Cheerios and I attended our second clinic of the year with the same instructor at a beautiful farm in Michigan. This was a solid L2 clinic and it was enlightening as always. On the first day, Cheerios very graciously pointed out all my "holes" (in my savvy and knowledge). On the second day, we filled in those holes and made wonderful progress. And, I cantered my horse "in public" for the first time in years! For the first time in a clinic, anyway. Jesse said we've made great strides since the last time he saw us. I love my horse.

I was fortunate enough to be offered a trailer ride up with one of the girls from my barn. She took her mare along. They went a few miles up the road to a cross-country jumping course and jumped while I did the clinic. It worked out well.

What else?

Let's see. The Mothership, which already needs a $300 wheel bearing job (it's going bad and it triggers the ABS system which is annoying and prevents the fancy braking system from kicking in, but I still have brakes) developed a new noise right before the clinic that could only be described as (when I turned the wheel) CGGUNNKKK! followed by squeakysqueakysqueaksqueak as I bounced down the road. Turned out to be another $300 repair job—dang front sway bar broke.

Well, I did my research and found me a new mechanic who's a little more affordable than my Dad's. No offense, Dad, but... he'd probably have found him eventually. This guy's only been in business officially for a few years but he has extensive knowledge. He did a good job. No more squeaky cgunk sound. The wheel bearings I'm waiting on a bit longer. The guy gave me the run down of what I'll need to maintain in the coming months and says for a 2001 Buick with less than 40,000 miles on it, it's in great shape. He called it a "cream puff"—said it's a dealer's dream, and I should get another 5 years out of it because it's old in age but young in use. That's good news. It'll see me through graduate school.

OH. Great news! Lot #3 IS SOLD! I didn't want to post before lest I jinx it, and after all the false alarms we've had this year, I'm sure you understand. We got a good offer on a Saturday, cash, and we took it. No negotiating. Then we held our breath until the 30th. Thursday, I drove down to the closing. Relief. That leaves Lot #1 with the house and my own house in the next city to be sold.

I also took a look at the house down there to see the fire damage firsthand. Well, the bad news is, the one wall that was affected is pretty scary and the poor house, with a huge blue tarp billowing in the breeze and all the windows boarded up, she looks sad, like a war victim. The good news is, 90% of the house is still as good as it was before all this, albeit a tad messy from all the firefighters tromping around in there, and the damage is totally fixable. And it didn't smell of smoke! Not at all! It only smelled like musty old house like it always has.

The guy who bought Lot #2 has been busy clearing out brush in preparation to build. He's a nice guy. So are the folks who bought Lot #3 and oddly enough, they're neighbors already but didn't realize they were buying next door to each other. They are all so welcoming to me, it really helps make the transition easier. That Lot #2 is initiating contact just to keep in touch and keep me updated means a lot to me. I allowed him to escort me around the lot and describe the "vision". His love of the land and his excitement about the house he and his new wife are building was so infectious.

I began to let go of the sadness and guilt I'd been feeling since I realized two years ago I'd have to sell the place. I'm not losing anything; in  a way, we are blending our families together, with the common thread being the land that we love. The house there sheltered my family members for over 120 years. Now it is expanding to shelter two new families (with a third to come once Lot #1 sells). They're building dreams for their families and leaving a new legacy.

When I signed the contract to renew the listing for Lot #1 (which expired that day), for the first time, I did it with a smile on my face and happy feelings in my heart.

Now I just have a couple of little things to take care of with my other house now that I have the cash to do it (sister assumed we'd split it and I wholeheartedly agreed), then I can find a more aggressive realtor and get that thing GONE too. Or maybe I'll find a rental agent. Anybody have advice? Sell or rent?

I've made a few decisions about my future. We'll see how they pan out. When they do, I will let you know. In knitting news, I finished a dishcloth. Yes, an actual dishcloth. Not a Faux Dishcloth like some other people I know. ;-)

Hope you all are well. I'll try to remember I have a blog this month.