a long day

Ok... the past two days are almost a blurr.  I posted last night around 8:30pm & then we went to Fred's parents house around 10ish to check on "Big Montana" because she should be calving anytime now & we were just sure it was going to happen last night.  We decided to camp out all night & check on her periodically throughout the night to watch her progress.  Fred & I finally shut our eyes around 3:30am for a few shut eyes but then back up at 6am to check on her.  No progress.

Around 9am Fred took me back home so I could get my truck & head over to my parents house to start working on boxing stuff up & moving it out to the storage building.  I knew this was going to be allot of work & would probably wear us out in no time but it was hard to even know where to start or end sometimes.

I know my mom has a reason for keeping the stuff that she does, but we just can't seem to figure that reason out & honestly we probably never will either.  With her coming home from the hospital this week, she needs to be able to move around the house with no obsticles in her way so she can avoid falling or tripping over stuff.  That was our reason for doing everything we did today.  By the time 6pm rolled around we were all absolutely exhausted & not to mention the fact Fred & I were working on only 3 hours of sleep & our energy was running very thin fast.

Fred & I went & ate dinner with dad tonight.  He appreciated the company.  He's been eating every meal by himself since mom's been in the hospital & I know he was excited to eat a good meal & have our company.

I went the past 4 days & haven't gotten stuck once.  Then coming home tonight at 8:30pm... pulling in the driveway... I decided I should turn around & face towards the gate since the snow will be re-freezing tonight & will probably be slicker then snot in the morning... the snow decided my truck shouldn't make the full turn around in the driveway!  So right this minute my truck is sitting sideways across the driveway... STUCK in the flippin snow.  Go figure.  This is how my luck runs just about all the time, I swear.  Grrr.

Big Montana went all day & didn't have the baby.
But now... at 10pm at night... she's in labor & hopefully in the next hour we'll be able to welcome a new baby calf!

So now I'm asking myself... why am I still awake & blogging at 10:30pm when my eyes are burning for sleep?  I have no smart answer for this question, except good night.

more snow & ice

Once again the weather this week sucked!  I didn't make it to work Thursday or Friday because of the snow & ice.  The weather people have been right on target with the weather again so they get a few points for that.

Don't get me wrong, having a 4-day weekend is a nice break from a stressful job, but when your paid hourly & if you don't work you don't get paid... that's a huge chunk of a paycheck that will be missing.  So it's a nice break but at the same time a huge stress being off work.  Can't win for losin' sometimes I swear.

Oh well... on a positive note...
Mom's knee is doing better.  Fred & I went to visit her in the hospital today & she was glad to have company.  I know she's bored out of her mind.  She hasn't been home since January 20th & she's more than ready to see home again.  We're thinking she might be released on Monday, but it will depend on what the therapist says Monday morning.  So we won't know anything until then.  My brother & I will be going thru my parents house tomorrow moving stuff around & boxing things up to move out to a storage building dad had delivered this week.  This should be interesting & quite a chore... for those who've been to my parents house know what I'm talking about!  Have you seen the show "Hoarders"?  Enough said.

I absolutely hate being boxed up in the house when the weather is crappy.
Like today for instance... we've been out & about doing things but for some reason after getting back home & sitting down, I start to feel bored, antsy & ready to get out of the house again.  Not sure how to explain it.  I'm not tired, but if I laid my head down I would probably fall asleep.  Ever have one of those days?  I'm having one of those days today.  Actually I was having one of those days yesterday too.  ha ha

I'm in the mood to go to a movie or something, I'm not even real sure.  Something that doesn't involve staying at home.

I should probably rest up for the long day ahead tomorrow.  It's only 8pm so who knows what we'll end up doing for the rest of the evening.

learn, live, look

Oh I love Snoopy... great words to live by each & every day!

Although sometimes it's easier said then done.

Maxine must know where I live

How did Maxine get into my house?  She had to have been there because she nailed this one perfectly.

The first winter we lived here in our 487 sq ft mansion, we had un-wanted roommates move in... The Mice Family.  I argued & pleaded for them to move out immediately, but unfortunately they refused & decided to put up a fight instead.  I declared WAR & began coming up with an action plan to force them out.  Dead or alive, I was bound & determined they would be gone.

I will spare everyone the details but lets just say, it was a total blood bath somedays, but in the end... we were victorious in our WAR against The Mice Family.

no bday pictures

I failed... I took my camera to Henry Hudsons for Fred's birthday party Saturday night & I completely forgot to take any pictures.  Someone please just slap my hand!

