Perfect example of when when city meets country. My little boy is 16months old now and likes going with the men so as grandpa was headed out the door he scooped Boo up and put his coat and hat on swung him on his shoulders and closed the door.  Grandpa was going to let his dog Buster out of the pickup where he spent the night to go play in the backyard with Zoe.  About 5 minutes later Dad shows up at the backdoor holding Boo half hanging with one arm from his hip….they both have funny expressions on there face. Dad says, “Buster just killed a cat.” Boo was at that point safely on the ground and dad was washing his hands…Boo was staring wide eyed at Grandpa, “like what the heck just happened?”

What happened is as you city folk know there are a lot of cats running around so Buster being the bird dog that he is saw one of those mangy cats down the street and as soon as dad let him out of the pickup he bolted and snatched that cat up and in one bite killed him…..bringing back his catch to dad who was quickly looking around to see if anyone had just seen any of this.  He grabbed the cat but Boo at this point was wanting to touch the mangy cat so grandpa was trying to keep Boo away but not touch him with the hand that had just touched the cat, and get Buster in the backyard before he found anymore cats and dispose of the dead cat before any witnesses arrived.

Grandpa opened the gate packing the cat, Boo and calling Buster to “get over here….you cat killing son of gun.” He then threw the cat in the trash can and Boo slipping out of his left hand hit his head on the trash can door but was unphased because “WOW, he had never seen a dead cat before.” What excitement for so early in the morning.  So that is how it happens, thankfully the cat had no collar and was obviously sick and mangy and in need of Buster’s tender loving bite. 

That is how it is done in the country if you can’t run fast enough and your a cat you just might not live…..and you won’t get a nice burial in a trash can.

Boo helping Grandma vacuum

The culprit Buster in the middle.

We had a great time with my parents and Boo definately thinks the city is more exciting when the country comes to visit.

Have a great day!

~Country Gal

I had the extreme privilege of sharing a few hours of fun and fellowship with some wonderful ladies at our first  annual Holiday Decor Spectacular. We all picked a project to complete and spent the night using our glue guns trying to be crafty.  It was a ton of fun! We laughed, we cried, and we ate lots of snacks!! 

Here we are all hard at work….Rachel was such a gracious hostess and we were so happy to all be able to craft away and be girls and chat, chat, chat away….. our projects half finished.

Carly, April and me goofing off.

The college girls were very entertaining with there theatrical skills….I am not sure they know I caught all of this on film:-)

Here are the amazingly talented wreath makers…..maybe next year I will attempt a wreath.

Carly got a hold of my camera and forced me to show off  my baby belly at 16wks.

So our first year of Crafting holiday decor spectacular was a success thanks to our wonderful host Rachel and the lovely ladies that came…..here’s to next year.

Love,

Country Gal

This gorgeous color comes from uncovering the turkey and slathering it in butter……this turkey was delicious…but I had trouble figuring out if it was done or not because my thermometer would read different temperatures in different areas of the turkey…..so I was worried….but we are all still alive.

I also had the stuffing in the turkey which was fine except it was taking way to long to cook so I took the stuffing out and it was super moist and good but I dropped some stuffing in the bottom of the roasting pan which kind of burned so I didn’t get to use the pan for making my gravy.

When we were very close to being done with everything I popped the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and the stuffing in the oven. You sometimes don’t realize that there is smoke when you are busy making gravy until the smoke alarm starts going off. Rats, I looked in the oven and I saw what looked like pan drippings that had spilt from when Mr. Awesome had put the turkey back in the oven.  I fanned the smoke away from the smoke alarm so it would stop BEEP BEEP BEEPING!!!  In about two minutes and every two minutes after it went off how annoying!

I learned that that sweet potatoes were a little too full and the brown sugar butter topping was dripping down and onto the bottom of the oven Yikes!  

So after that Dad helped with the giblets and gravy

 Yes BOO will eat anything!

Mr. Awesome carved the turkey up like a pro

Boo taste tasted the green beans

The table was set with my china that we got almost four years ago at our wedding and finally I got to use them!! People were happy about the food and the china!

IT WAS A GOOD DAY!

Love,

 Country Gal

Day one is called Thanksgiving prep…..I tried to make everything that I could before hand, which included cranberry sauce, rolls, mashed potatoes, jello salad, and turkey brining.

Andrew eats anything he can find

Buster sad that Shawn and Dad left him home while they went hunting

Zoe living it up by the fireplace since Buster stole her bed for the weekend.

My lovely mother getting her TV watching in...offering moral support of course.

