August Update

Yes, I realize it is almost October, but I have been keeping busy.

I love having S here every day, even though it's a lot of work. She got a co-op placement at a vet clinic on the very south edge of town (south of South Keys), so she has to leave the house at 7 am. No more relaxing in bed and doing mending or crafts while I listen to the news in the morning - now I'm up immediately, packing lunches and making breakfasts. I do some prep the night before, but as long as she is willing to eat a thermos full of hot food involving vegetables at lunch, I'm prepared to make it.

So, back to August.
I did not get any sewing done. I didn't complete any UFOs in my crafts pile. I didn't get a recipe done every single week because I went to Cuba for a week. I did read some magazines, and did a lot of swimming, plus some casual gardening, and I did achieve eight recipes.

Recipes:
4 - Cajun Spice Mix (allrecipes.com), gluten-free fortune cookies (fail - they were more like pancakes)
11 - chicken tikka, curried cauliflower (Chatelain Quickies cookbook), friend bars (somewhere on the internet). The chicken tikka was too spicy for ShuLing, and I had eaten it all before Geoff got home. I think he would have loved it. The friend bars were okay, but next time I would do them in a smaller pan so that they would be a little thicker and more bar-like.
13 - quick pickled dilly green beans (myrecipes.com). These were an emergency preservation pickle, made up because I had foolishly purchased a bunch of beans before going on vacation. They turned out to be lovely - crisp and very dilly.
31 - five spice chicken and Asian cauliflower (more random internet recipes to use up ingredients I happened to have in the house).

Day of Achievements

Today at swimming, I was given 50 yard drills to do in one minute even. I don't think I have ever succeeded in doing them in under 1:05, and then it was basically touch the wall and start again. This time, I got 5-10 seconds rest at the end of each 50. In my first hour swim, I have graduated by one lane (thanks to many new members) so I am now right beside the fastest folks including Kevin, who is the amazingly fast Ultraman (I swear, he needs a cape). On a good day, they don't get more than two lengths ahead on a set.

After my swim and coffee, I successfully negotiated the New Edinburgh Garage Sale to drop S off for ballet class, then headed to riding. The rain held off, I managed to get Monty's girth sufficiently tight without assistance (he is a little tubby and likes to bloat), and I had a good lesson! The past few weeks have been all about unlearning bad habits: loose reins, moving my hands around too much, not keeping my horse even between my legs and pushing him into the bit so he goes very straight, throwing away the reins when I canter, letting my legs flop when I canter. I know I have had a good lesson when my left side aches. Today I got most of those things right most of the time, and had a couple of good, controlled long canters, despite being really tired from swimming. It's weird to think that, after all this time, I am finally starting to understand in my muscles what "right" feels like, and start making corrections before I get yelled at by the teacher.

Now I need to write a briefing note for work, do laundry, prepare some craft things to work on for a road trip tomorrow, clean the kitchen, and get some desperately needed sleep. Compared to what I have already achieved today, this looks easy.