Weekend at the farm

This past weekend Louis and I went up to see his parents in Milford and to pick up the kids, who have been staying with Grandma & Grandpa. On Sunday afternoon we had some great "family" time with Grandpa Jack & Grandma Lynne. For those of you who do not know, Jack is a veterinarian and a beef farmer. They raise Hereford cattle. Since Louis and I were visiting they figured it would be a good time to "work" cattle. What that means is that we catch all the cows and calves (& some bulls) to give them their vaccinations and take blood samples. It's a lot of work to run over 75-100 cattle through the barn. Jack, of course has the hardest part of the job, giving the shots and taking the blood samples, which are taken from the underside of the cows tail. You wouldn't believe how strong those tails are when they don't want them lifted up! I would say it took us about 4 hours total to round up the cattle from the pasture and bring them up to the barn and then run them through individually and then put them back out to pasture. Caisha was great help! She was in charge of writing the cattle's number on the blood vials and handing them to me so I could insert the blood from the syringe that Jack had just filled up. Lynne ran the head gate (an apparatus that catches the cattle's head so they can't back up or go forward), and Louis seperated out the cows and calves and brought them into the barn. We had a pretty good system going and things went fairly smoothly. Funny as it sounds, it was a great afternoon!

News!

Ok, here is the news that I have been hoping to share with everybody! I am pregnant!! I think I am about 6 weeks along. I started having morning sickness the day after I got back from my pageant. At first I thought I was feeling that way because I was still trying to catch up on my sleep from that weekend, but it hasn't gotten any better over the course of the week. I do have to say that I am thankful it is only in the morning and it is only naseua. I haven't thrown-up like I did when I was pregnant with Caisha. I just have to make sure I eat something right away in the morning and then munch on stuff the rest of the morning. I have found, also, that if I am too cold I feel worse. Not a good situation at work since the A/C vent is right above me! I wear a coat and long pants everyday now! My first doctors appointment is September 11 at 9am. This is where they take blood samples and check all your vitals. It's my least favorite doctors visit. My first official visit with my doctor will be September 27 at 10am.

