Rest and relaxation?

Its been quite a happening week in the Mama blog household, lot's going on personally and professionally. BJ has finished one job and has a week off before stating the new one. Aha! He thought a week of R & R! Aha! I thought jobs to be done! So... The poor devil has been gigging up the whole of the front garden and is re- designing it. On the computer design it looked an easy job. Get rid of the grass and the awful slabs up to the front door, lay a stone circular patio, a new pathway and make a rose garden of the surrounding area. Needless to say the poor boy has a sore back,and ended up hiring a turf cutter as the lawn seemed to be welded in place by some supernatural force. B&Q who delivered the patio on a pallet, had not got one of those pallet mover jobby's on board so each slab had to be lifted off the lorry and placed on a separate pallet in the garage. The tool hire company insisted out address did not exist as it was not 'on his map' oh the incompetence of them all.

The patio is half done and is looking brilliant. All the neighbor's are bemoaning the loss of my colourful spring display though. They all love my front garden, but I say wait awhile you ain't seen nothing yet!

At long last I am to get a conservatory! We have had a few quotes and have found a company that will do what we want for the price of a small family car! Not the cheapest, not the dearest somewhere in between.

I went riding yesterday for the first time since my fall. I was very nervous as I drove into the yard, and even more so when I realized I had a new girl tutoring me, kind of got used to Amy. However Paula was a top girl and put me and Hector through our paces very efficiently. I rode the best I have ever done and regained my confidence.
I am re-learning my whole way of riding and undoing many bad habits and at last it is coming together. I got a really good canter going right around the school, got my legs, hands, and body all working in unison which is a first. I can usually get the legs and body working well but not get the steering going very well. This time I managed to make him go right into the corners and not take short cuts. Oh, and they have a new week old baby foal, Jacinta and baby doing well.

I bought on impulse a CD this week, Bruce Springstein's 'The Seeger Years' It is great houlie music and very joyful, just listen to a few tracks and you will be singing along. I love that kind odd gravelly, whisky, wine and fine young women kind of voice! Barry was well impressed as the last folk concert he went to was with Peggy Seeger and Euan Mc Coll, both notable singers of that time. Although the music on the CD is Pete Seeger.

Another big buy for me was a Sat Nav system, I have to drive into London probably once a week from now until August and am very worried about getting lost. So I treated myself to some very serious technology, my first foray with it tried to take me to Bromsgrove road in Stourbridge instead of Halesowen but I daresay I will get used to it. It got me home again which of course I know the way but it was just a practice.

Birthdays, Houses and Photo's

The best picture I have seen in the papers this week is one of our jolly old Queen riding a rather fine looking dapple grey mare in a rather jaunty trot! So what, you may all say. Well this woman is EIGHTY years old this week and still riding out, not on a gentle meander through the grounds of Windsor but in the most taxing on the body gait to ride to (except of course the bronco Billy gait) Good on you Ma'am you will do for me. Happy Birthday to you, not that you will be reading this, but who knows.

We have decided to remove our house from the stagnant housing market for the time being. It has been up for sale for six months and we have had three viewings in that time, so on average one couple every two months. I cannot stand the strain of keeping the place in pristine condition just in case! Anyway every time Simon comes round he knocks a bit of our house down and we have to keep mending it. He is however not random but sticks to pulling the coat pegs off the wall every time he hangs his coat up! We have decided to do away with the said pegs now and put the coats somewhere else, I am not saying where as I don't want Simon to know as he may well reek havoc on the new coat hanging area. Now I would not mind but as a lad I could not get him to hang a coat up for love nor money and once even very sarcastically gave him an in depth lesson into what a coat hanger was and how it worked, but no, coats would be slung on banisters, over chairs, dropped in the porch anywhere but on a peg.

This is the last evening of Barry being away, he is home for the foreseeable future tomorrow (Thursday) and starts his new job on 2nd of May. I am sure it is the right decision and wish him lot's of luck in his new foray into a new kind of industry, he will do just fine, he is one of life's good guys.

I am attempting to go riding next week, feeling a little nervous as I still have some pain in the ribs. I do not want to leave it any longer though as I will have to start afresh. I have been promised Hector my safe steady boy, he is the kind of horse you just have to kiss he is so lovely, a bit like my old Alfie, steady as a rock and hopefully not full of nasty surprises. I am told he can have a tantrum if you tap his bottom with the whip. He has to be tapped on the shoulder! Fair enough!

We did an important photo shoot last week at my Nursery. I had a photographer and all his paraphanalia, the MD of my the Company I work for plus one of the directors and the Nursery Manager all in the room watching while I put the kids through their classes and hopefully got them to pay attention to me and act normal. Well, my little kids where absolute little stars and behaved perfectly. The only problem we had was trying to stop the little girls from displaying to much of the next days laundry.

