2. Study a new piece of equestrian literature each month
This challenge is really exciting to me, because I absolutely love learning, and in the horse world, there is *always* something new to learn. I kind of cheated this month, though. Since I started halfway through the month, I decided that it was only fair that I study a book that I was already about halfway through. This month's reading is Alois Podhajsky's "The Complete Training of Horse and Rider In the Principles of Classical Horsemanship". So far, it's proving very readable with a lot of good information on a systematic, correct way to start a horse under saddle. My favorite quote from the day:
"The principles of the classical art of riding cannot be undermined by a singular phenomenon. On the contrary, such a display merely proves that personal vanity and the desire to show off will in no way contribute to the development of the art. If the time of training is ruthlessly reduced it will lead only to general lowering of the standard, to a caricature of the various movements, and to premature wearing out of the horse. Nature cannot be violated."
This isn't something new to me, at all, but I've seen a lot of horses pushed and rushed, and thought it wouldn't hurt to pass this nugget along.
17. Complete a Photo-A-Day challenge
Obviously, I'm not going to finish this before a year is up, and from now on, I'll put my daily photo at the bottom of my posts. Since I know that my critters are going to creep up more often than not in what I blog about, I figured I'd start introducing them. Today's photo is of Kurz Weber, my 7 month old (today, even!) German Shephard/lab/Mastiff puppy. You can see Kiga's back behind him.
Boo Boo Boy!
18. Finish my Mass Effect Pony cast
When I declared that I collect My Little Ponies, I wasn't kidding. I also customize them. Around the time that Mass Effect 3 came out, my husband semi-jokingly suggested I make a custom pony of Garrus, probably assuming I'd make a blue pony with a gun symbol and some face paint or something. Naturally, I assumed he meant turn a pony into Garrus. Well, my first attempt at everyone's favorite sniper failed me pretty bad, so I moved on to Wrex, who I finished last month:
I got a pretty positive response about him from my friends that are in to ME, so I decided to keep on going with more ponies. I've got three in progress right now and I'm *hoping* to get at least two of them done by the end of the month. Joker shouldn't take much longer and I'd probably be finsihed with him by now if I didn't get hung up on his beard. His 85% finished body is pictured below. Mordin's head is about 50% sculpted, not baked yet. Garrus's head, one that I'm actually happy with, is completely baked, but I'm waiting on sculpting his body before I paint him.
27. Listen to a new (to me) band every week
Kinda cheated on this one, too. It was an artist, not a band. Also, since my brother knows more music than anyone I know, he's agreed to help me find new things to listen to. I chose this goal in the first place, because my musical taste is pretty much limited to 80's pop, video game music, and European metal/rock, and I'd really like to be exposed to things out of my comfort zone.
This week's artist was a country singer named Jon Pardi. I'm not a very good authority on what makes country music good or bad, but it wasn't something that I hated. I, personally, don't care for country, but I didn't find it offensive to listen to.
32 and 33. Cardio and strength three days a week
I've actually been doing this one for about a week now, and it's going well. The back story here is that a few years ago, I had a doctor tell me that I was the skinniest fat girl he'd ever seen. I was terribly out of shape, and I knew it was bad for me. I'm lucky enough to have a stellar metabolism, so I've never really been fat, but that didn't mean I was healthy. The past couple months, I noticed that I just didn't feel right, and when I actually started feeling mild chest pains, it was a real wake up call for me. I decided to start training for Warrior Dash this September, and while I still whine and carry on while I'm running, I feel great doing it (running, not whining ;) ).
Today, I was on a light workout, and rowed about 5000 meters, and worked out on two arm machines, one free weight set for my arms, and one machine for my hamstrings. One of these days, I'll actually learn what the machines are called.
40. Put away laundry and dishes as they're finished
I am one of those lazy chicks that is TOTALLY guilty of having a "clean clothes pile" and occassionally using clean dishes straight from the dishwasher. Ideally, I want to turn into my mom, where I have the laundry folded as it's coming out of the machine, and have an empty dishwasher all the time so dirty things can go straight in and not sit in the sink. Today was a success on both of those, except for the fact that not all of my glasses would fit in the current load of the dishwasher.
44. Sweep and vaccuum daily for a month
Kinda cheating on this one, too. That's what I'm going to get done as soon as I publish this post. Girl Scout honor, or whatever. To most people, daily floor maintenance might sound extreme. but I have two dogs, one that is a Belgian Malinois/Husky that sheds like it's her job, two indoor cats and two horses that have me in and out of the house several times a day. My floors get dirty in a hurry, and I'd really like to be able to not get hair stuck all over everything all of the time.
62. Be grateful for 5 things every day
I did this when I was in college, and it really helped with my outlook on life. So, I've started it up again!
- Whichever horse rubbed the cap off one of the T-posts didn't lacerate themselves while most likely scratching on it
- It's been terribly hot and dry here, BUT that means no horseflies in the evening!
- My laptop has decided to start charging again
- Crystal, my mare, absolutely cracks me up
- I am very lucky to have people in my life that are supportive of the crazy things that I do, such as this challenge
67. Learn to play a shooter
As I said before, I like video games, but I've never been able to figure out shooters. I always end up staring at the floor or ceiling and running around aimlessly until someone kills me. As a result, I never really liked shooters, but my husband does. Today, I logged a solid hour playing Halo... uh... one of the Halos, and I *didn't suck*!
77. Paint my nails a new, fun wasy weekly for a year
I'll post a picture tomorrow, since this post is already crazy long, but I did get them painted tonight!
86. Officially name all of my gnomes
My first three gnomes had names pretty much before I got them. My first gnome, Jimmy, was named before I even had an idea of what he looked like. Herb was shipped to me from online, and I named him from seeing his picture. Rodney was pretty much Rodney as soon as I saw him. A few of my other gnomes (like Angelo) just had obvious names that came with them, but a lot of the other guys I'd name and then forget who they were and then make something else up. So, this had to change. As of tonight, 14 out of 46 of my gnomes have official names! I should be able to have them all finished by tomorrow evening, and hopefully pictures, too!
95. Eat 100 different cheeses
True story, my dad is one of the most renowned cheese judges in America. I can't make that stuff up. As a result, I was pretty much raised on cheese. Well, not quite, but I think you get what I'm after. Today, I got a couple of the common ones out of the way, as well as two not quite as common ones. Cheeses I ate today: Montery jack, cheddar, queso quesadilla, asadero and American. This challenge is gonna suck once I'm done eating the readily avaialbe ones...
Phew! So, that's what was accomplished today! Now that I've explained quite a few of my reoccuring goals, hopefully my following posts won't be so wordy! It was a good day for me :)
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