November flew by, that's all I can say.

Format is going out the window because frankly, I'm tired of setting it up every time.

No, this is not depressed Chloe, this is tired-in-her-bones Chloe.

Isn't funny how when you repeat certain sequences in order every day your brain automatically associates the thing you're doing with getting to do the next thing afterwards?

Like, when I get home everyday, it's usually around seven in the evening, so as soon as I pull in and drop my stuff, I go and get something to eat.

Well, I got home early one day, and hadn't even been thinking of food at all for the drive, but as soon as I pulled in the driveway I was instantly starving.

Yeah so anyway. There's that.

We went to another judging contest in Oklahoma City, Quarter Horse World Show. The same level of bigness and importance as the Quarter Horse Congress, about. While we were there we actually saw one of our other professors watching. But they organized the actual contest much more efficiently, especially in terms of giving reasons. I only had to give two sets this time.

I didn't like how I delivered my first set because I accidentally worked myself into a nervous frenzy right as I was walking up and I started giving them on an exhale, so I was frantically trying to get a decent breath while plowing through what I had rehearsed- it just wasn't very smooth. I was kind of kicking myself back at the table when the lady with her therapy dog that hangs out with us, because we are poor stressed human beings just trying to do the best we can, walked by and let me cuddle the dog for a minute. It helped a bunch! I liked my second set much better though. I thought it was very well put together and enough big words and terms to be decently impressive sounding, and I delivered it so much better than my first set. HOWEVER they liked my first set better and gave me the lowest score I've ever gotten on my second set. Kinda wish the reasons takers would take notes and give at least a small amount of feedback, because I really want to know where I messed up on that second set.

The limited division finished a while before the collegiate, so the three of us in limited got to go and walk around some and see what there was to see before going back to hear the awards at six. Of course, there had to be something go wrong. The collegiate finished way ahead of schedule. So instead of letting all the coaches know to bring back their kids, they just up and started the awards. So lots of us only made it for part of the awards. We made it to the building for the last five minutes, but didn't go into the room because they were almost done. So we didn't even get the whole contest experience because we missed the awards (though I'm kind of ok with that because honestly, the awards are as stressful or more so than the actual contest).

Christian came home while I was gone. Everyone else except Lydia got to go to his graduation. He had been sick for the past three weeks, so he was a wreck when he got home, but he was in good spirits, and his time away has definitely helped him improve.

Christian also had his birthday this month, and has officially graduated from the kid table to being allowed to sit with us adults when we have family or friends over for a meal.

We had family out for Thanksgiving, which was a blast. We spent it with Mom's side this year, so we didn't have to drive anywhere. But we didn't really get to watch the parade this year because somebody *sideeyes the tv* didn't dvr the channel we like even though we had it set to, so we had to watch on a different channel that we didn't like as much.

We were going to have another judging contest at the Reining Futurity (big deal show) at Oklahoma City, but not enough people wanted to go. When I told my boss that I actually wouldn't be needing that time off, I think he was more disappointed than I was, so his wife took me up to go watch on Black Friday. It was pretty cool!! We even bumped in to one of my past professors there and sat with him for awhile.

We finished with the yearlings for our behaviour and training class. I was so proud of mine! At the start, she would just run circles around whoever was trying to catch her- she did not want to be touched. At the end, I had her longeing with the bit in her mouth, both directions, on the long line, with a surcingle, was able to saddle her, pick up all four feet, lead her around in the arena over poles, around cones, over a bridge, and groom her.

Eventually we might get to work with some weanlings for the last few days we have in the semester, however that is only if the breeder actually gets them out to us. We'll see.

Got registered for classes next semester. It's gonna be awesome!

I got Bonnie's oil changed. When I pulled in and got out, I brought out a bit of my southern accent and nicely asked for an oil change and if they could please check the tire pressure I'd appreciate it. The guy I was asking said that was probably the nicest anyone's ever asked him for an oil change, to which I replied; "you said that the last time I was here." Stuff like that happens when you go to the same small-town mechanic shop almost every time.

Gas prices went down and that makes me so happy!

Our neighbors went out of town for a few days again so I took care of their horses. I love them so much.

Drove down the freeway and passed a truck with a sign saying "We hire solo's and teams." *almost dies by grammatical error*

Mom: "I don't know how you're able to start the day with cold coffee right now."
Me: "Well, I don't really like hot coffee, and this cold coffee is really convenient. I don't know, maybe I'll end up changing my tune once it gets colder."

One time since class finished early and there were only two of us left with the professor, the other girl and I tried switching horses so we could try the pattern on a horse we weren't as familiar with. It was a fun exercise!

We had another contest in Fort Worth for the Cutting Horse Futurity. We did not have to give reasons on anything. Ms. Becky somehow managed to get ten of us to go (since this was a show where you didn't need to be on a judging team, just needed to be a full time student), and one of us won high individual and got to judge two rounds of finals with the other judges! I did not do very well. It was a learning experience, and I still enjoyed it though!

I honestly don't remember what else happened. I know we had rain a lot. I spent a lot of time at work, school, and shows. Somehow the same bug hit all of us within a few hours so all of us were sick for two days. That was nice. It is cold now. Finals are this week.

Ta-da, blogpost complete. Off to do homework.

Quarter Horse Congress

(bc honestly there was too much to put in here to fit in the October Recap)

Quarter Horse Congress is one of the really big quarter horse shows. It lasts almost a month up in Columbus, Ohio.

Lots of people there. So many. And so many different smells. And it was cold the entire time as well.

They have both English and Western disciplines, though the focus is on the western things because that's what quarter horses are mainly used for.

We (my professor; Ms. Becky, and two other students; Lara and Robert) flew up Sunday morning a few days before the judging contest so we could practice. We shared rooms with a small team from Georgia. We went and practiced for a couple hours Sunday afternoon before heading back for an early dinner at Bob Evans (I may have accidentally out ate everyone). We saw a Texas Roadhouse, of all things, on our way to dinner. After that, we practiced some more back at the hotel.

Monday and Tuesday were about the same as each other. The hotel was about thirty minutes away from the expo center, so we were all up and out at a reasonable time so we could get there to practice. We worked on Halter in the mornings for an hour or two, then got to see some of the performance classes in the afternoon. The event we most needed to work on, we got pretty well immersed in, enough so that we were eventually able to recognize which horses were good, which were decent, and which were not very good.

Wednesday morning was the competition. It started at 7:30 in the morning. Lots of teams showed up. We had the performance classes first. Nine of them.

Trail- Basically an obstacle course. Do not hit anything.
Western Riding- Lead changes. Lots of them. Do not break gait.
Hunter Hack- Jumping over two short fences in English Tack. Keep the horse's knees even.
Hunter Under Saddle- Rail class, everyone's in at the same time. Walk. Trot. Canter. Back. English.
Western Pleasure- Rail class. Walk. Jog. Lope. Back. Slow. Western.
Hunt Seat Equitation- English. Pattern class. Judging the rider, not the horse.
Western Horsemanship- Western. Pattern class. Judging the rider, not the horse.
Ranch Riding- Stuff cowboys do out on the ranch. Pattern class. Lots of extended trotting. Western.
Reining- You know, the fast circles, the spinning like a top, and those really dramatic sliding stops.

