Winter in Iowa

The weather has not been the best lately but I guess it’s winter in  Iowa. It’s been snowing and a cold north wind has been blowing through 20170125_163444_resized_1and when the sun shines you just kind of look out the window a lot and smile because it’s such a nice change. Even those the sun doesn’t shine that much – we can always hope. 

I know there’s the old saying that if you wait long enough the weather will change and that couldn’t be more true.

So what have we’ve been doing with the snowy weather lately? Well Daryl’s been scraping the yard and giving the cattle more hay to keep them quite. For some reason they need a lot of attention during the winter. So you know, he’s doing guy stuff. 

And what have I been doing? Well making soap of course. Some of my first soaps are going to the businesses this week and it’ll be interesting to see how my sales go this Spring. I sure hope my luck continues this year with my little business. 

We’ve also been discussing the kid’s wedding quite a bit lately  and it’s getting pretty exciting. We’re not only talking about the shower and the wedding details but also when our other kids will be flying home. 

Oh it’s going to be such a great year! I can just feel it. 

 

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Bucket List – 2017, Yoga Classes

I’ve been looking for quite awhile to go to a Yoga class and well since it was on my bucket list for 2017 I needed to see what I could do about that.

And guess what? I actually signed up for an Introductory Class at one of our neighboring towns. Yup, I not only signed up but Tuesday night was my first class. 

Now I have no idea what I would expect, but I figured there was no way to know until I actually went. 

So with my yoga pants on and the perfect exercise shirt picked out,   I took a deep breath and walked into the studio. There was about 9 others in the room and the age ranged from young to old. And I wasn’t even the oldest – Score! 

With our matts rolled out the classes started. We learned how to stand, sit, and do a couple of other basic poses. And guess what I learned? I learned that I had no idea on how to do any of them before the class. But that’s why you go to classes right? 

The instructor was super nice and so was everyone else. The class was really hard and there is a lot to learn. I had to smile to myself because about half way through the class the room was getting warm and the ceiling fans were turned on. We weren’t moving very fast but we were throwing off some body heat. 

After the class when everything was all said and done, I was so very glad that I took the Introductory  Class. This class just get you ready for the Beginners Class. That’s kinda funny isn’t it? 

Anyway, I loved the class and am excited to go back next week. 

But I sure do hope the weather will be a little bit better than the drive home tonight. It was snowing so hard and the roads were very slippery, I was even grateful for the dumb rumble strips in the middle of the road. They let me know where I actually was when I was driving. And what else helped me for the verrryyy long drive home? Well I kind of picked up a box of Milk Duds. But for some reason I don’t think I’ll let my yoga instructor know that. 20170126_210847_resized_1

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Farm Animals

I’ve been so busy making soap lately, that I decided that I better check on my chickens. Daryl has been taking care of them these past few weeks, but I wanted to see how everyone was doing. 

Now I couldn’t go without any treats can I? So I had some leftover cut up vegetables, old bread, and some blackberries that were in the fridge that needed to go. OK, maybe they all didn’t need to go tonight but as long as I was making the trip out there well it’s a good time to downsize the fridge right? 

I really couldn’t believe on how big the peacocks have gotten. I thought at first that the two new little ones were males but now I’m not so sure. If they are males they’ll get their long feathers in a year or so and up until then it’ll be just as much as a surprise to me as to the other chickens. 20170119_172024_resized

But I did notice that their Mom is still as protective as she was when they were little and she wasn’t happy at all that I was in there. She was making some pretty scary noises and kept her focus on me the whole time. I knew enough to stay back from her whole clan. 

The rest of the chickens were just hanging out in there and a lot more mellow until they saw their treats. 20170119_172143_resizedThen it when I emptied out the bread bag it was total chaos. So much for the calm before the storm. 

And who followed me around the yard thinking she was going to get some treats? Checkers. I don’t know, but the slice of bacon that she got when I got home from work must not have been enough for her tonight. 20170119_172358_resizedAnd finally I grabbed a bunch of apples for the cows. 

Yup, we  had a very happy farm tonight 🙂

 

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My Appointment Tonight

I knew that Daryl was going to go to the dentist soon and when I saw an appointment on the calendar for a dentist appointment – well it just made sense it was his. 

So as the month goes on I’m thinking to myself that I sure am glad that it wasn’t my appointment. I mean it’s not that I hate going to the dentist, but it’s not my most favorite place to hang out. 

