MVP

Our family had our annual Superbowl Party at my sister and brother-in-law's Sunday Night and while there was the biggest football game of the year on the TV, our family had a little competition of our own. This is the 4th year having it and as much of a surprise as it may be the competition has to do with food. Shocking, I know! Now my family can be pretty critical, the key is to stick the basic food groups: meat and potatoes. Anything beyond that is foreign and will not be tolerated. Oh, they may eat it, but they will not like it and WILL NOT let you live it down. Now I am known for bringing such foreign foods to an otherwise tradition family. 

An example:  Thanksgiving one year I was asked to bring dessert (my one and only time) and I made a Luscious Four Layer Pumpkin Cake (that was the title, I am not making it up). Once I had it done and mastered all four layers with frosting with none of the layers falling off I thought I was something! I brought it to my family's house expecting to be bragged on and to be called Martha Stewart. Instead I got "Whatever happened to plain ole pumpkin pie" and other teasing and taunting until I was crying. I still to this day get teased about my Luscious Four Layer Pumpkin Cake. So you can imagine when it comes to the Superbowl Cook Off I usually just stay away from whatever is getting made and count my losses. My role is usually to make something girlie for the woman to eat while the men feast on meat. So the last several years the men have competed with Chili and I have made Potato Soup and Ham & Corn Chowder. But this year, I was competing. The theme was Mexican and I was up to the challenge.

Being the youngest in the family you already have to be competitive before you are even out of the womb. In my family I am the youngest of four and between my sister (who is the oldest) and myself there is a 10 year age gap. So growing up I was always wanting attention and was pretty good about getting it. I am a total daddy's girl, and a bit spoiled which in turn makes me high maintenance. I know, another shocker! But I like to believe it came from years of trying to get the attention of my older siblings who wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. As I said, my sister (who is one of my very best friends now) was already practically a teenager when I was born, and my two brothers were each others best friends. None of them wanted babysit me, play with me, or even be in the same room with me. So where does that leave the youngest, "the surprise", "the accident" or as I like to say, "the gift"? It left me being a brat growing up and telling on my brother when he tried to hang me from the tree or shoot me in the back with a BB Gun or wanting to be in my sisters room when she had friends over. Which in turn made my siblings tell me during  my whole childhood that I was a gypsy baby, that a band of them came through town and dropped me off in the ditch and mom and dad feeling sorry for me took me in. And I believed them! I was crushed and cried once again and ran in and told mom and they got in trouble, see? I was a total brat. 

But fast forward about 20 years and here we are at Superbowl 2011 and the theme is Mexican. Scott had found a recipe for a cheese dip and super excited to make it so I zoned in on that and made a Chicken Enchilada Dip to enter in on the competition. Scott in turn told me that his dip was most defiantly going to win and that chicken should be banned. The big day arrives and we are arriving late (as we always do) and as we are hurrying out to their house I get a text message from Scott asking if I was bringing chips because he had forgot his at home. A grin comes across my face and I know that he is going down. We show up and the Cook Off starts. The contenders: Sis with Tacos and Bean Burritos, Shawn with Little Smokies, Scott with his cheese dip and myself with Chicken Enchilada Dip. The points are tallied and the winner is: 

ME!!!!!!!! I get the trophy for the next year and bragging rights. Scott on the other hand said it was because we were late and his dip cooked too long and that is why he lost. I just say he is sore loser.

Here are some other candid shots from Superbowl 2011:

The two grumps upfront were upset because I interrupted their game to snap a picture. The women in the back would be known for the rest of the night as "a bunch of cackling women" that the guys can't hear the game over. 

I think they had just watched a funny commercial or something. Either way it is a very nice picture of the loser and my dad :)

And a bunch of cackling woman.

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My little nook

This is it!!! Several months ago I started transferring my scrapbook room from the shop to the house. I had a little help from Farm Boy as he was shoving me out the shop. I had taken up too much space in the shop and he had grander ideas of what to do with my room than to have it full of scrapbook stuff. So along with that and a case of mildew that took over the shop, I now have my scrapbook room in my house and for the most part it is complete and I am sooooo excited!!! Roscoe wanted to help with the tour.
 

First of all is my cutting table. I have my Cricut machine and my Sizzix machine. Both of which cut die cuts out of paper.

I then have my bookcase which is broke down into several sections. The top shelf has my magazines and idea books.

The middle section has all my scrap paper organized by color, or course.

I then have my stickers. The horizontal holders with drawers hold my title stickers and rub on stickers.  The yellow holder on the right has all my letter stickers in it. The two square holders on the bottom hold paper and stickers organized by themes, such as: Home, Boy, Girl, Holidays, Seasons, and etc.

