Life on the farm

We are getting ready for our company tomorrow and with most of everything done, there one thing that still was on my list and even though it would make sense to forget it – it WAS going to get done.

What I’m talking about was putting the lights on our poles on our porch. See we had the garland up earlier that goes around our porch but there should be lights that are wrapped around each pole. I mean we do it every year and I didn’t plan on not doing it this year. So we got out the lights that we were going to use and when we started to put them up, we found out that we had a couple of strands of the ‘cool lights’ and then some ‘warm lights’. Yup, my good luck just ran out! We (OK, I) didn’t want to mix these lights so off to town to see what we can find. And guess what? We found not a strand we could use in the size that we needed. 

OK, now what? We could put up the mixture of lights that we had, but seriously I’ve come too far to settle. Have you ever been there? I mean when you want to do just about anything to finish it off? Well that’s where I was. I was tired and determined and that can be dangerous. 

Then all of a sudden we had a plan, we found out that the one Hardware store was getting in lights and so I called to see if they did actually get some in. Hooray!!  They did and they were going to be open late tonight and for another hour if we wanted to come and get them.

So with my bag of both warm and cool Christmas lights and the correct size that we needed I was off in a flash. I got into the store and when I showed them the lights they said sure they had some. Well to make a long story short – they didn’t have them because they don’t make that size anymore ! WHAT? No wonder we couldn’t find them… and that’s kind of a dirty trick not to make them anymore isn’t it?

After finding this out, I decided we’d take what ever they had in 6 boxes. We have 6 poles – I need 6 boxes. No problem until we found out that they didn’t have 6 boxes of either one. I think I must have looked a little flustered until they said that they could call some in from their other store and deliver them later that night to town. I decided if I could just get 6 boxes in the morning when they open the store they could be put up before our guests come we’d be good.

That was the plan and it worked! Early in the morning Daryl met the owner before they opened the store and came home with our prized lights. They were put up just in time before our company came and they look great! Whew! Check THAT off my list 🙂

My job tonight was to get up some Christmas lights outside. Now normally we don’t turn them on until St. Nicolas day anyway – but with the warm weather that we’ve been having it sure seems that I’ve seen more and more houses and farm that have them turned on early this year. 

So with my totes pulled out of storage from the old calf shed, I finally got myself somewhat fired up and headed outside tonight in the rain to start. Yup, rain. 

Now normally I do this job in the coldest of cold days and with sometimes snow up to my knees. But I think this might be a first that I”m putting our lights up in the rain! 

And the oddest thing happened tonight. Now I know that I’m going to jinx my good luck, but all of my lights worked but one small string. Yea, it’s amazing! I’ve had such bad luck in the past that I’ve literally called the company that made the lights to tell them how bad they were  and they sent me a big box of all new ones. So what did I do different this year than last year? I have absolutely no clue but I sure hope I do it again next year!  

Well  the fence that surrounds our farm is all lit up now and a couple of other things have lights on them, so I’m happy. I kind of wish I could have gotten some lights up on the buildings, but I finished around 10:30 tonight and even I know that climbing up on an extension ladder in the dark to hang lights on buildings isn’t the smartest idea. But if it wasn’t so dark , I’m just saying that I might have gotten them up one way or another! 

So my goal is to get a couple of more lights up on the farm maybe tomorrow night and then start thinking about the two turkeys hanging out in our fridge that need to be roasted for Saturday. I’m a little nervous I won’t lie about making them so I guess we’ll see how they turn out. 

What a great weekend we had! 

We spent some of the time with family, we spent some of the time cleaning, and we even spent some of the time doing nothing at all. 

Our list is long not only for what needed to get done this weekend but also for the upcoming week, so I knew that we had to stay focused and on definitely stay on track. But guess what? Well around 4:00 this afternoon I simply ran out of gas and had absolutely no interest in starting another project. 

And then guess what? I decided to take a Sunday afternoon nap. It was wonderful! I literally just hung out my the fireplace and stopped listening to the rainy and windy weather outside.  I told Daryl that sometimes people say that they spent their Sunday afternoon watching movies or taking a nap and up until now I just never could understand that thought. It ‘s wonderful!

But now that it’s almost time to call it a night and hit the hay,  I’m also getting prepared for the upcoming week and making my list of things to do. Yea,  I’m thinking that maybe that nap idea today wasn’t such a good idea after all after taking a look at my list.

It’s times like this when I sure wish I didn’t give up Diet Coke!

What a title huh? 

Well let me just tell you that I’m really in a good mood tonight! 

See what has happened these last two months is a very … and I mean very… long story so I’ll try to condense it as much as I can. 

It all started with my old laptop dying. Sad but true and I thought, well no big deal I’ve got my fancy new Mac right? Well that’s almost right. See the printer wouldn’t work  with a Mac computer so I was in the market now to buy a new one. 

Down to the store I go (which is an hour drive one way from our farm) to pick up a printer. I found one and installed it. BAM! I was in business and truthfully feeling quite cocky to be honest. But then I ran into trouble and it kept saying that I was out of paper. That’s when my troubles began. After uninstalling and installing the software and the drivers multiple times and researching it on the internet, I finally gave up.  Both HP and the Geek Squad said to just bring it back to the store and that’s what I did. 

Another hour trip one way to return it and pick up another one just like it and back home I go. Now the laptop needed to be updated so after that happened I found out that the printer didn’t have the latest updates to be able to use with my computer. And I found this out the hard way! I knew when I was working on it, the software that I needed wasn’t available to download. Well both HP and Apple said it would work and after giving up to letting someone remotely trying to get my computer to work and then having them both saying that the other one didn’t know what they were doing, I gave up after around 6 hours and returned that printer. 

Another hour trip one way to return it to the store and pick up a different  Brand this time. The brand was supposed to be compatible with my new upgraded laptop and guess what? Well if you guessed that it didn’t work – You are the WINNER! With a headache that I swear was going to make my head explode I gave up on it for the night. 

Another hour trip back to return it and this time I wasn’t going to buy one for a very long time. The people in the store were really nice and by this time I felt that I knew more about software upgrades that I really felt anyone should. Well other than HP and Apple of course! 

So this past weekend I thought I’d try it again. I think I had a weak moment or something. Of course the people at the store said that they all should work but I seriously knew better than that. So I bought the same type of printer as the first and second time. 

But I had way different expectations this time. I just knew that it wouldn’t work and was hoping that I would be surprised. And guess what? It worked! SCORE!!! Now I don’t want to jinx it or anything, but it seems like the printers finally have upgraded their software to the new operating system for my laptop. 

Seriously who cares right? So far it’s working and that’s all that matters to me. I told Daryl that I think I should change how I look at life. I always think that things will work out and sometimes get so disappointed when they don’t. But when you think that they won’t work – it’s such a great feeling when they actually do. 

Anyway that you look at it, it was a very successful night and I’m excited to have a printer again.