New Puppy!!

Yesterday, I promised that I would blog today about what we were getting.  Well, we ended up getting her last night since Chris has to work all weekend.  I should have waited till today so I could savor my last night of sleep!  We are putting her in a dog crate at night, for now, until she gets used to everything, and boy oh boy she is not fond of it!!  I'm sure she'll get used to it, it will just take some time.  She is a 6 1/2 week old pure bred chocolate lab.  Chris will use her for hunting (next year) and I will use her as a companion during the day so I don't go out of my mind.  I'm going to be like those crazy ladies who have full blown conversations with their dogs.

Anyways, she's pretty darn cute.  Here are some pics.

She's adorable!!

We still don't have a name for her.  We will be registering her, so she needs a long name, cuz I guess that's just how people do it.  Any suggestions?  Chris likes Coolidge's Caramel Macchiato Cowgirl and then call her Macch "Mock" for short.  I like it, I just don't know if it fits her.

Catch Up

Ok, so it's been over a week since I last posted.  I can hear my mother yelling at me :)  It's not like I'm so super busy during the day that I can't take a few minutes to post what we're up to.  The weeks just get away from me and I forget.  BUT, no more excuses.  I've told myself that I'm going to try and blog at least 3 times next week.  We'll see how that goes.

This is going to be a picture post, because that will pretty much show what we've been up to.

First off, I've been busy in the front yard.  This is a flower bed that is right in front of our house on both sides of the entryway.  They had been neglected for a while, so last week I got out there and pulled all the weeds and planted flowers, and then put mulch over the top to help keep the weeds down.  The mums were $1.49 at Home Depot.  Can't beat that!!

Last Saturday, we didn't have much on the calendar, so we went out to the barn to see what we could clean up.  Well, we found a metal barrel and a bunch of wood that needed to be burned so we could make room for the sheep.  There is still A LOT more to go, but we got a good start.  The hubby was having fun!

This past Monday, I was really busy chopping weeds.  See, I think our property is the only place where these lovely pole weeds grow.  We have SO many of them.  No matter how hard you try to keep up with them, they grow back 10 times as fast.  But out front by our mail box was starting to look a little overgrown, so I got the shovel and started chopping.  It took me a while, but it looks a lot better!

Before

After-so much better!

On Tuesday, Chris got off work a little early because he hurt his back over the weekend and had to make his first trip to the chiropractor.  I've been begging him to do this for years, but a muscle spasm finally pushed him to go.  Anyways, we got to take this sweet boy to a pick-your-own pumpkin, pumpkin patch and he had the greatest time!  As he was carrying his pumpkin, he was saying "I got my punkin patch"  So cute.

Tomorrow, I will have a surprise to show you.  It's something I have been waiting a long time for and it has made this week draaaag on like no other.  It's going to change our lives...just a little.  

And for those of you that know what it is...don't say it :)

Linking up today to Farmchick's Farm Photo Friday. You should too!

Farm Photo Friday

I know I have posted this picture before, but a new blogger friend of mine, Fresh From The Farm, has a challenge every friday to get out on your property and take cool pictures around your farm.  Since I haven't gotten out much to take pictures, I'm reposting one.  However, this will push me to get out to the barn and take some fun pictures before we clean all that stuff up and move the sheep in.

Oh and by the way, we have moved ALL the sheep from Chris's parents house out to pasture at a friends house.  By the time they eat all that down, we will have something put together for the sheep to come to their NEW home.  Pretty excited about that!

I am linking up over at Farmchick's Farm Photo Friday.  You should too!

Thank A Farmer

As I have stated before, I grew up in a moderate sized town, in the middle of town.  I didn't know what farming was all about and the time that goes in to it, until I met a farmer.  I did know it was a lot of hard work and long hours, but I guess I never experienced it all first hand.

About a month after we got married is when Chris started his busy time of year.  Lots of spraying, discing, irrigating, and now harvest.  The past month has been a little hard for me.  This lifestyle is different for me.  I have an ag degree, I dated Chris for 4 years, even though we never lived together, I thought I would have been prepared for his busy season, but let me tell you, it's a little tougher than I thought.  During our dating years, it was different for me, but I have almost always had roommates and school friends close by to hang out with when he was busy for weeks on end.  I only have one roommate now, and he works a lot.  He works h.a.r.d.  He has a full time job, and then has to go check on farming stuff in the evening and on the weekends.  I usually try to go with him in the evenings so we can spend some time together before we both crash.  I'm trying to tell myself that it is just a season.  It will end and he won't be as busy...except duck season starts this weekend and he is an avid hunter. so that will consume most weekends until the end of January.  We'll see if I go out this year, I haven't made up my mind yet, but I still have a few months to decide.

