From My Front Porch . . . .

She is actually a pretty good patient!

2012-02-23T11:46:00.000-05:00

Cross my fingers as it is only day 1 - but honestly I didn't know what to expect, we are blessed in that the worst it has been around here is strep and chicken pox! Yesterday and the day before I was getting text messages and calls from friends and family asking what kind of ice cream she liked and was there anything they could do for me - I told them "she loves sherbert and I may need lots of Boones"! And when we got home yesterday there was already ice cream in the freezer, a Dairy Queen cherry Arctic Freeze and a bottle of Boones in the fridge - I love our friends! We may have to go out and purchase a new freezer with all the visitors bringing ice cream that we have lined up - note: I am not complaining please don't cancel or not bring the ice cream because I am more than willing to purchase a new freezer for the happiness of my girl and ~~my love~~ her need for ice cream!

Here she is in the hospital yesterday waiting to go into surgery, we were playing around with Instagram!

She was overly fascinated with her IV!

We got to the hospital at 8:30 in the morning and she went into surgery around 10:30 and back out in less than half an hour. After she came out of the anesthesia they moved her up to the peds unit where we stayed until about 4:30 in the afternoon - she had a little trouble staying awake to drink enough so that we could go home any sooner! This is where I must say how happy we were with Columbus Regional Hospital, the nurses, dr's, anesthesiologist and staff were awesome, friendly and so helpful! It was kind of a fluke that we ended up down there - the ENT Specialist that we were referred to works out of Columbus and Johnson Memorial, which was originally the hospital that we choose - but since we are self-employed and therefore have self-employed insurance which for us puts our deductible at $11,000 per person requires that we check into how much items on the "menu" are going to cost so that we can get the money together - anyway when we called Johnson Memorial their "menu" prices seemed steep so I decided to call Columbus just to do a little bargain shopping and it paid off - they were A LOT cheaper - isn't that what everyone looks for in health care - cheap! But in all seriousness we loved it down there and obviously short of emergency's (because of distance) this will be our hospital of choice!

So that leads us to today - here she is all "nested" and resting! She has her bell and wipe and write board -which I will be honest I didn't give her till this morning when I figured out that she was going to be a good patient and the only 2 things she has written on the board are "I love you" & "Do you want me to go get my sherbert?" to which I responded "I love you too" & "~~yes I'd like 2 dips~~ of course not" )! She also got balloons and care package of stuff to do from her Gramma and Grumpy (Chris' parents)!

Pretty much all she demands is that I lay in the same room with her and watch Disney movies and when I get her Sherbert I get myself some too! Now that is my kind of patient!

PS Chris: she did say that it would make her feel a lot better if you and the other 2 kids would clean the kitchen and do a couple of loads of laundry while I was caring for her - but don't ask her if that's true because her throat hurts really bad you wouldn't want to make her talk!

And last night she got some really exciting news that I can't wait to share when it is official - I am so proud of her!

Conversations With My Kids

2012-02-19T17:57:00.000-05:00

Me: (as calm as I can and with my foot almost thru the floor board) Umm Casey the brake on my side of the car doesn't seem to be working could you please use yours to slow down or say maybe STOP the car!

Casey: The light is green Mom!

Me: Yeah I see that but the cars in front of you that are at a complete stop don't seem to realize that!

Casey: Well it's green they should be going!

A Farmers Heaven On Earth

2012-02-16T22:23:00.002-05:00

We went, we saw, we walked - ALOT!

So we just got home from our annual trek to one of the holy lands for farmers - The National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville (the other is The Farm Progress Show) - we of course got our tickets for the tractor pull and finally were able to find a room in Louisville - so we picked the kids up after school yesterday and headed South!

See these tractors - they grade and level down the track between every hook - the oldest has aspired for years to drive one these - this is what she would love to do when she grows up!!!

Modified's - make my butt vibrate and bust my eardrums but are fun to watch!

Small alcohol fire!

Crowd finally thinned out and we streched out for the last class!

The gate to Farmer Heaven:

So once we made it thru the first room and into the second I caught a whiff of this wonderful smell and my nose led me striaght to the north wing entrance to this cart:

let me just say:

"oh my you hot fresh lil orbits mini donuts I do believe you are the love of my life you are so worth every pound that I am positive you put on my thighs I will love you forever and will dream of you every single night for the next year until we can once again be together in Feb. of 2013 until then my little sweet I will be yearning for you, every where we go I will search for you in the crowd, I will stalk you on Facebook and Twitter, I will spend quiet moments thinking of our short time together and longing for more. . ."

As I started my second dozen (not kidding, not exaggerating, completely serious) Chris looks at me and says:

"You better be careful you could founder on those things!"

Once inside while all the equipment is fascinating absolutly nothing compares to reaching John Deere!

The ultimate goal is to sit in every single ~~throne~~ seat that is associated with JD - yes even those that are not even in a cab!

And then of course there is the crowning - when you get that free hat - FARMERS LOVE FREE HATS!

Chris says he goes for "us" because "we" love it so much - after 3 hours of walking around the show today, dragging 3 tired kids (pull wasn't over until 11:30pm) and him looking at me and a tad bit too excitedly saying:

"Only 2 more rooms, keep up I move like the wind thru this crowd"

- I doubt it was ALL for us but if it was, we loved every minute!

And the man says he doesn't celebrate Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T21:20:00.000-05:00

So I woke the kids up this morning at 5:45 as usual, went downstairs, grabbed a jacket threw on a pair of boots and headed out to the barn to check on one of cows who was due to calve soon - walked in the barn and was met with the sight of a new born baby calf!!! So I ran back up to the house to throw on some insulated coveralls (my pajamas weren't keeping me warm-go figure) I throw open the back door and holler: "It's a boy" to which Chris yells back "Happy Valentine's Day, do you know how hard it was for me to get that cow to hold that calf in until today as a present for you? And don't forget I'm taking you to Grill Bar for lunch so you don't have to cook either!"

He's so cute and when I found him he was still wet so I didn't miss his birth by much!

I was so glad the kids got to see him before they left for school - this is Casey's cow!

I took this one with my iPod!

After the kids got on the bus Chris decided to clean off the sow lots and then came down to the house so we could clean off the cattle lots while it was still frozen - and by "we" I mean he cleaned them off while I petted the new calf and then I would ride in the tractor with him while he spread the load!

Then we came in and got cleaned up to go to lunch - Chris even showered and put clean jeans and a shirt on for our lunch, I said "I thought you didn't like this holiday" he said "I don't but I like you" - I am completely serious when I say that is one of the sweetest things ever!

We ended the day with a spaghetti supper and brownie sundaes around the kitchen table!

My day didn't involve any flowers, cards or boughten chocolates but it couldn't of been any better -

LIFE IS GOOD

Frosty Morning-Frozen Ground-28 Is Going Down

2012-02-13T20:56:00.002-05:00

Well really it is applied but Frosty Morning-Frozen Ground-28 Is Being Applied just didn't really have the rythym or roll off the tongue like my title!!!

Frosty winter wheat!

We raise a small amount of winter wheat so that we have acreage to spread manure on during the summer. It is planted in the fall, we usually choose as close to The Hession Fly Free Date as possible. Winter wheat sprouts and starts growing during the fall and then goes into hibernation for the winter. Topdressing the wheat with nitrogen just before the wheat begins to grow again in the spring, or break dormancy, allows the plants to have the nutrients they need as the crop enters a phase of rapid growth (early spring), without running the risk of losing the nutrients over the winter, or promoting unneeded growth of the plant too early, which could cause the wheat to go down/fall before harvest. So we try to have the 28 put on towards the end of January at the earliest but while the ground is frozen, or dry enough to carry the applicator, which in our area is highly unlikely. ("28" refers to the amount of nitrogen in the fertilizer, 28% by weight)

This year the wheat is around our house (my favorite field) so I went back on a waterway to take some pictures of him applying with our house in the background!

Interesting - the booms on this sprayer are approx. 120 feet, our house is 90 feet from front to back - I find it so amazing that the booms are longer than our house!

Early summer we will probably have this wheat aerial sprayed with fungicide as well.

And that just wouldn't be pretty!

2012-02-09T15:59:00.000-05:00

Laundry Today or Naked Tomorrow

I saw this saying somewhere on the Internet a while back - probably on Pinterest but I couldn't find it on any of my boards so if I stole it from you I am more than willing to give you credit, you just have to let me know who "you" are!!!! Anyway I loved it and knew that I wanted it in my laundry room but just didn't know what else exactly to put or do with it!

Until the day I saw this laundry room idea from Pinterest

- and I knew I had found exactly what I was looking for! So I got to work - the whole project took less than 2 total hours and everything I needed was a Wal-Mart - that is a huge score for me as I hate going to Greenwood for any reason!

So the first thing I did was find the pictures I wanted to use - sad but true I had more pictures of all of us filthy dirty than I needed so I had to narrow them down - these are the ones I choose:

Went to Wal-Mart and I got: some wooden pant hangers, 8X10 canvas's, modge-podge and photo paper!

I cropped the pictures the way I like them, printed them out as 8x10's on photo paper then glued them on the canvas's, when they dried I put a second coat of the modge-podge on to and once they dried I put them between the pants hangers and used those Command picture hanger velcro thingees (that is the technical term I am sure) to put them on the wall - I love those things, we have plaster and lathe walls so nails are a pain in the butt! Then I cut the letters our to spell "Laundry Today or Naked Tomorrow" with a Cricut cutter and some vinyl, put them on the wall, hung my small wash board that I have had forever with it and WHALAA - I saw, I pinned, I did!

My laundry room gets a work out and I seem to spend a lot of time in there and now I actually like the way it looks - Thank you Pinterest!

I now require a theme song!

2012-02-06T11:14:00.000-05:00

So last week I bought myself an iPod touch! I have no need for an iPhone - I'm not that important - but I decided that music makes me smile and really picks my spirits up so I thought "what the heck" and decided to give having an iPod a shot - I bought it from The Apple Store online and they offered free engraving so I had "MOMS - DO NOT TOUCH" put on the back - I would of rather had the option of every time someone but me touched they would get shocked like a hot shot does - but oddly enough they didn't offer that option!

Anyway I downloaded all the songs we had on iTunes (ones the kids had bought and ones that we had put on the computer from CD's) but knew there were literally hundreds of songs that I would love to have so I implemented the "Feel Good Song Of The Day" for myself - some days I buy one and some days I just look thru what we have and go with anything that makes me smile - it is my theme song for the day!

So these were last weeks picks:

Delta Dawn - Tanya Tucker
Lizzie and The Rainman - Tanya Tucker (I am a huge Tanya Tucker fan)
Rollin' With The Flow - Charlie Rich

So this morning I was contemplating today's "Feel Good" song and remembered Chris' comment last night during the Super Bowl half time show:

"Seems to me if you were going to spend that much money on someone singing it's ashame it's not Merle Haggard!"

So Merle Haggard it will be today - it just came down to picking a song! The first that occurred to me was Pancho and Lefty - right before Chris and I got married we were at the Amity Sale Barn one night and they ran some baby goats thru the ring and I said "Awww I want a baby goat" and being that we were still in that "Whatever makes you happy sweetheart" stage - we brought 2 baby goats home - we named them Pancho and Lefty - poor Lefty only made it a couple of days but Pancho was the best goat ever (I know that several people who know me well are picking themselves up off the floor right now as they never knew I owned a goat or even admit that I loved that dumb goat) - but he was a good goat, he seriously never caused a problem, he never ate stuff he wasn't supposed too, never got out of his pen on his own - he was like a goat on Prozac - happy and well behaved!

I really did love that goat!

But that really isn't what you might call a peppy song - some of my other favs by Merle Haggard would be:

Mama Tried, I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink, The Fightin' Side of Me, Workin' Man Blues - the list goes on - but not really what I was looking for in my theme song for the day! So I asked Chris and after singing a few verses from about 20 Merle Haggard songs he starts singing "Rainbow Stew" and I knew that was it!

Finally got tix to the great sporting event!

2012-02-02T11:57:00.000-05:00

It's become a tradition for us - every year around January someone will mention Valentines Day and one kid will say "Have you bought tix's yet Mom? We are going aren't we? PLEASE!"

So I got on TicketMaster - saw what was available and just hit the "purchase" button and now we are all 5 going again this year!

WE LOVE THE NATIONAL FARM MACHINERY SHOW - WE GO EVERY YEAR!

The oldest was born Jan. 11, 1996 and attended her first National Farm Machinery Show Feb. 1996!

It is one of the reasons my kids can miss school (which is one of the reasons I get the bad parent letter every year)! Four years ago we were down there and on a whim decided to stick around and go to the tractor pull that evening - the kids (OK me too) had a blast and the next year begged to go back - they kept telling Chris it could be their Valentine's Day present - Chris reminded them they (or me) don't get Valentine's Day presents - he hates Valentine's Day (a whole other post) - but luckily he loves tractor pulls as much as us so it has become a tradition and our official Valentine's Day celebration for the 5 of us to spend the day looking around the show and then go to the tractor pull!

Pictures from over the last few years:

Wicked Willys is owned by some family friends so we always have to make a pit stop to say "HI" and they let the boy sit in the truck!

So Valentines Day presents have been bought in this house and the other day while we were at Wal-Mart we took an extra minute to stop and look at the cards - we each found one that we would buy for the others - handed them to that person said "Here is your Valentines card" - we read them, say "Aww Thanks" put them back on the shelf and leave - so cards are taken care of too!

I am particularly excited this year because I will be wearing my new boots from Country Outfitter which will be getting a real test as we do LOTS of walking and I am going to take a ton of pics with the new lens Chris bought me for Christmas - be prepared for lots of pics of tractors pulling!

Definitely My Girl!

2012-01-26T19:22:00.000-05:00

So we are sitting at the supper table this evening discussing how every one's day was when the middle kid says:

"We had a substitute teacher today in one of my classes, it was the same woman who was the student teacher in my 2nd grade class - she remembered me Mom, isn't that cool - she came up to me and said:

'Emi Lou I remember you because you walked into 2nd grade one day looked down at your cowboy boots and said "Oh man I have shit on my boots can I go outside and scrap it off?" , it was so funny'

- I can't believe she remembered me!"

Split!

2012-01-25T17:51:00.001-05:00

One of our winter shop projects is fixing the 2940 - it wouldn't stay in high range - the only way to fix this problem is to split the tractor to be able to get to the hi/lo unit! I wonder if we can say we now have two 1470's????

NICE JACKSTANDS - he built them himself!

