Gamble

Farming is a gamble. A HUGE gamble. A necessary gamble. If all farmers decided to give up whenever a gamble went bad, the rest of the world would surely go hungry. This year was our first year growing peas. They are a risky crop because they don't necessarily make you money, but they are great for the soil as part of crop rotation. So, Grant was more than thrilled when his pea crop was one of the best in our part of the country. He has some 7 and 8 peas per pod pods. That is a big deal. (Or so I am told).

So, you can imagine how devastating things were around here yesterday when two major hailstorms made their way through yesterday. 

 This is one of the windows on the north side of our house. There are six sets of windows along the front of our house. Five of the six are now broken. Not good.

But this is worse.

This is Grant in his pea crop. Hours before it was above his waist. Now is doesn't even cover the soles of his shoes. This is what tens of thousands of dollars that you could have had, looks like when it is ripped out of your hand. 

Grant was surprisingly cool, calm and collected when he called to tell me what had happened. This photo was taken two hours after the storm ended. He sent me the picture and said it was funny that the hail was higher than the crop was.... I didn't think it was THAT funny... :/

So, here is the gamble. Farming is all about relying on things that are completely out of your control... it is about hoping you get rain at the right time, sun at the right time, hail never, frost never, and then hope that your crops fill out, the flowers bloom, and that there is money at the end. And all of that can be wiped away in a matter of minutes. 

In an effort to save a few soon to be obsolete pennies

I live an hour from the closest Starbucks. This is a good thing for my wallet. I am not one of those people with enough disposable income to go there every day and spend $4 for a coffee. (In fact, I don't know a lot of people with this much disposable income). I do however, enjoy what they have to offer, so I have had to learn how to make my own replacements for their yummy drinks. I have perfected my own iced chai latte. I have some chai spice that I made that I use to make it just that much more chai-y (yes that is a word). I also use the Tazo Chai concentrate that they sell at Starbucks, but I buy at Costco for a fraction of the cost.
Today is the passion tea lemonade experiment. I bought the passion tea bags, and ready made lemonade. I have just steeped six bags of tea and they are chilling in the fridge. I also just made my own simple syrup.... I just have to wait for it all to cool, and the experiment will be in the testing stages! I am excited for all of the money this is going to save me!

Layer Cake - WAS

My friend Catherine and I are the only ones of our friends that like real wine. By real wine I mean not Arbor Mist, or Boones or whatever the other crap is the rest of them drink. We have also decided that we are red wine snobs. We don't have the need to drink white. So, because of that, we decided to create our own Wine Appreciation Society. Tonight, on the menu is Layer Cake. I had the Shiraz a while ago on a date night with Grant. We took a bottle of wine out to one of our fields one night, and watched the lightning to the south of us. I really enjoyed it, and immediately tasted the different layers... hence the name I guess.
Tonight is their Primitivo a.k.a. Zinfandel. I am excited to talk wine with her, but more importantly, celebrate her birthday; a day late.

10 Randoms.... Movies I have never seen.

For the longest time, my friends have been amazed that I have never seen the movie Grease. I don't get what the big deal is, but maybe that is because I haven't seen it. So, then I got to thinking about other big movies that I haven't seen. Apparently I have some catching up to do.

 Labyrinth - Fantasy doesn't do it for me.... Neither does David Bowie.

The Matrix - See above.... too sciency, too weird for me.

Thelma and Louise. I don't know why. I think it was because I don't like Geena Davis.... I know it isn't because I don't like Brad Pitt.... ;)

The Godfather - or any of the Godfather movies. I like mob stuff, so the reason for this neglect is beyond me... Maybe the next rainy day, because we have this at home.

None of the Indiana Jones ones. Not a single one. A big rolling rock and snakes don't do it for me. Neither do whips. (Impressive how much I know about it though, isn't it?)

Pretty In Pink. There are actually a whole list of 80s movies that I haven't seen, including 16 Candles, and Risky Business. I think I didn't like the idea of a redhead wearing pink. I have weird aversions. Don't get me started on meat on the bone!

Rocky. I don't like watching guys punch each other. (Hence not seeing Fight Club. Again, not because of Brad Pitt)

I HAVE seen the first Star Wars movie. The first, first movie. Not the first movie that turned into the fourth movie. I haven't seen the others. I think that we, as a people, don't deserve access to space. I think we have done a spectacular job destroying our planet, and therefore we shouldn't be allowed to go there and destroy other parts of our universe. Because of that, any space stuff turns me off. 

