Memories
The Day I got “In Trouble” for buying something I collect…
It’s snowing outside if you can believe that. We’re supposed to get less than 1 inch accumulation, I almost think we’ve succeeded that though. Where am I you might ask? Well I’m sitting on the fireplace. No no no… not burning my rear… that shelf in front of it that is bricks and my back is up against the door handles. I love fireplaces like this!
Anyway… I thought this would be the perfect time to tell you about the perfect “gift” I bought the other day that I “got in trouble” for buying. Walk with me, or sit and read, whichever!
Years ago, and maybe I’ve told you this story, but years ago when I was about 10 years old, one Christmas I told my grandma that I wanted to collect something. She asked me what I wanted to collect and I told her I didn’t know but I wanted to collect something.
My grandma was an avid reader of magazines and the newspaper, and one magazine article in particular that happened around that time of me telling her that was about a lady who collected Mr. and Mrs. Clause Salt and Pepper Shakers. My grandma showed me the article and this lady had been collecting them for like 30 years or something and had an entire room in her house dedicated to them. Grandma asked if this was something I’d be interested in? I told her I don’t know, maybe. And so it started.
That year for Christmas my grandma bought me my first set of Mr. and Mrs. Clause Salt and Pepper shakers.
Sadly at the age of 10 years old I wasn’t real impressed with the gift. I know I know, I told her that I wanted to collect something and she was helping me out, but at that time I didn’t really treasure what had been given to me.
To keep or not to keep, that is the question
Going back to that list of blog post ideas, there was one that was, what are bad habits of yours and share why you won’t give them up. Ever.
Today I was texting a friend of mine and telling him about what’s going on in my life (I promise I’ll fill the blog in ASAP) and I told him I was kind of sad. His response was, that’s because your sentimental about things like that.
Hmmm…. I’m not sure why but that has hung with me most of the rest of the day. I know I’m sentimental but I told him in a response, that’s probably one of the bad things about me. He disagreed, but he tends to play devil’s advocate with me, a lot… Just talk politics with him… (btw, he votes like I do.)
Then I pondered on if being sentimental is a bad thing…
Recently I’ve been going through cabinets and purging things I don’t like or don’t use. Why keep them around if I don’t use them? But there are still a bunch of things I keep. Why? I had a karaffe in my arsenal of things I’ve been hanging on to. I’ve never used it. It’s really pretty, but again, I’ve never used it. So why did I keep it around? Because my Grandma S gave it to me.
My Grandma S passed away in 2007. I still miss her to this day. Even if I don’t see that karaffe, knowing it is in my kitchen made me feel closer to her. Was it hers? No. Was there anything special about it? Not really. So why did it hold that sentiment? Well, because I told her I liked it or something similar to it and so she made sure I got it.
I finally decided that I didn’t want it, but the more I think about it, I really kind of do. It’s really pretty. Decisions, decisions.
That’s just one example. So I guess in this case, it can be seen as a bad habit. Justifying keeping something that I don’t really need, but something that I still really like. I’m not sure where I’ll wind up on the to keep or not to keep, but know this… I probably won’t be giving up this “bad habit” any time soon. And once I decide, I’ll let you know. My decision should come soon!
Btw, do you want to see the karaffe? It’s really pretty!
Round and Round We Go
Last week was the Lamar Fair. I pretty much grew up there during high school and college. In fact, from the time I was 15, I think I only missed 1 until I was too old to show there. That’s not to bad I don’t think. And I have lots of good memories from there… like the time that I got into a water fight. I’ll have you know I didn’t start it.
Okay, so the water fights at the Lamar fair… At the end of every livestock portion of the fair, there was typically a water fight. The officials tried to stop it, but it never happened, so then they banned it from being under the tents (yup we were under tents at the time, now they’re under a pavilion). So as long as the water fight stayed outside the tents, it was fair game. 2 friends and I had left to go get lunch. When we got back, Chelsea and I made a deal that if one of us got wet, the other would join in on the fight.
