Go Go Gadget Roller Skate!

September 17, 2012 ~ I finally got to take my ride in to be repaired (from the Malaysia guy that hit me) and as a rental I got this roller skate..... Now from riding in a big ol' bus to this little tiny thing was a big change for me. (It only has one windshield wiper, I can touch the passenger door without leaning over,  and I feel like my butt is dragging the ground) I am thankful to have this rental for the next week but I don't think this will be my next vehicle!

It was a nasty smelling little critter as it took me until Wednesday to get her smelling pretty! Between the air fresheners, perfume, and dryer sheets she was good to go! (I am crazy when it comes to cars that stink especially body odors!) As expected it was a big change to get back in my white car but I love it! I have been in many rentals (not because I am a bad driver and require rentals) but out of all of the other cars I have drove I still like mine best. My ol' girl turned 7 this month and has 93,000 miles on it I love it as much as the day I climbed in the drivers seat. For me... it's the simple things in life and I am happy with my "old" ride and not having payments for almost 4 years now!

A top secret little project!

September 14, 2012 ~ I have a project I have been working on that is a secret until December 2012. I am really excited as it's something I have always wanted to do and never made time to do it... until now! I had an opportunity a few weeks back to finish everything and submit the paperwork. This afternoon I had a conference call that moved my dream into a reality! I know it's not fair that I can't tell you but know that as soon as I have it in my hands I will share with you all! Until then let me offer some advice....

If you dream it then it's possible. If you want it then you must make time. If you just keeping talking about it then it will never happen. Make your mark and do something you love!

Kirksville or Bust!

September 12, 2012 ~ I am so fortunate to be involved in Greater Missouri Leadership this year because of these awesome ladies! There is never a dull moment when we are together and my life is better because of them!

Greater Missouri Leadership Challenge is a traveling symposium for the state of Missouri. We have been to Columbia/Jefferson City, Kansas City and now Kirksville, MO! We will graduate in November while we are in St. Louis.

While in Kirksville we learned about the rural community and farm life. It was one of my favorite places so far as we got back to the basics. We heard from some very passionate farmers and small business owners that take care of their animals and feed them well rather than commercial places that feed the animals fast and breed often to meet the demands of our nation. We got to tour Kraft Foods (picture up above) and see the process that bacon goes through to put it on the shelf.... I love bacon!

Each one of these women bring something great to our group. We all have busy lives but they make time to attend these sessions! I am thankful to have had the opportunity to meet them!

Remembering 9-11

September 11, 2012 ~ 11 years ago our nation changed. It changed because of some bad people felt they needed to take the lives of our men, women and children much too soon from this earth. Today we remember those who lost their lives that day and our hearts ache for the families that lost their loved ones. It makes me proud to be an American and to see the many flags at half mast at many of the businesses, homes and schools as we never forget. I proudly drove by our fire station in Midway this morning and saw this. America may have been badly scared from September 11, 2001 but we always come back stronger and do it with pride, dedication and in memory of those that are no longer here with us. Today I will never forget what happened 11 years ago and thank the men and women that have continued to fight for our freedom.  

Today also marks the 3rd year that Grandma Ruby Spry passed away. She was a very special lady to us and always believed in her family. She was supportive, loving and compassionate. She taught me a lot about life and I am so thankful she was a huge piece to Brandon's life. I miss her everyday and I am thankful for all the memories and her recipes that I was able to capture in 2 cookbooks that I put together. Miss you terribly Grandma Ruby but know you are watching over us from up above!

Family time!

September 10, 2012 ~ My cousin Jayna and I wanted to spend some time with our Aunt Carolyn & Uncle Alden so we called and told them we were going to cook lunch and play domino's with them. We loaded up Janie, Jayna's daughter, stuff to make homemade pizza and took off to Hallsville!

We had the best time cooking for them! It wasn't anything fancy but we laughed, giggled and had a great time while Aunt Carolyn played with the baby and Uncle Alden watched us as he didn't know what the heck us girls might do next!

We served up lunch and then got to playin' Mexican Train domino's! We listened to Pandora radio and got our game faces on! We played a good 4 games and then we had to get going. We hated to leave but Jayna had to go to work and I had a conference call at 3 pm I had to get.

Little Janie did awesome! She slept through the loud noise of us giggling and slamming domino's on the table! She's so sweet and just really starting to crawl around... little turkey gets around pretty good!

It was so nice just to sit down an visit with Aunt Carolyn. She's my mom's oldest sister and has a heart of gold. She would do anything for anyone and never judges what you do. She reminds me so much of Grandma Brown (my mom's mom). Thanks for a memorable day full of love and laughter!