National Beauties of America Pageant

What a great pageant system! This was my 4th year attending the National Beauties of America Pageant (BOA) and every year I have such a great time! Granted, this year it was a lot less stressful, being that I was passing on the crown instead of vying for it. I was so proud of all the ladies in my division (30's) and wanted all of them to win!! Usually I have an idea who will capture the crown, but this year I could not decide! I felt like all the ladies were "my girls". I was kind of protective of them and wanted to help every one of them to do their best! I was a mother hen, in a way. So many of the contestants this year were doing a pageant for the first time. I can say that this is one of the best pageants to try if you are a first timer! Because we don't compete against everybody there, it allows for some closer friendships all weekend. There is such great support from all the other contestants and you can learn tricks and techniques from all different ages......and feel free to share them since they aren't your direct competition! I love it!
My weekend started on Wednesday night when I headed up to my friend, Monica's, in Minneapolis so I could catch my 6:30am flight out of the cities. Of course, we ended up staying up until 2am talking! Then woke up at 4am to get ready to head to the airport. I was VERY tired! Lucky for me, I did not have to stand in line anywhere and made it through the airport in about a half hour, so I had a little time to kill before I boarded my plane. I always bring a book just in case. I thought I might beable to catch a few winks on the plane, but first of all the plane was a smaller one with only 2 seats on each side of the aisle....second, the largest man on the plane had the seat next to me. I was tempted to ask him for partial payment on my airfare since he was taking up almost half of my seat! I was a little upset......I had paid good money for my seat and I should beable to use the entire thing!! I didn't get any real sleep. I had a connecting flight in North Carolina that turned out to be a bigger plane and the seat next to me was empty, so I thought "Wonderful! I can get some shut eye!" It didn't turn out that way. Some one or some people right around me had been drinking A LOT and you could just smell it on them and they had smoked a cigarette right before boarding the plane! So I had the combined smell of stale alcohol and smoke floating around me the entire flight! Most of my family knows I am allergic to cigarette smoke, so I ended up with a headache and itchy eyes. Not very conducive to sleeping! I finally landed in Myrtle Beach and was relieved to find out that there was a shuttle service to the hotel. Of course, it didn't show up for over a half hour after I called for them. I wasn't the only pageant girl waiting for this shuttle. It turns out that one of the ladies from my division had been on the plane with me! It was Penny Genovese from New York! It was great to talk with her and her family on the ride to the hotel. Once at the hotel, I checked into my room and quickly changed clothes, ran a brush through my hair, washed my face and put on a little make-up before dashing down to orientation. Orientation went well and in the time alloted, which only gave me about an hour and half to get ready for our night at "The Hard Rock Cafe". We were suppose to dress up with a rock and roll feel. It was fun. At this point I am starving and extremely tired! Adreniline was the only thing keeping me going! The salad that I had ordered did not fill me up, but luckily one of the other girls couldn't finish her sandwich so she kindly shared it with me! I finally got to bed around midnight that night and was up at 7:30am the next morning. It was TOOO early! Then we had rehearsal in the morning and interviews in the afternoon. Friday evening we had a beach party dinner. It was great to see all the outfits that the ladies came in! That night I got to bed around 11:30p and was up at 7:30am again the next morning (Saturday). This was the big day! We had rehearsal all day since the final competition was that evening at 7pm. It came all too quickly! It was a great production and things ran fairly smooth. It was a great first-time show for Jen! Melissa(America's 40's 2005) and I plan to come back next year and help out again! I can't wait! My flight out of Myrtle Beach was delayed an hour and half. I was very glad I had a 5 hour lay over in Atlanta! On the trip from Atlanta to Minneapolis I witnessed one of the best mothers I have ever seen dealing with the late hour(after midnight) with two small children, probably around the ages of 2 years and 5 years, and the uncertaintly of getting on my flight. She had so much patience and such a great repore with her kids! I know in her situation I would have been short tempered and all out of fun ideas to entertain the kids. I had to admire her and when we landed in Minneapolis I had to let her know what a wonderful mom I thought she was! It was great way to end my great weekend! By the way, it was 2am Monday morning when my plane touched down and I didn't get much sleep on the planes, again. I crashed at Monica's that morning and slept till around noon, then I met her for lunch and had to head home to Boone, IA. I'm not sure I have recovered yet from the lack of sleep! But, after a pageant, that is not uncommon for me!

Branson, MO

It's been awhile since I've had the chance to update my site! Things picked up at work and I had a few events going on that took me away from the computer. Anyway, August 10-12 I was in Branson, MO with Louis, the kids and Jack & Lynne. It was a lot of fun! The kids, Louis and Lynne headed down to Branson on the 7th, so they got a whole week there! I drove down Wednesday night with Jack. It was great to spend that much time with my father-in-law. I think it is the longest we have been together at one time! I learned a lot about him and found that Louis is a lot like his dad....especially on how their thought processes work! Branson was a great time! I wasn't there long enough, though! There was so much more that I wanted to see. We went to Silver Dollar City and the kids really enjoyed the water rides and park.... so did Grandpa Jack and Louis! It brought out the kid in both of them! All 3 kids and Grandpa and Louis were soaked through on the second day we were there! I know the kids really enjoyed that time with their Grandpa Jack! While the men (loosely used in this instance) and kids had water fights, Lynne and I purused the shops. We purchased some items, but mostly browsed. I don't think we even saw 1/4 of the shops that were there! The second day we were there we had the old fashioned tin-type picture taken. They turned out great! Zach, of course, had to be a Union soldier and Grandpa and Louis followed suit. They were very dashing! All of us girls wore beautiful gowns. The picture is set up to look like the parlor of a colonial house, which seemed appropriate since the house we own is from that era. The girls (Nala and Caisha) were very excited about wearing the beautiful dresses! I have the picture of our family hanging in my living room now. Grandma Lynne and Grandpa Jack got one of all of us together and one with just the grandkids. They all turned out beautiful! The third day we went to Silver Dollar City, we took the Marvel Cave tour. Zach and Grandma opted to walk around the park instead. The cave was amazing! And the history is very interesting. Louis and I would like to go back and do the lantern tour of the cave which lasts over 2 hours! At the end of the afternoon, Grandma, Grandpa and the kids all headed to Arkansas to see some friends and drop Zach off with his dad, then they headed back home on Sunday. Louis and I headed back home on Saturday afternoon so we could relax a little bit before he had to work Sunday afternoon. All in all it was a great time....drive time and all!!

