Life Update Meme Thing
Pilfered from placetohide
You know how sometimes people on your friendslist post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when were they working THERE? Since when were they dating HIM/HER? Since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you should already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.
Please copy the topics below, erase my answers and put yours in their place, and then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration. One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out. (:
1. Name
Cori, though I answer to CERT, KunstFeuer (or just Kunst), and several other things
2. Age
24, and next year I will be able to rent a car!
3. Location
Queen Creek, AZ, technically I'm on a county island, but that's what the post office says.
4. Occupation
I teach horseback riding lessons and, now that I'm certified, I should be starting substitute teaching soon!
5. Partner?
Chris, my husband. We just passed the four-and-a-half year mark and will be celebrating year five in May. He works at Home Depot and puts up with and encourages both my equine and artistic pursuits.
6. Kids?
None yet, though we do have a foal on the way out of one of our mares, heh. And I have a nephew who turned one this year ... but as far as my own, none yet.
7. Brothers/Sisters
I have an older and younger brother, thus making me the middle child, though I do have the slight benefit of being the only girl.
Tye is about two years older, married (two months before Chris and I), and has a kid. He's still working on his BA/BS and should be done in a year. He works for 2-wire, a company that makes routers. He went to Taiwan for his church mission and speaks Mandarin Chinese quite well (which is surprising because he tends to be a bit monotone). His wife, Bea, is Thai and moved here when she was 13 and has a BA in Business.
Lance is four years younger and drifting through life. He has a passion for music and is pretty good at it, but I have my doubts about his ability to keep himself motivated and actually produce something. He works in sales/as a telemarketer for an internet communications company and has been in college off-and-on.
8. Pets
I have a dog named Appy, she is a Maltese-poodle cross, though she spends most of her time with my parents. She turned 10 this year.
I also have five horses, though I don't know if you really classify them as "pets."
Ruby is a 16.3hh Belgian about 10 year-old mare, was formerly an Amish horse, and is my husband's (she takes good care of him).
Panda is seven, stands around 15hh and is a Pinto Draft with predominantly Percheron breeding. She is in foal to a Friesian named Hedzer and is due in March. She's come a long way since we first bought her as a coming five-year-old who had maybe a month under saddle.
Chewy is an 18 year-old 13.3hh Haflinger mare. She "teaches" most of my lessons and is also called "The Bread Machine" (because she makes all the dough). Sweetest, most saintly little horse that I've known who takes great care of my beginner riders.
Kitt is barely four and is a 14.1hh Fjord mare. She joined us in March and has made some great improvements since we purchased her. She only looks slightly drunk when being ridden now and doesn't run into the fence as often (i.e. try to scrape your leg off). Once Chewy is retired we hope Kitt will take on the role as "The Bread Machine."
Kash is my boy. He's 12 and I've had him for six years. He's a 15hh Arabian gelding and is both the only boy and the only non-draft-looking horse we have (though perhaps Panda's baby will be a colt). He was my first horse and I got him for a whopping $500. I must have been a bit overconfident and crazy as he was rather rank and green, but we grew together and learned a lot. He's currently being part-leased by Ola, one of my older students, though that will be up in December (Ola's moving to Texas, I'll miss her!) and with Panda going on maternity leave I'm looking forward to getting reacquainted with my boy.
9. List the 3/5 biggest things going on in your life
County crap with getting the new horse shade up and tearing down the two old ones. But hey! We passed the first inspection and have all of the parts to start putting it together! I think that's what we're going to spend the Thanksgiving weekend doing.
Panda's foal due in March. We just had another ultrasound done yesterday and it is doing fine. It's terribly active and kept kicking and shifting around (poor Panda), but we got to see the stomach, tail, neck, a little bit of the head, and are very happy to see all is well. I can't wait to have it on the ground and running around and getting to work with another foal. Truth be told this baby will probably be Kash's successor when he retires.
Working my grandfather's two young horses. The mare is already broke, but the gelding hasn't been backed yet. I plan on ponying him around a bit before I think of getting on. And when I start thinking about getting on I'm going to have someone else do it first, heh.
