The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful

I'm in Hilton Head, and it just started raining. Yesterday was nice, though. I got some sun, had a margarita with T, and read a book. Class is ok, the trip is been all right so far. But I miss L.

ANd today is S's birthday. I've already called and left her a funny song on her answering machine.

It's time for lunch, so I have to cut this short..

Hey La, Hey La, My Boyfriend's Back

And I am leaving tomorrow for Hilton Head, for a week. As much fun as I think HH will be, I wish I had a few more days like today with him. Last night there was quite the joyful homecoming. So joyful, in fact, that we skipped the 5K we have been planning to do for months and slept in.

I woke up to german chocolate flavored coffee and kisses. We went to Olive Garden for lunch, then to the bookstore. We stopped in at PetSmart so I could look at the tack store. I was duly impressed with the variety of stuff they had.. everything from saddles and halters to riding pants to brushes to horse cookies. Very nifty.

And who should I run into but an old "colleague" from the dancing days. She was probably the closest thing to a friend I had in that club. We did a lot of shopping together. She's a dog trainer now, happily married, but apparently we have some mental quirks in common. She mentioned feeling like she lost most of her early twenties.. I thought I was the only one who thought that way. Funny.

Then we came home and decided a nap was in order. We slept for an hour or so, and were awakened by the cat, who wanted to play. We obliged until he ran away, and then decided to do something more constructive with our time, since we were already comfortably in bed.

Altogether a great day, especially considering the awesome sex, twice in 12 hours or so. I cannot possibly complain. In fact, I could deal with that every day. At least every other.

And now I am off to dry my hair, and then to bed again. T will be here at 8, and then we're off to the beach in the convertible, top down, radio up.

Gearing Up for...

It's Friday at last, and I've got a full day ahead, getting ready for my trip. Unfortunately, it looks like I will be traveling just in time for the highest gas prices on record. Great.

It seems that I have a lot to be irritated about lately, especially yesterday. I'll just list the aggravations, shall I?

1) People who bring me huge, needlessly complicated budgets to process that don't add up!!! Argh! If you have "doctor" in front of your name, you have no excuse for not knowing how to add, for chrissakes!

2) People who email me, then call on the phone as they are pressing the Send button, to say the exact same thing.

3) My ex husband has been back in the military for 2 weeks already and no one saw fit to inform me. Not that I particularly care where he is or what he is doing, but he promised me that he would keep the car payment and the house payment current, and he has been court ordered to do so, as well as pay me $4,900 for the remaining half of the marital debt. He was supposed to use his reup cash bonus to pay off his car and give me the money he owes me. He has done none of this.. the house is going into foreclosure and the bank is threatening to repo his car. Both of these accounts have my name on them, so all of my hard work at paying off bills and trying to get on track this past 2 years has been completely a waste of time. I should have just declared bankruptcy and said to hell with it. Add that to the fact that J and his parents waited until almost 2 months after the notices on the accounts were received to get said notices to me, so now it is basically too late to negotiate with them. Oh yeah, and part B to this whole thing is that I have tried repeatedly and in writing to change my address with my own creditors, and they are still sending things to my ex-in-laws' house. I never even lived there, not even for a week. For the love of God, how hard is it to send my mail to the correct address???

4) As if that isn't enough, when I got home, I had a bill from my attorney to the tune of $850. When it rains, it pours.. I feel like the financial equivalent of New Orleans right now.

5) Someone should start teaching mandatory driving courses to employees at this fine establishment. Since starting to work there, I have acquired exactly 23 scratches, dents, and creases in my car from parking in the employee parking lots here. Some of this damage is rather spectacular.. the vanity plate holder in the front is crammed into the front of the car where someone backed or just drove into it. The paint is scraped off down to the metal on both sides where someone (or multiple someones) scrubbed their bumper all the way down. I have big creases in both doors where people have opened their doors into my car. I swear it looks like they've had a contest to see who can kick their doors open hardest, and who can leave the longest door dent! Apparently someone sat a box or something on my hood while unlocking their own car, or smoking crack, or whatever they were doing.. I could deal with my car being used as a temporary shelf, if they hadn't slid the box off of the car, leaving a row of scratches that makes it look like my hood was attacked by a very large, spastic (possibly even schizophrenic) cat.

Today must be better. It has no choice.

For a Moment I'm Gonna Be 15..

..and post some song lyrics...
(c) Marc Cohn of course :) Scroll past the lyrics for my commentary. Of course.