I would have a few more pics but he kept making me get wrenches - couldn't he see I was busy!

Standing in the middle of a tractor!

The guilty party - came out when he drained the hydrolic fluid! Now to find the rest of it!

Today he went even deeper looking for the problem - he pulled the rock shaft cover off looking to see where the broken part came from - and he had success - now to start fixing and putting back together!

Last night Casey went down to the shop to see it and when she walked in she said "What are you doing to the tractor Dad?" Chris looked at her and said "It was too short so I am making it longer by adding a piece in the middle!" - she seriously had to stop and think about it before she realized he was kidding!

GREATEST CONVERSATION EVER

2012-01-21T10:44:00.000-05:00

This conversation just happened over breakfast:

The boy: "If I were stranded on a desert island with only one food it would be bacon - well not so much bacon as a pregnant sow so that I would always have a supply of bacon and pork."

Un-named neighbor girl (Hi Emily): "Cole if all you ate was bacon you would be fat!"

Me: "Really? What would your only food of choice on a desert island be ~~Katie~~ un-named neighbor girl"

Un-named neighbor girl: "well . . . . potatoes"

I love kids conversations!

The Tuck and Roll

2012-01-19T22:18:00.001-05:00

LEARN IT - USE IT - LOVE IT

Very seldom do I oversleep on accident - maybe once last year and the first time this school year was today - but it happens so I have to take the kids to school! Around here our policy is: The school bus passes here twice a day unless you have an extra curricular activity you better be on it - it is your transportation but on the rare occasion I have to take you to school or pick you up during the rush you WILL implement the Tuck and Roll for drop off and the Reverse Tuck and Roll for pick up!

I am flabbergasted at the number of parents who choose to take their kids to school everyday - not necessarily bad or good - everyone has a right to do what they think is best for their family but my problem arises waiting in the car line - what is going on in these cars as they pull up to the "drop" point? What takes them so long to get out of the car? It's not like you were just cruising around and suddenly made a last minute decision to drop the kids off at school! Most likely you just left the house, if it's cold the kid should be wearing their coat, the backpack should be together and zipped, as you pull into the school start saying your good-byes, love you's, have a great day, and any last minute instructions!

LEARN IT
1. If weather dictates wear a coat, have it on - don't just carry it! Have your backpack/school supplies together!
2. As we approach the turn into the school - let me know any last minute changes to schedules - once in the parking lot all "oh Mom I forgot" no longer matter!
3. Once in the actual car line and off the road please remove your seat belt and untangle yourself from it!
4. Please place your backpack on your back!
5. Please grasp the door handle firmly!
6. "I love you, have a good day!" from me!
7. We are now 4-5 cars from drop point you should be fully prepared - as I roll into drop position and come to a stop you will immediately disembark from the car, immediately close the door and step away from the vehicle!
8. You go to school and within seconds I am out of the way of the next car in line!

USE IT
LOVE IT PEOPLE and we will all be happy!

Booty Up!

2012-01-17T20:16:00.000-05:00

Yeah - that is exactly what the tag read on the Wranglers that I opened!
Yeah - my kids died laughing (well maybe not died so much as coming close to being murdered for laughing so hard at my expense)
Yeah - Chris snickered (he knew better than to laugh out loud) and asked "What the heck did you buy those for?"
Yeah - I have the need, desire or place to wear "Booty Up" jeans like I have the need, desire or place for another pair of shit covered boots, another kid, a hole in the head - well you get the idea!

My disclaimer: I am going to be brutally honest I can't help it - it's just who I am!

When I got the email that asked if anyone wore Wrangler jeans, had a kid or husband who wore Wranglers because Wrangler was looking to give jeans away for review - 3 men's, 3 kids and 3 women's - I got excited - I wear Wranglers everyday and so does the boy - I shot back an email faster than you can say "Wrangler butts drive me nuts" that included my make, model, size and length, I also included the boys just in case they weren't interested in my butt driving anyone nuts!

So these are the style of Wranglers I wear everyday:

Wrangler 20X Jackson Slim Fit

2 things - Leave it to a kid to take a picture of my butt for no reason and then me to actually need it and post it here (I am shuddering) and I do not chew skoal that is a camera lens cover in my back pocket!

I love them! They fit my, shall we say slightly odd shape, "healthy size thighs and butt" with a tiny waist (comparatively speaking of course), they aren't exactly "teacher, mom" jeans but they do come up high enough in the back that I am not mistaken for a plumber! I found them one day at Tractor Supply, they are reasonably priced for the way I abuse jeans, they look good with boots and tennis shoes, they are at least 99% cotton (very important to me - I can't stand spandex and polyester in my jeans) - I won't lie - I own 5 pairs already and was pretty psyched to own 6!

But when the package came, inside was a completely different kind of jean than anything I am accustomed to:

while they are nothing like I normally wear they weren't all bad - a little dressy for me as I don't often wear dressy jeans but once everyone passed the snickering stage over the "booty up" tag they all actually said that they did look good on me - way too long - I order a 36 length in my other jeans so they are long enough for my boots these in a 36 were wwwaaayyy too long and I wasn't wearing flats either!

So while I probably won't be wearing these too often and won't be ordering another pair I still love Wrangler jeans -

I wear mine for work, play and

for as dressed up as I get!

Now head on over to The Real Farmwives of America Blog and see who else got some Wrangler jeans to try!

While Wrangler did provide me with the jeans to review the thoughts, opinions and pictures are all mine!

I will end with this Wrangler butt so that there is no adverse effects to the previous pictures!

Things On My Mind!

2012-01-13T19:57:00.000-05:00

It's Friday night, it's cold out, I have a cold, I am a little grouchy and I can't turn my wandering mind off:

*Top Producer came in the mail today - if I sat down and read all the farm magazines that come thru this house I would never get anything else done so I usually just flip thru one now and then but this issue caught my attention for more time than the standard glimpse:

- the article entitled "High-Profile Crash of A Titan" caught my attention - I can't gracefully and politically correctly (is that even a word) articulate my thoughts on this article or the farm it is about - that is bugging me - I am usually very vocal with my opinion and I have an opinion on this I just can't formulate intelligently how I feel.

- so did the article "Changes In Child Work Orders" - I know this has been talked about for a while now - I try to stay away from controversial and political stuff - this blog was for me, a way to remember the things that I am afraid I will forget during this time I feel like a chicken with it's head cut off - anyway this has been in the back of my mind for sometime (scary place back there). I have read several different articles on this issue, as well as blog posts - one caught my attention and made me smile:

It was "Confessions of a FarmWife" by Emily

Her wording of the possible citation issued to her husband for having their young daughter with him on the farm:
"Six year old and 36 year old cited for spending time together, outside, exerting energy and breathing in fresh air, all while using muscles and brain power to climb up and down off of equipment, through fences and over green pastures."

Two post I wrote along the lines of kids working on the farm -
Raising Kids on the Farm for Indiana Family of Farmers Blog
Earning Their Keep

*Nyquil - as I write this my nose is stuffed up and I just want to go to bed am considereing going ahead and taking Nyquil and just call it a night - it's 7pm on a Friday night, yeah I am old and I am OK with that but the big problem is that if I take it this early it may not keep my nose clear all night so the big issue is what time to take the second dose in the middle of the night and will it coincide with my middle of the night restroom break so that I don't have to get out of bed twice!!!!!!

*The kids have a 3 day weekend and they are already bored - seriously - this drives me insane and now they will be bored and bugging me for the next 3 days -

Sweet 16

2012-01-11T18:28:00.000-05:00

I can hardly believe that 16 years ago today Casey Elizabeth Campbell blessed us with her presence - a week late and ~~forced out~~ induced to join us in this world ~~because I was sick of carrying her~~ for the sake of her and me!

I can remember the first ultrasound - Chris was determined we were not going to find out what she was - it was to be a surprise! I said "It's a surprise now or a surprise later - it is still a surprise and I vote for now" - I was vetoed - for a whole 15 minutes! During the ultrasound the technician asked if we would like to know, Chris said no, she said well I will put the picture and sex in a sealed envelope and if you decide you want to know you can look! Yeah we made it out to the car and he says "Give me the damn thing I can't wait" - we learned we were having a girl!

I can remember trying to agree on a name - we bought a baby name book, two highlighters (different colors) and we took turns reading names and highlighting which ones we liked. He loved the name Casey - I loved the name Elizabeth, I wanted to call you Lizzie - he was afraid you would murder us one day (no joke, his words) so thanks to Lizzie Bordon killing her parents she was given the name Casey Elizabeth!

I can remember the week she was actually due we had tons of snow and winds - just east of our house the road was actually closed for several days but not the road between our house and town - thanks to Chris and his Dad! They spent hour after hour in the tractor clearing a path in the road to where the snow plows were clearing just in case I went into labor - My SIL was positive that we were going to be on the cover of The Daily Journal because Chris was going to have to rush me to the hospital in the tractor with the blade clearing the roads as we went! Chris was so disappointed that a week later my Dr. decided to induce and told us what time to check into the hospital! That evening we got in the truck, stopped for dinner at AppleBee's, stopped at CVS and picked up some Carmex and fingernail clippers and headed to the hospital - not near the exciting rush to the hospital he had envisioned - but he was fully prepared as he had a whole Ziploc bag full of change for the snack machine - you know something to do while I was just laying in bed waiting!

I can remember the day we brought her home - as we were getting ready to leave the hospital we asked the Dr. how warm her room needed to be (we didn't have forced heat upstairs) - he said "at least 60 -63 degrees" - oops the thermometer we had placed in her crib the night before read 54 degrees that morning - her first stop after leaving the hospital would be Wal-Mart to buy a space heater! After that we came home, we walked in the house, we went upstairs and laid her on the bed between us and looked at each other and said "Now what?" - I can remember we kept thinking it was harder and more paperwork to buy a car than to bring a helpless newborn home from the hospital and at least the car would of came with an owners manual!

And today she is 16 - 16 years old! It's a miracle we both made it to this day, I am so blessed to have her and I love her with all of my heart - she is definitely one of my top 3 favorite kids! I wanted to throw a huge sweet 16 party - she nixed that, I said how about having a few friends over - she said "nah", I said let me make you a big cake - she said "could you just make a yellow cake with choc. icing out of a can?"! The other day I said "OH MY GOSH K you are going to be 16 this week do you feel . . . .anything?" she said "Nope" - takes after her father in the emotions (or lack of) department!

Her smile and laughter are contagious, always have been!

Happy Birthday Doodle Bug - you are one of my favorite people, aw what the heck - today you are my favorite!!!!!!

Seriously Amazing Mac & Cheese!

2012-01-10T15:49:00.000-05:00

I'm not kidding, I could eat a whole 9x13 of this stuff by myself - and low fat it ain't - so you just have to prepare this, eat this and don't think about what it might be doing to your thighs - because once you taste this and then devour the whole pan you will think to yourself - "OMG what have I done" then see that if you scrap the pan you can get one more bite and say "who cares it was totally worth it!"

disclaimer - Do not judge the taste of this dish by my pictures, these pics do not do this mac & cheese justice! I am also not responsible for any addiction problems that may arise once you make this!

The original recipe for this I got from a great friend (Hi Emily) but as she knows I don't follow recipes very well and so tweeked this until I got it just to my liking - but have no fear Emily I will post a recipe with measurements and everything at the bottom!

I am a really creamy mac & cheese person and for me the way I make this is perfect!

Go to the fridge and grab all this stuff:

Your gonna need milk, heavy cream, one egg, a whole stick of butter, Velveeta and just start grabbing any and all kinds of cheese you have! I happen to have Colby Jack, Fontina, Gouda and Havarti - but I have also used Parm (fresh grated as well as the stuff in the green can), cream cheese, American, all kinds of cheddar, mozzarella - if it's cheese toss it in!

Alright - start by cooking your macaroni - I use 3 cups for a 9x13 pan!

Then get a big bowl and start mixing everything else - start with your egg and give it a good whisk, add your milk and heavy cream, toss in all your cheeses and chunk up the whole stick of butter - toss in your cooked and drained macaroni!

Go ahead, don't think about it just give it a good stir and put it in your 9x13 and cover with foil - pop it in the oven and let it cook for about an hour - if you can wait that long! In the meantime take all those great cheese's and slice a few up, pour yourself a beer, tell the kids you are in the middle of cooking supper not to bother you then sit down, surf the net and enjoy your snack while supper cooks!

When you take the foil off - just look at all that melted butter (look don't think) - if you like yours with a little brown color and crispy top be sure you take the foil off for the last little bit of cooking - but me I like it to melt in my mouth so I don't brown

Seriously Amazing - I'm Not Kidding!

My Favorite Mac&Cheese

3 cups dry macaroni - cooked and drained

1egg
2 cups milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup Velveeta
2 - 2 1/2 cups other cheese - any combination you like
1 stick of butter
salt & pepper

Combine all ingredients, put in a 9x13, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour!

Now if you will excuse me I am going to go make this for supper - wasn't the plan but after writing this it is all I can think about!

Oh and if your still here (hello are you still with me or are you already headed to your kitchen?) you should head over to Two Maids a Milking and check out Amy's Mac & Cheese recipe and the other links!

It's just one of the things we do!

2012-01-07T10:31:00.000-05:00

Drive to the middle of Illinois (sometimes Iowa) to look at farm equipment - I hadn't really given it to much thought till this particular trip when the oldest announces from the backseat of the truck:

"These are my favorite vacations!"

VACATION - really? Has she never met her father (and I swear it is the man riding in the truck with us) - unless you are going somewhere for more than 3 nights, you are out of corn country and you haven't been there multiple times NEVER refer to it as a vacation - he will then consider driving to the middle of corn country to look at farm equipment your yearly vacation - he has this mindset (and the whole financial thing) that he doesn't have time for a vacation hardly once a year - so one should never use the term "vacation" unless you are on an actual non-agricultural work related excursion!

As soon as she said this last night I started having one of my conversations where I imagine someone is actually talking to me and I am answering them:

"Yes yes we do take our children on vacations, oh yes nice ones to. . . oh gosh let's see we have been to Disney World several times, met Mickey Mouse, rode rides, princesses the whole works, skiing in Colorado in 4-5 different resort towns, Mt Rushmore and the Black Hills, all of the museums in Chicago, Myrtle Beach, Daytona Beach, lots of historical learning experiences, Yellowstone National Park was an amazing experience for the 5 of us . . . . what? Of course we always take the children, it is so fun for us to experience these great places with our kids!"

