And the List Goes On

I’m a big list maker, mainly because I have such a crummy memory and way too many things to remember. Some things on my lists are very small, like “wash sheets”. Other things are very large, like “write a book”, which I guess I should break down into more manageable bites. And some things have deadlines, like “pick up grain”. And other things don’t, like “pack up belongings”, although, with that one, you just never know, the deadline could suddenly be imminent.

But anything without a set deadline is often hard for me to start or complete. And it seems like for everything I cross off, 10 more things need to be added to my list. Anyway, I knew I had a lot of things to get done this weekend. And there was a house showing Saturday afternoon so there were some timelines, so I tried to lay my schedule out in a list.

Friday Evening

• Bring horses inside and feed since snow (yes, that’s right, snow) was predicted.
• Clean upstairs and basement to prepare for house showing Saturday afternoon. Already did main floor Thursday night (thank goodness!). Even washed wood floors (pat on back). But I only made it though upstairs Friday night before I had to…
• Pick up dog and cat food at Chuck and Don’s.
• Go to Cabella’s to look for sleeping bag and a camping chair.
• Stop at National Camera Exchange. My camera did start working again but in my online search for what was wrong with it, I discovered there was a known issue with my camera’s CCD Imager Chip that matched my camera’s symptoms. If you have a Canon, you might want to check the list of cameras and see if yours is one that might get this problem eventually.
• Go to REI if I don’t find what I’m looking for at Cabellas. I ended up getting a sleeping bag at REI and using my $39 REI award points. This photo would have been a lot funnier if I’d been able to take it with me in it! When I tried the bag out for size, Java seemed to think I was a pod person.

• Eat dinner at Boston’s. This wasn’t exactly a task on the list, but hey, a girl has to eat and by 9 PM, I was a bit hungry.

Saturday

• Get up early to clean stalls because at…
• 8:30 AM, need to leave to meet Lynn for breakfast at G’s Cafe. Lynn gave me this candle holder and “Rose” candle in honor of my new name. It smells wonderful! What a sweet thing to do!

The place that I go to for my massages for my shoulder and back pain is across the street from G’s Cafe. I’d love to take the sign on top of their office space as a daily reminder.

Lynn has a similar photo and information about some of the other shops in Anoka you might want to check out.

• Drop bike off at Ramsey Bike to get brakes fixed on way back home from breakfast. This didn’t happen because I was running too far behind in the morning to take the time to load up my bike. After all, I had to get the basement cleaning done that I didn’t manage to cram in on Friday night. I ended up loading the bike in the truck and bringing it in after…
• Go home and run through house and make sure sinks are still clean and no further dog hair has collected.
• 1:00 take Java for a walk at Rum River park for an hour or so during showing. Java and I went to the park after dropping off my bike.

• After the house showing is done, return home and take Luke for a ride in the ring in preparation for trail ride on Sunday. We also rode the perimiter of the property and weaved through the trees as additional preparation for riding in the park. Most of Luke’s winter coat has been shed and he’s looking more like a real horse.

• Hook up truck to trailer. I kept ending up with the hitch on the right or left side of where it needed to be. After numerouse backup – jump out of truck and look – get back in truck and adjust -jump out of truck and look – attempts, I decided to take a break and try again later. I finally got it hitched with some directional hand motion help. So much easier that way.

Sunday

• Trail ride in the afternoon. Yeh! I made it out to my first trail ride of the season! And it went really well! And my son called and wished me Happy Mother’s Day while I was riding and we had a nice chat. Yeh!

• Return home, clean out trailer (there is always one pile of manure) and give Java her playtime. A swim in the pool got her a little spun up.

• Bake cookies. Check. 

• Collapse. Yup. Definitely did that. And woke up this morning with the worst knee pain I’ve ever had in my life. I’m not sure what I did. Maybe the two hour trail ride? Jumping in and out of the truck 50 times? Old age?