Psssst...check it out.

I got bored with this blog, so I started a new one.

You can find it here.

Come on over!

I have a new obsession

I want to...I AM...going to learn how to make these.

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They are called Japanese Temari balls and they.are.so.cool. 

Something worth blogging about

...although if you're friends with me on FB, this is already old news.

WE GOT A KITTEN!  And he is a treasure.

His name is Sammy, short for Samwise (from LOTR) because Samwise is a heavy name for a 9-week-old kitten.

In other, completely unrelated news...in case you hadn't noticed, I'm a terrible, terrible blogger. My attention span is just too damn short, I guess, because I think of clever/funny/interesting things all the time during the day , and they're gone by the time I actually get to a computer. BUT I'm going to try and get better by following in the footsteps of my sister-in-law, Amber, who is only a few days shy of blogging every day for an entire year.  I haven't decided if I'm going to keep this yawnfest or start over from scratch...what do you all think?

Uh oh....

(Hey look! I'm not dead. Anyway, as I was saying...)

Do you see this???

I want this.

It's so...shiny.  And girly. And see what it says at the top, there?  INAUGURAL. It's the first one EVER.  

And, apparently, the Tink in the middle spins.  I swoon.

Plus? A bunch of my very favorite internet gals, who I've never had a chance to meet in real life yet, are probably going to do it, too. It'll be like a party!

The catch?  Oh, not much...just that I'd have to...run. Like...far. 13 miles or something. Hmmm.

Oh, and also there's the small matter of...it's at Disneyland, which is in California. And I'm not. So...plane fare and junk, on top of the registration. 'Spensive.

But...so shiny...

Suck Less, Fiona.

You may recall, back before I got totally distracted by packing up my house and unpacking it all again, that I had started a new exercise program, involving sit-ups, push-ups and squats, with the end goal of being able to do 200, 100 and 200 of each, respectively. Well, that lasted all of three weeks, but my friend *H* was inspired to start it herself, and she has had awesome results.  She added some extra core work and tagged it the Suck Less Program, and at the beginning of April, she initiated a little something she calls the Suck Less Challenge.  I'm a little late to the party (shocking), but I am on board and did a new initial exhaustion tests this morning:

• squats - 40
• sit-ups - 30
• push-ups - 10 (girl style. I attempted one "real" push-up, and failed. Spectacularly. I think I nearly dislocated my elbow on the down motion. I will stick with the girl push-ups for a while, thanks.)
• tricep dips - 5 (the hundredpushups.com guy just added these! Score!)

H's "extra core work" that I alluded to above is to get into this plank position...

...and hold for as long as you can. 25 seconds, a minute - whatever you can manage.

***Funny story:  You may be more familiar with the version of plank that looks more like the top of a push-up, with arms straight instead of forearms on the floor. Well, when H decided to add plank to the Suck Less Program, she read online that the above format was considered a "modified" version and assumed that (and I quote) "modified = sissy."

Not.so.much. That up there? That's HARD. Way harder than the straight-arm version. 

Push-up style plank, I can hold for a minute without (too much of) a problem. Forearms down? 15 seconds. My friend H is totally hardcore, and didn't even know it. Hee!

Anyway, I'll be doing the Suck Less Challenge 3 days a week, and on alternating days I'm going to be taking another stab at the Couch to 5K learn-to-run program (the last time I tried, my ankle was still having none of it). I'm determined to make it happen this time, though. I know that Day 1 of the program calls for intervals of 30 seconds running/90(?) seconds walking. If my ankle won't tolerate 30 seconds running right out of the gate, I'll do 15 second intervals. Or 10. Whatever it takes. But I WILL make it cooperate somehow!

6 weeks to sucking less...bring it on.

A different kind of hooping video

A couple times in the past year I've posted some hoopdance videos that really struck me as amazing (you can check them out again here and here) - but this...this is a hoop of a different color.

Watch this, and tell me you don't laugh out loud...or at least snicker under your breath.  LOL!

Barn Olympics

Part of working for the family business is that you take on duties that you'd NEVER consider doing in a "normal" job. In my case, this means helping out with the least glamorous but most necessary task associated with running a large public boarding stable...cleaning stalls three days a week. (I'll spare you all the gory details...for now...Mwahahahaha. Ha.) Busy hands but idle brain leads to stuff like...this.

Welcome to the Stablehand Olympics!

Event #1: Speed Cleaning. Speed event. Completely strip and re-bed dirty stall(s).  Competitors can elect Sprint (one stall), Middle Distance (5 stalls) and/or Marathon (15 stalls).


Event #2: Team Hay Stacking. Teams of five members unload 200 bales of hay and stack in the barn. Points awarded for speed and presentation, deducted for excessive chaff dropped on the ground. 

Event #3: 100 Yard Water Bucket Dash. Speed event. Carry two five-gallon buckets 100 yards, each filled with four gallons of water. Time added for spillage.

Event #4: ??????