What A Week!

Since I can be a complete work-aholic, I have nine vacation days (out of 12) that I have to use before the end of the year.  Therefore, I took this whole week off to use up five...I'll use the last four at Christmas.  I have  now been home since the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  It has been VERY nice!  Here is a little recap of my week:

Monday:
Monday I went to Pensacola to do a little Christmas browsing and to visit with my old co-workers (J Jason, if you are reading this, where were you on Monday??).  I enjoyed seeing those who were there and I really hate that I missed a few of them!  After a visit with them, I came back to WH to pick up my grandmothers.  I was taking them to see the lights at Bellingrath Gardens over in Mobile.  However, the closer we got to Mobile the more it sprinkled and not wanting sick grandmothers and none of us are crazy enough to walk around and look at lights in the freezing cold rain, I took them out to supper instead.  Nothing is better for your heart and soul than spending time with your grandparents and I was lucky enough to have both my grandmothers with me...just me!  I love you both.

Tuesday:
Tuesday (and Wednesday) I went with my dad and cousin, Jim, to the cattle sale in Letahatchee, just south of Montgomery...and that may be spelt wrong, but just sound it out, you will get the jest!  While cows are not my favorite animal, mainly because I've been around them my WHOLE entire life and I've seen some crazies in my day, I did really enjoy the sale.  Granted, I cannot look at them in the eye when they are back in the corral waiting to get ran through the bidding area.  They always look sad...put them in a pasture and I will look them in the eye all day long and say "I hope you produce a good steak!"  It's a location/situation thing I guess. 

It was SO cold on both days!  Tuesday, I had on three shirts!  Two of which were fleece!  I was still shivering!  Daddy and I had walked back to the corrals and were up on the catwalks looking at the cows that had been brought in and I notice daddy was looking around weirdly.  I was standing pretty close to him (mainly to block the wind because it was about 10 degrees colder up on the catwalk) and his eyes finally landed on me..."I thought there were a lot of people on the catwalk, but apparently it's your shivering that is causing it to shake so much!"  Yes, I was literally shaking. So. Completely. COLD!!

Here are a few photos from our Tues and Wed trips...



Jim, in the cowboy hat, was an professional order buyer so he sits down in the buyer section and daddy and I sat up in the audience.  He loves it and it is so great to see him laugh and cut up with all his old buddies! 




Daddy waiting on the two cows from Tuesday to be brought and loaded up




Tuesday's purchase




One of Wednesday's purchases...this was seconds before she turned and gave the crazy look to daddy...who quickly made it to the truck...notice I am a little high already...yes, this chick was already in the back to the truck.  They are a little riled up when the get unloaded...



The newest editions to Running W Land & Cattle Co.

Wednesday:
As stated, I went to another cattle sale, this time it was Frisco City.  Wednesday night, my favorite cook, Libbie, cooked Crawfish Ettufe (yeah, not sure how that is spelt either!).  She cooked and Abbie, Brandi and I all enjoyed it immensely!  I love getting to see my girls!

Thursday:
I hung out at the barn with daddy most of the day and made some center pieces for my mom to use at a banquet for church that night.  After cutting all the pine limbs up and getting them all in their place within the centerpiece, it smelt like a big Christmas tree in the Fellowship Hall when I got done.  I loved it and it helped me get into the Christmas spirit a little more!  After I finished that, I headed over to Brewton to see some more of my favorite friends...Josh and Brandy!  I was just in Brewton on Sunday to see Courtney and her family, which while I was there realized it had been a year since I had been to see them!  It's been great being able to see everyone!  Josh, Brandy and I went and had supper at the Country Club and it was a great time reminiscing about old times!

Friday:
It was basically a repeat of Thursday, just without a trip to Brewton!  I have been a complete Daddy's Girl this week...He better miss me next week cause I know I will miss him! 

I hate that my mom had to work all week.  It would have been great to have her off gallivanting with us this week!  Luckily, she will be off when I come back in three weeks for Christmas!  Heath, you  had better killed lots of deer since you ditched me and went hunting at the camp!  :)

Best week ever! 