Then three halter classes.
Yearling Mares- Why should the withers be even with the croup? Why would we want that? Really?
All Aged Geldings- Honestly, no one really knew how to place this class.
Performance Mares- Which non-halter type mare is most like a halter-type mare? You tell me.

Each of those classes had four horses in them that we had to observe and then rank them and hand in a card with our placing on it so the officials could see how well we matched up with their placings. Then after all the classes have gone, they announce which classes we have to defend in the dreaded Reasons Room. So because we don't know beforehand, all of us have to take notes on each class as if we will have to give reasons on them.

Reasons classes.
Limited: 1. Western Riding. 2. Performance Mares.
And unfortunately I don't remember all of the collegiate reasons classes because I didn't have to give that many.

Sample set of reasons for a Western Riding class so y'all know what I'm talking about when I say 'reasons.'

Ma'am/Sir, I placed this Western Riding class, 1-4-3-2.

Opening with my top pair, I placed 1 over 4 because the buckskin was the more consistent of the pair, being smoother and more confident throughout all four of his line changes, and travelling at a more even cadence, in addition to competing on a higher degree of difficulty with his greater drape of rein.

-I will grant that 4 showed more compliance when asked to back.

Moving on to my middle pair, although 4 did hit the log as he was jogging over, he still manages to place over 3, not only because he was the more willing of the pair, as he was smoother in his transition from the jog to the lope, but also because he was more consistent with his cross changes.

-I did see that 3 was shown on a greater drape of rein.

Ending with my bottom pair, I placed 3 over 2 simply because the sorrel was more correct in his lead changes and had a more even three-beat cadence at the lope.

-Now I realize that 2 approached and went over the log with more confidence, but unfortunately the dark brown must still be placed at the bottom of the class today, due to the fact that he was the least coordinated individual, being more sloppy in his transition from jog to lope, being late in both of his second line and cross changes, in addition to hesitating at the cone for the third line change.

It is for these reasons I placed this Western Riding class, 1-4-3-2. Thank you.

The reasons can't be written before the contest, and you can't read them off of a piece of paper. You have to go into the reasons room after practicing what you want to say, and give your set to the person who is going to determine how well you did presenting them. Kind of stressful the first few times. I have messed up my placing before. And forgotten to say something I meant to say. And scrambled up the order of how I wrote down what I wanted to say. And I've froze up before too. But the main idea is to present a concise explanation for why you placed the class the way you did.

To determine the order in which everyone gives reasons, they had us all sitting at different tables with other people from our divisions. They organized it by the number we were each given at the start of the contest. I was sitting way at the back of our table, and was one of the last people to go for each set of reasons. They actually almost forgot to let some of us go from that table. They called the first people from our group to go and give their second set before five of us at the end had even given our first. But we caught them in time. We were all given a box lunch to eat as we prepared our reasons. No one is allowed to talk to anyone while we work on our reasons. We can stand up at our seat and quietly rehearse in whispers, but no talking is allowed and walking around is generally discouraged.

After I finished my sets, Lara (who was also in the limited division) and both students from Georgia had already finished and left a while ago, so I wandered around until I saw the coach from Georgia and was able to ask her where Ms. Becky was at. We found her and everyone else back in the main arena. Lara and I walked around the booths in the shopping area (lots of really cool stuff, but EVERYTHING costs and arm and a leg) until Robert found us in there eventually.

We went back to the hotel to change clothes before going out to dinner with the Georgia team to a restaurant that felt like Texas as soon as we walked in. We stayed there for almost three hours talking. It was great!

Thursday morning was the awards breakfast, which consisted of donuts, so we all just ate at the hotel instead before going. None of us placed in the top ten, but that was alright. There were a lot of really good people there. One of the Georgia people got second in something, so good for him. One of the Oklahoma FFAs (kind of like 4-H) swept everything in their division. The bigger Junior Colleges won just about everything as well.

After the awards, since our flight wasn't until that afternoon, we went back to the shopping area to look for t-shirts or something to bring home. We spent quite a while at a place where you got to pick what kind of shirt you wanted and choose which design went on. It was pretty cool, and I came home with a really nice sweatshirt.

Funny things:

"Oh look, more hood." -Ms. Becky when we were trying to find the expo center and took yet another wrong turn.

"Aw, I wasn't done with that." -Me when I saw that the hotel maid had put away the couch bed I was sleeping on.

"What was that?!" -Ms. Becky, while parking.
"The curb." -Everyone in unison.

"We asked for extra water for y'all's lunch, but they didn't give us any to begin with. If you want, you can dump out a soda can and refill it with water from the water fountain." -Contest organizers.

"Someone needs to make a meme with 'ride it like you stole it' but with a western pleasure horse instead of a barrel horse." -Robert.

Outside of it being delayed, our flight home was smooth. We had all been able to get seats close to each other for the ride up, but on the way back no one was together. Lara was all the way in the back, I was in row 14, Robert was in row 20-something, and Ms. Becky I think was in row 18. The flight was so full that they had to gate check most everyone's second carry-on as they got down to the groups boarding later, on the house of course. Dad and Ava met us at the airport to drive me home.

All in all, it was a very fun experience and I look forward to going back next year.

the time I missed almost two weeks of school or, The October Recap

Hey look! It's decently close to being on time!

Life stuff

Everyone came home from Maui much darker than me, showing very sunkissed faces.

Lydia had her birthday. They had a potluck with all the beach family out on the pool deck. She was completely oblivious to their plans.

Christian is continuing to push through with his ALERT training. They've had a three hour hike, a six hour hike, a twelve hour hike, and a twenty-four (*chokes*) hour hike. Most of them in the rain. Then they had a survival week where they were all tested on their survival skills and spent a week out in the woods taking care of themselves. He was pretty down and out emotionally for a while, but he eventually came around and perked up. He's grown so much. They are really able to find and push all of his buttons to help get him past certain things, and through his letters we can see a whole new level of maturity in him. We are so proud, and are looking forward to having him come home soon.

We have a new temporary resident in our pasture for the next couple of weeks. Little Boy "Casper" is an orphaned bull calf. Our neighbors had to go out of town for a while, so he is being spoiled rotten by the Linn crew. Ava is doing a fantastic job keeping up with the feedings and making sure he's doing okay.

I had to give away the rest of my birds because of that awful critter that kept finding ways to get at them. We were down to four when I finally just called Mom and said I was done with it all. I couldn't keep them alive with the current system and I didn't have the time to figure out a new system. Of course, Fred of the nine lives made it out without so much as a feather out of place. But they are now all safe and happy with a much bigger flock, a couple of goats, and two guard dogs to keep them company.

Sunday Morning
Lydia: "You might want to do something with your hair, you look like you just rolled out of bed."
Me, not caring: "I did just roll out of bed."

"Open Sesame!" -Mom, trying to open a bag of spinach.

