surprise!

so for a month or so i've been planning a surprise party for mark's birthday, which is on the 14th, but no one can do things in the week, so last night was the big day. unfortunatly mark doesn't enjoy surprises and was in a grump at first, but after he saw who all came out he was much more excited about it. friends he hasn't seen in a very long time made it out and it was a good night full of good food great friends and as always lots of laughs. my good friend jackie made him a specialized cake and it was amazing...

amazing work dont you think? it tasted very good too, the bottom layer was chocolate and the top two where white.

on another note i've crafted a bit more, i made a wall hanging and a candle suround, i took these, they were a dollar each from dollarama....

i then took them and made this wall hanging...

which i have hung in my laundry/shower room. with the left over sticks i made this candle surround...

i have since put a white candle in it and put it on the back of the toliet in the bathroom.

christmas/weigh in

so this year it didn't look like my family was going to get together for christmas so i decided to ask mark if we could host it here! and he said yes! so on the 27th i'm having my aunts, uncles, and cousins over for a christmas get together! so i'm very excited and have been cleaning like crazy to prepare for it. and as you know i've been decorating since mid november. just a little bit here and there. but i finally got the big deal! my first real christmas tree! mark and i took the sled out into the back feilds and found a perfect tree! so we got it inside yesturday and i got it all decorated, mark still wants to add some more sparkle to it so we are heading into orangeville to get some garland and "sparkle" haha but as of now this is what it looks like.

and as for my weigh in tonight i lost 2.2lbs this week! and an down a total of 14.2 pounds! awesome! i'm excited! also i took my mesure ments again, and i have lost 31/2inches overall!

weigh-in

so lately i've had a bit of a mind block on my weight loss goals. i had lost enough weight to get me back to the weight i have been the majority of my adult live. which made me feel comfortable again, but i want to loose more then that, because i'm still not in my healthy goal range. even though i was comfortable it was still hard to push past that. so i talked to my leader last week about it, and she gave me a kick in the ass.... just what i needed. and guess what this week i lost 1.6lbs! bringing me to a total of 12lbs lost so far!! awesome eh! so now i'm motivated to keep going, and loose more and more and more!

farm story!

so its been a long time since i've had a good farm learning story... well i've got one!

last weekend marks parents asked if i could come over and help them sort calves. it was time for them to be weighed and sold to our buyer. so i said i would come help. first we had to get all the cows up to the barn, then we had to sort the cows from the calves. once that was done, which went very smoothly, unlike last time we sorted the cows from calves when it was time for their needles, and they all decided they didn't want to go into the barn and ran out into the yard through the soupy goopy shit, and i got splattered with it... all over haha. its like a right of passage. haha. so this time i was shit free, which was nice. so after we got the cows and calves seperated it was time to seperate the steers and heifers. and then also they ones that were staying and the ones that were going. sound complicated yet? haha so we put them all into one pen and then were going to let them out one at a time and guide them into the different pens according to who and where they were going. so i was incharge of opening the gates. and everything was going great, i was on top of the ball, at least i thought so. untill i met #3heifer... she was our 3rd last heifer to be sorted and sold, and she didn't want to go where we needed her to go. so as i was ducked down behind the gate, she decided she wanted to go through the other one, leaped up and tried to jump the gate, i looked up in time to see her foot coming towards me, i moved out of the way intime to avoid being kicked, and she went over the gate into the wrong pen! after i got up off the floor of the barn and checked to make sure i was ok. which i was, so even though i made it threw sorting them in the barn yard, without anyshit, i didn't make it out of the barn without any shit. this time i was in my pants though... hahaha well close enough to it.

my christmas wreath

so since this will be my first christmas that i get to decorate my own place, and by that i mean our house, i decided to try and make alot of things myself. and that way i get more decoration for less money. and i will feel good about how the house looks. so i started already! and today i made a wreath, its very simple, but i am going to make some semi matching garlin aswell!! so i thought id show you my wreath...

its pretty plan, but thats ok. my garlin will be much better! i'm still happy with it though.

update!!!

