Inernet Malfunctions

Well, I have done my time, and it should be over, but it's not!

I still do not have internet.  I feel disconnected from the world.  I'm in the dark.  I don't have any idea what's going on around me.  I feel like I am in isolation.  I am drowning in the sea of the unknown.  Please help me!!!

Ok, so it's not that bad.  But I have felt very lost and will feel very lost for the next two days. 

AT&T was supposed to come and hook up my internet on saturday, between 8 and 10.  They didn't come.

I called the AT&T store and they said they would be there by 12.  So I continued to wait around.. My parents were coming to see the new house anyway so I would be around.  Well, 12 o'clock rolls around and we're ready to go to lunch; except AT&T still had not shown up.  I left a note on the door and we all went to the local restaurant. 

Again, I called AT&T.  After about 1 hour of making calls, I was informed that AT&T doesn't make service calls on saturday!  No one told me.  I guess they thought that I wouldn't notice when no one showed up.  After I had waited around for someone to come.

So, to make a long story short, I have to wait until Tuesday to be reconnected to the world.  I unfortunately, won't be able to write until then, unless I stay late at work, which probably won't happen because I have spring fever and as soon as the Whistle blows I am running out the door as fast as possible to enjoy the beautiful sunshine.  Or, I'll go to my in-laws house to use their internet (like I'm doing right now).  Which is sometimes hard just because of after work and cooking supper and doing chores, by the time I have time to blog, it's to late to go over.  So, We all will just have to wait until tuesday.  Like my husband says, "it won't kill me to have to wait".

So, till tuesday,
Amy

Important Information

Long time, no see.

Well, I have some important informtion that I felt would be very helpful if I shared it with you:

      If you ever move from one town to another, you have to have your internet    
      disconected and reconected at your new place, or you won't have internet.

So there you have it!  Proof that what I said in my last post is true.  I am a ding-a-ling.  So, for those of you who have been worring over where I've been, afraid that something terriable has happened to me to keep me from writing a post, you have no need to fear.  I am healthy and alive.  And for those of you who have been biting your nails in anticipation for my next blog, here it is. 

I am so dissapointed that Ihaven't been able to write this whole week.  I have had such important information to share with you.  First,  I am officially moved into my new house.  I am now a homeowner.  My mother-in-law and I worked all day on Sunday and Monday cleaning and getting ready to move in.   Monday night after all the paper signing and key exchanging, LB and I moved into our new house.  With the help of the Mechanic and LB's Father-in-law, of course.  

Second, LB and the Mechanic brought my new furniture from the city.  Which was wonderful, because I had already given my old living room furniture away and now with the new couch I finally had a place to side besides the floor.

Third, I have apricots.  Well, not yet it's to early.  But, my new house has two apricot trees and right now they are so beautiful.  They have bloomed so wonderfully!  They were so exquiset(i'm not sure how to spell that word) that I took a break from unpacking to take some pictures for you. 

Arent they beautiful!

Now for those of you who sit on the edge of your chair white knuckled until my next blog, you should know:  Because of my lack of brains on the whole internet at my new house thing, I will not be having internet hooked up at  my house until Next Saturday!  Yes, eight whold days without internet.  and I thought these past five days were bad.  I will write as often as possible.  But I may not be able to post something everyday until then. 

Your disconnected from the world friend

Amy

Handbells

I play the handbells.  My church has a handbell chior.  A couple of months ago, the handbell chior director asked me if I'd be interested in joining again.  I had previously been in the chior when LB and I first got married, but we moved soon after and I had to drop out.  But now that we're back I took the offer and joined up again.  So, yes, I am an official ding-a-ling!

I have lots of fun!  There are a total of 12 members of in the chior.  I play 4 bells.  I play B-flat, B, Middle C, and C-sharp in the bass cleft.  Sometimes it's confusing because I'm not good at reading music. But we muddle through.  I have a great book partner who keeps me in-line and is a lot of fun to play with. 

Right now we are working on 3 pieces to play for Easter.  I came in at just the right time, because I started learning the music with them.  Sometimes I play the wrong note.  Sometimes I play on the wrong beat.  Sometimes I just miss my note all together.  But, they haven't kicked me out yet. 

It's kinda neat how 12 people, each having only two or three notes a piece make one song.  It definately takes a lot of team work to make the songs come out right.

