couple of quartets made up of young women that were spectacular, Lorna was really happy and inspired. It can be difficult for someone her age to feel like she fits in when most of the women that are a part of our region are her grandparents age.

Paul not only spent the day watching Malachi but he also had some of Lorna's braided tack for sale. We had 4 halters pre-ordered and were hoping to sell a few other things. He was swamped with interest from the people in our club and ended up selling a bunch of saddle crosses, halters, and 3 pairs of reins! Lorna is going to be a busy beaver this month making up the custom orders that were ordered and braiding a bunch more things for the big 2-day show next month. Lorna was exceedingly pleased with the interest especially since the tack store in town wants to talk to us about carrying a few of her items.

Costumes

I finally got pictures of the costumes I did for our chorus.



I did the corsets, hip wraps, and head scarves. Obviously the corsets were the most time intensive thing. I made up my own pattern based on an Halloween costume and just kind of tweaked it until it worked. There are a few things I would have changed about the pattern if I hadn't been doing so many corsets for many different shapes and sizes. All of the trim had to put on by hand since the inside of the corsets are lined. Everyone is really pleased with how the costumes turned out, I just hope the judges like them next Saturday!

Of course I think Lorna looks the best in hers!

Nothing!

That is what we have planned for this weekend.

No horse activities, no Sweet Adeline's commitments, nothing. It's a wonderful thing and I'm so excited. I'm thinking it's time to get a handle on the house, it needs to be cleaned. With 4 of us home and working on it we should be able to get everything done in a short amount of time.

There has been lots of stress around here so I think we all need some down time. Paul was on the way to a meeting last Saturday and hit a large rock in the canyon. It was hit the rock or go into the river so I think he chose the better option. That little incident cost us a $600 repair bill. Car repairs are a never ending thing for us. With his job going so very poorly this was not a welcome expense but I am glad we had the money from the tax return to pay for it. Commission sales and the bad economy do not go well together.

On a positive note, we are all healthy and we haven't had any more animal emergencies!

February Gymkhana

We had a show last Saturday and it went well. Lorna succeeded in beating her brother in all but 1 event. This has given him the impetus to practice more in hopes of beating her in April.




Lorna is really bummed that she will be missing the March show while her brother will get to ride. Her and I will be in Bakersfield at the regional contest for Sweet Adeline's. Personally I'm hoping the gymkhana show gets rained out so that she won't miss anything :) She is very happy that she has 5 halters pre-ordered for next month though. Paul will deliver them at the show and collect the money and any more orders before our club's big 2 day show. Lorna will be busy braiding halters, reins, hobbles, saddle crosses, and neck collars in preparation for selling at that show.

Other than that we've been exceedingly busy. I've been sewing, the kids have been catching up on school, and Paul has been busy with work. We have plans to go away for a weekend at the end of April when my mom is visiting. Our plans have morphed from a romantic getaway to a little coastal town to a visit to Las Vegas. The rooms at the little town would have cost us more than the entire weekend in Vegas. Since we are night people it also makes more sense to go somewhere that has stuff to do at night. I'm really looking forward to getting away no matter where it is!

Update

It's been a busy week.

The costume project seems never ending, every time I think I'm finished something else comes up. I had to make an extra top for someone who gained a good amount of weight since I measured and now I have to make another one for a member who hasn't been attending rehearsal. She won't be going to contest with the chorus but she will need a costume for other performances. If I do this again I will be more careful about stipulating things before I start.

Here is a couple of the tops (corsets).





Hopefully I can remember to take the camera to rehearsal on Thursday so I can post pictures of all the pieces together.

This last weekend was the annual Whiskey Flat Days festival that attracts 50,000+ people to our valley. We had absolutely beautiful weather so we ended up attending 3 full days. Saturday the kids rode in the parade and Sunday Malachi dressed Jasper up and won first place for the theme in the pet parade.