Called one of my professors to ask where she was.
Her: "Around that white truck to your right."
Me: *whirls around toward the only white truck I was aware of that so happened to be to my left*
Her: "Your other right."
Me: *sheepishly turns back around and sees the truck she is talking about*

Went to the Quarter Horse Congress up in Ohio for a judging competition. We were gone from Sunday to Thursday, so all of us missed a full week's worth of classes. (post to come soon).

Went to Arabian Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma for another judging competition. We left on Wednesday and got back on Saturday, so we missed a few classes, but it was not even a week after Congress, so homework was still pushed off. (also post soon).

Mildly freaked out when I saw a question on a quiz that I was absolutely positive I hadn't been instructed on. Called the professor over to ask her about it. Didn't even see the big o'l EXTRA CREDIT over it, meaning it wasn't mandatory that I answer it, probably because it was from a lecture that took place while I was gone and there wasn't any homework pertaining to it.

Was very relieved when I got caught up on everything I missed while I was gone.

Mom: "Y'all realize that I can be reading a book out loud to you and have no clue what happened in it."

The Owlcrate book box came. Really liked everything inside, and I can't wait to read the books!


Work things:

I left J/S and went to work for an owner who does reining instead.

J/S was good to me for awhile, but as we got further into the semester, it was made pretty clear to me that it wasn't going to work out for much longer. The other girls were doing the work I had been doing, so there really wasn't much for me to do there, and I could tell that the assistant trainer had her mind on other things and not on giving me tasks. So I talked with my boss and asked her what the expectations were there, and told her that I didn't feel like I was doing enough to earn what they were paying me, but that also there wasn't enough work to go around between three people that I had been doing by myself all summer. So she agreed and said that it was probably time to give it a rest.

Luckily enough, I had just had someone else contact me a day or two before asking if I had been able to find work. So I was able to ask them if they still were looking for someone.

Turns out to be a very nice situation. The owners had gotten into horses through the other trainer that was out of the same barn as J/S, so there was some connection there. They mostly do reining, but they also have a few babies that they are working on as well.

Small, but small is what I need right now.

Very nice people.

They want to teach me things. They've already let me ride some and have said that once I'm comfortable enough on their horses I will be able to start working them from the saddle instead of just on the ground.

Very good communicators. They are very much in favor of education and are happy that I am in college. Flexible too.

Music things:

I didn't make a playlist this month because I forgot and didn't really listen to anything really new. It was mostly country though.

Of course there was music at the horse shows as well. The Arab people are better about coordinating the playlist to each class though. At Quarter Horse, you could hear quiet strains of generic country music, while at Arabian, you could have horses enter to the blaring of Footloose and exit to Pirates of the Caribbean.


Anyway, this recap is kind of short because most of the interesting stuff is going into two other posts.

How was your October?
Anyone crazy enough to do NaNoWriMo this month?
Did y'all survive midterms?

The Story of Clarence

excuse me while I be all sentimental about an inanimate object

Clarence is my laptop.

He is red.

He is not very shiny.

But he is mine.

I got him two and a half years ago, and he is getting up there in years, as he is a 2012 model.

He is persnickety.

He didn't originally have a name, but I had to call him something because of his personality.

Last week he was convinced that Google Chrome was a product of black magic.

Sometimes it takes him ten minutes and two complete power downs before he decides to wake up.

Sometimes he'll hop right up as soon as I open his screen.

Sometimes he decides to randomly update everything instead of show me the login screen.

He doesn't like being unplugged from the power outlet.

I don't even try checking my email with his help.

He doesn't like the printer. I have to run everything through dropbox and print it from my phone.

Sometimes I impatiently bonk his screen when he acts up.

Sometimes I just say his name in a very exasperated tone.

~

But without him:

My blog wouldn't have lasted more than a year.

I wouldn't know how to work a PC.

I would still be juggling a shared laptop with my other siblings.

I wouldn't have learned much patience when dealing with uncooperative technology.

I wouldn't have tried my hand at NaNoWriMo.

I wouldn't have met the blogger friends I have now.

I wouldn't have a record of the past two and a half years of my life outside of photos.

~

So Clarence, you may not be the most efficient laptop out there, nor the most well behaved (I've threatened to replace him many a time), but you've gotten me this far, and I hope you continue to last for many years.

September Recap (yes I know it's almost the end of October, quit looking at me like that)

Firstly, I missed posting this at the beginning of October because I wasn't done writing it, then Clarence decided that Google Chrome was the spawn of the devil for some reason and refused to open so I had to drop it for several days, then I was out of town (which I will address in the October Recap) for almost a week without access to my laptop so I couldn't fix the issue until today.

I thought about combining September with October, but decided against it because I knew that would only make a monster-sized post that I did not really want to mess with.

Ta-da. Explanation complete.

stuff that happened:

The first week of classes went well. I missed one of them on Tuesday because I didn't realize it met two days a week, but other than that there weren't any other hiccups. There are several familiar faces from last semester, plus a great deal of new people I hadn't met yet. Even though I'm taking five classes, I only have two different professors.

Christian left for a nine week program kind of like boot camp but with scripture teachings as well. Earlier this year a family from our church sent their son to the same program and had glowing reports so Mom and Dad decided that it would probably be good for Christian as well. We got a letter from him and he said the first night was the hardest thing he's had to do in his life. We are all proud of him because he wasn't being negative in his letter, he was just giving the facts and trying to find the positives.

Mia had her birthday and turned 9.

I turned 20. I feel no different. I still went up to the college for classes (but with donuts to share, courtesy of Mom, who got up and had them back at the house before 6:30 that morning).

We got the yearlings in for our equine behavior and training class. They were a week late and then we couldn't really do much with them because they needed to settle down and there had been a lot of rain so the whole area was a sloppy, muddy mess. And we spent most of our time moving cows back away from the yearlings because the stock/rodeo teams kept leaving them with access up close to them even though they clearly had been moved away by us, for two days in a row. By the third day with the cows not in the right place, we finally just left them because the yearlings were finally not freaking out around them and we were tired of moving them.

Everyone left for Maui. Lydia wasn't going for the entire time, so she left a week later than everyone else. I am holding down the fort, though mostly I'm only home to sleep and feed the chickens.

We had our first Judging contest down in Fort Worth at the Paint World. There was some kerfuffle about how many sets of reasons the contestants would be giving (2 sets for the lower level division or four sets for the upper level), we thought that they would be accommodating both levels, but it turned out that they were only doing the upper level. So we all had the option to go and compete and give 4 sets, or we could go and just practice, and then give our coach (Ms. Becky) 2 sets afterwards. It was a bunch of fun!

