3.03.2011

My Past Time

Most people find a hobby they enjoy doing to pass the time.  Loom knitting has become just that for me along with adding the benefits of actually making something.  I am working on a baby blanket for my new niece that is soon to arrive anytime!  I thought I'd share this little wonderful past time with you.  It keeps your mind busy while accomplishing alot in little amount of time unlike traditional knitting! 

3.01.2011

A Lazy Sunday....

There is something to be said for a lazy sunday where a little movie watching is in order.  These my friends, are some of my favorite pasttimes, making great memories that will last a lifetime....

Looking Back and Looking Foward.....



Early this morning I find myself reflecting on the past 25 years and looking forward to the next 25 years.  I am a goal oriented person and I can think to myself of all the goals I had before reaching 25.  Mainly they were to graduate high school, graduate college, get married, start a family, have a nationally recognized showstock breeding program....the list could probably go on and on.  I have done most and some are still being worked on.  Along the way I had alot of detours and up rootings including a divorce which changed life and goals in a way nobody could have ever prepared me for.  As goal oriented as I am, I never made goals for detours or past the tender age of  25.  I figured if I worked extremely hard I'd have it all accomplished, boy was I mistaken!  So now I sit here trying to think of what I want to accomplish in the next 25 years and the list seems so endless.  I'd like to one day expand my family should the right time have it, raise my son to be a hardworking, honest, young man and I would like to be able to put food on the table, have heat and a roof with the occasional money to go out to eat for a treat or to a movie.  I dont really ask for alot; I just work hard and hope for the best.  I hope for a new job where I would be allowed to feel more full filled after a hard days work.  Beyond that, my dreams and hopes mainly revolve around showstock.  I dream of purple ribbons and respect in the showstock community.  I was raised showing livestock and developed a deep everlasting love and passion for the showring.  Not only do I love the showring, but I love the blood, sweat, and tears that are left in the barn after a cold winters night lambing, or a scorching hot summers day trimming.  I could only hope my son shares a portion of my passion to give me a reason to work yet another job and even harder at developing a world class breeding operation for all your showstock needs.  I hope in the next 10 years, I see myself in the list of champions at the NAILE and I hope to see my son pictured in the sale of champions at the state fair.  There are many folks alot smarter at breeding, fitting, and advertising then I, but there are few that share the true deep passion of love for doing what we do.  Not to many people can go broke and be happy doing so over livestock...not too many people can spend a Saturday night in the barn trimming and be happy doing it, and not too many people can have frostbitten fingers after working in the barn after a bitter cold winters night and be happy doing it, but me, thats where I feel centered and at home.  If one would pause for 10 minutes of silence just observing a puppy, a lamb, a calf, you'd learn alot about yourself and find yourself enjoying the simpler things in life and inevitably smile. 

With all that being said, there is much more I'd like to accomplish in the next 25 years, more then just purple ribbons. If I could go back in time I'd rewrite my goals, accomplish a little less in the first 25 years and savor and enjoy what I did accomplish rather then treating it like a to do list and just check it off and move on to the next.  After recently reading a friends post it makes me hesitant on how to think of my goals.  I don't want to wish my life away, and I dont want to wish my sons life away.  Yes, I'm so excited to see him play in his football game and I am so excited to see he and I show together, but those things can wait.  I want to focus on the right now moments and make a plan for the future.  I had a great friend who lived by the quote "Plan your work and work your plan."  Well, my goals are gonna take alotta work, so I need to get to planning.  These next 25 years are gonna be special....I can feel it.  I have so much to look forward to so many new goals to attain, I am ready to get to work!  See you in the ring, might be the ring of life or the showring, but you'll find me there! 

Its a Celebration!!!



O what a wonderful weekend it was!  Friday, I had yet another birthday and what a weekend celebration it was!  I was lucky enough to get Friday off of work, so my lil sis, Brody, Eric, and I went to mom and dads for a good home cooked supper of chicken n noodles, mashed potato's and so much more.  Desert was a real treat of homade cherry cobbler made by the one and only Shirley!  That recipe is soon to come, let me tell you its the best cherry cobbler you have ever tasted, my mouth waters just thinking about it.  After such a wonderful dinner we headed to the homestead.  I found these really cool squiggly balloons (pictured above) that we all blew up and my fantastic day ended with a much needed laughter filled balloon fight between us all!  Brody loved it as much as I did!  After taking my lil sis home Saturday, Brody went to visit with grandma and grandpa and momma was out with her friends.  All I wanted for my birthday was time spent with great friends and that's just what I got.  We went to Shelbyville's Live Casino and had a fabulous time!  I highly recommend it for the fine buffet (yes I know I sound old) a chance to win a couple bucks....if your anything like me you'll loose a couple before you ever win a couple.  What a great birthday it was from an ever grateful birthday girl. 

Here are a few pics from our night out!



