This isn't a Mommy Blog....I swear

I have no intentions of making this a mommy blog....but some of this stuff you just can't make up and is too funny not to share. So here are my mommy confessions part 2!

I had a hair appt made for Saturday and after 2 weeks of being in my house with a newborn all day everyday I was so excited for this appointment, for a of couple reasons.  Reason # 1: I just needed a lil me time.  Judge if you may but for real, I was ready to just relax and not hear a baby cry for a couple of hours. I have never had anything need me this much in my life, not even my puppy, so it has been a life changing experience.  A wonderful blessing of a change, but life changing nonetheless.  Reason # 2:...............

Holy frizzy fly away madness.  It was time for a Tibolli treatment.  If you have super frizzy hair that turns into a brillo pad such as above in even the tiniest of humidity, then you need to ask your stylist about getting one of these!  Life. Changing.  

I left early to run into walmart to get some formula.  I used to spend my money on cowboy boots, now I spend my money on formula.  As I was walking through there was a new mom with a very tiny baby doing some grocery shopping.  The baby was screaming.  I walked by and smiled thinking to myself, I get it and it's ok.  You let that baby cry my dear.  I then also realized that the baby screaming was an instant trigger for milk stimulation.  I have been pumping (couldn't do the breastfeeding thing) and quickly realized I came to town without any nursing pads......fail.

I quickly ran to the bathroom, found a maxi pad in my purse (all you fresh moms know exactly why I had one of those), ripped it in half and made some make shift nursing pads.  No one wants to be walking around walmart with 2 wet spots on their shirt and then you find yourself on the people of walmart facebook page.  I started laughing in the bathroom stall thinking to myself.....this is real life.  I know someone else out there has been in this situation.......no?

I think that documenting these lovely times in my life will give me a chuckle later on when this nugget is like 12 years old and thinks he doesn't need me anymore and is way too cool to be around me.  

It also will remind me of the adorable moments like last night when he was fighting sleep and wanted to cry for hours and all of a sudden smiled and laughed for the first time.  He even startled himself when he laughed.  It made me forget about the crankiness......for a short minute :)

Happy week friends!

New Mom Confessions

You read that correct......I finally calved!!  I'm a mom!  Woah.....that still gives me anxiety a lil to say out loud.  Don't get me wrong, it has been a pretty awesome experience, but I have to admit that I was so unprepared for new mom status.

Here's the deal;  you spend 6 hours in labor and after you push out that little bundle of joy you have an army of nurses that are at your every call.  They check on you every hour, bring you anything you need, and take care of the baby while you get some rest.  Then all of a sudden they tell you that you are ready to go home after 2 days of nonstop care and your quick advisers for any and all baby related questions and concerns. My instant thought: But wait, you all aren't coming with me?!?!

You head home and it honestly feels like you are just babysitting and someone is coming to pick up this lil nugget at anytime.  It is all trial and error.  Then after a wonderful evening and first day home with your new lil one he all of a sudden gets pissed.  When I say pissed, i mean pissed.  Like scream at the top of his lungs for 4. HOURS. STRAIGHT!  I bawled.  I was a horrible mom. I couldn't even sooth my baby.  I didn't know what was wrong.  Thank god for a wonderful husband and sister that came over to attempt to calm the storm.  After a healthy poop and some serious burps we finally had a sleeping baby.  Did I mention 4 hours later?

All I wanted to do was go back to the hospital and have the nurses care for me and my new baby that I felt I was failing at miserably.  I cried.  I have never been a crier.  Very rarely do I have emotions that soar or even get expressed.  That changes with a baby.  Those hormones that people speak of are legit.  I sometimes just burst in to tears and not even have a reason or know why.  So strange.  Hopefully that goes away........it does right?

With all that being said, we are slowly but surely getting adjusted.  Through the ups and downs and just going day by day its moments like when he shits his diaper with a big grin on his face that I realize I wouldn't change a thing.

Happy Day!

Monday Inspiration for this Frizz Hair Filled Day

The title of this couldn't be more fitting as I have had little to no inspiration to write lately........don't judge.  Planting has drug on forever and with rain in the forecast every other day I feel the end isn't as close as I would hope.  Plus I am getting pretty close to calving out this child that's brewing inside of me, so as you can imagine that has added some extra things to get finished up.  But enough with the excuses......IT'S MONDAY!

Monday is really the bastard day of the week.  Nobody likes Monday.  It reminds you that you have 5 days until the weekend. To top it off it's grey and gloomy outside with drizzle that does nothing but make my already frizzy hair into a Brillo pad.  Legit what I look like today:

Thank you google search

In other news.....I recently attended Alltech's Rebelation Conference in Lexington Ky and I cannot begin to explain how amazing this conference is.  It seriously is the best conference/symposium I have ever been to.   I feel that says a lot because I have been to my fair share of conferences.  Alltech really knows what they are doing and leave you blown away with inspiration and that feeling of wanting to take over the world when you leave.