Our neighbor decided to start a couple of burn piles down in the woods, so when we saw smoke out in the trees and he wasn't answering his phone, we all kind of freaked out. Mom called the fire department and Lydia and I ended up running pell-mell (honestly I don't know how neither of us turned an ankle or tripped) down the rutted access road and through a decent stretch of over the knee tall brush (where we desperately hoped no snakes were residing). We found him down there and he reassured us that everything was fine. Mom was rather annoyed that he hadn't bothered to say anything to anyone else so no one would worry and Lydia and I were both a little annoyed as well because we had both just had long days and were tired and ready for showers and then we got this huge adrenaline rush and just ran (and that hill is not a gentle slope, nor is it a short distance, plus we had to jump a pretty decent sized mud puddle because we were going too fast to stop at the bottom of the hill), then had to go back up the hill and back through the tall brush, and then back up again to get to our property to tell Mom to call off the fire department and then settle ourselves and catch our breaths. Yeah, the last time our neighbor did something like that his barn exploded. And there was a scare a month or two ago when someone else accidentally started a grass fire and almost got himself killed, and even though we've had a fair amount of rain I believe we are still technically under a burn-ban.

We had church people and other friends out on Sunday for a Labor Day celebration. It was nice.

The weather has settled down significantly. As I write this, I don't think we've hit the 90s yet *knocks on wood* and we've had a good amount of rain so everything's greened up again. Some days we haven't even hit 80. It's been fantastic!

I ordered my first ever book box from Owlcrate. It's the October box, so I've a bit to wait, but I was super excited about it because the theme is "Lost in a Bookstore," and what's not to like about that?! I've been thinking about ordering book boxes from various different companies for quite a while now, but finally decided to get over it and just try one to see if they were worth all the hype. So I'll wait patiently now.

The time when almost half of the church showed up in stripes.

The other time when half of the church hung out a little bit afterwards and talked about lava lamps because some of the lights looked like the inside of a fish tank and it was super relaxing and then lava lamps were brought up as having a similar effect.

Nana had her small group ladies out to the house while everyone else was gone for a retreat, and since there was probably about 6-8 of them they stayed at our house. I was shocked at the amount of time I spent turning off lights and fans in empty rooms. And shutting the laundry room door. And the kitchen was in a constant state of only being half-way cleaned up. And- wait a minute.
AM I TURNING INTO MOM?!

The chicken coop has more patches on it than a quilt, and yet something still manages to get in and kill my birds a few at a time. Like. Seriously? So I've moved the six remaining ones (two drakes, one duck, one rooster, two hens) to the tack room during the night, and then during the day they are in the barn in their movable pen. I've tried setting up one of Grandfather's traps to catch the culprit, but it hasn't caught anything yet. But I can't move the birds back into the coop until whatever it is is caught and killed or relocated. This has not been a good year to have chickens.

Horsemanship II is going well. I've had four different horses in the five times we've had class. The first one was one I did not want because I remembered him from last semester as being really slow, then again the lady that had him wasn't very firm with him, but I actually ended up liking him a bunch. He was very easy going, yes slow, but if you kicked him up to the jog or lope, he really wasn't all that bad. The second horse was actually pretty nice. She used to be a reiner, so she was pretty good about keeping pace with the other horses. Her only thing was she would start backing up almost immediately after you asked her to stop. Like, you would cue her to stop and she'd do it on a dime, then start backing up if you didn't immediately drop your hands and/or touch your heels to her sides. She'd back up all the way to Oklahoma if we let her. She and I got along alright, so she's the one I get to finish out the semester on. The third horse though. He was the slowest. SLOWEST. His name was Happy. You had to get spitting mad at him to get him to go. His walk was so hesitant. If you could kick him hard enough to get him to jog, he did have a decent trot, but to get him to lope was a whole different story. The fourth horse was the one I had for Horsemanship I last semester. We got along pretty well then, so I was excited to get to ride her again. She was a lot faster than I remembered. I asked her to lope down the side of the arena, and instead she busted out into a gallop. It was fun, but entirely the wrong time and place for that to happen, and scared me a little. She settled down after a little while, and we ended up having a pretty decent ride.

work things:

I had to bring in the three two year-old geldings, who are all out in the turnout together and who are lead out all together by one person. See, usually when I bring them in, I take the bigger one (Moose)  in first, and then bring in the two smaller ones (Finn and Truman) at the same time because I'm comfortable leading two, but not three at a time. Well. The smallest one (Finn) is especially clingy. So when I went to open the gate and bring Moose out, Finn decides that he doesn't want to be left behind. So he pushes his way out between me and Moose, such that he gets hung up on the lead rope. And of course this is when I'm pressed for time and need to wrap things up quickly so I can head out for my last class of the day. Luckily, Moose is staying very calm and quiet (he doesn't look all that handsome yet, but whatever they did to him he has fantastic manners), and Finn isn't trying to run away, just to be up next to his buddy. I was able to grab another halter and catch him, but I wasn't very happy with Finn at the end of it all. And I was slightly annoyed with the fact that he had been trained to follow close behind whenever someone is bringing a horse in because he has almost always been lead in and out of the turnout with one of his buddies.

One of the owners said I was welcome to ride one of his horses whenever I'd like.

The new work schedule seems to be working out alright. It is a little trippy not going anywhere on Friday and then needing to treat Saturday like a week day and get up at the regular time though.

Two new girls were hired. One came all the way from Sweden.


music things:

I HAD NO IDEA THERE WAS A Count of Monte Cristo MUSICAL.

*ahem* outburst over.

September is a hodge-podge mix of instrumentals and musicals.

I don't know what kind of taste in music I have tbh.

Photography Basics

In which, all of my secrets are revealed. *wiggles eyebrows*

First off, I do not claim to be an expert in photography. I just happen to have a measure of luck getting the shot I want from behind the camera.

So this post may be helpful, or it may not.

Anyhow, that's out of the way and you all completely trust what I have to say.

Here are the basics:

Exposure:

Exposure is how bright the photo is. Over exposing, if done right, can have a nice, bright and airy look, but you could risk losing details and making it too bright, plus you can't always fix it when editing. Under exposing is tricky. You can fix it when editing, and you do catch all the details, but if you leave it, it will just make the photo too dark.

On the phone, it's pretty easy to adjust, as we will learn later.

On the camera, there are three different settings you can play with to change up the exposure; ISO, F-Stop, and Shutter Speed.

ISO: Is an adjustment made with numbers and deals with the general exposure. 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, and 6400. The higher the number, the brighter the photo.

F-Stop: Is how wide the lens is open. How much light the lens allows to hit the camera body. This time, the lower the number, the wider the lens opens, the more light hits the body, the brighter the photo.

Shutter Speed: You can actually adjust how fast the shutter opens and closes. You can set it to stay open for a matter of seconds, or for 1/4000th of a second. Amazing. The longer the shutter is open, the brighter the photo will be. So if you're taking a photo of the sky at night, you'll want a very slow shutter speed, and also something to set the camera on to reduce blurriness from your hands shaking.

And it's okay if absolutely none of this makes any sense. It took someone telling me how to do it, watching a basic photography course, and a major amount of trial and error before I could get it all straight. XD

The Easy Stuff:

Zoom. We all know how that works. Zoom in to get closer.

Focus is also pretty easy. Sometimes I like autofocus, sometimes I don't. Depends on what I'm shooting.

And that's about all the settings I play with on my camera. The main thing is making sure the photos are properly exposed, in focus, centered, and level.

I also like to shoot in manual mode. There is a fully automatic mode, and that's what I used when I was first starting when I wasn't yet comfortable with playing around with the settings. But after a while manual mode is really fun.