The statement above always reminds me of our Chicago expericene:
2 years ago I talked Chris into taking us to Chicago over spring break - just for a couple of days - I wanted the kids to experience staying in a city and see the great museums - Wow that was not one of my better ideas - 3 particular things happened on that trip that really let me know what kind of people we are and what we enjoy doing as a family! My goal was 4 days in the city - plenty of time to look in museums, walk around the city, soak in the atmosphere! I knew it might be chilly but it was downright freezing, we suck at figuring out public transportation (but did try), almost refuse to pay for cab rides - I will never live down making everyone walk from the aquarium to Navy Pier in 32 degree weather along the shore of Lake Michigan with a gusty lake wind blowing - it sucked or well it blew!

1. We rode the train into the city, walked out the door of Union Station, looked around, Chris started studying the map (he is a map connoisseur often referred to as MapBoy) couldn't figure out where he was or which direction was North - whipped out his cell phone and in the middle of the sidewalk was swinging his phone around trying to calibrate the compass and cussing loudly (which is not characteristic of him, me definitely - but not him)!

This is truly how I felt the whole time we were in the city - how my kids always take pics of me in situations like these blow my mind!

2. Once when trying to find our way around the city we were crossing the canal for the 4th time when Emi Lou says rather loudly "Haven't we crossed this creek like a hundred times" - I just stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, laughed hysterically and said "Yes we have crossed this several times but I think they call it a canal in the city not a creek!"

3. On the morning of day 4 Chris wakes up at 6am turns on every light in the hotel room announces loudly "Get up, get ready, pack your stuff - I have decided we are driving 7 more hours west to the middle of Iowa to look at a tractor - we are done with this city!" The kids screamed for joy and in less than 30 minutes were dressed, packed and sitting in the truck waiting for me yelling "HURRY UP MOM - let's go look at a tractor!" - and to I'll be honest I was right behind them ready to leave and never see Chicago again!

We took more pictures the 2 days that we went to look at the tractor than the 3 days we were in Chicago!

This is seriously a posed picture in the lot at the John Deere store!

Chris and I both test drove and every kid got to ride!

We stopped by the combine factory as well - Chris and I have toured the factory's on other trips but all kids aren't old enough yet for tours but they wanted stop there anyway! That is actually a big trip that we are all planning the minute the youngest turns 12 - a whirl wind John Deere tour of the factory's - we like to dream big!

But for this ultimate agriculture (not vacation) get away we are looking for a drop deck semi trailer for a bulk seed handler and also taking in Springfield, Illinois and learning all about Honest Abe and truly having a blast doing it our way!

Touching Abe's nose for luck!

Posing with the Lincoln Family in front of the White House!

And of course pretending to pick Abe's nose!

We are nothing but class!

It's the happ-happiest time of the year!

2012-01-06T09:50:00.000-05:00

At least for Chris - he has 3 main seasons: Planting, Harvesting and Tax!

Oh how he loves tax season (sadly I am not being sarcastic), it makes him giddy - no really it does, there is no other word for it!

"A culmination of a year's worth of numbers coming together in so many forms - balance sheets, income statements, accrual vs. cash, 1099's, w-2's, cash flows, oh my - and then they all NEED to be analyzed, re-analyzed, over analyzed and then there is the over analyzation of the over analyzation!"
Now try saying 'over analyzation' three times fast!

This year has been particularly interesting as we have ventured out on the edge and bought a new software program to keep our books on!

Just a brief background: When we got married (20 years ago) Chris had an Apple desktop computer and was keeping his books on it using Farm Ledger Pro, about 2 years into marriage we bought a new computer and delved into the world of Horizon for Agriculture bookkeeping - a DOS based program - now 18 years later our farm books are entering the Windows world with RedWing CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture - I don't believe I have ever seen Chris this excited (sadly once again no sarcasm) - I swear the other day I heard him giggling in his office, he came skipping into the kitchen to inform me of all the "amazing" things that you can do when you right click with a mouse - no joke - I just smiled and patted him on the head!

Chris loves numbers and book keeping, I swear he could find out exactly how much I spent on deodorant in the year 2006 and least we never forget the time 15 years ago when I was entering expenses into the computer and I accidentally applied a tux rental for a friends wedding into a business deductible account that he caught only after the taxes were filed - my gosh we could of been audited for deducting that expense as a business expense when clearly that was not business!

We do have a ~~friendly~~ competition this time of year the 'nane nane boo boo i spent less than you' award and bragging rights to the individual who spent the least amount of money last year on medical expenses - I know we are just too fun! We have self employed health insurance - nuff said! Nothing is covered - no medicines, no co-pays - everything is out of pocket we (luckily because we are healthy!) never come close to meeting a deductible as they range somewhere between $5000 - $11,000 per person - in January when we add up the expenses for each persons dr. visits and prescriptions are added up we declare a winner - I don't win but am looking forward to inching ahead of Emi Lou next year as we are pretty sure she is going to have to have her tonsils out this year which will obviously edge her out for the 2012 award and put me one place higher - but then after that she may sweep 2013 and beyond as the only thing she ever goes for is Strep - which she gets if someone even whispers the word in a mile radius of her!

Yesterday Chris and I spent the day looking for a solid manure spreader - covering parts of Ohio and the east side of Indiana, yes it was harder to find than you think - I heard and said the phrase 'slop gate' more times yesterday then in the last 42 years combined - now say 'slop gate' three times fast - we finally found one in North Vernon and as I wrote the check Chris just kept saying he couldn't wait to get home and enter the check in Center Point and spreader into equipment (once again no sarcasm just pure excitement)!

That's not to say that I don't love receiving as well!

2011-12-31T11:01:00.003-05:00

I AM BLESSED in so many ways, I received so many amazing Christmas and Birthday presents - but a couple truly touched my heart, made me smile and brought out a few tears as well!

Chris gave me this on Christmas morning -

A whole case of Boones Farm Snow Berry Creek - he even had the kids wrap it!

He gets me and I love it!

My baby's gave me this -

Charlie Browns Christmas book - it is a recordable book, they read the story and now I can listen to them read it to me for years!

They get me and I love it!

My parents gave me this for my Birthday -

It is a leather cuff with a metal plate that is engraved with "LIFE IS GOOD"!

Now my Mom will say "of course you love it you picked it out!" to which I would say "I know but when I said to them "I love this bracelet" they never hesitated, they didn't ask if I was sure they just bought it for me!" So don't ruin the moment Mom!

They get me (not sure they always understand how I work) but they knew it was me and I love it!

Happy New Year with many blessings!

I LOVE GIVING!

2011-12-28T11:55:00.002-05:00

I really do, especially when you think you have found the one gift that is going to make the recipient genuinely smile and warm their heart!
My big thing on giving is to give what the person wants, something that reminds you of them - NOT something you think they should want!

I made this book for my FIL:

Campbell Family Farms 2011

Click here to view this photo book larger

Basically I spent from January 1 thru December taking pictures of everything that we did - of course I took thousands (seriously thousands) of pics so then I had to sort thru them all and pick the ones I wanted to use - it ended up being 68 pages - I could of made it so much longer but practiced "some" restraint! The really neat thing about this was also that Chris knew I was making it for his Dad and he kept hinting how he would like a copy so my Mom surprised him with his own copy that he didn't know he was getting!

For my MIL - I took pics of her 7 grandkids and framed the prints!

Click here to view these pictures larger

For my parents I took pics of their 11 grandchildren made them a Shutterfly book of the pictures and then let my Mom choose her favorite then I had it printed on canvas to hang above their fireplace!

Click here to view this photo book larger

She choose this pic -

Here is what it looks like hanging above her mantel!

I had it printed at a place in Gunnison, Co - The Sign Guys and Gal - I have had several canvases printed by them and love their work and they are extremely reasonably priced!

And no your eyes are not deceiving you - 7 of my Mom's grandkids are identical to all 7 of my MIL grandkids - remember we have that whole brother sister marry brother sister but it's all legal thing!

Joy To The World

2011-12-25T10:33:00.000-05:00

The Lord is come

Merry Christmas

And I tried for 2 hours (seriously) to turn the video the right way but have given up so just close your eyes and enjoy the music

This was last night at The Eck Family Christmas - that is my brother introducing Cole as "Coleman Vonludwig" - you may feel sorry for me now!

December 20, 1969:This Day In History.

2011-12-20T17:01:00.000-05:00

On this day many things happened throughout time.

The Louisiana Purchase was completed - 1803

Thomas Edison privately introudced his light bulb - 1879

The movie "It's a Wonderful Life" had a preview showing for charity for the first time - 1946

Jennifer Campbell, a well known blogger and excellent mother came into the world -1969

Casey Campbell failed an AP world history final, and aced her spanish 2 exam -2011

Can you believe I aced my spanish final? I was proud of mys---IT'S MY MOM'S BIRTHDAY!

Let's take a look at the life of this inspirational genius shall we?

We all go through tough times in our life. But Jent had it bad! An inside look at her early years here.

Don't judge! Everybody goes through awkward phases, her's just happens to be cuter than all of ours!

Here our star is, learning her place, the kitchen! She's a fabulous cook, baker, and candlestick maker! Kidding about the candles, but if she wanted to Jent could. She can do anything!

Ah yes, big hair. Even my mom falls for the fads! Here she is being awarded her state FFA degree. I must get my talents from her ;)

Even the best people in the world have identity problems. Big leap into the future here, my mom is now married and having an identity crisis. #sarcastic

Jent's life is always in the fast lane! ... except for when she is watching from the bleachers!

Here is an example of the "I love taking pictures of myself" Phase! But man can my madre pull it off. She's one hawwwtt momma!

Jent doesn't let 3 kids slow her down, no way. She hiked along way this day in her camo pants that only she can pull off these days! #beingserouis

3 kids later and still that good looking?! <-- True dat!

She's a hard workin' momma thats for sure!

I interviewed my mom a couple days back.

"If you could describe your highest achievement how would you?"

Jent: "My daughter, the eldest one of course, is just so... amazing. I did such a great job raising her, and now she makes me proud everyday!"

Those weren't her exact words, but I'm sure it goes something like that!

On a deathly serious note though, the 3 of us work super hard to make her proud!

Another phase of life, Aussie hats. But she rocks it man!

That is the life of my mom, my role model, the awesomest person ever. Thanks for reading, and sign the petition to make Jen's birthday a national holiday!

I LOVE MY MOM!

My Boy Is 9!

2011-12-19T11:49:00.002-05:00

I still can't believe it has been 9 years since he was born! We had his birthday party yesterday afternoon and go figure that for the 5th time out 9 years he chose a John Deere theme!

Now we are off on another year of adventure with this growing boy - he is really into building things with wood so he got several tools for his birthday and a gift certificate to Lowes for lumber - and after "Santa" nixed the miniature UPS truck, the conference chairs for meetings in his room and a Tempur-Pedic bed - you should see what "Santa" decided on for this 9 year old boy!

By George I Think They Get It!

2011-12-14T09:44:00.000-05:00

We are blessed, always have been in more ways than one - well unless you ask the oldest she will recount Christmas of '98, when the hog market tanked - she was only 2 so I am not positive she remembers - but every time they complain about not getting something they "NEEEEEEED" they are forced to relive that year and am pretty sure they have been traumatized by our story's!

Anyway - every year our church puts up an Angel Tree - you know where you pick "ornaments" with wants and needs of children and family's that could you use a little extra love this time of year - we have always tried to help, (our church is amazing if you aren't there to pick your ornament the first Sunday it is up they are usually all gone) from the time I had my first kid I tried to pick an ornament the same age as her - my goal was to personalize who I was buying for to grasp that these people were asking for necessities as presents - as the kids got older they were instructed to pick an ornament with an age the same as theirs - so that as they were shopping they could relate and hopefully get an understanding of how lucky they were - most of these kids needed clothing for Christmas!

So this is how it works:
1. Each of my kids is to pick an ornament off the Angel Tree close to their age (sometimes this is not always possible but they can usually get close)
2. They are given the budgeted amount of cash, their list of what their child needs and turned loose (you know what I mean - and we usually go to Wal-Mart where there is lots of choices and you get more bang for your buck)!
3. They have to pay the cashier - they see how much each item costs and the total - and yes some years we have had to put things back and yes they always ask if they get to keep the change - the answer is always "NO" - they should spend as much as they have on the person they are buying for - if you have a little extra buy some Christmas candy!
4. I make the kids wrap the presents! They must wrap neatly and be presentable - I always say "If you were only getting one present wouldn't you want it wrapped neatly and with tissue paper inside not just thrown in a box, so that it looked like someone really put care into your present?"

OK so this year we got to Wal-Mart and my oldest says to me:
"Mom this kid only wants pants and a shirt - I brought some of my own money would it be alright if I buy him a toy too?"

I CRIED right there in the middle of Wal-Mart, I did - she looked at me like I was insane and said "MOM what the heck are you doing your embarrassing me?" - I thought to myself "OH thank God it is my kid and this is not just a dream" - seriously I had my doubts!

I looked at her like she was insane and said:
"Don't be an idiot - of course you can spend some of your own money - that is the whole point of this - for you to learn to give to others!" Yeah I really said that, it is me after all!

SHE GETS IT - I truly think they all 3 do and that makes my heart smile!

I also have to close with the story of wrapping the gifts - I am also the person that has to be called every year at the last minute from the person who organizes the Angel Tree with the question: "Hi Jent we really need to get the presents out to the family do you think maybe you could bring yours over to the church they were supposed to be here last Sunday!"

So last night after I hung up the phone I hollered for the kids to come wrap the presents, the oldest looks at me and says: "I really have a lot of homework, I don't have time!" I looked at her and simply said "Wow that sucks how about I hang on to your laptop so that you aren't tempted to watch movies or surf the net and can stay focused on your homework!"

She wrapped the present!

Side note: Chris informed me last night that I may of scared some you with my last ranting post - that was totally not my intention, while I probably am someone to be feared (just ask my kids), in that post I was merely stating my utter shock that so few people were interested in winning a FREE cookbook - however in your scared state I have to say that each and every comment forced my ego to grow a size bigger and made my heart very happy - and also allowed me to find some of your blogs that I didn't know about so THANK YOU!

Fine if that's the way you want it!

2011-12-10T11:04:00.001-05:00

I am OK with that -for some reason I am not taken seriously as a cooking/recipe blogger, very few people out there comment on my recipe posts and even for this free giveaway not many people signed up - FREE people, what's not to like about FREE! But I will take it as a challange and I will prove to anyone out there - HELLO is anyone out there? - that I can cook, I can bake and by gosh I am good at it!

