Keep Calm and Don't Blow Away!

Hey!  It's me!  Really!  Exclamation point!  Never mind I haven't written in over a year.  Details, details…how embarrassing…if I hang my head in shame, will you forgive me?  I hope so. I'm not much for giving excuses, so let's start anew with today's post.

Windy!  Chicago may call itself the windy city, but central Illinois farm land beats it hands down!  I live in the middle of the flat corn and bean fields with my favorite farmer, 2 kitties, and one wonder-doodle.  The great glacier made it through our neck of the woods, but stopped about 8 miles south of us.  There you will find lots of hills and hollers.  Here, not so much.  We live on a high spot and from our yard we can see 20 miles north, east, and west; and probably not as far south, but it's purty darned far just the same.

We have been under a Wind Advisory for the past three days.  Gusts around 45 mph…oh so fun.

I have an awesome green house and I spent yesterday waiting to see it fly away. I guess my favorite handyman hubby secured it well because it is still standing!  We took a road trip yesterday for lunch and the wind was causing problems on the interstate... as well.  We saw a camper/trailer overturned in the median…what a way to start/end your vacation!







The wonder-doodle and I have not been able to go outside to practicee our lessons from Basic Obedience class for fear of blowing away and working on the garden…not gonna happen in that kind of wind! Oh yeah, the freeze warnings…it is spring and we are still getting hard freezes.  Ugh! Go figure!

Well, until next time…which I hope will be in a week or so, toodles!  

We're not in town anymore! Part 1

Hello, friends!  Once again it has been a while since I've written.  I don't think I am cut out to be an honest to goodness blogger.  I think I am more or less an "only when I remember to write" kind of blogger.  

I was born and raised in a smallish town (20,000).  My grandpas were both farmers, but I wasn't what you would call a farm girl.  Funny how things work out.  After graduating from college I was planning to move to Chicago and continue my career teaching music.  Hmmmm.  I started dating a fellow I knew from high school and, whammo!  I was hooked.  I married a farmer.

Being a farm wife is different.  Living in the country is different.  Being told I don't need to drive 10 miles into town to get Dairy Queen was down right cruel!  I soon learned the value of going to the grocery store in the evening.  Not to mention DQ was on the way home!  A girl had to have her peanut Buster parfait when the urge arrived.

I had to mow our yard today and I was thinking about all of the things I have learned living on the farm that I may not have learned otherwise.  The post would be way too long for Facebook, so here I am.

* Every farm wife needs a good pair of garden gloves.  They are the little black dress of the farm world.  Who wants to actually touch the dead mouse when you have to take it out of the trap?  Who wants nasty black grease on their newly manicured hands?

* Mowing our yard takes 3 1/2 hours.  Using a riding lawnmower.  It gives a girl time to think.  As I said I had time to think about all these wonderful things I wanted to write about today!!

* If you get bored mowing, you can entertain yourself following a carefully crafted pattern to your mowing.  Today was "kick the grass away from the center (counter clockwise).

* Do not wear 'Fresh' lip gloss in Berry when mowing in windy conditions.  Glitter looks cool on models lips, cut grass…not so much.

* Even when you carefully consider plan a life changing event, do not allow the date to coincide with the planting or the harvest season.  Those two 'seasons' are not all inclusive, remember there is grain to haul, tillage work,  roadsides to mow, equipment to be repaired, lawns and other farms to mow…the list never seems to end. Thank goodness we do not have livestock anymore.  My hat's off to those farmers with livestock, it is pretty much 24/7.  None-the-less, I was left to sit by myself the morning I started with the first twinges of labor because my favorite farmer husband had one last field of beans to plant. Good thing the baby was not so eager to make an appearance.  He finished planting with twelve hours to lounge about watching me suffer!  What a wonderful little present I got at the end!