2.24.2011

National FFA Week

Its that time of year, National FFA Week!  Hearing all the advertisements on the radio, seeing all the gold and blue takes me back to the good ol days.  Days that I didn't realize were so good until  they were long gone.  FFA is one of those "clubs" in high school that isn't really a "club"...it's more like family.  You are making friendships and connections that will last you a lifetime throughout the agriculture community.  You are creating skills and polishing yourself for the future and you don't even know it.  I have recently found myself reaching back to my FFA days.  I have been going through multiple interviews and find myself recalling going to district and state competition in job interview as well as public speaking, all of which help me get through my interviews now.  I think my favorite memories from the FFA revolve around livestock judging and freezing my butt off practicing and going to contests.  If I died today and could give my son any advice about high school it would be participate in events you are passionate in and participate in FFA no matter what kind of criticism you might take.  Its worth it.  I couldn't have imagined high school without the friendships and knowledge that were gained through FFA.  Its an organization that remains in my heart, I remain passionate about, and still plays a vital role in my life.  Whats your favorite FFA memory? 

2.21.2011

A Best Friend For Life

You might be wondering who this Eric fella is that I mention so much.  Simply put, he is my best friend that I love so much.  If you spent much time around us, you might wonder if we really love each other as we spend more time giving each other a hard time then we do showing everyone how much we really mean to each other.  He is sincerely my best friend.  We don't need to dress to impress each other, we don't have to lie to cover who we truly are, and we don't have to talk to know each other's thoughts.  He makes me want to be a better person.  Any of you who know my past know that I thought I was in-love once.  I swore I'd never open myself up to anyone to this degree.  When you allow someone to love you on this level, you allow yourself the for the potential to be judged, hurt, and dependant.  Yet when your in-love with your best friend, you're not judged, only given honest opinions, your not hurt, you trust they wont do that to you, and dependant, well that one stands on a personal basis and to many degrees and levels.  This is a man whom I've know for so many years and never had the opportunity or timing to ever approach.  Little did I know what I was missing.  From the first time we met I knew he was something incredibly special.  He insisted on our first date that BW go with us.  I was extremely hesitant and normally wouldn't have given a thought to such an outrageous request.  But he looked me in my eyes and asked me to trust him.  Boom, he had peaked a high interest in my heart...little did he know he had alot to prove!  But he has done just that, prove to me what a incredible, unique individual he is over and over.  He takes time from his busy day just to call and let me know how his day is going.  He cares enough about me to make sure I get to work safely and wont go to bed until he knows.  He comes to our house after a long day and still manages to find a smile and the energy to play with bw.  I haven't shared all the special things he does and the ones I have probably seem trivial to you.  But some things are to be kept on a personal level as I've probably already shared too much.  I want the world to know what a hard working, kind, unique, loving man this is.  How if 10 years ago you would have asked us were we pictured ourselves in life, we have taken a totally different path, but along way we have learned so many life lessons about others and ourselves that has only made us stronger for ourselves and each other.  I am truly blessed to have somebody that my son adores and looks up too and I can say the same goes for me too. 

Love is patient, Love is kind,
It does not envy, it does not boast,
It is not proud, It is not rude,
It is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil,
but rejoices with the truth.

Love always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.

Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends.

L o v e  N e v e r  F a i l s.

Did somebody say MEAT???

This past Saturday proved to be a fantastic time.  I got off work at 7am to go straight home, throw on some old clothes, and head to the A homestead for some fun meat cutting time:)  It was a great time with great friends and proved to be educational too!  I learned things from a serious nature like where all the cuts of pork come from to things of more important nature like the latest gossip:)  Saturday turned to be a long day with no sleep so when Sunday rolled around the option of church, dinner, and movie sounded amazing and relaxing.  We went to family video after church to find the latest funny videos when I spotted to "free" section.  As any thrifty normal woman would do, I checked it out.  Disappointed that it was boring educational documentaries and what not I didn't look too in depth, but just as I was getting ready to walk away, something caught my eye...a Holstein cow on the cover and something to do with America's food chain.  Not that I wanted this to be my relaxing Sunday movie, but it caught my eye and I thought I'd take a look at it, after all it was free!  MUCH to my disappointment, it was a movie made by PETA showing all the "terrible" conditions animals are raised in and how it affects America's food chain and not to eat meat.  After such a great weekend filling up the freezer with pork, feeling blessed to have so much food on hand, going to church and thanking the lord for all my blessings....this is what my Sunday had come too...PETA.  So annoyed, so irritated I knew it had to be the subject of today's blog.  I am a proud American farmer/rancher supporter and eat meat with every meal.  I wish PETA would document the longest living people in the great country to prove they have eaten meat their whole lives as it proves to be an essential portion of our daily diets.  I had better stop my rampage at that or else I'll probably get a firestorm created here, but just to state the facts, I am a proud consumer of meat products as well as supplier.  With that being said, if you are interested in any lamb meat let me know...I've got a lot in the freezer and I am running out of room.  If you have never tried it, I'd love to give you some just so you can say you have tried it.  IF prepared right, its pretty darn tasty.