Baby I've been searching like everybody else
Can't say nothing different about myself
Sometimes I'm an angel, And sometimes I'm cruel
And when it comes to love I'm just another fool
Yes, I'll climb a mountain, I'm gonna swim the sea
There ain't no act of God girl Could keep you safe from me
My arms are reaching out Out across this canyon
I'm asking you to be my true companion
True companion True companion

So don't you dare and try to walk away
I've got my heart set on our wedding day
I've got this vision of a girl in white
Made my decision that it's you allright
And when I take your hand I'll watch my heart set sail
I'll take my trembling fingers And I'll lift up your veil
Then I'll take you home And with wild abandon
Make love to you just like a true companion
You are my true companion; I got a true companion
True companion

When the years have done irreparable harm
I can see us walking slowly arm in arm
Just like the couple on the corner do
'Cause girl I will always be in love with you
And when I look in your eyes I'll still see that spark
Until the shadows fall Until the room grows dark
Then when I leave this Earth I'll be with the angels standin'
I'll be out there waiting for my true companion
Just for my true companion
True companion True companion

This has got to be one of the sweetest songs I've ever heard. This is how couples should feel about each other.. and this is how they should express it. I'm hung up on this at the moment... some things need to be said in a relationship, and this is one of them (provided that's how you feel, of course).

"There ain't no act of God girl Could keep you safe from me "
Heh. Wow.

Ok, that's enough of that.

This is Pie. She is a spotted horse with a naturally heart-shaped spot on her behind. She knows exactly how cute she is.. She reminds me of one of those girls with the lower back tattoo and the low rider jeans for some reason. :) 

What is it they say about leading a horse to water??? 

And this is Panda... She's no Gracie, but she's sweet. 

Smoochie thinks I have cookies for her. All I have is a halter for Panda. 

Domestic Blahs

I did not sleep well last night. I usually don't when L is out of town. When he's gone I wake up at every sound, even though I sleep with the dogs in the house, so I know that if anyone broke in, they'd be immediately chewed to bits. (They're very nice dogs, but rather protective and territorial.)

I got a lot done today, though. I ate a little dinner, vacuumed the whole house, did the dishes, and did two loads of laundry. There was a moment of excitement when I was in the shower and the power went out, just about the time I was covered in soap. For a second all I could think of was Psycho. I know, stupid. I decided that if someone were coming to stab me through the shower curtain, they'd have a rough time of it, with the mirrored shower doors. And besides that, there's not much I could do about it, if someone were there. So I decided to go on showering in the dark. And then the power decided to come back on, so I decided to shave my legs after all.

Tomorrow I think I am going out to M's to play with the horses, even though Gracie won't be home for a long time. I can't go that long without riding or at least practicing my Parelli games. I've just got to figure out who it's going to be.. the palomino? the paint? the 3-year-old with the blaze on his nose?

I'd start working with the black mare, but she's H's, and I don't want to get too attached to her. There's no way I could ever afford to buy her someday, even if she were ever to be for sale, which would never happen. And as far as personality.. Smoochie is beautiful, but she's no Gracie.

I talked to L for a while today. He is enjoying his trip, to his surprise. I'm glad, but I wish our trips had been spaced differently. *sigh*

And now it's time for bed.. (Put the cat in his condo, let the dogs out, turn the tv off, and snooze..)

Gracie likes to have her hiney scratched because she can't reach it. She also likes to show off her new cast.. 

I Luv Gracie! 

Here is Gracie with her cast on. She's the first horse at UGA to ever undergo the surgery she had, and she's doing just fine! Looks like she will recover from what is usually a fatal injury for a horse! 

Faster than a Speeding Bullet..

I tried to update this blog again last night, only to find that my internet connection was acting loopy and my posts would not save. Of course, my blood alcohol level was also probably a factor.

This weekend has been full to say the least. I went to an Arts festival with L on Saturday morning, and Saturday night we went to a football party. Clemson lost their game (boo!) and FSU won theirs (yay!) and a good time was had by all.

However, getting up early on Sunday morning sucked. I rode with M and his mom and J (who had spent the night in jail for speeding and DUI.. a very unhappy camper) to UGA to see Gracie. She is doing much better.. I will try to post pics later. Her leg is all casted and stiff, but she looks much better than before and we're thinking that she will make it just fine.

Last night we went to a reception for Wilton Earle (author of "Manse") and Dick Estelle from NPR's Radio Reader. Very nice man, very nice party. However, I started the night with 2 martinis, I had no dinner, and I finished the night with more red wine than was good for me.

This morning I had to get up at 5:30 to take L to the airport, then make the arduous trek to work. I miss L already. I think it's because I know he will be gone all week, and then when he gets back, I will be gone all of the next week! (But never fear, I will take my laptop!) Then before I get back from Hilton Head, he will be going back to Tally. So I don't see him for at least 2 weeks, possibly 3.

Bleh.

Barnie loves to chew, even on the dirtiest and most worn out dog toy in existence. 

Can we come inside now? 

Tragedy Strikes

Forgive me, I'd written a whole post here, which now mysteriously is missing.