* One must learn the intricacies of the farm water system.  Until about 10 years ago, we got our water from a well and a cistern.  The cistern collected rainwater and it was used for showers, dishes, and laundry.  The well was used specifically for drinking water and to flush the toilets.  It took me forever to learn the difference, I finally figured out hot and cold water came from the cistern and only cold water came from the well.  We were one of the first families to sign up for a rural water program.  I was more than glad to pay someone to have a steady supply of water.  I was also glad I no longer had to be the one to tell my favorite, very tired farmer husband-who has been working for 16 hours straight- that we ran out of water in the cistern.  It never failed that the truck he put the water tank in was filled with grain to haul to the elevator or out of commission because he hadn't had time to fix it.  Or, it would be 25 degrees outside with a windchill of 0 when I had to deliver the "bad" news.  Yay for city water.

* People who live in town do not understand what happens to snow in the country.  Well, at least our part of the country.  It is flat.  Very flat.  We can see 20 miles in every direction.  When the wind is blowing, the snow starts to drift.  My nearest neighbor lives a quarter mile away.  There is literally nothing to stop the snow.  It starts to pile up around the buildings and in the roads because of the ditches.  We have one township road commissioner who has a fellow that helps out during the winter.  Our township covers around 55 square miles.  The snow plow does not plow our roads until after the snow has stopped and the wind quits blowing, or lays down.  There were days I could not get to work because of the snow and everyone who lived in town or on a main highway had no problem getting to the job.

Enough for today.  Mowing takes it out of a girl…time for an adult beverage and a nice comfy chair.    

To blog, or not to blog!

OMG!  How embarrassing!  It has been one year since I last posted ANYTHING on my blog. "Why?", you may ask.  I have several reasons   The first of which is I felt I was writing mainly to myself.  I am not a celebrity with ads flashing all over my screen.  The stats do not indicate there is anyone looking at my blog on a regular basis.  HMMMM, that is something I will address in another post.  Why haven't I posted in over a year?  I was involved in living my life…which is very normal and not particularly exciting.  For me there is nothing more exciting to me than having a loyal fan base, but to have such I would have to WORK.  By nature, I am a different creature. There are so many things I would rather do than work…especially now that I am retired.    I love to work, do not get me wrong.  However, work is not my life.  My life is so much more than my job. My life is my family, my friends, my husband, and myself.  I don't always know what I want, however I do know what I don't want.  I believe it is more important to know this than it is to know what I do want.

In the end, I apologize to anyone who may have read my entries and were waiting for others.  I do appreciate  your support.  I would encourage you to leave a comment so I know whether you enjoy or despise my entries.  I hope you have all had a good year, good health, and lots of love.  If not, I am sorry it did not happen for you this year.  Do not despair, life truly gets better!!  I know this for a fact, several times over.  Until the next time I post, be kind and be gracious.

Nail polish drama!

I amaze myself!

Last Thursday I bought new nail polish, L'Oreal's Stroke of Midnight.  A gorgeous dark metallic gray/green.  Perfect for St. Patrick's Day.  This morning I was touching up my nails when I managed to catch the brush on the neck of the bottle, sending it skittering and spinning onto the floor.  I was seated at our kitchen table, so it wasn't as if I was being careless and trying to apply my polish in some unheard of location under impossible conditions. I neglected to mention the spinning, skittering offender dumped half its contents on my awesome Brazilian tigerwood hardwood floors.

#%*+£¥!!! OOOOOoooohhhh NOOOOOoooooo!!!!

There are no before pictures because the first thing I did was grab a wad of paper towels to wipe up as much as I could as fast as I could.  No small feat given the four chairs AND the computer dutifully being charged and attached to the wall outlet.  I do have a picture of the paper towels.  It was taken post crisis.

I grabbed the Goo Gone spray.  Nope.  Next, helpful hubby brought me (after I yelled pitifully, "I need your help right now!") my faithful can of  WD-40. Nothing.  Then to my trusty computer.
Google to the rescue!  Rubbing alcohol. I knew it was one of those, TRY AT YOUR OWN RISK, situations, but I figured I'd try it in a small area and go from there.  Disclaimer--The same goes for you...sooo, don't go getting upset with me if it strips your finish...I'm just saying. 

