Wedding Shower!!!

Happy Halloween!!

Hello Kitty is all kinds of ready to go Trick-or-Treating tonight...I have to pry her out of my fine china first.

Why yes! 

That IS my fine china she is nestled in which I unwrappedAndSetOutForChuckToNotCareAboutSee.....

It's OK thought, he really isn't supposed to care about the intricate detail of the pearl pattern on my china.

His only job is to say things like, "when are we supposed to use that?" and "I like the section-plates where your food doesn't touch, did you not get those?". 

He does his job well.

One thing I must tell you before I give you a pictorial montage of my sister's visit and my shower and that is....

I made pumpkin ice cream last night.

Chyeah I did!

Actually I made the ice cream custard..it is chilling as we speak.

It got all uppity on me so I was like hey, why don't you get in the fridge for a while and chill?

It's better that way.

I fully intend on churning it when I go home for lunch and I am soexcited!

If it's good, there will be a recipe and pictures.

If it's bad, I'm moving away.

OK so...my sister Malinda and her husband Del and their baby Jackson came to visit last week!!

Yaaaaaaayyyyy!

It was a great week PLUS my shower totally happened!

It was amazing.

The people were amazing, the decorations were amazing and the food was amazing.

An amazing situation it was.

Before the shower festivities we participated in a lot of baby J fun....

This picture makes me wish I could go back to the days where the relationship of my belly to the waist of my jeans was not directly connected to my emotional state.

It also makes me wonder why they don't make spatulas like that anymore?

The Heat totally used that to flip my grilled cheese when I was 4...

This is yet another lovely hair picture of me....

But you know what?

I'm gonna man-up and put it on here anyway!

FYI The Heat was the one with the camera...and DidSheTellMe???????

Evidently not.

But it's a great picture of my sister with Jackson and me with my....dog.

That's all I got.

On to the shower!!!

We must set the scene...

My sisters and mother worked diligently on the decorations...maaaaajor kudos to their creativity!

There were glitterfied pumpkins, some cleverly carved with the letters R and C AND the date of the wedding!!

3-13-12.

Very cute!

The most delicious cupcakes I have EVER had which contained E-normous diamond rings.

Only the best for the guests.

The party favors????

Why Hello Kitty cookies of course!

Shown off by my cousin Amy...

Rebecca(Beenie) made these out of a basic sugar cookie recipe which she kicked up a notch by adding mini M&M's to.

She also iced them...DE-licious!

The next pictures are an assortment of guest glamour shots..

Two of my beautiful sisters Beenie(left) and Taylor!

A really great picture of Chuck's mom Gayle and I...

Taylor and I...

THE man, Jackson...

With his gorgeous mama..



...cheating on me with my friend Mandi...(isn't she pretty?)..

...and here he is wondering why no one told me about my hair...





My cousin Amy and I proudly displaying the cow clock that she and her friend Jeff(taking the pictures) picked out...

My friends Erin and Mandi...

The always amazing Heat and I...

It was such a wonderful night!

Stay tuned for the ice cream and have fun tonight!



Toughest Girl I Know

This picture has ZERO to do with this post.
I'm not even sure what is going on here...but I looked through the window and this was the scene.

So I promise to post pictures of the shower asSoonAsIgetThem...ahem...
As for now just picture cleverly carved pumpkins, Hello Kitty cookies, an assortment of cupcakes with diamonds in them, a baby with a mohawk and a table full of laughter.
It was a GREAT night.

The governor was even there!
OK, so he was in the vicinity..and I didn't even see him...but I heard he was around.
We didn't have a seat for him anyway because he didn't RSVP.
He missed out.

I can't even begin to talk about the generous gifts...but  I will tell you that I have decided to ONLY eat off of my fine china for.ever. Amen.

The night ended with everyone departing the restaurant, some going home, while a few of us decided to have a glass of wine at a small bistro across the square.