Heck I didn't even take any pictures at his birthday lunch at his parents house yesterday either.  That's how bad I am.

Is this old age that is setting in... that's causing my brain to forget more & more these days?
Wow if that's the case, I'm in serious trouble.  I consider myself still young & well if I'm already forgetting simple little things like that... what's to come for me in let's say 10 years from now?

YIKES!  Scary to even think about.

Sorry honey... wish I would've remembered to take pictures at your birthday get-together Saturday night & birthday lunch yesterday!  Apparently my body was there but my brain wasn't.  I have no excuses.

All in all though - Fred had a good time at his get-together Saturday night at Henry Hudsons & at his birthday lunch at his parents house yesterday.

Love ya birthday boy, xoxo

knee & birthday week

A little bit of everything is going on this week!

Let's see... mom's knee replacement surgery on Wednesday...
The surgery went well.  She didn't actually get to her room until a little after noon, with surgery then recovery.  I was surprised to see her in good spirits directly after her arriving to her room.  She was still a little goofy from the pain meds but other than that, she was doing fairly good.  They didn't waste any time getting the machine out & putting her right leg on it to start exercising.  Since she was on so many pain meds, she really couldn't feel anything just yet.

All in all, she's been doing good since Wednesday.  Tomorrow morning we're moving her to Deconess hospital to start her rehab/therapy & she'll be there for 1-2 weeks, depending on how well she does & her progress.  They want to get her to a point where she will be ok to go home & be able to move around on her own w/out allot of help.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes well & she makes good progress & her recovery goes fairly easy for her.  It's hard to see her in the hospital like she is right now.

On another note... HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART!

In another hour it's officially my sweetheart's birthday.  I've made a few calls & arranged for some friends to meet up at Henry Hudson's for drinks to celebrate tomorrow evening.  I won't say what presents I've purchased in case he reads my blog before I give them to him tomorrow.  I had to make a few changes to his birthday presents this week because of some un-expected things that occurred towards the beginning of the week, but that's ok... it can wait for another time in the future.  I'm just excited to celebrate my honey's birthday tomorrow & I hope he has a great day!

Hopefully I will remember to take my camera & take pictures at Hudson's tomorrow night.  I'm always bad about forgetting my camera or if I do bring it then I forget to take pictures.  I'm goofy I know it.

Let's all sing together...

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday dear honey

Happy birthday to you

(just pretend I have a great voice & can sing) LOL

I Love you sweetheart & Happy Happy birthday!

being happy

"Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect.  It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections"

tomorrow will be a better day

May the Lord give me the strength I need right now.

Tomorrow will be a better day, Tomorrow will be a better day, Tomorrow will be a better day

Enchanted Chai Spiced Tea Latte

Anyone that hasn't tried this... NEEDS TO!  It was love at first sight for me, completely & totally!

I was first introduced to Chai tea about 6 years ago from someone I used to work with & I've been addicted ever since.

The only place I've bought this is at Sams Club.  I've tried a few other brands from the grocery store, but I wasn't to impressed.  So when we were at Sams last weekend, I had to have some.  It had been forever since I had bought any & I was really missing it.  I'm happy me & Chai are re-united now!

So next time your at Sams Club... buy some!  You won't regret it!

knee replacement

My mom has had trouble with her knees for what seems like forever now.  She's needed knee replacement surgery on both knees for at least 7-8 years now.

The problem is that my mom has always put everyone else before herself.  The result unfortunately is that her health has taken a back seat.  Well enough is enough & we've been trying to convince her for several years now that she really needs to go to the dr & do something about her knees.

Finally a few months ago she made the decision she wanted to make a dr apointment & see what her options were.  We knew exactly what the dr would say before we ever got there, but I guess she had a small hope it wasn't as bad as were thinking... but it was... she needs both knees replaced... period.  Her right knee was in allot worse condition then her left, so we decided to start doing injections in the left knee & schedule a full knee replacement for the right.  She finished her left knee injections last week & surgery is scheduled for this Wednesday for the right knee.

It's hard to believe after talking about it & arguing with her for so many years now... we're just a few days away from surgery & starting on a path of better health for her.  Of course I'm excited & worried at the same time, I can't help it... she's my mom.  I only want the best for her & I've got my fingers & toes crossed that the surgery goes well & she has a quick recovery.

