November 2018 Ramblings

It's hard to believe that November is already over and Christmas is just weeks away. I'm listening to Celtic Christmas songs on Pandora as I type this. This whole year has felt like it's been on fast forward and November continued that way for me. November started off with snow for the third year in a row.

I still love the look of frost on windows. As a kid I use to use my nail to make designs in the frost. The frost on the morning I took this picture looked like swirls.

TRAVELS:

I was able to do a couple road trips with Mr. B to haul canola to the elevator in Velva. We had to load the semi trailer up (top left) before we left. When I got out of the semi to move a truck for them I noticed a lot of deer tracks (bottom left). The elevator is about an hour and a half away plus wait time so it takes up a good portion of a day. We had several trucks ahead of us so we ended up waiting probably close to an hour before we were able to unload. We can watch the trucks go down onto the scale and then head to where they unload (right pictures). The slope down to the scale can get really slippery and we saw one truck slide a bit. Thankfully a truck came out and put some dirt down right before we went down.

I was super excited I was going to get to go on my first overnight trip with Mr. B to take wheat to Grand Forks, actually I was going to go two overnight trips with him. Unfortunately my adventure didn't get too far. We hadn't gotten far down the road when we noticed the lights on the back of Mr. B's boss's trailer started flashing and then we noticed the taillights were out on one side. A quick phone call as Mr. B dodged pieces of tire in the road and we pulled over to figure out what was going on to discover that one of his boss's back tires had peeled off and had ripped out his taillights and wiring and the wiring was wrapped around the axle. The tire had then flipped up and put a HUGE dent in the back of trailer. We switched semis and brought back his boss's to his farm and my adventure sadly ended. The trailer is now in Fargo for repairs.

BIRTHDAY & THANKSGIVING:

 

On my birthday I arrived home after work to find a present (a candle) and this cake that Mr. B's granddaughter, Bella, made for me. Mr. B took me out to the bar for supper later in the week.

I had to work Thanksgiving this year so Desiree cooked everything but the pumpkin pies, which I made. It was so nice after working a 12 hour shift to not have to cook. I was surprised that they provided workers a full Thanksgiving meal although after eating all that good food it was hard to go back to work. We had a small gathering here this year as my son had to work and lil dude was with his mom. I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Meal at work

READING:

I waited very impatiently for 'Stockings and Spells' to be released on November 28th and read it in two days. Now I need to find another cozy mystery series to read since I have no idea when she'll release another book in this series. 

I enjoyed 'Daddy Bear;' although, I wish they'd stop putting such graphic sex scenes in the books. I've gotten to the point I just skip over them. Otherwise, it's a nice romance and I'll probably read more from this series.

I'll be honest I was a bit disappointed with 'How to be Chic in the Winter'. There was really nothing there I haven't already read somewhere else. It mentioned menus to keep your chic figure but all she states is she eats a lot of salads. I for one don't like a lot of cold foods in the winter so eating salads every day won't work for me. Also, a salad isn't going to sustain me on negative temperature days, I need something that will sustain me. Soup and salad works better so I think I'll try and prep more soups to freeze and take to work. Salads are on hold with the lettuce ban right now. 

Books I have on Kindle to read next:

November Ramblings

We're already 10 days into November and I ask again, where is the time going?  I've been way to busy and as usual need to find a balance. It seems like just yesterday I posted and it's actually been about 3 months.

The Prairie Gypsy may be traveling in the near future so watch for more on that.

GRANDKIDS:

I was finally able to get lil dude for a week last month! I miss that little tike. He got to go out in the tractor several times with Mr. B while I was working and he loved every minute of it. It's amazing how well he jumped into riding in the tractor during the harvest with one day being nearly 11 hours and still got upset when I went to pick him up because he didn't want to leave until he realized Mr. B was leaving too.

Our family loves Mexican food so we tend to go for Mexican whenever possible and this visit was no different. Desiree and Hadlee joined lil dude and myself for lunch at Rancho Grande in Rugby. When lil dude saw Desi's strawberry margarita he wanted one so I ordered him his first virgin strawberry margarita and he was in heaven! 

