Christmas in the Country

Better late then never, but with a good excuse, having a baby counts right?!? I am finally getting around to my link up post from Christmas in the Country. Don't let my tardiness diminish the fun and excitement I had with this experience. A huge Thank you goes out to Jamie and Laurie for setting this all up. Truly was the highlight of the holidays for me!

I love getting packages in the mail, even more fun when they are filled with a surprise!! So when my package arrived on Christmas Eve, I was so giddy my husband was making fun of me! I torn I to the box to find this:

A whole box full of goodies all wrapped up and numbered! Felt like a scavenger hunt in a box, I love stuff like that so I was super excited! Included was a read first note to open the numbers in order!

First up, #1, a Blake Shelton Christmas CD! It immediately went into my cd player in the kitchen and with Blake's smooth voice in the background I proceeded to open!

#2 a bag of local popcorn from a member of my secret country pal's son's 4H club! It is awesome popcorn, great flavor and pop! The whole family has enjoyed it for movie time.

I got a really good laugh out of number three and it couldn't have arrived at a more perfect time. A new cool drink cup for my love of Coffee. In my favorite color too! :-)

Now I'm sure my secret country gifter had no idea, but I have quite the history with fun cool drink cups. It's kind of a running joke between me and my husband. I have a thing for fun drink cups and I also really enjoy a good iced coffee. Especially when I am milking in the summer, our parlor gets super hot and it's nice to have a good drink to help me keep my cool, quite literally. Well I also find it fun to take my cool cups into the parlor cause they make me happy. Well they also seem to make the cows happy.......there's no really good cup holder place in the parlor that accessible for quick walk by sips between putting on milkers. So my cups always end of sitting within cows reach, and the Ladies always want to check out my new cups. A little too enthusiastically, so far I've had 5 cups get broken in the parlor. You'd think I'd learn! This one is so fun it might just have to be my house cup. Sorry Ladies! ;-)

#4 Pumpkin! My sender lives about 15 miles from the Pumpkin Capital of the World, Morton, IL!

#5 was for my love of Photography, a calendar from her Farm Credit Services that host a photography contest every year to be included. It's full of some fantastic and fun agriculture pictures from around Illinois. I have it hanging up in my office already! And am enjoying a snapshot of IL!

#6 a super fun cookbook that was put together by my country Santa for their grade school. Some of the recipes sound great and I can't wait to try them out. I always love finding new favorite dishes!

Boosting my Christmas spirit #7 was a delicious mini-tea ring. I had to try a bite right away, I have a weakness for bread! Yum, it was great! Sharing was optional, but we did dig into it as the whole family was at our house for Christmas morning! It was a great addition to our usual fair of cinnamon rolls and enjoyed by all!

And lastly #8 was a generous offer to put together a farmed collage of photos of one of my favorite cows, Mercedes, that we just lost! Super touching and personal, excited to get some sent off to be put together!







Wow! 8 awesome surprises and I didn't yet know who my country Santa was. A die-hard Jersey girl (I'll forgive her that!) with Illinois dairy in her background: Jenny from TheMagicFarmHouse! Jenny also included a great letter with insight into her country life. I had so much fun receiving Jenny's gift and love all the thought and planning that went into making it personal for me! A huge Thank You to her. Jenny is also the Communications Director at the AgChat Foundation, whose regional conference is being held in my neck of the woods in a week. I had seen the conference earlier and totally forgotten about it, but at Jenny's reminder I signed up and am looking forward to not only meeting her, but also expanding my blogging skills and knowledge! Watch out 2014!!

Christmas in the Country was a super fun event full of great people. Make sure to stop by the link up to read about everyone else's gifts and gifters. My gift traveled to Jamie at This Uncharted Rhoade, besides a set back, I had so much fun gathering hers together as well! Seriously what an awesome group of people! I am thoroughly looking forward to participating next time!

Living the Present

In October I won the ticket lottery to attend a Jack Johnson concert. He is my absolute favorite and I never win anything, so I was beyond ecstatic. Me and three close friends shared the tickets, and embarked on a fun filled night in the big city (I don't get out much!)   After a delicious dinner we arrived just in time for the main act to begin. 

I settled into our seats and as the lights dimmed and Jack Johnsons smooth voice enveloped the auditorium............I was blown away. All across the seats and pretty much every other person was accompanied by a blue screen. Smart phones held high, they were "capturing the moment". Blessed by my rural location, I don't have a smart phone, no carriers have good enough service to justify the cost. I felt like the only person in the whole audience that wasn't virally sharing this awesome experience. For a minute I felt left out, but then I merely felt sad for humanity.

We've replaced immediate human interaction for online worldwide sharing. I think we've made the wrong choice. I thoroughly enjoyed the concert screen free; singing along, taking in the lighting and atmosphere, dancing.......living in the moment. And I vividly remember that night, it is a great memory. 

Everywhere you go it's the same, I'm sure you've seen it too, people on their phones, iPods, tablets; out at dinner, in a movie, at the park; digitally sharing their current experience with the world. Don't get me wrong, I fully enjoy the world of social media, sometimes too much. 

I'm not one for "New Years Resolutions", but this year I am making a conscience decision to live in the moment. It stems from having a newborn and realizing that each moment, every experience, every day is so fleeting. It's here, it's the now, it's the present. A gift to you to take and make it what you will. 