I'm taking my mom tomorrow to Kohl's to get some comfy pj's to wear in the hospital & for therapy afterwards, along with some much needed other things as well.  Depending on how worn out she is from the trip to Kohl's, we might make a quick last trip to the grocery store also.  She's been unable to shop by herself for awhile now, she needs assistance in order for her not to be completely worn smooth out half way thru the store.  Because of how bad her knees have gotten just in the past 1-2 years... it's almost completely eliminated her from doing much by herself or even going anywhere without assistance.

At first, mom was pretty nervous & not real sure about doing the surgery, but the closer the time gets... she seems ready to get it done & looks forward to being out of pain & able to walk & do things again.  Of course we all feel the same way too... we're ready for her to feel better & be able to get out & go where ever she wants to when ever she wants to.

I plan on posting good news Wednesday after her surgery!

blackberry update

I FINALLY GOT ONE!  I got my Blackberry around 2 weeks ago & I absolutely love it.  It took me a few days to figure everything out on it & I will admit that I'm still learning about all the features.

I'm really liking the fact that I can get my emails on my phone.  If I don't check my emails everyday... WOW it gets overwhelming!  So now it alerts me anytime I get a new email, text, everything... it's so great!  Now I'm wondering why I didn't get one of these years ago.  I need to do a better job at keeping up with things I guess, geez.

If anyone out there doesn't have a Blackberry... you should definitely run out & buy one right now.  Seriously!

2 seasons

I love Maxine... she hit the nail right on the head with this one.

For those who have allergies know how miserable it can be.  Unfortunately I've had allergies my entire life & I have to say I wouldn't wish it upon anyone!  It limits you to so many things in life that you wish you could do but because of allergies... you can't do.

I'm allergic to everything... and I mean EVERYTHING!  At least it seems that way, especially when I was growing up.

The older I've gotten, the better my allergies are, but certain things still completely wipe me out.

I just love Maxine though!  It always makes my day brighter when I open an email full of Mazine sayings just like this one.  This one fits me so I just had to share.

I hope someone else gets a laugh at it, just like I did.

washer disaster

The older I've become... I've also become one of those "wait-til-the-last-minute" people.  I'm not sure why, but that's just how it is with me & I don't forsee this changing in the future either.

I usually make Sundays my cleaning/laundry day.  Today I waited until almost 8pm tonight to put my first load of laundry in.  Keep this in mind... I have to haul my laundry across the gravel drive to Kevin's house (Fred's older brother).  We have no washer/dryer at our place because well... we have no room.  I hope for this to change in the very near future though.  Everyone keep your fingers crossed for me.

So after I turned the washer on, put in the soap & softener & let the water fill & put the clothes in... the washer decided to stop.  The water finished filling up & it was time for the washing cycle to start but instead it decided to just altogether quit.  It acted like it wanted to start washing but only made a few noises & then went silent.  Grrr.  I tried a few things & after I finally ended up cussing at it, I called Fred & begged for him to come home to the rescue.  When he arrived home he said that he switched the laundry over to the dryer... I'm like "HUH?"  The washer wasn't in working condition when I left it, so what happened?  Apparently it decided to start working after I left Kevin's house, who knows.

Frustrating I tell ya... just frustrating!

i'm thinking hibernation

COLD FREEZING RIDICULOUS WEATHER PLEASE GO AWAY NOW!!  I'm begging Mother Nature to let up on us a little.  This is just simply crazy... the temps she's been throwing our way are just off the chart!

I'm thinking I need to go into hibernation & not leave the warmth of home until the temp comes up to a reasonable number.  Although there's no way I could stay confined to my house for that long... I would drive myself crazy.

Winter is my least favorite time of the year.  I hate to be cold.  I like to be able to do things outside & not have to wear 30 layers of clothes.  This whole week the weather was absolutely miserable.  My truck doesn't like the cold temps either.  I can let it run for 30 minutes in the morning to "warm" up, but it doesn't even get remotely warm & it doesn't until I drive a little ways down the road.  Which sucks!  I don't like to jump into a cold freezing truck in the morning.

We still have slick spots & frozen snow drifts everywhere, left over from over 2 weeks ago... what is wrong with this picture.  This is Oklahoma, come on.