  

A Hail Storm in Midway....

 Hail from storm in Midway!

September 7, 2012 ~ Today started off to be a great day! I was getting a lot accomplished and finally getting caught up on things at the office and some personal projects I was working on. The guys were working on the barn and about to have the roof completed and I was on my way to meet my friend Shelly DeVore in town. Brandon was heading up to the barn as the rain storm was on it's way and wanted to help them get to a stopping point just before it started to rain.

I saw it getting darker in town but nothing out of the normal when it gets ready to storm. I called Brandon to check to see how the barn was coming (to see if the roof was all on) and what the weather was like there. (We are only about 7 minutes from Columbia) He said they were getting a piece of metal screwed down and the storm just blew up right on top of them. (They did not get all of the metal on the roof before the storm hit) At this point it was raining. I hung up and arrived to meet Shelly. I get a text from Brandon that said we have hail... I tried to call him but the phones weren't working. I tried to call the shop and couldn't get through. I started to get a little worried and didn't know if I should stay put or head home. I waited for about 5 minutes then it started to get really dark in town. I decided I was heading to Midway as I needed to see if everything was OK and talk to Brandon. Finally he called. I could barely hear him (his phone had gotten wet) but he said they had just went through a tornado and hail was from golf ball size to softball size and there was lots of damage. By this point I was freaking.... I drove as fast as I could to get home. There was minor hail in town and lots of rain. As I got back to the shop everyone's cars were damaged from the massage hail. Our buildings were peppered with dents everywhere, our vans / trucks were dinged and dented and the windshields in 5 out of 8 vans were broken. (The other 3 vans were in town) Our employees cars were destroyed and possibly totaled from the damage. Brandon was there and was like a drowned rat. He had some major adrenaline pumping as did the other guys. At the barn they had a small tornado they were a part of. The link to the video is below from my YouTube videos (Hail Storm in Midway)

  http://youtu.be/8oraZFKE0Iw
 
It's crazy how a storm can turn so brutal in a matter of moments. It appears that the Midway area was the main area damaged from this storm. Our barn is across from Elizabeth Street and the path of destruction was right in that area (other areas were affected as well but seems like this is where it went after leaving our barn location) and went onto Elizabeth Street which is where mom and dads house is. They are all OK and no one was home. The street looked like a yard with grass not a road as the broken tree limbs, leaves and bark covered everything. It was so crazy and unreal to see all of this but so thankful that no one was hurt. It is all material things that can and will be replaced. Teachers and staff at Midway Heights... great job with taking care of the kids while all this was going on. I'm glad it wasn't an hour later when all the kiddos were on a bus heading home. Scary enough to be a part of this but even scarier without safe places to go. Special thank you to the guys from Boone Electric. They had tons of outages and worked really hard to get them all back on. Between the damages to everyone's houses, businesses, cars I am so very thankful that no one was hurt. 

 Midway took a minor beating but I can assure you... we always come back stronger!

Serene

September 7, 2012 ~ Piet Van Waarde is a son, a father, a husband, a pastor, an author and a photographer. He is a very inspiring man who is approachable, down-to-earth, genuine, kind and in my opinion simply brilliant. Piet is the senior pastor at Woodcrest Chapel in Columbia, MO.  Woodcrest is a non-denominational church with Southern Baptist roots. For me personally, I love their style as I can relate to things in current day teaching. I also appreciate being able to attend church in comfortable clothing rather than the traditional dressing up. (I completely understand and respect anyone that has other opinions)

Piet has created a Facebook page titled "Piet's Pics!"a place where amateur photographers can participate in photo contests. I love this idea as so many people really enjoy taking pictures of things important to them or simply things they like. They may have an inexpensive one shot style camera or they may have a professional camera. It doesn't matter as long as they are having fun and using their artist ability trying to catch a unique shot or perspective on an object. He recently created an annual photo contest that ended September 3, 2012. We had recently gotten back from Colorado and I wanted to enter a photo in each of the 10 categories. They were: Melt, Happy, Replenish, Serene, Holiday, Cute, Cooling off, Fun, Style and Breath-taking.

The rules were that a winner will be selected in each category, with honorable mentions also noted. A grand-prize winner will also be selected and the winning shot will be displayed on Piet's Pics wall and the winning photographer will be given a framed 8x10 of their beautiful pic with a official certificate commending their work. I just got word that my photo "Serene" (pictured above) won first place for this category! How awesome is that! This is such a fun event and the first time I have entered a photo and can't wait until the next photo contest! Thank you Piet for creating this and I am honored that my picture made it! Awesome day!