Giving Thanks

Today is a pre-Thanksgiving edition.  I’ll try to keep the sappiness to a minimum, but no promises. 

There are so many things in life that we could complain about.  We have no children, we have very little money, I don’t have a really meaningful job besides being a rancher’s wife…

But then I looked out the window this morning and all of that was blown out of the water. 

Across the road we have cattle that I can look at every day while I’m standing at the sink doing dishes.  And since I don’t have a meaningful town job, I can work cattle and be outside all day long, every day.  I can drive my husband crazy with my never ending DIY projects.  I can doctor, process, sort or haul cattle anytime I want. 

Our closest “neighbor” (besides Grandma C.) is an old abandoned barn and some sheds waaaaaaaay up north as you can see in the picture.  If you count buildings with human occupants, you have to go more than a mile north.  Wonderful. 

We have two little girls that are the center of our attention.  They are good workers with the cattle and a ball of fun to play with.

We have a little house on the prairie (yes, referencing Laura Ingalls Wilder) that has just enough room for us and great views of our little life.  

I hope everyone else can take a minute during this Thanksgiving to realize that there are just too many things going well in our lives to dwell on anything that is going wrong. 

Happy thanksgiving ya’ll. 

Do You Coupon?

I was recently in Walgreen's purchasing some items when a random woman walked up to me out of the blue.

"Psst, do you coupon?" she asked. 

Several thoughts simultaneously flew through my head.

1. Seriously, who really says psst?
2. I fought the urge to ask her if she also had a trench coat and had some watches I could buy.
3. How did she know to ask me?  Perhaps it was my practical outfit.  I have found that coupon-ers are a practical people, not subject to many flights of fancy or easily swayed by wayward, short-lived trends. 

Finally, I gathered my thoughts and answered her, "Of course." 

"Do you know about the coupons on that chicken broth in this week's newspaper?"

Again, "Of course."

We then got into a lengthy discussion about the benfits of buying them in Dillon's grocery store with reward points, double coupons, yadda, yadda, yadda... versus buying them in Walgreen's with register reward coupons, accepting multiple coupons, yadda, yadda, yadda.  After several minutes of back and forth friendly banter we came to a mutual agreement that I was, in fact, making a legitimately money-saving purchase and I could now proceed. 

I still can't wrap my head around how odd we must have looked in that aisle, passionately discussing what probably was a total savings of $2.34.  (Actually, it really was $2.34.  We really did do the math.) 

Another thing I like about coupon-ers: we look out for each other.  Its like a secret society of practical people.  Keep an eye out for me and someday perhaps we'll stumble across each other while out shopping.  I'll be the one in jeans and shoes that are practical enough to walk more than 10 steps in.

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh.....

I recently purchased a Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication: "Do It Yourself" magazine (I had to get the entire title in there in case anyone felt like googling it later).  Now I don't know how I've been able to live without this magazine my entire life.  Its wonderful. 

Within this magazine it listed several websites that are worth mentioning as well, including:

• designsponge.com - "Your home for all things DIY"
• centsationalgirl.com - A simple gal with a simple dream: transforming the drab into the fab with an arsenal of paintbrushes, primer and power tools.

I didn't write the promos for those websites, I just copied what they had... cheesy, I know.

Happy DIY-ing folks!

Home Improvement

Hello, my name is Anna, and I watch too much DIY Network.

There you have it.  Don't judge me or hate me, just learn to accept me.

My latest escapade involved staining our concrete floors in our house.  Since we built our living quarters/house in the south end of our shop, it came with industrial, jailhouse-gray concrete floors.  Excuse me, correctional facility-gray floors.  Sometimes I forget to be PC.

I watched one of those remodeling shows on T.V. and it took them roughly the three minutes of time between commercial breaks to stain their floors.  I roughly estimated that this would equate to three days "real time".  I bought the materials, watched the instructional video AND planned ahead by doing an extensive taping and protective-barrier-making job.  (Yet one more way that I am slowly turning into my mother... no more 'winging it'.  Sigh.....)

Although the video and instruction manual all swore that this was a simple, one step staining process... they lied.  Big time.  Three coats later I decided to call it quits and we would just live with it, no matter what the floors ended up looking like.  Poor Wesley, he got quite an earful about how I was going to write a strongly worded letter to the makers of this staining product.

I applied the clear coat sealant and..... vuala!  Amazingly beautiful, shiny floors.  Emphasis on the shiny.  Needless to say I was quite happy with the outcome and Wesley and I had to sit down for one of our "chats" where we remind the other spouse that "patience is one of the greatest of virtues, my dear".  (One of my grandpa's favorite sayings.)

Annnnnnnnnddddddd, much to Wesley's dismay, this temporarily disgruntled attitude did not dissuade me from pursuing further home improvement projects.  Next up, bathroom floors!  Stay tuned...

Correctional facility gray.  We lived with this for a year before I worked up the courage to change it.

Yes, I lined our walls with deconstructed beverage boxes.  It was a cheap alternative to purchasing expensive drop cloths. 

Bottom half of picture: crappy stain job (or so I thought)
Top half of picture: pure genius (or so I thought)

Our final, finished product once the clear sealant had dried.  Its very condusive to sock-sliding.  Not that I would know, but I've heard...

Fuddy Duddy, Part 2

We finally got rain here in east central Kansas last night!  Yipee!!!  I sat in the quiet of our house with the two little girls resting comfortably at my feet while I crocheted away on a small blanket. 

The power went out due to the storm and the three of us were left sitting in the dark. 

I got up from the couch, felt my way to the cabinet where I keep lighters and matches and proceeded to illuminate the house with the glow of several burning candles.  I then proceeded to sit myself comfortably back onto the couch and resume my previous activities - crocheting on a small blanket. 

It was then that I realized that a) I have a very boring life, and b) I really may have born in the wrong century.  Sigh......

Ahhh, the power of water

Recently, I wrote that my mother feels water is the cure for most human ailments.  It seems that she wasn't completely off base.  Feel free to peruse the attached link:

http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/5-immune-system-benefits-of-drinking-water.html