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! 

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!

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? 

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.