My younger sister, you know her as Beenie, left with her friend Jennifer.
While we were chatting at the bistro, Malinda received a call saying that Beenie had been in an accident.
Long story short, Jennifer's car had been t-boned in an intersection when a van decided not to stop.
The van struck her car on Beenie's side, and if it hadn't been for the side airbag poor Beenie would have been even more severely injured.

Let me take this moment to explain my 3 sisters and I a bit...

What do you get when a man who owns a farm has 4 daughters BEFORE having a son????

You get 4 girls who can do ANYthing a man can do WHILE putting on mascara.
ThankYouVeryMuch.

4 girls who can haul wood, work calves and have developed matrix-like moves to avoid being whacked upside the head by BossMan's cattle-paddle back swing.

Shoooooooootttttt...we don't back down, we adapt.

So Beenie is in this terrible collision, right?
The van hit them so hard that it knocked the diamond out of the setting in her ear, she had to be drug cross the console, rode in an ambulance with only ice for relief and the ONLY time she cried was when they started taking blood at the hospital.
Tough.

Luckily Jennifer was not seriously injured and Beenie received a plate and 4 screws, courtesy of the BossMan.

Maybe one day you will get to meet my Beenie, she is the toughest girl I know.

By the by, I have decided that I need to go ahead and get the broken bones over with before BossMan quits his day job. 
He.is.the.best.

THAT Kind of Girl

Have you ever been asked to describe yourself in a few words?
Um HELLO difficult.

I can't do that.  I also can't whistle..but that's beside the point.
No, really I can't...and don't pull one of those "Aw, of course you can! Just try!" things on me either. 
It will no longer work.  I refuse to look silly with my lips forming an "O" inadvertently blowing spit out of my mouth.
No.Thank.You.

See? How do you describe that in a word? Please don't tell me the word you were thinking.
Instead of single words, I prefer examples or phrases, if you will.

Such as..

I am the kind of girl who noticed that one thing on her registry was purchased and squealed, then called her fiance' and said, "This registry thing actually works!!".

I am the kind of girl who will turn the radio down to hear herself think.

The kind who will keep her dead iPod in her ears at the gym for "protection".

The kind who rarely listens to the radio and doesn't even notice when it isn't on.

I am the kind of girl who could lay on a blanket beside her 8 month old nephew and just.watch him for hours.

 Never say a word, just watch.

I am the kind of girl who has more conversations with God each day, than anyone else..even Chuck.

The kind who talks to her cats, dogs, cows and calves as if they understand.

I am the kind of girl who can work 7 cows out of a group of 70 by herself, without alarming them.

I am NOT the kind of girl who gets surprises left on her doorstep by anonymous people...

......but that changed last night.

I am the kind of girl who falls asleep saying her prayers every night.

The kind who is going to marry her best friend.

The kind of girl who has very few close friends, because they are so special to her.

I am the kind of girl who once pulled a calf while wearing wedge sandals.

The kind who can IV cows blindfolded, pull calves and deal with manure all over her, BUT who doesn't want to touch it, smell it or even look at it when it comes to people. Ick.

I am the kind of girl who falls short every day.

I am the kind of girl who lives for things like this...

and doesn't need a camera to remember them.

The kind of girl who cries when she even thinks about talking to her dad, because who he is and what he thinks mean so much to her.

I am the kind of girl who thinks she can always do better.

I am the kind of girl who gets excited when her hoof trimmer comes to work on the cows, because she knows they will feel better after.

The kind who never thinks she is good enough for her dogs.

Lastly, I am the kind of girl who is in disbelief that there are people coming tonight to celebrate her getting married.

Excited doesn't even begin to touch what this girl is.

I Would Rather...

I would rather wake up every single day at 4 am than have to stay up each night until eleven.

I would rather be the there as the sun rises than watch the lights go out.

I would rather get soaking wet in the rain than sit inside and do nothing.

I would rather have calluses on my hands than have soft, delicate skin.

I would rather live the rest of my life in coveralls than worry about how I look.

