It's been a while. I know. I like to think I have good reason to not post very frequently, but I suppose if I really really truly wanted to, I'd make time for it. So making time is what I'm doing right now. I got the family letter today (via email...gracious. Even *I* remember when it was snail-mailed), and realized that I forgot to send my portion in. It was honestly kinda frustrating, because it'd be waay easier to tell everyone at once what I'm up to, instead of waiting for each relative to ask me individually, then having to explain the whole shebang. My answer, oddly enough, gets shorter and shorter each time. So this is what I should've sent in. Tell your friends, and all of my relatives, so I can stop explaining it. PLEASE.

So.

I graduated last month, and I thought I'd have tons of free time on my hands. I was incredibly wrong.

Most everyone knows I've been working at Pickle Barrel (the one in Belgrade, *not* Bozeman) since last May. Still am. That much, at least, hasn't changed, though it's not for lack of trying. I'm there Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, from nine to four. It's not a particularily long day as far as hours go, but it seems a lot longer when the only thing taking up your time is making sandwiches. And burning yourself on the grill. And washing dishes. Erg. Not my favorite, but it works for now!

I've also got a "job" at Epona Equine (very unfrequently posted blog for the ranch can be found here). Quotes are there to represent the fact that it's more of a volunteer/paying for lessons and board thing than an actual paying job. But it's definitely a job, as it takes up every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday morning that I have in my posession. Odd how it's actually my favorite job of the three I've got (yeah, I said three. Keep reading). It's basically just feeding, morning and night, but in between, Connie helps me train Cady. She's doing fabulously. So far we've gotten her some manners, taught her to lunge (is that the right spelling? I can never remember...), and put a surcingle, which is basically just a band about four inches wide that wraps around the girth area, on her. She also does really well in crossties, which makes my life a whole lot easier, and aside from one not so small incident, she has caused me no injuries. Knock on wood...

Job number three is a nanny job that I just recently acquired. It was going to be every week-night which, for the week we tried that arrangement, made my life horrendously busy. It's more of a glorified babysitting job, now. I'm going in again on Saturday so the couple can have a night out. They've got three kids, aged five, two, and six months. If that doesn't sound exciting enough, add in the fact that the two-year-old is hearing impaired. I'm learning quite a bit of sign language, which I honestly think is pretty cool. The last time I was there (Saturday from 9p.m.-1a.m.) was enough to make me go nuts. All the kids were supposed to be in bed, but number 2 was still wide awake when I got there. That in itself was fine with me...he's super easy to entertain when there's a movie on. But around ten, his little sister, number 3, woke up. I was informed later that she gets very cranky (and screamy) if she wakes up and her parents aren't there, but the screaming didn't actually start happening until close to 12 when she realized she was about to fall asleep. I finally gave up and dunked her pacifier in the juice from a can of peaches, and that shut her up long enough for me to pass her off to the parents and run out the door. Number 2 was also still awake, watching his third movie of the night. His normal bed time is about 7 o'clock.

Today, my weeks got even busier, as I am going to be accompanying a few choral groups at a festival in April. So...that adds two rehearsals before Pickle Barrel on Monday and Wednesdays. Still don't know about the third, as it's comprised of all the senior girls in Chamber. I have to work with all their schedules as well as mine, which is down to Friday mornings or Thursdays after school.

Yet oddly enough, I really enjoy being this busy. It's way different than being in school, partially because I'm getting paid for 75% of the stuff I'm doing. I've been looking into equine massage programs lately. I've found a few that are mostly home-based, with a week or two of hands-on in Colorado. For the time being, that's looking like my next big project, but it won't happen until at least October, when I can get enough saved up. We shall see.

So that's the update...don't know when I'll be posting again, but I'll try to be a little more frequent =)

Ta.

So.

This blog is doing exactly what the other one did, only much faster. The other one took something like four years before I finally gave up on it. This is the seventh post on this blog, and they're already months apart. Shame on me.

So my exciting news of late has pretty much involved horsey dearest. Yesterday, we were having a ball working in the arena. Except that that's a lie. Neither of us was having much fun at all. She wanted to go back outside to see her friend (and told me so frequently with an incredible amount of decibles), and I wanted her to trot around me in circles and learn to stay. She won our little squabble by quite literally running over the top of me. Somehow, and I completely acredit this to a miracle, I didn't get stepped on. Just kicked about three times. My shoulder is now a massive bruise so bad that I can't even touch it, and my right leg, just above the knee is one huge knot. She must've clipped my head a bit too, 'cause I definitely could not see straight for a little while afterwards.

