Riding the range …

Well it may not be romance we’re talking about here – at least romance between two consenting adult human beings – but it’s bloody fabulous to be back in the saddle, riding after the two week break for school holidays.

Last week was the first week on the new two-lesson-per-week regime and can I just say one thing?  OUCH everything huuuuuuurts.  Okay so it’s not as bad as I predicted, nor even as bad my “usual” level of aches and pains, but OOF. 

Part of it is not just the extra ride per week – and therefore less recovery time between rides – but that I’m really working myself hard.  My main “issue” is my sway back / pelvic misalignment, so I’m constantly trying to correct that by tightening my pelvic core [abs, PC muscles, lower back muscles], sucking in my gut, and tilting my pelvis forward.  Argh!  Whilst concentrating on my lower leg position, feet [my right foot turns in nicely but not my left foot oh no … ] and hands.  My hand position is fine but I don’t grip firmly enough with my thumb on top.  It’s so much to think about all at the same time!

Beauty and the beast – Beauty shopping online

Shopping in Perth and surrounds is a bit of a joke.  The clothes shops are all clones of each other, churning out raggy skanky tacky stuff that I have absolutely no wish to buy and in general make me lose my will to live; certainly my will to go clothes shopping.   There is an exception of course;  the Armani et al sections in the David Jones Perth store, which of course are horrifically out of my reach monetarily speaking.  Siiiiigh.  I think it’s time to visit my dressmaker again …

As for shopping for make up and skin care, well that’s just as bad.  Every department store [of which there are two, yes the same two, in the city or suburban malls] has an identical “beauty floor” with the exact same brands – the big names, Estee Lauder, Clinique, Dior, Chanel, Clarins, blah blah blah. 

The smaller, more interesting brands have zero to minimal representation, maybe one counter at one department store, and only in the city.  As evidence, I give you MAC, my beloved make up line – which isn’t exactly a “small” brand – and my favourite skin care brand Ultraceuticals.  Both are available at just the one counter in just the one department store in the city, and this is sometimes problematic.  I can’t always make it into town, or want to make the trek, especially now I need a walking stick / elbow crutch for any distance. 

For me then, it’s obvious that online is the way to go.  In fact I pretty much do all my skin care and make up shopping online now.  Shopping online can be chancy however, and I’m ultra picky about the quality of service, the security of the site, the speed of delivery, the overall cost and so on.   I have come to trust and love only a chosen few – Adore Beauty; MAC Online; Strawberrynet and Smart Poppy.

*Drool*

It’s strange; when we moved into our new place I figured I’d be living in the kitchen, cooking up huge interesting meals.  What with the great high-powered gas cook-top [with wok burner wahey], plenty of useable bench space for prep work and actual room to move – even enough room for two people to move without gaining intimate carnal knowledge of one another whether wanted to or not – I was sure I’d be all over it.

Then during April–May I had that weird phase of total lack of interest in food, and lack of appetite.  This is actually quite rare for me, as even when I’m so ill and drugged up I can’t see straight let alone not be a hazard around aforementioned high-powered gas cook top, I still have an interest in food and will read my favourite cookbooks like novels, drooling away and writing up endless lists of must-try recipes and menus.

“Advanced” riding lessons

I recently changed to a more “advanced” group for my riding lesson.   It’s at 0900 hrs as opposed to 1300 hrs, and as the trip out is twenty minutes or so, and I need to be there at least forty-five minutes prior to the lesson to groom and tack up my own horse and maybe help out with another one or two, it means an early start.   I’m not at my best in the mornings, either, far more stiff and pain-y so I’ve taken to getting up even earlier – say 0600 – to fit cin a boiling hot shower and do some stretchies to get most of the creakiness out [and time for the morning dose of painkillers et al to kick in].

You may well ask, how “advanced” is advanced?   Well, not very, not exactly Grand Prix level!   Not at all, in fact … It means the class is made up of independent riders [ie, riders who don’t require leaders or side-walkers] who have ridden for a while and have a certain skill level, and can be challenged a bit further.   We do dressage-y stuff, lots of 10- and 20- metre circles, changing rein, serpentines, mostly at the trot so far. 

And gee, does our coach work us hard.   I love this, that even though we’re disabled riders with our personal challenges and limitations, physical and otherwise, we’re not let off the hook when it comes to correct position and riding style.   We’re made to really work at our back and leg positions, and in my case, given my sway back and core strength issues – “tilt your pelvis forward and suck in your gut tuck in your tummy!” ad infinitum.

Mummy daaahling

You may have got the impression, even if you’re an occasional visitor here, that Otterkat and her mother do not get on too well.  I’d love to have a nice, relaxed, easy, sharing relationship with my mum, but I don’t.   The hardest part is that she’s still my mum, I still love her, but sometimes I just want to … not be around her.

She can be incredibly nice and caring, although she lacks a sense of humour and proportion sometimes [Tux says: like, always?].  But she’s also a very dominating personality – in my dramatic moments I’d say she was a domineering bullying old bitch – and unfortunately she expresses that side of her personality mostly with me. 

I’ve tried hard to think why this is – I’m the youngest child, only daughter, “the sick one”, her “baby”.  She continuously infantilises me and my abilities … So okay, I’m easy to bully, therefore she does so.

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