1. Dad hung out his wet jeans on the pasture fence post to dry in the sun yesterday because we don't have an outdoor laundry line.
redneck or resourceful?
2. I grabbed a pair of khaki's this morning that are too long for me. I forgot to hem them so they were dragging on the ground. I grabbed the packing tape and flipped under the hem and taped them. You can't even tell they are hemmed.
redneck or resourceful?
I'd like to say, on both counts, resourceful and funny. :)
Here are some pictures of stuff that caught my eye out at Auntie Shelly and Uncle Tim's house tonight.
The 'ole Farmall tractor steering wheel. Just seemed old and interesting. Yeah, I know, I find old tractors interesting I guess you know that I'm my father's daughter then. :) ('cept this one ain't a John Deere)
Boomer taking a rest. He's looking at me like, "Woman, the f*ck are you doing?"
Some old wheels laying against the machine shed. I love the repetition, the continuity, the sizing and the circles along with varying textures. Makes it sort of interesting, if you're into wheels of course.
A couple of the horses out in the pasture with the old cow barn in the background. I spend many a year out in that pasture and in that barn. No pictures to prove it though. So does that mean it's like the proverbial tree in the forest? If I had no physical proof of working on the farm did it really happen? Does verbal proof from my Aunt and Uncle count, um...yeah. I should hope so. I busted my a$$ out there; milking cows, pitching sh*t, bailing hay, stacking hay, yada yada yada.
Me and the Mouse out in the pasture. I'm on the right therefore she's on the left.
Some random gladiolas growing in the pasture. They were so pretty and colorful next to all the weeds and mowed down grass.
Tara and the little kitty.
Here's the money shot from the day. Tristan getting thrown in the pool. Look at his little ribs sticking out and his pants falling off. I have another picture, which I decided not to post, because it showed his little butt-cheeks too much and I don't need pedaphile's haunting this blog.
I was reading an ordinary thriller novel the other day and I read a portion of it that made me stop, re-read it and think about it. Usually I just read those books for the adventure, excitement, plot, etc. so this was a surprising find. Here is the passage (Quicksand, Iris Johansen):
"We're trained to believe we should cling to one person only. Yet there are so many people who pass in and out of our lives. Good people, worthy people, interesting people. Most of them stay for a little while and then move on. Some of them find a place with us and, if we let them, they enrich us. Don't close yourself off from the rest of the world. If you find someone who can make you understand a little more, laugh every now and then, give you a new experience, then never feel guilty. You'll just have more to give back to those who are closest to you."
I find that passage striking and oddly, full of wisdom. I think I'm particularly drawn to the line about how if we let people in they can enrich us. To truly let someone into your life, to expose all of your faults and vices and the like is a difficult thing. It takes a lot of trust to let someone see you, the real you. It's a dangerous risk to take because you could let someone in and they could not like what they see and then leave. That's very hurtful and for some can rip the heart right out of them (jesus, that's dramatic, I must be feeling emotional/philosophical or something today). Repairing trust and a torn heart can take forever or can never happen. Although, there is no reward without some risk, so you could let that person in and they could make your life something only people dream about or write novels about. :) So which do you choose? The bumpy road with twists and turns that leads to the pot of gold, maybe or do you take the well-worn straight-ahead path that's comfortable? Pick your poison.
So that's just at thought for today.
Wait, I lied, here is another line from a different part that I liked too, "Philosophy is all well, but men tend to lean closer to the Neanderthal than Aristotle." As in Men, not Women or Mankind. I just thought that was funny. In my experience with the opposite sex, which is not extensive but not limited either that is definitely true. Men can be surprisingly tender and loving but can do a complete 180 and be a complete barbarian. It's an interesting mix which can be exciting or frustrating depending on the day.
Chew on that for awhile. :)
So I like to occassionally check and see who's visiting my blogs, where they are from and how they found my blog. I've seen some interesting tidbits while doing this quick research. Today I came across something completely wicked.
Here's a link to a map of where this visitor was from. Mauritius, Moka
Click on it and look.
Do you see where it is? It's an itty bitty island off the coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Madagascar is off the coast of Mozambique in South-eastern Africa. You can't even see the island on a map, you have to zoom in.
Now what would a person be doing from there looking at my blog?
I don't know. So I googled the city and country and here's what I got from Wikipedia
Here's the quick 'n dirty. It is a small island that relies mostly on sugarcane, textiles, services and tourism to support it's economy. The island was made from a volcano which now sits inactive. The island has a tropical climate with warm winters and hot humid summers. The main language is English with a predoniminant influence of French. Half the population of 1.2 million are Hindu.
Interesting isn't it? I thought so.
Hey Dad! Check out this monster snowdrift in the yard!
The drift. Starting from the house to the pasture fence getting only bigger as it reaches the fence. I know, not really good perspective but check this out.
Here's a close-up of my snowman measuring stick next to the fence. So the first rung is about 2 feet tall. Now look at the above picture again. The top of the snowdrift reaches the second rung. So let's just say, on an estimate that the drift is about 2.5' tall.
