Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve remembered to link up with EmmyMom’s 10 Things to Smile about mem… but guess what… I did it today! I tried hard to remember! And truthfully I could have linked up last Tuesday, but… there was still a week left of the month and I just had to hold off.
So in no particular order………… (drum roll please)……………..
9. National FFA week! FFA was a huge part of my growing up so it’s only awesome that there is a whole week devoted to FFA! I mean come on, it shapes a lot of young minds!
5. Because of National FFA week, I got a new pair of boots. Wait, what do those two have in common? Well, they were FFA boots and a special and I think the special was because of FFA week and yeah…
2. The iPhone got my dad. It was great. My dad is a real joker, so it’s always fun to pull one over on him from time to time and we didn’t actually have any part in it, which makes it even better!
As we were pulling out of the driveway this morning I looked down at my phone and it said I had 26 minutes to my parents house and that traffic was clear. I laughed and joked that we go to my parents house a lot on Sunday’s I guess.
If you don’t have an iPhone, it has some feature about it that picks up on patterns that you normally do and tells you how traffic is for that particular commute. Oh… and we weren’t headed to my parents house this morning.
Hubby said that the other day he was talking to my dad. My dad mentioned that he looked down at his phone the other day and it told him what traffic was like to the feed store. Dad started laughing and asked if hubby and I were playing tricks on him. But no, every Saturday is feed store day.
Mudflap used to tell dad it was Saturday and time for the feed store. Mudflap recently passed away though… so now it is dad’s phone that tells him it is time to go to the feed store. I can sure tell you the horses will be happy to have dad receiving reminders ;).
Oooooo I wonder if we travel on a trip if it’ll say he has to go like 136 miles (or some random number) to get to the feed store.
A lot of things happened on Monday that landed us here at the end of the day. It was a very frustrating day that I’ll probably, maybe blog about, but until then, why don’t I share food with you because food is a lot more fun than frustrating days. So anyway Monday we wound up eating dinner at Jose Pepper’s in Belton, MO.
Every time we’ve been up here we’ve wanted to try it, just hadn’t yet. It was cool because I couldn’t remember the name of it, but we got off at the Belton exit and started chattering about it. When we went inside, it was like 5:30 at the latest and there was already a 5-10 minute wait. That tells you this place has to be awesome, especially for a Monday. By the time we left the wait was even worse.
They started us with chips and salsa. Hubs loved the salsa, I liked the chips, and Abug liked both. Hey, the kid loves salsa.
So then we were reading through the menu and I landed on an appetizer of Jumbo stuffed Jalapeños just as hubby pointed to it. OMG, I’m sooooooo glad we got these. Now we didn’t know how big they were and the waitress didn’t tell us, so we were only able to eat one a piece and brought the other 2 home. We could have ordered just 2. Fail on the waitresses part… 🙁
My love/hate relationship with Facebook paid off once again this week. Why do I say love/hate? Well because sometimes I love to hate it! Sometimes people overshare on Facebook. Sometimes people take what you say wrong on Facebook. Sometimes….. the stories go on and on. Use your imagination.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great place to connect with old friends and new friends a like. a great place to share recipes and pictures. And a great place to find deals on boots!
Oh, wait, what? Boots? Yes, boots. This past weekend I was on Facebook, and a group that I’m a member of Farm Hats had a post about a Durango Boots discount. I read through the post and it said that if you ordered with the code FFACHAPTER you got a pair of FFA Durango Boots for $49. I thought that seems too good to be true.
So I went on to the website and it showed that they were $149 (or if men $152 or something like that). I went ahead and added a pair to my cart, plugged in the discount code, and bam… $49 pair of FFA Durango boots. No tax and you could get free shipping for $2 for FedEx shipping. I showed it to the hubs and also shared it on my Facebook page for others to benefit from.
Then that night hubby and I decided (and I use hubby and I loosely, he did it 😉 I just benefitted from it) to order us each a pair. One… the website said $2 was donated to the FFA (I’d have liked a little more but whatever) and two, you can’t beat a pair of $49 pair of boots.
They arrived yesterday. I was sooooo happy! Oh and get this… The box said they donate $5 per pair of boot to the FFA. Even better!!
If you’ve been friends with me or followed this blog for a while now, you’ll know I love photography. If by chance you’re new to these parts, let me tell you now, I love photography. Now you’re up-to-date :).
I bought my first dSLR September of 2009 before I really even knew what a dSLR was. In fact, I had to research it after my first photography class I took because they were talking about it in the class and I didn’t know what dSLR stood for. Sad but true. I feel like I’ve come a long way since then, but I’ll tell you that there is still a ton more to learn.
