Lottery wrap-up and a thank-you

The Fall Lottery is now over, and all the winners have been contacted. Whew!

We had a record number of participants this time around. I also received a lot of comments, both with the entries and afterwards, about how much people appreciate the lottery system.

Recently lotteries have used more high-tech methods, but when I started the names were literally drawn from a hat. I would write the names on bits of paper, and then have my son pull one out. The first time we did this, I had the entries for each horse in a separate plastic cup, which I would pour into the hat when it was time to get a name. My son - who was probably about five at the time - would pull out a name and read it, and then dump the rest of the papers on the floor so we could fill the hat for the next horse. When it was all done, I had the half-dozen or so names laid out and he asked what we did next. I told him I was going to call these people and tell them they each got a horse. He then looked over at the (now rather large!) pile of papers that he had been dumping out each time, and asked "And now what do these people get?" I explained that this time around, they hadn't won anything. "They don't get anything?" I explained that no, not this time. "But Mom, do you think that's really FAIR?" He pestered me for days about how I was going to make it up to all those people! "You can't just let them be sad," he told me.

That's always stuck with me, each time I do the lottery. So I really do appreciate how gracious everyone is about the odds, and about not having their name pulled yet again. I really do have wonderful customers!

And now I will get back to work. I have so many things planned for the holiday season and beyond!

Not a lottery horse

This fellow isn't one of the Fall Lottery horses, but he was finished just recently and I wanted to share him. If you look really carefully on his sides, you might be able to see faint dappling. (I'm not sure how visible it will be once Blogger shrinks the image.) I really like this color on Finn - it flatters him.

(Oh, and there are some new teaser photos on the website.)

No crutches!

A few weeks ago, I fell while playing with my kids. Remember the trebuchet? My family was testing recent improvements, and I foolishly entered The Zone of Death. Apparently this is the area where, when your kids are laying seige to the neighbors, you are most likely to get clobbered by week-old produce. In my haste to get out of the way, I stepped wrong and twisted my leg.

I have spent most of the time since in denial. Some of you might remember that I broke my foot a little more than a year ago. That's when my youngest son drew my portrait (above). I love how he made me look so darned happy! It wasn't, however, a lot of fun. It's amazing how difficult the simplest things can be when you cannot walk and carry things the same time! Needless to say, I wasn't keen to repeat the experience even if my leg was hurting. (Doctors cannot give you bad news if you don't give them the chance to talk to you!)

By this weekend, though, it was pretty clear that my plan wasn't working. (Knees, it seems, are quite capable of giving you bad news without going through a doctor.) So I made the appointment.

Thankfully, I was not placed on crutches. I did damage my LCL (lateral collateral ligament), but I was able to escape with just a knee brace and physical therapy. I still have to go in for my evaluation with the therapist, but it looks like I will be spending enough time there to throw things a little off schedule for the Fall Lottery. Still, it's better than crutches! And I won't have to miss the 20th Annual Southern Model Horse Convention this weekend. I will be braced-up and gimpy, but I'll be there!