Figuring out how to afford a new truck. With me out of school and getting more active with the horses the ability to load them up and haul them out on trail or up to the horse park is important. Chris' truck is a half ton with 125,000+ miles on it. My little Ford Focus has 100,000+ miles on it as well. Both of them have been wonderfully reliable, but a new vehicle would also be nice to have for reliability, warranty, and we'd also like to get a 3/4 ton because, well, except for Kash, all of our horses are 1000lbs+, Ruby is about 1700/1800lbs and hauling that weight around is not the best thing for a 12 year-old half ton truck. Yes, we had the Dodge that my parents gave me and we sold, but 1) hated driving it because of both handling and the fact it felt like I was going to hit everything and 2) while it was free, insurance is not and part of the "affording a new truck" thing is being able to afford the insurance, license, registration, and all the other things attached to it, not just the monthly payment until it's paid off.
Four words "If the Business Sells," (supposedly it might possibly happen ... again).
10. Parents
My father: has been in his new job with Orbital engineering for a year now. He used to be a manager at TRW over the ballistics lab where they blew up the airbags. However, two years short of retirement he was laid off, which was horrendous, but he was able to find the new job quickly and is even getting paid more. It doesn't make the sting any more pleasant and he has another 10 years to work before he can retire, but it is a job! My dad is incredibly hard-working. He is an engineer and it shows in his humor and general mind-processing, but that's okay. Most of my daddy-daughter bonding time has been spent under a car fixing things or doing general maintenance. He is firm in his beliefs, compassionate and generally a good guy, if a bit soft-spoken at times. He is very supportive of my mother.
My mother: Mom has a very powerful personality and has a lot of energy. If she were paid for the amount of time she spends on the phone helping other people deal with their issues she would be independently wealthy. As it is, she just spends a lot of time on the phone and manages her life as well as a dozen or so others. She is pretty social and is often out doing things with various people, or perhaps just dragging them along for the ride.
11. Who are some of your closest friends?
Chris, my husband. One would hope that would be the obvious one.
Tiffany- I've known her since kindergarten just about, but didn't really become good friends until Jr. High. Her mother hated my mother and, in turn, me and at one point Tiffany was forbidden from hanging out with me, which didn't deter us much. She calls me Hitler and I call her Mussolini (usually spell it Mussellini), that's friendship for you, heh.
Shilo- My horsey friend who moved down to Tucson for school and married two years after Chris and I to a pretty good guy. She's now back up in the valley, but on the opposite side doing a really intense program for becoming a Nurse practitioner.
I don't hang out with either of them as much as I would like.
Ola- She is the Polish girl from Germany with the Austrian passport. Met her on the bus to ASU and started teaching her riding. She started leasing Kash last year and we've spent a good amount of time together riding. She's moving to Texas with her husband (who is a Texan) and I'll miss her terribly.
As far as over-the-wire goes there are several people that I would count as close friends, even if we haven't "hung out" in a while. Part of this was due to the drastic change in my internet habits once I got married. Not to say that I blame being married for my lack of online presence, but dropping down to dial-up, going from having one to five horses, and going from community college to a four-year university (which is now over and done with, yay!) will also suck up anything resembling mass amounts of spare time that I used to have. I might not be the most omnipresent, but given the opportunity I'll drop anything and do something for them.
In other news, I worked four horses yesterday. It makes me feel accomplished! I ponied Moab off of Panda for the first time (for both of them!) and they both did much better than I had anticipated, which is always pleasant. After dragging Mo around for a bit I handed him off to Mom and worked Panda to make her feel a bit more accomplished without having to lug Moab about.
After that I got on Sahara and worked her for a bit under saddle. Her walk is still quite rough, but I think when she's walking slower it's not as bad. My back wasn't as sore as the first ride, though. There are a few things about her that I'm going to have to work through with quite a bit of effort that should have been addressed by one of the two previous trainers. One is moving off when not asked/while being mounted and the other is her hanging on the bit and torquing her neck in response to the pressure. I was able to get her to give to it a couple times, but she really wants to evade and twist her neck around rather than just nicely giving to the pressure. Now any horse will push against the bit when you pick up if they're stiff, but she's going beyond leaning on it, her neck is twisting as well as her poll (neck-to-head attachment) rather than just pushing straight into it, which makes me think that one of the previous trainers caused the issue.
Marty then wandered over and brought Cinnamon Strudel and after helping the two of them lunge for a bit I got on her and rode her around a bit. I was quite pleased, actually and will have to go into this more later as now I'm going to help Marty work with Toby! *scootches off*
You know how sometimes people on your friendslist post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when were they working THERE? Since when were they dating HIM/HER? Since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you should already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.
