I'm not a national landmark...I just happen to be standing under one!

We had a day off from the horse show today, there were no classes anyone was in, so we went around the 'burbs and shopped for a few items that we didn't have in the tack room. I managed to finagle it so that Sheila watched the girls while I picked Jason up from the airport and we went out on the town. Saint Louis is a cool town, it really is. We went to the riverfront area and grabbed a bite and some drinks at the Morgan Street Brewery. I highly recommend it, they had fantastic food and awesome microbrews. Then we walked around for a bit, went to the Arch park, then grabbed a coffee. We drove around looking for something else to do after that but it was getting pretty late so we just headed back to the hotel. I love driving around at night, it's awesome. I played the song "Here in your arms" by Hellogoodbye while we were driving around. I felt it was apt.

"I like where we are when we drive in your car. I like where we are....here."

Cliche'-in around

Day one of the madness that is a big horse show. We left the hotel at 5am and showered, dried, brushed and dried the horse, followed by banding her mane (a series of little pony tails running down the neck, it looks tidier) and finally, no kidding, hoof polish. Black, if you're wondering. Oh, and I got to put it on. I'm just that awesome. If you think that's excessive, you should see what some of the other people do! Fake tails, glittery toenail polish, all kinds of stuff. It's amusing to see grown people fussing over a fake horse tail with a blow dryer. I even heard two women comparing hair spray and wondering if spiking the main would give them a leg up on the competition. (unlikely) Leigha's first event was halter, which she's never done, and she got last place. She cut the corner off one of the turns. Oh well. We had a long break after that and ate some lunch and grabbed some stuff from town before heading back. They were really really slow so we had to wait until like 5 before the next event, which was Brianna's lead line class! They all got first, of course. What judge is going to tell a three year old they can't ride well? Then came Leigha's next two events, and the horse started acting up really bad. She did as well as she could, but came in last for both. At the end of the last event one of the other girls's horse spooked and she leapt forward, out of control for one terrifying moment. It was just a bad night to be a horse I guess. Due to the early rise, waiting around, primping, then competition stuff it kind of felt like a freaky equestrian forensics meet. Nice. Oh, and Leigha was given a bag with a lead rope and horse conditioner in it (the beginnings of her very own tack room!) and Bri was given a stick horse. Much more useful than ribbons, although we appreciate those a lot too.

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but the bank was being unreasonable with the house, so we withdrew our offer and it's back to square one. *sigh*

Like some other DJ from some other town

The girls and I drove to Saint Louis today. For the next four days or so, this is blog central. There's a big horse show going down and Leigha and Bri are going to be in it! The drive was pretty uneventful, they're pretty great in the car and it only about three hours. Hooray for wifi connections in hotels!

Bryan is a doofus

It's Bryan's last day here in Kansas, he's moving to Fort Collins, CO. Ironic. So after rehearsal we all went out to send him off properly, with burgers and beer! Here's Nifer, me, Tiffany, Joe, Jen, and of course, Bryan. I'm sad to see him go, he is so so funny and he's the only one of us that can play the accordian! Everything with the house is still way up in the air, so we'll see what's up in the next several days. I do wish I could just fast forward things until we know what's up, I'm so stressed. The good news is I know that things will get better, and most likely quite soon. Yay for optimism!

Cous cous kachoo

We had cous-cous with dinner tonight. Brianna asked, mistakenly, for mashed potatoes until I corrected her. She said, "Oh. Can I have some coo-coo then?" Kid, you are already there. I went to the oral surgeon today for a consultation...I have to get my wisdom teeth taken out next month. *makes a spitting noise* Nyeah. Not fun. At least I get to be konked for it, I'd hate to be awake while they drill freakin' bone out of my jaw. Mmmm. The bank isn't going to fix the leaky pipes in the house *rolls eyes* of course. We're going to have a plummer friend of ours check it out tomorrow. If it's just too bad, well, that's it. Shame, that. Jason and I watched Across the Universe tonight, I liked it a lot. There was one part where a hippie guy starts singing a song and Jason thought it was Ringo Starr. I said, "Huh....this sounds like U2." He didn't have a credit at the end so I went to imdb.com to look it up. I was more on target than he was, it was Bono! Weird.

The reason for the suck-storm

Do I look different to you? Well I should, because I am now twenty-six. (Well, that and the surgery to have a frog surgically implanted where my legs once were. That's why you haven't seen any pictures of me recently, those stitches were just not pretty. Oh, and then I had an infection at the incision site and had to get some topical cream...but I digress...) That's right, today is my birthday. Now don't you feel just horrible for not sending me a gift card? For shame. Today we drove down to my mother in law's so Leigha could brush up on her horse riding skillz before the big horse show this weekend. We brought her riding instructor with us, because he's a cool guy and he was our friend before he was her instructor. On the way down my car decided that, between the house we live in having a broken sump pump, the house we want to move into having broken pipes, and Jason's car having been broken by another car yesterday, it just wasn't getting enough attention. So it decided, "What the hey, I'll break too." We got stranded for about an hour in Harrisonville, MO while the guys looked at the car. After determining nothing major was wrong, they discovered a tiny wire that was disconnecting...they literally duct taped it back in place and the car purred like a kitten. Cheap car=cheap fix. Nice. We continued our journey South, Leigha had a great riding session and Brianna got to trot for the very first time. She giggled like a maniac. We all had dinner together to celebrate my birthday then we started driving home. All was well until we hit the outskirts of Kansas City and then it started POURING rain. This wouldn't be so bad if my car didn't also have crappy windshield wipers that smack the driver's side window when they wipe. Cheap car=crappy windshield wipers. Not so nice. Oh well, we'll get them fixed....eventually. When I finally reached cell phone reception again I had four messages, all of the "Happy birthday" variety. What a nice way to come home.

Do or do not, there is no try.

The ever swirling crap vortex continues it's horrid suckage, I'm afraid. First of all, I guess there was a little confusion about my last post. Let me clarify, it's not the rental we are currently living in that has leakage problems, it's the house we're trying to buy. Apparently when they turned the water on it was leaking "everywhere." Great. If the bank doesn't fix it, there's nothing we can do. We'll be forced to walk. Today was pretty quiet, I slept in then drove around a bit with the kids this afternoon. Nifer and I had a short informal rehearsal of our own little two person team, and then we went to the Roving Imp. Just as we were getting out of the car Jason called and told me he was in a car accident. Great. He's okay, his bumper is totally trashed though. He was rear ended at a stoplight and then hit the car in front of him. Thank goodness nobody was hurt. He showed up just in time for the 7pm show then took the girls home afterward. We did the nine o clock show then settled in to watch the Return of the Jedi. This is a picture of John, Nifer, Julie, and Denise (John's wife) getting ready to watch the movie. Note how everyone is in a straight line pretty much...isn't that odd? Our shows this evening were really really solid, we are really starting to gel as a team, it's fantastic.