January

Chocolate Birthday Cake

What is the deal with everyone wanting Chocolate Birthday Cake? Seriously… haha. Okay, let’s back up and I’ll explain. Tbug’s birthday is the 2nd of January. Then my father-in-law’s birthday is the 9th of January. Bam, 2 in a row.

When I asked her what she wanted, it was a yellow cake with chocolate icing. Very plain and simple. Sometimes though, those are the best. Then I asked my father-in-law what he wanted. He said, oh, I guess chocolate maybe.

Chocolate, okay, we could go many different ways with that, right? But… then he mentioned, not German Chocolate or was it not Devil’s food chocolate. Gosh, I can’t even remember now. Either way… that did help narrow it down a little.

I had run across The Stay at Home Chef‘s The Most Amazing Chocolate Cake. I’ve made the cake before, which ended in me almost having a meltdown and crying. Ugh! But I’ve learned quite a few tricks since then… So… I decided to make it word for word recipe-wise.

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#BlogJanuary

This may not interest anyone else but me, but I wanted to keep track. That’s just how it goes :).

In January this year, I wrote 9 blog posts. That is down from previous years, but I still absolutely LOVE this blog. I write blog posts in my head on a daily basis. Usually, it is when I’m driving down the road and can’t actually blog… In college, I used to write great blog posts… in the shower. I decided then I needed to come up with a writing system that withstood water. Btw, being a farmer, I know that one exists. I went to our local farm store and they have a paper/pencil system that allows you to write in rain.

Now the question is, why would you need to write in rain as a farmer? Well, what if you have a baby calf born. What if you gave one a vaccination to help them with something. What if this what if that. It is always best to write yourself notes so you can keep them in case you need the information later. i.e. birthdates. So they have created a paper system farmers can keep on them that won’t disintegrate when wet and will get those notes from the fields to the house. Very cool, right? Why didn’t I think of all of this? Oh, wait, I did.

Anyway…Back to blog posts… Here are the top 5 blog posts as viewed by readers. The Honorable Mentions catch us up to the top 5 2018 posts 🙂

When things don’t go right…

What is the saying… When things don’t go right… go left.

Is this where I get to yell PLOT TWIST?

A little while back I mentioned that we could use prayers. I mentioned this while also mentioning that I hate when people are so open-ended and vague. Now… the real sucky part is I’m not ready to discuss what they were needed for yet… but I can tell you things didn’t go the way we hoped. To say that we are heartbroken might not even do this feeling justice. In fact, I’m kind of at a loss for words. I will preface by saying this has nothing to do with growing our family… It’s more on a professional level… does that help a little bit?

We could still use those prayers. I know that God has a bigger and better plan for us and that we just aren’t ready to see this yet. I believe that wholeheartedly, but at the same time I always feel like in the back of my mind I’m being punished. God isn’t vengeful. He doesn’t do things like that. Life isn’t easy and that’s all there is to it, but I was a little cocky and arrogant when I was in my 20’s and I swear that it’s coming back to bite me in the ass. (more…)

Gussied Up

Sometimes my husband calls me the queen of random and lately that’s really how I’ve felt. I happened to be watching one of my absolute, all-time favorite movies… My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. Gosh, I love that movie! I prefer it over the 1st and typically, in my opinion anyway, you can’t always say that about sequels. Usually the first is best and second isn’t worth it. But this one… I actually much prefer the second and want them to make a third!

In this movie, if you haven’t seen it, Tula and Ian’s daughter goes to her senior prom. (No, that isn’t what the whole movie is about, just the part pertinent to today’s post.) Because of that scene, I got to thinking about Prom and real life. A relative of mine’s daughter had her debutante ball this last weekend. We don’t have anything like that around here, I figured it was just a tv thing… but it is apparently a real thing. The girls dress up in beautiful gowns. Prom is the same way and then there are homecomings, etc.

