I am 2-teen, going on 16

I went on a walk with Aggie last night and introduced her to CORN!  We're in Iowa.  She needs to know what to yell if we drive past a corn field as opposed to a soy bean field.

For the moment though, she just yells, YEAH! if I ask her if she sees corn.

And yes, that's a small ear of corn she's holding.

She's pretty positive about a lot of things. 

She also yelled, YEAH! when I asked her if she sees a cow.

There was no cow.

I did call her out on the zebra and then she said Nah for the rest of the animals I asked about.

She's not as positive about potty training but we sometimes get lucky with her if Miss Rachel is on.  Then she'll sit on the potty for 30 minutes and surprise herself.

She loves the positive reinforcement of 2 gummy bears for a #1 and 3 for a #2.

This morning we got the babies out on the deck for their daily feeding in the fresh air. And Aggie talked me into picking another black eyed Susan for her.  It's not hard.

I'm easy.

She brings me vividly back to the days when my kids, the girls, especially, were so little.

I loved that.

Enjoying it while I can!

Teenage years are about a week away.

Detasseling sucks.

Dang.  Meri is back out in the cornfield today with her cell phone so I can't get photos off it yet...  There are some doozies!  

I didn't tell you!  She's on her second day of detasseling because of a mix up on Monday on where to meet the bus.  She texted me on her lunch break yesterday and all it said was, and I quote, "Detasseling sucks".  Yep, that was my experience with it too, but when I detasseled as a kid, I didn't have friends that I already knew working with me.  For Meri, there are at least 8 kids, mostly boys that she already knows from school and kind of likes a couple of them, working with her.  Plus, as a bonus, one of her friends, who's a boy,

has, for reals, a British accent...   and he's into zombies too.  Win! Win!

What a cornfield looks like when kids are in it...

Oh Sluggy!  Maddy has some pinterest projects she wants us to work on with her on Saturday and/or Sunday when we have time.  You're crafty... right?  

Maybe Robb can give you bagpipe lessons around having you cut things out for Maddy... 

I saw it on your list.

A friend gave away a tv entertainment center on one of the Facebook swap pages and I snapped it up!  Well, not exactly SNAPPED, as it weighs approx 500 pounds and sat in our pick up for 3 days before Robb and Ryan helped me get it into my office...  It's going to be my fabric stash entertainment center instead of television.  With any luck, this will help me get somewhat more organized with my stash and I can browse and touch most fabrics while dreaming about what to sew.

It's a dream of mine anyway...  To pretend that I live in a fabric store...

Gotta run.  Big things coming down the pike today for work and I need to get a jump start on it.

Have a great Wednesday!

The One Where We Eat Corn.

Growing up, we lived on an acreage.  My dad called it a hobby farm, but to me, it was just a farm.  In the evenings and weekends after work, Dad would run his tractor and plow up the two fields behind the house.  In later years, he rented them out to neighbors to farm. 

Every summer, my mom had him plow up the garden on the other side of our lane and she (us included) would plant 100 tomato plants and other items.

The season just seems right to do some planting right now, but since I neglected my raised garden last year, it's full of weeds and dandelions...  Two days ago, I sprayed it with Roundup and the weeds are looking pretty sad today.  GOOD.  However I think I need to wait 3 weeks or so before digging it all up and planting.  Eh, no sweat.  I probably won't have time for a month anyway...

Anyway, back to the farm.  For several years, Dad would plant sweet corn in one of the fields and that would be a money maker for our family late that summer.  As soon as the corn was ready, Mom had us in the fields bright and early and we'd walk those corn rows plucking corn off the stalks and filling five gallon buckets.  When they were full, we'd bring them back to the end of the row and dump them into either her trunk or the back end of a station wagon, depending on what car she was driving at the time. 

Then we'd pull up anywhere in town near a grocery store and sell sweetcorn by the dozen out of the back end of the car.  I remember that smell of the corn and how sticky my hands and arms would be at the end of the day.  If we still had corn leftover after the 5 o'clock rush was done, Mom would have us go door to door in neighborhoods selling it at half price to folks getting ready for supper.

But we'd always have at least a dozen set aside for our own supper.  mmmmmm.... 

I live in Iowa, where every household owns corn skewers.  seriously...  And it is delicious stuff!!

My own daughter hates bugs.  If you've ever purchased corn at a street corner, you know that there could potentially be worms in the corn.  right?  The worst thing is to find half a worm...  Well, that's what she did once and totally got grossed out.

So her big thing is that whenever we buy corn at a corner somewhere, she asks them if they've used pesticides on it.  If they haven't, then we're not buying from that vendor.  seriously...

So you see... pesticides do serve a purpose!  They help kids eat their vegetables.

The Great Wind of 2010...

Oh my... The wind the last couple days has been horrific! I keep remembering the big storm a few years ago that grabbed a window in my living room that had been left open a crack. I managed to grab it as it was ripped from it's hinges, then fell outside on the yard. There was no tornado or anything. Just a lot of wind and rain. So I'm fearful now of the rest of my windows whenever there's wind.

Just thought I'd show you some of the left over problems the wind caused us. We live just across the street and behind one row of houses from corn fields. Yep... We're Iowa, remember? The fields are blown clean now. They look REALLY nice and tidy!

But yesterday I saw a whirling Tasmanian husk devil (is that what they call them?) swirling around the back yard deck when I was in at lunch. I tried to take a pic, but it looks like all the leaves are on the ground. Not very impressive...But today, as I look out the back windows... There are corn husk drifts under our deck and against the fence!Seriously... DRIFTS of husks!OH! You know what that is right above these words???? Yep SHINGLES! The front of our garage where the wind was the worst looks like a perm... Shingles curled up and ruffled. Kind of pretty if you're a hairdresser. Not so pretty if you're a home owner!

Front yard got hit too. But you know what? It covers up the piles of dead leaves that WERE smothering the rose bushes... Too bad THEY didn't blow away.Nope - our house is a magnet... For leaves, corn husks, Christmas trees from neighbors, garbage bags from someone up the street, you name it!

I think we've got our weekend cut out for us! Too bad it's not with scissors and sewing machines... (Well ... maybe just a little! Gotta get that outfit done!)