Training for my black belt

Seven years ago, a friend told me about a hapkido class and invited me to join. The invitation fell at a good time, as a couple years before, I had attended a celebratory dinner and as martial artists gave testimonials, I realized that I wanted the support of a martial arts program. And so, I took my first lesson. I began with beggies (wrist techniques), moved to hoi jeon chigis, and tung chigis. I struggle "Move your other left foot! How can you move that direction? Your feet are all twisted up!" I practice rarely only motivated if I'm competing in a tournament. I need to change however. On Monday, I was invited to train for my black belt and to test on October 20, 2014. I need to work on flexibility, stamina, practice techniques, eat properly, attend all my classes. I have six months to reach my goal.

An Accent

My great grandmother emigrated from Sweden and settled in Minnesota. She met and married a farmer, who became my great grandfather. They had a son and a daughter. Their daughter became ill and died on the way to Michigan. My grandparents had three children, two sons and a daughter. One of their sons is my father. Of course my father talked about Grandma Klara from Sweden. And supposedly, my sister has my great grandma's nose and blond hair. Two or so years ago, the head of a home care agency came to the house, and almost immediately asked if my family was from Minnesota and Swedish because of a perceived accent. Imagine my surprise, as this was the first time ever that anyone had said that I have an accent (other than a Midwest accent). I thought it was a one-time occurrence, so was surprised when it happened three more times. I was reading online to try to identify what in my speech patterns cues a person that I am Swedish. No luck to date, except to discover that someone in the western part of the US was shocked to find the same thing happen to him! I am fourth generation Swedish, do not speak the language.

New Asus T100 Tablet

In Feb. 2012, we purchased a Dell Inspiron laptop and Asus Transformer Prime tablet to replace two laptops that were stolen off our kitchen table. The other day, firmware for the touchscreen was attempting to be upgraded, and the touchscreen froze. The tablet had other issues also. The ports were damaged when the tablet and dock fell onto the floor. I took the Dell to work so that I could connect it to the Ethernet and have internet access. Halfway through the day, it shut off and the power button would not start it back up. So apparently there are major issues with the power supply. Nothing to do but recycle it. We bought an Asus T100, a user friendly tablet with dock. I am muddling my way through the ins and outs of the T100. And this time to be safe, we purchased a protection plan.

Easter

Three of our five children were home to celebrate Easter. We started the day by attending church. Surprised to discover that the time of church services had been changed, so we arrived right before it began. Standing room only much like St. Peter's Square in Rome. I didn't mind, as I could sing loudly and walk around and greet people. We cooked breakfast of eggs, bacon, cinnamon rolls, hash browns, fruit and juice (and candy!) We sat in the living room and watched Monsters University until it was time to leave for the lake and my sister's house. As we neared her house, we had to take a small detour as their was an accident. Hopefully everyone involved will be okay. My elderly parents, brother and two of his daughters, my sister and her husband and three of their children were there. The sun shone on the lake as we ate the delicious Easter dinner my sister had prepared. After dinner we played BINGO, and I won some pear and green tea hand soap and a Cadbury egg. Our youngest daughter leaves for university and her last week of classes this evening. Our eldest daughter flies home tomorrow morning.

Riding lesson...lunging

Crazy day! Middle of April, and it snowed! I was wondering what the store would do with the plants outside in the nursery. As I drove by, I noticed that most of them had been sheltered inside. Yesterday, I began preparing the house for guests. I put clean sheets on the beds, vacuumed, cleaned the bathrooms. Today I changed the pine chips in the rabbit cage, and siphoned water out of the aquarium and replaced it with clean water. I addressed and sent off my parent's Easter card. I had a riding lesson today. It was a bit discouraging as 2 inches of snow and ice were on the car, and of course the wiper blades had ice on them. I ran them and the defroster and eventually the water on the windshield evaporated. I'm glad that I didn't have to round up Tamara as I had a good chance of leading in the wrong horse! My instructor got a new trial bay, Hope and she has decided not to put Jay up for sale. So, I groomed Tamara and with my instructor's help, put on the saddle blanket, saddle riser, saddle and bitless bridle. Because of the snow and Tamara's level of energy, my instructor decided to lunge her. She asked me if I got dizzy if I twirled around. I told her yes, because I thought I would be doing the kiddie version of "helicopter." But lunging means turning a slow circle as the horse walks, trots and canters. I spent the lesson lunging Tamara and trying to get her to listen to my commands. It's a bit tricky, because as in the first lesson, I gave her mixed signals. For example, I spoke slowly when I wanted her to trot. Tamara knows the cadence as the signal, so I needed to speed up "Trot!," kissy sound to make her canter, say "And...Walk." to have her walk. Time was up before I knew it, and with all the lunging, I didn't have time to ride.

And so begins Holy Week

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, the most important few days in my year, as we approach Easter. I am juggling work, hapkido, riding lessons, church services and preparations for visits with family. It is stressful and difficult and I prayed today that I can get through it with a smile. Today's reflection was on doing for others and becoming less self-centered. A good thought for the week.

Anniversary

Tonight, my husband and I are heading to the olive garden to celebrate our anniversary (39). And then off to a movie. The sun is shining just as it was those many years ago. Some of the relatives and friends that celebrated our happy day are gone now...my grandparents, my husband's grandma and his parents, several aunts and uncles. I remember as I was walking down the aisle my uncle whispered, "Beautiful!" His whispered comment will always be treasured. My husband and I drew up a blueprint for a house. We bought some property and then every capable and willing hand was drafted into helping us build our house. The three bedroom house became the home where my husband and I lived with our five children. They are grown now and we are left with dogs, cats, a rabbit and fish (from a homeschooling project with my nephew). The marriage road has not always been easy, trying to blend two opinionated, different personalities takes a lot of effort. Many times we have had to communicate, talk out our differences, forgive, compromise (explains why our chimney is 5 different brick colors) and personally sacrifice. Have I exasperated my husband? Of course. Has he irritated me? Yes, indeed. Was it worth it? Yes, our life together is special.

Riding lesson

Yesterday afternoon, my husband and I drove out to the stable for my first riding lesson. We found the house number and pulled up the driveway. After searching around, we realized that we had driven past the drive leading to the stable. We met a young girl who helped around the stable and also took lessons. My instructor was finishing a lesson, so I went off with the aide to get the horse. I met Tamara, a beautiful 17 year old Eyptian Arabian. She balked at coming out of the corral, so the teen enticed her with some grass. She found a lead, I attached it and walked her to the inside arena. Tamara is voice trained and gentle, but does not like to go around other horses. So to pass them, I opened the gate into the arena and walked her past the other horses. My instructor showed me where she stored the equipment. I gathered a pad, girth, saddle riser and English saddle. Later I got the bitless bridle. My instructor showed me the proper way to put on the saddle and bridle. I then clucked softly and led Tamara into the arena to the mounting block. Once on Tamara, my instructor adjusted the stirrups and told me to hold the reins as if I were holding an ice cream cone. Hold the reins about an inch above the saddle. As Tamara walked, I felt one with her and spent the next few minutes trying to stay near the rail. I also learned that if Tamara had her ears pointing forward, as she did when she heard a flock of birds chirping outside, that I needed to talk to her and if necessary change direction. Not so critical in the arena, but quite important on a trail where the horse could become a runaway. The time flew by and once I dismounted, I led her, dropping too much rein to my dismay, and into the hallway, where I learned how to stow the saddle and stirrups. I groomed Tamara and then helped my instructor put on her blanket. My husband and I gave her some peppermint candies for her hard work and then I led her outside and the instructor put her into the pen with Jay, her horse friend. I am so very lucky and I have four more lessons!