So next time your out to dinner, enjoying a beautiful sunset, watching your kids play. Don't update your status about it, don't pin it, don't Instagram it: Live it! Take it in, take a mental picture and enjoy it!! It'll be gone before you know it. I challenge you to live in the present. 

That age old saying, sleep when your baby sleeps, I found impossible to do today. All I wanted to do was stare at my newborn son. His forehead wrinkled, his eyes fluttered in sweet baby dream land. He slowly opened and closed his fingers, his bed head of dark hair was sticking up at the top of his head. His lips gave off a soft sleepy smile. 

Today was a present and I lived it, did you? 

Merry Christmas!

Sometimes your heart is so full it's hard to put into words how you are feeling. This year I am feeling overly blessed! Sometimes it's so easy to look at all the hard and difficult, stressful and consuming things in your life and lose sight of what really matters. When you let go of all that, and just live in the moment soaking up the little details..............it's so rewarding!

I hope this finds you all with full and happy hearts after the Christmas Season! 

From me to you I am wishing you all the best!!

Merry Christmas!  From me and the Ladies!

FarmHer Dilemma #42

FarmHer Dilemma #42: Work wear does not come in maternity sizes. Somewhat of an issue when your big preggo during the nice cold winter months!

Dear Carhartt,
                         You need a maternity line!

FarmHer Dilemmas

This morning I felt like I waddled through morning chores 38 weeks pregnant, and the real eye opener came when I realized I couldn't squeeze through the people walk way in the parlor. Yes it was comical, luckily I didn't get stuck! ;-)

I realized that we as women face numerous "dilemmas" as farmers, things that are unique to us as females. And well it's a part of our everyday glamorous life. From awesome work outfits, to amazing hair days, creative bathroom stops, fashionable footwear, hazardous laundry duty, literal child mud wrangling, the array and extent of these dilemmas is vast! And with the number of women counted as U.S. farm operators growing, I thought quite a few of you out there could relate.

So Welcome to a new series..........FarmHer Dilemmas

From the comical to the somewhat irritating I'll bring you things that I might find I run into as a FarmHer.

So what have you found is one of your FarmHer Dilemmas? 

P.S. I get no credit for the term FarmHer. Seen it floating around facebook and blogs for some time and think whoever came up with it is a creative genius!

A Year of....

Another year......another year flown by......at pretty much the speed of light!!!
A year whose theme should simply be: behind

Ok please tell me I'm not the only one sitting here wondering how in the world it's only 15 days till Christmas! While I could blame my behindness on  many things, I mainly think it's just lacking spirit. I usually love decorating and getting into the spirit of all the Holidays, but this year it's just been missing! :-( And that makes me sad!

First it was my son's 2nd birthday that I had fun plans for, but pushed those all aside as I fought back morning sickness. That seemed to last for far longer this go around and then I was suddenly looking at Summer. Summer flew by as if nothing could stop it. Add in an extra two cow related road trips and I felt like May to September passed in the blink of an eye! We didn't even get a garden planted this year! Technically I guess it's still Fall, but where October and November went I am still wondering.

And December, here you are! I had big plans for you! Mostly I feel this time crunch because well my due date for baby number two is 19 days away.....at little over two weeks! I was going to be so organized and get everything for Christmas done early, so just in case this little decides on an early exit, and also to enjoy this last time as a family of 3. But alas I still have the majority of my shopping to do, as well as decorating.

 I will give myself this pat on the back, I got our Christmas cards out early this year! The earliest they probably will ever be, they were done by Thanksgiving and I think I got them in to be mailed that following Monday. I love sending and receiving Christmas Cards! Probably one of my favorite things about the season!

And this weekend I finally felt a little Christmas spirit as we visited Santa and his reindeer. Well really just his reindeer, my animal lover son refused to go see Santa, but insisted on several trips to pet the reindeer. We also had a freezing, but at least dry, trip to get our tree.  Now to decorate, finish our gifts, and still have time to focus on our impending new arrival. So many blessings in this year, I just feel like it flew by!

Behind...my New Year's Resolution; to put this year behind me and find my Spirit. Wouldn't hurt if you told me you've had years like this as well?!?

*Also another New Years Resolution, get faster internet! Supposed to be getting installed on Monday, so maybe I can finally share pictures with you all again!* Woohoo, so far it's faster, so I'll add some pictures!*

   

There's Truth in That

I am seriously blown away by the response and support for my last post! To watch my tiny blog, and one little post reach over 15,000 people and growing in the last 48 hours seriously blows my mind. That's half again more people then live in my little home town!

But more than that I am loving the feedback from others who have felt the same! Both here and on our Facebook page. Who loved their own Mercedes and carry those favorites in their hearts forever. I just might have to compile all the stories that have been shared in feedback, it just goes to show that farmers really do care!  And that care isn't just for dairy cows, but all sectors of agriculture!!

That was my mission in my last post, the raw, unedited emotion that we farmers truly feel for our jobs. Because farming isn't just a job, it's a way of life, it's in our blood, sweat and tears, all the way down to our core.

And there's nothing more truthful than that......

Me, me, ME! Mercedes -- Scratches for me, right?