The beginning of the drift. As you can see it is 15" tall in the middle. Notice my footprint on the bottom? I only sunk in about 3-4 inches which means the snow is hard-packed. The wind blowing the snow was so friggin' cold. It's below zero again. The bridge of my classes froze which made my nose hurt. I felt like a boxer sitting down after a round all hot and sweaty only to have some doctor take a hunk of metal that's been in the deep freeze and stick it to my face. Almost gave me a headache.
Here's a close-up of the snowman. I love how the snowdrift has layers. Reminds me a bit of how the grand canyon looks. A little.
Here are some shots from my adventure on Saturday.
It started with Kim waking me up. That might have involved some poking and chuckling and groaning not all from me.
We hauled our butts out into the below 0 temperature, stopped in Faribault at a wedding shop. Kim dorked around looking at tuxes while I skulked around taking pictures of stuff and staring at elaborate prom dresses that look like a 40-year old drag queen would wear. They had so much bling on them they probably weighed more than the girls wearing them. What are these designers thinking? Freaks.
Kim's going to wear a tutu that looks similar to this at her bachelorette party. Oh yeah, I'm going to make one for her. She's going to have a white shirt that says "Bridezilla" hee hee LOL
take one of my gorgeous 3" stiletto blinged-out totally impracticle wedding shoes. I love them. My feet are going to kill but hey, how often do I get a chance to wear these babies? What else would you buy these shoes for if not to wear with a bridesmaid dress? Could I wear them to a grocery store, nope, to the state fair, definitely not, to work, most likely no, to a bar, probably but how often do I go to a bar fancy enough to warrant those shoes? um...never. :)
okay, so my calves look fat here, let's try take 2
okay, nice shot of the side-view but my left calf still looks fat. the right leg looks hot though. you know...it might have helped if I would have taken these shots in my undies thereby removing the problem of hiking up my jeans over my knees.
let's try take 3
jackpot! take 3, third times a charm. My calves don't look fat. Well, technically I don't have fat calves, they are muscular (I'm serious). they have definition like superman baby. I was born with that lucky curse. muscular, man-like calves. (thanks Dad). Good thing one of my parents gave me long legs too, that helps a little. you know, lengthens out the calf. anyway, my totally hot shoes. maybe I'll find a nice skirt and take a picture like that.
So after this we decided it would be good to eat. Yeah, I needed it at that point. too much shopping already. too many itty bitty decisions to be made. thank god my wedding has been done ump-teen years ago. ughhh...
sweet tea...yummy.
Kimmie trying really hard to beat my 2 left but failing. Poor little Kimmie. Thomas beats her all the time (at games, duh) well except for Yahtzee and then I come along and beat her. Sorry Cheepie.
Then we headed up to the Mall of America. Well, before the MOA there was an unfortunate incident where we tried to find a store that no longer existed but I won't get into that. Anyway the MOA was a friggin' zoo. Everybody and their dog was there. There are 6 floors of parking and every one was closed with the exception of 5 & 6. Sheesh...
Anyway, we didn't stay very long because we had to be to David's Bridal in Bloomington by 3 and it was already past 1 o'clock. So we checked the map, speed-walked to a couple stores, made a pit-stop at Godiva (ahhh...oooh) and left. This is what we encountered trying to get from 77 to 494. Lovely. Stopped traffic on a sat. afternoon on the coldest day of the year (all day below zero with 20 below wind chills)
All I can say is that the people of Minnesota don't give a sh*t if it's cold, we still do things. We still get out and shop and buy Godiva and go dress shopping. Hell yeah, we are hardcore.
just another shot for ya.
one of the dresses Kimmie tried on. Very top of wedding cake. The pink color is a bit off because of the lighting but it was pretty bright.
l to r: Kelly, Kelly's Mom and Kelly's little sister. All of us liked this dress but apparently Kelly's sister didn't. Just for reference Kelly is getting married to Jimmy (my bro) and she is having candy apple red dresses. Each girl gets to pick out a different style. So basically each girl has a flattering dress but the color is the same. Anywho Kelly's sister spent 1.5 hours trying on dresses with the result of no dress picked because she couldn't decide between 2 of them. All of us liked this one the best but she didn't.
Now...I shouldn't butt in but if it were me and I was Kelly I would have said the following, "Listen punk, all of us including me like this dress so Mom is going to buy it and that's that. Okay? No...don't say anything. Just remember this is my wedding and you'll wear this dress and not say a word. Okay, good. Moving on." :) Unfortunately Kelly isn't as bossy nor as forward as I am. Probably better off that way. :) It's a very cute dress, dontcha think? I think so.
Hey Kelly, if you're reading this tell your Mom to buy the dress and tell your sister she's going to wear it because it looks good! Oh and if you ever need help bossing people around contact my sister Michelle or I. Well, lately you could probably add Kim to that contact list as well, because she's getting quite bossy for a 5th-born, 3rd girl child.