A little over a week ago Lorna's gymkhana horse tried to kill herself. She sliced open her neck. We have no idea what she hurt herself on but if the wound had been any further in either direction she wouldn't be with us anymore. We can take the stithes out on Friday just in time for the next gymkhana.



About a month ago Lorna took some of her Christmas money and purchased a tack braiding kit off of Craigslist. She's spent the last few weeks perfecting her braiding skills and finally finished a couple of pieces. I showed one of her halters to a couple of people in our gymkhana club and she already has a few orders. She will be spending the next few months braiding in preparation for the large 2 day show our club is holding in April. We are hoping she sells most of what she makes so we can buy more supplies and she can actually start recouping some of the start-up costs. This mixed with the jewelry designing she and I do together and the sewing I do will be the focus of the booth we plan on hosting at the various craft shows around our valley. Walking around and looking at all the items available this past weekend further strengthened our resolve to start selling more in person. It will be a great way for Lorna to earn a bit more money and to get us more exposure in the local community. Some things just sell better in person where the customer can handle the items and see the quality for themselves.

I just got a call that my serger is finally fixed. Is it a bad sign that they couldn't give me a total yet? I'm just hoping the cost comes in under the quote since it sounds like they didn't have to replace the board. I'll be glad to get my own machine back, the loaner seemed like it was really cheaply made and I miss all the bells and whistles my machine has!

Brocoflower revisited

We finally got around to eating the weird looking veggie last Saturday. I really liked it. It had the consistency of cauliflower but a mild broccoli taste. The rest of the family didn't care for it, too much like cauliflower for their taste. I ended up broiling it with a mix of other veggies so we didn't do anything fancy with it. Broiling is my favorite way to cook most veggies. I can mix a bunch of different types with a little olive oil and garlic and then throw them in the oven until they are done. You get to actually taste the veggies and it's easy.

We received brussel sprouts about 2 weeks ago and at first everyone complained. Neither one of the kids had ever tasted one but they had heard all kinds of horrible things about them. I stir-fried them with some onion and garlic and added a little soy sauce when they were finished. Paul and Lorna fought over the leftovers they liked them so much. We have just enough for one more dinner and they keep asking when we can have them again!

Bad News

My serger is dead :(

After talking with the repair place yesterday I expected Paul to be bringing home my machine today. Instead I was told that the machine has either a burned out motor or board or both. Estimates to repair it are high, not as high as buying a new one but still way more than I wanted to spend. The repairman thinks it's a manufacturer's defect. I don't have the receipt anymore since it's out of warranty but we contacted the place I purchased it from to see if they have any paperwork. Even if they do, there is no guarantee that the repairs will be covered.

I was just praising my machine to someone a few weeks ago. Knowing this isn't something I did makes me rethink whether this is such a great machine. The repair shop has sent home a loaner while they work on fixing my machine. Supposedly I'm going to love the loaner, but when I looked it up online I was not impressed with the machine's functions. At least I'll have something to work with while I wait. I have a whole bunch of stuff I need to get finished this weekend so I'm really happy they offered the loaner.

Hurray!

I finished our taxes last night and e-filed them! If we didn't have a huge refund coming there is no way I would have started them the day we got our last tax document (Monday). Now we just have to wait a little over a week for the Federal refund. I already have most of it spent, refilling emergency funds and paying some bills. Unlike last year there is no way I can pay all of the bills off but I can get a huge chunk taken care of. Those darn medical bills from my fall last July just keep getting in the way.

I'm still waiting to hear about my serger but most of my work for the chorus is finished. We've started cleaning the house but got sidetracked by an emergency fix to the horse pen. Two of the horses got bored one night and ate one of the the wood posts that was holding up their shelter. By the time they were done it was the thickness of a pencil in one spot so we had to disassemble it. We bought metal posts this time but with Paul working so late, the kids and I are having to put it up ourselves. Hopefully we will get the rest of it up today. I need another 6 hours in the day to get everything finished that I need to get accomplished!