Taking The Pictures:

Alright, so about half of the photos on here were taken with my phone (iPhone 5s and iPhone 8).There are a fair amount of tricks you can still use.

For instance, the auto exposure (how bright the picture is) is not always your best friend. You can change the exposure by tapping any area of the screen before taking the picture and dragging the yellow sun icon up or down to adjust the exposure to your liking. This is particularly helpful when shooting sunsets. The auto exposure tends to add an abundance of yellow and orange, so that the horizon is properly exposed instead of the sky. It's very annoying, but easily fixed by adjusting the exposure.

I don't usually use editing programs on my laptop, so if a photo needs a slight touch up, the standard editor that comes with the Photos app on my phone does what I need it to do. It's no Photoshop, but it does get it done.

Of course, with the new swankified iPhones there are a lot more toys in the camera department. The only difference I notice with my new phone (iPhone 8), is that the photos are maybe a slightly better quality.

The other half of the photos are taken with my Canon EOS Rebel T2I (I think the series is up to 7 now) with just the regular kit lens because I'm a normal human being.

"What about those super close up shots of the feathers? There's no way you got those with a kit lens!"

Oh yes. That was definitely still the kit lens.

So to get that particular effect, I had to take the lens off of the camera body and shoot through it. It's called Freelensing. It does take a lot of practice to get the shot right. Sometimes a whole corner is black from not lining the lens up correctly. Or there will be a weird purple tint from the light leak getting out of hand.

Don't be discouraged if it takes a while, it's not something where you can get the perfect picture the first time you try it (and dude, if you do get the perfect shot right off, wow! You got some talent right there!)

Hopefully this was somewhat helpful for y'all! 
Let me know if there's anything else you want to know about photography!

The Night Circus- Review

Blurb: 

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.

My thoughts:

I had heard some good things about The Night Circus, so I was pretty excited when I found a copy at a used bookstore that was in decent shape.

It wasn't really my favorite.

I mean, the idea behind it was really fantastic, but I would have done it a bit differently.

But it was much darker than I was expecting. See, I thought it was going to be a bright, happy, small magic, darling and enchanting story. Boy was I wrong.

It was a let's ruin two other people's lives (and potentially a few more) for the sake of a selfish competition between two old magicians with different skills and views so they can have bragging rights and continue to jab at each other kind of story, with deep seriousness.

The pace of the book kept changing too. It was stiff and slow for a while, then it finally loosened up and went faster and was more interesting, only to go back to being stiff and slow. Also the time hops and the fact that nobody involved with the production of the circus could age threw me off a bit.


A caution to younger readers/parents of younger readers: 

First of all: Magic. Just for the sake of magic. If you don't want to read about magic that is unexplained and overall without purpose, this is not the book for you.

Language: There is one f-word and the d-word is used a few times. It took me by surprise completely, so there's that warning.

There is kissing in there. Also a short scene where two characters behave as if they are married. It is described semi-vaguely, but could have been left out as it did not move the plot anywhere except to make sure the readers knew they were supposed to be in love, and all that would've needed to happen for that would be for them to say "I love you." But no, for some reason it was included and as soon as I figured out what was going on I skipped the scene.

There is also a character that was hinted at being gay, but nothing explicitly stated there.

For these reasons, I would not recommend The Night Circus to readers under 16-17.



Honestly, I wanted to like The Night Circus, but there were just too many things that didn't sit right with me. 
2 Stars- mostly for the creative idea, and the cover is pretty.

What are your thoughts?

The Worth of a King- Review

I'm a little late with this (thankyouthankyouthankyou Kendra for being so patient with me!), but it is still within the first week of Worth's release, and I have a review for y'all!

Blurb:

Princess Obsidia’s father was killed the night she was born. Since there was no male heir, the crown went to the man who killed him, by Dialcian law. This never bothered her, growing up, and when it comes time for Obsidia to choose her husband, she chooses Prince Delaney, the son of that man, with little hesitation. Only then does her life start crumbling around her.

Adrian expected to live a normal life, taking his father’s place at the print shop when his father retired. But, on his eighteenth birthday, when the princess’ engagement is announced, his world is ripped out from under him when he learns that his life was a ruse, and he is the twin brother to the princess – and expected to take back his father’s throne.

Delaney knows that his country is hovering on the brink of war – and that his father may harbor murderous intentions towards his intended bride due to her Zovordian blood. He wants nothing more than to protect Obsidia and his people, but as merely prince, he has little power against his father.

The ancient war between the Dragons and the Immortal King and Queen is nearing its climax, and the three are already caught in it.

My Thoughts:

Here's what you absolutely need to know: the book is amazing, clean, and perfect: go buy it!

*FROM HERE ON THERE MAY BE SLIGHT SPOILERS, READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL*


I have to say, this is my favorite of Kendra's books thus far!

I love that she showed us a side of Amber that we hadn't seen before- how great her influence was before she was corrupted by the dragons.

And the Zovordians! They are awesome! A+ approve! 

I really loved how Adrian and Obsidia interacted with each other; the fact that they both felt an emptiness but didn't try to fill it with a significant other because they didn't know exactly why they felt empty, resulting in a healthy brother-sister relationship once they realized the other was what they had always been looking for.

And of course, Delany and Obsidia are perfect for each other; as are Adrian and Christa, who I might add is an excellent cake-baker and I wholeheartedly approve of the amount of cake mentioned throughout the story.

The character growth too! Obsidia realizing that she needed to have faith in El Shaddai not because it would make other people happy, but that because He is the Truth. The unrest of who would be the one to be crowned ruler, and everyone coming to a respectful, mature, and logical decision for the good of the people. Nobody killing Ossian out of revenge.



*END SPOILERS*

I just really love it, ok!

Favorite Quote:

"That's how you know the worth of a king... of any man, really. The legacy that he leaves. The good he did or the lessons you can learn." 

Content:

It is fantasy, so there is some use of magic, though not more than would be in either Narnia or Lord of the Rings, and it is from a Christian perspective.

No language- again, Christian Fantasy.

Brief fairytale-ending true-love's kiss between a married couple.

Would recommend anywhere from ages 12 on.

Author Bio:

Kendra E. Ardnek loves fairytales and twisting them in new and exciting ways. She's been or acting them on her dozen plus cousins and siblings for years. "Finish your story, Kendra," is frequently heard at family gatherings. Her sole life goal has always been to grow up and be an author of fantasy and children's tales that glorify God and His Word.
Find her online at: Website || Blog || Goodreads || Facebook || Twitter || Amazon 

In conclusion: I really, really, really like The Worth of a King, and give it a 4.5!

***I was given a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review, but trust me on this, totally worth spending the same amount you'd spend on a cup of coffee to have it show up on your e-reader device!***

Can we just pretend that it is 50 degrees and cloudy outside? July/August Recap

It's long. I'm sorry. I tried to make it short, but two months = a lot of stuff.