Your ding dong

Amy

Boys And Their Toys!: Sand Blasting

Sand Blasting

The boys discovered a new toy today.  LB and the Mechanic decided to rent a sand blaster.  They have been servicing all their machinery this winter and decided that their wheat truck and cattle feeder needed new paint.  So, in order to repaint the truck, they had to remove all the old paint first.  And just like with the track hoe why not do it themselves.  How hard could it be?  They are pretty good hands at running all types of equipment; and this piece of equipment seems especially fun!

First, you have to put the sand into the blast pot.

Next, put on protective clothing.

This protects your eyes, ears, nose and mouth from being filled with sand.  And your skin from being torn by flying bits of sand.

Finally, turn on the biggest air compressor you can find.

(big box thing on the right)

Now you should be ready to hurtle sand as fast as you can at anything that needs to be striped of paint.  Make sure you keep arms and legs away from the stream of sand if you would like to keep wearing your skin.

NOTE:  Do not stand down wind from someone who is sandblasting!

This picture is not out of focus, that is a haze of sand.

We are less than 5 minutes in and you can see that there is not much green paint left!

In less than 30 minutes LB sand blasted the whole cattle feeder. 

Now we're ready for paint!

After watcing these last 2 experiences with rented machinery, it makes me worry about what would happen if they got their hands on a bulldozer!

Your Farm Friend

Amy

New Furniture!

My life in the slow lane has been so slow that I fell asleep last night without even putting up a post.  Which I guess really wasn't that big of a deal (except to those who took time out of their precious day to see what I was up to!  I'm so sorry for wasting your time) since there wasn't anything new to tell you anyway.

But today, today I got new furniture.  LB and Idecided that since we were getting a new house we probably didn't need to drag in our old dusty furniture.  So today we went to Mathis Brothers and found a couple of new pieces. 

I for one was shocked.  I had never bought new furniture before.  So, this was an experience for me.  I have never seen so much furniture in one place.  And there was so many people in there, it was a mad house!  And the price of new furniture, well, we won't go there.  Let's just put it this way.  If you are married to a Banker, you probably shouldn't take him with you to buy furniture.  Unless it's used, or in a garage sale, or at Good Will, or on the side of the road...

Any way, I picked out two nice pieces.  I got a new couch.  I wanted one that was wide enough to lay on without your arm falling off and long enough for my 6'3" husband to lay on.  And it had to be soft and cushy.  So here is a picture of my new sofa.

I also bought a new bed.  We got a King size sleigh bed and a tall chest of drawers.  This is the best picture i could find online.  I forgot to take my camera.  We didn't get the accent furniture shown in the picture.  The piece we got wasn't pictured.

 Well, this is all the news I have so far.  I figured that since it was such good news you would for give me for wasting your time yesterday by not having anything to read. 

With uncontained excitment about my furniture,

Amy

Life in the Slow Lane

Well, I'm out of stories.  Right now my life, thankfully, is uneventful. So, unfortunately for you I have nothing to tell you.  This has made me very sad.  I have enjoyed sending these tidbits of my life into cyberspace for everyone and anyone to read at their own free will.  So, I thought all after noon about all the things I could tell you.  I could tell you about my wonderful barbie pink toe nail polish, or my wierd collection of sunglasses, or about my wide array of holiday socks, or the ammount of cowboy boots I own, but then I thought about my readers.  And I decided to spare you from an utterly boring glimpse into my life.  I figured that I hadn't been blogging long enough yet to write something along the lines as the above listed topics.

So, to keep you readers from running away and hiding from a board you to death blog; I am signing out before I change my mind and list all the colors of 80's style plastic bangles that I currently own(and believe me that would take a while).

Until tomorrow, Your Farm Friend,
Amy

Fishy Business

I have a fish tank. 

One day 2 years ago, walmart was having a sale on fish bowls, and I bought one.  I don't know if it was a moment of insanity, if I momentarily lapsed back into my childhood, or if iI actually thought having a pet fish would be no trouble at all!  But once it was said and done, I came home with a large bowl, florescent tank gravel and one calico goldfish named Petey. 

Despite all the insanity I actually enjoyed having the fish.  I fed him.  Made sure he had the proper lighting. and cleaned the bowl every week. 

Well, LB saw how much I was enjoying the fish and he decided to bring home a 10 gallon fish tank.  Cool! I thought.  I can have more fish.  I set it up, read the instructions, and bought another fish. 

Well, They died!

So, Since I had a nice tank, I needed more fish.  I went to an actual aquarium store and bought more fish.  I came home with 3 zebra fish and one neon fish.  After a while a friend of mine saw that my tank was clean and my fish were living; she took this as the perfecct opportunity to get rid of one of her fish that she had had for years.  It was an algea eater.  He was very old and large.  He was probably 6 inches long. 

