Well, we got rain. We got about 2 3/8" in about 2 hours on Wednesday last week and then the humidity went through the roof. It's been really uncomfortable since then. Not fun. The temps have not been any less, either.
The weekend was busy, Saturday we did quite a bit of cleaning up since we hadn't done that in a while. KN was coming, and so I wanted to make sure the house was somewhat neat. Things just needed to be picked up and put away.
I had my lesson on Saturday evening, and it was fantastic. It was SO hot, but thankfully since we didn't start until 6, it cooled down a little as we worked, which was nice. I think I like that better than it warming up like it does in the mornings. Storm did stellar (thanks to the heat he isn't interested in being silly, and he puts a lot more effort into doing things well because he's already so uncomfortable being hot), and I think it was the best ride we've had in a very, very long time. I was able to ride, which was a first in about 6 months, anyway. I totally forgot my bucket that I usually use as a mounting block, so KN had to give me a leg up, which we did fairly gracefully thankfully. He stood like a rock, which also helped. It was interesting because we ended up sort of coming full circle and talking about where I began, and some of the things I have had to learn for myself through the years. She's been working with me/us now for about 13 years, and we have come a very long way. She was able to highlight some of where I started, and the fact that Storm had similar issues - namely neither one of us were really in our bodies when we started all this, and that caused a lot of issues for each other. I'm glad we are mostly past that now, and I think both of us feel better for it. We talked a lot about our patterns that we develop that keep us "safe" and how they end up hindering us in the long run. My go to pattern is to really tense up my shoulders in order to create "stability" within my body. So I balance myself from my shoulders (thanks to about 9 months on crutches in the 3rd grade this makes total sense), but that doesn't actually create any real stability in my body. When I actually find REAL stability from my core, and my shoulders do not need to "grip" anymore, my body actually feels unsafe, even though technically it is more stable. That unfamiliar feeling feels scary to me, and causes me to tense back up again. KN and I talked through how to work on unraveling that, and how to help my body find new safety in a better balanced way of being and moving. She pretty much told me that I acted like a horse, and that she has been sensitive to that through the course of working together. That was rather amusing to me.
Sunday I got up and dropped her off at the next farm for her lessons for the day and went and got my chores done. I got home and the BF and I decided to rearrange the basement. We were never happy with the arrangement that we had it in, but it was the only way to set it up due to where there were outlets (not on any outside walls), and lights (very few). He looked up some LED lights and found that he could get a box of 12 on amazon for only $100. That's CHEAP for lights that are supposed to last over 10 years. He already had most of the wiring and supplies that he needed to get it done, so we decided to go ahead and go for it. We got the furniture moved (and a bazillion cobwebs vaccumed, and that was only half the basement), and I like it better already. When you came down the stairs there was an entertainment area in front of you, with a VERY old 70's couch, a recliner, and the entertaniment center with the TV (we don't have a large TV, we don't watch it almost ever), and then to the right was the pool table on that side of the basement. The back of the recliner faced the pool table, so the two areas were sort of cut off from each other. We decided to flip flop them, and put the entertaining area in the far corner, and the pool table in the space when you came down the steps. We also turned the pool table 90 degrees, so it is parallel to the long wall, and that gave it more room around it anyway so there's more space to place more easily. Now the couch faces the pool table, and the recliner is sideways, so your back isn't to the game anymore, which makes the two spaces feel more connected and enjoyable. We moved around most of the furniture, and the BF still has to figure out how to move the cue rack, and we have to figure out how to hang a couple pictures, but otherwise it is pretty much back together. We also have a tall "apothecary" cabinet that was in the house, it is about 18" square, with a glass door and sides, and a lower cabinet in the bottom, which is where we keep our alcohol. The cabinet had been painted a billion times and was an ugly green color, so he started stripping the paint off of it (that's gonna take a while... didn't realize there were THAT many layers of paint on it!). We also got it out in the sunlight and realized it was an even uglier shade of green than we thought. Now I'm afraid that when we get all these lights installed in the basement we're going to decide that the paint color on the walls is WORSE than we thought and we're going to have to paint the whole dang room!
I told him we need to start cruising the Lowe's discount paint table and just see if there is anything that might work eventually. I know it will need to be special paint for painting the block walls, but it can't hurt to look at this point.
Since the BF is off this week he's puttering around working on those projects, and who knows what other trouble he'll get into. It's nice having him around, though he's getting annoyed that I have to work so much. I'm like, well, this is normal... I can't just be at your beck and call just because you can take vacation time.... It does reinforce that I really do want to be able to set ourselves up so that we don't have to work so stinking much. It's awful to pretty much only be able to work and come home. That's not how I want to spend the rest of my life for sure.
