Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Hurry Up and Ride


I’m on a real time crunch because I’ve set myself the goal of riding by April. Actually April 1, but I’m not going to get specific because I’ve blown right by my target date. Let’s just say April.

I’m harried, trying to get as much of this house fixed up as possible before I start riding because once I start riding, I’ll be lucky if I have time to throw in a load of wash, never mind painting rooms, spackling holes in sheetrock, scraping, gutting, washing, and the endless opening up of boxes to look for things I suddenly remember I’m missing.

I don’t want to stop now. I’m on a roll. I got all the grout and the paint splatters scrubbed off the bathroom floor and now all we have to do in there is grout the tile around the tub. There are no curtains but there are no curtains on any of the windows except for Kelly’s room. Luckily the bathroom upstairs is windowless otherwise the neighbors would be getting an eyeful. This is where we’ll go if there’s a tornado. They say you should take cover in a room with no windows. I’ve never had a house that had a room with no windows. I was always worried about that. It used to make me mad when the guy on TV advised everyone to go into a windowless room or down into the basement. What if you didn’t have a basement or a windowless room? I’m glad I finally have one so I can comply with the news guy’s instructions. Of course there’s no room in there for people to hide. I don’t even have a place to put an extra roll of toilet paper. We’ll have to sit on each other’s laps. The Big Stupid, aka Motley the dog, will have to get in the shower. He’ll do it. He’s game for anything. And cats are willowy. They can squeeze in anywhere.


Anyway, ordinarily there would be no rush. Riding that is. Not fixing the house. I can’t stand living in a house that’s not fixed up. I’m not saying that it has to be all done. But it has to be painted and broken windows need to be fixed and it’s got to be clean. Especially the floors. Not just because we’re in the flooring business. In fact, being in the flooring business causes me to suffer with crappy floors even longer that I would have because the same thing is in effect that causes the shoemaker’s kids to have no shoes. I’m not sure what it is but the shoemaker’s kids run around barefoot and one time I lived with stick-on tiles that were supposed to look like black marble and were peeling up in the corners for a whole year.

One thing is Kurt won’t put down junk. He’s gotten good taste from installing so many nice floors over the years—wool carpet, solid hardwood, rugs that look like sisal but feel like cotton—that he won’t settle for less even though it means we could afford it sooner. But if there is someone’s else’s carpet in the house, that I don’t know where it’s been puked on, and it has been puked on because the chances are good that the people who lived in it prior had animals, especially if it’s a farmhouse like I usually buy, especially if you see the telltale signs of claw marks on the doors, I want it out ASAP. Even if it looks clean.

But now I feel rushed about riding too. Like riding is a quart of milk that’s going to expire if I don’t get out there soon and do it. Even though I still think of him as a colt, Harley just turned fifteen this year! He certainly doesn’t look or act like fifteen but let’s face it, he’s not a young whippersnapper anymore and neither am I. There are lots of people who ride into their sixties, seventies, even eighties. There are even senior citizens who barrel race. But I’ve had so many breaks from riding due to all the moving that it’s like I never rode at all and who starts barrel racing when she’s fifty-something? I’m not talking about trail riding here. Does one start running marathons when she’s fifty-something especially if she’s never even taken a walk before? I know it can be done. But it wouldn’t be easy.

Plus, after losing my mother I learned that you can lose anything in the blink of an eye. My horse. My health. The farm. Who knows? I have to get going while the going’s good. And so I’m on a painting frenzy. There’s no time to even wash out the brushes because maybe I’ll get fifteen minutes to paint again and so I stick them in a plastic bag sealed with a rubber band so I can grab them at any time and continue. If there’s only ten minutes, I hurry and get a hammer and nail and hang up a picture. If there’s only five minutes, I carry a box up to the attic bedroom. Hurry, hurry, hurry.

I know that you’re never done with your house. There’s always something to clean, beds to be made, dishes to be put away, laundry to be folded. But I hope, soon, that all the stuff we are doing because of just moving here will be done and I can just go out and live life like everyone else. Ride my horse. Run a set of barrels. At the least, I hope I have those nasty rugs out.

15 comments:

Grey Horse Matters said...

I know how you feel about getting it all done quickly so you can concentrate on riding and other fun stuff. I do the same thing, always running around like a chicken without a head which only leaves riding on the weekends. You'll get everything done eventually.

Go out and take one short ride a day just to get back in practice. The weather has been beautiful and you're just depriving yourself of some relaxing me time. You'll feel better if you take an hour for yourself a few times a week.

Beth said...

Ah...moving is a JOB, for sure, especially when you're like we are---always moving to a fixer-upper. We tend to get fixer-uppers because (1) it's what we can afford and (2) having nice land is more important to us than the house (in our case, the doublewide). I have a million things I'd like to change about our doublewide, but I am happy that at least we were able to replace the hideous blue shag that was here when we came and we were able to paint the ugly walls. Good luck to you, Debi...hope you get to ride soon. You've already made a big difference in that house...and you don't have to do everything at once, you know.

Christina said...

If I can squeeze 3 people and 2 carriers in a little shower stall anybody can.

You will get your house like you want it. Enjoy a ride.

Ms. Shypoke said...

I think my only realistic goal is to ride a horse before I am 50 (3 plus years.. haha)

Jeff said...

Ahhhh .... treat yourself! Forget about the house for a few hours - you'll be a better person for it. What if something terrible happened to you and you hadn't gotten to ride? Do it. Now.

Tammy Vasa said...

You are such a good wife, mother, home owner. Putting the household first over riding. You know where I stand on housework! LOL! But sounds like you are getting close. Enjoy reading about your household updates and keep thinking maybe I'll get the bug... :)

Read on FB that its been two years since you lost your mom. Really? Can't believe its been that long already. Time keeps moving on.

Gilly said...

Oh my gosh! - where do you get all that energy from??


I hope you get it done before you get sitting on a horse, because I know you won't be happy if you don't, but honestly, it doesn't all have to be done at once!!

CountryDew said...

I think you need to do both. Ride a little, clean a little. Live it up.

Sweet Virginia Breeze said...

Looks like you've done an excellant job of fixing up your house. Relax and take a ride. You can always go back to the house later.

LadyJennivieve said...

I get it! Carlie turns 11 this year. I wanted to turn her into a Grand Prix dressage horse. Time is running out, especially as we can't even do a preliminary test (1st level) yet. But, there are older dressage horses out there, I'm sure. She will be capable for longer because she wasn't broken in until she was 5. I myself am not actually capable of riding at a higher level yet, and in many respects it is my abilities that are stopping her progressing. And then we've also got this giant cloud looming over our heads called headshaker syndrome. I get it!

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

I rode! It was wonderful!

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

Ms. Shypoke, I don't know if you're going to see this but I just tried to go to your blog and got a big warning not to proceed because your site might be infected from a fuglysomething blog. I hope you fix this because I love reading your posts and I wanted to comment on that interesting house!

Ms. Shypoke said...

I will take a look at it... Thanks!

Ms. Shypoke said...

Also.. I removed the fuglyblog from my "follow" list.. I went to my blog and didn't get the warning.. so maybe the issue is fixed:)

Cynda said...

Life is too short as you know Debi. The house will always be there unless you move again! Go and ride!