Riddle...

How many UPS stores does it take to mail a saddle?? (Answer at the end of this post.) Also there's an F-bomb. You have been warned.

I have a Smart phone that my wonderful, amazing brother bought me. It enables me to keep in touch with everyone at all times. I have a love/hate relationship with it.

Thursday night I made the mistake of checking work e-mail during a meeting. What I read pissed me off so bad that I was fuming the rest of the night. A person at my school who is in charge of the after school activities took it upon herself to not sign my little guys up because she didn't think they could get picked up. (Illegal.) She wanted me to call and tell their parents. There was no e-mail for me to respond to that would express how I felt. So I fumed.

Friday morning I walked into the office and TRIED to be nice. I really did guys. I smiled and everything, but she snapped at me first and I lost it. I've never lost it at work, but NO ONE fucks with my little kids. They are amazing, and if you don't want to give them a chance, your loss. I told her it was illegal to exclude them and she told me I was going to cause the cancellation of all after school activities. Well, I lost it again. At this point my principal came out and grabbed me. She's amazing. I love her. We talked and the person came back to talk to the principal about our "discussion" and she started again about how my kids will cause the school to have to stop doing after school classes and that no one will be able to teach them.  Again, I lost it. I was so pissed. I'm still pissed.

The kids were great, but I got to end my day with a screaming match at the bus drivers. Smoking and not allowing my kids on the bus because you're "talking" isn't a good excuse. I was SO professional yesterday!

After work I called my husband and said I needed Pony time STAT. He went with me and we drove the hour and twenty minutes to the barn. All the horses had their blankets off and were enjoying the sun, even though it was a bit cloudy. Denali wanted nothing to do with us and was with her friends. We walked out to the pasture and started walking around the pond. Denali started to follow us, but when we'd turn around to look at her she'd start to graze and pretended like nothing was going on. It was hilarious. She kept doing this until we stopped by the pond, then she admitted that she liked us and came up to hang out. She's such a sweet girl, and is so happy now. She reminds me of the mare I bought before I went to Denmark, except this one is broken. We wanted her to come get treats, so without thinking I threw the rope around her neck to lead her over. FAIL!!! It obviously really bothered her and she took off flipping her neck around. I felt so bad. We got her to come back and I put the rope around her gently, and make her walk two steps then took it off. I didn't want her to think running away was okay (although understood.) While petting her I noticed a large lump on her neck so I wrote the vet anal e-mail #3,294 since November. Poor woman. She probably regrets the day that she took Denali on as a patient. We'll see what she says. Denali is still a little off. I asked my husband what he thought and he thought she looked fine, but did admit I knew her better than anyone. Oh mare. What in the hell am I going to do with you?

Today was probably the busiest day I've had in a while. I met Pia's mom for coffee at her house and then we were going to a Jumper schooling show. On our way I needed to stop to drop of my Passier at a UPS store to ship it. The woman seemed really competent, but then informed me that her store doesn't do COD. They had a problem and got sued. I had my saddle on eBay, but took it off when I found out I was going to have to pay $63.00 in fees. The girl who had made me an offer e-mailed me and still wanted it. She just wanted to be sure I wasn't a scam. It did seem pretty shady, so I totally understood her fear and COD sounded like a good compromise.

That didn't work so the saddle went back in the trunk and we went to the show. It was fun to watch the horses go over the fence, but I know NOTHING about jumping. Nada. Pia's mom use to event so she tried to explain it to me the rules.

After the show we went to UPS store number 2. I felt bad for the guy working at the desk. It was a stones throw from the tack store that told me this store ships saddles all the time. He looked at my saddle like it was an alien object. He said I could leave it and his boss would do the COD on Monday and pack it. Nope. Not leaving my saddle. So the Passier went back into the trunk for a second time and Pia's mom pulled out her cell phone and called a third UPS store.

The third one was just right. (I feel like I'm telling a fairy tale now...) He seemed confident and competent. At this point I think I was unable to form sentences and Pia's mom had to help me. He probably thought it was my big day out and she was my case aid. I was just so frustrated and worried at this point I couldn't function. By the end of paying the nice bill (note: saddle to Maryland from Seattle = expensive) I felt better and was able to hold some sort of conversation on the way back to her house. BTW: If you think Pia is cute, you should see Pia's mom's dog. CUTEST THING EVER!!! I think Maize (sp?) needs her own blog! She's the cutest French Bulldog EVER!

After dropping of Pia's mom I had to run back to Seattle to pick up two 8 year old's for a riding lesson at my old barn. Our school holds a huge auction every year and I was auctioned off for a "Day at the Barn."  Her father is an executive at Microsoft so I'll let you guess what they paid. Let's just say the auction made over $150,000 last year. It's an amazing school.

My old trainer was SO good with them. She explained everything and they were SO into it. It was a great experience for them and they LOVED IT. By the end of their lesson they trotted a little and on the way home their trotting story turned into them galloping around. I smiled and remembered what it was like to be a horse crazy 8 year old. I am SO jealous of their lack of fear. They have none. I wish I could have some of that.

My evening ended at a pool party, which required me to wear a bathing suit. Not so exciting, but still fun. I forgot how much I love swimming and water. Maybe that's where Denali gets it.

(Oh, in case you didn't figure it out: 3 UPS stores.)