Dear Mother Nature,
If could find it in your heart, I would like to request the following changes:
1.  The tempture not dropping below 50 degrees during the winter months,
2.  Snow fall not to exceed 1" for any given day,
3.  No sleet or freezing rain of any sorts,
(this causes all kinds of wrecks & for some reason all the people that don't know how to drive for some reason decide to try their hand at it when the roads/weather is bad)
4.  I think it should only be cold for one month of the year (personal opinion)

I can't imagine living in a state that has cold weather most of the year or has snow falls up to 6 feet like I've seen on tv.  I keep seeing all these crazy weather stories & thinking if I lived there, I would pack up & move for sure!  Hibernation would have to be the only option in some of those cases.  You would have to always keep plenty of food & supplies at your house full time just in case you get snowed in & can't leave your house for like a month or something.

I've received some emails with pictures of snow drifts that are as tall as the house.  Now I'm not quite sure where this actually takes place at in the U.S. but no matter where it is, that's just insane.  It's one thing to see the emails that get passed around about things like that, but I just can't imagine me actually being in that situation & witnessing it.

I say we all team up & flood Mother Nature's inbox with tons of emails begging her to let up on us with some of this weather!

Sam Elliott day

Who doesn't love Sam Elliott?  I mean seriously.  Every movie I've seen him in, he's great!  He always plays the bad ass & does a fabulous job at it I must say.

We found this Sam Elliott western collection at Wal-Mart & Fred bought it.  We've had it for about a month now & we decided tonight was the night to watch two of the movies.

There's 3 movies in this collection:
"The Desperate Trail", "Rough Riders" & "You Know My Name"

Here's how our day went today...
We crawled out of bed around 10am-ish, watched a little tv, then put on 30 layers of clothes & headed out to start breaking water.  We broke water at our house then headed over to his parents house to break water there.  The water line was frozen going out to one of the tanks so we had to fill buckets & haul several loads of water out to the tank.  This took the entire afternoon.  Then my mom called to tell me that the pipe busted in the front bathroom & water gushed out everywhere, but she got the water shut off then spent several hours cleaning up the mess.  After we finished at his parents house we stopped by my parents house to see if there was anything we could do, but dad said he was just going to wait & call the plumber out first thing Monday morning to check it out.  He thinks there's a pipe broken underneath the house maybe.

After leaving my parents house we stopped by Braum's to grab some dinner then headed home to eat & relax.  We hadn't eaten all day so after we inhaled our food we were ready for a nap.  Yeah... that's right... we fell asleep around 5:30pm & slept until 9pm tonight.  We were both exhausted after freezing our butts off all day long.

So after we arose from our nice nap, we decided it was time to put in the Sam Elliott movies.  We watched two of the three movies: "The Desperate Trail" & now we're watching "You Know My Name".  I have a feeling we're going to be wide awake for no telling how long after taking such a long nap earlier.  That's the bad thing about taking naps so late in the day... then your up all night & can't sleep.

Who knows... we might be up until the wee hours.

my 4 legged princess

My first 4-legged born child... Abigail Elizabeth. I got her when she was merely 6 weeks old & just the most adorable baby in the world. Just like children though, they grow up so fast before you turn around. Even though she's not really a baby anymore, she's still and always will be my baby, no matter how old she gets.

I named her Abigail Elizabeth... I've always loved the name Abigail & well my best friend's middle name is Elizabeth.  Growing up we always told each other we would name our children after each other & so her first child was a girl & she holds my middle name.  And to me, Abigail is my first child, so I named her after my best friend.

I will be the first to admit she is spoiled completely rotten & that's putting it lightly. My dad always says & I quote "she doesn't even know she's a dog". Yeah... he's probably right. Wait no... I know he's right. It's my fault, I made her this way. I have to say I've learned allot of do's & don'ts with her that's for sure. First & biggest mistake was not socializing her when she was little & during her growing up days. She doesn't get along with any other animals, people, nothing... period. She barks non-stop when visitors show up & when it comes to other animals, well she becomes a little agressive & immediately attemps to be the dominate one.

Once she sees the same person a few times, she warms up to them & everythings all good. Some people she takes to right away & others it takes her awhile. Don't ask me why or how, she has her own personality that's for sure.

I think the #1 thing that bothers me the most is that she's not good with kids. I can't trust her alone with any small child. She attempts to "mount" them the minute she has the chance to. As long as I'm there to supervise she does ok. All in all though she's just not real tolerable of children & them trying to play with her. It just really sucks & I wish I could somehow change that.

Having another dog in the house with her, is not even an option. I've tried that & well let's just say that was way to much stress & just flat didn't work out. This is yet another regret I have in raising her... wishing she got along with other dogs/animals.