I found this adorable dragon costume at TJ Maxx in Minot for $20 a couple weeks ago when I went shopping. The picture doesn't show the adorable long tail on it. He loved it! Sometimes when he went to show people the costume he'd hold it by the head and walk around growling. I had to laugh because Desi and I were at the bar for supper the other night and I noticed Hadlee was growling. Desi said she's been doing that and then it clicked that I'd seen lil dude hold the dragon head up to her and growl and now she's imitating him!

READING:

1-3)     I read the Vampire Knitting Club series by Nancy Warren. Currently there are 3 published books out and the third is due out this month. I read all 3 books the series is that good! It's a pretty calm book unlike a lot of books with vampires in them. They were light reading, which I needed, and totally enjoyable. These are free if you have Kindle Unlimited. I'm impatiently waiting for the next book.



4)     The Autumn House by Alison May. A continuation of her seasonal series for the home. Lists of things that should be done in the fall like furnace maintenance to little treats for yourself.  



5)     How to be Chic in the Winter by Fiona Ferris.  A continuation of Fiona's How to be Chic series and appropriate for the season. 

CRAFTING:

I was finally able to pick up my WIP (work-in-progress) project that I started 2 years ago. I had to rip out a huge chunk of what I'd completed and redo as I'd messed up the band on the edges so I'm now where I was before I ripped it back.  Hopefully I'll be able to complete this project soon as it's on large needles so it works pretty quickly so I can post a picture of a finished garment in my next post. I have the perfect floral print thermal top to wear with it too.

HARLEY TRIP - PACKING

Mr. B and I getting ready to leave Cody, WY

PACKING:

I did laundry and started organizing and packing everything two days before we left so I would have time to adjust if needed. I really tried to keep things minimal and I think I did pretty good with packing for the most part. We had roughly planned our travels out and then ended up changing the end of our trip.  Instead of traveling the last couple days, we were camping so there were a couple things so I would have changed packing if I had planned for camping as well but overall we did really well with what we packed.

One of the things I bought at the last minute were some packing cubes. I found them really helpful but wished I'd bought a second set in another color and plan to order another set before our next trip.  I watched multiple YouTube videos on using packing cubes to get a good idea of the best way to pack them.  Having one color for Mr B and one color for myself would have made it much easier when pulling them out to know which cube I needed. 



Clothes were minimal: 2 pairs of jeans, 2 t-shirts, a hoodie, a swimsuit, 3 pairs of socks and 3 underwear. I also packed 2 bras, a pair of capri's and a button down long sleeve shirt for myself. Changes I would make to what I packed would include not taking the t-shirts as we both bought 2 t-shirts. I will also pack a couple more pairs of underwear for each of us next time. I should have also taken some type of sandals for Mr. B as he didn't have anything to wear while we were on the beach and sand. I thought I'd done pretty well with the toiletries but probably need to figure out how to reduce what I took a little bit. Maybe I'll take a tinted moisturizer instead of a moisturizer and foundation on the next trip.

So, all the packing cubes got put in a rubber bag we borrowed and put on the back of the sissy bar.  Our electronics and toiletry bag were stored in the left saddlebag and my purse and sunscreen along with a few other things we needed were in the right saddlebag.  I frequently put a bottle of water in the saddlebag for rest breaks between gas stops.

Glendive, MT - packed and ready for the last leg of our journey home

July Ramblings

Checking out wheat

Baling the hay

I remember as a kid hearing adults complain they didn't know where time went and couldn't understand it because summer seemed to drag forever but now I totally get it - it's halfway through August already! Wow, where did July go? Okay, I will admit I was on vacation for about 11 days but still. I'll write about our vacation in the next post.

Today it's already 80' out and we're supposed to hit 90' before getting hit by rain. I'm excited about the rain as we desperately need it and I'm sure the farmers need a day off. 