But the kicker of this whole thing (if you'll pardon the pun) is that not even half an hour before this happened, I had donated blood, and they sent me off with the warning "No strenuous activity or heavy lifting for the rest of the day". And that was seriously running through my mind as I watched a bunch of horse hooves run over the top of me. That, and "Why doesn't Connie make us wear a helmet whenever we touch a horse!?". Clarity wasn't exactly a strong point right then.

And then, right after I had gotten that cow back in her paddock, I went to help Connie throw hay. No heavy lifting my foot. Six one hundred pound bales. Ha. Ha. Ow.

Some simple steps to stupidity

Step one: forget to give Connie a check for the ferrier tomorrow. Go by after work (around 9:45) to drop it off, then come home.

Step two: go to the store. Bring home a huge Snapple, two bags of chips, and two energy shots.

Step three: eat/drink the products of step two, especially one of the energy shots. It is now approximately 10:30 p.m.

Step four: Procrastinate

Step five: start essay at about 11:00, but multitask by keeping five tabs open--one for Facebook, one for Hotmail, two for research, and one to look up names for Horsey. This will take about an hour.

Step six: find an ABBA playlist on YouTube. Sing along with every song. Neglect all else.

Step seven: put a load of clothes in the washer, ignoring the fact that this could've actually come between steps three and four.

Step eight: get distracted by the coin jar sitting in your room and take at least forty-five minutes to count it. Trust me, it'll be worth it, as you'll turn up $65 richer. Again, forget about the nagging thoughts in the back of your mind (that sound suspiciously like your mother) telling you that you should be wrapping up so you can go to bed. Remind yourself that the process is only about halfway done.

Step nine: Post a status about not wanting to clean the kitchen.

Step ten: Clean the kitchen, and turn it into another way to put off going to bed. Deep clean, and hand-wash half the dishes. *Don't* step on the glass that you find under the stove while sweeping.

Step ten point five: in the middle of doing dishes, remember that you have another load to put in the washer. Drop everything to go find another load, and return fifteen minutes later to dishwater that is getting pretty chilly. Finish the kitchen, making sure to go overboard with the use of the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser you happen to find under the sink.

Step eleven: It is now close to three o'clock in the morning. You now debate whether or not it would be wise to go to sleep. Then you remember that you still haven't packed, and that it has to get done tonight, as you'll be going to Connie's after school to see Horsey, and your mom wants to leave at about six. After realizing all of this, you sit down to write a blog post while listening to a mix of Disney songs.

That's as far as I've gotten. It's 3:00. I'm *still* waiting on laundry so I can *start* packing. This is an awful situation. And that is why I'm your instructor in Stupidity 101. I hope you enjoyed this crash course.

Just thought you might want to know...

Minnesota SU has just informed me that I'm an "inspiration" (yes, they actually said that) because of my "high school performance". Obviously they didn't see my grades from freshman year...

Montana SU sent me an email titled "You're quite unique". It went on to say "...and so is Montana State University, Kara! In fact, MSU is the only top-tier Carnegie research school in a 5-state region. That ranks us alongside Harvard, University of Washington and University of Colorado!"

A five-state region. Impressive. (Scoff)

The one where my wallet gets much lighter.

Today I bought a horse.

That explains the title pretty sufficiently, methinks...

I'm still working on a name (the old owners called her Cracker. That's obviously out). I'm thinking Liberty (Libby for short) because we definitely liberated her from a not very nice place. Maybe Deuce. I dunno. I shall post a pic, and there shall be much commenting and name suggestions, I hope.

Other news...I have been working with Sir Fynnagin (It's really just Fynn, but Sir Fynnagin sounds much more suave, and heaven knows he could use some help in the suave department lol) on manners and general training. Step two was begun yesterday, which included getting him used to a saddle blanket and putting a surcingle (which is really just a belt for horses) on to prepare him for a girth. It seriously only took about fifteen minutes for the whole process. It was pretty stinking cool. After five minutes he was walking with the pad on his back. It took a minute and a half to get the surcingle on, and then a couple minutes walking around, and a few more standing tied with it on. And this is a two-year-old horse that has never had anything on his back before. Sah-WEET!

I was pretty excited.

I've decided I'm also going to teach him how to drink out of a waterbottle too. He almost did yesterday. He got pushy when he smelled my water so I dumped some into my hand for him and, I kid you not, he lapped it up. So I held the waterbottle over my hand and kept pouring it as he drank. Eventually he tried to just grab it for himself. I bet he could learn how to drink it himself. It'd be pretty cool. Maybe I'll teach him a bunch of tricks and turn him into a stunt horse. Teehee.

Four day weekend will be over in a matter of hours. I'm off to go do all the lazy stuff that I should've been doing for the last 96 hours. Instead, I've been working. Where on earth are my priorities?

This is the afore-mentioned honey pie. Any name suggestions?

The one where I really dig my moccasins even though I've made fun of other people who own them.