But first things first - my Gooseberry Patch Church Supper cookbook give-away -

CONGRATULATIONS - Buttons!

I so wish I could send all of you who entered a copy, it is a really good cookbook - Thanks to those who entered!

Buttons I will mail your cookbook out Tuesday - ENJOY!

But back to this challenge that has been set before me -

while I can do this:

Sleeve a cow!

Medicate livestock!

Clean out a leg pit (not just sit for a picture as it would appear)!

Help my kids with show calves!

Sweep out a bin!

Wash hog barns!

Run the grain cart!

Weld!

Raise these 3 houligans!

Love this guy with all my heart!

Work pigs, but much to Chris' dismay I don't - I tell him if he ever becomes incapcitated I will do that chore but until then he can (and he can teach the kids, at this rate I hopefully will never have to do it again)!

I am the family chauffer!

But I am also pretty good cook and baker (if I do say so myself - which I just did)!
I have been known to make things like:

Chocolate cows!

Cakes that taste better than they look!

Homemade ice cream to die for - thanks to my Dad!

My chocolate chip cookies are demanded far and wide by young and old alike!

Mac and cheese that is so creamy and good you forget about the calories, which are too many to count!

A pot roast that will melt in your mouth!

Fried chicken that tastes like your great grandma made it herself!

I am the grill master at our house - when we were first married we splurged and bought some really good steaks, we were young and nieve and thought the man should do the grilling, he went out, put the steaks on, went back out, flipped them over, went back out, brought them in - we cut the top burnt layer off, we cut the burnt bottom layer off - I went back out with raw (much thinner) steaks and started the grilling over again - while Chris may not excell at grilling, but he is the champion of all champions at eating - he will eat anything I cook and never complains!

The biggest problem for me with a cooking post is that I suck at taking pictures of food - and that probably won't change but like everything else I do I will forge ahead and worry about the details later - just know that even if the pictures of the food aren't so good I promise that the taste is delicious!

So now that you know what I can do I am still not any good at cleaning (and it doesn't matter how much you challenge me Chris) that is just not one area I don't ever have a desire to excell at so you can also ignore the messy kitchen in the background of the food pics!

When our kids leave home . . .

2011-12-09T08:53:00.001-05:00

. . .Chris says he is going to sneak in their houses late at night and turn on all the lights!

. . .I am going to show up at random times during the day, raid the refrigerator and cabinets and then complain that they have nothing good to eat and maybe they should go to the grocery store more often.

. . .we are going to visit, each enter a different door and not close either one of them!

. . .sneak in and take showers and then hide the wet towels in the closet and deny that we used them and pretend we have "no idea" how they ended up in there "cause we sure as heck didn't do it"!

. . .Chris is going to turn the thermostat up when no one is looking!

. . .when I sneak in to take a shower I am going to scatter dirty laundry all over the house!

. . .I am going to eat a snack in their bedrooms and leave the dirty dishes partially hidden so that they don't find them for weeks!

. . .when I walk in their house I will randomly take off one shoe in the middle of the room and then walk to another room and take off the other shoe - then when it is time to leave I will "look" on the ceiling for it and complain that I can't find them!

. . .I will get a big glass of ice and make sure several cubes land on the kitchen floor and not pick them up, so that they will melt and leave little puddles.

. . .when I visit I will help myself to a glass of milk and leave the jug on the counter for hours!

. . .when they invite me over for supper I will show up early ask what we are having roll my eyes and paw thru the refrigerator and make myself a ham sandwich while they are preparing the meal and then say "I'm not really hungry".

. . .when asked we will gladly help to feed any livestock they have - then we will not feed until we have our pajamas on and then complain, stomp out to the barn and proceed to spill feed everywhere and defiantely forget to turn the barn lights off.

. . .leave empty pudding cups and spoons on their nightstands and then complain that there are no clean spoons to eat my next pudding cup with!

. . .when they complain about all these things I will laugh a maniacal laugh, show them this blog post and tell them I have been planning this for years!

WW: Hoosier Beef Congress With Us

2011-12-07T20:03:00.001-05:00

So excited, headed up to Indy to set up stalls and we are not all 5 riding in a single cab pick-up truck!

Setting up fan cage and arranging bedding - yes they have to do the work!

Loaded!

Team Fitting Contest - they placed 3rd overall - not to shabby since it was their first fitting contest ever!

Pep talk - all my kids have always talked or sang to the calf in the ring!

Headed into Showmanship - for the first 5 years they show I make them do showmanship after that it is their decision - my middle will do showmanship forever, my oldest not so much - once she completed her 5 years she was done, she will work all day in the barn but hates the ring!

In the make-up ring!

LOVE THIS - I just happened to look up and he was telling her she did a great job and kissed her forehead!

Waiting for the youngest 2 to go in the ring - we had been up since 3am washing calves and grooming - I couldn't wait to go back to bed!

In the make-up ring!

Pep talk from Dad!

GP #10 Old Fashioned Choc. Pie

2011-12-06T20:40:00.001-05:00

So basically this is an extremely fudgie brownie in a pie crust -

WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE!

Put your pie crust in the pie pan, mix all the other ingredients together in a bowl and pour into the pie shell!

Bake - no need to wait for it to cool just top it with whipped cream and eat!

Old Fashioned Chocolate Pie

6 T. butter

1/4 c. baking cocoa

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

1/4 c. evaporated milk

1 t. vanilla

9-inch pie crust

Melt butter in a saucepan over med. heat; add cocoa and sugar, stirring well. Remove from heat; add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in milk and vanilla, blending well; pour into pie crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes!

Now for the fun stuff - this is a great cookbook with a ton more recipes just as good as the 10 I cooked and shared - sooooo show me some love, leave a comment here, something like how much you love my blog, how funny I am, how it just makes your day when you get on the computer and see that I have posted - be sure you leave your name as email address too - I will pick a winner on Saturday!

I gave birth to a fitting team!

2011-12-01T22:05:00.001-05:00

Well Hoosier Beef Congress is officially underway and this year all 3 kids are showing, they each fall into a different age category so this year ~~I forced~~ we agreed to sign up for the team fitting contest - let's just say that no one was hurt in the grooming of the calf, there was very little bickering and the kids did a great job as well!

Pre-contest Pow-wow!

Team Pic with Head Coach and Time Keeper Mary!

Bringing in the calf!

Isn't this sweet - she is straightening his collar not choking him like I originally feared!

Listening to the rules!

And we're off!

How many kids does it take to do a tail head - apparently all of mine!

Waiting on the judges!

Talking with one of the judges - the first thing he said to them was that they worked very well as a team - I couldn't of been prouder!

Once again they never cease to amaze me - the oldest only got annoyed once and that was when the middle grabbed two brushes and proceeded to do this funky dance and comb with both hands and sing a song - it was funny and very unprofessional all at the same time!

I dearly love these 3 kids!

Photo Card

2011-11-30T08:43:00.001-05:00

Flourished Frames Christmas

Customize your Christmas cards this season at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

It's the way we roll, I have come to accept it!

2011-11-27T12:24:00.001-05:00

Well I pulled my Mom card yesterday and insisted we were taking family pictures! It is never met with smiles and shouts of joy but I have learned to ignore it - so in a matter of 30 minutes I snapped 71 pictures of my family to end up with 1 - yes just 1 - good one, but then I really only needed 1!

A got my camera last year for Christmas and the very first thing I bought to go with it was a remote - I had spent years taking family pics with the self-timer - it only proved to aggervate the family pic situation and wear me out running back and forth - so I love my remote control!

So while I set the camera up all I ask is that they sit still so that when I am ready I merely have to place myself in the picture - these are the ones I snapped while setting up the camera -

Having some trouble deciding when the remote was working - obviously holding it up, pointing at the camera makes it work!

Truly the funniest thing about this pic is that it wasn't posed, they didn't know I was pushing the button, I really didn't know what I was taking a pic of - I was just checking to make sure it was centered!

Chris taking his turn with the remote - everyone had to have a turn - none of us are good at non-chalant!

Cole's turn at the remote!

Aren't the holidays fun!!!!!

I am Thankful . . .

2011-11-24T21:47:00.001-05:00

. . .for these 3 turkeys!

. . .that they love homemade gingerbread cookies for breakfast as much as I do!

. . .that my Mom put ice cream in my hot chocolate when I was little no matter what time of day it was so that I could do it with my kids!

. . .for my friends and our traditions, Bloody Mary's on Thanksgiving morning!

. . .for the family that I married into, that they still gather as an extended family and eat dinner together - even if there is always that one crazy cousin (Hi Jim!!!!).

. . .that my Mom still hands me the spatula, beaters and bowl to lick after she mashes the potatoes!

. . .that the house is loud when our family gathers at my parent's, we still laugh and have fun while the kids run around and play!

. . .for Chris, he loves me unconditionally and is my very best friend in the whole world!

I truly hope that everyone feels as blessed as I do every single day!

Rip'in It Up

2011-11-11T08:26:00.001-05:00

Well not really because we aren't using a ripper we are using a chisel plow but I just liked how the title sounded!

We have done quite a bit of fall tillage this year, some with a vertical tillage tool and then also with a chisel plow. We fall plow corn fields that we intend to plant back to corn next year, continuous corn. Mixing the heavy residue into the soil promotes decomposition, reduces disease pressure, and allows the soil to absorb more warmth quickly next spring. The soil mellows over the winter as it gets wet and drys, freezes and thaws.

We used an Outback light bar guidance system in the 9200, which spaces our passes evenly, preventing overlap, maximizing the width of the plow. Plus we skip passes so we don't have to turn very sharp, then we come back through plowing the gaps we left.

I'll be honest - I LOVE PLOWING and PLOWED GROUND! I love the look and the smell of fresh turned soil. I know that there is a lot of talk about no-till, but if I were that little seed and I had a choice between a soft, warm, broken up seed bed or a slit in the hard cold ground - I am going to choose plowed every time! Happy plowing!

LEAVE THE DAMN CLOCK ALONE!

2011-11-08T07:57:00.000-05:00

I hate changing the clock - not the physical act - but what it does to my body! I have an internal clock and it doesn't like being *($&&%(# around with! I don't use an alarm clock - I don't need one! During the day I can tell you what general time it is without looking at a clock - so nothing makes me madder than messing around with the clock!

LEAVE IT ALONE! I don't care which way we go - time is time - YOU DON'T GAIN AN HOUR - there are 24 hours in a day no matter where you set the clock! If the majority of people feel the need to have an extra hour (on the clock) of daylight so they can play freakin' golf after work - fine, I have no problem with that then set the clock that way and please leave it for the rest of my life!

I really don't care which is chosen: Fall Back or Spring Forward - just pick one and leave time to stand!

And quite frankly if you don't agree with me that is cool but this is my blog and this is how I feel - and you will not change my mind, so don't waste your time typing me a comment about how great Daylight Savings Time is because I won't waste my time reading it because I don't know if I have lost an hour or gained one but I still don't have time - not to offend anyone I just had to get that off my chest!

Super Good - Super Fast Supper

2011-11-07T11:03:00.000-05:00

Here we go with Gooseberry Patch recipe #9 from Church Suppers!

So the other day we had one of those extremely busy days, you know one that at the end of the day when you sit down you know you have been on the move all day but you can't remember what all you had done - and then a kid or your husband says those dreaded words "What's for supper?" - well that was the day I had had - I won't lie - I panicked a little - but then remembered that I had marked this recipe and had sausage (Campbell Grain & Livestock sausage) thawed out!

I don't have any pictures, I was fighting off 3 kids and Chris with my feet and cooking with my hands - just be thankful it wasn't the other way around - but this recipe is so simple you won't even miss the pics!

Tuscan Soup

1 lb. ground pork sausage

3/4 c. onion, diced

1 slice bacon, diced

1 1/4 t. garlic, minced

2 T. chicken bouillon granules

4 c. water

2 potatoes,, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch strips

2 c. kale, thinly sliced

3/4 c. whipping cream

Brown sausage in a large pot over medium heat; drain and set aside. Add onion and bacon to pot, cook over medium heat until onion is almost translucent. Add garlic; cook for one minute. Add bouillon, water and potatoes; simmer for 15 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Stir in kale, sausage and whipping cream; heat through over low heat without boiling. Serves 6 to 8

Things I learned making this recipe:

1. Kale is in the cabbage family and not very common in Franklin Indiana - so really any green leafy thing will work!

2. 1 slice of bacon????? REALLY??????? Use your own judgement - 1 is not nearly enough especially when you consider the grabby hands that will be wanting some before supper is ready! Are we the only family who eats bacon as a snack - no joke - my kids fix bacon after school for their snack!

Update: I made this soup again tonight for supper, I came in from the barn at 6pm and had the soup ready by 6:45 - and that included thawing out the sausage too!

. . .for he loved the soil.

2011-11-05T21:52:00.001-04:00

Trying to clean Typhoid Mary!

2011-11-04T17:16:00.002-04:00

So the other day Chris "jokingly" referred to our beautiful home as Typhoid Mary!

I'll be honest - I had to Google it - then I was slightly offended but mostly laughed out loud because it is so true - so I decided I had better clean!

Why are there 2 boxes of shot gun shells by the coffee maker?

Why is there a rusty railroad spike on the kitchen counter?

Why after Chris brought his new glove in the house that the dog chewed up and he rubbed in my face didn't he throw it away, why did he put it on the Hoosier kitchen to just sit?

Why is there a burnt up plow point on the floor?

Why did the middle child text me from the bus upset with me that the sweatshirt she pulled out of the dirty laundry smelled like hogs?

Why does the boy feel the need to eat his cereal every morning out of a serving bowl? There may not always be clean cups but there are clean bowls!

Why do I always go in the basement at the beginning of October and bring up the box of Halloween decorations only to have to turn around and take it back down to the basement at the beginning of November untouched?

Why are there 12 pairs of shoes in my kitchen, each of which has at least one kind of manure on them and some have both kinds (cattle and hog)?

Why, why why do I have to clean all this up?

Transmissions and Chicken and Manure

2011-11-03T19:13:00.000-04:00

A conversation with Chris!

So this past weekend Chris and I got the chance to work together - he as the combine operator (when a kid wasn't trying to push him out of the drivers seat) and myself as the grain cart operator - we filled a semi and decided to head in towards the bins with it, meet the other semi coming back to the field and switch - so being in the semi together gave us time for some meaninful conversation!

I will go straight to the meat of the conversation and skip the prelimineries:

Chris: We really need to get busy hauling manure - the pits are getting full!

Me: I have told you before I will do it!