Our area is in full harvest mode now with farmers harvesting canola and wheat and haying. I've been riding after work and on my days off with Mr. B in the tractors and semi's so I'm not getting a lot done at home at the moment.

GRANDKIDS: 

We were fortunate to have Jasper with us for most of the 4th of July week. He's so much fun!  He turned 3 last week! I was so upset he wasn't able to come up to celebrate his birthday. Hopefully he'll be able to come up and stay with us soon.

He had so much fun while here and he got to go to work with Grandpa several days so he was in heaven. He has his little green John Deere Backpack that he puts his toys and pull-ups in to take with when he's with us. The first day he went the look on his face when I packed him a lunch and snack bag to take with and he carried that out to the truck with his backpack on was just too adorable. Of course I forgot to take a picture of it. I'm considering buying him a lunch bag like this for when he's here, probably in blue. We also worked on potty training and had a really good start. Hopefully my son has kept up with it.

         

You will also note that in most pictures of Jasper he has rubber boots on. He actually has 2 pairs, one is too big still, that he puts on while he's here. He loves the rubber boots and it keeps his city shoes from getting ruined. One day my son put his tennis shoes on out of habit and Jasper kicked them off and went over to his box that I keep his outdoor stuff in and grabbed his boots and pulled them on. He wears them with shorts or pants and even his PJs. They're great because if he steps into something I can wash them off and they also protect his legs when he wears shorts.

           

READING:

I haven't gotten to read much lately, hopefully once the colder weather sets in I can start reading more but this is my stack of books to be read (BTBR):

On my Kindle I'm also readying the following books.  I picked up the Runaway Heiress for a special price of $2.99. It was given a really good review on one of the book discussion groups I'm on on Facebook. 

I'm also working my way through Home Sweet Maison, which is the book we're reading in The Simply Luxurious Life's Facebook's group. I'm way behind the weekly book discussion but I'm reading! Home Sweet Maison I find fascinating as it discusses how the French decorate their homes. The author herself is American and her husband is French so she gives insight to how she reacted to the French system and how her husband reacted when he came to America with her to live to how Americans decorate.

               

June Rambling

We've been having a really wet month with violent thunderstorms. We've had several tornado warnings and lots of funnels spotted.  Hot days and cool nights apparently trigger some pretty violent storms. The storms have been causing a lot of electrical outages.

MOTORCYCLING

Recently while we were out on the Harley and I had an epiphany - riding on a motorcycle of any kind requires a great deal of trust.  You have to trust the person you're riding with for both riders to be safe. This epiphany occurred during a sharp turn as I started to panic he was leaning the bike too far over and we'd skid. In this case my rationale self reminded me he's been riding since he was a kid and knew how to drive the bike and I have no experience and the other part of me wanted to throw myself off the bike.  Fortunately I went with the rationale part of my brain that told me to relax and move with him.and thankfully we didn't skid. It did lead to some thought on what a thermometer riding together can be. I can't imagine a couple being willing to ride together if they didn't like each other or were fighting. Either couple would have a totally different posture while riding on the bike.

I'm sure my starting to ride at 52 is causing some of the issues and I try to figure out what is causing the issue. With my allergies I frequently have minor balance issues due to fluid in my ears.  I've moved while we were riding when I shouldn't have but I'm learning to compensate and not move when this is an issue.  One more reason why our riding as much as possible before the trip was so important. Riding together we both have to communicate with each other more instead of assuming the other person is psychic. He had a tendency to bring up things weeks later so I couldn't remember why I had done something so he's learning to tell me immediately if I did something he would prefer I not do so I can analyze why I did it and figure out how to compensate the next time.

We didn't get a lot of time on the bike in this month due to the crappy weather. We did do a day trip up to Lake Metigoshe, which is a special place for me as it's where I met Mr. B. We met a friend of his and rode around the lake with a stop for lunch at Dockside to wait out the rain. I figured it was good to ride in the rain in case we end up with rain on our July motorcycle trip to Yellowstone. On our way back we stopped in Willow City to check out the street dance. It was a long but fun day, we left about 11 am and got home about 1 am. I was highly disappointed in the band they had for the street dance. They only played hard rock - no slow songs at all. I'd never heard most of what they played. The company was great though and we enjoyed our outing.

