Scrapped!

I've been officially scrapped by Captain Jack Splash(http://journeysofcactusjack.blogspot.com/)I voluntarily did a scrap back in January (http://deserthorses.blogspot.com/2009/01/scrapped.html), but I spent so much time dwelling on oddball family stuff, it really wasn't an honest scrap, so here goes! THANKS to Captain Jack Splash for FINALLY making me do this!

(1) I have a fear of flying. I've only been in an airplane three times! Once when I was 5, my parents and I visited Hawaii. Then, when I was in college, we flew to Philadelphia to see my aunt. And, finally, hubby and our daughter and I went to New Orleans before Katrina. They announced that if I didn't go with them, they would go by themselves, so I schlepped to the airport with them, sat in my seat, and retreated to my favorite place (like in the movie French Kiss) and never looked out the window until we were over the Coachella Valley. Then I HAD to see EVERYTHING! By the time we were over Texas, I was glued to the window, looking down! Go figure!

(2) I recently became a grandma, on February 26, 2009. That is also hubby's birthday, so he and our first grandchild will share the same birthday! I always wanted to be like my own grandmother and now I have the opportunity! She always wore an apron and I've scoured the Internet for some that look like hers and I have quite a collection! She gave me some of hers before she died, but, when our house was flooded in 1979, they must have floated away! No, really! We found books from our garage a mile away a year later. One of them was "The Coming Storm"!!!! No kidding! They just floated down to the nearby college parking lot, which is in a dip.

(3) I was always very timid. As an only child, I had a mature vocabulary, thanks to being around my mom who was a teacher and my dad, who was an accountant. But, around other kids, I was painfully shy. At least I was until I met my husband, who is a loud Irish/Dutch/German! He taught me to speak my mind and now I can't SHUT UP!

(4) Referring to the above, like Amanda, sometimes things come out of my mouth that I wish wouldn't! I was a union rep for my school and school district for several years and I'm astonished now at the things I said! I just blame it on the hot flashes!

(5) I LOVE to write and listen to music! Maybe that's why I have 8 blogs, although recently I'm thinking about shutting down one of them: Rawfoodjourney, which I have now renamed Journey through Food, Wine, and Life. I'm not really "raw" anymore, but I do still eat healthy food. It's my second food blog and honestly, neither one really fits into the food niche. With only 5 followers a day on it, it's a little disheartening! With all the cooking and eating and enjoying wine that we do, I thought people would be interested, but it's a hard spot to fill. The "foodies" don't really follow it and the "wine geeks" don't follow it, so THANK YOU to the 5 people who do! I'm not really sure what to do with it....???? Any ideas?

(6) I always wanted to rescue horses, ever since I was a little girl! Like I previously mentioned, my great-uncle was a thoroughbred race horse trainer. I always kinda knew what happened to those horses who were too slow or who got injured, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I started reading up on horse slaughter and was horrified! That's why we adopted all of our horses! I'd LOVE to have a couple more, but I board them all that that gets expensive! I follow TB Friends, Joe's blog, daily and most mornings cry into my coffee. Hubby and I actually visited Joe's place last summer and he is the most wonderful and caring man I've met in a long time! My class recycles water bottles and cans and we send the proceeds to Joe. I've been doing that for a year now and ALL the kids at school bring me water bottles from home or on the playground! I can't wait for state testing this year because last year we each got 5 cases of water and I ran around to the other classrooms and begged the teachers to save the old bottles and send them to me! That group of kids earned $270 which we sent to Joe! This year, we're already close to $200 and we haven't even started testing (during the heat of April and May), so we should double our money this year! THANK YOU, JOE, for what you do!

(7) I NEVER wanted to be a teacher. Both my aunt and mom were teachers and I never wanted to compete with my mother. I went to college as a "piano performance" major, but quickly discovered that so was every other girl in my dorm! So, I switched to political science/government and met a young man (my future husband), who was also in EVERY class I took! Hmmmm....couldn't get rid of him! Soon we were studying together and falling in love! We've been together now for 36 years, have two grown children, and 1 grandson! My husband, Art, is still the love of my life! However, when our two children were in preschool and kindergarten, I REALLY had to stop and take a look at what I wanted to do as a career. I'd been a legal secretary for 7 years and I knew I didn't want to do that for the rest of my life, so I went back to college at age 33 and got my teaching credential. What can I say? It's in my blood. Our daughter is also a teacher! I really love this group of kids that I have this year. They make teaching fun!

(8) I've never broken an arm or leg, but last summer, I started having difficulty riding horses. My cousin had taken Beauty out for training and I was riding her, one of my cousin's horses, and a friend's horse, and my legs would get all numb and tingly. Then they would cramp and I'd have trouble getting off the horse! I could just feel them going numb while I was riding. I finally woke up one morning with my left leg totally numb! My thigh muscle had cramped "something awful". My doctor referred me out to a back specialist and after an MRI, it was discovered that I had a slipped disc and arthritis in my back. I went in for the series of cortisone shots and I had to take some anti-inflammatory drugs. My left leg is STILL tingly, but not like it was, and I have a follow up appointment with my neurologist in a couple of weeks. Until then, NO horseback riding! I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to ride for long rides, but I'm hoping I can at least go on some short ones! So far Beauty is our only horse who is rideable, thanks to my cousin Valerie, but this summer she'll take either Gigondas or Sunni for training, so that hubby can ride along with me and drag me back to the ranch should I fall and/or cramp up! (snicker)

(9) I've always loved animals and animals have always found me! One evening we heard a "mmmmmeeeeeeeeooooowwwww" at the door and it was a cat. Nobody claimed him, so we kept him. Dogs always show up in our front yard. I've reunited them with their owners many times. Posters go up and the owners call! I've always had cats and dogs. Rommel is our third German Shepherd and Ripley is our little black lab, who was free from a local swap meet! We are keeping our son's Weimeraner with us in our yard because he lives in a condo with NO yard at all! So, we currently have 3 dogs, 4 cats, and 5 horses! Soon to be...5 cats as I'm taking one of Valerie's kittens!

(10) I never drank wine until I met my husband! Nope. Not a drop. HA! Look at me now! His sister owns 10 acres of Merlot up in Napa and makes her own label of wine: Ilona (Napa Valley Howell Mountain) merlot. It's a BIG wine, full of flavor! We enjoy visiting northern California and the wineries there and in Paso Robles. Most of our wine trips are on my "Sand to Sea to Mountains" blog. This spring break, we're driving up to San Luis Obispo for a few days.

Okay...now...anybody who wishes to do an HONEST SCRAP, please help yourself to the badge and GO FOR IT!