Larissa is back from the hospital. She didn't have to stay the night. They drew some blood & it's not appendicitis thankfully. Just gas pains (which I figured this morning, but didn't say anything). So both girls are still grumpy. Leena has decided that her nose hurts. Oh, & her ear (but we took the earring out & it doesn't hurt anymore). Please remind me to never have kids. Or get a nanny for them - I don't deal well with being cooped up with 2 sick kids all day. I hope I was never this annoying to my mom when I was sick!
Oh & yes the blog layout is changing. I'm probably going to play around with it until I find something I like. We'll see ... I was bored of the old layout. ;-)
20 February 2008
Sickness
Leena & Larissa haven't gotten to school at all this week. Apparently there is a bug or something going around & they have it. Or so we thought. They both have had high fevers (103-104) & lots of coughing. Dagmar said it was croup. But today, Larissa woke up with a really bad stomach ache. I called Dagmar, who was at school, & asked what I should do since we couldn't get a hold of Emma, the grandmother. She said to call Gisela, who is the lady across the street who teaches me German, & ask her to call the doctor to see if I could bring Larissa in. The doctor believes that Larissa has appendicitis & should stay the night at the hospital for observation. So I have no clue what's going on since Emma took Larissa to the hospital. Hopefully it isn't appendicitis so she doesn't have to have surgery, but who knows!
07 February 2008
My Birthday
Thank you to everyone who sent me happy birthday emails. I have to say the best ecard I received was from Mom - it was a Hallmark one with a Paris theme. You couldn't help but laugh. Dad gets most points for trying - apparently he tried several times to send me an email card from Hallmark, but they wouldn't let him register or something. Oh & Cynda gets bonus points for being the first person to send me a message - she im'ed me at who knows what time, but it was around midnight of the 6th my time. :-)
So, some of you have asked how I spent my birthday. Well, let me tell you ... it wasn't too terribly exciting.
I got up at 6:30, as usual. Dagmar & the girls gave me a barn jacket (with "Hof Bitter", Tanja's barn name, embroidered on the back). Larissa made me a card. Because if was Ash Wednesday, we had pizza for lunch. No birthday cake. I was too lazy to make one. The girls had vaulting in the afternoon, so we did that. I talked to Mom. Read loads of emails & facebook messages from everyone. Talked to Freddy (German housemate from Swansea) before I went to bed. Finished my book.
That was the extent of my day. It started out raining pretty badly, but it cleared up. Oh & the girls & I rode our bikes down to Von See so she could email her US granma & granpa their V-Day card she had made them.
Exciting, I know!
So, some of you have asked how I spent my birthday. Well, let me tell you ... it wasn't too terribly exciting.
I got up at 6:30, as usual. Dagmar & the girls gave me a barn jacket (with "Hof Bitter", Tanja's barn name, embroidered on the back). Larissa made me a card. Because if was Ash Wednesday, we had pizza for lunch. No birthday cake. I was too lazy to make one. The girls had vaulting in the afternoon, so we did that. I talked to Mom. Read loads of emails & facebook messages from everyone. Talked to Freddy (German housemate from Swansea) before I went to bed. Finished my book.
That was the extent of my day. It started out raining pretty badly, but it cleared up. Oh & the girls & I rode our bikes down to Von See so she could email her US granma & granpa their V-Day card she had made them.
Exciting, I know!
01 February 2008
I owe Tanja beer ...
I owe Tanja beer & she deserves it, really. Now, you probably want to know who this Tanja person is & why I owe her beer. Well, Tanja is our riding instructor. And I owe her beer because I fell off Thursday. Though Tanja's rule is that you have to buy sweets for everyone in the barn, I think I'll give her beer because I'm American that has always been Jennifer's rule whenever I fell off.
So the story ...
On Tuesday, the girls & I had riding lessons at Tanja's. I rode Marqui, a cantankerous little chestnut that I really love because he makes me work & I am slowly seeing improvements with him. I am not sure how Marqui is, but I know he has only been ridden for about 3 years & has been in Tanja's lesson program since last summer. Some of the older riders use him in lessons, but I seem to be one of the more experienced, & fearless, riders with her right now. Marqui has issues with following other horses. That's all he wants to do. It seems that I am the only rider who can make him go where I want to go, rather than where he wants to go. I've been working with him since the first part of January & in the past 4 weeks, I have really seen a difference in him. He's bending better & doesn't always throw a fit when I ask him to turn a circle, which is quite often.