Thanksgiving Fun

Yesterday was a great day spent with family, fun and food.  My day began by Bentley yapping ready to go outside.  While we were out walking around, we accidentally ruined my uncle and cousin's plan to do a little early morning hunting.  Oopsie!  However, none of the usual deer were out that morning, so they wouldn't have been able to carry out their plan anyway!

Before lunch, we had a little fun doing a little skeet shooting.  I hit a few, but my brother was shooting pretty much 100% ! 



It's kinda hard to see, but the skeet is in the woods on the left



My Aunt Luanne and me



After a few rounds, we all gathered at the table.  It was completely over crowded, but having too many family members to sit around the table is a good problem to have, in my opinion.  My grandmother enjoyed it immensely, so that is all that matters!  

The table looked great!
(Even though I always set the table and I didn't this year!  Guess I should have got there earlier!)



My grandmother going over her newly found Thanksgiving jokes



I threw this picture in here because I like to mess with my grandmother about them.  I do not like the fact that there are bugs on the dinner plate.  It bothers me...especially the fly!

 After lunch, my mother and I went down to my Maw Maw's side of the family and visited with her and her sisters, my aunt and uncle and cousins.  It was really nice getting to see my great aunts.  I have been very fortunate enough to know a lot of my "greats."  I was very lucky to have known three of my great grand parents. 

Maw Maw (center in the back) with her sisters.  Aren't they all just beautiful!?!

 I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and took the time to think about how really thankful we all should be for all the many undeserving blessings that God has blessed us with!

Daddy's Girl

Today is 11/11/11.  This in theory should be a lucky day.  Even more so, today at 11:11 am and pm should be super lucky.  However, there is one thing for sure...I do not need today at those specific times to be lucky.  My luck began on April 7, 1983 when I was born to my daddy.  Having him as a father makes me one lucky girl!  I cannot even begin to express my love for this man.  In so many ways I adore him, look up to him, respect him and love him.  He not a flashy kind of guy.  He's humble and proud of what he has done and what he has become.  He raised my brother and I with so much love and care that you cannot possibly put that kind of parenting into a few adjectives! I will admit, he can be a hard ass and to know him is to love him (I did get my bluntness from him) and there are days when he really does not care what you think (same here) and sometimes he will listen, but most of the time he is so far past the thinking stage that you are currently in that if you had any comments about the current situation you should have gave them to him, well, yesterday!

I have so many memories of my daddy from growing up that I will cherish forever.  The one that sticks out the most was when we still had our farm in Alabama and I went with him up there, I think I was in high school, and we ended up having to stay the night and my grandfather was up there too.  For those two days, I had my two favorite men all to myself!  Usually, I had to share them with my brother, which is fine, but since he was the only boy he seemed to always be with them and I wanted my time with them! I am very quick to tell you that I had/have them both wrapped around my finger!

Good men are very hard to find these days.  I am constantly comparing men to my dad, grandfather and brother.  If they can measure up to them, then they stand a pretty fair chance of being worthy of my time!  However, if there is one characteristic that I truly want to find the most is the way my dad treats my mother.  He is completely different around her than he is with anyone else.  It's almost like the rough and gruff farmer is left at the back door when he comes home.  As soon as he walks through that back door, he is no longer a farmer, he is my mother's best friend.  Thank you for being that man and showing me what love is.

To the man who ran over my bike because it wasn't where it was suppose to be,
To the man who never bought me a horse...ducks...chickens...goats...rabbits...
To the man who did buy me a steer that I never wanted to show

To the man who loves me unconditionally
To the man who helps me out
To the man who lends a helping hand

To the man who tells me to live my life, make a career, take pride in my work
To the man who says "but don't move too far" or "when are you moving back"
To the man who taught me everything

To this man, I say, Happy Birthday Daddy!  I love you and everyday that I grow older and wiser, I understand each of these reasons more and more.

  

A few things....

1) I had a great time at Wild Adventures this past weekend with Jason. I even purchased a season pass for the rest this year and 2012! We decided that we would use them at least one more time over the next year so just using it twice would pay for itself...at $40.00 a ticket if you purchase the season pass at the October price of $70.00, you can see how it pays for itself by using it twice! Especially if Charlie Daniels comes back!