I soaked a cotton pad with the alcohol and wiped.  Most of the residue came off with little effort. Some of the spots were a bit more difficult and I needed to let the pad to sit for 5-10 seconds before the spots wiped right off.  Once I was done I cleaned the area with Bona hardwood floor cleaner.  It looks as if it worked and without stripping the finish off the floor.  Crisis averted. (BTW--I am waiting to take after pictures...I don't want to jinx what appears to be unharmed floor finishes.)  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

You ever have a similar experience?  Feel free to share. Even queens need to share their oops moments with others!

My love/hate relationship with my hot rollers

Happy Friday, friends!  I hope you have had a wonderful week.  It has been busy around here.  I finished up a few crafty projects but the highlight of the week was having my closest friends at my home for a girl's night out.  More about that another time.  Today's post is about my hot rollers. 

I asked for a new set of hot rollers for Christmas this year, as I was still using my set of Clairol hot rollers from high school.  While they still functioned, I was a bit concerned about their age; I don't know how safe it is to continue to use an electrical appliance that is thir#$%* some years really, really old!  They had a detachable cord and a storage pocket for it and the pins.  Great set up, granted the hinge on the plastic lid was broken, but the lid stayed on and all was well.

Now I am the owner of a brand new set of Revlon hot rollers with an attached cord that is supposed to self store on the bottom of the unit and an itty bitty place to put 20 some pins.  (See the oval area at the front?  SERIOUSLY?)  Therein lies my problem.  I got exactly what I wanted, but times change and so do designs.  A coupl of months ago, I found a pin on Pinterest where the pinner used Command Velcro strips to corral the cords on her appliances.  I thought it was an excellent idea, and still do, but I couldn't get them to work on my appliances.  I wanted someway to keep the cord to my hot rollers, food processor, etc. under control but I couldn't get the Velcro strips to work. 

One day I was wandering, lost so it seemed, in one of the hardware isles in WalMart when I saw Command Round Cord Clips.  They are intended to be used to keep your electrical cords from the TV or computer attached to the wall so they are all neat and tidy.  Ta da!  I picked up the two sizes they had on the display and, after paying for them, headed home to try them out. 

They work VERY well.  I had to tweak them just a bit because the clear strips that came with them, I assume so they won't clash with our walls/furniture, didn't have enough oomph.  So I used the regular white ones that come with other styles and they work.  I am so relieved!!  Who knew I was so OCD about cords!??

On a side note, I figured out a cool way to store my pins.  Since the lid was not attached and there wasn't enough room in the compartment, I took a creamer bottle I had gotten from Crate and Barrel (ages ago) and added some coffee beans to the bottom.  In went the pins and they are under control! 

Real life down on the farm!

It is a cold and blustery day here in our little corner of the world...our farm.  Today has been busy, so I took some pictures to show you just what a wanna be queen does during a typical Monday.

Laundry. Today I washed the sheets and blankets from our bed.

 

Crochet. If you look carefully you can see my very first project as a beginning crocheter. I hope 'crocheter' is actually a word, I'll find out when I run spell check! It is, who knew? That's my kitty, Patches. We are in an on-going battle regarding to whom this chair belongs. When I get to be queen, it will be mine!

Trash. Monday is trash day. We are fortunate in that a local trash company has a route in our area of the country. We burned our trash for years (I know there are those of you who are appalled at this revelation. It's the way we do things, so let's not argue.) and it is so nice to be able to bag it up and roll it out to the road! :-)

 

Toilets. Three to be exact. Today was their day to be cleaned! Enough said.

 

 

Taxes. Farmers have to pay their taxes by March 1. I am still trying to corral all our papers and receipts from 2012. They are like bunnies! These papers just seem to multiply, so when I get to be queen, I'll take care of this too!