First Wiring Experience!

I am so proud of myself! Last evening I installed a new chandelier in my entryway. I was a little concerned that I would not be able to do it once I took the old light down. There was no electrical box that housed the wires, just a hole in the ceiling with two (fabric encased) wires poking through and there really wasn't anything to anchor the new light too! I knew the electrical wiring was a little old in the house, but I was not expecting it to be quite this old! There was no way to tell which was the live wire and which was the neutral. I stripped off some of the "fabric casing" to expose the wires and almost gave up at that point.(Yes, I turned off the power in the house first!) Then I remembered that Nathan (my brother) had done a lot of updating in his house, so he might know a thing or two about wiring in a new fixture. I called him up and lucky for me he was home AND he knew what to do! He recommended that I go out and buy a wire tester. We both figured I would probably need it again anyway! With my handy, dandy, new fangaled wire tester (which was a lot smaller than I expected) I figured out which wire was hot and which was neautral. Once I did that I turned off the power to the house again so I could go about installing my new light! Well, the next obstacle was trying to figure out how to attach the mounting bar to the ceiling without pulling down all the plaster! I carefully made the existing hole bigger, trying to expose some wood lathe or joists. I did manage to find some wood to attach one end of the mounting bar to and took a chance at drilling a hole in the plaster for the other end to attach to.....and lucky for me, I hit something solid for the second hole, also! Once I had the wires all strung through the chain on the chandelier I tried to attach the light to the mounting bar and realized that I had to run the wires through the small tube on the mounting bar, also. So, I had to unscrew the mounting bar from the ceiling and feed the wires through and then re-attach the bar. I matched up my hot and neutral wires, capped and taped them and then tucked them up into the hole as much as possible, put the dome over the hole and wires and tightened the whole unit together. Now the real test was upon me! I turned the power back on, put new bulbs in the fixture and flipped the switch! And..........it WORKS beautifully!! The lighting is so much brighter than the old fixture. I can actually see the ceiling and all the corners now! It is wonderful! I am so excited. And I am ready to tackle some more of these "do-it-yourself" projects! Maybe I will tackle some plumbing issues next! Afterwards, I went on a nice long bike ride, played with Bronx (our puppy), then curled up on the couch with Badger and Simba (our cats) and watched a little TV before bed. Of course, the new light was happily blazing in the background!! :)

Beauties of America Appearances

The 2006 Miss FestAg Royalty in Minnesota Lake, MN.

I was one of the judges. What a fantastic group of young ladies!

This was taken right after my interview on the radio! It was so much fun and very touching.

I hope to return to the radio and talk more about self-esteem and confidence issues that young women face today.

Life 107.1FM is a christian radio station located in Des Moines. They have only been around for about 3 years. I look forward to hearing them for years to come!