Next comes all my paper. I have it organized by patterned vs plain and then by color.

Are you impressed yet?

I then have a cabinet next to me at my table that holds my glue, and stuff I need often.Down in the bottom in the purple holder is all my punches and cutters.

On top of that cabinet is where the very most important tool of scrapbooking. A dictionary. This girl can not spell and has had to look up words on numerous occasions. Oh and I guess pens to write those words down.

The last cabinet is located across from my table. This is my "project" cabinet. It holds pictures and memorabilia so then I can organize the pictures and memorabilia and make a scrapbook out of it.

And not last but least another very special spot in my scrapbook room. A space for Little Buddy. That way we can hang out together while I am scrapping and he is sleeping.

So that is it!  A work in progress, I still need to hang up pictures and do a few last minute details but I am very proud of it and have a lot of scrapping to do!

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Blizzard in the Woods

We had a little snow storm yesterday

Just a little one

So I did what a devoted wife of a farmer does.... I went feeding with Farm Boy to spend some quality time with him.

My Chariot awaits....So away we went

These ladies were happy to see us.

I for one was happy to be inside the cab of the truck as oppose to the cattle who were huddled together under trees and had snow and ice stuck in their hair and were moving rather slow against the wind.

Yum, yum, yum is what they were saying.

We could not believe the elements that we were surrounded in. Farm Boy keep taking a tape measure out and measuring the snow and it was starting to pile up...5 inches, 6 inches and on and on.

This is one field that on a normal day you can see completely across it to the other side where it is wooded. Today you couldn't even see half way across it.

We interrupt this snow day to bring you a very important phone call.

Not really but he did spend a lot of the day on his phone checking with his buddies in other various towns wanting to know what the snow status was with them. We soon came up with a prototype for a show called Farm Men. It would be along the lines of Ax Men with a twist of Ice Road Truckers involved. The show would be split between our town, Farm Boy's buddy that lives in a neighboring town and the third buddy that lives in a neighboring state. They could calculate how many head of cattle is fed in a day and the problems and trials that they run into on a daily basis. It could be a hit!! If anyone is a TV producer out there and is interested give me a call, my ultimate goal is to make Farm Boy the money maker so I can stay at home and cook and take pictures. Just a thought.

Back to the blizzard in the woods....

This is one of Missouri's major highways, usually within hours of the first drop of snow it is clear, but as you can tell it was not even touched as of 11:00 in the morning.

Soon after, Farm Boy dropped me off at home so I could get started on lunch and I took pictures of what was happening out my doors and windows.

This was out my kitchen window.

This was out my front door.

And out my back door.

Do you see little buddy staring at my out the door. Now you all know I love that little fluff with all my heart but the last couple of days has been very trying. When the snow is as deep as the fluff it is difficult for him to take care of *ahem* business. He searches forever looking for the spots that he has used  for the last several months not realizing that they are covered up by a foot of snow so he searches and searches and I get more and more impatient, while he gets colder and colder and then sits in the snow and whines because he is cold and does not come to the house so then I have to walk out in the snow and get him and carry him back to the house for him to only THEN sit by the back door and we start the process all over again!!!

Having a earth home is great for so many reasons, one reason it is not good is when the snow is half as high as your house. The drifts create problems getting out of your house rather it be thru the doors or even out of garage.

One of the many things I do love about snow is getting a bowl of snow and making snow-cream with it and that is what I did after supper, Farm Boy had never had it before.

You take your bowl of snow

Add some evaporated milk and sugar

and viola, snow-cream!

Everyone loved it.

So don't worry about us in the woods, as you can see I have my own plower and I am sure I will make it out soon.

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Snow Day

We have had a snow day here in the woods today, and I got the call to not come in to work. Double score!!

So I have complied a list of things to do on this blessed snow day. You could........

1. Get up at normal time because your not sure that we got as much snow as predicted then look out the window only to realize that the ground is covered so you do a little snow dance.

2. Get started on the Bible Study that you just started

3. Grab a hot cup of coffee and watch the Today Show with a Fluff on your lap

4. Get caught up on the shows that are recorded on your DVR

5. Go outside and play in the snow

6. Whine to your husband that you are out of wood inside so he stops by to refill the wood box, so that you don't have to go outside in the cold and get wood

7. Get caught up on magazines that you haven't read in months

8. Make chicken nuggets and french fries for lunch and pretend that you are at McDonald's

9. Read your Kindle

10. Take a nap - most importantly with a Fluff on your lap

11. Watch a season of "The Office"

12. Wait in anticipation for the new Thursday Night line up on NBC

13. Warm up soup that your mom sent home so that you don't have to make supper.

14.  Do stuff like laundry and cleaning....I guess

15. Pray that the roads will still be bad the next day so that you can do it all over again.

HAPPY SNOW DAY!!