When Harry Met Sally. I LOVE Meg Ryan. I have no idea why I haven't seen this. I have seen the fake orgasm scene, but that is it.

So, I guess it is a pretty decent list of things I have missed. Maybe my rainy summer days will be spent catching up on all I have missed.

Some thoughts on ice cream

For me, this image reminds me of my summers working at Frosty Top. That was our local ice cream parlour and my summer job for three years. Ice cream isn't something I love, or even like for that matter. I would rather dump my calories into bag of chips, so it was a good place to work. I also liked that very rarely were people unhappy when they were eating their ice cream. Who could get a double scoop of Tiger and Maple Walnut and be angry?

But now, this image also makes me sad. I have a daughter with a severe peanut allergy and the thought of taking her out for ice cream terrifies me. Not every ice cream flavor has peanuts or nuts in it, but the potential is a real threat for a person with food allergies. It isn't the ice cream part of it. She has ice cream all the time. It is the experience. I remember going for bike rides as a family and then stopping for ice cream on the way home. We used to get ice cream after baseball games, swimming, on really hot days, sometimes on really rainy days... We just went for ice cream. That isn't something that Avery will get to experience. Is it a big deal? No. Could it be worse? Yes. But, nonetheless, it makes me sad. Because of something out of her control, she is going to miss out on a major part of childhood. We try to make things as normal as possible and to her credit, she is fantastic about missing out. She gets it. She knows that even the littlest exposure can be deadly, and she never once has complained. Maybe I need to take a lesson from her...
:)

New Approach to Laundry

This is only a slight exaggeration of what the constant chore of laundry looks like in my house. I have always been looking for a way for it to be less painful, and annoying, and something I dread. Laundry usually went in a format something like this:
I would sort both kids, mine and Grant's clothes by color, dark, whites, denims, socks and underwear, and sheets and towels. This usually meant between 7 -10 loads of laundry depending on how big the loads were, and how long it had been since the last time I did laundry. Then, I would do these loads, but not fold everything completely because I am a bit anal about how things go into the basket because I put things in the basket based on how they go into drawers and the closets. So, laundry could take me days to fully complete and get back into closets... Get why I hate it?
So, I was on pinterest and was looking for new ways to organize my life, and I came across a blog that introduced the most controversial approach to laundry I have ever heard of. The woman proposed that I don't sort...... I know, right? Anyhoo, she suggests using a 1/4 cup of vinegar to set colors and keep them bright, but not to worry about keeping lights and colors apart.
She also said that she does one load of laundry a day. From start to finish. Wash, dry, fold put away. Done. So, this is going to be my new approach. I am going to take a basket a day from either our room, or one of the kids' rooms, and go from there. I think I won't be doing as much laundry, because realistically they have enough clothes that I could probably wash their stuff once every two weeks, and the same for us. That would mean sheets and towels once a week, and other stuff as necessary...
Kind of excited. Did I just say that?
Anyhoo, as I am finishing this post, the dryer has just binged on my first attempt at not sorting. Time to fold!

Sign of the times?

In the last couple of weeks, two iconic staples in the scrapbook industry (to me) have made major announcements. The first was that the magazine Scrapbooks Etc. is stopping print. This was my all time favorite inspirational magazine, and I had a subscription to it for years up until a few years ago...  (I spend my time looking for ideas online now.) The second announcement came on Tuesday to my email that the Lethbridge location of Scrapbooker's Paradise is closing. CLOSING! Paradise is the biggest scrapbook chain in Alberta, and likely Canada. And one of their stores is closing. It really shouldn't come as a surprise. I know plenty of stores that have gone under in recent years due to several reasons, but this one was a bit of a shock. A few years ago, they moved to a smaller location, and I didn't find myself in the store as much because it didn't feel as welcoming, the stock was too inaccessible, and they didn't carry as much.
Is it me? Am I the reason the scrapbook industry is changing? I cancelled my subscription, and stopped shopping.... coincidence??? ;)
Needless to say, I got a paper rack from Paradise because they are selling their fixtures... I kinda want to go get another, but I don't have that much paper!
So I guess it is so long to an era of my life, and on to bigger and better things... like online shopping??