2) I am very excited that I will be going home for Thanksgiving and staying for a whole week afterwards!

3) I have finally found a church here that I like!

4) I finally broke down and bought a shock collar for Bentley...this will be most useful for my trip home. Already we can see a differene in his behavior and we have yet to shock him!

5) Carolyn and I no longer walk in the mornings before daylight. Friday morning we had a man run out in front of us (we are guessing that he was between some houses and when one of the neighbors left it spooked him) therefore we have moved to the lovely daylight hours in the afternoon. Nothing is scarier than hearing footsteps coming toward you out of the dark!

That's about all...sorry I dont have any pics or anything elaborate this time! I'm blogging off my iPad and it's really hard to type on for long periods of time.

Hope you all have a great Halloween! I know I am enjoying ignoring the knocks at the door!

WARRRR Eagle, Hey!

No, I have not forgotten about my blog...just been busy and nothing too exciting has been going on worth blogging about!

However, this past weekend I went up to Auburn for the Auburn/Florida game.  It was so great to be able to see my friends from home and from college and have a day of catching up!  I didn't have tickets, but had fun anyway! Here are two of my favorite people..Cristy and Dusty!  We all graduated from high school together.

Dusty...one of my favorite Gator fans! (Dusty hates having his picture taken!)

Me and Cristy!

Walking to your tailgate site is one of the few down sides of tailgating.  When you are loaded down with all your stuff and have to walk for forever, you get tired quickly and in my case, blisters on your feet from walking in shoes other than tennis shoes!  I should have known better!!

Sometimes you just need a little breather!

Me and Ashley

Sorry it's not much of a blog today...just not in the creative writing mode. One a side note, today is Boss' Day...I got a nice surprise of a treat today!  A nice chocolate bar with a wrapper saying "Happy Boss' Day!" from our Human Resources Department...I didn't even know that was today!  Oops!

Fall is Finally Here!!

(almost!)

Three things I love the most about FALL...

ONE.  Cooler weather and cuter clothes.  I do believe that fall clothes are the cutest clothes.  Ashley and I went on a small shopping spree yesterday to Valdosta.  It was much needed since I have now given a good amount of clothes that I no longer do, or can, wear away.  There are a few more items that are left on my fall list of must-haves before I deem it complete...


Do you know how wealthy I would be know if I would have come up with this idea when I was little?!?  Do you know how many bullet ends I could have had my hands on between my dad, Jim, and Heath?  These bullet earrings are very intriguing to me they can be found at kevinscatalog.com



I don't know when I would ever wear them, but I am sure that I would find sometime to show off these kicks!  Again, they can be found at kevinscatalog.com





I absolutely adore these horse bit bracelets!  They can be found at kevinscatalog.com and of course I want one in every color!

So, obviously, I have a small obsession with Kevin's.  I also took a peek at the gun selection while I was looking on their web page.  I need a hobby, something to be totally consumed by...guns may be it.  Why not?  Plus, I shot skeet for the first time Saturday afternoon and absolutely loved it!  Kind of like my issues with horses when I was younger.  I wish I would have really pushed to have them because I really think I would have been good at barrel racing...I also think I could have been a great marksmen.  Guess life goes on...but here I am, 28 and no hobby...that needs to change.

TWO.  My Auburn Tigers!  I love college football.  Well, let me narrow that down...I love Auburn football.  Something to look forward to every weekend (except our "off" weekend) and a chance to spend extra time with your friends and family.   I have found a new website that features college boots.  I saw this girl last year at a game that had AU boots.  Hers were colored and very nicely sewn together.  They must have been custom made because I have been searching for a year now on line for those stupid boots.  However, I did find these at collegeboots.com

http://www.collegeboots.com/boots/auburn/LDAUB11

(something is wrong with the URL so I couldn't add the picture...click on the link to see them)

THREE.  Harvest season.  Nothing makes me happier than the smell of harvest season.  The smell of peanuts being dug, the beautiful cotton modules lining up along the road waiting to be picked up.  Wonderful memories and future moments that will stay with me forever. I am still thinking it over, but I still have 9 vacation days to use and I have to use them or I lose them and since I have 9 that means I have only taken 3 so I need a vacation!  I might take off the week after Thanksgiving and go home and enjoy harvest season with my dad and brother!

