So how many "shopping days" 'til Christmas? You can put that phrase on my list of things that make me a little sad at Christmastime. Oh, not that I'm mostly sad or anything. In fact, I'm quite chipper for me. Not "for me" as in "because of me" but as in "in spite of" the usual me. If that doesn't make sense, you'll just have to read it again. That's the best I can do.

I guess I'll be 31 in about a week. Often I do these things, adult things, all by myself, and I still catch myself looking around or pondering about how it can be possible that I actually AM an adult. I never thought I would nor did I care to make it to adulthood, but here I am - livin' solo, paying my own bills, mowing my own lawn. Yes, I remember telling everyone that I didn't expect to live to be 21. And here we are, 10 years further down the road. Now I freakin' expect to live to be 91, and the idea of it is...

So since my last post, I've participated in 4 local Christmas parades, all with a horse, of course. The first was here in Muenster. Then I went over to Bowie with Melanie. Then we did Saint Jo followed by Era. We get a break until January when the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo comes to town. All this parading...makes me wonder exactly what I'm showing off. The horse, of course. Higher numbers usually make riding clubs look better. I just get the feeling that my body is not parade-worthy. Of course, I had that very same feeling back in the 4-H days when I was 12 or so. It might sound like I'm complaining, and maybe I am. I reckon I could do something about it...about the complaining, not about my body size. Because at the age of 31, I'm still trying to convince myself that I can be responsible, mature, and hopeful about the future.

What's that - what am I doing for my birthday, you ask? I'm gonna go to this show at NCTC called "Mystery of the Christmas Star". You can watch the trailer here. So that's about all I've got planned. 31 isn't exactly a milestone or anything.