GRANDKIDS

Jasper stayed with us after Mudfest for a week. I took him with me grocery shopping in Bottineau so we stopped at the Chinese buffet there. I enjoy using chopsticks when I eat at Chinese joints to keep in practice. Jasper looked at me take a couple bites with my chopsticks and reached over and grabbed them. I'm not sure he quite got how to use them - at one point he'd stabbed watermelon pieces on each end of one chopstick and had chicken on the other chopstick. It was pretty hilarious to watch.

MUDFEST 2018

The kids checking it out

The annual Mudfest was held in June. Mudfest is guys or gals taking their trucks out through a mud hole or in this case it was a muddy slough.  Normally the trucks are stripped down and are only used for these events. There are large tractors to pull any trucks out that get stuck. I'm not sure what the official tally was but would estimate there were about 30 trucks there despite the weather being crappy.

Mud truck lineup

My son and grandson were up to attend. At the last minute we decided to provide food for the Mudfesters. Jordon stepped in and acted as my griller and I worked the table taking orders and dealing with the money. We hadn't expected the day to be so cold or I would have taken some hot chocolate instead of all the cases of water. It was fun watching all the trucks getting stuck. Dustin blew his on the third time. As you can see the trucks get VERY dirty and their drivers tend to get just as dirty.

Truck needs a bath

PETS

We had two pet deaths this month, a week apart. My border collie, Lacey, passed and then the following week Mr. B's toy Yorkie, Dixie, passed. Lacey was about 16 years old. Dixie hadn't been able to walk in about 10 months and the vet feared if she used anesthesia to do further testing to try to figure out what was wrong it would kill her so Mr. B decided he wanted to wait it out. She was only 4 years old but had a lot of health issues. Both are buried behind the house in the pet cemetery. 

Summer Dieting

Summer is finally here! Or at least I think it is. We've had so many temp variations this month there are some days I wonder.

I don't typically like to talk about my weight but it's been a struggle for years due to my having hypothyroidism. Nothing is more demoralizing then to have your doctor tell you that you could totally stop eating and starve yourself and you're body would still put on weight, which is exactly what happened to me about 12 years ago. I'd been able to focus on myself and lost a lot of weight while I was single. It was much easier to focus on de-stressing, eating and exercising when I didn't have to worry about someone else liking the foods I was eating or working around their schedule to exercise or meditate. Now I'm back in a relationship plus the stress of the new job and the stress of life in general and I've started to inch back up again.  I've found several things that have helped and some that haven't that I thought I'd share with others that are also struggling.

I'm watching my carbs but I don't consider myself on a low carb diet. I target my carbs at 50, which is much higher than the 20 carbs that low carb diets target or 10 carbs that some keto dieters target. I feel fruits and vegetables are important but I'm more aware of how often I eat certain higher carb fruits and vegetables. I like the Mediterranean diet but the man won't eat those types of meals so it would be difficult to follow so I'm trying to combine them and make a low carb Mediterranean diet. In about a month I'm down 11 pounds - not a huge weight loss, but I didn't put the weight on overnight (although at times it feels like it) and I'd rather lose slowly over a rapid weight loss that probably wouldn't be sustainable. I also want this to be a lifestyle not a short term yo-yo diet.


UPDATE: I have decided to affiliate myself with Amazon. If you click on any product I mention and purchase the item, I may receive some monetary support from it.  That being said, if I'm aware that Amazon is not the cheapest site I will let share the info with you.

THUMBS UP:

CARB MASTER (Android app which can be found on Google Store or Play Store)

This is an app that has both a free version and a pay version. I use the free version at this time. This app is designed for those on low carb or keto focused diets.