so i've got good news! and lots of it! to start, i quit my job at the dealership! haha i know doesn't sound like good news but trust me, it is! and i wouldn't change it if i had to! secondly, i started a new job! i am back at kth, its a factory in shelburne, its where i met my wonderful man mark. although i am in a different department then i was before, its actually going really well. i'm starting to enjoy it, which i didn't think i would, but thats just because i loved stamping department so much haha. third i am working straight days, which i was told i wouldn't be so i thought i was going to have to miss weight watchers twice a month! which i would have had to still pay for! but now i can still go and make it worth the money! which is amazing, because that brings me to my number four! i've lost 10.4lbs!! i know i know i'm sooo happy! and its all going to keep melting off from here. at least i hope haha. well i just thought id give you the update, hope your all doing well too!

help fight cancer...

this year will be my second year participating in the underwear affair, its where i will strip down to just my underwear and walk 5k through the streets of Toronto. why you ask? well its to raise money for cancers below the waist, cancers that don't receive alot of funding. cancers that have hit very close to home with me. if you haven't heard i have come very close to being diagnosed with cervical cancer. which would mean i would have had to have a full hysterectomy, at the very young age of 23. now i'm still not out of the woods, i was diagnosed with stage 0 cervical cancer. which is the small stages before cancer. i had to go through a few biopsy test and surgery. for which i still don't have results. i have to go back to the doctors in February and have more biopsy's done and test to find out if the surgery was successful in removing the cancerous cells.

so as you can tell participating in the underwear affair is very important to me. and it would mean the world to me to have your support. how you might ask? all you need to do is pledge me for my walk. i have set my team goal at $5000, last year my team of four made $2102.42!! in a short 2 months. this year my team has already expanded to 6people, and i want to make a big donation to this cause. so please help me do this, tell everyone you know ask them to open the hearts and help me fight cancer. its as simple as going to here

Click here to visit my personal page.If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:http://www.uncoverthecure.org/site/TR/Events/Toronto2010?px=1602612&pg=personal&fr_id=1180&fl=en_US&et=QfCwBqreuReLbbk89eIGtQ..&s_tafId=28936

and donate whatever you can. and send your friends and family to do the same. it would be greatly appreciated

long time no blog?

so its been forever! i guess its cause i haven't been doing well at my weigh ins. the last two i gained 0.8lbs. still not alot to gain, but i was mad at myself. so i have giving myself a but kicking, so much so that i was dd for halloween! yep thats right i didn't get drunk, which means no extra points! now i did still induldge in a few drinks, but not like a would if i were drinking for the night. so hopfully it shows tomorrow at the scales! but while we are talking about last night, i made a costume very last mintue, sewed it up on friday night, and put the extra touches on in time for people to show up at our house haha, but i went as a purple crayola crayon! i was the colour passion purple! haha anyway i ended up winning $50 cash!! for best homemade costume!! awesome eh! i was excited.

as for things homemade, i've finally done a bit more crafting, so here we go...

so these are my personalized candles for friends, they are scented candles, the red one was made for my friend rosie, who likes to decorate the house for christmas. and the white candle is for my friend jackie, who's favorite colours are pink and black. if you like these please let me know. what you would like them for, or colours or occations and i can make them, if they get popular i may look at selling them.

these i bought for a dollar each at dollarama i originally bought three and couldn't do much with them, but couldn't find anymore, but last time i was out they had more in so i bought them all! haha and this is what i did with them...

my star, i don't know where to put it yet, where i have it now it needs something more, but i am very happy with this. and then finall i did this...

this is the tree i made with the rest of it, its an early christmas decoration, i have it on the window sill. the vase its in a got for 1.99 when i went shopping with ashley a long time ago, and i didn't know what i was going to do with it, but i'm glad i found a good use for it.

weekly weigh-in week 3

so its a little delayed. but its here now. so as we know i had my weekly meeting. but once again i had a cheeting week, i ended one job and started another, so i had a few going away get togethers. which led to a few to many drinks, and a couple over points dinners. and yet i still lost 1.4lbs! for a total of 9.2lbs lost so far!! isn't that awesome! i know! hahah now as we all know thanksgiving weekend is this weekend, so i wont have a meeting, so my next update will be in two weeks, lets hope i do better!

thrifty projects

so i posted about me starting to do some crafting, and little things like that, and i showed you my first project. well i have been working away whenever i can, but i've started a few things, and finished only one haha.

its my fall basket.