Well, my 5 fish lived happily in my tank for 2 years.  Until, Sunday.  On sunday we realized as we were finishing loading the furniture, that we needed to somehow move the fish.  So, I carefully filled 2 ziploc bags with water from the tank and gently caught the 4 small fish and inserted 2 into each ziploc.  I then placed the ziploc bags into an icecream bucket so that they wouldn't get smashed. 

 I then took Fred, the algea eater and put him directly into  another icecream bucket.  That may sound easy, but getting him in the bucket was no easy task.  First, Fred was 6 inches long, and my fish net was only 3 inches wide.  So that didn't work.  Next I tried to scoop him up with a plastic cup.  But Fred was too fast, and he touched me.  (I like to look at fish, and eat fish, but I don't touch fish).  So, my wonderful mother-in-law stepped in.  She took the icecream bucket and moments later had successfully caught Fred.

The fish are now placed safely into the floorboard of LB's pickup and the tank is clean and ready to be set back up.  So we take the fishes to their new home. 

I refill the tank.  Put the gravel and plants back in and release the fish into their new old home.  They love it!  I think.  I'm not really sure, how you can tell.  Anyway...

Operation fish is complete!

The next morning LB gives me a call. 

You guessed it.  The fish died.  All but one lone zebra fish.  He was the only tough one of the group.  Well, Fred was pretty tough, I think I just gave him a heartattack.  (Old Age)

I have officially named him The Survivor!

(give me a break, I'm not that creative with names)

Ahoy Matey(or is that hello?)

Amy

Boys And Their Toys!

During our moving mania LB's brother, the Mechanic, has also been working on a move.  He is moving a house to the farm, which LB and I hope to do some day.  He has been working on leveling off the spot where the house is going, and getting the footings dug. 

This is going to be the view from his house!

Being the farm boy that he is, he decided not to hire the job done, but to embark upon this adventure himself, and rent a track hoe.  How hard could it be.  We use big machinery all the time.  He measured it out, marked it off, and began digging.  About midway through, LB and I arrived.  We had decided to stop by on one of our many trips to the storage building. 

I was impressed!  He actually knew what he was doing.  He was scooping out the dirt and making perfect straight lined trenches.  He was even making a neat and organized pile of the left over dirt.

As LB and I were leaving, he looked over at me and said.  "I wish we weren't moving today.  I'd love to go and play with that Track hoe!"  That's when it donned on me.  The Mechanic digging those holes with the track hoe, was just like something he would have done as a boy with a tonka toy.  He was doing what boys do best - gettin' good and dirty and makin' a mess.

Lesson learned:  Boys never grow up.  The only thing that changes is the size of the toys.

Moving Mania! The End

Well, we did it.  We turned off the lights and locked the doors on our first home. 

You know that scene in the movie You've Got Mail, where Meg Ryan closes up her bookstore and she turns around and sees a memory of her and her mom dancing when she was a child.  Well, that's how it was tonight.  All through the house there were memories.  Good memories, sad memories, funny memories...

It was hard leaving.  Leaving my memories.  Leaving my friends.  My house was like my harbor, my safe place.  But now it's time for LB and I to move on and make new memories, new frieinds and a new home.

hasta lluego,
Amy

Moving Mania!: The Big Move

If there was a word that ment more than Exhausted, that's what I would be.  I'm so tired my hair hurts! 

This has definately been a bittersweet day.  I am so excited to finally be getting to move to LB's hometown, and at the same time I'm sad to be leaving my first house.  This house was the first thing that LB and I had bought together.  We have made lots of memories in this house, and had been through some hard times here too.  I will always have a soft spot for this house in my heart. 

So, today we loaded, unloaded, packed and loaded some more.  After about 300 trips from the house to the car and 3 trips to our new town; we stopped for the night.  Tomorrow we will finish the last few items and clean the house before we turn off the lights and lock the door for the last time.

LB with his 2nd trailer load!

LB's mom was a godsend!  Once I got to the point that my brain was fried, she just stepped in and did what was needed.  If it hadn't been for her, I would probably still be sitting in the floor trying to pack the kitchen(which I started Friday night). 

This is just 2 of our 4 storage buildings. 

I told you we had a lot of stuff.

Tomorrow night we will be staying with LB's parents, and we will stay there until we close on our new house.  That is as long as two new residents, a dog and five fish don't drive them crazy enough to kick us out.  Now if you will look below you will se a picture of the place, where, hopefully in less than a week we will be hanging our hat. 

Aint it cute!

Over and out!

