It's Electric....

Growing up, I was (for lack of a better word) obsessed with horses. Seriously, every afternoon and every weekend from the time I turned eight, I was at the barn riding or caring for my horses. I loved it. Plus, I had several friends that had horses too, so we would all ride together and just have a good ol' time.

There was a period of about a year or so that we kept the horses at our house. I should probably give some background info on where I live. Our house is on the side of a mountain. That's right, not a place for horses, but it just happened to be that there was an adequate amount of space behind our house that my dad cleared and fenced for the horses. It really worked out great having them right there. We would ride down to the river and spend the day swimming or fishing...ahhhh, good times.

So anyway, back to the story. Dad chose to fence this area with an electric fence. Good thinking, less time and money spent fixing this area up when the truth of the matter was we weren't keeping them there forever. He did a bangin' job on the fence work I might add. Dad's so great, fixing this up for me so the horses could be close by. Definitely a Father of the Year award recipient!! Though, I'm thinking he gave me a little more credit than was due. I'm guessing he assumed I had learned my lessons with electric fences due to previous adolescent games at the barn.

Have you ever touched an electric fence before? Sure, as kids, we would always dare some idiot (usually me at any given point) to grab the fence for ten seconds and see how many shocks you could take....if you're interested in a good laugh, that's the way to go! We always shared a laugh or two at someone else's expense.

Time to throw in that side note: no one individual should have more than one bad experience with an electric fence of any sort, unless you happen to work for a power company.

Electric fences are funny things. They don't give a constant shock of electricity, just a shock every second or so (at least the ones I've come into contact with work that way) like.....bzzzt.....bzzzt.....bzzzt...and so on.

So there I am, alone with just the company of my two horses. I'm sure they were pretty pissed at me, taking them from the nice fully green pasture and sticking them in a space a third of the size with a tenth of the grass...I would have been pissed. They showed no ill will towards me, they trotted right up to greet me just as they always did. So I did what I normally do, went to crawl under the fence so that I could jump on the back of one of them and ride around for a bit.

Something that morning gave Evelyn the bright idea to pull her hair back with a metal clip on the top of her head. That's right ladies and gentlemen, I'm a genius. I bend down to crawl under the fence and the clip meets the electric wire. BZZZZT....and I'm down for the count. There aren't many things like being electrocuted (with roughly 600-1000 Volts) from the very top of you head to the ends of your toes.

As I sat paralyzed for a few seconds on the ground, I'm sure I had the most dumbfounded look on my face. I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out what had happened. First I was standing, then I was crawling, then I was on my back looking up at the sky...and somewhere along the line I was wondering if I could still even move my fingers and toes. Seeing as how this wasn't my first experience with the electric fence, you would think I would have recognized the signs of a good shock. I didn't though, I was so confused.

So I resided on the ground for a good five minutes...ummm...let's just say gathering my thoughts. I can remember looking over to the horses and seeing a distinct look of satisfaction upon their faces. Something along the lines of, "Hah, now you know how it feels! Idiot!"

Stroller 101

Offspring make for some rather interesting moments I must say. As a first-time mom, I think I had what most would call preconceived notions about the things my child would do. How naive was I? She's only two months shy of turning two and I'm already finding myself saying things I never imagined I would need to:

"Stop putting your face in the water! You know you can't breathe like that."
"Shaving cream is not the same as whipped cream, so stop eating it."
"We don't pull the dog's tail, ears, or poke her in the eyes."
"Chew your food before you try to swallow it, please."
"I told you she'd throw up if you kept spinning her like that."

Yet, it seems I am not the only one that thought things with children might go a little differently than planned. Surprisingly enough, baby stroller manufacturers and I share this ignorance.

Let me just say that I have a Baby Jogger that a neighbor gave me after Ellie was born. I'm assuming he did it because he was tired of seeing me struggle on my afternoon runs with the regular not-made-for-running stroller. Either way, this thing was an awesome gift...these strollers are like $200+ new. For those of you who don't know what a Baby Jogger is, it's a stroller with bicycle tires (sounds ridiculous I know), but it makes the run with the little one so much easier.

So anyway, let me tell you a little bit about this Baby Jogger. Hard core is putting it lightly! It's so handy when you live in the mountains...no casual run is taken without conquering several hills along the way. Plus, Ellie loves going with me. She is an outside girl for sure, so she's in heaven riding along with me in her little chariot. This thing has brakes and everything! They thought of it all! Oh, and did I mention there is a wrist strap too?

That is where my question comes in....

How safe is it really to have a wrist strap on that bad boy? Yeah, yeah, yeah, perfect for reassurance that the baby isn't going to roll away without you attached to it. Key words...without you attached to it. I can personally say that there are several instances I can foresee Ellie being a whole lot safer strapped in a metal stroller tumbling down a hill, than Ellie, me, and the stroller tumbling down the hill. There's just something wrong about that.

This wrist strap of death is attached to the handlebar of the stroller. It is made out of that serious a-knife-can-hardly-cut-through-me vinyl that all outdoorsy people find essential for any activity. Don't get me wrong, I think the strap is a great idea if you are a strong man that weighs enough to actually stop the weight of the stroller and the baby combined. Me? I'm thinkin' not so much.