Chris: The way we have it set up the hoses are really heavy and I am not sure that you could lift them plus you end up with manure all over you and it just doesn't seem right to ask you to do that!

Me: Well you can't say I haven't offered, who else is there?

Chris: With the spreader being on that older tractor you really have to be careful shifting and not ruin the transmission - which reminds me I didn't really know how to word this but . . .

Me: great what?

Chris: I have been watching you shift the tractor when you come up beside the combine and I just have to say that I can see the whites of your fingertips when you shift!

Me: Ummmm OK

Chris: That's a good thing. Yeah, it means that you know when to shift and the transmission slides easily into gear, you are not shoving it into gear!

Me: Wow Thanks, but let me get this straight - the other night when I made homemade fried chicken that you said "looked, smelled and tasted like someone's Grandma walked into our kitchen and made it - but I hate chicken on the bone and it just tasted to chickeney" but when I can shift a tractor and you can see the whites of my hands you are amazed?

Chris: Yep pretty much!

Me: Well OK then, are you ready to admit I drive with my butt?

Chris: Not Yet!

Well it took 20 years to get that compliment, it may take another 20 years to get him to admit I can drive with my butt - I am willing to wait!

Nice call on recognizing the John Deere clutch pedal by

The Farmer's Life!

I sat on my kitchen floor and cried this morning!

2011-11-02T09:48:00.000-04:00

I did - as I was drinking my Diet Dr. Pepper out of a measuring cup (the only thing clean - at least I am pretty sure it was) and eating my Chips Ahoy cookies (yes the breakfast of champions), I suddenly realized I was sitting on the floor of my filthy kitchen crying!

I AM TIRED! I reached up on the counter and re-read this article that my Mom had sent me in the mail - it just so happened to arrive yesterday - perfect timing - just the cut out article with a post-it note on it that said "Didn't know if you had seen this - Love, Mom"!

As I sat on the kitchen floor reading this I was still wearing my pajamas and Carhartt jacket from going out to feed the 8 calves (6 of which still need broke before Hoosier Beef Congress in a month!) - the house is a disgusting disaster - seriously - the other day the boy said "Mom just call Merry Maids" I laughed out loud and said "Merry Maids would run screaming from this place"!

But we are 40 acres from being finished with harvest which is wonderful and should be finished today (unless I just jinxed us by saying that), we are healthy and a good cry always makes me feel better - so I am going to get my balls out of my purse and put them on - maybe I will even change the sheets that haven't been changed since way before fair week - yeah that made me laugh because I probably won't - I love it when I crack myself up!

Farm, Party, Farm, Party, Farm, Party

2011-10-31T22:25:00.001-04:00

Really - that is exactly how my weekend went - not too bad I thought!

So Friday Chris and I got to work together - doesn't happen much we are usually going different directions - but he ran the combine and I ran the grain cart!

When the boy got home from school he hitched a ride in a semi and joined us!

He of course joined his Dad in the combine - that is cooler than the grain cart!

But the first time the combine came back around he was already in the drivers seat!

Interestingly I have now run the grain cart for 3 generations of Campbell guys running the combine!

Then when the middle got home from school she hitched a ride in a semi and joined the fun!

And of course once she learned the boy had got to drive the combine she had to have her turn!

Then she got a hold of my camera while I was fueling the tractor and took 42 pictures (not exaggerating I counted) of me doing it!

That evening we then went to Annual Duckworth Halloween Party!

Saturday came and it was back to the field!

But today the boy decided "it was time" for him to learn to run the grain cart unloading on the go!

Saturday night we spent celebrating a good friend turning 40! The kids stayed home watching their favorite Disney movies and Chris and I had a really good time!
Friday and Saturday the oldest spent at FFA State Soils Contest - her team placed 8th in the state and she placed 19th individual - I couldn't be prouder!

Sunday was back to the field followed by country style trick or treating - we went with my nieces and nephew and covered 3 houses (Great Grandma Pearl's, my in-laws and my parents) in 2 hours - and just like every year we ended at my Mom and Dad's where Mom has chili and all the fixin's for everybody!

Stay tuned for my next post:

Conversations with Chris - transmissions and chicken -

and a compliment only a farmer could give!

GP #8: Farmgirl Chocolate Chippers

2011-10-27T20:46:00.000-04:00

THESE ARE GREAT!

This is my helper - we quite possibly made these for breakfast (which would explain my helper's hairdo or lack thereof!)- I love cookies for breakfast - cookies and bacon are awesome together!

Will it pass the beater test?

And it does!

This recipe makes 10 dozen which at first seemed like a lot so I spooned the dough out into balls and put them in a ziploc bag for later!

Which happened to work out well because when I turned around the ones I had baked were gone!

And they even passed the Casey test - which isn't easy to do!

Farmgirl Chocolate Chippers

2 c. butter, softened 1 tsp. salt

2 c. sugar 2 tsp. baking powder

2 c. brown sugar, packed 2 tsp. baking soda

4 eggs, beaten 2 12 oz. pkgs. semi-sweet choc. chips

2 tsp. vanilla extract 7 oz. pkg. choc. candy bar, grated

5 c. long cooking oats, uncooked 3 c. chopped nuts

4 c. all purpose flour

Blend together butter, sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl, mix well. Add eggs and vanilla; set aside. Working in batches, process oats in a blender or food processor until powdery. Combine oats, flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl, mix into butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chips, grated chocolate and nuts. Form into golf ball size balls, arrange on ungreased baking sheets 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees for 6 minutes. Makes 10 dozen.

Fried Chicken and My Boots

2011-10-25T22:32:00.000-04:00

So for 24 of the past 36 hours I have been running the grain cart - I am tired and slap happy, one might say I also have 'cab' fever (think cabin fever but I am in the 'cab' of a tractor - get it - I love when I crack myself up!)!

So anyway once I start getting slap happy I have to find ways to entertain myself, I can only sing along to the radio for so many hours and chit chat with my FIL on the 2 way radio for so long before I have heard the same songs a hundred times and annoy my FIL - so I choose to send random texts to my friends and take pictures between semi's making the 14 mile trip home to dump and then back out to the field!

So the texting started about 4pm yesterday - let me just start out by saying that if I had a real job and someone like me kept sending annoying random texts I might not find them so funny but then I am on this end so I just keep sending them because I think I am funny!

I started craving fried chicken and mashed potatoes, not KFC, but real homemade fried chicken with homemade mashed potatoes and creamy gravy with bits from frying the chicken in it so I texted this to Chris:

Yeah since your close to the house not really doing anything but dumping trucks, running the dryer and trying to haul manure could you whip up some homemade fried chicken mashed potatoes and gravy?

He ignored me - go figure!

So I texted the oldest:

Really craving homemade fried chicken mashed potatoes and gravy could you fix that for supper please?

She replied immediately:

Already on it but burnt it so we will have to get something from town!

I am just guessing here but I got the impression she was being sarcastic!

So I started texting my friends, one was sick in bed so I gave her a pass, the other was at a kids thing but offered to pick up KFC - nice thought but not what I was looking for, one actually was having fried chicken from Kroger and offered to feed me - had I known at the time I would be eating a grilled cheese and glass of milk at 10:30pm I would of made her bring it to the field!

So here I am today with my butt in the same tractor seat and still sending annoying texts to my friends!

Today's text's started with:

I am tired of squatting to pee and I still want homemade fried chicken mashed potatoes and gravy!

I only heard back from one of them who sent back "LOL" - I am pretty confident that is not code for "will have it ready and waiting when you get home" - and the other two are ignoring me!

So once again I am down to playing with my camera between semi's!

Yesterday I wore my pointy toed boots and today my fat baby's - if it doesn't rain tonight I am going to wear my Red Wing's tomorrow - I can just feel your excitement and anticipation for those pics! I have to say I am kind of partial to the pointy toes - but we will wait for the Red Wing pics for the final verdict - also it is not that easy taking creative pics of your own feet - just sayin'!

Love Me My Carhartt's!

2011-10-23T22:18:00.000-04:00

Not very often am I overly practical - but when I got wind that I could pick anything I wanted from Carhartt's new women's line, hands down it had to be a new pair of insulated overalls and then Chris found out and said "You should get some new overalls, the ones I bought you 20 years ago are lookin' pretty worn out - go ahead and treat yourself!" - he's all mine ladies!

So here I am the day I got them - of course I had to immediately try them on - thanks Megan for taking the pic - I was super excited!

Didn't take long for me to give them a workout - washing hog barns!

Who wouldn't be this happy washing hog barns in new overalls?

They got dirty!

They had to ride home in the back of my truck!

But I stuck them in the washer and dryer and they were good as new for the next time I needed them! Which just happened to be when I spent all weekend looking for the show calves I had accidentally let out - but I looked good and was warm while riding around looking for them!

These baby's will be getting a work out the colder it gets as we will be getting calves ready for Hoosier Beef Congress and then the weekend of that show I will have these on 4 days straight just to keep me toastie in the barns at the state fair grounds!

This household has been long standing Carhartt lovers forever! We have owned every size imaginable!

The important fine print:

Now I know everyone wants to be just like me sooooo to win a pair of Carhartt Bib Overalls of your own please visit The Real Farmwives of America and sign up for their giveaway - I promise you will look just as cool as me or would that be warm as me - oh and minus the hog manure it doesn't come with the overalls!

"Carhartt did provide me with this product to review but the thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own."

OK where was I?

2011-10-19T16:03:00.000-04:00

Oh yeah -

It was a beautiful sunset and I had just posted my status on Facebook "I am happy - my barn is full again!" That didn't last long! As soon as I posted that I headed back out to the barn to move calves around, we were going to have 3 pens on different amounts of feed - so I backed the trailer up to the side lot secured the gates and unloaded the weaned Hereford heifer, put her over in the next lot, pulled the trailer up, closed the gate, parked the truck and trailer and proceeded to shuffle cattle - caught my mistake - I didn't until I heard, well some yelling and words that Chris doesn't normally use - it took me a second, then panic set in - I had never CHAINED the gate - I had just kept putting calves out there from inside the barn and they just kept walking out the pushed open gate - 4 calves out - 3 that had only been at our house for an hour! One steer and one heifer were near the barn and walked right back in the pen the other 2 steers not so much. We searched in the dark for 4 hours, covered miles on foot and with 4-wheelers, we had just about given up when a neighbor (I love you Paul) showed up with his ginormous spot-light and found them - we walked them towards the house, lost them again, found them again, walked some more and lost them again - and gave up for the night about midnight - in the midst of all the looking several things happened that I was not witness to that were nerve racking to say the least - the oldest ran her 4-wheeler out of gas in the dark a mile away from home - thank goodness for cell phones, the boy was using the gator and almost got hit by a car - skid marks, screaming, traumatized - it was horrible - I layed in bed with the boy all night, I was awake just thanking God repeatedly, Chris told me later that he had never been so scared - hauling corn Sat. he sat in the truck and kept telling God he didn't care about the calves he was just thankful Cole was alive - yeah it was that serious. I listened to my kids (all 3) sob uncontrollably all night over those lost steers - I felt helpless and like the worst Mom in the world! Needless to say I didn't sleep much finally got up about 20 minutes before sunrise still wearing the day before's clothes put on my jacket

and my new Carhartt overalls (a whole other post - but they came in really handy) and drove and looked and drove and looked and . . . . . . no luck, I talked to neighbors and more neighbors I even called the sheriff's dept. who (and I kid you not) insisted I file a "missing person's report" - I said all I want is to be notified if someone were to call in that they spotted random cattle wandering about - and in true tax payer dollars at work - 2 deputy's showed up at my house and told me I did not have to file a report they would just notify me if someone called in random cattle - THANK YOU! I had a conversation with Danny (my soon to be hero on horseback) at one point that morning that went like this:
Me: Danny (sobbing) I can't believe I left the gate unchained, the kids are so upset, Chris is so mad - what if he divorces me?
Danny: Now Jennifer calm down - if you have cattle eventually you are going to have cattle out - I promise we will find them and we will look back on this and laugh! And Chris won't divorce you then he would have to find someone else to take care of that passel of kids you have, cook meals and clean the house!
Me: (sobbing harder than ever now) Danny I suck at all that stuff he really is going to divorce me now this just gives him a really good reason!

I moved on to hog work with my wonderful crew of 6 kids -

Well I got to this point in the story last night and didn't quite know how to continue - this is the point I actually lost it mentally - I had not let myself cry to this point - I had been the one to screw up I didn't deserve to cry yet and have people feel sorry for me - but as Saturday progressed and just got worse - I cried - I cried a lot!

We happened to have a sow farrow outside in the last group and she had 10 healthy pigs and they needed weaned - in steps me and six kids - it started off looking like a greased pig contest - I actually laughed (I needed that) but then we had to get serious - I got the sow out of the little barn and sent the boy in for some piglets - the sow got mad - got past me - got to the boy, threw him into the barn wall HARD then when he hit the ground she started pounding on him with her head and tossing him around, I reached in grabbed him threw him out just as she clamped her jaw closed on my arm - seriously people I couldn't make this stuff up - it went from bad to worse - Cole was shook up and bruised but fine, I have teeth marks and lots of bruises on my arm - and once again my knight in shining "olive colored button down shirt with button down collars" came to my rescue (Chris) - pigs weaned, kids cleaning aisles in barns I went out once again on the 4 wheeler to look for calves - no luck!

A ray of hope - around 6pm a neighbor spotted them coming out of a woods - some quick phone calls - a couple 4 wheelers, 4 pick-up trucks and 2 scared to death calves and you have what you might call a red neck rodeo that criss-crossed 2 miles of fields and still had 2 calves on the loose 3 hours later and pitch black - called it a night again - I took 2 sleeping pills and still couldn't sleep that night!

The next morning I was back out looking and just about ready to give up when a neighbor (thank you Glenn McAlpin!) called and said he spotted them in his woods - I was done, I was calling in the cowboys - guys on horseback, we were bringing these calves home! We watched those calves for over an hour waiting on my cowboys to get home from church and load up there horses!

There were tense moments - the calves were in a fencerow under a tree and our plan was to gently walk them down the fencerow into the makeshift corral we had set up!

That little white speck is my MIL and kids keeping an eye on the calves who are hunkered down under that tree in the fencerow that still has all its leaves.

This is our make-shift corral 600 feet down the fence line to run them into.

But just in case things don't go as planned (because why would they) Chris made a corral at home that lead into the cattle lot - it is made up of 18 round bales, the 4430, our pop-up camper, 4 wheeler, gator, wheat drill, cultipacker, 4440, corn head cart, FIL's truck, grain cart on the 4640 rounded off with the semi and grain trailer!