Abigail requires a fence! If she sees the opportunity to bolt & run faster then the wind... she takes it. It's quite a task to catch her too. Shaking the cookie box or squeaking her toy works most of the time - but sometimes it's not good enough. My biggest fear & worry is that she'll get out somehow & get ran over or something. OMG I would totally freak out if that happened. Ok, let's not talk about that. Moving on...

Honestly, for the most part, she's a well behaved child. Sometimes she thinks she needs to test the waters a little, but I guess that's to be expected.

When it's time to go nite-nite... Abigail knows exactly what that means & as soon as you ask her if she's ready to go nite-nite... she rushes to jump on the bed & plop herself down. She pretty much takes up the entire bed when she stretches out & gets comfortable. Yes I know, it's sad but it's the truth. She's a total bed hog & she insists on sleeping underneath the covers.

Our weekday morning routine goes a little something like this... I wake up, get out of bed, head to the bathroom for a shower... in the process there is no movement from Abigail what-so-ever. As soon as I emerge from the bathroom & reach the bedroom door, she comes out from under the covers & lays her head on my pillow & I cover her up & tuck her in like a burito. This is where she falls back to sleep & catches a few more shut-eyes while I'm putting on make-up & getting ready for work. As soon as I'm ready she knows it & rushes off to the kitchen & into her kennel & waits for me to come give her two cookies. As soon as she's done with her cookies, it's time to go outside to pee then it's time for me to leave for work.

Sadly enough, this routine is the exact same every single day of the week. Now, when it comes to the weekends... well that's a totally different story. If there's ever a chance to sleep in, then Abigail sleeps in too.

Abigail is definitely the "Princess" of the house - for sure!

Gray's Anchor Man

This baby is approximately 2 weeks old & he's such a cutie!  First time I saw him I didn't have my camera with me... go figure.  We went to feed hay today & I made sure I didn't forget my camera at home.  He's pretty quick on his feet, so it's hard to get close because he takes off.

I fall in love with all the new born babies, I just can't help it.  And if I could make a living off bottle feeding baby calves full time, I would do it in a heart beat!  Of course the ideal situation is not have to bottle feed the babies, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that I'll at least have one.  Bottle feeding babies means that something has happened to their moms & that's not good... but that just means that I become their new mommy.  This new baby is doing great with his mommy though, so my mommy instincts aren't needed unfortunately.

We haven't really named this new baby boy yet... but more than likely it would be somewhere around the lines of "Gray's Anchor Man", but just look at these precious eyes.  White face, brown eyes... just adorable if you ask me.

If only I could get close enough just for a quick hug.  That is... without his mommy trying to run me over, knock me down & stomp me into a mud puddle.  I think I'll just keep my distance & enjoy him from a far.

Emery Cat Board

How many people have seen this info-mercial on tv?  It's called the Emery Cat.

Their description is "now your cat can trim their own claws with the Emery Cat Board".  I have to admit sometimes curiousity kills me, so I immediately visited the website to check it out after seeing this on tv.

"The fun new kitty scratcher that actually grooms cats' claws while they play"  "Buy one get one free... only $19.95 + shipping & handling"

For me personally I'm not a cat lover... #1 because I'm highly allergic to cats.  I can't even be in the same existance where cats live without having an allergic reaction.  If I wasn't so allergic to them I probably wouldn't mind them so much, but I try to just keep my distance.

I'm very curious though... I wonder if this Emery Cat Board would really work?
I love watching info-mercials just to see what people are coming up with these days!  I find it amazing!

turkey visitors

We have a group of visitors that have been coming around every day here lately to say hi.

This picture was taken December 29th early in the morning.  It appears that the turkey like my truck & want to go for a ride.  The only ride they would ever be taking in my truck would be in the bed & they probably wouldn't be aware of it.  Good thing I like ham allot more than Turkey or they might have been in some trouble.  They've been hanging out by the hay feeder with one of the bulls, but this is the first time they've ventured this close to the house.

I love waking up to look outside to see this.  Well... other than the fact my truck was currently stuck at the time of this photo.  Makes me wish I would've went with a 4x4 instead, but oh well it's almost paid for so that makes me very happy.

Last year we had some deer that would just walk up almost to the front door, but I wasn't ever able to capture any pictures.  It just happened that I never had my camera close & I tried to get some pics with my camera on my cell phone but they didn't turn out worth a flip.

Hopefully the deer will come back around again this year & I can sneak a few pics without them knowing.