I must be due for maintenance

I woke up this morning (way earlier than I would like) to discover I was alone in bed! While part of me was concerned, another part of me stretched out super big to feel the nice cold sheets where I had not been sleeping (ahhh, feels good). Turns out I had overheated to approximately one-oh-five degrees Fahrenheit last night and my boyfriend could not take the heat. So he went to the kitchen, had some cider and slept on the big couch. Had I known this, I could have taken advantage of the increased sleeping area earlier, but apparently he did not want to wake me from my sleeping inferno for fear that I'd combust. Oh well. At least it's Friday and I have Monday off!

I was going to write about how excited I am to drive home on Sunday for my niece's 1st birthday party (where I will undoubtedly take no less than a million pictures) but after having lunch, I feel it's important that I let you all in on my current operation. It's security level is a step below Top Secret. I like to call it Operation Fat Reward. This operation consists of eating McDonald's every day in order to collect the game pieces to win their Monopoly promotion. Folks, I'm determined to make this a successful mission! So far, there are 6 property sets that I only need one more street for (Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Light Blue, and Brown). I'm guessing there are only a few Boardwalks out there, but I enjoy being an optimist so I am not ruling out my chances on that. I'm determined I'm going to win something, hopefully before I start having chest pains. I know this is possible because when the game was first rolled out (I was in grade school), the mother of a girl I knew won a large monetary prize. Unfortunately, she had combined game pieces with her sister to do this and a large cage fight ensued concerning the money. But c'est la vie. I'll keep you posted on my progress!

Here is my collection of pieces thus far: (Anyone else think it's weird that they did away with the mini game board to attach the stickers to?)

I totally did something wrong because even though the image is landscape on my computer, it's showing up portrait here. Again, c'est la vie!

And because I'm feeling guilty for not blogging about my absurdly amazing niece, here's one of my favorite pictures of her:

Alright, because I can't help myself... here's a few more cute-beyond-words pictures:

She LOVES to eat and makes noises if you're too slow in getting her another spoonful.

People of all ages love jumping on beds. Fact.

One of my dad's friends brought over this gorgeous wood & wrought iron bench. I can't believe she can sit in it all by herself!

Hard to imagine that when they let her leave the hospital she was only 5 pounds, eh? Now she looks like a little person, it's thrilling and disappointing at the same time. I can't wait for her to be old enough to stay at the farm with us on her own for weekends and to bring her shopping. However, she's so fun right now and small enough to bring anywhere. It's kind of like how it's awesome having a full-grown, trained dog... but gosh darn it, puppies are SO CUTE!!! (I hope no one takes my comparison to the situation with my niece and that of a dog growing up the wrong way.)

Because you can't see it, I'll have you know that her bib says "My Auntie Loves Me". And no, she's not allowed to play with remote controls but my boyfriend let her have it anyway. But aren't aunts and uncles supposed to encourage habits that are discouraged at home? I'm sure if she starts doing this at her house, I will be the first person my sister calls.

Since I'll be busy this weekend with the U-Pick (wheeeeeee!) and driving to Chicago, I hope you have a super weekend!

Cheers,

Farmer Kari

Gale-Schmale

So I wasn't going to post today, but had to share the ups and downs of last night.

Ups:
1. Getting news that our home loan is approved (new house here we come!)
2. Finally dropping off prescriptions for allergy medicine and heart medicine that will help with my circulation (I've had these for a week, oops)
3. Getting a call as my boyfriend & I were starting dinner that they had a big dinner spread ready at the Big House. (Explanation to follow)

4. Starting production on an cute blanket that will be part of my niece's 1st birthday present (see pic of folded blanket above, only have one side left)... this was expedited by my boyfriend's mother, who is awesomeness incarnate.
5. Eating cider doughnuts. I love these little miracles. I helped myself to two last night during the blanket making.

Downs:
1. Meijer had what looked like a mob milling around the prescription pick-up area, so I did not bother to wait the predicted hour for my pills so now I have to go back today.
2. We've had dinner/brunch at the Big House about 3 times in just as many days and I feel guilty for not contributing anything more than wine (but it's been delicious every time!).
3. I'm down to only 6 cider doughnuts.
4. The gale force winds caused half of one of the big trees in the yard area between the houses to rip off falling onto the 3 power lines below it. (Explanation to follow)
5. No power to the Big House means no water in our house. (Explanation to follow)


Explanations:
"Big House": On the farm we live on (also work 2 other farms) there are over 40 acres of orchards, 2 enormous barns, a large circle drive and 2 houses (on separate ends of the drive). My boyfriend and I live in the old caretaker's house (the "little house") at one end and his parents live in the large farmhouse at the other end which I lovingly refer to as the Big House. Many activities are centered around this house.

Tree + Power Lines: This was quite the spectacle. We were inside the little house and thought lightening had struck something outside (I was praying not the farmstand). We ran out to discover the tree down and the power lines hanging (had caused the flash). I also discovered that there were large puddles on the gravel drive which I happened to plow through wearing my slippers and wool socks (hadn't noticed them walking back and forth earlier in my work boots). I think my wool socks won that fight as they absorbed most of the puddle. Yuck. One of my biggest dislikes are wet socks.

No power = no water: The upside to the situation was that only the power to the barns and Big House was knocked out. This is the first time in everyone's memory that the little house did not lose power with the Big House. Unfortunately, the well's electrical is part of the Big House so the pump that brings it to our house will not work. This is a bummer and something I'm not used to being from the city. Thankfully there was enough water in the water heater to get me a shower this morning :)

That's all for now! Cheers,
Farmer Kari

And so it begins...

Hello everyone! (well, at this point it's no one)
I've decided to start a blog after becoming addicted to Suburban Matron. I realize that my move from the city to the farm has created some chaos in my life and venting through blogging might help (and also entertain others). You've already missed me learning how to drive the tractors and the subsequent terror ride through the orchard I gave to my boyfriend's relatives (don't worry, I'll share that later), but I'm sure there's much more to come! Apple season is upon us and we thought it wise to have a U-Pick this year. Seemed genius, I mean, why not have people come to the orchard and pay us to pick apples?! Saves us money on having to have people pick the apples and work to sell them to stores, right?! Well, now we know why many of our farmer friends do not mess with the U-Pick business. And being from the city, even the name seems odd to me. If it's a U-Pick, shouldn't someone else besides the person visiting be picking (if you say it to yourself, that is)? I suggested iPick (drawing off the popular inventions of Apple) but was voted down. Think about the U-Pick vs I-Pick for a moment and let me know what you think.

Don't we look like a cute farming couple? This picture is of the first incarnation of the U-Pick, before the fridge for our cider and the new and improved tent (that I need to get a picture of).

Thanks for reading, there'll be more to come....