Bits & pieces

...Twinks and I worked on ground poles this afternoon. (That's not me or him, but I figured at least some of you might be wondering what the heck "working on ground poles" means.) This is a big deal, because my big baby thinks anything left on the ground is probably going to jump up and bite him if he goes near it. It took us a couple minutes to get over the first one, then once we had walked and trotted over it both directions (because clearly, it's a completely different object from the other side, and this one might be a biter...), we had Britt throw down a second and then a third, which, amazingly, he took totally in stride (ha ha). This is excellent news, because trotting ground poles is an excellent strength builder, and also, it's embarrassing to have a horse that's scared of them.

...A couple weekends ago, our friends Ben and Mel invited us to see Romeo & Juliet at the Guthrie theater (that's it, over there). Never having been, we said "sure!" The Guthrie itself was kinda cool, and I'm going to try and remember to blog more about our visit another time. The performance itself, on the other hand, was only so-so, with the second half being better than the first. But for reasons I can't explain, instead of the traditional 16th (17th?)-century setting, or even a modern-day take a la Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (love that movie, BTW), this enactment was..wait for it...Shakespeare-meets-Charles Dickens. Maybe if we had stuck around for the post-play discussion group(?), they would've elaborated on this decision, but since we didn't, I get to assume that they simply hadn't gotten around to putting away the A Christmas Carol costumes yet.

...The great soap experiment continues. I've been using my Citrus Chunk on my bod exclusively for about three weeks with excellent results. My skin remains soft, smooth and relatively non-scaly. Some days I slap on some lotion after, but most of the time I don't. I've even been using it on my face, probably 90% of the time (the other 10% being when I forget until I'm out of the shower because I'm still used to washing my face over the sink). I definitely do still need a moisturizer for my face, though. I've even tried it on my hair a couple times, and I love the texture and body I get when it works, but it seems kind of hit-or-miss (I suspect the "miss"es are that I'm just not getting enough lather). I hear Jill is working on a new shampoo bar, which I'm thinking about trying. Or maybe I'll just stick with my tried-and-true, if overpriced, Aveda. ;o)

...Now, I really must sign off and go do some laundry. And run the dishwasher. And take a shower.