but i have gotten the spare room set up and organized as my new crafts room, so now i think i will be more inclinded to get up there and work away... haha

weekly weigh-in week 2

so this is my week two weigh in. and i'm not going to lie, it was much harder this week. i don't know why, but i had noo will power this week. i did a very bad job at sticking to the plan. it all started with my tuesday night golf game with the boys, which turned into an extended round of golf, followed by what was supossed to be a beer at the smokin' bull, but turned into a few beers. and it all went down hill from there. YET! i still lost 1.4lbs!! i know that doesn't seem like much compaired to the 6.4lbs i lost last week. but if you think about how much a pound is, i did really good! think of a pound of butter! thats alot! so far i have lost 7.8lbs!! so yay for me?! right? except i have set a goal to reach my 5% weight loss goal. of 8.5lbs by next weigh-in. so i will let you know how i do!

also i have good news! i had a job interview on monday! yes yesturday, and today i got the call that i got the job! i start monday morning!! and its only 10mins from my house!! sooo much better then the 45mins i drive right now. but i'm going to miss working at the golf course, i really like the work, and the people. i am going to try and keep working some weekends though, so that could help me. haha

weekly weigh-in

hey everyone! well as some of you know, or have read, i have decided to start weight watchers. not because i'm overly huge, but i'm not happy, and i am bigger then i ever have been. so when a good friend did so well with it i thought it must work, and it must be worth the money. and guess what! i was right! every week i will post my weekly weigh-in ammount. and let you follow along with my weight loss! it will keep me motivated, so by you reading this helps me stick to it!
i joined last week, i went to my first meeting monday night, and got weighed-in, and wow i wasn't expecting that! i was a whopping 173.2!! so i set out to follow the rules. and i did pretty good at doing so, i just wasn't able to fully weigh out how much i was allowed to have. i just made smaller portions, and used nutrition lables alot. and even just by doing that i was able to loose 6.4lbs!!!!! ok so that might not seem like alot, but for one week, and a first week at that! that is amazing! if you want a visual of how much that is my good friend used blocks of butter, so think of 6 and almost a half blocks of butter!! and thats how much i lost... in ONE week! i can't wait to really move forward with this, and start weighing everything out, now that i bought myself some food scales! so i hope you follow along, and enjoy watching me transform into a skinner, happier aries!

do it yourself? i think i will!!

so a good friend ashley decided to get herself a blog, and its dedicated to crafting, and thirfting, and do it yourself things. and it got me very inspired to make stuff! haha so last weekend ashley and i went out shopping, at the thrift shop, value village, and the dollar store, for our main things, we all went into jysk, and micheal's which was dangerous! haha but we had sooo much fun. and i have a tone of great crafts and things to make an ideas now. so the other night i decided to do one! and it turned out great! i even had some girls over last night before we headed out for a girls night, and they all loved it, and want one too! haha so here is some pictures..

this is the glass bottle i got from the thirft store for $1.99

and this is what it looked like after i wrapped it in twine!

and this is the finished product! i love it! its upstairs in the hallway to our bedroom. it looks great!

i'm having alot ot fun, and will be adding more projects as they come! also, stay tuned for stories of mark's lawn tractor races!

pretty sky...

one of the many things i love about the country is the beautiful sights you get to see. last night while i was cooking supper on the bbq, i got to take in this beautiful sunset.

hope you enjoy it as much as i did...

me a suzie homemaker?!?

i know it sounds so strange to hear it. and anyone who knows me well is probably on the floor dying right now of laughter. but the day has come, i felt like baking all day, but i limited myself to bannana nut bread and a cherry pie. i feel so good about it too. want to know why? well i'm going to tell you... in the past any time i've tried to bake anything, it always turned out (as i liked to call it) "nicely browned" (everyone else called it burnt) but today i made two different things and both are not burnt!! i'm soo proud of myself!





ok ok now that i've talked myself up, i'll let you in on a secret, the pie didn't take much magic... it was a store bought crust, pie filling from a can and a roll on top. BUT i did make it look very pretty!!

i know corny eh! haha a+m like i was in public school again, but someones gotta be romatic and corny around here!! haha

another big change in my life is that i'm not happy with how i look right now, so i have dicided to follow in a good friends foot steps and join weight watchers. so i will keep you all posted on how things go, and post my progress. i am REALLY looking forward to it. my friend didn't need to join, but like me just wasn't happy, and through this she has lost 23lbs!! and i can't wait to share that kind of success.

