H54F - Harvest 2012 Style

It's Friday, so why not celebrate?

I am linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk for this week's H54F, but I decided to add a little twist and celebrate all the little things that I am learning to appreciate as a new farm wife.

Numero Uno? Mark Purfeerst. (and every other farmer!)

This farming job is hard work and he is such a trooper, even though I am pretty sure he is completely, and overwhelmingly, exhausted.

Let me paint the picture. This week we are setting up a cow to flush (so we can collect embryos from her), so even though he may not roll in to bed until 2 in the morning after trucking grain all night, he still is up and out the door by 6:00 (in the morning, mind you) so he can make it back to the farm to give shots (just shots of hormones to convince her body to cycle -- pretty much like how it works in humans). After shots and feeding, he drives back to our house, showers, gets ready for work where he puts in 8 hours, runs home, changes clothes and heads back out to the farm.

And his schedule has been dauntingly similar for the last four weeks. But I couldn't be more impressed with how he is handling it. Now, I won't hold back the reality. Has he been a little crabby every once & awhile? Yes. Have I been a occasionally annoyed (even though I am trying desperately not to be. Cut me slack please, I am still learning.) that I have been momentarily put in charge of every single chore in our life like bills, laundry, groceries, food, cleaning, ect.? Yes. Do I miss having someone at home with me to go check on random noises and fix the light bulb that has been out in our garage for two weeks (I can't reach it!). Yes. 

{isn't he cute? BTW, don't mind his ugly shirt. It goes with his ugly hat & ugly pants.}

Nonetheless, all those things are to be expected and little things when we look at the big picture. The important thing is that we have 3,000+ acres of crop to get out and they need every able helping hand to do it. So Mark is doing whatever he can. Plus, a small percentage of that crop is ours and it's so exciting to see our year of planning and work pay off. 

I am proud of him. And, I can't forget to mention Jim, Jimmy, Ramone, Rosie and the rest of the guys at the farm and the thousands of other men & women out there doing the same thing. It takes long hours, but it's a rewarding job in the end.

Number Two | Going off the above, I am doubly thankful that harvest is almost over.

It's typically unheard of that we would have all the crop out of the field by the end of October, let alone October 10th, but rumor at the elevator is that we might be done as early as the middle of next week. 2012 has been such a crazy year.

{A load from from this week. Each semi holds 900-1000 bu.}

Now, by no means is the work over when the last kernel of corn is put in the bin. There is still grain to haul, fields to be dug and plenty of bookwork catch up on. However, we will be back to "normal" hours, where six hours of sleep and supper at the dinner table are possible.

Three? Huband/Wife Time.

Last Saturday, I got really lucky. I won free Twins tickets AND we weren't super busy at the farm, so my husband got to come with me. It was so fun to just hang out and enjoy one of the last beautiful fall days. Plus, we thought Mark would have to head back to the farm after the game, but they shut down early, so we got the rest of the night to just enjoy. We stopped at a pumpkin patch and picked out two BIG, beautiful pumpkins (plus a few white ones for inside decor), enjoyed a treat at the new frozen yogurt shop in town and then plopped our butts on the couch and relaxed. It was heavenly.

4. A New Barn Coat (I need to add a little fashion in here!)

Yesterday, Mother Nature decided to let loose the chilly weather. 80 and sunny on Wednesday -- cloudy, windy and 40 on Thursday. It was enough to make any girl crabby, but I like to make the best out of all situations and decided it was the PERFECT time to pull out my new cute barn coat.

Let me preface this by saying, I know barn coats don't normally get to be NEW or CUTE. But, I scored this one at Gap last year for $6.97 (and that was before my super crazy discount) for this sole purpose. Just because you're doing cattle chores, doesn't mean you can't be cute. And at less 10 bucks, who cares if it gets dirty?!

{Looking back, I should have bought 3 of them. Definitely. Maybe even 4?}

 A little fake fur helps class up any night at the barn, don't you agree?

