Recent Posts

Maybe - or Maybe not... I hope the younger generation of men don't just assume that housework/children are just magically taken care of, but many many men are raised that way. It isn't even a thought to them to automatically do household chores. They never saw their dad do much (when not asked) and it just never crosses their mind. They they are blindsided when they get dumped because of it.
"Jason needs to bring Jason's jeans" ... If you are a fan of the Kelce brothers and watch their New Heights podcast, you will get that. Jason didn't bring his jeans to a documentary preview, and ended up wearing shorts and flip flops. He thought his wife would do it for him. His brother Travis pointed out that Jason's wife had a lot on her hands with 3 kids to get ready etc., and told him "Jason needs to bring Jason's jeans" .. and he (Jason) had a visible revelation and agreed that he was responsible for himself and how much work his wife did with the kids. THAT is what reaches and teaches men. Seeing a big burley football player go .. "Oh, shit, what a turd I am" .... I really think the younger generations of men are realizing what needs to be done.

My husband would never even think to do things around the house, if I didn't ask him. He will ask me if there is anything he can help with when we are having a party or gathering, but other than that - nothing processes. I have some knee issues, and it's hard for me to carry laundry up 3 flights of stairs, so I just leave a couple baskets at the bottom, and when he walks by them now - he grabs them and takes them up for me, no questions.

But we have a different dynamic than many people do now. He does the absolute majority of the farm/ranch labor. I do the absolute majority of the household labor. I do not work outside the home/ranch. I do not get frustrated that he can walk around a mess, because I am not hauling manure or breaking water for cows when it is -14º. I don't pick up his "mess", in general. It is usually stacks of papers when he is ordering crop and livestock inputs. I just tell him, it needs to be gone before Christmas Eve. LOL

But I taught all my kids, male and female, that the work load needs to be even. If both partners work outside the house, both partners work INSIDE the house. That is how they live their lives.

I haven't seen those types of Senior pictures in years. Everyone does their own thing now. But I had mine taken in a drape. It was funny because one of my sisters is 18 years older than me, and I came along a lot later than everyone else - but all our Senior pictures match! We all used the exact same photographer and same drape, I'm sure! But the pictures on my Mom's wall of us all matched, even though the first was taken in 1965 and the last was 1983!

This! I think what was important in the past has changed greatly with the advent of social media, and who knows what it will be 20 years down the road.

(My yearbook, and the same for my kids) didn't even arrive until summer was nearly over and everyone had scattered. No one ever signed yearbooks. I actually had a 'memories' book, that was basically a scrapbook. I added photos and trinkets to it. That is what everyone signed. None of my kids did any of this. They text each other! LOL

In our yearbooks, if your Senior portrait wasn't submitted, they just used your Junior year photo that the school photographer took. You could check and see if they do that - then at least she will be in there.

I grew up in a small town of under 1000 population. You went "uptown" to get your mail at the post office. Everyone in town had a combination mail box. I loved walking uptown to get the mail. I even have our old mailbox. When they changed out boxes to keyed ones, I got our old one!

The only way you got mail delivered to your house, was if you happened to live on the street the mailman took, to go out of town to do the rural routes.

I live on a rural route now and have mail delivered to my box at the end of my lane.

The ones I am using right now are from a fundraiser. The company that makes them in an Iowa company, so I don't know how far they sell them - but they are THE BEST frozen cookie pucks. Wooden Spoon Cookie dough

But my local small town grocery store has bags of frozen cookie pucks in a lot of flavors. I think they are Rich's brand. They are pretty good ... factoring in how easy they are to make! LOL

Will you be going to all the parks?  Or just certain ones? 
Soarin' is one of my favorites! You are in a 'hang glider'. It moves slightly, up and down - but no big drops or anything. The screen in front of you makes you feel like you are flying. Between the movement of the hang glider, winds, and scents - it really feels almost like you are soaring above the scenery. There are 3 big gliders, and you sit in your seat. You do buckle in, but the movements are gentle. It is an IMAX 180º screen. 
It is in Epcot

Soarin' over California

I hope you like them!