PROS: 

• I like it because it allows you to set how many carbs you want. Typically the low carb diets target 20 carbs or less per day. I have set my target as 50 carbs per day and I'm still losing weight.
• It has a weight tracker and food journal/log feature. The food journal/log has the ability to scan barcodes, which I really like. It does not have a built in pedometer but you can manually put your steps in or sync it with a pedometer like Fitbit.
• There's a recipe search which has the neat feature of telling you if the recipe falls within your remaining carbs.
• In addition to the food journal/log tracking your carbs it also tracks fats and proteins and shows everything in a pie graph. I like that it sets the amount of fats and proteins based on your carb target. Many low carb or keto diets only focus on the carbs and allow unlimited fats and push unlimited proteins.

CONS:

• If you don't want to follow a diet that tracks carbs specifically this probably isn't the app to use.

ZEVIA (beverage)

I have a Mountain Dew addiction and knew I needed to try to find something to reduce the carbs I'm drinking. A 12 ounce can of Mt. Dew has 46 carbs! I don't like artificial sweeteners so the diet version wasn't for me. I started making tea but I don't like it sugar free so although lower in carbs, I was still consuming more carbs then I wanted. Zevio is a pop/soda beverage that uses Stevia as a sweetener. I could not find anywhere that sells this locally to try it so I ordered a case of mixed flavors from Amazon.

At $24 a case it isn't cheap but still only costs about $1 per can, which is acceptable. I bought the variety pack to try flavors to see which ones I would like. I was surprised that I actually like these. I've tried "natural" pops before and haven't liked them. They have a Mountain Zevia, which is supposed to be like my Mt. Dew. It's citrus-y flavored but I wouldn't say it was a close match to Mt. Dew - I did like it though. I have tried the Cola, Dr. Zevia and Cream Soda (my favorite so far) and actually like all of them. They have no artificial colors or dyes so it's a little odd pouring a clear cola. I'm not an orange or grape soda person so I'll let my son or grandson drink those. I've taken one of these cans to work several times over the past 2 weeks and have been satisfied without feeling like I've deprived myself. I haven't tried mixing them with alcohol yet but will soon. I have not gotten a artificial sweetener headache or after taste like I did with the diet sodas. I set this up for a monthly shipment to automatically be sent to me.

Craveable Keto: Your Low-Carb, High-Fat Roadmap to Weight Loss and Wellness by Kyndra Holley (Cookbook)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1628602716/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=ndprairiegyps-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1628602716&linkId=248c6bd61975d7fec9c6bee4af8745d3

I've stayed away from low carb cookbooks because most of them call for tons of items I don't have in my pantry and they also seem to rely on a lot of artificial products. I just downloaded the Kindle version of this for $9.99 and regret I didn't order an actual copy of it ($22.07). The pictures are great and the recipes simple. Kyndra Holley writes a blog called Peace, Love and Low Carb that I recently started following on Facebook. My mouth was watering reading the recipes and looking at the pictures with the recipes. I quickly decided to try out the Pizza Egg recipe this morning for breakfast and it was delicious! This came in at only 3 carbs!  I can't wait to try her Alfredo sauce and I already added egg rings to my Amazon order to make the breakfast sandwich. I'll definitely be ordering more of her cookbooks and following her closely for food ideas.

Pizza Eggs from Peace Love and Low Carb webpage

DUDS:

NOOM 

This program is being touted as the millennial's version of Weight Watchers. Facebook is popping it up in my feed at least once a day. They have a free 14 day trial period and then to continue you have to pay. To start you download the app and then complete a survey after which they assign a trainer.

PROS:

• If you have problems staying motivated you have a trainer to answer to. You can message your trainer about areas who need to work on.
• App allows you to track weight, food journal and also acts as a pedometer. 
• After you finish your free trial period you can become part of support groups. I did not use this feature as I didn't continue after the trial period.
• They do have a menu option for an additional fee for those that like to have someone else design their menus for them.