This year was my third year attending and it only gets better and better.  So what that means, you really need to plan to attend next year.  Bottom line.  During the conference, so many amazing speakers say so many amazing things that I just have to share them with you.  Hopefully it will turn this Monday into a Friday (yeah right) and you will be just as inspired or it will get your thinking cap going.  

 I can't agree with this more!  I feel a good leader is someone that isn't afraid to put their neck out on the line for the greater of the team instead of following all others and just going through the motions.

 This is huge.....all of you leaders/managers/bosses/CEO's.......ask this to yourself honestly

 Truth!^

I leave you with the last question from Dr Lyons.  I think this is an excellent question we should all ask ourselves.  I hope that in some small way I am impacting the world.  Are you?

Happy dreary, cloudy, frizz hair filled Monday friends!!

Spring has Sprung!

It is officially spring!  The weather is finally nice out which means outside work has officially begun.    This past weekend my boo and I spent a lot of time outside cleaning up the landscape, rolling the yard, and cleaning up the mess that was created from the kitchen remodel.  I'm pretty sure I even got my first suntan of the year.......or wind burn, but I'm gonna go with tan.  One of the best parts of the weekend was building a raised bed for my garden!



So to be completely honest, my husband has me on garden probation.  A couple 6 years ago I had a garden at the old house. It was huge and I had big plans for it.  I planted everything and anything.  Needless to say...........it got away from me and might have been overgrown with weeds.  It kind of all started with the appearance of a tomato worm.   I can handle a lot of things........tomato worms aren't one of them.  Anything that big with horns is not ok.

So because of that he agreed to give me another "chance" at a garden with this much smaller raised bed.  I'm so excited!  My mom does all the canning for me (don't judge), so this year I'm going to raise my own green beans and tomatoes for salsa and sauce. I will also learn how to can!  Mom, I promise!

What are some other garden plants that are a must have?

Happy Spring friends!!

It all starts with a conversation.......

I have this horrible habit of getting the local newspaper out of the mailbox, scanning the front page for anything that looks interesting, and then throwing it away.  Rarely do i move past the front page.  I love the nostalgia of getting the paper in print and cant come to terms with switching to an online subscription.   A couple weeks ago I called my dad to ask him a quick question and at the end of our conversation he quickly threw in "hey be sure to look at the newspaper tonight in the page of opinion section."  My instant response is.......why?  He chuckles and says "oh it will just get your blood boiling."

I went home that evening, grabbed the newspaper, and quickly turned to the public forum section.  Inside was an article from a local lady with a clear passion and concern for food.  With the title of her article being "Avoid GMO's: Choose organic, chemical-free foods."  While I didn't allow myself to get worked up, I more so just felt bad that this lady had been clearly filled with false information.  Many of her claims and concerns were just not the truth.

While I sat there going over my options of rebuttal it quickly dawned on me that writing an article in the paper to clear up her claims wasn't really getting to the root of the issue.  I quickly turned to social media to seek out this lady.  I sometimes forget that not everyone in rural america understands agriculture and all that is entailed.  I sink into the thought of the "city people" are the only ones that don't get it.  But here is a lady that lives out in god's country of rural america.   I went to Facebook first and quickly found her and sent her a message.  It went like this.....

To my excitement she responded!  We set up a time to chat and I waited.....patiently......  While trying to decide my plan of attack I quickly realized I needed to go into this convo with no agenda to shove research at her.  For all she knew, her info was the correct info.  Their is no good ending to a research war.

As I spoke to the woman that following Saturday I opened the conversation by saying that I grew up in Ag, currently work in the seed industry, and would love to be a local resource for her to ask questions if she had any concerns.  While their was hesitation at first it didn't take long for her to open up and the questions just started flowing.  We discussed everything from gmos's, organic, spraying roundup on wheat, farm subsidies, and health issues.   She was shocked to hear that organic used pesticides and wasn't "chemical free".  She didn't realize that 80% of the farm budget went to food stamps and that every farmer didn't receive over $500,000 in subsidies.  (Wouldn't that be nice though!)  She was also surprised to learn that not all wheat in the US, actually very little, is sprayed with glyphosate pre harvest.

After over an hour of talking we found that we are both very interested in learning more about canning and she gave me tips on dealing with renters (as we now have a rental house) because she currently works in that area.  She even asked me to send her articles on the studies of gmo's because she said she clearly isn't able to find enough credible information.