i am also going to start to decorate our house, and make it feel like a home. so any ideas on cute things to do would be lovely. also i would really like to hear any good and cleaver ideas on how to reduce clutter. i dont know how or why, but we have alot of paper clutter around here. you know bills, sheets, pay stubs, magazines, farm papers. so any pretty and functional ideas to hide away that would be more then wanted! haha

sorry for the wait

well i haven't wrote in a very long time. and i'm sorry. life gets away from you some times, and you forget to just sit back and take some time to yourself. and trust me life has really gotten away from me lately, but things are getting better, much much better.

i've learned more around here, like the difference between hay and straw. i know silly me! and then there was the day i really got to find out about hay, when mark put me on the tractor that was hooked up to a set of rakes, and made me rake a feild of hay. now usually this is a pretty simple task, but to "save time" they have attached two rakes togather and at the end of each windrow i would have to pull a leaver up to pull the rakes in so that they rake the same area. and at the start of the next windrow i had to push the leaver down to pull the rakes back out, so that i was raking two windrows at the same time. smart idea, frustrating to do when the windrows don't always match up. but by the end of the feild i got the hang of it and even kinda liked it. which was a mistake to admit, because it then became my job... and i raked quite a few feilds.

and i guess since i did that soo well, or more likely because there was no one better around i was sat up in the tractor that was hooked to the square bailer. which was exciting, untill i learned how many leavers, switches, pully's and attachments. then i couldn't believe i had to aim the bail's of hay into the wagon!! but yet again it was much easier after the end of the feild came around. but i have been called apon doing this tak a few time too. so now all thats left to learn is the round bailer. and i'd rather not learn that. haha

but back to the real world, i am a few steps closer to living life normal again. or as close to normal as is comfortable! haha, but in a few days i will recive the results from my second biopsy, this one was taken during surgery. and once i get them back i will know if its all been removed for sure or not. i will however have to go ever 6 months for check up untill i get 3 clear reading in a row, which for some poeple takes a few years, but i'm hopful it will be sooner.

who would have thought...

well this isn't about me learning, but about something i'm extremly excited about. this weekend, mark and i are going to michigan! not just for something to do, but to go see the nascar race! there was a day i never ever thought i would ever watch, let alone like nascar. yet here i am with a driver i cheer for, denny hamlin #11. and now i'm going to a race, something die hard fans would do anything to be able to do. its going to be marks first time too. and he is excited too. we are making signs, and shirts, and are going camping down there from friday till monday. so i will take lots of pictures, and post some for you to see.

new life

well since i got to the farm, i've wanted to see one thing, more then anything else. some people may think its weird, but i really wanted to experience it. i wanted to see a calf being born. there would be days when i would get home from work, and marks dad would tell me, oh shoot if i knew you were home i would have got you over, we just had a calf. Or, i would show up to his house and sure enough he would just be coming out of the barn, after one was born. it seemed like i was never going to get to see it happen. then one days marks mom donna called the house telling me to get ready doug was on his way to pick me up. a calf was about to be born! so i jumped up and got my barn clothes on, and was waiting in the drive way, thumb up, ready for my drive over to the action. we got there and to my luck the calf still wasn't born. but it was starting, the little calf's hoof was sticking out... so we played the waiting game. unfortunately cows don't like being watched when this is about to happen, and will actually hold off the birth until they feel alone. so me and dougie sat off the the side out of her view and waited for her to lay down and start the process. once they hit a certain point they can't stop. so she layed down, and we waited, then we heard a splash, so we figured it was he water break. we waited another couple minutes, then went to look. unfortunately the splash we heard, was the calf being born... two feet away and i STILL miss it?! well now i am certain i am never going to see this happen. and am a little bummed out.

but the other night i got to give it another try. doug came over and i got ready and headed over. we waited in the distance again, but the old girl could still see doug, and would do nothing but stand there staring at him, so i ordered him out of the barn, i had a hiding spot, where she couldn't see me. so i stood waiting, and then she layed down, and i started to get excited and i was rea.... what the heck was that?! i look over and this rambunctious calf decided he was going to climb out of his pen. and was out into the walk way, so i started calling for doug to come help me, because he was a good size calf, and i couldn't lift him back into his pen. so doug came in and we got the little fella back where he needed to be, but unfortunately this commotion has got momma to be all stirred up again. so i send doug back out and i hide again. and it wasn't before long that she was laying down, and even less time before... i got to see the very thing i'd been waiting to see! it was so amazing! such a cool experience, and if you ever get the change to see it, take it!