I cheat and order THE best fruitcake.

I get the individually wrapped slices. They keep forever in the freezer, and taste best when chilled, but even my kids love these!

I just ordered several to use as Christmas gifts.

Baked in Beatrice, Nebraska.

Grandma's Bake Shop

A big tote works good for mixing big batches. I don't make a super huge batch, because I am not packing it up for gifts.

I mostly make caramel corn, using Puff Corn (SO GOOD). Good butter matters in this. Don't use Costco or other store brands. Too much water in them. I use LandOLakes, but i know a lot of people swear by KerryGold.
Puff Corn Caramel Corn.

I also have a mix that is white chocolate drizzled over a pretzel/cereal mix. You add M&M's and make some super cute Santa hats by dipping Bugles into red melting wafers. I use a dehydrated marshmallow for the white pom top on the hat. Much cuter than a mini regular marshmallow.

I use Ghirardelli white chocolate melting wafers for the white chocolate. They taste great. Sometimes you can find the dehydrated mini marshmallows in the Hot Chocolate area of stores this time of year. I just order mine from Amazon. I reseal them with a food saver to keep them longer.

Santa Hat party mix.

FWIW - you can do the "frame TV" on a regular flatscreen too, for a lot less $$.  
55" LG is $350.
55" Samsung Frame is $1100.00

You can either just put your pictures on a USB stick and plug that into your TV if you want your own personal photos.
Some TV's have a frame mode that you can upload a photo or photos and have them be your screensaver.

I also like just going to YouTube and picking some art to play/display. Right now I am doing Christmas stuff. There are just tons of selections. Some have music,some don't I have You Tube premium, so not adds, but if you use free youtube, you might have an add play every so often. But some really pretty stuff!

Here is what I am playing on my LG big flat screen now: YouTube Christmas Art for TV's.

This little device is the BOMB! I have the incandescent one, but they now have the LED one also. Make sure you get the one for your type of lights.



Lightkeeper Pro

I was blown away after I learned how many diseases birds can spread with their droppings.

It does. It depends on the variety, on how fast or how bad it will be. And it can also depend on how hydrated the evergreen was. If it has been particularly dry in your area, it can have an effect on it.

If you want to make an arrangement, you can buy a block of floral foam and soak it. Put it in a container that does not leak and do your arrangement into the floral foam. Then put that into a decorative container if needed.

If you are doing a wreath or garland, I would soak the cut greens very well in a large tub for a day or so, then shake out and let dry a little before crafting into the garland or wreath.

I believe it's a good idea to be prepared yourself, and to not expect help, or at least not help right away, in the event of a disaster.

I recently bought a small supply of dried meals. Not super prepper crazy, but enough to go for over a week and it has a long shelf life.
I do have canned and dried foods normally as a part of my pantry. Since I don't live in a town, I normally keep groceries to last no less than a week. I could easily go for many weeks without shopping for anything other than fresh milk and fresh veggies, but the meal plan might be a bit weird. LOL. I do keep a little bit of powdered milk on hand.

We usually have at least 300 gallons of gasohol in a barrel at our house, and usually 500 gallons of road diesel. Probably closer to 500 gallons of both gasohol and red diesel on the farm.

We have a solar panel setup that we can use to pump water if needed. We use that in pastures that do not have any electricity available. It is portable and we move to to wherever we have cows pastured, so we could always pump water, even in the event that tractors could not start.

We have 4 PTO generators that can run our farm and houses. These are BIG generators that are hooked to the PTO shaft of a tractor. All our sites are generator ready - just pull the switch so there is no backfeed and plug in the generator at the pole. We also have a couple smaller sized Honda gas generators that we use if the weather doesn't allow our solar setup to charge.

I have basic first aid, although I would like to beef that up a little better if I can.

We could survive a very long time, if something really terrible ever happened, by hunting, trapping, fishing and foraging, if needed. I am not super prepper crazy. We don't have a bunker. But if it came down to that - we could survive and defend.