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Wood for the Woods

This past Saturday, I had just waken up from a wonderful night of sleep, had gotten my first cup of coffee for the morning and was relaxing in the recliner with a Fluff on my lap when I get a text from my husband.

It read "Do you want to spend some quality time together today?"

My heart fluttered, I was instantly on cloud nine. MY husband...wants to spend time with me?!?!?! I couldn't believe it, he was going to take a day off from farming and spend time with me???

So I texted back, "Absolutely I do!"

Farmboy replied "OK, I'll be there in a minute"

My mind went with all the possibilities of activities that we could do that day. We could watch "The Office" seasons 3 and 4. We could go to the lake and do some shopping. We could finish taking down the Snowman in my house. We could finally dispose of the Pricey Fur that is still sitting on my front porch. Oh my goodness! All the possibilities of quality time we could have!! And at this time Farmboy enters the living room and says...wait for it......

Farmboy: Are you ready to go cut wood?

Now at this, I feel I need to tell a story to give a back ground of the feelings that are going through me right now. A week before this I am told by my Farmboy that he is going to Wrench Night on Saturday. What? You don't know what Wrench Night is? Are those not held in other parts of the country? Well Wrench Night is where Farmboy travels 70+ miles in his truck to a buddy's shop where 4 or 5 other guys are waiting with their trucks all so they can work on their trucks together. Mostly of course Diesels, cause is there any other kind of truck? So back to the story, he tells me on Tuesday that he is going to Wrench Night, on Thursday I am told that I am in charge of desserts for Wrench Night. Saturday Morning I just happen to think I want to go ahead and make desserts so that I can have to possibility of taking a nap later on that day (Dream life, I know). At Noon on that Saturday my Farmboy pops in like a little kid on Christmas morning announcing that he is done for the day and he is heading to Wrench Night. I guess I must have missed something.

A - Since when does Wrench NIGHT take up a whole day

 and

B - Since my Father in Law had back surgery in November we have not been able to leave the farm for longer than 5 hours at a time. No wait, there was one day in December that Adam and I went shopping and got to be gone for 8 hours but that took lots of begging and pleading from me for Farmboy to agree.

So for him to devote a whole day to hang out with his buddies and not want to spend it with me I was hurt, crushed, and I won't lie, mad. But he went off with this Diesel and put cab lights on it and sent me a picture of it when it was done and thanked me for making the desserts.  OK. So back to the future.

Farmboy: Are you ready to go cut wood?

Me: Are you kidding me?

Farmboy: No

Me: Seriously?

Farmboy: Yes, I thought it would be some good quality time for us.

Me: (Well we don't need to go into detail about what all I said)

So after thinking about it and figuring it would do me some good to be outside and get some fresh air and being the exercise enthusiast that I am (hohoho-hehehe) I agreed to go. I am a Farmboy's wife and all.

Me: On one condition, I am not hauling wood and cooking lunch both

Farmboy: Well if you don't want to go then don't worry about it

Me: *Rolling of the eyes

So we ventured off, myself in the feed truck and Farmboy on the tractor, for a day of quality time.



Farmboy using the chainsaw to cut up trees that have fallen from the ice storm in 2007, and myself picking  up the wood and stacking it on the truck.

Sometimes the logs are too big to put in our fireplace, or as Farmboy likes to say "We need Sandi size pieces of wood" so he has to split it.

And sometimes the pieces of wood was too big for Farmboy so he would try and try to split it and then give up and walk away.

While he was sawing away on this log I figured I would try the whole splitting the log with the ax. I mean how hard can it really be?  So I set my log up and the first time I laid into it my ax bounced right off, the second time I missed the log and split a piece off the side, the third time I made contact and actually got the ax into the log, but then I had to wedge it back out and after several more attempts like that I figured I would just go back to stacking. So that is how our quality time was spent. Farmboy cutting and splitting and myself carrying and stacking.

I did have a little help there at the end.

But not from these two, they were not help at all. But they did have a wonderful day of quality time as well.

So here is the finished product, that represents our "Quality Time" together. All I am going to say is that next time better include being waited on at a really nice restaurant.

**** I interrupt this blog to present my first video! Exciting I know!!! I did not bring my camera with me for this memory making experience but I did have my phone. Accidentally one time when I thought I was taking a picture I was actually shooting a video. I am soooo techno-savvy. So enjoy the sound effects and the shot of my sweet rubber boots. I really did help, I promise.

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