the difference between stuck, and STUCK

as you all know, a few weeks ago, went into the ditch, and my wonderful boyfriend saved me, from being stuck. there was no way i was getting out, couldn't move forward, couldn't move backward. i even tried getting rid of the snow from around my car and tires, to no luck. i was stuck. but what i didn't know then is that stuck takes on many forms, and there is definitely a difference between, stuck, and STUCK.

if you live anywhere near me, you'll know its been raining like CRAZY lately. yuck! which makes things soggy. double yuck! and in a farmers world, it can be a great thing, or a very big hindrance. last week, it was a very big hindrance. there is a field over at marks dads house, that has always had a wet spot(or so i'm told, this is the first time i've seen it) and with all this rain, its just gotten really bad. so marks dad, doug, or as i call him, dougie, decided he wanted to tile the spot in the field. now don't you worry i'm gonna explain what it is, and if you already know, then your smarter then i was! tile is plastic pipe with little holes punched into it, that you bury under ground. the purpose is to take the water from the field and direct it away, so in this case its towards the ditch. over at marks he tiled his fields into the stream. they say it takes about 5 years from it to really start working, so that it creates little streams of water underground, to the rows of tile. now, dougie has wanted to tile this spot for a long time, but now finally has the time to do it. so the boys got started. the first row went in good. the second row on the other hand, needed a bit more help. and THIS is where i learned the difference between stuck and STUCK.

i was on my way to marks, when he called my cell phone and asked if i was close by, said they needed and extra hand for something. so i got to marks got dressed up in my overalls, rubber boots, which by the way are pink and black, with hearts and starts and cherries on them. if i'm going to work on the farm, i want to look good! and grabbed some work gloves, not knowing what i was going to help with, i jumped on the four wheeler and headed over to his dads place. jumping on the four wheeler is one of my favorite parts of the day! switching gears driving fast, drifting around the corners, i have a much fun as i can, even if its just a trip to around the corner.

when i pulled into the field, i noticed there were three tractors sitting there. then a long cable, and a chain. one tractor was at the fence row, it was hooked to 150ft of cable, then that was attached to another tractor, which was attached to the chain, which was attached to a third tractor. i was a bit puzzled at first, because there was only mark and dougie in the field, but three tractors, and then it hit me, they are going to make me drive one of them! what i feared, mark taught me once, but i had forgotten everything! but luckfully dougie taught me how to work the third tractor, the first one in the chain, the leader of the pack. now each tractor is different, and this one was nothing like the one i learned on. so the plan was i would pull the second tractor with dougie in it, and that would pull the last tractor with mark on it. and with a little nudge, we were of and running. the second row of tile in! since we felt like we were on a roll, we went in to do the third row, what we didn't know was all three tractors had to drive through the wettest part of the field. we pulled and pulled and sunk, and sunk, and spun our tires, and threw up mud, and dug ourselves deeper and deeper, until we managed to get all three tractors STUCK!

one door closes, to another door open.

most people spend easter weekend, having family dinners, and hiding and finding eggs, and goodies. but this year i spent it in the bush. it was only a short time ago, when i was hauled out to the bush for the first time, to start up the maple syrup season. with a drill in one hand and a bucket of hot water in the other, and a look on my face that screamed, help me! this was something i've never done, and i was clueless. and for good reason, who knew there was so much involved with tapping trees. i was surprised to see the sap start dripping out of the tree right after i pulled the drill out, and when i said to mark "it happens that quick?" he laughed. and apparently when to work and told the guys about it, and joked as if i expected there to be a switch to turn on after i drilled the hole. haha. but as the day went on and i was left on my own to tap whole lines and whole sections of the bush, i started to really enjoy it. its very satisfying to drill the hole and then see the sap run out, makes you know you picked the right spot! after that day was done, i got to see and learn and do the rest of the steps to make that wonderful treat we all love. i did everything from filling the sap tanks, to fueling the fire, to taking off a batch, to finishing a batch, to bottleing it. which i thought was the end.... untill easter weekend. when we set out into the bush with hammers, and tape and string and buckets of water, to pull and flush the lines, and close it up for another season. which isn't near as fun as tapping the trees. although there was still good times, like linnett singing away at the top of her lungs, because she had her ipod turned up and couldn't hear herself.... we all could though, haha. or the trips slips and falls we all took, or nearly missed. linnett, my boyfriends sister, wasn't so lucky, she slipped and landed with her elbow right in her bucket of water. i wasn't as graceful, i just spent the weekend accedentally kicking my bucket over and dumping out all my water, so i would have to take a trip over to the water bucket. lines were broke, and fingers were frozen, but laughs were shared, and memories were made. and i look forward to next year when it all happens again.



