Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Toot your Horn, Bang your Drum!

A completely self-serving, self-congratulating... self-ish post.

Alfie was picked to be the Profile Horse of the Month at our barn for the month of August. Yay! Its not any sort of major award, but I'm going to brag anyway. Anyone who visits the barn's website for the next month will get to see my super pony, and thats pretty cool.

So check it out

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Changes are Afoot

Since I last blogged...

I did have a wonderful and sloth-free Lent. I kind of let things slide the past few months, and I often find myself waking up on the couch, after having passed out upon coming in from the oppressive heat.

My garden is beautiful and bountiful! I have a 3-gallon bucket full of tomatoes sitting on my porch, waiting to be turned into tomato-onion jam!

My older sister, her husband and their precious daughter, Layna, moved back to the Atlanta area after living in Tampa for the past 6 years. Layna met Alfie and all the horses her first weekend here. I think she's in love.

I got promoted... which is awesome and scary at the same time. A little extra money makes it a bit easier to deal with :)

Alfie is coming along beautifully. I need to post some before and after pictures of us. He's such a good boy. I love him. I'm hoping to get to a combined-test or two this summer. I think we can do it!

I learned that I don't have to have a novel prepared to make a blog post. Many of my favorite blogs are perfect. They're short and to the point, but expressive. I'll try to emulate them, and hopefully keep up with this better... with the goal of a CT this summer, I should have something to blog about.

Probably the most difficult change in my life since last posting is that my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in April. She's only 62. She's my favorite person on the planet and -- even though my sisters and I have been suspecting this news for the past couple of years -- I can't believe this nasty disease is going to take her from me. From us. From the world.

Thankfully she's seen a wonderful doctor at Emory's Memory Disorders clinic, and he said she is in early stages and that its wonderful that she is still so active. He's given her a couple of complimentary medications to take, and has instructed her to walk a minimum of 3 miles a day, to do activities that will engage her brain (cross word puzzles, other games that revolve around words) and to find new hobbies to learn. Mom's very open to this and takes it seriously ("I have to do my walking"... "I have to do my activities"), so that helps and is very encouraging.

Still... there is no going back. There is only going forward with Alzheimer's, and its a scary path to go down. I am blessed beyond words that I have an amazing husband, two incredible sisters, co-workers who care and are in similar situations with their parents and friends who are there to buoy me along when I need it.