Teased

We were teased this week. It was sunny,warm, and all around beautiful out. And now its dark, dreary, and cold again. I'll be spending my weekend bundled up at home - enjoying our first weekend in Champaign in a month. Probably cleaning house and doing some laundry, hopefully getting crafty, and most definitely thinking about spring...



How are you spending your weekend?

I've noticed over the years that
while Stephanie's hair is getting longer,
Sondra and I's is getting shorter....

Going Japanese

After our fabulous afternoon at the spa, AJ took the girls out to dinner at Benihana on the north side of Indianapolis. I'd never been to a Japanese restaurant before. It was great! I can't wait to go back.

Jose, our chef for the evening (does it seem weird since we're at a Japanese restaurant?)

yumm....shrimp appetizer

onion volcano

Final prep for our meal

Thanks AJ, for showing your girls a great evening!

"Life is partly what we make it, and partly what is made by the friends whom we choose."

My friend, Jen has passed on a Friendship Blog award. Thanks Jen! Now I'm supposed to pass this along to some friends....

Melissa @ The Tautkus Family
Stacy @ Maddy & Me
Adrienne @ Adrienne's Berry Patch
Leslie @ Little Bits of Leslie
Katie @ Farming Fabulously
Jennifer @ Counting Our Blessings

Simple Woman's Daybook for February 23

For Today...

Outside my window... sunny and still cold

I am thinking... could I have a couple of extra hours of sleep?

I am thankful for...my spa weekend with Sondra and Stephanie and spending time with friends!

From the kitchen... chili for supper tonight?

I am wearing... jeans and sweater

I am reading... Luckman award applications - some lucky entomology graduate student will be receiving some money to travel to a meeting this week

I am hoping...the weather warms up a little so I can pick up sticks in the yard

I am creating...the church newsletter - needs to be done this week!

I am hearing...the morning news
Around the house... piles of laundry from my trip, getting Ron ready for his trip to St. Louis

One of my favorite things... newly added to the list the week - neck and scalp massage - Heavenly

A few plans for the rest of the week...enjoy the warm weather before it gets cold again

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

Sondra, Stephanie, and I from this last weekend - a fabulous supper in Indy (I"ll share some photos tomorrow)

Want to participate in the Simple Woman's Daybook? Find out what others are doing on this Monday morning.

Tagged: Oh Me Oh My, What's In My Purse I Shall Never Lie

I was tagged by Farming Fabulously to share my purse with you....Let me tell you, my purse is not that exciting. Although it seems that red is very popular with country girls...

Here's the rules:
1. Post a picture of whatever bag you are wearing today - not last weekend when you and your hubby went out to that fabulous restaurant. No cheating!!!
2. Tell us how much it cost. This is a no-judgment zone -- there will be no ridiculing or eye rolling here. And, if there is a story to go along with how you obtained it, I'd love to hear it.
3. Now tag some fellow bloggers and link back to this post so people know why you are posting pictures of your bag.



No real story here - I wanted something different awhile back, and I thought I'd try a red purse. I LOVE it. I wasn't sure about that when I bought it and only spent about $30 on it. As it turns out I didn't have to give it to goodwill and I've had it for several months. Some well spent money if you ask me!
Here are the innards of my lovely bag:



1. My wallet...full of plastic cards, a little cash, some change and a few photos of Maddy and Jackson.
2. The ever important Soft Lips, lip gloss, and lipstick.
3. Lotion and hand sanitizer (don't laugh it's flu season).
4. Small notebook and pen....for grocery lists and such
5. My blackberry for work and my personal phone (I can't wait until they let us use one phone for both!)
6. Gum - no explanation necessary.
7. My little bag of tricks. I never leave home without it. It has the little essentials: contact solution, bandaids, rolaids, hair ties, Aleve, Ibuprofen, Tylenol, Excedrin, and Zantac.
8. And you can just barely see the new John Deere key chain Ron got a the Farm Show last weekend.

Now it's your turn! What's in your bag? I'm tagging:

Jen: because she's got some great purses to share.

Melissa: now that she's a mommy I'm sure she's got some interesting stuff stashed in her purse!

Leslie: you never now what a college girl carries in her bag!

Adrienne: Nick's out of town....maybe she's been shopping this week :)

Stacy: The queen of purses...let's see if she'll play

We've come a long way baby!

Friendship isn't being inseparable,
it's being separated
& nothing changes

Oops

Remember this Case Planter from the National Farm Machinery Show?


It looks like there was a little trouble getting it loaded on Sunday morning...


I can't credit for these photos. There were originally posted on Machinery Talk forum on AgTalk

Farm Show Recap

What a great mid-winter vacation! We headed to Louisville with good friends Doug and Angie on Thursday and spent the next couple of days checking out the latest in farm machinery, crop innovations, and of course, the tractor pull championships.

After three days of walking and sitting through 4 tractors pulls, my muscles definitely got a workout. Angie and I have decided we're going to have to go through training before hitting the Louisville Exposition Center next year.

There were SO MANY exhibits with lots of cool things to see (and cool people too, right Adrienne?). I didn't get a lot of pictures - there were so many people, but here are few of the highlights.

