I missed the month of July for posting somehow.  Life’s stayed busy.  Logan went to three weeks of summer arts program at EWS.  She met her first grade teacher during the last week, once at a first grade picnic, and then again at an individual meeting at the school, where we shared some fruit and talked a little about our animals and who she knows in the class.

This month we’ve got tracking down clothing for back to school — I’ve made Logan one dress (which she is wearing today) and have another cut out to sew as soon as I’m back in the house.  John and I are putting dry wall on a final bit of the cabin that has been waiting for free time first.  Aside from the dresses, I’ve ordered long sleeved shirts that I hope won’t be “prickly”, and we’re going to count up leggings and see if the collection from last year is still to be found.  Toward the end of the year we were only finding about four pairs, but I’m hoping that once all laundry is put away that will change.  For the warmer time of year Logan wears dresses without leggings and either with short sleeves on the dresses or a short sleeved shirt under them, which I think we have plenty of.  Then there’s the question of shoes.  We have shoes dating back to size 9 or so around.  Logan now wears size 12 or 13 to 1, extra wide.  Depending on the fit and pinch factor.  She’s got the same hard to fit feet as me and John.  And we’ll need inside shoes again, which she says won’t be Birkenstocks.  Maybe that will change if we visit the Birk’s store in passing.

I’ve been filling my time with medical appointments — Physical Therapist for torture educational sessions on exercising muscles in my legs and feet that have stopped working due to active Myofascial trigger points, ways I need to use my body to not make the Fibromyalgia worse, and massage on the trigger points, which so far has increased the pain greatly.  I need to talk to them about that again.  Also Massage Therapist, who helps to fix some of the pain caused by the physical therapists.  And visits to a nurse practitioner in the pain doctor’s office to check in and see what questions I have.  I’m having to reschedule my appointment with her for next week because the one I’ve been seeing is no longer employed there.  I’m not quite sure what that means, aside from a crimp in my schedule.   Half the people I see aren’t covered by insurance currently, although some will be again at the insurance new year, which happens at the end of October.  The medical stuff is a strain on the budget, but makes me happy we have health insurance.

Next week the county fair is in town.  We got advance tickets for two days, saving $2 per person (woo hoo).  Saturday the 4H kids show their horses.  We went to the Sutherlin Rodeo a week or two ago and watched many horses, so we’re going to plan to be at the fair at the right time to see the horse show there too.  Logan and Jasmine are both very excited about horses with Xia and me not far behind, but a little more restrained.  John is interested, but much more restrained.

On a horsey note, yesterday we drove forever and a day, or in other words to Melrose, which is south west of Roseburg, and then some outside the limits of Melrose proper.  It’s probably the way people feel when driving to my house actually.  Eventually we got to a stable so that Jasmine and Logan could have a brief horse riding lesson.  They both brushed the horse (Mocha Java Lava, AKA “Bart” or “St Bart” because of his gentleness), and I helped brush on Logan’s side since her highest reach came only part way up his side.  They helped to clean his feet — Jasmine lifted and picked and Logan watched — saddle him, and went to the riding arena to see about riding.  Jasmine’s lesson included basic reining, walking and trotting as well as some standard horse things, such as work from the left side.  Logan’s was all at a walk with the instructor on one side and me at the other, and her concentrating on kicking with the correct foot for the direction she wanted Bart to turn as the instructor led him.  Both girls were delighted and ready to continue lessons ASAP.  Bart is sixteen hands tall and fifteen years old, and very calm, aside from an interest in nibbling on both my hat and my rubber cancer bracelets, as well as his bit.  I have pictures with Logan up on him to upload on to the computer and post, soon, with luck.

Filed under: life, Logan's work, school, fibromyalgia