Your Farm Friend,

Amy

Moving Mania! #3

After 3 months of collecting newspaper from everyone we know, 3 rolls of packing tape and 4 storage buildings, we're finally ready to finish clearing out the house. After a thorough washing of the stock trailer it is primed and ready to haul the final pieces our precious belongings to storage building #4.  Bright and early tomorrow morning we're packing up and moving out.  

So, check back here tomorrow to see pictures and a full update of all the adventures of moving.

I might even have a few minutes to steal away and capture a picture of our future home.  (Which we won't actually get to move into for a whole other week.)

Until tomorrow....

About Me

My name is Amy.

I'm a 27 year old cowgirl turned farm girl. I was raised on the back of a horse, I wore ferra faucet hair and put peanuts in my coke.  I'm the middle daughter of 3 girls and my parents are still as in love as they were the day they got married 37 years ago.  I grew up with John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Fred Flinstone, and Opie Taylor.  When I wasn't on a horse, I spent my summers swimming in the creek with my sisters and eating ice cream.   Now that I'm older, I sometimes put chocolate milk in my cereal,  I love cookies more than any other desert, And I don't wear white socks.

I married LB, the love of my life, 5 years ago and became his farm girl.  I've learned to successfully identify wheat, cotton, corn, milo, alfalfa and many other crops with just a quick glance, and am now able to tell the difference between a combine and a hay baler.  Although, I live in a small town (approximately 2500 people) my family has farm ground all around.  We grow wheat and raise calves.  We also have other jobs for the in between times to keep us busy.

I have a crazy haired dog named Moose. Who is actually not much bigger than a racoon.  He has separation anxiety when I'm away and he thinks he should wear clothes.  Why not?  That's what all humans do.  (Please, no one tell him he's a dog.  I don't have time to deal with an identy crisis right now.)  

I started this blog so that my friends and family could keep up with me and see what kind of crazy messes I was getting myself into.  I hope you enjoy coming along with me on my journey through life. And, Thanks for taking the time our of your crazy and hectic days to see what I'm up to.

Hang on tight!  Your Farm Friend,

Amy

Moving Mania! #2

Are we there yet?

How much longer?

I need to get some sleep.....

1 day down & 4 days left - still many more boxes to go!

How do 2 people accumulate so much stuff in such a short period of time. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Just where does this stuff come from? I've had 4 garage sales in the last 4 years, and I still have stuff pouring out of my ears. And my ears aren't even that big!

Maybe I just feel that way because I'm sleep deprived and have packed 3 trillion boxes and 15 storage buildings. See, I told you I had a lot of stuff. You'd think I'd have run out of things to pack by now!

"If you're so sleep deprived then why aren't you in bed?" you ask.

Well, I'm wondering that too.

Goodnight

Moving Mania!

Okay, so we're moving! I'm excited, I really am, but I hate moving.

OK, so I don't HATE moving. Getting a new house is pretty fun. It's just the process in which i have to get my stuff to the new house that I hate.

I wish there was a little moving fairy that would come to my old house, pack my boxes, move my boxes, and then unpack my boxes in my new house.

This would definately make moving more enjoyable.

It's been four years since my last move and I swore then, that I'd never move again unless we hired it done. Well, here we are moving again and I decided that last time really wasn't that bad. I had just over reacted and this time I would be older and wiser thus making the whole situation even better.

Well, I forgot.

The 3 things I hate most about moving:

#1 - Finding boxes the perfect size for the items you want to pack is virtually impossible. They are either to small making me have to use two boxes, which gives me left over room. and I end up walking around the house looking for little odd ball items that I can fit in the box. Or the boxes are to big and I still end up walking around the house looking for that odd ball item to fill the extra space with. Eventually I end up running out of odd ball things and have to stuff extra newspaper in the boxes.

(Tip: If you think you have enough newspaper, think again. Take what you already have and quadruple that, and then maybe you'll have enough.)

#2 - Judging the weight of a packed box is not my expertise. One problem is that I think that my husband should be able to pick anything up. Why not? He's a man. He's big and strong. So if I can't pick it up he should be able to, right? Wrong! I learned it doesn't take very many books in a large box to weigh a whole lot. Because I have become so good at packing boxes really full making them to heavy, my husband, LB, has begun to bring me only small boxes. Now I am back to the problem I have in #1.

#3 - Getting boxes and furniture safely out of the house is also a troublesome area. Either I am not as strong as I think I am, or that piano has gained some weight. Need I say more?

This is such a vicious cycle. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to maintain my sanity! I have only 5 more days until we have to be out of our house.

Wish me luck!