It was all about Gracie and how she broke her leg coming through the front of the horse trailer. How I have no idea why or what happened. One minute we were getting ready to go trail riding and the next she was bleeding and a leg was broken and I was facing that fact that she may get put down.

The vet says she has a chance to live, but that she'll never be a trail horse again. I doubt she will ever be ridden again. But I'd rather see her alive as a pet than the alternative.

There are so many risks though, and no guarantee that the surgery will work for her. I hope it does though.

I am heartbroken, of course. The best horse in the world is ruined for no reason.

What I Noticed Today

It's another plain old day. Work, drive, dinner, tv, blog, bed.

Except that there are those little things that make it good. It doesn't sparkle. It's more like the first time you notice that the leaves are changing in the fall. It's a quiet miracle. I like that.

A quiet miracle that I can go from not wanting to wake up in the morning to loving plain days in inside a year. Little, ordinary, sometimes almost worn out things make life what it should be.. happy.

Like the glass of wine that he poured for me before dinner, and the fact that he picked the glass that he knows I love. And he did it without saying a word.

The fact that he's terribly ticklish and sometimes that's irresistable. He doesn't like it, but he doesn't get mad either.

The dogs that like you no matter what you're wearing or what kind of mood you're in. The fact that Denver bit me by accident when I fed him a bite of steak, and then tried to issue a doggy apology.

The fact that my mother called just to talk last night, and she didn't sound like she wanted to jump off the nearest bridge.

The fat, striped tabby cat purring around my ankles and the knowledge that tomorrow I will ride on the best horse in the state of South Carolina.

Sometimes you can't think of all the crap in the world or the canned pop culture world on tv because dusty, worn reality outshines the glitter of hollywood.

Corny? Oh yes. But true nonetheless.

Denver is really not good at subtle hints.. 

You know, I wish I could be this relaxed... 

Sweet

So, after a screed like that, I need to post something a little more upbeat. Let me just say that my life is pretty damn decent at the moment.

L is sitting on the couch, yelling at the football game, and I just got out of a long, hot bath.

Last night we went out with our dear friends and had far too much to drink. We tried out the new restaurant in Anderson, Jax. It's owned by some old friends of mine, who have another successful restaurant in town. It's supposed to be a New Orleans bistro, and sure enough the prices are comparable to what you'd find in N.O. At least in the old N.O. A. kept joking last night that if they wanted the restaurant to be authentic, they needed to pump about 2 feet of water into the place. Crass and insensitive, of course, but then that's A. for you.

And it's true enough that there is crawfish etoufee on the menu. But we were profoundly disappointed with the food. It did not even approach the ghost of the memory of the food we ate in New Orleans. There was no bite, no spice. The crawfish tasted fishy. And the crab bisque was clearly Campbell's tomato soup with a dollop of cream and a few pieces of crabmeat dropped in the middle so they wouldn't be lying when they called it crab bisque.

I hate to be harsh because it's my friends who own the place. It's a beautiful restaurant, with an awesome atmosphere. It's just that the food sucks. Hopefully given time they will realize this and fix it. Stranger things have happened.

We went from there to the Arts Center to see a photography exhibition, which was pretty nice. The artists were local physicians, and some of the photography was surprisingly good. There were a few pieces that I would have liked to have, but as you can imagine, they were quite pricey for digital photographs.

Then we went to Sullivan's for martinis and talked until far too late. When we finally made it home, we went to bed, but not to sleep, since as I said I'd had quite a bit to drink. I'm afraid I was a bit bossy. I didn't let him do anything but be there and enjoy himself, which he seemed to do.

This morning I went shopping for birthday presents for a certain soon-to-be 15-year-old (my god, my god, I am getting old!) and her mother, my sister, the Princess of the World. Their birthdays are 2 weeks apart, and coming up fast.

L mowed the grass and I laid in the hammock and watched him while pretending to read a book. God, that man has great legs. I took a nap on the couch and ended up sleeping for 3 hours. When I woke up, L was gone. Turns out he was grocery shopping. We ate rotesserie chicken and salad for dinner, and then I headed to the bath for more reading and a long soak..

I brushed the dogs today also, which they seemed to like. But then they like any kind of attention. Denver discovered the cat's new toy as well. This toy is now the favorite of both cat and dogs now. It's one of those plastic rings with the ball inside that goes around and around. The cat sticks his paws between the plastic pieces and swats the ball, trying to get it out. The dog has his own variation of this game, in which he uses his tongue to swat the ball. It is absolutely hilarious. Even more hilarious will be the cat's reaction the next time he goes to play with the toy and smells all of the dog slobber. Heh. I love those three.. they're like my own private comedy show.

Overall, a very good day, now adequately blogged. I feel a major league couch snuggling fit coming on, and there seems to be a lull in the football game action. Maybe I could sneak up...

I am beginning to think like my cat.