Freezing

Well, this weekend I turned my kitchen into a sauna! Suprisingly it didn't seem to bother me too much, even though it was probably close to 100 degrees in the kitchen! I recieved a bunch of home grown sweet corn and zucchini from Lynne's garden. (Mother-in-Law) There was no way that we would be able to eat all of it before it went bad, especially since everybody (but me!) left for Branson, Missouri this morning, so I set about freezing most of it. I was actually enjoying myself and remembering watching my own mom do this same ritual every summer. It felt good! I will be doing more in the future years to come once I get my own garden going next year. I hope to plant corn, beans, peas, carrots, radishes, tomatoes, potatoes and possibly rutabega and squash. I know, I have big dreams! :) On top of that I will have the raspberries from the small bush mom gave me this year (which has grown A LOT with the rain we've been getting!) and I would like to add strawberries to the mix, also! Oh, and of course, I can't forget all the flowers that will be going in! Although, all of this does hinge on Louis getting the Carriage House torn down so I have the room! Everytime he has had the chance it has rained! Very frustrating for both of us!
Painting the exterior of the house is still on our agenda for this year.....before the snow flies! We are going to get an estimate from a house painter and compare that with how much it would cost for us to rent scaffolding (or a boom) and do the painting ourselves. If it is less than $200 difference we will more than likely have someone else do the job. If not, we welcome any "volunteers" to come down and help us paint! Our neighbors, Mark and Joelle, keep asking when the "Painting Party" is! They have already volunteered to help and ......they are not afraid of heights!, which Louis is and I am, sort of! Who could ask for better neighbors than that!!

Work Update

I am finally, officially back at work full-time this month!! It will be nice to be collecting my original paycheck again.....Although I think a raise will be in order here pretty soon. I am currently working on someTownhomes for Seniors, so the drafting I am doing is pretty close to what I was doing when I worked at the custom home builders. I have the basic layout of the building and my job is to tweek it so it all works. Coming towards the end of August I get to work on redesigning a kitchen! I am so excited about that, since that is my speciality! Things are looking like they should be back on track within the next couple months. Hopefully that means Louis and I will be able to get the exterior of the house painted and maybe started on the kitchen renovation!

Questions of the Day

1.) Why can't architects design buildings using even number dimensions.... no fractions?

2.) Why does it rain, even when it is not in the forcast, whenever I hang my clothes out on the line and I need them ASAP?

Lainee Renae

This past weekend I went to visit my younger brother, Nathan and his wife, Emily in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin to see Lainee. What a precious little girl!! I wanted to take her home with me. :) I started out on Friday afternoon around 3:30pm, thinking that I would get to Nathan's around 8:30pm. Well, the directions I printed up from Yahoo! were wrong! I missed my turn in Dubuque because the directions said to "bear right on Wall Street". There was no Wall Street. I needed to turn left on Locust Street. Anyway, I ended up East of Galena, IL without anyway of going North, so I had to turn back around and backtrack to Galena where I found a road going north, so I hoped it would take me to Hwy 151 that I needed to be on. I'm not sure how out of my way I ended up, but I did get hooked up with 151 eventually. I finally made it to Nathan's around 10pm. Of course, to make this adventure more fun, I had forgotten my cell phone at home. Luckily I have OnStar in my car so I was able to call Dad to get Nathan's phone number. But Dad couldn't find the address book that Mom keeps that info in, so I never did get Nathan's number. When I got to BeaverDam, it was dark and there was a little road construction and I got all turned around, but suprisenly I found their house! Of course, they had been worried about me and had called Mom and Dad's to get my car phone number, but I hadn't left that with Dad, so they couldn't get a hold of me either. Anyway, it all turned out ok. I got to hold Lainee that night for the first time. It was Heaven! She slept most of the day on Saturday, but I still got in a lot of time holding her. Sunday she was awake most of the morning. She was so good! Just taking in all the sounds and movements around her. I even got a refresher course in changing diapers! Now I want a baby of my own even more than before!(if it's possible) It was great to catch up on things with Nathan and Emily and see there wonderful new house and all the work that they have put into it. It looks great! Nathan's going to have to come out and give me a hand on my house! :P The weekend came to an end way to soon, but I didn't miss any turns on the way home and made it home in a little over 5 hours, which is what it should be! Hopefully my weekend around a newborn will give my body some ideas! I'll keep you posted on that!

Side Note: Pictures of Lainee will be coming soon!