but just because syrup is done, doesn't mean there is rest for the wicked. nope its straight from one thing to the next. and the next this time, is baby time. no no not me! the cows! yep its time for the little calfs to pop out and explore the world. and it started with a healthy set of twins. one boy one girl. and they just keep coming. its amazing how they all have personalities. and i can't wait till they get let outside and are aloud to run around and play with each other. i'm sure it will make for some good laughs, and hopfully some stories...

home grown

there is something about people from the country or small towns. a sense of friendliness, and hospitality, you just don't find everywhere. they look out for thier neighbours, are there when you need a halping hand, or a shoulder to lean on. now i know not all people from the country or a small town, are like this, and that not every person from the city is the opposite. but its always seemed like i could count on a good home grown country guy, or girl. today proved it once again. as some of you know today we got a freak snow storm that dropped over 7inches on us. and yes its april 6th!! and on my way from my parents house, to my boyfriends house, my car and i managed to make ourself into the ditch, so far in that i could touch the corn stalks from the field from my car. so since this is the second time my car and i have managed to make our way into the ditch i was much calmer this time. i didn't scream "NO NO NO NO NOOOOOO!!" with hopes it would fix the situation and keep me from the ditch. nope this time, i just said "aww fuck" and i slid sideways into the ditch on the opposite side of the road facing the opposite direction i was heading. once i came to a stop, instead of sitting there shaking and crying and hitting the stearing wheel in anger like last time. i got out and did a walk around of my car to make sure nothing was broken. then got back in my car and called mark. who knew right away something was up. and right away asked where are you? haha so i told him, and he right away said i'm on my way. a minute later he called back to ask if he should bring the tractor instead of his truck. which we decided was a better idea. but i thought it was a better idea because he has two tractors, one with a cab and a heater, and one without. so when i saw him pulling up behind me 45mins later, on the tractor without the heated cab, it hit me. i have an amazing boyfriend. he drove 45mins in a snow storm on a tractor with no cab to pull me out of a corn field. and i felt guilty, and extremely lucky. i knew since i started dating him that i had found a great guy. and every day he proves it more and more. so i'd like to thank the good home grown men and women out there who will do anything for a friend, or neighbour.

clueless...

since my first post i've been trying to think about what to write about next. i thought about getting mark to tell me one of his stories again and have him write a post with me, but finding that kind of time is near impossible while dating a guy who manages his own farm, helps out at his dad's farm, has a plastic welding business, works nights sun-thursday, is on the fair board, AND makes maple syrup on top of all that... and knowing me i'm prolly forgetting something.. oh like play hockey! it never ends, but its a life i've come to love. so since finding time to do that is hard to come by, i was left wondering what to write, untill i read the comment left by one of my newest friends jackie. she talked about being lost in this world of tractors and augers, and something else i didn't understand.... and well it hit me... i'm lost too. i've never been the type to not understand something, i pick things up very quickly. untill now... the other day mark was talking about something, and i was trying so hard to understand, and then i realized, i know nothing about farming. he was saying something about seading, and sowing, and well i just didn't have a clue. i know one day i'll figure it out, once that time of year comes around, but untill then i'll just listen and nod, and smile ever so sweetly. and hope to god, he dosn't ask me to go start the combine... ok ok i know what a combine is.... now. but thats only because mark took me to the rockwood santa clause parade, which is made up completely of farm equipment. you don't believe me? i don't blame you, i didn't believe him when he asked me to go. luckfully, everything had a sign on the side of it saying what it was, and who owned it. which i thought was extremely helpful, and kind of them, untill a lady standing near us noticed the signs halfway through the parade, nudged her friend, pointed to the signs, and said "hey look, its signs for the stupid city folk"... well i'm sorry missy, i am no city folk, but i just hung my head in shame. too scared/embarrssed to tell her that not all counrty kids know farm equipment.

and so it begins...

