I had a solid breakthrough this week. Between my full time career, the new puppy, cleaning the house that the new puppy destroys 1-7 times a day, coaching 4H, exercising a Friesian 3 times a week, contributing to three weekly blogs (or at least trying to), continuing to renovate the house, commuting 3 hours a day, and trying to squeeze in time to train for a 5K, I just have not been enjoying ANY of it. I knew it was bad when last Saturday I was dreading the barn. That, my friends, is a bad bad sign. I have too much on my plate. I know that. I have ambition to cut back. But I'm a procrastinator so I know that will probably take awhile to get around to cutting back. And in the meantime, I had to make peace with this as my life, because heaven knows it's not the last time that I will be in this place, if not worse.  It was a terrible time to get a puppy. I see that now. I wish I could have AT LEAST finished reinstalling the newly painted cupboard doors of the kitchen before

I both pity and envy Laura Wingfield at times, depending on exactly how much dirt is under my nails and how much it's bothering me. Her delicate, quiet, isolated life filled with still glass figures is safer, certainly. unsmelly, most definitely. And I imagine if the glass animals took it upon themselves to make "messes", they would be adorable little glass plopplets which would be utterly charming to clean up. I, on the other hand, have cleaned up poop from this: And also from this: in the past 24 hours.  I am hardly complaining. I'm just making a blind comparison. In fact, 1 out of 1 Lorraines agree that horse poop and Brand New Puppy poop are highly preferable to no poop at all, because then you'd have no horse and no Brand New Puppy. Fortunately, this: and, after a couple years of trial and error, this: are entirely house-trained.    Brand New Puppy does not have a name yet, and desperately needs a bath and one

Tomorrow, I'm going to someone's barn in Pleasant Grove to ride this: His regular rider has a concussion, (not from him) and she needs someone to exercise him regularly until she is ready again. I'm very sorry for her, and very excited to step in and help out. Riding a horse like this is something that I have aspired to for a long time. I've ridden thoroughbreds, quarter horses, arabians, mustangs, halflingers, belgians, and once I briefly rode an andalusian stallion. That was great. But this- a well schooled dressage master, a friesian, a stallion, and one who according to his owner is affectionate and intelligent beyond measure- this is something I have been slowly building towards through years of lessons, leasing, training, borrowing, and begging. I've been riding Posie all summer and got to use her in a film project (she was GREAT!), I've been coaching 4H which is such a ball, I'm writing my silly little articles for HorseNation every week an