So Ryan and I tried to make it back from Hixton WI (South of Eau Claire about 15 minutes off of the Northfield exit on I-94) today. We woke up at 5:30 a.m. and started digging out the snow drifts around the house. Yeah, let me tell you how much fun that was (note the dripping sarcasm). Ryan plowed the driveway with his 4-wheeler with attached snow-blade and I shoveled around the cars. It was blowing icey cold stinging snow, we're talking 30-40 mph blowing snow. Fun right. Oh yeah, it gets even better.
So we shovel ourselves out and get out onto County Trunc G (gravel road) which has been plowed on one side of the road. That's all fine and dandy. We end up getting behind the plow.
We get on I-94 without incident but the fun happens after we get near Eau Claire. The roads aren't too bad but the snow is blowing so much that we can't see 1/8 of a mile in front of us. We get behind a semi truck and trailer which was fine until he decided to pass this old lady who immediately slammed on her brakes. Probably because the semi kicks up so much snow that you have a white out and panic and then hit the brakes. Well since Ryan and I couldn't see either we start gradually slowing down too except the lady almost ran into us. So Ryan puts us into a controlled skid and passes her on the right nearly missing her back-right bumper with our left front bumper by oh maybe less than a foot. Once we get past her she does a 180 and almost smokes a truck who had been following us a bit too close. She goes in the ditch and the truck misses her by a foot. Lovely. eh?
All in all we saw 11 cars in the ditch and two major accidents involving several cars. One accident we just came upon because the cops weren't there yet and the people were just calling the cops. That one involved a semi, a u-haul and a couple cars. The semi was squirting out gasoline. Lovely.
So after that we we're fine.
This morning was beautiful. It was magical. It was...lovely. A combination of near-freezing temps with fog made for all of the trees and grass and ditch-weed to be completely coated with a layer of frost and snow. So gorgeous. I wish I would have had time to take more pictures. Well, better pictures. Photographing snow is difficult but trying to rush makes it worse so these aren't the best but they were what I could get.
I updated by blog for Halloween, my second favorite Holiday tied with Thanksgiving. I also removed some of the links and put them in the Pages index on the left. That index shows all of my favorite bloggers and artists as well as my favorite websites and scrapbook pages, layouts and books. I just thought I'd try to streamline the site a bit. It was getting too large. I'll probably make periodic changes over the next couple of months just because of the Holiday season and the site will need renovation. So that's about it.
If you notice on the left and right I list the movies I am currently watched or have watched, my favorite movies (slide), the music I am currently listening to, what my favorites are as well as what book I'm currently reading and what my favorite books are. As of today I am reading 4 books at once. Not really at once but I switch off and on. I am reading a work of fiction, 2 romance novels and a european history account. Interesting choices, huh? Generally I like to read one book then pick up the next but for some reason I got caught reading these books all at once. I'm almost done with one of the romance novels so that will shrink it down to 3.
I just love reading so much that when I happen to pick up a book at the bookstore and start reading it there I don't want to stop. I can get into a cycle where I just want to read all night until I fall asleep. I like to read that much. I don't always read the most literary works but I figure it's good to intermingle literature and smut books. Gives me a good base for fantasy and reality.
are so desensitized by movies and television and I suspect adults as well. All we see on tv is sex, murder, destruction and American Idol. Quite the combination, isn't it. Maybe I should say reality tv instead of AI. :)
TV and movie producers are constantly looking for the next thing to wow us. Something bigger, badder and better than before. I suppose that is the cause for everything being CG dowadays. Remember when Star Wars: The New Hope came out and we thought that was pretty neat? Now we have movies like Transformers that's seemingly mostly CG (Computer Graphics for all you non-electronics geeks) and that is the big thing. Oh and not to mention the sex scenes are becoming more graphic and more nudity goes on in movies. I'll bet that there are more R-rated movies now than back in the 1950's. Kids have seen more naked women and men by the age of 16 than I did by the age of 21 I'll bet. When will it be enough? Why must we always try harder and harder to impress and shock? When sometimes simple is better.
So you're probably asking yourself at this point why am I bringing this up, well, this might seem a bit conviluted but it stemed from watching Becoming Jane at the movie theatre yesterday. Watching a period movie with no sex, barely any touching or kissing is different from what I'm used to. I had more anticipation and more excitement surrounding the big kiss with Jane and Mr. LeFroy than I ever did with any r-rated movie. Why I asked. Well, the answer is simple. Revealing less is more provocative than revealing it all. There's no sublety or waiting or hesitation in putting it all out there. It's just out there and that's it. Because Jane and Mr. LeFroy didn't touch nor did they kiss until that moment halfway through the movie, it was more passionate and real than if they just jumped in the sack. Maybe kids today should see more of this so they can learn that not everything is available immediately, you have to "earn" (for lack of a better word) things instead of getting them right away. Sometimes a kiss is better if there's hesitation instead of unheeded groping.
Now it sounds like I'm promoting kissing and the like but I'm not. I'm just making an observation. I enjoy movies with less sex and more intimate moments that involve, maybe passionate kiss, hand-holding, hugging, etc. Could that possibly be because I'm a chick? Maybe or it could be because it actually means something. p.s. I mentioned action and CG because generally it goes hand in hand with sex.
Well, there's my diatribe for the day. :)