In come the horses -

Up come the calves-

And the calves bolt - they run the whole mile and half back home with the horses in hot pursuit!

I saw them bolt sat down in the grass by the truck tire and ~~cried~~ continued sobbing - about 15 minutes later my phone rang, they had run all the back to our house - we jumped in the truck and rushed home - I'll be honest from that point it becomes somewhat of a blur and I did not witness all the rodeoing that happened - ironically I was put in charge of running the gates at the barn so that when they did come in that gate could be latched!

What I heard happened was after the black baldie basically gave up and walked into the front gate (not utilizing either corral we put up!) - from there we located the little red calf had been hiding under a pine tree for 20 minutes in our yard while we had covered a 1/2 mile radius around the barn on horseback, truck and 4-wheelers - we scared him out from under the tree and in the process I saw my girls in the Explorer (yeah no one posses a license) take off at a rather high rate of speed to keep him out of the corn field rounded him into the yard bouncing up and down in my Explorer into the bean field where Chris took over running the calf in circles running the throttle with his left hand grabbing the calf halter with his right, drug off the 4-wheeler - at one point the story goes that the guys on horseback said they stayed back far enough because they didn't want Chris to hear them laughing - after he was jerked off the 4-wheeler apparently he and the calf were both laying on the ground eye to eye, a neighbor jumped on top the calf and they finally got him tied to the back of a pick-up truck - I pulled the trailer back to the field and we got him loaded up!

Now everyone is home and looking at the glass half full - after 3 days of everything being out of whack we just stuck all the calves in the same pen, fed them all the same amount and they all ate!

THE END AMEN GOOD NIGHT!

My barn is full again and all the gates are chained!

Where Oh Where to begin. . . .

2011-10-16T21:18:00.000-04:00

The past few weeks have been hectic and busy, which is normally how I function best! We have been harvesting and also getting ready for National FFA Career Success Tours on our farm and also trying to get next years show calves gathered and attend school and get ready for the FFA area soils contest and . . . . .

But let's just go back as far as last Wednesday - we spent the whole day finishing up our last 75 acres of beans, it was a beautiful day and things rolled along smoothly.

Awww sweet - by Friday night I wasn't sure we would still be married much longer!

We finished up this farm about 5:30 p.m. and headed home with all the equipment by 8:30 I had the kids settled and ready for the school the next day back at my in-laws and Chris and I took off in the truck and trailer headed for Rockford, Illinois to pick up a heifer! We made it to El Paso, IL before we stopped for the night about 11:30. Back up and on the road by 6am the next morning, made it to Winnebago, IL and heifer loaded and back on the road - pulled into home at 4:30pm and unloaded mine and the boys beautiful heifer named Winnie!

Friday we ran corn, I tried to find the house under all the mess that had been accumulating, pulled up the cows out of the pasture so I could wean the last heifer and bring her home and got the barn ready for the show steers coming in from Peru that evening. We also had a good friend (Thanks Bruce) come out to band two of our bull calves - he let me do it - I know the bulls weren't excited but I really enjoyed learning how to band! We also wormed everybody and gave some sulphur boluses. We also assembled 70 bags of corn, soybean and pork information for our FFA tours next week. We were bringing the heifer home at about 5:30 when the call came that Danny was about 30 minutes out with the steers - so I left the heifer in the trailer moved calves around to make a pen for the steers.

Aww yes three happy kids, three scared steers by dark I thought they would never be happy again.

Look at that smile - I wiped that right off her face in less than an hour.

The sun was setting, it was beautiful!

I came in the house for a few minutes and posted on Facebook -

"So happy - my barn is full again"

Went back out to the barn to move cattle around so that we could feed for the evening - Casey says I jinxed myself for posting that on Facebook but I think it was just a really stupid error on my part!

Stay tuned - it goes downhill fast - there is drama, injury, pig chasing, cattle corralling, cowboys on horseback, calf wrestling and a whole lot of tears and an amazing set of neighbors and friends!

WW: Right or Wrong...

2011-10-12T19:59:00.000-04:00

...these things I found on Pinterest describe me to a T, so they are my Wordless Wednesday!

Beans To Wheat

2011-10-10T11:23:00.000-04:00

My favorite field is the one around our house - I love the days that they work in this field, tilling, planting, spraying, harvesting, and spreading manure on it - all of it! This year it was in soybeans

This was taken Oct 1 - Chris and his Dad debating if the field is ready to run.

All of our soybeans are hauled directly from the field to Bungee in Indianapolis.

I do believe a consensus was reached - we are running the field.

I love this day and dread it - I love the anticipation of them working around the house and I love the few days it takes to run this field - but once it is done they are done working around the house! But this year I got a few extra day this fall because we planted wheat in this field - which means next summer they will harvest around the house and then all summer and next winter they will be hauling manure on this field - yes even that makes me happy to see!

The very dry summer (July and August) were pretty hard on the crops - the yields for both corn and soybeans have been all over the boards - even within the same field - good black dirt is still yielding really well but the other ground not so much.

Once the soybeans were harvested we spread fertilizer on the ground - this was done on Oct. 3.

The next day (Oct 4) we turbo tilled the wheat stubble and then ran the chisel plow over the ground to make a nice seed bed for the wheat seed.

And planted the wheat (Oct 4) - one day after the Hession Fly Free Date!

And today Oct. 10 the wheat is up!

I find that amazing!

For The Love Of Pork

2011-10-02T21:42:00.000-04:00

The other day I saw this post on Facebook by Moms Who Drink and Swear:

. . . the kids and niece and nephew were not sorry about not saving bacon for me this morning. they know i'm going to santa about this. that's how i roll when it comes to pork products.

First off I have to say that I have a crush on this woman, I want to be her (well I am a Mom, I do drink and I do swear), I love how she tells it like it is - but anyway back to her status - it got me thinking - don't we all truly feel this way about our pork products, which then got me to thinking that hog farming really isn't as glamorous as cattle farming (as I stand in a steamy hog barn wet, smelly and covered in bits of feed and shit) - I can't post pictures of us riding horses across the pasture, of our employees lookin' good in Wranglers and chaps, a herd grazing in the valley - but we work just as hard just in not as picturesque conditions!

So I have decided that today- Monday October 3 - will be National Post For Pork Day - I don't really think I possess the power to declare anything a National day but I am going to anyway, oh heck, while I am abusing power that I don't have why not make it International Post For Pork Day!

So get to it (please) - leave a comment here about how much you love pork, post "I LOVE BACON" on your facebook page, post it on my blog Facebook page, post it on our farm Facebook page, Tweet about it, go up on your roof and shout it for the neighbors to hear, scream it out your car window when your stuck in traffic, text it to all your contacts in your phone! Show a hog farmer some love - give one a pat on the back - he may smell but your hands will wash, just think about his poor wife, her laundry room smells like that all the time and her garage and sometimes her kitchen where he takes his boots off and her kids and her vehicle and . . . .

Check out all the great websites for some awesome recipes and pork facts!

http://www.porkbeinspired.com/Index.aspx

http://www.indianapork.com/Home/tabid/763/Default.aspx

http://nppc.org/

And go like Indiana Pork on Facebook!

A Different Perspective!

2011-09-29T20:08:00.000-04:00

Why when I see a pile of gravel do I feel compelled to climb to the top,

then run back down and get my camera and run to the top again?

I looked all around, the view wasn't all that different -

I really couldn't see over the farrowing barn any better than before,

I could still see right into the compost pile, but the sun was pretty,

Chris was getting the pressure washer set up so I could wash yet another barn,

but I could make a great shadow and wave at myself and then I felt inspired to belt out one of my all time favorite songs - High On A Mountain Of Love by Charlie Pride - it made complete sense at the time and it made me smile!

It was a different perspective!

GP: A Meal Fit For A King or at least a farmer!

2011-09-28T20:39:00.000-04:00

I kinda can't believe how long it has been since I posted a Gooseberry Patch recipe!

So here we go- this is another 2 for 1 - meatloaf and mashed potatoes - my all time favorite meal, usually I don't mess with this meal but these two recipes looked really good so I gave it a go and I really liked them and so did Chris!

First up - Company Meatloaf!

And when they say "company" they mean it, this made A LOT! So I divided the meat mixture in half and baked half for this meal and put the other half in the freezer (I think a certain somebody would be very proud of me - just sayin')!

So here is the one I baked (well before I baked it) - I don't like pics of raw meat so I just didn't take any except this one - so I stuck it in the oven and baked it!

Now for the Loaded Mashed Potato Casserole!

I cheated and used "Potato Buds" - I LOVE MASHED POTATO'S so there was no way I could make homemade ones and not eat them immediately with a gallon of gravy so I just decided to cheat and use instant which is what some in this house prefer!

Well I have to say instant or not - this was AWESOME!

Usually I don't like people laughing at my food but he claims he just felt stupid posing with food and honestly I am just glad I got a picture with the food still on the plate - his doesn't stay there long!

And I do love it when he laughs!

Company Meatloaf:

1 lb. ground pork sausage

3 lbs. ground beef

1 T. dried sage

8 oz. tomato sauce

2 c. quick cooking oats, uncooked

1 .35 oz. pkg. onion soup mix

4 eggs

2 c. evaporated milk

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, mix well. Shape into 2 loaves and place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees; bake for an additional one hour, or until browned.

Loaded Mashed Potato Casserole:

5 1/2 c. mashed potatoes

1/2 c. milk

8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

8 oz. sour cream

2 tsp. dried parsley

1 tsp. garlic salt

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

3/4 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

12 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Beat together all ingredients except cheese and bacon until smooth and creamy. Spoon into a lightly greased 13x9 baking pan; sprinkle with cheese and bacon. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Conversations with Chris

2011-09-27T14:01:00.001-04:00

I put this conversation on Facebook last night but there were further developements that I thought warranted this conversation to have it's own post!

Last night after supper Chris and I were sitting at the kitchen table talking and he says to me:
"Since your getting up anyway would you bring me another beer?"

Ummm I wasn't getting up but I was feeling generous so I got up anyway and got him his beer, which requires a bottle opener - we are fancy around here, no twist off tops for us, well for him, I drink Boones Farm! So I grab him a beer and the can opener laying on the counter and hand it to him - which prompts this conversation:

Chris: See this can opener?

Me: Yeah?

Chris: When I was a kid we never had one this big - it didn't have long handles like this one and was harder to use - see this can opener, this is luxery, this is how I spoil you!

WHAT? I just walked away - and then laughed hysterically (but don't tell him!)

So anyway after lunch I decided to put some chicken and stuff in the crock pot for supper and am looking around for my "luxurious" can opener, which by the way was still laying on the table ( no one put it away - just sayin') so I pick it up and off-handedly say "Boy I am one lucky girl to have such a fine can opener" and he says "Yes you are!" - grabs the camera and actually takes pictures of me opening a can - this is the same man that I have to hand the camera to and say outloud "Now would be a good time for you to take a picture of me!" decided that opening a can deserved a photo shoot!

Yes my kitchen is a mess but he did manage to get me in the picture and not just the can opener!

Discombobulated

2011-09-26T19:51:00.001-04:00

I love that word - my Mom uses it all the time - it is a funny word - go ahead say it and I dare you not to at least smile - now try saying it 3 times fast and I bet you giggle! If you didn't try saying "discom'boob'ulated" if your not laughing now there is just something wrong with you!

Anyway that is how my day has gone or I have felt:

Ever have one of those dreams where in the dream you are asleep and dreaming? All night last night! And then you would finally be able to wake yourself up but then realize that you are only awake from your dream dream but still dreaming?????? It drives me insane!

Then I decide to take the dishwasher apart and clean it (not in my dream or dream dream but in real life)! Am I the only person who takes their dishwasher apart to clean it and then take the pieces down to the shop at the hog barns to wash it with the pressure washer? (Insert you might be a Redneck if:) Just sounds weird to take something out of my house to the hog barns to get it cleaner than it is in my house - that is the story of my life! And if a dishwasher is supposed to clean dishes why should I have to clean the dishwasher, can't it keep itself clean?

I am sure this is just me but I dirtied 3 pans heating up leftover chili for lunch! Seriously! I had heated up a little for Casey to take in her lunch in one pan, thought well that would be good for lunch, so I added the rest but that pan seemed too small so I dumped it into the next size pan and decided that it could use some doctoring up so I added a few things only to have that pan overflow and have to dump the whole thing into the next size pan! 3 pans to heat up leftover chili!

I spent 2 hours in the Verizon store just to add one line - really is it that hard! Oh and while we are sitting in the Verizon store my MIL is talking on her Verizon cell phone to my FIL on his Verizon cell phone and the connection is dropped - seriously they are taking forever to just add a line and trying to talk me into spending more on a better plan all while they are dropping calls on their devices in their store! The guy was very helpful but it was just weird!

I asked the boy to mow the grass last week - he informed me he was too busy with harvest - so I mowed it Friday - I get home from the Verizon store and the boy is whipping around the yard mowing the grass - I told him I just mowed it Friday, he said "Yeah but it's too wet to combine" - WHAT? I just walked away!

A gutter salesman shows up to give me an hour long speech that he gave me 2 mo. ago but swears he has never been here before - he says that he talked to my husband earlier today so I called Chris and he took care of it - by ordering gutters from the guy!!!!!!!!

The oldest had "WAY" to much homework tonight to go to piano lessons but caught her up in her room watching 'The Wiggles' - WHAT THE HECK? I just walked away!

After the boy's fiddle lessons I wanted to run to Wal-Mart for just a few things - I do believe everyone in Johnson County had decided the same thing - I really think that is the most crowded I have ever seen that Wal-Mart - 6pm on a Monday evening!

I was just told I will need to wash the other finisher tomorrow afternoon so now I need to go wash my water-proof pants that I bought on my big shopping spree last week - yeah that's right my big shopping spree consisted on Chris sending my to Columbus to get an auger motor fixed IMMEDIATELY, but the guy that was supposed to fix the motor didn't feel the urgency that I felt - he was not nice to me, I was told I would have to wait an hour and a half in not so kind terms so to appease me Chris said I should treat myself to something special at the Outlet Mall while I waited - credit card in hand and ready to spend I marched in and out of a dozen stores only to walk away with water-proof pants off the clearance rack to wash hog barns in! On the bright side they worked wonderfully Saturday when I washed the other finisher!

It's a glamorous life -

but somebody has to live it so why not me?

The Smell of Fall

2011-09-25T22:20:00.000-04:00

Well we are off and runnin' - harvest officially started earlier this week - going at it slow and steady right now!

