Green Means Go
My initial plan was to fly to California after school got out and beg my parents for financial support immediately after telling them I intend to flaunt all their hopes and dreams for my future. But I wasn’t sure I could wait that long. For one thing, I have fallen in love with the funky building where I intend to live and work. I have been worried sick someone else is going to swoop in and buy it. For another, I am just not a patient person.
Besides, Travis pointed out it would be harder for me to stand up to my parents and seem like an independent adult while letting my mom serve me breakfast every morning and sleeping in a twin bed with a box of My Little Ponies underneath it. Travis also said flying home to ask for this might blow the request out of proportion. He reminded me I’m not asking my parents for money or permission. I am only asking them to agree to bail me out if I fail miserably.
So I called them at a time I hoped they would be home and in a good mood. Mom answered. We chit-chatted and she told me several unnecessarily detailed stories involving Sylvia and the state of her digestive system. Then I took a deep breath and told her My Plan. She listened to my entire speech without interrupting, asked me a few questions, and said she’d have to talk to my father but would call me back. I emailed them my business plan and spent the next hour in a cold sweat, pacing the living room like a caged animal. When Mom called back she didn’t sound happy, but she didn’t sound reproachful either. She said they would either co-sign the loan with me, or loan me the money themselves, interest free. But it was my choice. If they loaned me the money, they’d draw up a contract with a repayment plan to make sure it didn’t feel like a gift.
I wasn’t expecting that offer, although in retrospect I should have seen it coming. I thanked my mom and said the loan would be great, if they were sure. She said they were sure, that they’re proud of me, and that they’d like to come visit after I open.
I'm a Share-Boarder!
Casey bought a horse today, and I’m going to be borrowing that horse from him for two days a week for the foreseeable future! Horse shopping was harder than I thought. I’m glad we had Taylor to recommend a few because otherwise we’d have been lost.
We test rode three horses. All three were fine, really, but the second one was sluggish and the third one spooked when I was riding. I know that can happen to any horse, but I almost fell off and after that Casey wanted the first one. I liked that one the best anyway, so it was fine with me.
The horse is a 12 year old gelding. According to his papers he is a Paint, but he doesn’t have much white. Taylor explained this is because Paint is a breed, whereas pinto is a color. I’m not sure I fully understand, but the horse is brown with a black mane and tail. He has one white splotch on the belly, four tall white socks, and a whole white face. Taylor calls this a bald face which seems like an unfortunate term. One of his eyes is about 1/4 blue, which is neat.
Assuming the horse passes his vet check, he will be delivered to Taylor’s this weekend! For the moment he is called Moose, but Casey is going to let Becca give it a new name if she wants.
The Preparations Continue
It’s less than a month before the girls get here. The back rooms are looking good. I pulled up the carpet and sanded and refinished the floors. I went ahead and repainted the walls too. I had to stick with white but the rooms look nice and fresh now. Wendy found bamboo blinds that look good but weren’t too expensive. We had to order them off the internet, which I don’t like doing. It’s hard to get a sense of quality from photos. The hardware is cheap, but otherwise they are fine. Each room got a new light fixture, switch-plates, and a rug, plus some new shelves in the closets.
Wendy also found a website where you can order famous artwork on posters. There are hundreds of posters to choose from, and you can also pick a frame and mat. They frame it up and ship it to you. I told the girls they could each order a poster for their room. Julie wanted water lilies by Monet, and Becca chose an Ansel Adams photograph in black and white. Hopefully those will get here fast enough that I can have them hung before the girls arrive.
And if all that prep wasn’t enough, I’ve been horse shopping. I haven’t mentioned anything about the horse to Becca yet because I want to make sure it will work first. So far we’ve looked at two horses. Taylor is doing the initial screening and thankfully Wendy has been coming with me to see Taylor’s picks. Since I can’t ride, she’s been doing that part. I honestly hardly know what I’m looking for. Wendy liked the first one. I watched her ride and it seemed like everything went just fine. The second one wasn’t as good. Wendy seemed to have trouble getting it to go forward. After that I was ready to buy the first one but Taylor said there was one more she thought we should look at first, so we’ll be doing that tomorrow.
Starting to be Summer
Last week was so weird Annette didn’t invite me over a single time. And this weekend she never called or invited me over or anything. I know it is for the best and I am happy I have Liv because otherwise it would be back like it was when I didn’t have any friends for a while. Of course I didn’t invite Annette over either and maybe if I had she would have come I don’t know.
On Saturday I went to the park with Liv and Kyle and we had all three dogs and played games with them and it was fun but then it started raining. I was completely wet by the time I got home.
Today Chad and I had our lesson at Taylor’s and the horse Chad has been riding has really calmed down a lot. Chad’s been having basically no trouble with it the last few rides and Taylor told us today she’s going to put it on the market which means it could sell any day or not. Taylor wants Chad to keep riding it once a week until it does sell but now I don’t know how many more Chad lessons I’ll have it seems like everything is changing.
School is almost out which I’m happy and sad for at the same time. I’m happy because school is a lot of work and the summer is always fun but I’m sad because I like my classes and I have a lot of people now who are kind of my friends because I sit next to them but they aren’t people I have a chance to talk to except in school I’ll miss them.