I was extremely pleased with our conversation and we will be staying in touch and sharing information.  It quickly made me realize how far I have come in my agvocacy journey.  At the beginning I used to get so mad and quickly lash back with research and information instead of listening to the real concerns.  We are all human and sometimes all it takes is finding common interests that builds a little bit of trust and people will open up and actually listen to what you have to say.

Happy National Ag Day friends!!!

The #Underdog

If you have followed along here for any period of time, you have probably noticed my dislike for mainstream country radio.  All (or most I should say) artists sound the same on the radio these days.  The men of country music or "bro country" as it's called, sure don't do it like Willie, Waylon, or Johnny used to, that's for sure!  It is hard to find a song on the radio that tells a story outside of chicks on a tailgate in shorts drinking beer.  Sad.

That is why many years ago I started listening to Texas Country, (also referred to as red dirt music).  I was instantly hooked!  They all have such a unique voice and most of them write their own music.  That is definitely a rarity in mainstream country music anymore.  One of my favorite artists is the extremely talented Aaron Watson.  He is a man that definitely sticks to his roots and beliefs and you can hear it in his music.  If you follow him for even a short period of time, you can tell instantly that his faith and his family are most important to him.



A couple weeks ago Aaron's latest album The Underdog debuted.  To everyone, except his fans, surprise it quickly rose to the top of the country music charts.  Like the charts that Jason Aldean and that boy band Florida Georgia Line are a part of.  Their is no better way to describe it than how Rolling Stone put it:

 "For the second week in a row, America's top-selling country record isn't a big budget release by Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line, Miranda Lambert or any of the usual suspects. It's Aaron Watson's The Underdog, an independent album released without the help of a traditional record label or a national radio campaign."

His album title and the outcome are so fitting.  The Underdog.  It got me thinking a lot about the Ag industry and how their is a crazy correlation between the two.  Many times I feel like Ag is the underdog even though our time and effort is spent trying to feed the millions and billions of people around this world.......irony?  We have so many groups and activists that want to shut us down or end our practices, but we keep trudging along with our heads high because we love what we do and understand the importance.

What do you feel like the underdog in but your passion just won't let you give up?  Aaron Watson is the perfect example of why you should never give up and keep following your goals and dreams.  You have got to check out this album and take a listen.  You won't be disappointed!   

Good Day!

Breaking up with the Nutritionist

My thyroid doctor thought it would be a good idea to have me sit down with the nutritionist in the office.  She said it was just to get some ideas about what is good for the thyroid and what is bad for the thyroid.  I hesitantly agreed and off to group nutrition class I went.

As we sat down in the group setting, with other people experiencing thyroid issues just as myself, this nutritionist began to tell her story.  In the middle of her "speech" I noticed her quote the book The Wheat Belly.  In my daze of boredom I quickly perked up to catcher telling the group that the wheat we eat has been genetically modified and that is why our bodies do not accept it like it used to......

Hold it right there!  As my face turned red and my heartbeat started going faster and faster I kindly raised my hand and asked her to please share her source for genetically modified wheat.   She looked at me dumbfounded.  I kindly explained to her that there is no genetically modified wheat being sold in the United States.  For some reason she had a hard time believing me until another farm woman spoke up and said "no she is right".  The nutritionist then went on to ask well why doesn't wheat look the same as it did 100 years ago........

Head to desk.  Myself and the other woman explained that with breeding we are able to control height and other features that work with the different environments and equipment being used today.  I asked her to please stop saying that it was genetically modified as she is putting a bad perception into the minds of these people she is talking to.....plus it is just not the truth.  Her answer: "well I will have to look into it."    Classic.

Next on our list was meat.  Of course she tells us that we should really chose Organic meat as it is a healthier choice to make.  That is when I about walked out and she lost all credibility with me.  How do you sit and tell a group of women that they should choose organic because it is healthier without sourcing your claim.  Also, is that fair to the other women?  If I were a mom on a budget and just couldn't afford organic, that may make me feel as though I am supplying an inferior product to my children.   That is not ok!  Show the choices and leave your fear mongering out of it!!!!!!!

 I left that day angry, confused, and disappointed.  It quickly made me realize how so many people become so misinformed.  These people came to this group meeting to gain information from someone that is looked at as a professional in her field.   This is the kind of information they are walking away with.  Sad.........

We walk into a meeting expecting to hear factual information from someone that many may see as an "expert".  Instead we get very biased and false information.  I would expect professionals to show the choices out there and let the consumer do the choosing instead of fearing them into a choice.  If I wouldn't have known better, there would have been no reason why I wouldn't have taken what she said as the truth and made those lifestyle changes.

It really made me realize the importance of not taking everything at face value.  While we may be seeing experts in a certain profession it is always important to keep asking questions and maybe get a second opinion.

And that my friends is why I broke up with the nutritionist

Good Day!