CONS:

• You have to pay to use this program.
•  I asked my trainer to help me figuring out meals/strategies for days when I get forced to stay over my 12 hours at work, sometimes having to work 16 hours, and coming home too exhausted to cook. Her first suggestion was to do a week of cooking on the weekends. I then informed her that I worked alternating weekends so that wasn't a viable option. I also pointed out that I have an extremely busy life and have things I have to do on my days off which typically would prevent me from spending hours precooking meals. Another point I brought up is that although I typically cook for 2, on any give day I could be cooking for a group instead depending on what is going on here on the farm or who might drop in unexpectedly. Her next suggestion was that "I" come up with an idea that would help me. Umm...isn't that what I asked her to help me with?
• You cannot personalize the food journal, at least in the trial version. It sets you at a specific amount of calories (1200 in my case). There's no tracking of carbs. It also does not let you pick the type of diet you prefer (keto, low carb, Mediterranean, etc).
• The pedometer feature requires you to carry your phone on you at all times. When I'm home I rarely carry my phone so it is not accurate. I also noticed one day after walking up and down the hallway several times before leaving for work that it had only logged me as having taken 1 step - so I'm not sure how well their pedometer works. On days I work I walk well over 12,000 steps and I had one day that was over 18,000 steps. The pedometer feature automatically ups your target 500 every time you reach the goal. I don't think I need to have my goal upped 500 steps above these levels of activity.
• There are daily assignments/activities to do. They claim these only take 10 minutes a day to complete but took about 30 minutes or more for me. 
• If you don't do the journal/log or log in they will send you prompts.

MAY RAMBLINGS

Time is flying so quickly I didn't realize I hadn't posted anything on the blog. Spring is a busy time on the farm with calving, field work and getting all the summer toy ready. Mr B has been working 12 and sometimes 14 hour days in the fields. They finally finished seeding this week so he'll be back to banker's hours again thankfully. It's hard preparing food for him at 10 pm or later so he has at least one hot meal a day especially when I have to be up at 4:30 am.

Here are some highlights from the last couple months:

APRIL:

Easter arrived after a night without electricity at the farm. We'd just brought the kids in to take baths and Desiree was getting ready to take Bella home for bed when the electricity went out. I bought several old fashion oil lamps way back when I lived in Maine and found them extremely useful. I lost them somewhere in my moves so started picking them up again at yard sales and thrift stores when I found ones I liked. I definitely need a few more but the ones I have were extremely helpful. Desiree and Bella stayed here for a while as Bella was a bit spooked by the electricity going out. Bella and Jasper played together with his blocks for quite a while. It was such a nice relaxing evening despite not having electricity. We like to use what we have and the kids needed something level to build blocks on so I grabbed my cutting mat and they used that. They'd gotten a good size castle built before they both went to bed.

The grand kids playing with blocks together during the power outage.

We had five calves this spring and two of the calves were born over the Easter weekend. Bella names them Ferdinand and Lana. We had to move Ferdinand into the shop because it was so cold out so he didn't freeze while we got an area set up for him. It was hilarious because he kept trying to charge Dustin even though he was only a couple hours old and still wobbling around on newborn legs. Jasper was so adorable helping us move broken bales of straw to the stall for bedding. He'd grab handfuls of straw and toss them between the bars of the panels and I'd use the pitchfork to grab the straw and toss it into the penned area. Every time we went out to check on them he'd run into the area with the bales of straw to help.

Ferdinand was not happy being separated from his mother

The biggest news for April was Hadlee's birth on April 24th that I got to assist in. It was a rough delivery and both mom and baby had problems but thankfully both are doing well now. Hadlee had to be transferred to a larger hospital in Grand Forks that had a NICU.

MAY

I bought a new-to-me Harley Davidson jacket off Ebay for trips on the Harley. The day it arrived the batteries were dead in Hadlee's bouncer so it was a good excuse to run into Rugby on the bike to pick some up and I could test out the new jacket. Any excuse to get on the bike is good 😊😊😊 We're planning a bike trip in July that will take us to Montana and Yellowstone Park.