I got a phone call from a friend today that is a dairy farmer in Minnesota.  He is a board member for the National Dairy Producers Organization, which is a non-profit organization that I helped start up when I worked at my previous job.  He wanted to update me on the standings of the organization and what their exposure was at the World Dairy Expo a few weeks ago.  As a dairy farmer, he works all day long.  Early in the morning till well into the night.  They are right in the middle of harvest out there as well, and he said that his custom chopper has already put away over 3,000 tons of feed.  That's a lot of feed!  But that is his lively hood, that's how he keeps his cows alive and his business running.  Long hours ARE required.  I told him that Chris is closer to the end of harvest than he is to the beginning, and that he has been working long hours as well.

Anyways, my friend made a good point this afternoon.  Yes, farmers work extremely long hours.  However, there are people eating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.  It is an honor to be able to feed the world.  If it wasn't for farmers in the U.S.  the world wouldn't survive.  No way, no how.    Long hours are required.  It's takes A LOT of time and hours to grow food for one person, let alone hundreds of billions.  

What he said made me think a little differently about how Chris spends his time.  He is growing grapes/raisins to help feed the world.  Just think about that for a second.  It's not something that only one person can do, all these farmers from across the world come together to feed EVERYONE.  Amazing.  Think about that the next time you sit down to eat a meal, or a snack, or drink a glass of milk with your chocolate chip cookie.  Every. Single. Ingredient, was grown or raised by someone (unless it's some crazy processed junk).  There was a lot of work that went into growing and raising the food that you ate for dinner tonight.  Puts a whole new perspective on things doesn't it?

So...thank a farmer, they feed the world.  It's a HUGE responsibility!

A touch of hell on earth

By that, I mean Costco on a Sunday.  Bad idea, very very bad idea!!  So yesterday, the hubs and I decided to head to town to go out to lunch and make a Costco run.  Rest assured, that will never happen again.  Lunch, yes.  Costco, NO! 

Evidently, people don't eat all week so they can fill up on samples during their Sunday trip to Costco.  And while people are scrounging each and every sample stand, at least twice, they lose absolutely all common sense.  Maybe not just their common sense, but quite possibly their entire brain.

So here I am, pushing the cart wanting to enter an aisle, well I should have known that this wasn't going to happen easily because there was a sample stand right there.  There was a lady and her 47 children that she hasn't fed all week, just standing in the aisle way with her cart full of junk food, I'm sure.  "You can't just block the aisle way" I said.  Her response...get this...ready?  "I'm waiting for samples".  REALLY??  Get. out. of. the. aisle. way.  Comprende?? So her and her following, finally moved over so I could get through.  I think they might still be standing in line, waiting for samples. 

For those of you that know me, you know my patience level goes right down the toilet when you think with your butt and not with the actual brain that God gave you.  Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with eating samples at Costco, I'm all for it, just don't piss other people off in the process.

Have a great rest of the week.  You won't see much of me here.  We started fair week today, and well, it's a very busy week for us!

Last Week's Creations

Things are moving a little slow in my life right now.  I have been under the weather with a chest infection and strep throat for a few days, and haven't really been in the blogging state of mind.  When I get it, I REALLY get it. 

 All the raisins at our house were boxed on Saturday.  That was my second day of feeling really crappy, so I definitely wasn't going to show my face to the workers.  :)  But we had 8 acres into the packer before the rain came.  Chris had a crew out rolling trays till about 7:30 Monday night.  So thankfully everything was rolled before the rain hit late last night.  They will get unrolled when the storm passes and hopefully have enough time to dry out the rest of the way.

But last week I was feeling fine and decided to do some creating in the kitchen...all in one day. 

First, we had a bunch of extra apples left over from the fruit skewers I put together for Chris's cousin's baby shower a couple weekends ago, so what else can you do with an abundance of apples? Why, make an apple pie, of course!  I have an amazing crust recipe from a family friend, my mom gave me a killer apple pie filling recipe, and I found a simple crumb topping recipe on the internet.  