Well. Some depressing stuff happened and some happy stuff happened. I'm still not sure how I feel about everything. In any case, I am resolved to get this out on time-ish.


stuff that happened

We had lots of people from church out on July 1st for an Independence Day celebration. Everyone seemed to have a fantastic time playing in the pool and chatting inside. Nobody stayed long enough to see if anyone was doing fireworks down the hill, but that was okay.

People still set off fireworks down the hill, even though it was a bit dry. Some of them sounded like cannons.

Mia, during a family discussion: "There is no victory in self pity."

A friend went with me to go see Incredibles 2, and we both agreed that we liked it better than the first one.

Christian and I went to see Ant Man and the Wasp; it was good, but we liked the first one a little bit better.

I passed someone on the highway on the way to work with all their windows open and they waved at me. Weird.

Lydia got a new job at another coffee shop.

Lydia: "Yeah, someone came in and ordered two cookies and then gave me one of them. A guy. In his sixties."
Mia: "Well he's not dead!"
*everyone busts out laughing*

I got registered for fall classes! I'm taking another full load this semester so I can stay on the judging team, and I'll still be working as much as I can, so I'll not be going to Maui with everyone else this time.

Classes start back up on August the 27th.

Coal disappeared. And it seemed that several other cats from the neighborhood left as well. Ginger is still hanging around though, so we are grateful for that. But we all miss him terribly.

*stuck in traffic* *clucks at car in front of me as if it were a horse* *mentally facepalms*

*contemplating the lyrics to Jessie's Girl (idk, ok) // I look in the mirror all the time // Wondering what she don't see in me // Obviously a future, bub.

We had ridiculously hot weather for about ten days straight. Talking 100+ degrees. Every. Single. Day. Some days got up to 109, with the heat index being about 112. It was a dry heat, so that helped a little bit. But there were no clouds, no rain (not even hail), no wind worth mentioning, and most days it didn't get below 100 until 9 at night. Gatorade was my best friend at work. I was easily downing 100 oz of liquid (and that was while telling myself to ration it) between getting there around 7:30-8 and leaving around 2-3ish.

Our horse-owning neighbors went out of town again during that hot week, so I looked after everything while they were gone. My days started at 4:30 in the morning so I could get everything done over there and make it to work a little bit earlier so we could be done a little bit earlier. I was about dead by Thursday and averaged about 9.5 miles on my feet every day.

I went down to the barn one evening to feed the birds and put them up for the night, and I discovered one of the ducks, dead and lying on her back with foam coming out of her beak. I found Bingley on his back and barely alive. And one of the chicks was missing. Bingley was dead by the next morning, despite all my efforts to get him to drink. Everyone had plenty of shade and water, Bingley was right by the water. No signs of any struggle or injuries. I'm guessing a snake.

We had a lot of birds not make it because of the heat. We eventually had to set up a fan down there, keep the coop floor soaked, and run ice cubes down there every so often. Ava was a trooper taking care of everything while I was looking after the horses. I think the flock is down by half, and that was even after buying a few more right before the heat. Needless to say, nobody was laying, though we only have two that would even be old enough. The oldest rooster had me worried because he went through almost two weeks of not crowing and not wanting to eat or drink very much.

The middle of August the two remaining hens that were old enough to earn their keep started laying again. It's good, I think we only had to buy a few dozen eggs in the between time. It's sad though, we only have five hens now, three of which are still a month or two out from being old enough to do anything, and four roosters. We only lost ONE rooster (the youngest) and like, nine hens (four of which were not full-grown), and four ducks (only one of which was a girl, but she was valuable, since we had only two girls to six boys *cough*). Bad summer to be a chicken.

We did finally get some rain and cooler weather, so that was very much appreciated. The ground is still very dry though.

Spent an afternoon sprawled out on the living room floor coloring with the kids and listening to music.

Christian and I introduced Ava to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and she liked it alright. She said it wasn't too scary for her, so that was good!

I named my car Bonnie.

I got a week off of work since a couple of them were going to a show, and the one that was staying didn't want anyone else around. So that was alright. I got to sleep a lot more, and get some things done that I was putting off. Like getting my eyes checked for the first time since getting glasses almost three years ago. *cough*

Christian and I roped Lydia into seeing Avengers 1 for the first time. She did good! She only asked a few questions.

There was a five-alarm fire down the hill and out about a mile or two. Someone was trying to get his mowing done before the rain and accidentally set his fields on fire. He was the only one injured, and no buildings caught (only barely though, it got mighty close to his house), but several vehicles burned, and if it had gotten to the trees, or hopped the dry creek bed, or gotten to any of the oil/mineral wells it would have been so much worse. Good news is, after all the rain and a few days of sun, his fields will be the prettiest and most healthy.

I did a grownup thing and scheduled my own eye appointment and got that taken care of before classes started. It's been almost three years since I first got glasses, but I hadn't been in since then to get my eyes checked because they weren't bothering me until within the last month or two and I noticed that I wasn't able to see as well as I used to. Turns out my prescription hadn't changed all that much so yeah, no new glasses for me, at least for the moment.

Christian got a flat tire about 15 minutes out from home, so Dad went to go help him, but the screw securing the spare was rusted some, so they couldn't get it off with the tools they had there, and Christian had math tutoring, so they had to leave the car there. Later Dad and I went to get it taken care of. We were able to get the spare out, and all the bolts off of the flat, but the actual wheel was stuck. Not gonna lie, one of the first thoughts I had was "Alright, let's heat it up with the torch and try hitting it with a sledge hammer." Some things from Farm and Shop class will never leave. XD
We didn't have any of those tools with us, but an older gentleman was mowing and after a while he asked if we needed any help, and wouldn't you know? The solution was tapping it with a sledge hammer in a few spots and it popped right off.

I rearranged my room a bit. I swapped the placements of my bookshelf and my desk, and took out one of the chairs. I think it looks alright, and I like the change.

I had a weekend with my Aunt and Uncle in honor of my birthday that isn't until September. We did a Star Wars marathon per tradition, omitting the first two prequels.

Bought new work boots. I have unicorn feet apparently, since I wasn't able to find actual work boots in my size (granted, they do have my size in all of the nice boots, but the nice boots I bought and finally decided to make work boots lasted about a month and a half before the soles started to wear through, so I needed actual work boots), so I got to try out online shoe shopping for the first time. Luckily, I got the correct size right off and didn't have to mess with returning them and trying a different size. They are ugly and a little bit clunky, but they are waterproof (YAY) and have thick rubber soles with enough heel that I'll still be able to ride in them.


book stuff

I made a bookstagram: @always_a_shadow

I listened to and read a few books on Scribd, the app I told y'all about in THIS post.

Fawkes- Ah! This book! So good! 5 stars.

Cinder- *cough* Finally. It was good! I had read bits of it at the library before, but hadn't really ever had the chance to finish it. It ended kind of abruptly, but it was so very well written! 4 stars.

The Books of Bayern series- I read these as a younger teen, and wow. I'm catching so much more. Not all necessarily good stuff. I probably should've held off reading them back then until I was older. 2.5 stars.

