Life on the farm

With our vacation just around the corner, tonight is the night that we get pretty serious about what clothes and stuff we’re going to bring.

First things first. The first thing that we do is to get out some tables. Now these tables have been up for awhile now and it really works pretty good. What we do is each of us has a card table and we put all our things on it. Clothes, hair stuff, shoes, Q Tips… you know, stuff. Then as the days go by you start eliminating the clothes that you really don’t need. And the thought is that when you get to the day that you actually are packing your bags, you have only the things that you should bring. Well, my table is still wayyyyy too full, so I’m trying to downsize even more. It’s always kind of a weird feeling when your packing. Well, anyway it is for me. You want to make sure that you have everything and are so excited at the same time. We always say that we have just as much fun planning and getting ready to go on vacation as when you are there.

And the weather in Iowa? Well, most of the schools were cancelled today because of the bad conditions the roads were in. As long as we have good weather to get to our flight, I really don’t care. But I guess I do hope that they don’t get too bad of weather when we’re gone either. Kyle is helping us out while we’re gone and will be staying on the farm to not only make sure that the farm animals are OK, but also to keep an eye on everything else around here. And what is the weather in Costa Rica today? 90 degrees 🙂

William wanted to head back to college this morning, so like always I make everyone take pictures before you can leave. So the first picture was of the boys. It sounds kind of crazy, but since they’ve been little we’ve always taken ‘THE’ picture in front of this old cupboard that we have. Now there’s nothing much with the cupboard to look at and I have no idea why we even started the tradition, but we’ve got photo’s with Bert the bunny hiding inside when Kyle could just crawl, then as the years passed it was the background for the boys in their Halloween costumes, and also Birthday party friends pictures were all taken in this one spot in front of it. Then as the kids got older we got pictures with girlfriends, Prom dates, and now when the kids are heading back to college,  all in front of it. I don’t know if you saw this one commercial over Christmas where the tree top Angel saw this one family grow up and everything that over the years that the family did – but I kind of think that’s how this old cupboard is for us. I got it about 30 years ago when we first got married. I went to an auction in St. Lucas and the auction had this big old jelly cupboard sitting on the lawn. And I’m sure you would have done the same thing that I did at that point. I thought, ‘How cool is that!’ Well, for some reason no one was too overly excited about it and I remember that I got it for less than $100. Bargain right? I loaded it up in the truck and brought it home. Well, when Daryl saw it he also just couldn’t believe it. He just couldn’t believe that someone would actually pay money for something that looked that bad. But I had a friend redo the doors to add some glass in them and with a couple of coats of paint on it, it really didn’t look too bad. I found a spot in the kitchen to put it and it’s been there ever since. And who would have known at the time that this old cupboard sitting on a lawn looking pretty lonely and unloved, would play such an important part in our family history. Yup, ‘How cool is that!’

The boys and myself in front of the cupboard. I’m not sure when I got so short though!

I really did have good intentions of having a good supper tonight. But after work I had some errands to run so needless to say – we had ‘let’s clean out the refrigerator night’. And what does that actually mean? Well, it means just what it says. You have all the warm ups from the refrigerator. And since ours was getting pretty full, it worked out perfectly. So for supper tonight we had goulash, broasted chicken, fried potatoes, brats, corn, and cheese bread. And anything after supper that was left over went to Reno for the night. I’m thinking she’s really liking that the kids are home for awhile. She’s getting much better left overs than she did when it was just Daryl and I.

And after the dishes were done, I made some caramel popcorn to have while the kids played some cards.

A good game of euchre is the perfect way to spend the evening

When I got up this morning and went to the car to go to work, I thought to myself that it wasn’t so bad out here this morning. You know how you kind of analyze the day, well that’s what I was doing with the weather. I even thought to myself that I might not have even had to warm up the car. Now the reality set in when I was driving away and checked out the outside temperature. It was still -14 but it was a kind of warm -14 degrees if that makes any sense. I was just glad that it’s starting to get warmer because I’m getting pretty sick of this cold weather. I don’t mind a little bit of it, but enough is enough! I’ve gotten some of my summer stuff out for our upcoming vacation and I just keep thinking of the weather there – 93 degrees…. 93 degrees…

With having a house guest from New York and trying to make ‘Iowa food’, tonight we thought we’d go out to an Iowan restaurant for supper. We like to eat at the White House in St.Lucas,  so we loaded up the cars and headed out for the night. The food was excellent and I can’t remember the last time we ate there, so I was glad to go back. We always try to take the boys there when they are heading back to their college or a job. So with William leaving on Sunday for his classes to start, I guess this will be the only time that we’ll get there with him. After supper a stop at a local bar for some pool and darts. Pretty radical for us on a Tuesday night 🙂

Our High School concert was postponed from before Christmas to tonight because of bad weather on the original date. I think this is the first time that I can remember that it actually had to be postponed. I’ve been to concerts where it’s snowing so much outside that they cut out about half the songs, but never postpone it until January. But you know what? It was still really nice. I think because it was after Christmas they didn’t have the crowd that they usually get. Usually they have the gym filled with parents, grandparents, and anyone looking to get in the Christmas mood. But with the Christmas songs and music playing, it was almost nicer than having it before. I found myself in the other years thinking about everything that I need t do yet when the music was playing. I would be thinking about cooking and shopping and everything else the season brings. But when it’s after Christmas, you can just sit back and enjoy it.

This year we also had something kind of special for us. We had both boys with us. So the tradition is to invite all the alumni to sing with the kids one song. And as the guys were getting up and heading to the gym floor, not ONE of them turned around to see if I was coming too. See it’s a joke in our house. I am a terrible singer, so I’m sure glad that they got Daryl’s talent and not my lack of it! And it’s funny, because when the music instructor is asking for the others to join the students, they never have to ask twice. I think the invited guests not only like to sing with the kids but also look forward for the chance. What did I like the best about it?  I just liked seeing all the Kuehner guys on stage having a good time.

William, Daryl, and Kyle after the song