I would rather be trapped in my thoughts all day than have to speak to 5 different people.

I would rather sit in front of the fireplace and watch than open presents on Christmas morning.

I would rather have 4 siblings than be an only child.

I would rather work than rest.

I would rather stand than sit.

I would rather change dirty diapers than never be called "mom".

I would rather dream than settle.

I would rather pray than worry.

I would rather say "I love you" than hear it said to me.

 "I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special." ~Truvy in Steel Magnolias

When We Began

"Hey, aren't you Jens friend Rachael?"
This is what I heard one day two years ago, from an unfamiliar male voice while I was walking out of the gym.
"......Uh...yeah", I said, then turned around and immediately smiled at this guy because his eyes captured me.
"Yes, I'm Rachael?", I asked in a who wants to know? kind of way.
"I'm Jens friend Chuck, she has mentioned you to me and I thought I would say hi."

Oh, OK so this is Chuck.  He's attractive, he is introducing himself to me...awesome!

"I think you asked to be my friend on Facebook, sorry I am just now getting around to that," he said, TOTALLY serious.  I wanted to DIE.
Ugh.... Facebook making me look like a stalker! Of course he introduces himself, he wants me to know he sees me and my stalkerish ways. 
Great Rachael. Smoooooooth.

The picture of cool, I said, "Ohhhh yeah!  I forgot about that.  Yeah she told me about you and I figured I would send you a friend request...haha"...shoot.me.now.

He then told me about how he had been meaning to come eat sushi one night with us, but was either working or taking care of his son.  We chatted for a bit in the parking lot of the gym, then parted ways.

I am fairly certain I spent the next 36 hours in a cloud, daydreaming about this guy Chuck, and what he could have possibly been thinking when he came up to me out of nowhere!
I could NEVER do that. The term "guarded" has nothing on me.  I'm Fort Knox.

Looking back now I realize I didn't think twice about him having a son.  To me it showed that he was a responsible family man, which are qualities I liked.

The next couple of weeks I was an idiot.
Chuck and I evidently had the same workout schedule, so I would see him there almost every day, and when I didn't? I was sad.  Such.a.dingy.

We would always come up with some smart comment to say to each other..and I am no slacker when it comes to quick wit.  I gave it my all.

I should have known then that I had feelings for this guy, Chuck. 
I would look around the gym while I was working out, and when we would lock eyes I would smile all over myself!  I was the epitome of ridiculous.  I just couldn't help it. 

He had me.  One day while I was there he wasn't speaking to me.  Actually, he was ignoring me.
I attributed this to the day before, when he saw me talking to a guy I had previously dated. 
This was not acceptable.
I marched right over to him and said, "So, you not talking to me today?", in that "bring it" kind of way.

He tried to act like he hadn't seen me.  Such.a.liar.
I wasn't buying it.
Being that I was currently taking residence thisclose to his face, I had to come up with something to hold his attention fast, "Well, I was going to ask you if you wanted to use this Texas Roadouse gift certificate with me that I won, but you're not talking to me so I guess not."  Oh good Lord I'm a redneck. 

His next comment surprised me so much that I was speechless.  I am not often found to be without words, so this was unnerving to say the least.
"Well, I was going to ask you if you wanted to ride with me one night while I supervised graveyard."
Whaaaaaaaa?

I knew enough from mutual friends to know that Chuck didn't EVER let anyone ride with him.
I had also been told by them that he was a perfectionist.  He always found something wrong with a girl, some flaw that ended things.
I was nothing but flaws.

But I couldn't say no to him for some reason.  I wanted to be around him, to get to know him better.  Heck, I just wanted to look at him and see him smile at me.  I could make him smile, that I was certain of.

Thankfully the Texas Roadhouse commet was forgotten and he sent me a text a few days later asking me to ride with him. 
I coolly accepted, then told everyoneIknew in, like, two minutes.