The Night Circus- I'd heard good things about it, so I was pretty excited to find a copy at a used bookstore. It wasn't really my favorite- it was a lot darker than I thought it was going to be; definitely a winter/late fall read, not a dog-days-of-August read. I'll write a review soon.

Only seven books, but I'm building back up to how much I used to read. I miss it so much! But I just start getting sleepy when I try and read at home. Good thing I've got a long commute, because I have so many books I want to listen to!

I did a book review for A Thousand Perfect Notes by the one and only Paper Fury, so go check it out HERE!

work stuff

They were still all at the horse show until July 7th, so I still had a week left to hold down the fort when I went up to check on everything Sunday morning. Things were decidedly not okay. One of the mares in the pasture had gotten colic some time between the time I had left on Saturday and before I had gotten there Sunday morning. She was dead, and had been for at least several hours, when I went to see if they had any hay left. It was not a pretty sight. Some animal had gotten to her too. It was not the mare that had just had her baby, but this one did have a foal as well (about old enough to be weaned). It was one of the hardest phone calls I've ever had to make.

I clocked myself in the head when I stood up and didn't realize the horse had moved so that her head was over mine. Almost saw stars.

I almost got myself killed twice while turning out a three year old stud with extra energy, who had been sitting doing nothing for a few days. The first time it was on him, the other time was on me because I was mad at him for scaring me, but don't tell him that. He's been pretty good since then though.

I got to longe a horse that made me work harder than he did. He reminds me so much of one of the horses at the last place, looks and everything. I even tried putting him on the long line to see if he would do any better. He didn't. I've decided that he's just too smart to longe. He'd rather you made him think. So I made him think. Backing up. Turning. Following me. Moving his feet and pivoting. If I was braver and he was my horse, by the end of it I would have tried hopping on bareback and riding him.

Oh, and at the end of July, another horse had to be put down because she somehow broke her leg at the knee while she was turned out. Nobody knows how she did it. She wasn't really running around or bucking. She'd been with us for less than a week. Nobody was happy about it. And it was the beginning of the day too, so everyone was kind of downcast for the rest of the day.

At the beginning of August there was another horse show up in Oklahoma, so I got to hold down the fort for a few days. I like the fact that everything quiets and slows down while people are away, but it's much easier to go "you know what? I'd rather not do very much today," unless there's a list.

*after using all my willpower and throwing out my back getting a huge bale of alfalfa (which is heavier than hay, btw) loaded on to the back of the four wheeler by myself* "Are alfalfa round bales a thing? Because I feel like that should be a thing. It'd be way more efficient."

Once classes started they decided to keep me on, but only for three days a week, and not for all day, but that's okay. It'll be enough to pay the few bills I have and for gas money, and it'll be something to do between classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays (the third being Saturdays). With the way my schedule works out, I have Friday completely empty, so I can work on homework. Of course, on Mondays and Wednesdays, I'll still have a pretty sizable gap between my classes, but I figure I'll just get to spend a lot of time at the campus library studying or reading or practicing for the judging team. I am very much at peace with the way everything turned out- I had been extremely stressed because of the unknowns, and now it feels like a huge weight has been thrown off my back.

They gave me a new hat with the trainers' logo on it. I really like it a lot!

A girl from Sweden is going to start work in September, and they've brought in a girl that had worked for them before to help out a bit, so everything should balance out work-wise.

Oh yeah, and someone asked if I was married. No. Nothing on my left hand. Sorry? This person also thought the assistant trainer and I were sisters.

*arrives at work* *gets tackled by dogs as soon as I open the car door*


music things

July was pretty good for music. Most of it went pretty well together. August not so much. It was kind of a mixture of July and a hodge-podge of random other songs, so I just added them to the July soundtrack.

How were y'all's summers?

Favorite summer song?

What is something new you learned?

Excited for Fall?

A Thousand Perfect Notes, by C. G. Drews - Review

"Whaaaat? Chloe has decided to make time for book reviews?"

*cough*

Well. Midway through a week off of work I decided to try and stockpile a few posts, so know that even though this is releasing probably smack-dab in the middle of the first week of classes starting back up, I wrote this two weeks ago at least. That's right, a scheduled post that'll go up as soon as I've forgotten about it.

(also, I started a bookstagram: @always_a_shadow)

*** I was not given a copy in exchange for an honest review, I just thought it was super fantastic and decided to review it without any kind of motivation.

Blurb:

"An emotionally charged story about the power of dreams, and how passion can turn to obsession. Beck hates his life. He hates his violent mother. He hates his home. Most of all, he hates the piano that his mother forces him to play hour after hour, day after day. He will never play as she did before illness ended her career and left her bitter and broken. But Beck is too scared to stand up to his mother, and tell her his true passion, which is composing his own music - because the least suggestion of rebellion on his part ends in violence. When Beck meets August, a girl full of life, energy and laughter, love begins to awaken within him and he glimpses a way to escape his painful existence. But dare he reach for it? Thrilling and powerfully written, this is an explosive debut for YA readers which tackles the dark topic of domestic abuse in an ultimately hopeful tale."

My Thoughts:

Oh my goodness.

Ok. 

It's really sad. But there's also cake and dogs and music and sunshine. 

Of all the books I've read, ATPN is the only one to really pull off crippling depression smushed together with a character dead set on dragging out said depression by forcefully adopting the depressed person and feeding him cake; but in a very real and heartfelt way.

One of my favorite character tropes is dark and moody person A drawn out by sunshine and glitter person B, so this perfectly captured that.

It is best enjoyed with classical music, chocolate, and a few sobs thrown in here and there.

A caution to younger readers/parents of younger readers: 

Umm. This is a book that addresses abuse. 

I wouldn't say that it is necessarily excessively graphic, but there is enough that I would not recommend ATPN to a reader under the age of 14-15ish, just to be on the safer side.

As for language; I believe there was only one four-letter adult word that started with an 's'.

Add on Goodreads and get a copy on Amazon! (the kindle version was $0.99 at the time this post was written)

Also, go follow Cait on her blog: Paper Fury

4 Stars.
Who has read ATPN? 

Come, we shall sob together!

How I spent my summer

Ohey there, this is the part of Chloe that really wishes that she would sit down and blog more often.

(also, new fall blog look! actually, that's the same blog look I had before I changed it earlier this year, I just wanted it back)

It took me a few weeks to get it down to a time schedule (where I'd be able to look at my watch and see what should have been done by a certain time), but here it is.

Before Work:

5:30 am- Alarms go off. I have two of them. One I hit snooze once, the other I hit snooze twice.

5:40 am- Actually up and out of bed. Rinse face, brush teeth, do hair.

5:55 am- Reading a daily email that a pastor sends out every morning. Perusing Facebook/Instagram for a few minutes.

6:08 am- Realize what time it it. Make bed, get dressed.

6:12 am- Downstairs. Get coffee started. Begin packing lunch.
(a favorite is: turkey sandwich with mashed avocado spread in, an apple and a pear, and a bottle of gatorade frozen to a slush)

6:30 am- Lunch packed, or almost. Lunch bag set on mudroom bench, grab keys from laundry room and set on lunch bag. Start making breakfast.

