Loose ends

I realize I kinda left a few cliffhanger posts lately, where I never gave any follow up. Let's try and wrap things up a bit shall we?

The Pathfinder meeting went pretty well last week. None of our little girl guide friends showed up. We had some signals crossed about when exactly they were coming. They will come to the next 2 meetings, and on our hike on Sunday. The pathfinders though learned how to set a table for formal occasions, how to fold fancy napkins in 3 ways, and all the little that I know about flower arranging. I was so grateful to my Nana who made sure that I learned such things. At the time I'm sure I didn't seem very appreciative, but in this day in age where eating out of a plastic tray in front of a television is becoming the new normal, it feels darn good to make sure my 8 girls remember what a real place setting looks like. I also challenged them to set a proper table for mother's day dinner. I've heard back from one girl who said she knocked her mother's socks off. Mommy was so proud. And of course, they all had flower arrangements to take home for a center piece! It was a pricy craft, but one of my favorite ones I've done so far.

Camp this weekend ran SO smoothly, I was amazed. We had one girl who had never spent a night away from her parents, or sleeping outside before. She braved the "wilderness" with us for the first night, and was happy enough to be there all day, but she went home to sleep the second night, then came back to help with pack up Sunday morning. We found a cray fish in the parking lot. There are no streams or rivers anywhere nearby, but hey, there he was. Apparently there it a little stream across the road and back in the woods a bit. Maybe a bird dropped him in our parking lot? He was perfectly intact, aside from missing a leg, and totally dried out. He kinda became the mascot. All of our girls are pretty good cooks, as it turns out, and they were very good about taking turns, and sharing responsibilities. I was very impressed with all of them.

On Sunday Nana and Popa came up for dinner, and my Aunt, Uncle, and three cousins came for a visit. We hadn't seen the oldest cousin since before christmas, so it was really nice to see him doing well. As soon as they left my parents dog was, well, sick as a dog. She spent the remainder of the afternoon barfing up more than I would have guessed could fit in her stomach. Handfuls and handfuls of wood chips. Now, I'm not thinking it's very likely that she suddenly decided to eat the garden mulch, I can't imagine it tastes very good. Much more likely is that she got the hickory chips from the meat smoker somehow. The meat cooks on top of the chips, they would be soaked with grease drippings, and smell just like smoked meat. I might eat them too if I was a dog. Everyone is denying that there were any about for her to find, but the evidence was all over the floor. She barfed it all up, and when it was clear that she was done, I made her up a drink with ginger to settle her stomach. She was shaking, so we swaddled her up like a baby. No, I don't really think that helped her much, but it made us feel better, and she indulges us so well. She's doing just fine now.

Ok, that gets us just about caught up to yesterday. I have one more thing to share, but I think it deserves a separate post. Stay tuned?

One foot in front of the other

and step by grueling step I should get through the next two weeks. I forgot entirely that my first exam, an oral practical exam, is tomorrow afternoon. In the morning I'm going shopping for camp supplies, in the evening I have clinic. After that I catch a bus to Brampton and my amazingly accommodating parents will pick me up and drive me to their house, where I'll pack the rest of my gear, go grocery shopping for the gang, and stagger into camp for 11 pm. Maybe. Probably more like midnight. Maybe it's not the next 2 weeks that will be so grueling, maybe it's just the next 24 hours. I'm about ready to tear my hair out.

Hey Diddle Diddle

There are certain problems with having an unexpected windfall when you've been living on a shoe string budget: you suddenly feel like a millionaire, and have it spent 5 ways before it hits your hands. Or I do, anyways.

My grandparents gave me some money, apparently to be able to order take-out during my study week. They thought it might free up some more of my time to study with, and hey, everyone's gotta eat right? Well, if I ate that much take-out, I think I'd be a blimp by next friday. I plan on ordering in thai, because I've been craving it lately, and maybe order in a pizza, but even after I go grocery shopping, I'm gonna have a reasonable wad of cash in my hot little hands. What to do with it? My initial though was: for 45$ I can get myself a student violin and bow and case, second hand but barely used. I so badly want to try my hand at fiddling, but will it distract me and keep me from my studies this study week? Probably. I've also wanted to start hula-hooping. A friend of mine does it, and she's been bringing various hoops to school and letting us all try it. Two of my other classmates have bought hoops of their own already, and some of us are starting to learn some pretty fancy tricks. Seems like a good way to exercise too... but again, distraction. Instead maybe I should save that money, and buy a fiddle, or a hoop, once exams are all over. But in the mean time, it should probably be put towards paying off my credit card. But then again, I have mothers day and birthdays coming up. I could actually afford to give some nice gifts if I wanted. Or I could get a new rock/climbing structure for my lizard's tank like I've been meaning to... the more I stop and think about it, the longer the list gets. I guess I need to find a way to sit down and prioritize the list.

... did I mention I really want a fiddle?

Flowers and Tableware

With mother's day just around the corner, tonight with the pathfinders we'll be getting a crash course in flower arranging, and table setting. The girls are each going to get to make a bouquet with 5-7 stems to take home for their moms, and they're going to learn how to properly set a table, so they can set the table for their mother's day dinner. I figure the unit owes a little kiss up to the moms since we're taking their daughters away to camp on their special day. They'll be home in plenty of time to help with dinner sunday night though.

We have special guests coming from the girl guide unit, these girls are in their third year and will be joining us in September as newly minted Pathfinders. They're coming tonight to see what all the buzz is about, hope we don't disappoint.

Only 4 more.

Only 4 more days of classes. That's it. 4 more days of guidance and instruction, and then it's my turn to show them what I know, and then go off and be an RMT. Wow. I kinda can't believe I made it. It seems such a short time ago that I felt like I'd been at the school forever, and I still had forever to go, and now all of a sudden it's over, or the next thing to it.

All I want to do is sleep the whole first week. And start to catch up with all the friendships I've neglected these past 3 years. I love you guys, and miss you!! I think I'd like to get some kind of barn job, as a groom or stable hand. Just for the summer. That way I get a little more hands on experience with horses, I'd really like to pursue the equine massage aspect. I can't actually do massage until my registration exams in September anyways. But I taste it... FREEDOM!!! coming soon to a blogger near you!!

More Frieserons

... this last fella... wow! Had to wipe up a little drool. No lie.

Call it a Crush...

but I call it love. I am head over heels for percheron-friesian crosses. I have decided that if I get a horse, I want this one. It might not be my first horse ever, but I will have one. One that's long in the legs, but solid, not to thin or spindly. Deep, broad chest, short back, full hind quarters, arched neck and all that gorgeous long crimpy friesian hair. Some people have a dream car, I have a dream horse. Sorry bout the sparse posting... exam time. Studying rules my life. Today: Anatomy. Yay.