Horses, dogs and school, oh my!

Well, school has officially begun, and I'd like to think I'm settling in to the swing of things. My students are awesome, and I really enjoying teaching my classes. I'm working on MO theory right now, and sometimes I wonder if they leave more confused than when they first came to class. They're patient with me, which I'm so appreciative of. I just hope they're learning something along the way.

My colt, still nameless, but I'm thinking Bakhan, is doing wonderfully. When I went home to MT at the end of July, we decided to proceed with the surgery. Overall, the procedure went well. He had one shattered bone and two additional bones that were fractured. He was in his first cast for two weeks and then was put into a new cast for two more weeks. He is now out of his cast and is baring weight on his leg and bending his knee. Yay! It's remarkable how animals deal with pain. I was a little worried when I first went to visit him before the surgery. He would spook for no reason. After the surgery, he was like a different horse. He loves to be rubbed on his neck and on his rump. He's a little sweetheart. It's sad to think he was in so much pain, but I'm sooo happy he's doing so much better now. Of course we won't know for sure until he's older, but the vet said he's "cautiously optimistic!!!" that he'll be good for light riding when he gets older. I'm just glad he's not in so much pain.

Charlie is settling into the new house well, except last week we had a major problem with the stairs. It was my first day of school. I had my books at home, upstairs, to get ready for my first lecture. After I had finished getting ready and was ready to leave, I gathered up my books and headed toward to the stairs. Of course, my hands were full, and so I couldn't pick Charlie up. He panicked, I was going to leave him!!!!!, and he started to head down the stairs with way too much momentum. Two stairs later he was rolling/bouncing down the stairs. He landed on the grate at the bottom, hit the wall, and then was piled up whimpering. All the while I watched from the top. :( Sad. When I got to him, he was still concerned about me leaving him, and so he was up, bouncing around like he was saying, I'm okay mom. I'm still ready to go. Blood was coming from somewhere, and I couldn't tell if it was from the back of his head or his ear or.... I also couldn't tell if there was anything broken, and I didn't want to leave him alone. After my neighbor didn't answer her phone, I frantically called my supervisor and asked for a vet recommendation. So off to the vet we went, a new vet, about 20 minutes from the house and an hour before class. I made it back to campus about 10 minutes before class, and most importantly Charlie was okay. The blood was from his ear and nothing was broken. Sooo thankful. Clearly, there are several important lessons here. First, we should have decided on a vet when we first got into town, so that in an emergency, we wouldn't have to scramble. Secondly, we really need to work on this co-dependence/separation anxiety. It's not okay, but I'm not certain how to deal with it. Nonetheless, it needs to happen.

The dreaded stairs :(

The fair starts this weekend. Guess who's going? Oh yes, M and I, whether he likes it or not. And his birthday is coming up soon.... his 30th. That means it's gotta be BIG!

Rest of the house

I have been meaning to put up more pictures of the rest of the house. So here they are. Enjoy!

Dining Room - Almost there

We finally get to display the china we received for our wedding. China cabinet $150

Finished!

Kitchen

Guest (back) bedroom

Downstairs bathroom

Office/TV room

Now what?

Well, we're moved into our house, back from our vacation to Montana and all our company is gone... so now what? Do I need to start working again? Probably. I felt a little guilty the whole time I was in Montana, even though I wasn't officially employed and the trip was a complete whirlwind. However, now that the dust has settled a little and maybe we'll be able to return to somewhat of a routine, deep down there's still a little something that feels unsettled.

Anyhow, here's a few pics of what we've done so far with the house. I'll start with the formal living room.  Let's revisit what it looked like before (when we came in February to go house hunting).

I really think it was such a shame to hide the beautiful built-ins with the TV. Here's what we did first. Originally, I had wanted to paint the room, but I quickly changed my mind after seeing close-up how ornate the crown molding and trim are and how much of it there is. We found the couch at an antique/consignment shop. It had been recently re-upholstered and then hadn't matched the decor. I think it was a steal. The trunk has our tri gear in it, but it works great as a coffee table.

  After a few more trips to stores and a flea market, here's what it currently looks like.

Can you pick out the small difference between the two pictures?

Isn't it incredible what the frame does to that picture? M's aunt found it for $10 at an antique store! Here's the view in the other direction, to your right as you walk in the front door. 

Before

After

The white coat hangers you can see in the before picture have been taken down (by me with some of the paint too), and we're working on making a new one out of old door knobs. We found the orange chair and the dry sink at the flea market for $30 each!

We're pretty much done with this room aside from making the new coat hangers and painting the walls where I pulled the old coat hangers down (oops!). 

We feel so blessed that we've been able to have all our family come visit and help us move in. We certainly couldn't have done it without them!