Three generations in the cab ready to roll!

They started and had to stop to make a slight adjustment to the "new" to us corn head,

finally ready to roll! Do you think he might be excited - he lives for this!

The corn is "wet" now, mature, but not dry enough for storage-it would spoil and rot in the bin if put straight in for storage. The corn is "dried", with heat and forced air. Most of the corn we have harvested so far has been in the "high 20's", that is 26% to 30% moisture, or water by weight. Corn needs to be 15% for storage. Wetter corn spends a hour or more in the dryer, later in the season, as the corn loses more moisture just standing in the field, we will not need to dry the corn as much. The dryer has several parameters that change the rate of drying.

Though drying corn is expensive and time consuming, we like to get a jump start on harvest. Field losses are less earlier in the season. As the weather takes it's toll on the dying plant, more falls down, or falls off. The more corn we shell "wet", the less we shell in November, and experience down corn then, as well as avoiding late fall weather concerns, such as mud and snow.

The fans on the dryer, the flames are always on but cycles between high and low heat cycles to regulate the tempreture of the dryer.

It is a full time job to make sure the settings are always adjusted exactly right so that the corn is discharged at the right moisture and tempreture. You can burn corn, on the other hand you don't want to have to run it thru the dryer twice.

The dryer fans running at night - there is really no good way to get a picture of how briiliant they are and the amazing smell of corn drying - it is truly what Fall is to me!

My Mom tells a story about visiting the Frito Lay factory when I was little and while everyone else in the tour was adjusting to what they considered an odd smell I looked at her and said:

"It smells just like home Mom!"

Every semi load of 27% corn contains apprx. 9000 pounds of excess water or a 1000 gallons that we remove with the dryer!

Cleaner than my kitchen floor!

2011-09-20T13:11:00.001-04:00

Seriously I think it is - which if you know me really doesn't surprise you at all!

We finished cleaning out the last bin of old corn this morning - I say "we" loosely as this one is technically the only one I helped with this year! It didn't go quite as I planned but then rarely things do!

Last night Chris said to me "uh yeah gonna need your help in the morning cleaning out a bin, Dad is gonna take the load already loaded then you and I and Josh will take the other semi down to Marietta and clean out the bin and load it - we will need someone to load the semi and pull it up!"!

Well I will be perfectly honest - I was more than a tad bit excited - I was going to get to drive the semi - once again using the word "drive" loosely as in I was going to get to put the semi in gear and allow it to roll up slightly so that the corn didn't run over out of the trailer! I was still excited! You see one of the very first things I remember ever wanting to be when I grew up was a trucker, Yep that's right Ladies and Gentleman - A Trucker - well that and a vet - but Chris says every little girl wants to be a vet at some point! Anyway I feel I was pretty much prepared for anything - if the whole school thing wasn't my forte (which it wasn't, that and the fact that when I hear anyone throw up I throw up weak stomach thing) my plan of trucking across the USA was my American dream - and today that dream was gonna come true! Now don't get me wrong Chris has been trying to get me to drive semi's for years and I have tried, the older one we had I was OK at driving but semi's are so long when you put a trailer on them and the newer ones we have I seem to give people whiplash in when I drive - I can't keep even pressure on the gas pedal and then my foot goes on and off the pedal - well it's just not pretty and after about 50 feet you just want to throw up! And then there is the whole nightmare issue! Yep ever since I was little my only recurring nightmare has been me driving a semi and the gas pedal gets stuck and I am careening out of control at a high rate of speed in a semi hauling a full grain trailer - I SWEAR this is true!

BUT TODAY WAS GONNA BE DIFFERENT- I was going to jump in the cab of that semi, put it into gear and ~~put the hammer down~~ slowly roll forward like I was a pro - needless to say I was EXCITED - So can you imagine the look on my face when we jump out of the truck at the bin and Chris looks at me and says the words:

"Crawl in the bin, you'll be in charge of the

broom sweeping up behind me!"

So I swept - and I am not kidding when I say that bin floor is cleaner than my kitchen floor!

Because Eveyone Is Not The Same As Me!

2011-09-17T09:47:00.000-04:00

Follow-up conversation with Emi Lou from yesterday!

So this morning as Lou rolls out of bed about 9am and wonders thru the house she casually starts this conversation:

Emi Lou: So Mom I read your blog post!

Me: (slightly shocked, I didn't know she read my blog) Oh yeah - so do you still think I lay around all day watching TV, surfing the net and napping?

Emi Lou: Yep!

Me: ARE YOU SH*&ing me! (yes I said it) Did you read the WHOLE thing?

Emi Lou: Yep!

Me: Well than I don't understand, who do you think does all the stuff around here?

Emi Lou: You do Mom that is why you deserve to lay around all day while we are gone!

I knew she was beautiful and SMART - I just forget sometimes that we all don't think alike!

Conversations With My Kids!

2011-09-16T21:05:00.000-04:00

Emi Lou Age 12

Emi Lou: Mom, what do you do all day while we are at school?

Me: Oh you know take naps, lay around, surf the web

Emi Lou: Huh, well that makes sense! I can't wait till I have kids and they go to school so I can lay around doing nothing all day like you Mom!

She seriously believed me and just walked away - who does she thinks puts the clean underwear back in her drawer to wear everyday? Cooks the meals? Picks up the dirty dishes she leaves in the living room? Brings the snacks home from the grocery store? Bakes the cookies that are waiting on her when she gets off the bus? Mowed the grass? Dropped everything to run and get parts for her Dad?

Good thing she's beautiful!

Conversations With My Kids!

2011-09-14T12:40:00.000-04:00

Cole - Age 8

FYI "Grumpy" is what my kids call Chris' Dad, their Grandpa!

Cole: You know Mom I am Grumpy's left hand man!

Me: Left hand?

Cole: Yeah, he is left handed and I sit on his left side in the combine!

Me: OH I see - that is clever!

Cole: Yeah, so when he passes out in the combine I am right there to take over and run the combine!

Me: Ummmm how often does Grumpy pass out in the combine?

Cole: Never, but if he does I am there!

And I think we can all be Thankful for that!

Today . . . .

2011-09-13T12:01:00.000-04:00

. . .the dirty dishes are piled high in the kitchen,

. . .my laundry room smells of an interesting combination of hog and cattle manure,

. . .there is a distinct smell of a dead mouse around the fireplace,

. . .it is supposed to be 90 degrees,

. . .I just swept up about 5 pounds of dirt, manure and mud off the kitchen floor,

. . .I cleaned out the kids' bags from this weekend which were an interesting combination of cattle manure and wet swimsuits that had been marinating together in the back of a pick-up truck in the sun in 80 degree weather,

Today the dirty dishes are piled high in the kitchen, because I love to cook, Chris loves to eat and I hate clean!

Today my laundry room smells of an interesting combination of hog and cattle manure, because we do what we love and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Today there is a distinct smell of a dead mouse around the fireplace, which is much better than a live mouse running around!

Today it is supposed to be 90 degrees, but there is an awesome breeze, I can hear the corn rustling and the windows are open (which is also helping with the dead mouse smell - bonus!!!)!

Today I just swept up about 5 pounds of dirt, manure and mud off the kitchen floor, because, well . . . quite frankly Chris and the kids (OK me too) don't bother to take our dirty boots off when we come in the house!

Today I cleaned out the kids' bags from this weekend which were an interesting combination of cattle manure and wet swimsuits that had been marinating together in the back of a pick-up truck in the sun in 80 degree weather, because we were lucky enough to get away as a family, sight see a little and pick out show cattle!

LIFE IS GOOD

I despise grocery shopping and bluetoothing!

2011-09-12T13:52:00.001-04:00

Is bluethoothing even a word? Who cares I don't like those blue tooth devices! I am sure that they make driving and talking on cell phones safer but why do people wear them into stores? I firmly believe that there is nothing so pressing in any one's life - short of guarding the President (and why would he be shopping in Wal-Mart?) - that requires you to wear a blue tooth device into Wal-Mart!

Secondly let me say that I am very grateful that we can afford food and that we eat very well - it is the actual act of grocery shopping that I hate and have always hated! I disliked it when I first got married, I disliked it with small children (not because it was necessarily any harder) and I dislike it today! Although I will say now that the kids are older it is getting a little easier, I usually go when they can go with me - I breeze thru the aisles trying to grab everything on our list and then head to the front to check out where I take one last look at the list and there are a ton of things I forgot - so I off handedly say something like "Oh darn I was going to get some Double Stuff Oreos but I forgot to pick them up - oh well maybe next time!", at this point a Kid jumps in and says "I'll run back and get them!" and I say "Oh OK, while you are back there grab this and this and this" and then I send Kid 2 after a few more items, and Kid 3 back to Dairy goods while I stand at the check out counter reading magazines that I don't intend to buy - works every time!

It never seems to fail that something ridiculous happens to me at the grocery store! For example:

I have been blue toothed more than once! This one time I was in produce looking over the lettuce or something and this women (wearing slippers and pajama pants - seriously what is so pressing that she needs a blue tooth device for but doesn't have time to put on real clothing for!) says:
"Picking out fresh produce is hard, your never sure how long it has been out" Now I don't possess the "chit chat" gene or the "kiss ass" gene - this can make me appear shy and blunt all at the same time but I try to never be rude - so I casually shake my head yes and say "yep, not always easy"! She then proceeds to talk about her friend who is dying of cancer - it was horrible and sad but of absolutely no interest to me, I shook my head a few times, said some generic polite phrases - just really wanting to move on, when the woman suddenly looks at me full on and says "I don't know this lady is trying to be a part of our conversation!" at the exact moment I notice the dumb ass thing attached to her ear!

Then there was the time I was about 8 months pregnant with #3, I had a 6 year old and a 3 year old, we were almost done, the cart was full and my back was killing me - I started having some contractions - but there was absolutely no way I was leaving there without my groceries, the cart was full and I was almost done so I took the girls over to the toy aisle and let them play while I sat on an empty shelf for about 15 minutes waiting for the pain to go away - luckily they were only braxton hicks but I was not going to have to go back and do that shopping all over again!

But my all time favorite happened when I was almost 9 mo's. pregnant with #2 and #1 was 3 years old! She was riding in the front of the cart, the cart was full, we were at the front of the store, standing in front of all the cash registers, I was reviewing my list and I offhandedly said to myself:
"Crap I forgot to get Chris' beer, I do not feel like walking back there for it!"
When all of a sudden I hear this horrible beached whale like sound almost busting my eardrums, it is coming from my 3 year old who is sobbing (real tears) and loudly blubbering the phrase repeatedly:

"But Momma please go get the beer, Daddy needs his beer -

OH Momma please please Daddy needs beer!"

Needless to say "Daddy" got his beer just so the kids would shut-up

The absolute worst part though for me is how many times I have to handle the same item!
Have you ever thought about it:
     1. pick the item off the shelf put it in the cart
     2. out of the cart onto the cashier's counter
     3. pick the grocery bags up and put them in the cart
     4. out of the grocery cart and into your car
     5. out of your car into your house
     6. out of the bag into the cabinet
     7. out of the cabinet to prepare
That just seems absurd to me!

Now I have no choice but to quit typing and go put today's grocery's away (step 6) because the frozen stuff won't keep until the kid's get home from school and I can make them do it!

This time I am going to hold it till everyone is gone!

2011-09-07T11:21:00.000-04:00

I love our farm (have I said that before) - I really do and I am so proud of the hard work my In-laws and Chris put into it to make it viable, our farm solely supports 2 family's and 1 full time employee, So when the National FFA Organization called and asked if we would be willing to be one of their Career Success Tours I immediatly said "~~Hell Yeah~~ Us? Wow, that would be an honor!"

I love farm tours - when I was a kid my parents had several different farm tours - you know back in the day - the good ole' days - the 70's! They always offered house tours so "the women had something to do as well" - farm tours were fun when I was a kid, now they are just hard work - back then I had no concept how hard my parents had to work to get ready for those tours! I remember them all fondly, except for one!

The 1978 Indiana Farm Management Tour - this one just makes me hang my head and giggle!

I was 8 years old, it was July, people were touring our home farm with our shop and equipment, our grain facilities and "for the women" a tour of our recently remodeled farm home!

Here is the description from the guide book of our home:

Note the part:
      -Down the circular stairway to the lower level . . . . .
                 to the part that says
       -The farm office with bath is easily accessible to the patio entrance.

The tour started upstairs, thru the "entrance, with a place for sewing and book storage", into the kitchen, the master bedroom, the dining room with "a fantastic view of the farm fields and woods along Sugar Creek" (don't you wonder who writes this stuff?) then onto the "children's bedroom wing" then down stairs - my point here is that there was some time spent upstairs before heading down - it was later in the day and the "farm wife" crowd was dwindling, I said to my Mom "I really have to go to the bathroom!" - I pause now because you are either:
- laughing because you know where this is headed
     OR
- you should re-read the above layout of the home for further understanding

Here is where I will tell you that I was stylin' that day - sporting my all yellow with white trim one-piece terry cloth romper, pigtails and white thong sandals - by 1970's standards I was one cute 8 year old, if I do say so myself!

For those of you who were not fortunate enough to own or know what a "romper" is:

this is exactly the style mine was that day - all ONE piece, elastic waist, ties on each shoulder

So I have said to my Mom that I really need to pee - she says "OK go down stairs to the office bathroom, I will stall the next group as long as possible"!

From that moment until the bathroom door flew open is really nothing but a blur - I do recall hearing my Grandmother say the words: "And this is Stephen's office, he and Bobbie keep all the farm books here - and it even has an attached bathroom . . ." and the door swings open and I am sitting on the toilet with my snazzy one-piece terry cloth romper and flowered underwear dangling around my ankles while my Grandmother and about 15 "farm wives" are staring at me naked as a jay bird takin' care of business! It seemed like forever until my Grandmother fully comprehended that she needed to close the door - I am glad it was near the end of the day because I spent the rest of the tour hiding in the furnace room "where there is plenty of storage shelves, a furnace as well an efficient wood-burning stove capable of heating the entire 2 level home and a space just big enough for an embarrassed 8 year old girl to hide"!

So here we are about a month and half from said tour and it is time for me to kick it into high and get some work done but at the top of my list is the reminder:

Pee before the tour and then hold it till everyone is gone!

I asked for it!

2011-09-06T20:59:00.000-04:00

Fire pit weather - why didn't mother nature answer me when I asked for some rain for the crops the last 2 month's?