Well, guess what? I found out two days ago that it WAS my appointment. What ?? 

I mean that I just really need more time to prepare myself mentally! And now that I know that I only have  a couple of days, holy smokes! 

OK, I can do this. And so tonight when I was sitting in the chair at my appointment and was asked if I’ve flossed, well heck yeah! I did that quick before I came to the appointment 🙂

And how did my appointment go? It went really well and I’m good for another 6 months.

SCORE! 

 

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Travel continues to be icy

It’s been one of the worst winters in a very long time with all the ice and rain that we’ve been having. I mean if someone doesn’t think that the weather has changed over the past 30 years, well I would argue with them. 

When I was a kid we had so much snow piled up we literally had a one way path on some of the roads. Now we have a one way path on our roads because it’s so slippery and if you get too close to the side of the road the ice will pull you into the ditch. Just not cool! 

I wasn’t sure how the roads were going to be this morning heading out to work when I was leaving our icy farm yard. I was literally driving around 8 mph at the end of driveway just trying not to slide too much 20170117_151901_resized but I made it to work on time and by the end of the day the highways were just wet. But I was glad to see the road grader drive by tonight to try to break up the ice and slush on the gravel roads so tomorrow’s drive to work won’t be quite so slippery. Well anyway I can hope.  20170117_152234_resized

One of the things that I’m worried about with all the ice that we have is just so the cows don’t slip in the cow yard and get hurt. I know that if someone does fall, it’s not going to be good news for anyone! But I guess I should be more worried that they stay put in the yard. I heard tonight that they got out and was walking around in the pasture. Just a crazy winter. Everyone is messed up. 

And what have I been doing with all this lovely weather outside going on? Making soap of course. Here’s a couple of photo’s of some of the new Spring Soap line. This one is an herbal fragrance with some small beads in it for a little exfoliating. I tried out a new process design and I like how it looks.20170116_205105_resized And the one below is called Grandma’s Lilacs because, well because it reminds me of my Grandma’s lilacs 🙂20170116_213847

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Making soap on the weekend

Well I still have my cold and with going on week #3, I realized that I don’t have time to feel better. I have to get some soap made. 

So when I woke up this morning I told myself that no matter what – I’m making soap. 

OK, that’s the plan. 

And guess what? I didn’t do too bad. I really was excited to spend the whole day in the kitchen working on soap and also on a couple of new designs. I made a new soap with a fragrance of Garden Herb’s and even though it sounds kinda weird, it’s probably one of my favorite scents right now. When I take them out of the molds tomorrow, I’ll shoot a couple of pictures. 

I’m running into a problem though. I’m running out of room. I’ve got to add a couple of more shelves to our laundry room and I’m wondering do we really need a laundry room? Maybe they are overrated? (just kidding

But seriously I’m scoping out the house to where I can put the soap and I think I’m going to have to be creative. I’ve even upgraded my cooking equipment to the Jethro size this weekend.20170110_184213_resizedAnd my orders that I’ve been placing seem to be getting more and more expensive. But it’s like Christmas when they come so you kind of forget how much you spent 20170110_172626_resized

So while I’m waiting for my new soap to cure, here is a couple of pictures of the soap that I made earlier that will need to be cut and added to the drying rack.  20170114_083409_resized

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Getting a cold

I guess I should have titled this post – I’ve got a cold! It’s one of those colds when you can taste your fillings in your teeth and your hair hurts.

Now seriously I don’t get sick too often at all and I have absolutely no idea the last time that I did get sick. Well up until now. 

I’ve been hacking and coughing these past few weeks and I’m getting pretty tired of it. I mean I have a LOT to do and none of the things that need to be done involve laying on the couch under blankets. Nope, pretty sure that isn’t on my planner’s list to do.

But I guess I’ve just got to wait this out. And after 2 weeks, I sure hope I’m going to feel better soon! 

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Let’s go skating

Yesterday I officially called it that I am sick and tired of Winter! Yup, I’m done with it. 

But I don’t think I could not have picked a worse time because it’s raining and snowing today and our farm yard has turned from ice to a super ice rink! 20170109_152926_resized

When you drive in our farm yard you have to be so careful and I literally haven’t put the car in the shed for many days. I am scared that when the back of the car swings one way and then the other way that I’ll for sure be hitting something like Daryl’s truck or the garage. 

