Horse Crazy

I was a horse crazy kid.  Horse crazy is an understatement.  I was horse obsessed.  I eat, slept, and breathed horses.  I was always told that I would outgrow my love my for horses.  It has not abated a little bit yet.

My parents probably hated horses because I loved them so much.

Princess, my oldest daughter, is my child down to the horse crazy streak.  Since my horse crazy streak has not abated- it is something that she and I can share. So we are thankful to be able to care for one.

All of the kids love to go see the horses.  LittleDude loves the horses especially.  Of his little 18 month old vocabulary- 'horsey' is one of his favorite words.  He loves to feed them treats and hug them.  He has learned how to click his tongue to call them.

Its not just horses he loves. He loves dogs and cats, and everything he has ever met.  He runs up and greats them all with a giant hug. 

Hands

Everywhere I look I see my grandmother.  I see her in the hand sewn things we have around our home.  I see her in her beautiful penmanship in the letters she wrote to me in UT. I see her in my children when I make her fudge.  I see her in my cooking without measuring.

It stinks and is wonderful all the time.  I can tell stories about her.  I can remember her.  But I can't go talk to her. 

Not a day goes by that I do not think about my grandmother. 

Kids are people too!

Princess is growing up.  The other day a friend posted on Facebook a picture of her when she was a flower girl in a wedding-- she was 3. The picture seemed like a different lifetime ago. 

Now she is interested in grownup things.  She discusses social injustice, books, news, history etc with me.  It is a new experience to have a kid that I am relating to on an 'adult' level.  I have always given my kids the space to be who they are and make their own choices, giving her this respect has allowed my kids to grow into a their own people.

Princess is now a person I would happily hang out with and be friends with aside from a mother/daughter relationship. 

She knows that she does not need to seek my approval- that her approval is good enough.

Go back to the pole- back to the basics

I had a really bad experience at pole a while ago- it drastically turned me off.  It was not an injury or anything, I just was taken by surprise and my feelings really hurt.  It hurt me so deeply for a while I stopped going to pole for a few weeks.  I felt like the joy had been ripped away from me.

This is not nearly as flat as I want it to be-- but I need to get back into shape.

Thankfully- a great gym offered me a job teaching classes there and allowed me to come and practice there.

I got back on the pole and at first was really grumpy.  I had been away for a bit, had a major surgery, and then a minor surgery.   I hadn't fully come back from the first surgery and with all the time away I was not as strong as usual and certain tricks (some of my favorites) were not working for me.  That is maddening. Absolutely maddening.

But a great person, a great woman, a great poler- talked to me and in the end I had a great time again.  My tricks aren't back yet but soon.  

Giveaway time!

I am giving away a $50 Amazon gift card.  Sponsored by me.  I love having my readers email me and then become friends so I want to give something back.

Entering is easy:

Mandatory-

a) comment on this post.
b) follow my blog

Optional
a) follow me on Twitter @almostsinglemom
b) like my blog on Facebook linky
c) share this post with your friends on Facebook
d) share this post on Twitter

At 11:59 pm (central time) on December 14th, I will pick a random comment number.

Please leave me your email address either attached to your profile or in the comment- otherwise I can't get you your prize!

The winner will have 3 business days to get back to me and claim your prize or I will donate the gift certificate to charity.

Quiet around here lately

I haven't been blogging a lot lately, I apologize. I have taken on a lot of freelance projects and some longer term work so I have not had a lot to say here.

You can tell what stage of life I am in because we got a new dishwasher and I am thrilled.  I am giddy about a dishwasher.  What has my life come to?  Excitement over an appliance?

Our old dishwasher was on its last legs of its last toes for a while.  It needed to be hip checked to get the door to close.  It was really a rinsing machine not a dishwasher.  It was pathetic.  I think Pixie could wash the dishes better- in fact she has done a better job that the old dishwasher. 

Hooray for appliances making life easier!

The Kids Speech

Each of my kids has had his or her own word to mean breastfeeding. Princess called it "Ba Ba", Stinky called it "Nummies", Peas called it "Nursies", Pixie called it "Milky", now LittleDude (Scooter) calls it "Na Na".

Each of the kids came up with these names on their own.  How adorable can you get?  When a little kid comes up and looks up at you with big eyes and asks for milk.  Which is asking for closeness and snuggles, how can I say no?