I took off running like mad because we both had kids hot on our tail, I dove into someone’s sheep pens head first while she got soaked. So I walked out the front of the tent and said hit me, which caused me to get hit with 4 different buckets of water from all directions. But then, the hunt was on. What do I mean? Oh Chelsea and I were out to get all our fellow sheep participants involved in the water fight. By the end of the water fight, I’m pretty sure that most all sheep participants we showed with were soaked, including our official leader. He was a parent, but we didn’t take mercy.
Those are the kind of stories I want my kids to have. Fun ones. Even though it sucked being soaked in jeans and boots, it was a lot of fun and something I wouldn’t trade. Luckily for me, I brought dry clothes to go home in. Poor Lexie, a fellow competitor we got soaked, she did not, so she had to ride home pants less or so her mom told us.
Abug is too little to show yet, but when I heard the Lamar Fair was going on, I asked the hubs if we could go up one night. The one thing about the Lamar fair is that they have rides as well as the animal portion of the fair. We always start out in the livestock barns because, well, that’s where I grew up. It’s always funny to me to see the kids who were her age when I was showing, now being at that showing age. It’s CRAZY!
Case in point… This kid right here was like 2-4 years old the last year I could show. Now he’s 17 year’s old I think someone told me earlier this summer.
After yacking with my friend Casey and his dad Randy for a while down in the sheep barns, and Casey and hubby ganging up on me more than once (by the way, I have multiple stories on Casey… we’ve been friends way to long), we decided to head up to the carnival portion of the fair.
My Kitchen
Once upon a time I ran across a list of blogging prompts. One of the prompts was share the favorite room in your home, and why you love it. I immediately knew which room I would choose, I would choose the kitchen. And while that may be a bit of a stretch, here is my reasoning.
Growing up I had a love hate relationship with cooking. I loved to cook but I hated to wait for whatever it was I was cooking to finish because I was usually “starving” or at least so I thought at the time.
As I got older I started making a “hope” chest. You know what that is, right? A hope that you get married, except I wasn’t hoping I’d get married, I hoped I’d have my own kitchen. Everything I collected happened to be kitchen gadgets and utensils. When Food Network started up, I used to watch it religiously, trying to learn how to cook from the greats, Tyler Florence, Emeril Lagassee, Rachael Ray, Paula Deen… I wanted nothing more to do than to learn to be one of the greats when it came to the kitchen.
Throwback Thursday: Costa Rica circa May 2002
I think I’m ready to go on a trip again… Tuesday night I was working on a project that included looking through old photos. Once upon a time I scanned my Costa Rica Scrapbook and I was looking through it… I decided to share it. 1) Don’t judge my pictures…. 2) Don’t judge my handwriting! 3) This was a time in my life when people actually called me fat to my face…. I’d hate to see what they say about me now!
I’ll add a few stories along the way….
So this really wasn’t made for 12 American’s… lol. We were cram backed in this van like sardines. There were times we added even more people. And we had 2 of us on this trip that were prone to getting car sick. The Van was a standard and I spent a lot of time sitting on the console in the front so I didn’t get sick. The other way to keep from getting sick was I kept taking motion sickness pills and they’d knock me out. So I got made fun of for sleeping a lot of this trip away if we were in vehicles.
Graduation parties are what Saturday’s are made for!
It is that time of year when graduations are going on. I actually had a bunch of friends who were graduating high school this year, one being SW. Yesterday I attended her graduation party. When I got there I jumped in and helped Deb start with some of the preparation while SW and her mom Michelle worked on decorations. Then once all the inside prep was caught up, I went outside to check out what was going on. They were working on heating up the pool, building a bonfire, and decorating the pool area.
I just sat down and was talking to Karen when Karen said, oh no, there go the balloons. I guess all the balloons escaped. Woops!
There was food galore! Ham and Cheese sliders, BBQ Pork rib sliders, Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad, Chips and guac, a fruit bowl, pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, and more desserts than you could shake a stick at. I must say, I sampled quite a bit of it…. and it was good. Hey, if there’s one thing I can say, we know how to cook :). Welcome to the Midwest!
FFA and National FFA Week
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.