Photography is one of those things that newbies and oldies can learn something new, if nothing else, a different camera and how it works.
A couple years ago when we were looking to upgrade my Nikon D90 I couldn’t decide between a crop sensor or a full frame sensor. I knew nothing about the difference really. I did some research but I really didn’t know the difference still. Finally I came to the conclusion through my photography, a camera body was more expensive or a lens was more expensive. Other than that…. I didn’t know the difference and couldn’t decide what to do.
After weighing all my options I decided to go on to get another crop sensor camera. I upgraded to the Nikon D7100. I truthfully didn’t feel like I got jipped by going with the crop sensor, really you just compensate for it. I can tell you my D7100 has a crop factor of 1.5. So if I shoot with a 50mm lens, it’s like shooting with an 85mm lens, to get more like a 50, I’d have to back off to a 35 mm lens. I’m still not sure what that 1.5 means, I can just tell you that’s what it is.
So with a full frame, if you shoot with a 50mm lens, it’s like shooting with a 50mm lens. Wow, like that explanation?
So what does all that mean, really? Again, I wasn’t sure. A friend of mine had a Canon Mark 5D Mark II. It is a full frame camera in the Canon series. So I sent her a text asking if I could come play with her dSLR sometime to get the difference. She told me to come on.
Before I made it out there, I actually got to shoot with a Nikon full frame, it is the D610. Upon a little more research, the D610 is extremely similar to my D7100 except well, it’s full frame. So let’s let some pictures tell the story.
Welcome to FFA Week. Did you know it was FFA week? What is National FFA Week? It is a week for FFA, Alumni, and Sponsors to be agvocates for this great organization and Agriculture as a whole.
Now I grew up on a farm and I have always had a fondness for agriculture, but I have learned there are people out there who think their food comes from the store. Well, yes, but where does the store get it?
Words that scare people are GMO, Farm, Factory Farm, Blood & Guts, Antibiotics, etc. There is nothing scary about those words, especially if you educate yourself to the best of your ability. That’s not reading just one side, no, read both sides. You may not agree with what the other side says, but that is how you educate yourself.
I joined FFA as a Freshman in high school (the earliest you could join when I was in school). When I did my student teaching I learned that some programs have 7th and 8th graders taking classes in agriculture to expose them, our school didn’t offer that.
But through the FFA I was able to travel both Domestically and Internationally. In fact I got my Bachelors degree in Agriculture Education. Which here’s a fun fact, George Straight graduated from Southwest Texas State University with a degree in Agriculture Education. Hey King George, you’re awesome in more ways than one!
Anyway I got in to showing sheep as an FFA’er. I showed sheep all over the state of Missouri and took it on to the American Royal. I also traveled to Washington D.C., St. Louis, MO, all over the state of South Dakota, and Costa Rica to pursue agriculture (and that’s just to name a few). Yes, Agriculture is that awesome.
In the FFA I learned how to public speak (I am a very shy/outgoing person), judge animals, trapse through muck with the best of them :), achieve awards, and much more. I learned how to be a team player, how to give more than I receive but receive all in the same. How to make friendships with people you didn’t know and much more. I can’t say enough good things about FFA. And now, some pictures.
Just call me Cookie Monster :). Seriously, these cookies are insanely good and will change your life forever. Truth be told, I’m not a huge sweets person, give me savory over sweet! But I didn’t want to stay out of these. Hubby said I had a little too much filling in them… what does he know. ha! I’ve been seeing people making homemade oreos for a while and I really wanted to try my hand at making some. Then I found this recipe for Red Velvet Oreos. Oh be still my heart! Seriously. And like I said, I’m a savory person but YUM! Anyway I can’t say enough good things so just make them for yourself, you won’t be sad. The cocoa powder gives a hint when you bite in and oh… I want more. We’re out at my house….. sad day! But I don’t need anymore :).
It was a Valentine’s Day weekend. Now… if you know, the hubs proposed to me on the 12th of February 6 years ago, so it usually turns into a multi day thing. That’s just how it is. And 6 years ago when he proposed, it was on a Friday and Valentine’s Day was on a Sunday. That weekend however we found ourselves in Branson at a Cheerleading competition.…
Anyway this year Valentine’s Day weekend started off with lunch with my dad and my husband followed by coming home to a present 🙂
Okay truthfully I guess I’ve been to more than one… but this is the most recent. My niece just turned 1 last Friday (the 5th). Her birthday party was on Sunday. My SIL asked me to take a few photos… wouldn’t you know my camera was DEAD. So I stole hers, which I’d been wanting to play with one like anyway so it was the perfect opportunity. 🙂