I can see it now, Ellie and I enjoying a nice refreshing evening run. The weather is beautiful, the wind is blowing, and the sun is just setting on the horizon. I'm running and bustin' my tail as usual, while Ellie is just smiling as the wind brushes her hair oh so softly. Then out of nowhere (b/c I am terribly clumsy 90% of the time) I trip over nothing and it's down hill from there...literally. Can't you just see me? No bueno! Out for a run and returning with knees, elbows and head marked by the asphalt kiss of death. Maybe they should include a warning label: If you're that idiot that falls going UP stairs, you're not qualified to operate this piece of machinery!! DO NOT ATTEMPT!!!

I complain about it, but the sad part is that I still wear it. Yep, that's right, I still put that strap around my wrist and hope for the best. I confidently admit there haven't been any accidents thus far (I'm knocking on wood as I type this), but knowing me I'm sure there will be a follow-up to this post confirming my strap phobia.

A Little Fall Fun

I am still completely enamored by the fact that somehow over these last three days it has turned into winter in good ol' D-town. I'm pretty sure I was just in a bathing suit like two weeks ago (though, I'm still not sure exactly what I was doing in a swimsuit in October). Either way, it wasn't long ago that our nice, southern, vaguely-resembling-hell, 100+ degree, 90% humidity weather was lingering around these North Georgia mountains. I read a cute little, southern bashing, email the other day stating: Georgia seasons consist of almost summer, summer, still summer and Christmas! I think that did a pretty fair job of depicting our climate up in these here hills (sorry, I couldn't resist).

Surprisingly enough, we had our first freeze warning of the year this week. That's right, breaking news for every local news station within the 50 mile radius. Oh yes, that's just one of the many pleasures of growing up in a small town. Another pleasure....small town festivals!! Yep, this weekend was the annual Gold Rush festival in Dahlonega. There are two great things about Gold Rush...people and food. You have to remember that an event such as this generates the same amount of excitement in all the locals. So you see, people you haven't seen in years come out of the woodwork to mingle amongst the Gold Rush crowd. And the food....seriously, I wait anxiously all year for a gyro from Gold Rush...mmmm...I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Needless to say, it was a great weekend!

How 'bout a lil photo of the fam from the glorious Gold Rush days...

It was a busy, busy weekend. Actually, the whole month of October has been crazy busy come to think of it. No complaints from me though, I've had a blast. Last Thursday was a blast too! Just the start to a great weekend I needed. A friend and I went to see Zac Brown play at the Tabernacle. We had a great time!! The night really wasn't anything spectacular, but sometimes I guess those are the best nights.

Now we have Halloween coming up!!! YAY!!! I foresee an update on those exciting plans coming soon! :)

October

This is really random, but as the new month rolls in I thought I'd take the time to evaluate how I'm beginning this October:

• Single (which is a great thing)
• Still a mother (which is an even better thing)
• A student (which is getting better)
• A friend (which is teaching me just how much fun I can have while being all of the above)

Oh, and a patient...which is teaching my wallet more of a lesson than anyone.

So, as a preventative care measure, I thought I would go to the doctor for a check-up after those several fainting episodes I experienced the last two weeks...I'm such a hypochondriac, gah!! That's how I feel though, going to the doctor when I'm not even sick. Mom says, "Better safe than sorry."

Anywho, I have a very thorough doctor. You know, one of those that if something is wrong with you she's gonna find it; one that even if you don't feel like anything is wrong she's still probably going to find something after she finishes the million tests.

Seriously, I went home yesterday poked, scanned, stuck, rubbed, monitored and lectured (not in any particular order). It appears the symptoms, however mild they may be, caused a little bit of a ruckus. Personally, I think I'm just one of those girls...you know, passes out occasionally and maybe a little numbing of the hands (the perfect date material). ha

So, now I'm on a heart monitor for a few weeks in addition to several other tests coming up. Can we say lab rat? I'm thinking this is going to be a lot of fuss for tests that a going to come back negative. I should probably throw in that the preventative care idea was implanted into my thought process solely by my mother. Who knows though, maybe I'll thank her later.

For those of you who haven't ever been on an event monitor, let me just tell you about this thing. It's a beeper (haven't heard that one in a while have you?) with three wires that attach to your chest. One wire on the right side of my chest and one on either side of my rib cage under my arms. Yes, it looks completely normal (awkward cough). I'm only the one person that still looks like they carry a pager on their hip (for those of you that are still doing that...it's not cool). Wait, I take that back (not the "cool" comment, but the pager on hip thing). I guess there are some healthcare professionals somewhere that still need a pager, but I'm sure even their hip accessories aren't the size of an 8-track. The first thing I said when I saw it was, "You want me to do what with that? Wear it? Are you serious?"

I know, I'm shallow right? Good health is much more important that appearance. Yeah, right! I should have just strapped an old computer monitor to my back for a few weeks. Then at least people wouldn't be like, "Hey Ev, what's that? A pager?" Instead, they would be like, "Hey Ev, I love the monitor! How long do you have to lug that bad boy around?" See, much better!

Nah, I'm just full of it today. The monitor really isn't that bad...hardly noticeable actually (to anyone else that is). Me, I'm just learning to deal with all the wires. No biggy though, just a temporary annoyance.

Well, October is lookin' good thus far!!! Some fun things planned: Trick-or-Treating with Ellie on Halloween night and several parties for myself on the weekends around the big occasion. Love me some costume shopping! It's always an interesting experience, so I'm sure I'll be posting about that soon enough.