The tractors pulls were AWESOME - there were so many great tractors there from 20 different states and the Netherlands. That's right, the Netherlands. "Turnin' it Loose" came in second in the finals after a fantastic pull off with with Elnino. We also were able to see one of the top young pullers...who happens to be a girl...this weekend. Jessica Jacks is only a senior in high school, but has had a very successful year. Unfortunately, she finished second in the finals, but had a great qualifying round.

See here for complete results of the tractor pull. Now, does anyone want to sponsor a SuperFarm tractor for Ron and Doug next year?

Simple Woman's Daybook for February 16

For Today...

Outside my window... sunny, but COLD

I am thinking... There is so much to do this week!

I am thankful for...a great weekend in Louisville with awesome friends

From the kitchen... we need to get groceries

I am wearing... blue jeans and a sweatshirt

I am reading... about geraniums and Ralstonia - and all about the possibilities of this plant disease being shipped to the United States of nursery cuttings

I am hoping...Dawn and Doug's move to Missouri goes well this weekend

I am creating... something for my dad for his birthday yesterday...but its a surprise!

I am hearing... country music in the background

Around the house... piles of laundry from our trip, I guess I have something to do tonight while watching CSI

One of my favorite things... the Samoa girl scout cookies we bought on the way home yesterday - YUM!

A few plans for the rest of the week... Work, work, work; try to talk Dawn into not moving :) and heading to Indiana for a girls spa day with my 2 best friends!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

Doug and Angie at the Farm Show with us

Want to participate in the Simple Woman's Daybook? Find out what others are doing on this Monday morning.

Happy Birthday to My Daddy

I thought I'd dig a little into the picture archives to show everyone what a good looking guy my dad is!

This is dedicated to the ones I love...



Especially this one...

Hittin' the Highway

Please excuse the blogging break -- we're heading to the The National Farm Machinery Show for a couple of days.

Nothing says lovin' like machinery and tractor pulls on Valentine's Day!

Please excuse the blogging break -- we're heading to the The National Farm Machinery Show for a couple of days.

Nothing says lovin' like machinery and tractor pulls on Valentine's Day!

Simple Woman's Daybook for February 9

For Today...

Outside my window... brown muddy and dreary

I am thinking... I would rather have a white winter wonderland or bright green grass

I am thankful for...the great time I got to spend with my family this weekend

From the kitchen... not much going on this morning

I am wearing... blue jeans, Illini sweatshirt, and tennis shoes -- great for a comfy Monday at work

I am reading... not much lately..

I am hoping...for a great week with little stress

I am creating... web pages for my research this week

I am hearing... the morning news

Around the house... getting ready to make the switch to comcast today and say goodbye to dish network

One of my favorite things... spending time with family

A few plans for the rest of the week... work until Thursday and maybe head to Louisville for the Farm Show

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...my niece and nephew

Maddy and Jackson

Want to participate in the Simple Woman's Daybook? Find out what others are doing on this Monday morning.

Sunday Stills: Reflections

A very challenging photo for this week's Sunday Stills, especially when you haven't had a chance to go out and take any photos. So, I dug through some of my files to see if I could find any that fit the description. Here's what I can up with:



Here's a photo I edited and added a reflection:

Best guess--1989?? That's my sisters, me, and my cousins out sledding. You know this was the bright idea of my mom and aunt to make us all sit together on the toboggan, right?

Wordless Wednesday

Great Friends = Great Weekend

Just now getting caught up from the weekend. I covered about 1000 miles across the state of Illinois at the end of last week for meetings. In fact, I left the house at 5:30 am Friday morning, returned at 6:00 pm - just in time to change clothes and head to the Illini Hockey game with Doug, Angie, and Noah.



A great game, with a win over the Hawkeyes...there were some minor fights, but nothing like what we were hoping for ;)



Saturday morning we were "up and at'em". A little housecleaning and laundry before heading out Saturday afternoon for an Engagement/Farewell for Doug and Dawn.



They'll be moving to Missouri at the end of the month. I may just have to hook them up with Farming Fabulously.

From one party we moved to the next -- a reunion of sorts of crop science grads. It was great getting to hang out with everyone. It makes you realize how you need to schedule these get-togethers more often. I only wish we'd been able to take a group shot before the end of the night....maybe next time.

SuperBowl Ads

Ron and I had a few favorite ads from the SuperBowl last night. They both happened to be Coke commercials, but for entirely different reasons.

Because I'm such a bug nerd, I loved this one:




This was Ron's:



....because it reminds him of this one:



We all know how much Ron loves Mean Joe Green

Why We're Rooting for the Cardinals

Because this family roots for the Cardinals.....


And because the head of that household made this bet a LONG time ago...


Big thanks to Stephanie for making sure all of his friends know about!

Sunday Stills: Go High, Go Low

When I first saw this week's challenge from Sunday Stills - Go High, Go Low, I thought of our trip to Arizona this past December. I think this photo definitely qualifies for the "Go High" part of the directive.

But I think that would technically be cheating since I didn't take the photo this past week.

I did a lot of traveling for work this past week, but there wasn't a whole lot of time for photos in between meetings. On Friday we spent the afternoon examining an area in Chicago for gypsy moth egg masses. This photo has several egg masses (which will hatch later this spring) as well as a pupal casing from last summer (that's what the moth emerges from). Gypsy moth larvae can cause severe defoliation of trees in areas where there are high populations. How's that for a little scientific lesson incorporated into Sunday Stills?