The night he picked me up in his cruiser I was a nervous ball of energy.
Well, make that a butt-less nervous ball of energy.
I had to dress nice and wear khakis, and seeing as my occupation does not demand anything but jeans, the only pair I had made me look like a butt-less guy.  Awesome. 

I sat in the passenger seat feeling like a kid who had just been allowed to ride in the front.
The center console was HUGE given the fact that it was home to a zillion police-ish buttons and lights and a laptop.  I took up approximately a quarter of my seat as I curled into a shy ball, wrapping myself in my jacket.

Un.Divided.Attention.
No gym equipment, no loud music, just Chuck and I.
We spent the evening upholding the law, and talking about EVERYthing under the moon.
He asked me about the farm and I got the skinny on all 645 buttons in the car.
There were a lot of witty comments and tons of laughter.  Best.Night.Ever.

He dropped me off at my apartment at 3 am, knowing I had to go to work in just 3 short hours. 
I had been fighting sleep since midnight, but like any Cinderella didn't want the night to end.
I got into bed and sent him a text thanking him for asking me to ride.
He responded and told me to sleep well.

And I have been in a dream ever since.

Spice and Everything Nice

I saw a Bald Eagle in the dry cow lot Thursday!!
Sorry, I had to get that out.

I pretty much feel like the luckiest.person.on.the.planet.
Who gets that opportunity??? Well, besides Dolly Parton.

I did manage to get a picture of it using The Heats' camera, but that's the only thing I know how to do using said device...
Trust me. It happened.

Tennessee weather never ceases to amaze me.
I started out Thursday not wearing my UA cold gear, which was the BIGGEST mistake eva, only to wear it yesterday which also turned out to be a rather large mistake.
Holy sweat Batman.

Ugh I am not a fan of the sweating-under-layers feeling.
But I managed to run home and change at lunch...then I froze when I got back to work.
Hmmmmm...maybe it's me?

You know what else I did when I ran home at lunch?
Hmmm? Do ya?
I made crock-pot chili that could make a grown man cry..it was so good.
It was also pretty spicy-hot...speaking of sweat...

I might tweak it a bit to make it less spicy-hot, however I will not change it much because it changed me.
It changed the way I will forever look at chili.
It completed the chili circle.

See, I have never been a chili fan.
Cornbread? Heck yes. Chili? Nah, not so much.

Now I am a chili believer thanks to Martha.
Martha has opened my eyes to chili possibilities.
Before it was just a little meat, some beans and tomatoes with their juice.
Now...it's, it's like the chili secret garden.  It makes sense.

I used Martha Stewarts "30-Minute Chili" recipe BUT I slow-cookerized it.

The only ingredient I added was a diced jalapeno with the onions.

The process I changed a bit....

I am a "browned-meat believer", so I got my pot screeeeeeamin' hot and browned allll the ground beef.
Then set it aside.
Then...THEN(this is of the utmost importance) I removed all but 1 tblsp of the drippings and sauteed the garlic,onions and jalapeno in it.
This is a flavor situation here people.

Once the onions were soft I added the tomato puree and spices and stirred them around so the flavors fell in love.
Then I added the beer and poured the whole shebang into the slow cooker.
Once all tucked in, I stirred in the tomatoes and beans and cooked low and slllllow for 5 hours.

Wait!  I almost forgot..almost forgot the KEY to chili success...are you ready?
The cinnamon.
Yep. Cin-na-mon.
To chili?  HeckToTheYes.

Do it. Don't doubt, don't think, don't limit yourself to a cinnamonless chili lifestyle.

I don't know what it is about the cinnamon, but oh man, Martha was on.point. that day.
I like it so much that I took a vow, right there in front of that slow cooker, to never again deprive my chili of this spice.
Never again.

The chili was no fluke, my friends.
She knows her spice.

I made Martha Stewarts "Pumpkin Bittersweet Chocolate Marble Brownies", to accompany the chili..and she did it again.

She added cayenne pepper to the brownies...at first I was all like whaaaa??? but I trusted.
She didn't let me down.