2.18.2011

Girls Night Out

So tonight was a rarity and we had a girls night out that consisted of a great movie and dinner.  We went to go see just go with it.  Seeing as how I now work thirds my girlfriend, Dusty, and I had to go to an early show meaning 4:30pm....let me just tell you that there is nobody at the movies on a Friday night at 4:30 other then two gals looking for a nice evening and a bunch of old farts!  And when I mean old farts, I mean in their 70's plus years old!  Much to my annoyance, some hillbilly of a man sat behind me and the entire movie belched so loud and so disgustingly (if that's a word) that I wanted to ask him where his manners were.  Then, just as I was disgusted beyond reach, he showered me with a lovely coughing fit!  UGH!  However, he didn't ruin the movie for me.  This move was awesome!  It was a total chick flick as you can imagine, however I am not one to say that I would watch a movie more then once....but this one is definitely one I'd watch again.  Then we were off to Montana Mikes for a great dinner.  What had planned to be a nice sit down meal turned into a people watching event for us.  We had to wait 30 minutes or so for a table which provided me with more then enough entertainment for one evening...watching people get so upset with a poor greeter that certainly couldn't make anyone eat any faster or clean tables any faster then they were already being cleaned.  Once we sat down a very nice waitress came to take our order.  She then informed me a waiter there had requested to bring my drink as he thought I was something to look at.  Then Dusty noted a bus boy running into a wall looking at us.  Then another, yet again probably overly intoxicated hillbilly, walked by and said "hot damn" as he stared at us.  Oh, but it gets better, the waitress, yes the woman waiting on us, then proceeded to let me know she was a lesbian and struck up such a conversation with us.  Dusty said she was hitting on me, I'd like to think she was overly nice.  What a night of entertainment for two gals dressed in jeans, tennis shoes, and zip up sweatshirts.  Clearly we were out to impress the whole world, not!  I guess the moral of the story is, when you need a confidence booster, have a girls night out and "just go with it" as the movie title was.  Its alot of fun and you get free entertainment by not even trying!  Thanks to my girlfriend for a wonderful evening....I'm thinking it requires another date for sure:-)

2.17.2011

Brockle Face Adventure!

Yes I've been called crazy at times, but I am on a new adventure to breed predictable white face crossbred market lambs.  The basis of this small flock and brockle project is a group of extremely thick well balanced heavy muscled montadale brood ewes.  I bred them to a barbwire buck last year and this year crossed them back on a brockle barbwire ram lamb.  We have been extremely fortunate and have some excellent looking lambs this year (pictures will come soon)  We had a set of triplets that were some of the biggest strongest triplets I've seen in my 20 years of recollection lambing.  I am really excited about this project, though it may not prove to be the most profitable as there is not a high demand for white face crossbreds.  However, look for us in the sale of champions at the Indiana State Fair in 10-15 years with them:) (wishful thinking but a girl can dream!)

Special Day

Today marks a special day in history for me.  I signed my son, BW, up for pre-school today!  It hardly seems possible.  Seems like just yesterday.....there I go sounding like my parents again.  My sister-in-law gave me a thought to chew on, she said "if you feel old signing your kid up for pre-school just think what signing them up for their first year of 4-H is going to do to you."  She is right!!!!  I have alot of old moments in my future!  I am so proud of my little guy as he is sooooo excited to start pre-school.   

All about me!!!

I figured for my first blog post you should learn about me and who I am.  Born and raised in the small county of Rush I was farm raised and proud of it.  I grew up raising Reg Suffolk Sheep and AKC Great Pyrenees Dogs (pictured above).  I am a 10 year 4-H member having shown sheep, hogs, cattle, rabbits, and horses I enjoyed every minute of it and love helping current 4-Hers mentoring their projects.  I have rode barrel horses for quite sometime and have spent several summers working for local trainers green breaking horses and putting miles and hours on them.  After getting married in 2005, my farm heritage stood true and I expanded the breeding operation to incorporate Reg Montadale Sheep as well as club lambs.  At my largest point we had 80 brood ewes and 8 Great Pyrenees working and show dogs.  However after a divorce in 2010 I am no a very small operation on 10 brood ewes and 1 lonesome Great Pyrenees dog, Harlie.  I lived with my gracious parents for a year after separating from my ex-husband and just moved out on my own in November 2010, still living in my home roots of Northern Rush County.  I am the proud mother of a 3 1/2 year old little boy BW.  He is a real treat and I cant wait to watch him grow into the man I'm trying to shape now.  I went to radiology school after graduating high school to stay close to home, get married, and have a family.  Well, 2 of the 3 things worked out for me:)  I am currently going back to school to Purdue University for Veterinary Technology (Long Distance) and look forward to starting in June 2011.  I've met my best friend and love him dearly.  Eric treats me and BW like royalty.  He has been there for me, listen to me, and guide me in the right direction.  I am truly a blessed woman to have met a man like him.  I am the most appreciative, blessed woman and I thank God everyday for all the challenges and doors he has opened and brought upon me.  I am a passionate, hard working person who has the greatest support system and friends I could ever ask for. These will become apparent as you check back in on the blog and check up on us to see how we are doing:)