So, this went into the oven around lunch time...

No, I didn't eat it for lunch.

It turned out soooo yummy!  A little runny, though.  I think it was the Fuji apples, I needed a baking apple instead.  But boy oh boy did it have good flavor!

That night, I had some chicken that needed to be cooked and some fresh mushrooms that needed to get used before they went bad.  Browsed around on the internet, and of course I didn't have any of the fancy ingredients that they called for, so I made my own concoction...I get that from my mother.  Thanks, mom!!

This is what I made...it doesn't have a name.  

* 3 Chicken thighs

* Fresh mushrooms

* Butter

* Flour

* 1% Milk

* Garlic, salt, pepper, italian seasonings and whatever else you feel like throwing in

* Asparagus

* Cornstarch

Now, I didn't follow any kind of recipe, nor did I measure any of these ingredients out.  I just threw them in the pot till it tasted like something someone would eat.

I browned the chicken first, then threw it in the oven on 300 degrees and worked on the sauce in the pot.  All this is in my dutch oven pot, that I love!  Threw in the chopped up mushrooms and butter and sauted them till they were slightly brown.  Then I put in some flour to make a roux so the milk would thicken as it cooked.  Threw in 2-3 cups of milk, maybe more, I really suck of estimating measurements.  After I threw all the spices in and let it all cook together for a little bit, I threw the chicken back in and put it on low and just let it simmer for about an hour.  Chris & his friend had gone to check on some sheep, so I just let it cook until they got back to the house.  Then I threw the asparagus in, doesn't take look to get it to where it's just getting a little soft.  It was still a little thinner than I wanted, so I put in just a little cornstarch and that seemed to do the trick.

Boiled some penne pasta and threw this stuff over the top.  It even got the boys' approval!

And then this is what my poor kitchen looked like at the end of the day.  I think it took me three rounds of filling up the draining rack before it was all washed.

So while I was doing dishes, the boys were looking up information on the Arizona National Livestock Show.  We just might be going this year...pretty excited about that!

Isn't that just cute.  

My new endeavor

So that job that I was head over heels about, yeah, didn't work out.  I really wish it had, but it just wan't the right place to be I guess.  SO, this is what I'm up to now...besides being a housewife.

I am now an Independent Business Owner for a company called Conklin.  I don't know if you have heard of it before, but it's a pretty amazing company.  It is kind of set up like any of the candle and make-up companies.  You know, those pyramid marketing companies that you work for yourself and sell the company's products and then sign people up to sell the products as well.  Now, it's hard to work for a company like this unless you really believe in the products, and I do! 

They have some pretty amazing products.  Their cleaning supplies and laundry detergent are "clean" cleaning products.  They are not full of harsh chemicals or dyes.  I use the laundry detergent and it is amazing.  Any laundry detergent that you buy at the store is full of fillers and biodegradable ingredients like peanuts, rocks, sand etc.  So if you could imagine, that stuff is NOT good for your clothes.  And 4 bottles of the leading laundry detergent does the same amount of loads as one bottle of the laundry detergent from Conklin.  And it's cheaper too!

Conklin also has vehicle products, human health products, and my specialty-animal health products.  They sell a phenomenal line of microbial products, called Fastrack, for both companion animals and all types of livestock.  I can not stress enough the importance of probiotics in your animals life.  Makes a huge difference in the digestibility of their food, the look of the hair, they shed more evenly, they stay on feed during stressful times in their lives and there are so many more benefits.  For those of you that have show animals, whether they are horses, cows, sheep or pigs, Fastrack is what you need to have in your feeding routine.  We use it with our sheep, and it sure keeps them on feed when we are pushing them for fair time.  

Please check out all of Conklin's products on my website at www.conklin.com/site/amycoolidge  If you are interested in any of the products, I can get you signed up as a preferred customer for a one time fee of $25, then you will forever receive 20% off all your orders.  It is well worth the $25, most people make the $25 back in their savings within their first 1-2 orders.


Also, make sure to "Like" my Facebook page, here.

If you are interested in a fun little side job, or full time job, where you can work for yourself and don't have to worry about pleasing a boss, let me know and I can get you started with Conklin.  It really is easy to sell products that are truly amazing.