I've decided to bring you along on my journey, of becoming a true country girl. I've always been a country girl, grew up in a small town, listened to country music, and still do. But there is so much more, then just where you live. Three months ago, i started dating an amazing guy, and when i met him over 10 months ago, i never thought he would change my life so much. He was a story telling joker, with a cute hick accent, and great smile.... that i never pictured myself dating, yet here we are, and i'm happier then i've ever been. funny how life works out eh? since i knew him long before we started dating, i had already heard many stories about his farm, or his dads farm, and the crazy messes they got into with the cows, or sam, the white and orange tom cat who walks around like he owns the place... and most of the time, he does. but most of the story's seemed too good, or far fetched, to be true. that was, untill i got to see it first hand. so now, three months later i look back, and think to myself, i've got so much more learning to do before i can ever call myself a true country girl. So i thought i would bring you along on my adventures, of learning to become a farm girl. and since its already been 3 months, i'll try and fill you in on what you've missed.

The first time i went out to the barn was an experiance, i had been to barns before, but i had never been up close and personal with that many cows. Which, are alot bigger then they seem when you pass by them in your car. It was time to bring in hay for them, so we had to get them out of the barn, so mark(my wonderful boyfriend, and teacher) could bring the tractor into the barn. this being my first time around the BIG cows(which ran freely around the barn) i was nervous. But lucky me, i met a great guy, who gave me a bright pink cane, and said here have this, it will help you, the cows respect it. and i believed him, and as silly as it sounds, it gave me the confidence to walk closer to them, and help mark walk them out of the barn. so while mark brought in the hay i stood in the doorway, with my bright pink cane, and tried to keep the cows out. but everytime i turned my back to watch what mark was doing, those sneaky cows would creep up on me. and i would turn around and shake my cane at them and they would back off. once we we back into the house, i was very proud of myself, and mark just had this silly grin on his face. it wasn't untill a few weeks later i found out why he had that grin. when he was telling his dad the story of my first time in the barn, and about my bright pink cane. it was then i realized, the cane is just the hit them with when he's alone, and that they don't respect it at all. boy was my face red. but none the less we all shared a laugh over it.

There was one time when i got brave, and i was at his house alone, and the grain stove went out, so i decided i would go to the barn, like mark does, and get more grain for him... so i got all dressed up, in his rubber boots, and overalls, and headed to the barn with my two buckets. i went inside, and filled up my buckets with "grain" went over the the door to the cows, opened it and peaked in, to say hello, which was big, cause i didn't even take my "magical" cane with me. and then headed back to the house, filled the stove up and then wrote him a note, about my good doings, and went home with a smile on my face. the next day he called me and was so proud. except what i thought was grain, was really his rolled oats, that is for the cows to eat... but said it still burned, and he was still proud of me. all i could say, was that i tried so hard.

There was also the time mark wanted me to drive the tractor back to his place from his parents house. which i wasn't ready to do yet. but mark kept asking, and i kept saying no, untill... mark, threw himself one the ground, moved himself to be under the great big back tire, and said, "what if i'm stuck under the tractor! what if your the only other person around, and YOU have to move the tractor to save me?! what about then?" and i said, "but you wont be under the tractor" which he replied to with "oh you might be surprised, but if you don't learn how to drive it now, while i'm not under the tire, then it will be REALLY hard to teach you how, when i am under it." and well how do you look at him after all that and still say no... so there i was up on the tractor seat... learning to drive it. which wasn't so bad. although i'm not sure i'd remeber how to do it now.

I tried my hand at tagging a cows ear.... that ended with me screaming no no no no, because i didn't squeeze hard enough, and the cow was throwing her head around cause i was hurting her. i met sam, the tom cat. who keeps himself very white, which is surprising coming from a barn cat. he is a sneaky guy too, if you don't watch out he will be in your car before you get out. or in the house before you are.

it's taking me a while, but i am really enjoying this whole learning thing. i even went out and bought myself some rubber boots of my own. mark wasn't so impressed when he saw that the were hot pink with hearts and stars and cherries on them, but i told him, atleast i'm trying dear. and he just smiled. but i know there is going to be more to learn, and stories to share, so i hope you'll enjoy reading them.