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.