I had to work my little socks of to keep them looking at what we were doing but it worked and we have some great shots for our promotional brochures. I was really chuffed to get personal praise from my MD.

Comment of the day came from one little girl who announced that she had only got nipples now but one day she would have boobies! I thanked her for sharing that with us all and we all sang a song. What else could I have done?

Name or address?

I did not set out to watch the Grand National, I just happenend to be in front of the TV when it came on. It is not a race I wholly like as I feel it is far to demanding on the beasts, to many get injured and often (as on Saturday) one or more literally don't make it to the end at all (shot on the course due to severity of injury)

Well I got drawn into it as I lounged on the sofa and admired the fearless jockeys (still aching from my own efforts as a rodeo rider)on their all to beautiful steeds and then they were off! But no, false start, so back they came. Then they were really off, pounding hell for leather for two circuits of the Aintree course. The jumps were aimed at some jumped, some appeared to run through them, some horses just said "actually no, I don't think so , do you!" and were pulled up, on the rest went.

At the last two fences it was about a four horse race and BJ was convinced that HedgeHunter was about to win for a second year. Nope! I said he is tiring, watch that horse with the sheepskin noseband, he has been held back to a fast canter most of the way and is still fresh, I think he will take it! Mind you I wished the horse had stopped and turned around to the jockey and said "Will you PLEASE stop hitting me with that stick thingy, I am running as fast as I bloody well can!" (Surprised the jockey was not disqualified for over use of the whip. I just wish I had put a few squid on Numbersixvalverde! But then possibly against my principles. Good idea to call a horse after your address, unfortunately mine does not have such romantic zing to it.

Changing the subject, I fell over today, what a muppet, I still have sore ribs from falling of a horse, and I managed to trip up a kerb while walking the dog. I went down with a real thwack and I am quite sure I heard my poor body call out "Oh no not again" as the hard pavement came up to meet it! I furtively looked about to make sure no-one had seen me and got up quickly and hobbled off!

Failed Rodeo Rider!

So far I have had a wonderful time re-visiting a much loved pastime of horse riding. I decided that this was the year that I was going to learn to ride technically correctly and master the technicalities and SHhhh.... Don't tell any-one! I am hoping to work up to some jumps, something I have never done!

All has been going well, I had been riding Molly for 3 weeks, then my tutor swapped me to Hector, an adorable slightly smaller pony of mature years. He has a brilliant smooth canter and I was able to easily find the correct position on him. I looked forward to this weeks lesson and riding Hector again.

I duly arrived for my lesson and found that Hector had already been booked out by some-one else and I was to ride Poppy, now Poppy is a real beauty, jet black with a wavy mane and tail, younger and more sparky than Hector but never the less a great ride. She was very responsive and moved gracefully from trot to canter and was a dream to ride. I was almost finished my lesson and about to transition from trot to canter for the last time when a chicken suddenly flew out of a nearby bush squawking loudly.
Poppy went from trot to full pelt gallop around the school, swerving as she went, Amy was shouting instructions to sit tight, hold her mane, but I was already out of the saddle. I grabbed for her mane and neck but she then put her head down and started bucking wildly. I remember that I seemed to be firstly falling towards the sky, which was odd, then gravity took over and I fell fast and hard onto the ground.

My first fear was that I was about to be trampled on, but Amy had run over and stood over me and assured me some-one had caught Poppy. To say I was winded is an understatement I could not physically move for a while. My first thought was that I must get back on the horse or I would never do so again. Jane the Manager and Amy established that nothing seemed broken on me, just my pride or so I thought! They decided that they would let me get on board again and praised my bravery for wanting to do so.

Amy rode Poppy around for a few minutes to get the demons out of her, then gingerly I got back on, it was a very painful experience as I was very sore, but determined not to be beaten. I was not brave enough to ride without Amy beside me as I was very shaken and I feared Poppy would sense my trepidation and give me another audition for rodeo rider of the year!

The upshot is that I am now on sick leave as I took such a battering that I bruised my right kidney and have had some blood in my urine, which is not so good. I return to the Doctors tonight for a re-examine. My ribs are so sore I cannot let any-one touch them and I have a bruise on my head where the hat has dug into my forehead.

I have just bid on eBay for a riders body protector, I remember that when I rode Teddy, a mad horse that I once owned I never rode without wearing one, as I often ended up on the deck with him. However never at such speed as Poppy threw me!

I will be booking again as soon as I am healed but will request solid dependable Hector! He and I are both middle aged with an eye to mature activities such as trotting along nicely and not getting upset about the odd mad chicken.