But it sounds like we might put some sand or gravel down tomorrow. Who would think I’d be so happy to see some dirt! Maybe now I can actually walk across the yard without doing the slow mans shuffle. 

With the terrible weather that we’ve been having, the wind was howling so much tonight after work when I was in the back yard the noise was incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the wind so loud and the old pine trees were just bent over so much I was even worried about them possibly breaking. DSC_1048You can just see the birds in this photo above. They were trying to see if they could land someplace and all the while I was outside they never did land. I think they should land someplace like Florida or Texas where it’s warm 🙂

This is the first year that the county is trying to catch some of the snow in the fields. They took equipment and pushed types of barriers in the fields. Hey I’m all for trying anything to keep the snow off the road. I do not want to miss any days of work because of being stuck on the road. DSC_1050

And the photo of the day is one that I was trying to show just how cold it was here in Iowa these past few days. brrrrr  DSC_1046

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Our dogs

I’ve talked before on how our dogs just hate birds, and I mean HATE birds, so when I see the Bald Eagles flying around our farm this afternoon while I was making soap, well I just knew what I had to do. 

Our dogs had to come into the house so they won’t get into trouble. 

See the last time the Bald Eagles were flying around our farm I was so mad at our dogs that they literally shook for about a week every time that I came near them. What happened was that the birds flew over our farm (God forbid!) and the dogs saw them overhead and went barking and tearing off after them. Did they look quite silly doing this? Yes. Did I think they would ever catch them? No. 

Now I don’t know if you ever seen a Bald Eagle before, but they are big, and well honestly they can fly pretty fast and very long distances.

But for some reason these birds only wanted to hang out in our neighbors field and when the dogs saw that they actually landed – well they were on a mission. And that mission was to find out just why there were these birds flying over our farm to start with and to make sure that everyone knew that they were the boss around here. 

So off they ran, and I mean ran! Barking all the way and across the fields as the birds saw them coming and took off and flew. Now at first I thought what happens if they end up miles and miles away chasing after the birds? We’ll never see the dogs again. But after going outside in the frigid cold yelling for them to come home, I honestly thought to myself that I guess we’ll just have to deal with it and went stayed inside where it was much warmer. 

Finally Kaiser came home panting and puffing and when I yelled at him so much I swear his ears hurt, into the barn he went. But I did catch him looking back to see where Reno was, and I’m guessing he wanted to warn her about how much trouble they were going to be in. 

Once I had Kaiser in the barn, eventually Reno shows up. She just knew she was in trouble and the closer she got to me, the more her head dropped to the ground as she was making here way to the barn. 

Finally with both of them in the barn, I didn’t know if I was still mad at them or if I was happy they were home. But I did know one thing that they better not be doing this again! 

So while I was making soap today and saw outside the kitchen window the eagles flying over our farm, I could feel my blood pressure rising and hurried up and got the dogs in the house before they also saw the birds. Yup, I had a much better plan for them this time around.

Well this is how they spent the afternoon, and for some reason I think they might be OK with this new plan 🙂 20170108_151517_resized

With the dogs under control, here’s a couple of photos of the soaps that I made this weekend. 

Morning Sunrise 20170107_144025and Fancy Chicks 20170108_151802_resized

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My new planner is here!

Some people get excited when they get the latest magazine that they ordered in the mail, but what do I like to see in my mailbox? 

My NEW 2017 Planning Organizer that’s what!! whoop whoop 

When I get to start the new year out with a planner that has all empty pages in it and it can bring so much hope that I’ll be the organized person that I would just love to be – well it’s like you get a ‘do over’ from last year but only hoping that it’ll be even better! 

Now do I always pull through the year with great accomplishments and amazing feats of organization? Well honestly not so much. But I do start every year out strong with a lot of hope that just maybe, yes maybe, some year I will do a good job.

So this year I ordered a little bit smaller organizer that I can take in the tub with me and work on it while I’m just hanging out in there. It’s the perfect size, and in the beginning of the book there is a goal section that you are supposed to fill out first and that will dictate how you plan your upcoming year. I did start to fill it out but I think that there are some goals that you can pick up as the year goes on don’t you? 

Well I did put down some of my goals anyway and some of the obvious ones were related to my soap business and others are related to our family, but then I added a personal goal. This personal goal is to find more time this year to do the fun stuff that we might not have had time to do last year. Now what exactly is that? No clue – but I sure hope to find out!

Happy 2017!   You are looking mighty promising!! 20170107_164947_resized_1

 

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