I'm Bacccckkkkkk!

That's right!  Benzo is BACK!!  Wuff! It has been a crazy week!  Last Friday, Privet and I went to see her parent and her brother (of whom I have affectionately named "Sidebuster").  Two major events were happening that weekend and of course, not to be out done, I had a few major events as well!

I guess to feed that shopping addiction that she has, Privet decided to go home via Destin.  She's been eyeing a watch since before her birthday and her cheap ass still hasn't bought it.  But Noooo...we have to drive almost two hours outta the way for her to leave me in the car (at least she let the windows down) to go to the store to look at it, try it on, and then leave WITH OUT IT!!  Geeze!  When someone finally figures her out, they should get some kind of award!  Then we had to go to Pet Smart because my cage is too heavy to carry up and down the stairs.  Now, everyone knows you can take your pet into this store, but did I get to go? Ummmm...let me think, NO!  She mumbled something about "unsocial" "marking territory" "I'm not dealing with you and your barking" so I guess she convinced herself that I should not go in. So again, I sat in the car.  By now we all know about her crazy hair.  If not, her co-worker so kindly put it..."You got that kind hair...the kind that's found on a dog's ass."  HAHAHA!  That's some funny stuff!  Anyway, she had to stop again and get something for it and of course it is something that is not easily found!  She can't buy it anywhere  in T-ville.  She's got some kinda taste!  I digress...

We finally made it to Wildflower's house.  I have yet to name her daddy...he still scares me a bit, but I have finally stopped barking at him every morning.  It may have something to do with the pistol laying at their back door.  Hey, to be smart in life you have to know which battles to fight and since I would lose that one, I think I will bow-wow out of that one!  Wildflower was so happy to see me!  She even bought me a present!! I was SO excited when she told me that as she was giving me a good scratch behind the ears!  She started down the hall so I pranced behind her!  I couldn't wait for my present!  Usually, Privet gets me something I can destroy within a day!  I love that challenge!  However, my mood quickly changed when she turned around and I saw what it was...socks!?!?  She said it's because I scratch up her hardwood floors throughout the house.  Hey Wildflower, I'm third generation "don't giva shit" about your floors! I personally like this feature because I have fun sliding around when I am running from everyone because I have gotten something of theirs...you know, the usual, socks, glasses, clothes...the usual!  Then Wildflower had the audacity to PUT ONE ON ME!!!  Oh no!  I did not like this!  I had it off my paw before she could get the next one out!  And to show her how I felt about it.....that's right...I used the bathroom in her hallway.  Take that Wildflower! Ugh! The next morning, I was still mad about the whole ordeal so I did it again on her nice rug in their living room...lets just say I did it at just the right angle that she could see it from the kitchen when she turned around from getting her coffee.  I know Privet was furious because I never do that at home, a few accidents, but this was completely intentional! I spent the rest of the morning in my new cage.  Actually, now that I think about it, Wildflower, I apologize, it looks like I DO actually give a shit!! hahah!!

Oh, my new cage! It's the travel kind, you can collapse it and everything.  Three ways to get out of it too.  One of which is on the top.  Wildflower felt sorry for me (she's a sucker for my sad puppy dog eyes) and opened the top part.  Of course, I had to chew on it so I had put a nice rip in my new $70 travel cage.  Again, Privet was not happy with me...oh well!

Sidebuster turned 31 on Sunday which was also Homecoming at church.  He had a great birthday, I mean, I was there and smiling for all the pictures, who wouldn't love me!?!?!

See my smile?

They never would drop a piece of cake though, so I just stole their shoes.  I took MawMaw's right off her foot!!  She thought it was funny!  Finally, someone who gets me!

Here is Sidebuster with his Mawmaw, mom and Aunt (I took all their shoes! It must be some kind of record!)

Anyway, we finally came back on Sunday and boy was I tired. See how cute I am when I am sleeping???

Come here you crazy cat!

 I must go now, there are people to growl and bark at on the balcony.  Y'all be good now, and if you can't be good, be good at it!

Barks and Bites,
Benzo