Weird Veggie

Every once in awhile we get a really weird vegetable in our organic veggie delivery. This weekend it was a broccoflower. I had to post pictures because it looks so weird!

January Gymkhana and stuff

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted!

I'll start with the gymkhana show for this month.

Lorna picked up her new gymkhana horse a few days before the date of the December show but we were rained out. That gave her over a month to work with Sequoia before the next gymkhana. All that worked showed at this month's show. I haven't seen smiles this big since before her pinto mare died last year.



Lorna and Sequoia are still getting used to each other but they did very well in their first show. The rode some A times and even a AA time. Once Lorna keeps her from ducking into the obstacles they are going to be very fast together.



Malachi and Amigo are still doing great together. At this point Malachi needs to focus on keeping his riding clean as he goes faster. He has a bit more incentive now that Lorna and Sequoia are riding so well. They actually beat Malachi and Amigo in 2 events :)



At the beginning of December I took on a project making costumes for our Sweet Adeline's chorus. What should have taken me 3 weeks has taken 2 months. It's one of those projects where whatever could go wrong has gone wrong. The problems culminated in my serger breaking over the weekend, right before I finished the last 2 pieces. I'm so sick of these costumes right now. With the exception of these last 2 pieces, one of which is mine so it's really not the end of the world, I will have the main costumes done today. I still have head scarves left to do but I figure those can wait. The costumes turned out fantastic though, especially considering I made up the patterns to fit our needs.

Since all of my time has been taken up with sewing, the house is an absolute disaster. I kept expecting to finish this project so I put off all the cleaning. The rain and snow of last week haven't helped the house at all with the mud everyone has been tracking in and I'm really behind on laundry. At least I can't complain that I'm bored :)

Christmas Day

We took the kids to the lake yesterday to ride. It was a beautiful day and the area we went to was mostly empty. We've lived in the valley for almost 4 years and this was the first time we've gone down to the lake shore.



Studly didn't care too much for the water.



Amigo loved it and spent lots of time playing in it. This is my favorite picture of the day. I love the reflection of Malachi and Amigo in the lake!

Wild Mustang Video

I don't know how many of you know about the controversial stuff going on with the BLM and the roundups of mustangs. In short, the man in charge of the BLM has been doing a huge number of roundups in the last year or so. At the rate he's going there aren't going to be any free roaming bands left. The lands that supposedly can't support the mustangs are then being given to private cattle ranchers with grazing permits. Private groups are fighting this man with letter writing campaigns and lawsuits. Even when favorable rulings are given to delay the roundups, the BLM has gone ahead with their plans. Here is an entertaining video that one person put together about what's been going on.

Hottie

We lost another horse this morning. As I was going through my pictures I realized I didn't have any recent ones of her. The last one I took was in early May and she had grown so much since then. It didn't seem important to snap pictures as Malachi rode her or as the kids ponied her with the other horses because she was young and I figured I'd have many years of picture opportunities.



I should have taken a picture of her when I went to the vet to say goodbye yesterday but I forgot my camera and was too upset. I was focused on getting those last few nuzzles and kisses that she offered. Hottie was our foster horse but I intended to pay for her early next year so that she would be officially ours. We picked her up right after Ginger, Lorna's paint horse, died earlier this year. She would have been 4 years old next month, she was way too young to die. She coliced late Thursday night but we thought we got her through it. Friday morning we saw she was distressed again so we took her to the vet. The news was a lot worse than we expected. The vet tried medicines and fluids but nothing could get through the impaction in her bowels. The vet did a necropsy this morning after putting her down and found that even if she would have made it through it probably would have happened again due to internal problems. It's been hardest for me because Hottie was supposed to be my horse. She would follow me around the pen when I went out to brush her or feed treats. She would come running as soon as she heard my voice hoping for a scratch or a carrot. She was really sweet and I'll miss her terribly.