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