Saturday Parts I & II

Part 1: This morning I had to conduct a training for some more new volunteers for the theraputic riding program. Remember, I am the Volunteer Coordinator! This is a very important job that involves nearly every Saturday thru the entire summer. What on earth was I thinking? I hate people, I love my Saturdays, and I detest being the *camp counselor* for each and every event this program has. The training was held at the barn so we could practice with the horses, see the grounds, step in manure, etc. As if on cue, it was snowing today and the high was something like 35. Freezing. Luckily, we have Starbucks as a sponsor so there was hot chocolate and coffee to drink and/or dump over our heads to keep warm. I arrived at the barn bright and early with fresh muffins, breakfast rolls, and a wicked hangover in tow. Dressed and ready for leadership. The good thing is that this group was super...the people were normal! YEA! My hope for my tenure as *Camp Counselor* is to have people who understand how important it is that they show up, do their job, and are safe around the horses...instead of some of the lamoids we have had in past years. The funniest thing today was that we were demonstrating how to hold the student on the horse and the poor horse had not been outside for 2 days b/c of the weather so he was very hyper and kept kind of hopping around and tossing his head like he was saying, "What the f***, just get me the hell outside so I can RUN!" Here we were stressing how wonderful our therapy horses are and this guy was acting like a freak...bet the new volunteers were terribly impressed.

Part2: After the training, I had to don my construction crew/interior designer cap and go to that nasty stone store with H to pick out fireplace stone. As mentioned previously, there are like 10,000 types of stone to choose-from. (I would link that to the previous post but I don't know how yet!) With much discussion and perusing of catalogs, we have narrowed our choice to the Eucalyptus Country Ledgestone. I know, sounds like something you'd hear on a tour of the Taj Mahal, right? It is actually a bit Little House on the Prarie-ish with a bit of Frank Lloyd Wright accent. Old-looking but not overdone...as in, I won't be wallpapering borders of ducks and cows or going to Longaberger (sp?) Basket parties to compliment the look. If Eucalyptus Country Ledgestone is too expensive, I have decided I am going to gather stones from the local Indiana cornfields like Ma Ingalls and end this project. I would approach the Motel 6 about possibly purchasing a portion of the faux brick facade; however, I am not sure it would provide the *look* I desire. Only the Motel 6 can do the whole 80's stonework thing and pull it off.

That is my weekend thusfar. Our little poodle Missy is having eye surgery at Purdue on Monday. I am taking the day off to take her down...how scary is that going to be? She is such the little peach...I hope all goes well and she is back to her chewing/barking/obnoxious/hyper self in no time. Luv that dog! One more thing...H & I stopped at the hardware store and purchased a new fire extinguisher. Be sure you always have one...and I recommend a larger size than the one that squirts only a half cup of extinguishing stuff!!!