Can She Do It?

Question of the day....

Can Cara finish the 30 day blog challenge 

even though the rest of the prompts only 

illicit an "Eh" response in my head?

I'll try.

Today, what is on my iPod?  I'm going

to cheat and tell you the kind of music I like,

because I actually have NO music on my iDevice at all.

-John Denver

-Willy, Waylon and the boys

-Chris Rice

-Nashville Bluegrass

-Bruce Hornsby

-80's high school dance

-some new stuff

What I don't like.

-Rap.  Especially the new Country/Rap

crossover thing.  No sir.

-Top 40's stuff that is pretty much about

hookin' up for sex without even being clever lyrically.

(And if my daughters should happen to read

this...yes, I can like Ed Sheeran without

being impressed by his drunk/stoned/

one-nighter songs.)

Regrets....dun dun dun....

Day 13...

Do I have regrets?

That one is hard, because the real, important

LIFE decisions I wouldn't do over.  I don't regret

marrying young or having a family that

is larger than socially acceptable.  

I don't regret the MANY moves

over the course of our 24 years.  

I regret I didn't pay closer attention when my

children were little....didn't cherish each day

that I got to be their mom.  I regret the times 

I was impatient with them.

But hopefully, I can help some other mom

with younglings learn faster than I did :)

Missing Pieces

Day 12...What I miss....in pictures.

Eleventy

Day 11...

The last book I read.

Easy!  I am in the middle of 

Ayn Rand's "Fountainhead"

but in the middle of it I have read

"The Saving of Cece Hunnecutt" 

and "Where the Heart Is" because

WOAH...Ms. Rand is not an easy read.

It is definitely not a mindless, turn-off-

your-brain, relaxing book.  

Time For Honesty

Day 10....

Daily Routine...

This is the post where I admit to the world how 

much time I spend with Facebook open on

my laptop.  A lot.  

When I wake up, I thank God for another day

and try to get my mind focused on gratefulness.

Then I think about coffee.

So Coffee, Facebook and I have our quiet time

until 6:15 and leave for work comes.

First thing at work, I bang my head against a 

brick wall for the first half an hour....

I try to get the ranch records to a point that

a man who has no idea how to be happy, will

be happy.  Who is the dumbie there?

Play with the birds until noonish, and try to get

home in time to see Darrin and the girls 

on their lunch break.

Lunch time for Facebook and I, usually joined 

by some friend or Madi.

Facebook has some quiet, but still logged on, 

time while I shower and attempt to do a little

housework....unless Pinterest wants to play, also.

While I feed and care for the outdoor animals, 

Facebook holds down the fort inside.  If there

are garden chores (and the garden isn't covered

in snow) Facebook just racks up notifications 

and waits patiently. 

When the family gets home from school, 

I try to step away from the computer and ask 

how everything went as well as help

with a snack...unless someone REEEEALLY

wants to talk, then I use one ear for the 

happenings of the day.... 

and both eyes on Facebook.

No, Facebook, you may not come to supper.

Zombies, movie, books and Facebook until bed.

In bed, only books and husbands allowed.

Good night.

Smell the Color Nine

And on the ninth day....

Bucket List.

-Most of my list involves travel.  I would 

love to be on every habitable continent.  

Two down, four to go.

-I want to go to Boston and the historical sites 

of the Revolutionary War.

-And Atlanta and see the sites of the Southern

War for Independence.

-I want to snorkel, a bunch, in many oceans.

-I want my silly little miniature degree in

Surveying and Engineering.

-Lastly (for now) I want to live in a house I 

designed and Darrin and I built.

Day 8 is Great

The short and sweet version of 

today's challenge.

My biggest pet peeve (my definition is: a

small thing, that is probably none of my business,

but that bugs the snot out of me anyway) 

is long nails on men.  I don't care if they are 

manicured or dirty or painted hot pink,

I just think men should have short nails.  

The end.

What I Want to Be When I Grow Up

Day 7...My dream job

When I was very young I drew dresses.

All the time.  Huge Cinderella 

ball gowns with bustles and panniers and

layers of puffy fabric.  Then I saw a house plan.

And I was hooked.  I can't begin to count 

the books of graph paper and reams of 

looseleaf I have used up (not wasted) on 

plans for everything from castles

to chicken coops.

Architecture was always an unachievable dream, 

career wise because I honestly didn't have that 

kind of drive for school.  I didn't have the grades 

or the motivation to put in the time and effort.

Now, as an adult, facing the Empty Nest, 

I want to go to school.  I still don't have the gumption

for six or eight years of college but I do have 

enough to do a couple. So I am planning, Lord willing

and the creek don't rise, to go to UCC when 

our youngest does and study civil engineering 

and surveying.  It's never too late, right?

The Day That Missed...Plus the One I Haven't Missed Yet

Day five is my favorite movie...

the one that I watch over and over.

And it really is a no brainer,

because I borrowed it from the library

so many times that Darrin

finally just bought it for me.

It is terribly cliche and stereotypical for 

a middle aged American woman.

