Dear Mr. Crop Farmer,

Thank you for growing food for the rest of us to eat. You work hard. I see that now. Forgive me for thinking you had it so easy during those winter months. You woke me up with your tractor in the field next to my house at approximately 1 a.m. this morning!!! Don't they let you sleep? And do you have a little toilet in that great big tractor thingy?.....because I am wondering how you find time for that with all of your plowing and spreading and blowing stuff onto the dirt. I don't know much about this whole farming thing yet......pretty much just what I saw on Food Inc. I am new to the area and pretty clueless. But I just wanted to thank you. Thank you for growing food for us to eat. Thank you for working so hard.

Sincerely,
A City Girl

P.S. Would you buy a refreshing cold beverage from my girlies if they set up a lemonade stand?
P.P.S. Would you take my girlies for a ride in your tractor thingy?
P.P.S. Could I go for a ride in your tractor thingy?
P.P.P.S. I hope they pay you well!

A party of NINE

Today my baby girl turned 9. Wow!

Nine? Can that really be?

Saturday we had a party that just happened to include 9 of us.

Our family of 6 plus three friends.

The weather was perfect.

They all got along and entertained themselves easily.

Addie got a Best Friends picture frame from one of the girls.

How blessed she is to already have such wonderful friends:)

The kids have found a way to use my $1 ladder until Daddy builds them a tree house.

They're off, chasing yet another clue in the scavenger hunt for goody bags.

Happy Birthday Addie!

We love you bunches and are incredibly proud of you!

runner's high

Or perhaps more likely an "I can't believe we were able to buy this house of my dreams" high.

Because I can hardly call myself a runner.

Either way, I'm feeling pretty good right now.

Inspired by last night's Biggest Loser

I started the day with sprints up and down the driveway.

And by "sprints" I mean I jogged.

Whatev.

It felt good.

Surrounded by fresh air and the sounds of the birds.....

even a few turkeys.

And I think lots of ditch living frogs.

I took it all in.......

the peace.......

the space........

the freedom to go for a decent run

without having to leave our property.

And then the girls coming out to join me on their bikes.......

Gwen in her princess dress and Josie's big red cowboy boots.....

arms outstretched running toward me with a big bear hug.

Ahhhhh!

Life is good.

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW.........

He's pretty much a big deal.

Or so he likes to remind me.

I'm afraid his debut on Kelly's food blog has gone straight to his head.

I suppose.......I can admit that I am a lucky woman.

Just remember that he leaves his socks under his side of the bed

and then blames me when there aren't any clean ones in his drawer.

Brighter

I came across this in my DRAFTS folder and though it is outdated (our rental home is soon to become our real home), I thought I'd still share it.

OK. So it really is ridiculous how internet access, painfully slow as it is, seems to directly relate to my emotional state. As you could probably tell from one of my more recent posts, I've been in a funk. And I'm really not very prone to funks. I am intentionally choosing to use the word "funk" over "mid-life crisis" to downplay my recent........umm.....issues.

I'll spare you all the details of my crisis, but know that with dial-up internet securely hooked up in our lovely rental home, life is now much brighter. Brighter because I am once again aware that there is a beautiful world filled with beautiful people and their beautiful creativeness beyond the dark muddy fields surrounding my humble existence. Brighter because I can now see the faces of your beautiful new babies. Brighter because I can look up that recipe and set something new on the table for my family. Brighter because I can see the happy spring colors you've used to decorate your homes. Brighter because you inspire me to try something new. Brighter because I can write something down and feel heard if not understood.

Brighter.

Much brighter.