I've been spending a lot of my days off with Mr B in the tractors so we have some time together, otherwise I wouldn't see him very much if at all due to our work schedules. He even let me drive the tractor one day! I knew it was a bit complicated but WOW it definitely requires some serious multi-tasking skills on turns, otherwise, they drive themselves. I think I need some training on one aspect of it at a time instead of having to remember everything. There's turning off the painter on the GPS, raising the disks (but not too much), making the turn, lining it back up, turning the GPS driver back on, lowering the disks and turning the painter back on within about 30 second time span! The painter feature allows you to look at a field and know how much you've completed and how much still needs to be done. You upload the information for your fields to the computer and then create an overlay each time you do anything to the field so there's a record of everything that's been done and what is planted in the field.

This weekend for Memorial Day we went to the lake for a good portion of the day Saturday and enjoying the sunshine while playing in the kayak and on the jet skis along with grilling for everybody. We also had a surprise birthday party to attend. Today the kids are sunburned and tired so it looks like we'll be taking off on the bike and we have a graduation party we will be attending this evening.  I have to work Memorial Day.

MARCH RAMBLINGS

Wow, I can't believe that we're already to the end of March already and Easter is next week.  I'm still getting over the bug I got last month. The cough and fatigue just won't go away. The fatigue is getting better but I still tire easily which is frustrating.

I'm trying to get back into menu planning again as well as stocking a pantry so I can make things easily. We were supposed to go to the bar for green beer on St. Patrick's Day. Friends started dropping in and we never left the farm. I don't know where the idea originated for people to hang out in heated barns but it's the best idea of all time - no people messing the house up. We broke out some folding chairs and then grabbed my camping chairs for seating. We have a ton of paper products so no dishes to deal with afterwards since neither house has a dishwasher. Bella and Jasper played and danced around to the music we had playing as everybody visited. It was a very enjoyable gathering. 

playing with Mr. H's welding helmet

Thankfully I'd made cookies with Jasper that afternoon and Tyler  had made two pots of chili for supper for everybody here on the farm. He'd planned to have leftovers but with the extra guests both pots were eaten. We took the food stuff out to the barn and had an impromptu party. I had bought a bag of frozen cheese curds a couple days before and fried those up for a snack plus the cookies for dessert. 

A well stocked pantry is imperative so I don't feel stressed about feeding people that might show up unexpectedly as there's definitely no ordering out for food or running to the store - the nearest store or carry out is 30 minutes away. If we hadn't had the chili I did have several frozen pizzas in the freezer or I could have made homemade as I had the ingredients. I could have also done spaghetti for a quick meal option for a large group. It's important to have a couple options in the pantry to feed a group with no notice if needed.

my dishwashing assistant

Jasper spent about two weeks with us this month split up for about a week at a time. One week was my birthday gift for my son as I knew he needed a break and the second week was due to weather. He loves it up here and I hope to convince my son to move up here. Desiree was getting a bit of cabin fever so she went with me to pick Jasper up in Jamestown and go through some baby stuff Jordon has stuffed in his closets. Desiree is due the beginning of May but could deliver any time now. She was able to get quite a few baby items and he was able to clear a lot out of a closet.

Jasper finding the new toy Tyler bought

Jasper was sleeping when we arrived to pick him up. When he started waking up Jordon went in and brought him out - you should have seen how excited he was when he saw us. I  bought him a pair of rubber boots and he immediately went and got his boots on and his coat. His love of his rubber boots makes us all chuckle. The first pair I bought with dinosaurs were way to big but he still insisted on wearing them everywhere even though they fell off constantly. I finally found a pair with monster trucks in his size and he won't wear anything else now. 

Another thing he's taken to doing is letting the dogs in and out. He's not talking much so having him calling to the dogs to go in or out is amusing. Lady, a border collie-blue heeler mix, wasn't listening to him one day so he went over and grabbed her collar and told her to "go" quite clearly as he walked her to the door. Desiree and I were laughing as we watched him. (Side note: we always watch the kids and dogs when together.) Lady is also typically the last to come back and he'll call for her. He can't seem to say the "L" so it's "Ady" when he calls for her. He also doesn't get the "L" in Lacey's name so it's "Acey" or "Cey".