 Actually I had tons of help and I couldn’t of done it without my Mom helping and she made the stuffing so Part 2 will continue with the rest of the Thanksgiving adventures………………

Speaking of strange things this morning I got up at 5:40am. This is an unusual occurance for me since I am a “night shift” worker and we try and sleep in every chance we can.  Before I had BooBoo I could sleep in to 10:00am no problem. Now at least I get to sleep till 7:00 or 7:30am. I take every chance I can get to sleep…..lets just  say I love naps:-)   Anyway the reason I got up so early was to go to the gym. I know what a let down, you were probably expecting something great and fun but no it was just to workout. Why? Well it can be very challenging getting in one or even two or three workouts a week.  I wanted to see how it was to just leave the house without a kid in tow.  

 It was beautiful.  The morning was crisp and glorious and I felt free as a bird like when I was single and not a care in the world. Then a voice screaming, “Don’t quit now, faster, harder” broke through my early morning dream and I realized that I was sitting on a bike  in a cycling class sweating like crazy and  my legs needed to go faster. I had to go harder because my instructor is an animal and she expects sweat and lots of it.  So for an hour I cycled my heart out and sweated and couldnt wait to return home to a happy smiling little boy.  My life is good. Very good. After I recover and hydrate.

Today I stopped by one of my favorite coffee spots, the drive-in Dutch Bros…I love drive-ins especially as a mom. I really appreciate anything that can be bought in a drive through.  It’s convenient you don’t have to lug the kid in the heavy, awkward car seat around or take 20 minutes getting the kid in and out of the car seat just for a 5 minute errand.  Anyway enough about drive-ins…..

As I pulled up to the window a nice young man asked what I wanted and I told him, “I want a skinny, decaf, sugar free hazelnut latte,” The young man in the dutch bro house replied, ” You mean you want a Why Bother.”  I said, “No, I want a skinny, decaf, sugar free hazelnut latte…..please.”  He laughed at me and said, “yep, that is a Why Bother.”

I was insulted.  I know it was decaf but sometimes I don’t want to drink regular, like when I have worked all night and want to go to bed or when I don’t want to have to go pee because regular caffeinated coffee makes me have to go pee. Sorry too many details…. I also just want to drink a foofy coffee drink  and know that the calorie intake isn’t equivalent to a hamburger and fries. Anyway I just wanted ya’ all to know that the next time you want a skinny, decaf, sugar free hazelnut latte that it really is a, “why bother.”

P.S. I wrote this awhile ago and never posted it….finally getting around to it.

Have a great Day!!

On a brighter side the yard is starting to blossom and during the intermittent showers of the last week I got an oppurtunity to go out and cut a few of my flowers so that I could look over at my table and see them in the vase. Then I imagine in my head that I live in a sunny tropical place with white sand and…..oh um…sorry I was daydreaming again but at least it was positive. So on a positive note…………..I really really love flowers.

I mean I really really love flowers….

 Here they are outside

and then inside……………

  Ahhhh yes this is what I look at when the days are rainy and the sun is hidden………..I hope you have something nice to look at that reminds you that eventually summer will be here and it will be a beautiful thing.

Think positive!

The End

Can you see the two small red marks on the top of his nose?? Yes those are teeth marks…..from his supposed friend who is a 11month old who decided Booboo’s nose looked like a great way to relieve his pain of teething…Watch out!! It is a Cruel world out there!!   Make sure people who are smiling to your face aren’t turning around and biting you….unless they are a 11 month old baby who  really does love you and wouldn’t intentionally hurt a fly.

Booboo after many hugs and kisses has recovered and is looking forward to his next encounter where he won’t easily be fooled by a smiling baby. He is well on his way to learning that it is a battlefield out there and you’ve got to learn to fight or you might get bit.

Watch out!! ~Love Country Gal

The other part to my Easter is shooting squirrels…..

Yes I said Squirrels you know those little varmits that run around the fields and dig lots of holes..They are very pesky and no they are not cute they are a nuisance. I was looking forward to getting to shoot some of those vermin when we went home to little ole hole in the ground Lakeview.   But in Lakeview you never know what the weather will do….it was cold and snowing….so much for wearing a pretty dress and short sleeves..(I wasn’t going to wear one anyway):-)

Yep that is Mr. Awesome sighting in his 22 that he got for Christmas…….try doing this with wind gusts it makes it extra challenging.

Dad making sure the wind doesn’t blow them away.

Buster the hunting dog pointing something and Zoe unfortunately is probably eating a dead squirrel….yes she did ride in the back of pickup on the way home.

Yep there I am…can you tell it was cold?? I even had to wear one of the ear things. I told Mr. Awesome that I didn’t think he got that 22 sighted in right because I couldnt  hit one darn squirrel…..oh well at least I scared them.

Hope you all had a great Easter and if you happened to be shooting squirrels I pray you were more successful than I. Heres to another great Easter maybe next year we will be lucky to have snow again.

Yes Booboo is in fact…..Stuck! Yes everyday it happens multiple times he seems to get his hands stuck in his drawers and hasn’t quite figured out how to get them out.

and it happens again………….

Thank goodness mom and dad are always there to save the day and release the arms.

back to the business of playing it up!!