All this getting gussied up young in life and then people grow up and what is there? Maybe a wedding dress here and there, but what else? I grew up in the country. I grew up rural. Even Middle America. Maybe it’s different if you live in NYC or someplace. Maybe people do get dressed up for Christmas Eve and Christmas day… I don’t know. I just know my friends and I don’t. (more…)

It’s Still True

I’m sitting here listening to my husband snore at 6something in the morning. Now… 1) this isn’t an unusual occurrence. 2) If you really knew me, you know I’d be kicking him and telling him to quit snoring. 3) I’m not doing 2 which is odd.

The other day this hit my timehop app. I giggled when I read it, then decided I needed to post it again and share it once more.

I commented, Still True so I hear…

But that’s just the thing. I posted that a year ago when my husband was on a trip to Branson for work. Every year they take off for work for a couple days to have some big conference. And during those couple days, I am “single” again. Now here’s a weird thing about me… I’ve always liked sharing a bed with someone and been a snuggler. Kind of weird when that someone is your best friend and you’re in junior high… Whoops. It wasn’t that I was trying weird things… I just have always liked sharing a bed with someone. Wow, that still sounds weird.

As a kid staying at my grandparent’s house, I never liked to sleep alone. I usually tried to convince one of my grandma’s to sleep with me. Now, at my Grandma J’s, I usually just slept on the couch which was in the next room and that was okay. You can’t share a couch with anyone anyway.

Okay, the more I type on this… the weirder I sound. I guess I am weird so I should just own up to it… NEVER! haha. (more…)

Two Truths

As I lay awake last night staring at the ceiling, trying to get past the sound of my husband snoring, I couldn’t help but think about life… again…

There are two truths I can tell you about myself. These two truths I have heard my whole life.

Truth 1: You have a beautiful smile.
Truth 2: You need to smile more, you look like you’re mad all the time.

I have to say, the latter of those truths I am kind of tired of hearing. Let me explain. There’s a quote that says something to the effect of always smile and make them wonder what you’re up to. You know the one I’m talking about, right?

I have a question to that though… How many people do you actually see walking around all the time smiling? Seriously. If they are, people think they’re weirdos, but in all reality, I hardly see anyone walking around smiling ALL. THE. TIME. Maybe when they’re happy about something that just happened or if they are talking to someone, but otherwise, people don’t generally walk around with a constant smile on their face. (more…)

5 Years

This picture popped into my timehop yesterday. Yesterday was January 24, 2018. 5 years ago I took this picture. I started to do a before and now shot, but didn’t get around to it… but this picture is interesting to me. Why? I mean it’s just a selfie and looks a little blurry (by the background I was in my driveway)… but the reason it is so intriguing to me is that 5 years ago…

5 years ago was January 24, 2013. I was in a different point/time in my life. By the look of it, I almost want to guess I’m either wearing a black jacket or a black sweatshirt. I think I’m going with a black jacket. In that case, it would have been a Pea Coat. I love those. I don’t wear one these days. They don’t really go with my style these days which consists of jeans, t-shirt, and boots. I mean they would dress that look up a bit, but…. that one may not fit anyway.

It looks like morning time so that means I was on my way to work. 5 years ago I actually had an 8-5 job. Not for much longer as I lost that job in April 2013. Some days I see that loss as a blessing in disguise and other days I feel like that was the worst thing that could have happened to me ever.

At that time I had been looking for a new job. I wasn’t happy with where I was and was searching for a different job. I really wanted a career but at that point, a job was what I was searching for. Thinking of Job interviews you get asked a question a lot… Where do you see yourself in 5 years. I have always thought that was a loaded question and an extremely difficult one to answer. (more…)

2018 Will be the Year of Nicole

Dressed for doing chores outside in the cold.

If I claim it will be the year of Nicole, will that make it so?

I like the show The Middle. I feel like I can relate to Sue Sue Heck. If you’ve never watched the show, yes, that is her name, Sue Sue Heck. Sadly, she’s also kind of a nerd/dork. I hate to say that because like I said, I relate to her. But truth be told, I’m probably a nerd/dork too.

Every year, usually school year but still, Sue claims it to be the Year of Sue. Of course, sadly, this is the last season. I’m mad about that. She’s also potentially getting with the guy but they are still keeping him at arm’s length from her so I’m upset about that too. GRRRRRR! (more…)