6:40 am- Breakfast made, or almost. Start eating. Drink coffee.

6:50 am- Finish breakfast, or almost. Dash up stairs to put on socks, grab hat, and bring down work bag to refill water bottles.

7:00 am- Out taking care of birds. Let them out and give fresh water.

7:12 am- Leave. Preferably before that time, but that is about the latest I can leave and still make it on time.

At Work:

8:00 am- Arrive at work. Greet dogs. Shove lunch bag in the fridge. Take out a water bottle and set it in the freezer so it's cold whenever I want it.

Start grooming horses as soon as possible until they have horses for me to rinse off and we can begin the cycle of: groom, saddle, unsaddle, rinse, repeat. Always grooming other horses when I have a stopping place between all that.

If only one person is riding, there will be a string of five or six horses to put on the walker and/or maybe a horse to turn out for a bit.

Sometimes owners will come out to ride mid to late morning, so it's thrown off just a little bit.

Somewhere between 10 and 11 am- Put my bottle of gatorade in the freezer so that by the time lunch rolls around it is partially frozen.

Noon-ish- I try to eat as close to 12 pm as I can. Usually I'll be at a stopping place anyway. Sometimes I'll eat it in the car if the flies are being especially bothersome.

By the afternoon I'll have groomed all or or most of the horses, so it's just saddling and unsaddling and rinsing. Things slow down a little bit, and I'll be able to guess who wants which horse next, usually. At least once during the week I dust cobwebs off of the stall fronts, so I'll usually do that in the afternoon when it's slow and the guys aren't cleaning stalls.

5-ish pm- Done for the day. If it's been particularly hot or if I'm feeling especially run-down, I'll stop by Sonic for a powerade slush on the way home.

Exit music:



50 minutes after leaving- Arrive home:

Drop stuff in the mudroom and go down to put the birds up for the night (food, water, check for eggs).

Eat dinner.

Get cleaned up.

Become a sloth for the rest of the evening.

9:30-11:00 pm- Anywhere in there, fall asleep. Usually hitting about 10 or 10:30 these days, but I have been known to go to bed before 9:30 too.

Rinse and repeat, Monday through Friday.

Saturday and Sunday- hibernate.

How was your summer?

What new is something new that you experienced?

I need to tell y'all about a thing

(Note that has nothing much to do about the actual post: I've had a week off of work so I have a couple posts stockpiled and this is one of them)


Not a bad thing, or a scary thing, I promise. It's actually really cool.

I found the book version of Spotify.

And it is really, really, super fantastically cool!

It's an app called Scribd, and though it is a monthly subscription (about $9 or something), it is so totally worth it if you drive a lot or don't have much to do during the weekends. I've been using it for about two months now, because I wanted to make absolutely sure that is was worth the money and that it actually worked before I shared about it.

They have audiobooks, regular ebooks, sheet music, magazines, and news (though I only use the audiobooks and ebooks).

They actually have cool authors on there, it's not just all this obscure mumbo-jumbo (I mean, you are paying them, so they do try and make it worth your while), and the layout is really nice, clean, and straightforward.

They have Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Lori Wick, Melanie Dickerson, Heather Dixon, Marissa Meyer, Rick Riordan, Chuck Black, C. S. Lewis, Wayne Thomas Batson, Tolkien, and more! I've been able to find most of the books I've searched for, except for a few of the bigger new releases of 2018.

And GUYS. They have the Fawkes audiobook!

*** This is not a sponsored post or anything (*cough* I'm not that big of a blogger), I just thought it was really cool and y'all might be interested in knowing about it ***

The Get to Know Me Tag: Writer's Edition

Rules:

~ Link back to the person who created the tag, Savannah from Inspiring Writes

~ Thank the person who tagged you- Thanks, Marrok! You've saved my Mother from worrying that I have nothing to do, being off of work for the week.

~ Share the tag graphic (optional)

~ Tag eleven bloggers

Mary
Abi
Jonathan 
Julia
Sare
Anika
Hanne

(I'm sorry, that's all I can think of)


Vital Stats and Appearance:

Name:
Chloe Linn. Nothing long or super fancy.

Nicknames:
Umm. Well. The only way to shorten 'Chloe' is 'Clo,' as far as I know, but my Mom used to call me 'Clo-mo-marie-me' when I was probably about four.

Birthday:
2 years, 364 days before 9/11. I turn 20 this year.

Hair Color and Length:
Mousy-brown, hits the middle of my back if it's braided. At the stage of not straight or curly enough to leave it down without slapping a hat on it or putting it in a ponytail if I need to leave the house.

Eye Color:
Blue-ish green, sometimes almost grey. Depends on what color shirt I'm wearing. I love them though.

Braces/ Piercings:
I had braces for a year when I was between 9 and 10, but am lucky enough to not have needed them twice. My ears are pierced, but I don't typically wear earrings because they were done lopsided.

Righty or Lefty?
Right-handed.

Ethnicity:
White. I don't really remember where all we come from.


First:

First novel ever written:
The Songbird, meant to be a retelling smash-up of Sleeping Beauty and Robin Hood. I don't remember when I last wrote in it, but it is definitely not done.

First Novel Completed:
Non-existent. Sorry?

Award for Writing:
Also non-existent.

First Publication:
Unless you count blogposts, also not something I have in my writing repertoire.

Conference:
Money is a thing, so also none. Not going to deny that Realm Makers does look pretty fantastic though!

Query/Pitch:
I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.


Favorites:

Novel (That you wrote):
Making me dig back into my dusty story folder- I'll be back after I've read everything over again.

*an hour later, seriously*

Still The Songbird. It's the one I've written in the most, and is the most polished.

Genre:
Fantasy, Historical Fiction, a few Contemporary.

Author:
Ok now, I have too many favorites to name just one here. C. S. Lewis, Tolkien, Janette Oke, Chuck Black, Jaye L. Knight, C. G. Drews, Hope Ann, Melanie Dickerson, Lori Wick, and Anne Elisabeth Stengl.

Writing Music:
Soundtracks from LOTR and POTC, or from Two Steps From Hell (I promise the name is misleading, they do a ton of instrumental music).

Time To Write:
Mostly at night. If I'm going to, that'd be the time.

Movie:
Star Wars, Lotr, Potc, Marvel.

Writing Memory:
The time I wrote 5000 words in one day. It was a long day.

Childhood book:
Hands down the Misty Treasury book that was actually given to Lydia, but I ended up having the 'horse-girl' spark and so commandeered it.


Currently:

Reading:
Nothing at the moment, though I just finished Fawkes, by Nadine Brandes, and lemme say it was fabulous!

Writing:
Just treading water and trying to keep up with blogging.

Listening to:

Learning:
Not so much learning at this immediate moment, but I am preparing for my classes starting in two weeks.


Future:

Want to be Published:
Wouldn't be opposed to the idea.

Wildest Goal:
It doesn't really have anything to do with writing, but I'd love to own my own cattle ranch and train horses for ranch work/performance (as in western pleasure, reining, etc).


Well, that's that! Thanks again for the tag, Marrok!

What is your favorite music to write to?