Lying in bed last night before we went to sleep, my husband and I listed out over ten things that we were grateful for in/about our lives. I think it’s great that we’re just able to do that.
Babies outside
So we’ve been trying to get the broodmares outside for over a week now, except for the forecast of cold. It has finally got up to a reasonable temperature, so the broodmares and babies are now in the field behind the outdoor arena. I will miss having Nick inside so I can see him whenever, but I’m sure he’ll be much happier out there, and will grow up big and strong!
Cold
So March was really warm, unseasonably so. It was nice for my beginnings of exercising, but then one day it rained and I realized that running in the rain would suck because I would be wet all day. I then remembered that we have an all-weather-facility at Advantage Ranch, meaning I can run inside! Well when April hit, the weather decided to make up for not being cold in March and I decided that I could also run inside when it’s too cold to comfortably run outside. I mean it’s exercising, but I don’t have to be miserable to make it effective.
However, inside does not have the same hill effect that running up and down the driveway does, so I decided I might as well go right to running two minutes and walking one, which I did today. Not sure if I could do that going up the driveway yet, but I can work toward it.
Also, yesterday, I found a pair of jeans in my dresser that have been there for months. I had bought a bunch of jeans at one point, and grabbed a different cut. Though it was the same size as the pants I had tried on, I could not get this pair of pants on and I put it in my dresser since I couldn’t wear it. (I keep all my wearing clothes in the closet.) Well it seems with my running and eating healthier, I now fit into those jeans, and they make my butt look good!! Which is convenient because the other jeans I have that make my butt look good are getting so big it was a bit inconvenient to wear them. :p
Griffy!
So by the name of my site, you might be able to tell that I like gryffins. Today at the store Blake gave me the new Warhammer: Karl Franz on Deathclaw. I don’t play Warhammer, I just paint the miniatures I like (you’ll see a lot of my high elves in later posts) so I wasn’t really keeping up with the new models coming out. This one was a complete surprise as a belated birthday present. As of now I’ve just cut it out and pieced it together with painter’s tape. It is quite the impressive figure. I’m going to have to do some modding to it to make the rider a high elf (since that’s my favorite army) and make the gryffin’s armour look a little more high elfy.
I’m planning on the body being painted like a black leopard, with blue overtones. Not sure on what bird I’ll model the head and wings, or I might just wing it. Haha. Get it?
Tela and Tessa: My first painted miniatures
So I play D&D at a local game store called Fun n Games. There is fun there, and also games. We use miniatures since the introduction of the D&D mini line, which is around when I became aware of the fact that there were other miniature games out in the world.
So I picked out a mini from the reaper catalog, and did my best painting it. At the time I was super happy with how it turned out.
The above mini was actually used for a character in the Tower Campaign, I was currently playing in. A level 3 Warden in 4th Edition named Tela. I had trouble with her shield arm falling off multiple times despite being pinned (my first attempt, suggested by the owner of the store who is quite the modeler and painter). I ended up keeping it on with a glob of green stuff that was never painted after the fact. It’s pretty messy looking in general, but is still proudly my first ever mini.
And this mini opened up my chronic desire to be artistic on top of other people’s work. I have done it in the past by coloring in photoshop, pictures that were drawn by other people. So the natural progression, of course, is to paint figures modeled by other people.
The second miniature I got was for one of my story characters. She is a weaponmaster and…well I just kinda liked the mini.
And you might go…wtp? That mini actually looks like…good compared to the first one. Well in between the first and the second miniature, I purchased the book: How to Paint Citadel Miniatures. It has a lot of good tutorials for beginning painters and I super enjoyed it. And I’ve always been rather artistic in general, so as soon as I got a little technique I was able to improve quite hard.
Grr neck
I did not sleep well last night. I couldn’t get comfortable and too long in one position would cause my shoulder to hurt, so it was a lot of tossing and turning. More drugs and back to work.
My husband told me last night that one of his coworkers is getting laid off. It really made me stop and think about what would have happened if my husband had been the one to be laid off. His job and paycheck are really the things that allow me the freedom I have to work at the barn. I don’t think I take it for granted, but maybe I do a little.
And despite my shoulder injury I did still do my 30 minutes of running. Maybe a little more slowly and carefully than normal, but still. Yay!
Ouchies
So on Friday we went to get a load of hay in the late morning, after I had finished chores. I tweaked my trapezious (sp?) the muscle that lays across the top of the shoulder and goes up the side of the neck. It’s a big one (the muscle), and among other things is fabulous at giving headaches. I was able to rest it over the weekend and really didn’t notice it at all on Monday morning until I was pushing a wheelbarrow with no air in the tire (not going to explain that one) and the strain re-injured it.
I made it through the rest of the day with little problem. Even putting on blankets didn’t bother me the way it had on Friday. But this morning I woke up with it already in pain. I was only barely able to brush my hair and I had to get my husband to put my hair up into a ponytail for me. And right now I’m sitting here typeing, which allows my arms to be nice and low, and it’s still throbbing in my ear.
I’m hoping I’ll still be able to run as yesterday was my first day at the full 30 minutes! If not I’ll do what I can do.
I also came to an interesting conclusion about myself after reading the “If Life is a Game, these are the Rules” book that Deb gave me. I won’t detail it here, as I want to talk to Morgan and Deb about it in yoga today. Then maybe I’ll put in my thoughts.
To 25 minutes
Yesterday and today I finally did 25 minutes of run/walking. That hill is really killer, and I have to start timing my leaving home better so I have the full half hour when I do that starting Monday. Morgan had a little spill off Dill so I ended up doing yoga by myself. Then I still finished chores early!
Tori got new shoes today with wedges and she’s much less lame. Not 100% but I was able to ride her for the first time since Sue’s clinic! I know…it was too long, but at least I’ve been working on my exercising.
Honey Nut CHeerios for breakfast. Cutie after yoga. Sheppard’s Pie for lunch along with handful of oyster crackers and an apple. Dinner was the pie again with some club, multi-grain crackers. Snack was two cuties.
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I am running, but I’ve been wondering when I can get around to not being so tired afterward. I make it through work pretty okay, but when I get home I’m still tired and my everything is sore after a little bit of sitting down. I mean I feel good for running…
Honey nut cheerios for breakfast, PB and J for lunch with a handful of oyster crackers and an apple. Had a cutie in the morning and in the afternoon. Dinner was Sheppard’s pie made with turkey instead of beef and pureed squash on top instead of potatoes. It was pretty tasty.
Rachel gave me the idea of actually writing the end of one of my stories in order to give myself a place to work toward. It’s ending up being harder than I thought. I had a vague idea where I wanted my Shifting Winds story to go, but when I tried to write it down I realized I have little idea how to get the characters where they are in what I’ve written to the point that would be the end. Part of my process when I’m stuck is to write, write, write and just shift ideas whenever I get stuck in a particular thing. It can be a little discouraging at times, but usually I come up with something good eventually. I guess I just have to keep trying with this story.
Cold today
So it got really cold last night, and as a consequence it was cold this morning when I did my run. I was decked out in three shirts and earmuffs, wishing for gloves. I really dislike breathing in through my nose when it’s that cold. But I did it! Victory!
Today was honey nut cheerios for breakfast, PB and J and honey for lunch with four pieces of dried pineapple and a handful of oyster crackers. I had a granola bar around 5. Dinner is the last of the hot dog and bean casserole.