Pride and Prejudice

Followed closely by:

Men in Black 1&3

(but not 2 at all)

All of the X-men

(but especially First Class)

And Pirates of the Caribbean

(because, look!  Pirates!)

And for Day 6...

Most recent random act of kindness

This one is weird and kind of kind 

and selfish all rolled into one.

I work on a ranch and we have 

an older man who helps out when

he isn't farming the hay and alfalfa

fields.  Our boss is not great to him

for reasons I shall not venture into.

Yesterday he was filling the seeder

with triticale all alone and I

stopped my current task to go help him

with his.  Here is the selfish part,

I love farming.  I love freshly tilled

soil and the lines that the equipment

makes as you are preparing to plant, so I 

asked to ride along in the Big Tractor.

Sometime I'll tell more about Big Tractor, 

But for now, I'll just say I went on a 

cruise with him and we visited

and vented in the sun with the smell

of dirt in the sunny crisp air

and I jumped out to move the wheel

lines so he could stay in the comfy seat.

Does a random act of kindness count if you

get as much out of it as the recipient?

Back When I Was a Kid....

Day four is Best Childhood Memory...

I don't have a specific one, but the best

times of all were playing with Joy in the

woods between her place and

 my grandparents. We had great 

imaginations back then 

and those forest places became all kinds

of interesting locations.

The Third Day

This may be the most boring post of the 31 days..

I'm thankful for my super comfy bed 

and my warm husband in it at the end of

almost every day.

Day 2

Day 2 is a favorite quote.

Bilbo knows what he's 

talking about.

Blog Challenge Business Day 1

My daughter Madi, over at 

www.herwanderingpath.com

is doing this 31 Day Blog Challenge. 

I'm such a joiner I'm just jumping in, too.

Day 1.

A self portrait and 

five random facts about me.

#1.  I am completely and totally self 

conscious.  I expect that every time 

I do or say something clumsy or stupid

there is an audience waiting to laugh.  

I do and say clumsy, stupid things 

ALL THE TIME.  Fun times 

in Cara's head.

#2 I have the same best friend, the one that 

invited me to church in fourth grade,

to this day.  

I have the same husband I started 

dating in 1988.  

I lived in the same house from the time 

I was three until Darrin and I married

in 1990.  AND.....

we have moved about 30 times since.

Kind of a contradiction isn't it?

#3 I like Fall and Spring best.  I like winter

just fine.  I do not like summer

much at all.  Too hot, too buggy and 

too many unmet expectations.

#4  I garden and breed chickens

for fun and therapy.

#5  I always thought I was a dogs-only

person.  Now I really like the 

independence of cats.

Spring

So this girl, the Hot Shot of the week, is the same girl who got lipstick on her FFA official dress shirt sleeves and just cut them right off. Lookin' good little redneck, lookin' good.

This other girl, is receiving three of her ten academic awards for 2014 

(thought that many pictures might be over kill.) 

And we can set fence posts....crooked, but set.

Points of Thankfulness and Things to Ponder

This picture makes me happy.  That big tall boy
of ours is a cool person.  Having three daughters
 is one of those blessings that makes
me wonder, why in the name of all that is
wonderful did God bless us so thoroughly.
Why, oh why did He chose to give us
to each other?
 Points of thankfulness and things to ponder.

Girl! Take out the trash...

So today as I was tidying up the kitchen I was thinking about the ideal household waste management system.  It really works in my head, but trying to keep it implemented in real life often just doesn't happen.  How 'bout some input on what you all do and/or what I can do to streamline?

Paper trash (no recycling available in Timbuktu...well, I actually don't know about the really REAL Timbuktu, but 60-some miles from the nearest real facility dampens the enthusiasm for "green-ness.") gets burned.  There are two receptacles in the kitchen to separate into burn/no burn and they get used FAIRLY correctly.

All other stuff (plastic and cans and the gigantic potato sprout out of the worm bin that I didn't want them to have to chomp on down) goes to the transfer site. I know, I know...bad.  But see up ^ there about the distance to recycling.

Meaty and cheesy food scraps go to the Corgi girls.  There aren't many, much to their Royal Hynnies dismay.

Coffee grounds (mmm, coffee)  egg shells, potato peels (minus the giant sprouts) onion and garlic skins have a special place right under the kitchen sink in the worm bin.  I had so many worms in the tub last summer that I made a new colony on the back porch.  Did you know that worms don't like to freeze?  Moving on.

All other foodie-type scraps (along with a pumpkin or two as long as they last) go to the backyard and into the chicken yard.  There they are converted into egg shells that come back in to feed the wrigglers.

Here are the problems with the current system.  110 gallons of garbage every winter month and double that in the fire season to the transfer site?  Isn't there a better way?  All the extra worms...not enough to sell but too many to keep inside...and you saw up ^ there what happens to outside worms.  The difference between having a few chicken worthy scraps and having a stinky bowl of rotting food on the counter seems to be an issue for us.  What do you do?