The title pretty much says it.

They're so much fun. And comfy. And kinda dangerous, because they have no tread of which to speak. But that's what makes them fun, seeing as our entire school has linolium flooring. Oooh yes. They're better than the Ugs as far as sliding down the hallways goes. Try it sometime. You won't be disappointed.

So I had a Word Clues test today. I was pretty sure I was going to fail it, because even though I took my notebook (containing all 453 words) to work before my concert last night to study, it stands to reason that i didn't look at it once while I was there. So this morning I was going to study during choir...and realized that I left Mr. Notebook at home. So I borrowed someone's note cards and mananged to go over about a hundred words before the bell rang. By some crazy twist of fate, the words I studied happened to be the ones on the test, so I think I actually aced it. The only word that gave me any problems was "monocline". I took a wild guess, and it actually turned out to be right, which was actually a huge shocker. I *never* guess things right. I guess on scantrons because I hate to leave a row without a bubble filled in, but it very rarely does me any good.

I don't have school for the rest of the week! Some sort of teacher conventions. You know what I'm doing instead? WORKING! At the ranch and P.B. And I'm going to go see Cracker (the mare I mentioned last time...methinks the first order of business if I buy her will be to rename her. Seriously. She's not even white.) Sunday afternoon. Pretty exciting!

I am now considered an Advantage Candidate by Minnesota State Univ., and a Top Prospect by Westminster College in Utah. That's nice to know.
************
"Opportunity is missed by most because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work."
~Thomas Edison

The Prologue

The FYI: I'm ditching my old blog. It's lived to the ripe old age of "since seventh grade", so I think it's time that I put it out to cyber-pasture. And because the last time I posted on it was in March, when I was still fretting over my great big massive English project (that I got a high B on!) and some pieces that I was accompanying for District Music Festival. This is my new blog for which I had to create a new email because I've already put one on my old email (which, coincidentally, I've also had since seventh grade). Hunkydoryducky is about the coolest email username ever, even though I don't really plan on using it for anything except to be notified of yonder blog comments (ahem). But I digress, because it's fun to do, and just a cool word in general.

So now, to get everyone up to speed:

I have eleven weeks and three days until liberation from high school (I think that's pretty sweet). Those eleven weeks and three days will consist of (in order of a typical day's events):
Choir
English
Choir
Gov
English
English
Sewing.
It's called the super easy schedule of a senior. I love it.

I work at Pickle Barrel and come home every Tuesday night smelling like some sort of pretty unsavory food. Usually it's onions. Today it was mushroom juice. Yum.

I also work at a ranch a couple days a week. Except I don't get paid for it (besides riding lessons, when there's time), so it doesn't really count.

As of a couple months ago, I was going to go to U. Idaho in Moscow for English and/or music.

As of today, I'm looking into going to school in Colorado to be a vet, which will hopefully include a bachelor's in Equine Studies before I head off to the actual vet school. We'll see.

Now that you're all caught up, we'll start in with the real stuff.

'Round about Wednesday of last week, I went in to P.B. (the abbreviation that will henceforth stand for Pickle Barrel...I get tired of writing it out) to request today off of work so I could go sing in our first choir concert. You'll notice that I have two choirs listed in my schedule. Well I've also got a before-school choir. That's three. And then I also signed up (as our school's only cellist) to cell for a Women's choir piece. It obviously wasn't something I could miss. As I was putting it up, Boss Lady (hereafter abbreviated B.L. [You ever wonder why abbreviation is such a long word? It seems kinda contradictory or antiproductive or something. Those great grammar gods in the sky must've had an off day. Or they've got some messed up sense of humor]) told me that if no one would volunteer, then she would cover it for me. I didn't hear anything else about it until I went in today to see what the situation was. Turns out that no one wanted to spend their Tuesday afternoon covering my shift so I called up B.L.

Wires had gotten crossed, and she was prepared to work for me on Thursday, not Tuesday, so could I please just work 'til five?

I ended up going to my concert smelling like mushroom juice.

The concert actually went pretty well. The Awakening gives me chills every time, and the Neighbor's Chorus went over pretty well. (Neither of those links is us, btw. I wish we had a full orchestra accompanying us...).

And in other news, I'm looking at a mare that I really would love to buy. Huzzah for CraigsList. Dunno yet if I'll get her, but she's actually in my price range, so I'm crossing some fingers.

We're making Chinese take-out boxes in sewing. Thought you might want to know.

It's cold outside.

I'm hungry.

Bed is sounding like a very plausible option.

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Two muffins are sitting in the oven.
One turns to the other and says, "Boy, it sure it hot in here!"
The other replies, "OH MY GOSH A TALKING MUFFIN!"

Ha. That's right. I just killed your I.Q.