Saturday we started our hunt for our new "show string" sporting shorts, flip flops and tank tops! On Monday when we went on another trek we were having to wear jeans, boots and sweatshirts, today's high was supposed to be 74 it got to a whooping 62 with a constant wind - so nothing sounded better tonight than chili! Which I made with some fresh tomato juice - I am not a canner (that is a whole other post) but the chili I made tonight with the fresh tomato juice might make me change my mind - might being the key word!

Anyway I had marked this recipe in my Gooseberry Patch Church Suppers cookbook,

it was a super easy, super fast recipe, really delicious and perfect with tonight's chili!

Basically you dumped all the ingredients into a bowl

mix it up real good

put the batter into the muffin tins - the recipe said it made 1 1/2 dozen, I had plenty of batter for 2 dozen,

cook them in the oven and serve them - very simple, very easy!

So there you have it - we are 1 recipe closer to giving one lucky person a copy of Church Suppers!

Our Family's Corn Muffins

1 3/4 c. yellow cornmeal

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. sugar

8 tsp. baking powder

1 1/4 tsp. salt

2 eggs

2 c. milk

3/4 c. oil

In a large bowl, combine ingredients in order listed; beat until well blended. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick tests done. Makes 1 1/2 dozen.

What I wouldn't give . . .

2011-08-29T03:00:00.000-04:00

for some fire pit weather! I know that I will be kicking myself in January for wishing this warm weather away but it is truly wearing me out! I mean everyday I look outside at my patio I have to see my beautiful new copper fire pit - lonely and sad because it is too hot for me to use it!

I got my perfect fire pit from Avant Garden Decor after being told about their website and checking it out - I am afraid I could spend a lot of money there - they obviously have great fire pits but they also have so many bird feeders, planters and garden accessories!

This is the day my fire pit came -

I was so excited I made Chris take my pic!

And then I took it out to the patio, got it out of the box and immediately lit a fire in it! You can see in the corner of the above picture that I already had a fire going in my sad little over used fire pit that was about 6 years old - so this new one well be well used and well loved! I love a good camp fire - they calm me - if the weather is under 75 degrees I usually have a fire in the evening!

We have Friday night get togethers with our friends and this fall this fire pit will get a workout, I also love how big it is, lots of people can gather around it!

Be sure you go check out what all the other Real Farmwives picked out and

if you would like to win a Decorative Hose Holder, please head over to the The Real Farm Wives of America In The Home And Garden and sign up for the giveaway!

"Avant Garden Decor did provide me with this product to review, however the thoughts and opinions shared about this product on this blog are my own."

I have my toothbrush and a clean pair of undies!

2011-08-22T16:41:00.000-04:00

Today Chris and I are headed to Effingham, Illinois to pick up farrowing barn flooring and a couple of new crates! Ever vacationed with a farmer or taken a “quick” trip to pick up parts, look at equipment or pick up a piece of equipment – I have and it is just one adventure after another! Chris and I and the kids have several good story’s of such “adventures” - but the reason I grabbed my toothbrush and a pair of clean underwear today takes me back to 1994!

The Feed Grinder Trip:

Chris had been looking for a new-to-us feed grinder for a while and located a place in Jacksonville, Illinois - a wheeler-dealer who worked out of his shop! So one morning Chris said “Jent jump in the truck we are going to make a quick trip over to Illinois to look at a feed grinder!” I asked do we need to pack a bag? He replied “Nope, the guy says it’s only a 3 and half hour drive – we’ll be back in time for supper!”

We weren’t!

That guy was wrong – it took 5 hours to get there, we arrived at noon, looked over several feed grinders and decided on one!

That was when the fun really started! We really wanted electric scales so he started piecing us together a set and hooking them to the grinder. Then he decided if we were going to drag it all the back to Franklin he really ought to have his guys repack the wheel bearings – that is not a really quick job – by the time we signed some paperwork, hooked up the grinder and headed out of his drive-way it was 4pm, in the winter, the sun would be setting soon, we had no lights on the grinder and could only drive 35-40 mph – do the math – we weren’t going to make it home for supper, we weren’t going to make it home that night!

We did make it to Decatur, it was dusk in a place we didn’t know our way around, dragging a feed grinder with no lights thru town – fun times! We found a discount store where we grabbed a couple of toothbrushes, a pair of underwear for each of us and Chris splurged and said “grab yourself a new shirt for the ride home!”! We then drove across the street to a rather “seedy” hotel and got a room for the night! I remember that it really wasn’t the best part of town, we couldn’t leave so we had to order pizza to be delivered, he brought all the electronic scale parts into the hotel room so no one would steal them and spent most of the night peeking out the curtains to make sure no one was vandalizing the grinder and his truck!

We made it thru the night – no vandals – looking back now we laugh – what kind of gang looks up and says “Dude there's a feed grinder let’s go mess that thing up!” – but we were young! We showered put on our clean clothes, loaded the scales and set out for home!

It was an adventure, we had to drive 2 lane roads all the way and at a snails pace – we made it home late afternoon – it had been a long 2 days! But I believe the funniest part was the evening we got home – Chris went to take his “new” shirt off – it was a nice shirt too – kind of a denim blue color, button up with button down collars – too bad he didn’t read the tag that said “wash before wear” because when he took it off he was the color of a smurf everywhere the shirt touched him – I still laugh out loud hysterically remembering it – it took a couple of days for the coloring to wash out of his skin – oh good times!

Poor guy will never live that down – to this day when he mentions going to look at equipment I always want to grab my toothbrush, even if he says we are only going to Greensburg – I just don’t want to take the chance!

God is telling me to get my balls out!

2011-08-20T10:11:00.001-04:00

It has been one of those mornings:
- the boy is upset his remote control helicopter won't fly right
- the middle got immunizations on Tuesday and swears she is still "dieing" today
-the oldest needs to go to the dr. for something minor and completely curable with antibiotics
-Chris has a million and one things to do including tearing up the floor in a farrowing barn and installing a new one before the next set of sows farrow, but is also still upset over the 5 gallon of paint he ran over with his truck and wasted - then the boy walked thru the paint and then walked thru the house!
- the kitchen is beyond disaster and disgusting
- the yard needs mowed but is brown, crunchy and on it's way to being dead - how that works I have no idea!
- WE NEED RAIN - although I was informed it wasn't going to do our crops much good now anyway!

Anyway I am sure you get my point without me going on and on!

But in the midst of all this I did sit down to check e-mail this morning (because that is what I do when I get overwhelmed - do something that is completely useless towards solving any of my problems!) and opened up an email requesting prayers be sent to North Dakota (yes now I am crying)! You see I have been blessed to be a part of The Real Farmwives of America, I say blessed because it is a privilege that I am a part of because I also have the privilege of living and working on a farm, these girls (yes I will always be a girl) are amazing, some live and work on a farm, some live and work on a farm and also work in agriculture promoting it but we all love our way of life and the industry! I'll be honest, I have not had the honor of meeting in person a lot of these girls but they all have blogs that I love and read, and it is funny how you feel you know someone from something like that (I hadn't expected that when I started this adventure) so today here is one I am asking that you check out, Wag'n Tales, they are a farm family in North Dakota who could use some prayers for their 2 year old son George - and if your not like me and put off the things that need done to hide in a corner and surf the net, just say a quick prayer - that works too and would be greatly appreciated!

So just like I tell my kids all the time, I think that God clearly said to me this morning:
"Suck it up, Man up, Jennifer get your balls out of your purse and put them on - a flightless helicopter, dirty kitchen and a wasted 5 gallon bucket of paint is minor"

Also I think I heard him say to put down the computer and just clean the kitchen or that may of been Chris!

Holy Moly I Have Found True Love!

2011-08-19T16:23:00.000-04:00

So I really need to get on the stick and post my Gooseberry Patch recipes out of Church Suppers! I have actually cooked 9 so far and loved each one but just haven't found the time to post! So here we go with #4!

I will tell you a secret - I am not a huge fan of chocolate - oh pick yourself up off the floor, I like it, I just don't crave it and really don't feel the need to eat it very often but this recipe was amazing and the cherry flavor just tastes so good with the chocolate!

Black Forest Cherry Bars:

And then really it has cherry flavored alcohol in it - my gosh who could say no to that?

While I do have a plethora of alcohol to choose from I did not have any cherry flavored brandy but I did have just enough left of my favorite black cherry rum! While I do not know the difference between cooking/baking with different alcohols (I just went for it), this tasted pretty awesome and didn't seem to affect the consistency of the cake.

I love the flecks of red in the batter!

Here it is about to go in the oven - and that Ladies and Gentlemen is the last photo I have - between fighting Chris and the kids for my half of the 9x13 and eating my half there was no time for fancy pictures - it was just gone! Once it is done you put 2 cans of cherry pie filling on top and then serve it with whipped cream - it was pretty (you can take my word for it) and it was delicious! Funny thing is I have made it once more since the first time and I we still ate it faster than I could get any pics of the finished product!

My Facebook status while this was in the oven was:

Just washed down 2 PMS pills with a cup of wine while licking the batter bowl of the Black Forest Cherry Bars I just put in the oven!

But this recipe turned my frown (and bad attitude) upside down - it is really that good!

Black Forest Cherry Bars:

3 21oz. cans cherry pie filling

18 1/2 oz. pkg. chocolate cake mix

1/4 c. oil

3 eggs

1/4 c. cherry flavored brandy or cherry juice

6 oz. pkg. semi-sweet choc. chips

Whipped topping!

Refrigerate 2 cans of pie filling until chilled. Using an electric mixer beat together remaining can of pie filling, cake mix, oil, eggs and brandy or cherry juice until well mixed. Stir in choc. chips. Pour into a lightly greased 13"x9" baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, until toothpick tests clean; chill. Spread chilled pie filling evenly over cake. Serve with whipped topping, if desired. Serves 10-12 or in the case of my family it only serves 5!

Lovin' everything I have been cooking from my Gooseberry Patch Church Suppers cookbook - won't be much longer till I will be giving away a copy!

It's Tomato Pickin' Time!

2011-08-17T21:10:00.002-04:00

Well the tomato's survived flood and drought and it is pickin' time!

The growing time for field tomato's is approx. 90 days, check out planting them here and in between planting and harvesting was a lot of spraying! Tomato's are highly susceptible to fungus and have to be sprayed with fungicide once a week - that is alot of time in the sprayer seat, especially when you top out at 4mph.

Here are some great pics my Mom took of the blooms and tomato's coming on!

Then there was the day this summer that the sky opened up and it poured - my SIL walked out on her front porch and took this picture - it is not a lake it is one of their tomato fields under all that water!

Luckily most of the water receded quickly enough that the majority of the plants survived.

So now they are harvesting!

The harvester can only run between 1 and 2 mph. The tractor running beside is pulling a trailer that the tomato's are being put into - it is a flat bed semi trailer with two hoppers on it to fill, they pull these thru the fields with tractors and then unhook them, hook up to a semi and are hauled to Elwood, Indiana to the Red Gold plant.

This wheel with the tines are pulling in the vines towards the cutters that cut the plant and put in on the conveyor into the tent where the tomato's are sorted (some by hand some by machine) - I did not get in the tent area and get to actually see how the sorting process works - the whole harvesting process seemed very intense and attention demanding, as well as with a fresh crop such as tomato's time is a huge factor in getting the crop harvested and to the processing plant.

Can you say salsa! If I ever get time I am going over one day and walk behind them and pick up the good ones and make salsa!

They are good straight out of the field, give a good wipe on your t-shirt and eat them like an apple or pop the whole thing in your mouth!

Just like in a garden all the tomato's are not ready at once but unlike your garden these have to be harvested when the majority of them are ready - there is about a 5-10% waste, those that are too small, green or over ripe.

This is my Dad unhooking from the tractor so that the next semi to come back for a load can hook up and go! It is about a 3.5 hour round trip to the plant and they (the farmer or the processing plant) do not want the tomato's to sit in the trailers for any longer then necessary so they are hauled as quickly as possible.

Red Gold pays for a max. 25 Ton of tomato's per semi trailer load - they don't pay over! This is to discourage overloading the trailers and squashing the tomato's on the bottom.

Interestingly, I have not seen it done but Dad said that they empty these hoppers full of tomato's by filling them with water, opening a gate and floating them all out!

Another interesting note my SIL just told me was that the tomato's are in the can in less than 24 hours!

Authors (that's me) disclaimer: This is based on my ~~uninformed guessing~~ limited knowledge - if I have mislead anyone I apologize, please keep my stupidity quiet and if I have taught you something please shout it from the rooftops for everyone to hear!

Yes I Am That Parent!

2011-08-16T10:11:00.002-04:00

Not only are we that family but I am also that parent!

You know the one that gets the "bad" parent letter every year from school because my child has missed so many days (I actually get one each year for each child - not braggin' just sayin'), never planning ahead and having to take the kid out of school for say, oh something like, immunization shots that we have had all summer to get! Yep, that is what I am doing this first day of school - taking the middle kid out for an hour to go get those shots! (Hi Ginger - I can see you rolling your eyes at me!) Oh I knew about them, heck I even started at the beginning of the summer working on making an appointment for her to get them at our family dr., I made the appointment and everything! But then my practical side kicked in (that doesn't happen very often) and I got to thinking about how much it was going to cost to have them done there (self - employed insurance, $11,000 deductible per family member, no well-child coverage - don't get me started) so I decided to go to the county health department for the $5 ones - well by the time I got a hold of the county nurse, had shot records transferred, fiddle-farted around and forgot to call to get the appointment, finally called the soonest they could get us in was Aug. 16 (today the first day of school), so here in a bit I have to go get her out of school to get her shots! I am also that parent that will send my kid back to school after her shots, telling her to "be tough" "get your balls out" "man up" you can make it thru the rest of the day, good grief it's the first day!

The first day for my sophomore, 6th grader and 3rd grader!

I truly love these 3 and am so proud of the people they are becoming and the hard work they put into their education! (they take after their father!)

Disclaimer: because there are parents, my parents, my in-laws, friends and quite possibly CPS reading this at this point, I would like to clarify that my children may miss numerous days of school thru out the year but they are not days wasted laying in front of the TV and quite frankly almost no days are missed due to illness! I feel that my kids can learn so much outside of school that missing a day here or there is not hurting but helping their education. Our policy in this house is - If you are doing your very best in school (and now that we know they can, they have to be on the honor roll) than days spent helping on the farm, cattle shows, farm shows, and quality time with Chris and I are all acceptable as well as 1 "mental health" day a year! They know in advance that all missed work has to be made up and that not all absences are excused by the school so they make the conscience decision!