Brisket and the slow cooker. I love my crock-pot...Not as much as my husband, you know how that goes. My crock-pot has a special place in my heart.

By now you can tell that my house is lived in. It is not staged. Clutter can be found in just about every room. Just like the bunnies, I no more get the clutter put away in one room and more can be found in another. While I love reading, and looking at, all the blogs about homes sometimes I feel overwhelmed with the thought I should be doing more to make my house a home...a well decorated one at that!  I know this is how many stay-at-home moms earn extra income, so I also 'get' they do it for a reason.  It is their business.  Just the same, I get distracted by all the ads on these pages, but then again I realize these blogs are very different from mine.  It is probably because I am reading all these blogs that my house doesn't look as spiffy as theirs...naaahhhh. :-)

You won't see any ads on my blog. I won't be blogging about a product because it was sent to me. If I write about a product, it is not because I am being reimbursed for my time; it is because I like it and use it on a regular basis. I am beginning to sound like a farmer who is very near and dear to me; lovingly referred to as my favorite husband.  I wasn't raised on the farm, but it along with the no nonsense way of thinking has grown on me over the past 33 years. 

Happy Monday!  Thanks for reading.

My royal, MAGIC word for 2013.

I have been fascinated with the idea of choosing a word for the year. I have read snippets from other bloggers who have chosen their word and incorporated it into their posts. So, royal friends, after much consideration I have selected my word; kindness.

Kindly bear with me as I explain why I selected this word. As I told you earlier, I am retired. I spent 19 years working in Student Affairs as a part of an awesome team of individuals dedicated to making life on campus safe and civil. The people I worked with during this time became my family and I hope they know how much they mean to me. The last five years were not the same in any way, shape, or form. They weren't bad, but they weren't nearly as satisfying or rewarding. I found myself the lone remaining 'veteran' in the midst of an entirely new team. I was the old-timer with a new supervisor from a younger generation of professionals. I am very flexible and I can get along with just about anyone in any situation. However, while I consider myself a wanna be queen, I have never been any good when it comes to dealing with drama queens. There was a bunch of DRAMA...

There were many times during those last five years I was not treated very kindly.  Please understand part of my job description should have included "...be able to tolerate uncivil and unkind behavior from some of the students and parents with whom you are in contact...".  However, I did not expect my supervisor to treat me in an uncivil or unkind manner.  I found myself as the recipient of loud, and public, rebukes for situations clearly outside of my realm of control.  More often than not, it seemed as if this behavior occurred whenever she was experiencing trouble at home.  I believe her behavior was obvious to those around me as they were treated this way as well. There was a difference between these two examples; my job description and title offered me a bit more weight/power in responding to my supervisor's behavior while the others around me had different classifications, most being clerical workers.   I always thought it made it more difficult for them to call her on her behavior...this angered me more than anything else.

Therefore, I have chosen kindness as my word for 2013 because I don't want anyone to be treated as I was during that time.  Even when things aren't going the way I expect them to go, there is no reason to be mean and snarly to those around me. Yesterday I was cleaning out some of the clutter from our home office when I found something I wrote to myself while I was dealing with the drama at work. I want to share it because I think it contains some good advice:

Ignore idiots; all you have to do is tolerate them.  You don't have to like, or be liked by, them.  Ignore their DRAMA*.  Don't dwell on the negative.  

Be grateful.  Be happy.  Love.  Smile.  Make the decision, then run with it.  Be nice.   Be calm.  Remember you CAN choose how you feel and how to live your life.  Don't whine.  Be thankful.  Be kind.  Be silent.  Be yourself.  Don't worry.  Don't waste your "mind" strength.  Be thankful for who you are.  It is okay to be successful.  Embrace your unique self.  

*added today

That's all for today...sorry I rambled.  When I get to be Queen, I won't be allowed to ramble anymore!  :-)  Happy Saturday.  Be kind and enjoy your weekend.