Please copy the topics below, erase my answers and put yours in their place, and then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration. One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out. (:
1. Name
Cori, though I answer to CERT, KunstFeuer (or just Kunst), and several other things
2. Age
24, and next year I will be able to rent a car!
3. Location
Queen Creek, AZ, technically I'm on a county island, but that's what the post office says.
4. Occupation
I teach horseback riding lessons and, now that I'm certified, I should be starting substitute teaching soon!
5. Partner?
Chris, my husband. We just passed the four-and-a-half year mark and will be celebrating year five in May. He works at Home Depot and puts up with and encourages both my equine and artistic pursuits.
6. Kids?
None yet, though we do have a foal on the way out of one of our mares, heh. And I have a nephew who turned one this year ... but as far as my own, none yet.
7. Brothers/Sisters
I have an older and younger brother, thus making me the middle child, though I do have the slight benefit of being the only girl.
Tye is about two years older, married (two months before Chris and I), and has a kid. He's still working on his BA/BS and should be done in a year. He works for 2-wire, a company that makes routers. He went to Taiwan for his church mission and speaks Mandarin Chinese quite well (which is surprising because he tends to be a bit monotone). His wife, Bea, is Thai and moved here when she was 13 and has a BA in Business.
Lance is four years younger and drifting through life. He has a passion for music and is pretty good at it, but I have my doubts about his ability to keep himself motivated and actually produce something. He works in sales/as a telemarketer for an internet communications company and has been in college off-and-on.
8. Pets
I have a dog named Appy, she is a Maltese-poodle cross, though she spends most of her time with my parents. She turned 10 this year.
I also have five horses, though I don't know if you really classify them as "pets."
Ruby is a 16.3hh Belgian about 10 year-old mare, was formerly an Amish horse, and is my husband's (she takes good care of him).
Panda is seven, stands around 15hh and is a Pinto Draft with predominantly Percheron breeding. She is in foal to a Friesian named Hedzer and is due in March. She's come a long way since we first bought her as a coming five-year-old who had maybe a month under saddle.
Chewy is an 18 year-old 13.3hh Haflinger mare. She "teaches" most of my lessons and is also called "The Bread Machine" (because she makes all the dough). Sweetest, most saintly little horse that I've known who takes great care of my beginner riders.
Kitt is barely four and is a 14.1hh Fjord mare. She joined us in March and has made some great improvements since we purchased her. She only looks slightly drunk when being ridden now and doesn't run into the fence as often (i.e. try to scrape your leg off). Once Chewy is retired we hope Kitt will take on the role as "The Bread Machine."
Kash is my boy. He's 12 and I've had him for six years. He's a 15hh Arabian gelding and is both the only boy and the only non-draft-looking horse we have (though perhaps Panda's baby will be a colt). He was my first horse and I got him for a whopping $500. I must have been a bit overconfident and crazy as he was rather rank and green, but we grew together and learned a lot. He's currently being part-leased by Ola, one of my older students, though that will be up in December (Ola's moving to Texas, I'll miss her!) and with Panda going on maternity leave I'm looking forward to getting reacquainted with my boy.
9. List the 3/5 biggest things going on in your life
County crap with getting the new horse shade up and tearing down the two old ones. But hey! We passed the first inspection and have all of the parts to start putting it together! I think that's what we're going to spend the Thanksgiving weekend doing.
Panda's foal due in March. We just had another ultrasound done yesterday and it is doing fine. It's terribly active and kept kicking and shifting around (poor Panda), but we got to see the stomach, tail, neck, a little bit of the head, and are very happy to see all is well. I can't wait to have it on the ground and running around and getting to work with another foal. Truth be told this baby will probably be Kash's successor when he retires.
Working my grandfather's two young horses. The mare is already broke, but the gelding hasn't been backed yet. I plan on ponying him around a bit before I think of getting on. And when I start thinking about getting on I'm going to have someone else do it first, heh.