Try them..you won't be disappointed.

In Their Shoes

Before I go any further I want to let it be known that this content is MY opinion..you go ahead and have yours. 
That being said, I am not under any false impression that this post will be popular.

Kinda like when people complain about the news paper only printing "the bad stuff" when in all reality NO ONE would buy a "good news" newspaper.
Misery loves company.

Now that I have run everyone off I wanna tell you about yesterday....

The scene: 20 degrees colder than the day before, rainy, windy, yucky.

I feel like I got nothing accomplished..well nothing "cow" accomplished.
The washer AND dryer ANNNNND well stopped working.  All in the same day.
How do you like them apples?

The washer and dryer are used to clean the towels we use to wipe the cows' udder with before we milk.  (You might have already known that though.)

So that could wait, but the lack of water pressure couldn't.
Something about clean milk lines, food safety and all....

As it turned out the well had a bare wire down in the center of the earth and was causing an arc.
I have no idea what all of this means but that is what I was told.
Electricity scares me..have I ever mentioned that?

You get shocked enough times by an electric fence when you're a child and you become a little leery.
(IKnowWhatYou'reThinking....)

I just don't know enough about electricity..but one day I will.

Anyway, around 2pm the "well guys" came and fixed it. Awesome!

In the meantime I had to go to Lowes and buy a new washer and dryer....NOT awesome.
I despise to the 118th degree ANY home improvement store...I just can't help it.

I'd rather go to the Co-op.

The kid(he was obv. younger than me) helping me, brought the appliances out to help load and wrap them in plastic, he then proceeded to tell me how cold it was outside and how much the rain "sucks".

That is a very important point.  That scene is the reason for this post.

Did I mention that when I walked into Lowes it was so warm...like in front of the fireplace warm?
Or that I was soaking wet in a t-shirt, thermal shirt, hoodie and fleece plus I had on wet, blood-splattered jeans(from IV-ing a cow) and manure covered boots?
My eyes told him I had been up AND working since 4:45 and I.Was.Starving.

I very calmly looked at him, smiled and said, "Yeah, it must suck working in there".

Then I left and prayed for both of us. (For real...we needed it.)

You know, I could have walked into the store and complained to everyone about the weather..BUT I didn't because I made the choice to do this job...and no one would care...and they might call the police.

I am OUTside every day, but I don't think I am better than ANYone else because of it.
For every ONE person out there who has it better than me, FIVE have it worse.

I don't call my DrSister and tell her how much I hate getting called at 4 am..she gets those calls ALL the time.

I recently learned through a new friend(!) that having an occasional headache is NOTHING compared to living with one EVERY day of your life.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't get paid near enough for the time/effort/care that I put into doing this job, BUT lots of people don't get paid at all.
Besides, I take this as my calling...I care about them.

Not to mention if I got paid more then something farm-related could suffer because we needed the money there.

A few years ago I decided to make a conscious effort to not complain about the things I can't change, like the weather.  Psssyeah I'll tell you I'm cold! But I try and fix that.
Unless it's like that day last winter when it was 18 degrees and the power was out at the barn.  There was NO PLACE to go to be warm..all we could do was sit and wait.

I wanted to cry.

Happiness was in Florida that day.

If I wanted to complain I would complain about how the rain comes through the holes in the roof of the barn, pools in the freestalls and causes my cows to get watery-mastitis...which makes them so sick they could die.
Or I could complain about how much a new roof would cost because it's past the point of "patching".
Or I could complain about how when it's cold outside my hands turn white and lose circulation...and I can't fix that.

But I won't because I can't do anything about those things.
To me, life is about the choices we make with the cards we're dealt.

Generally speaking I can just smile and go on, when I hear someone complain...and I do not voice my opinion very often, especially about things I don't know. 

I try to put myself in "their shoes"...even if they do have Hello Kitty duct tape in them....

Now, let's go check on that baby I saw stumbling around in the dark;).