Annie waiting for us to walk down to the mailbox

Jasper wants to be outside a lot. I'll be glad when he gets older and can play outside by himself. It's great that Mr. H's 8-year-old granddaughter, Bella, lives on the farm now so he has a playmate and she can watch him sometimes. He gets so excited when the bus drops her off after school. If he sees the bus coming he'll grab me and pull me to door and point to his coat and snow bibs because he knows she'll come get him to play. They bought her a small 120 snowmobile and she's been great about taking him on rides and pulling him on his sled. I came in one afternoon and they were curled up on the chair together and she was reading to him to practice her reading. It was so sweet. 

A boy and his wagon

I finally got to take another ride on the snowmobile. We haven't been he able to ride since the trip in January as we haven't had enough snow up here. I actually had more snow in Jamestown until this last storm. We did a ditch ride from the farm down to the local bar for supper one night. For those who are like me and have no idea what a ditch drive is, it's riding the snowmobiles along the ditches next to the road. So basically it's following the roads but not riding on the actual rode. A lot of snowmobilers will ride to town in the ditches. Some farmers don't like snowmobilers ditch riding so will put large round snow bales in the way. Thankfully there are no bales where we road.  

We got hit this past weekend with about 8" of snow. The storm started Friday afternoon and went through Saturday. Of course the storm started after I got to work. Driving was horrible and I probably should have stayed at work and slept there since I had to be back in Saturday morning but I wanted to sleep in my own bed. Driving to and from work I couldn't see the road edges so I centered myself over the center rumble strip. One of the disadvantages of living rurally and working in town. Those rumble strips are awesome and I thank whoever came up with them! It typically takes about 25 minutes to drive to work and it took me over an hour. 

UPDATE RAMBLINGS

Lots of things have been happening since my last post so I'm going to do a quick overview to catch you up. Now things are settling down I hope to get back to posting on a regular basis.

NOVEMBER:

The good news is I passed my State CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) test! I even passed with a 94% so I did better than I thought I did. I had two bottles of my favorite Chocolate Raspberry Port Wine from Kuhnhenn Brewing from my last trip back to Michigan and I cracked open one to celebrate! I think they renamed it a Dessert Wine but it's truly delicious and I wish I could get them to ship. 

DECEMBER: 

I started a new job working as a CNA.  We decorated the farm since we had Christmas there. I put up a small fiber optic tree at my place but really didn't decorate. It was a small gathering for Christmas as my son had to work and Jasper's mother had him for the holiday. I picked easy decorations so Jasper could helped decorate the tree.  They were little stuffed snowmen so they weren't breakable. I showed him a picture of the tree after we put the presents under it and he got so excited and started pointing to some of the decorations he'd put on it. He definitely remembered what he'd helped with.

JANUARY:

We went to West Yellowstone, Montana, snowmobiling. We went with a group of 8. It was the first time I'd ever been on a snowmobile. Mr. H is an avid snowmobiler so this is something I really wanted to enjoy to do with him. Thankfully I do enjoy it. I don't recommend waiting until you're 52 years old to try it but it's a lot of fun and I enjoyed myself. There were rough areas on the trail where I kept repeating the mantra "I can do this, I can do this." The guys bought a school bus and modified it to fit 4 sleds in so we traveled very comfortably. They also pulled a trailer with 2 more sleds on it. We got a lot of comments from people.

FEBRUARY:

Things have gone really well with Mr. H and he asked me to move in with him so I moved to his farm in the north of North Dakota in February. It's been a lifetime dream to live on a farm. I'm still working on getting settled in. Trying to combine two households together is never easy. I started a new job a week after moving up here so I haven't had a lot of time to unpack. I also got a nasty bug the first week I started work and have been sick since then. Jasper loves to spend time with us and we're fortunate that we have so many people living on the farm willing to babysit so he can stay for a week at a time. Desiree has been great about helping with babysitting so he can spend time with us.