Figuring out how to afford a new truck. With me out of school and getting more active with the horses the ability to load them up and haul them out on trail or up to the horse park is important. Chris' truck is a half ton with 125,000+ miles on it. My little Ford Focus has 100,000+ miles on it as well. Both of them have been wonderfully reliable, but a new vehicle would also be nice to have for reliability, warranty, and we'd also like to get a 3/4 ton because, well, except for Kash, all of our horses are 1000lbs+, Ruby is about 1700/1800lbs and hauling that weight around is not the best thing for a 12 year-old half ton truck. Yes, we had the Dodge that my parents gave me and we sold, but 1) hated driving it because of both handling and the fact it felt like I was going to hit everything and 2) while it was free, insurance is not and part of the "affording a new truck" thing is being able to afford the insurance, license, registration, and all the other things attached to it, not just the monthly payment until it's paid off.
Four words "If the Business Sells," (supposedly it might possibly happen ... again).
10. Parents
My father: has been in his new job with Orbital engineering for a year now. He used to be a manager at TRW over the ballistics lab where they blew up the airbags. However, two years short of retirement he was laid off, which was horrendous, but he was able to find the new job quickly and is even getting paid more. It doesn't make the sting any more pleasant and he has another 10 years to work before he can retire, but it is a job! My dad is incredibly hard-working. He is an engineer and it shows in his humor and general mind-processing, but that's okay. Most of my daddy-daughter bonding time has been spent under a car fixing things or doing general maintenance. He is firm in his beliefs, compassionate and generally a good guy, if a bit soft-spoken at times. He is very supportive of my mother.
My mother: Mom has a very powerful personality and has a lot of energy. If she were paid for the amount of time she spends on the phone helping other people deal with their issues she would be independently wealthy. As it is, she just spends a lot of time on the phone and manages her life as well as a dozen or so others. She is pretty social and is often out doing things with various people, or perhaps just dragging them along for the ride.
11. Who are some of your closest friends?
Chris, my husband. One would hope that would be the obvious one.
Tiffany- I've known her since kindergarten just about, but didn't really become good friends until Jr. High. Her mother hated my mother and, in turn, me and at one point Tiffany was forbidden from hanging out with me, which didn't deter us much. She calls me Hitler and I call her Mussolini (usually spell it Mussellini), that's friendship for you, heh.
Shilo- My horsey friend who moved down to Tucson for school and married two years after Chris and I to a pretty good guy. She's now back up in the valley, but on the opposite side doing a really intense program for becoming a Nurse practitioner.
I don't hang out with either of them as much as I would like.
Ola- She is the Polish girl from Germany with the Austrian passport. Met her on the bus to ASU and started teaching her riding. She started leasing Kash last year and we've spent a good amount of time together riding. She's moving to Texas with her husband (who is a Texan) and I'll miss her terribly.
As far as over-the-wire goes there are several people that I would count as close friends, even if we haven't "hung out" in a while. Part of this was due to the drastic change in my internet habits once I got married. Not to say that I blame being married for my lack of online presence, but dropping down to dial-up, going from having one to five horses, and going from community college to a four-year university (which is now over and done with, yay!) will also suck up anything resembling mass amounts of spare time that I used to have. I might not be the most omnipresent, but given the opportunity I'll drop anything and do something for them.
In other news, I worked four horses yesterday. It makes me feel accomplished! I ponied Moab off of Panda for the first time (for both of them!) and they both did much better than I had anticipated, which is always pleasant. After dragging Mo around for a bit I handed him off to Mom and worked Panda to make her feel a bit more accomplished without having to lug Moab about.
After that I got on Sahara and worked her for a bit under saddle. Her walk is still quite rough, but I think when she's walking slower it's not as bad. My back wasn't as sore as the first ride, though. There are a few things about her that I'm going to have to work through with quite a bit of effort that should have been addressed by one of the two previous trainers. One is moving off when not asked/while being mounted and the other is her hanging on the bit and torquing her neck in response to the pressure. I was able to get her to give to it a couple times, but she really wants to evade and twist her neck around rather than just nicely giving to the pressure. Now any horse will push against the bit when you pick up if they're stiff, but she's going beyond leaning on it, her neck is twisting as well as her poll (neck-to-head attachment) rather than just pushing straight into it, which makes me think that one of the previous trainers caused the issue.
Marty then wandered over and brought Cinnamon Strudel and after helping the two of them lunge for a bit I got on her and rode her around a bit. I was quite pleased, actually and will have to go into this more later as now I'm going to help Marty work with Toby! *scootches off*