I just realized that I'd not made a blog post in over a month! Where has the time gone and what have I been doing? I think I've been getting the most out of life because I can't remember the last time I sat down at the computer and took time to blog! So here's an update on our latest adventures.
1. Mountain biking. Since Jarred has an obsessive type personality, it's hard not to get excited about whatever he is excited about. I had to take a pass on the kayaking passion but now that he's newly obsessed with mountain biking, I admit, I too have caught the disease. This winter we discovered the winter mountain biking Mecca. Syncline is located just between two tiny useless but beautiful Washington towns; Bingen and Lyle. Because if it's location, Syncline is generally dryer than our house (we get 100 of inches of rain a year, why someone didn't point this out to us when we moved here is beyond me- who needs 100 inches of rain a year?) and not as cold as E. Washington. It has great terrain, something for everyone.
2. Nic. Nic has been my money pit for the past year. Actually, he's been a money pit since I purchased him, but he generally gives me hours of pleasure and entertainment in retun. Since having foot issues last summer, it seems like he's had one ailment after another. I recently moved him to the horsey Taj Mahal. He's got a stall linked to a covered area linked to a nice dry (not Western Washington mud) small fenced run. These ammenities are only his poor weather quarters. When it's nice, he has a pasture to run around in with his new found (but ugly) buddies. Now that Nic is at the Taj Mahal, his ailments seem to be disappearing and I've actually been able to put time into riding him in hopes to get him in shape for the show season this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that he'll remain injury free. Between he and Jarred, I'm done playing nurse.
3. Every day is an adventure when you're a teacher. While I often dream of having a mundane job where I don't talk to anyone and don't have to look at teenage girls with too much cleavage, I do really like my job this year. Of course, the state of the education budget in Washington this year looks grim. Somehow, the majority of the money from Obama's stimulus package didn't go towards education! Therefore, educators and administrators in Washington are facing an $800 million budget shortfall. Where do the savings come in? That's right, cutting educators. What does this mean? Shoving more and more students in to one classroom which means the quality of education drops YET the state just mandated that each graduating senior in the year 2011 have 3 years of math. Go figure. Being a recent hire at Camas High School, I'm low man on the totem poll as far as having a job next year goes. I'm trying to remain optimistic but I don't see any money coming from politicians who actually value education, so I may be searching elsewhere next year.
3. Yoga is awesome. While perusing the books at the library, I came across Sarah Ivanhoe and Fat Burning Yoga. Sarah has made me realize how un-flexible I am and how good stretching feels. I spend much of my life doing fast paced events and yoga forces me to slow down. I also have the desire to be able to contort my body into a variety of positions but doubt I'll ever get there because I can barely be in triangle pose and lift my arm over my head.

I'm off to dine on Goo-Goo Cluster ice cream. Until further adventures....