Well, Tanja asked me Tuesday if I could ride Marqui on Thursday while the girls were having their lesson. Of course I wasn't going to refuse! On Thursday, the wind was absolutely miserable (we were supposed to get up to 100mph gusts) & it was so cold. So I asked Tanja if I could ride in the small arena where she was giving lessons instead of taking Marqui & risk blowing away trying to get to the big arena. She was cool with that, as long as I stayed out of everyone's way, which presumably wasn't to be a problem. And it also gave me an opportunity to work with Marqui in a larger group of horses, in a smaller space, & with Tanja yelling suggestions every now & then.
It was later in the lesson, probably 20 minutes into it (they're only 30 minutes long), & I was working on circles with Marqui down at the far end while the girls (5 of 'em) rode circles on the other end. Now Marqui has not figured out the notion of bending & circling really well. We have several "discussions" about this quite often. Well, he was being a butt, more so than usual I might add. So I stopped him in the far turn to get him to relax. Then I asked him to walk forward. Which he wouldn't. So I smacked him on the butt with the whip. He took one step forward. Stopped. And bucked. Off I came ... very gracefully though! I landed on my feet on the right side of Marqui with the reins in my hand. Tanja looks over & says "Katie, you come down!" Everyone was laughing - & there were quite a few people there today! Probably 7 mothers & about 12 kids. So I climbed back on & started doing circles again. It was SOOO funny. I think this is the first time I've actually fallen off since high school!
So that is why I owe Tanja beer. Luckily no one was hurt & we all had a good laugh over it. I immediately came home & called mom because it was just too funny. The last time I remember falling off was with Peridot my freshman year of college, but Mom & I determined that did not count because Peridot actually slipped & fell coming out of the corner & I went down with her. Before that? Well, I never fell off Louie who I showed through my senior year of high school ... & I never fell off while I was riding at the Jacobs when I was at Transy. I clearly remember falling off of Governor Casey, TJ's old Hackney pony, but that was all Chuck's fault - his goal that day was to get me dumped. So it's been awhile. And I probably needed a gentle reminder.
Now I just have to figure out what type of beer Tanja likes .....
So the story ...
On Tuesday, the girls & I had riding lessons at Tanja's. I rode Marqui, a cantankerous little chestnut that I really love because he makes me work & I am slowly seeing improvements with him. I am not sure how Marqui is, but I know he has only been ridden for about 3 years & has been in Tanja's lesson program since last summer. Some of the older riders use him in lessons, but I seem to be one of the more experienced, & fearless, riders with her right now. Marqui has issues with following other horses. That's all he wants to do. It seems that I am the only rider who can make him go where I want to go, rather than where he wants to go. I've been working with him since the first part of January & in the past 4 weeks, I have really seen a difference in him. He's bending better & doesn't always throw a fit when I ask him to turn a circle, which is quite often.
Well, Tanja asked me Tuesday if I could ride Marqui on Thursday while the girls were having their lesson. Of course I wasn't going to refuse! On Thursday, the wind was absolutely miserable (we were supposed to get up to 100mph gusts) & it was so cold. So I asked Tanja if I could ride in the small arena where she was giving lessons instead of taking Marqui & risk blowing away trying to get to the big arena. She was cool with that, as long as I stayed out of everyone's way, which presumably wasn't to be a problem. And it also gave me an opportunity to work with Marqui in a larger group of horses, in a smaller space, & with Tanja yelling suggestions every now & then.
It was later in the lesson, probably 20 minutes into it (they're only 30 minutes long), & I was working on circles with Marqui down at the far end while the girls (5 of 'em) rode circles on the other end. Now Marqui has not figured out the notion of bending & circling really well. We have several "discussions" about this quite often. Well, he was being a butt, more so than usual I might add. So I stopped him in the far turn to get him to relax. Then I asked him to walk forward. Which he wouldn't. So I smacked him on the butt with the whip. He took one step forward. Stopped. And bucked. Off I came ... very gracefully though! I landed on my feet on the right side of Marqui with the reins in my hand. Tanja looks over & says "Katie, you come down!" Everyone was laughing - & there were quite a few people there today! Probably 7 mothers & about 12 kids. So I climbed back on & started doing circles again. It was SOOO funny. I think this is the first time I've actually fallen off since high school!
So that is why I owe Tanja beer. Luckily no one was hurt & we all had a good laugh over it. I immediately came home & called mom because it was just too funny. The last time I remember falling off was with Peridot my freshman year of college, but Mom & I determined that did not count because Peridot actually slipped & fell coming out of the corner & I went down with her. Before that? Well, I never fell off Louie who I showed through my senior year of high school ... & I never fell off while I was riding at the Jacobs when I was at Transy. I clearly remember falling off of Governor Casey, TJ's old Hackney pony, but that was all Chuck's fault - his goal that day was to get me dumped. So it's been awhile. And I probably needed a gentle reminder.
Now I just have to figure out what type of beer Tanja likes .....
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