#5 -- Lots of Learning
I've said it before and I will say it again. I am not an expert at farming. Give me cows and I could go on forever, but corn & soybeans? I am a little lost.

However, after a bit of a rude harvest awakening, I love every nugget of information that I am learning. 

By the way, I know what you are thinking. Rude awakening? You have been with Mark for 8 years. And you are right. But two of those years I was in high school, five of them I was gone in Fargo, and last year I was freaking out about a wedding. I was more concerned about invitations and flowers than if Mark was gone at the farm. I didn't quite know everything that went into it.

Back to the point, it's been great to actually understand what's going on and feel like I can help. I have been learning how to run the scale, what moisture we need to be at, why you can't harvest soybeans when it gets too cold, how the books work, what a bill of lading is, my husbands signal for when to stop the truck when loading roundbales, where certain corn gets delivered, how basis/puts/ect. work and so on. Next year, mark my words, I am even learning how to run the digger! :)

Am I an expert? No. Do I know more than I did four weeks ago. 1,000 times more. And that is a good feeling.

And because this is getting to be an extremely long H54F, I am ending it at that. :)

Have a great weekend, friends! And if you are in the same shoes as me, I would love to hear from you! What are you thankful for this week?

XoXo,

High Five For Friday | June 15

I'm welcoming Friday with open arms this week.

Let's get real -- I welcome it every week with open arms -- I may or may not live for my weekends in the summer. Doesn't everyone?

My crazy, busy schedule has forced me to miss a few High Five For Fridays, but that just means I have a lot of stuff to celebrate this week. I am once again linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk for her H54F.

So in no particular order, here's my favorite things from the past week!

1. I got my second Birchbox in the mail and this time, I was completely impressed. I have a few more things to try before I give a review, but from my tests so far, I am back on the Birchbox bandwagon.

{are you a Birchbox subscriber? What did you get?}

2. I also discovered a FABULOUS iPhone app that can make a blah picture amazing in just seconds like below. I am working on a post for you on Tuesday that explains everything you need to know it, so make sure to stop back & visit. Really, how did people live without smart phones?

{slightly off subject, but I absolutely love a perfectly wrapped present & that adorable tape is my new BFF. Best part? I got it at Target.}

 

3. It's my last weekend with long hair! I can't wait to chop off these locks and hand them off to someone who needs them much more to me. I'll admit, I am a little nervous and wish I could keep my hair long for a little bit longer, but it always grows back, right? And, worst of all I have no idea what I am going to do. Any suggestions? I think I am going to try to go back to something similar to this picture, but I don't know how much hair I get to keep it, so we might be playing it by ear... :)

{I randomly went to a beauty school for this haircut. She easily cut off 10 inches, it took her 2 hours and she cut herself twice...it has to turn out better this time! :)}

4. We have another road trip planned for cattle shows this weekend - this time to northern Minnesota on Saturday and south to Iowa on Sunday. Oh the things we do...

{the second heifer in the lineup is my younger brother with my "wedding present." We call her Scarface.}

Make sure to check out yesterday's post for a review of last weekend's show. Plus, if you are new to agriculture, let alone crazy people who show cattle, I answered some of Katie's questions in the comments that might help clear things up for you!

5. And last but not least, I am excited that I finally washed my dry-clean only pile. H54F is about celebrating the little things, right? Well, I just added 10 super cute items back to my closet that have been MIA for months and for a girl who is trying to avoid the mall this month, it's the best I can do. :)

And one last shout out to Whitney @ The Observant Turtle - I am a featured sponsor today! Yeah! Stop over and give her some blogging love. She's great.

Happy Friday Friends!

High Five For Friday | #Blessed

Hey All,

It's that day of the week again. Yes!

I'm linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk for High Five For Friday because the little things are worth celebrating.

The MN Twins |  Let's be clear on this: currently, the Twins stink big time. Worst in the league kind of stink, but that means super cheap tickets on StubHub and since I am paying for that gorgeous stadium with my tax dollars, I might as well take advantage of it! Right?

Great friends + Legends Club + Twins Baseball = A Perfect Monday Night.

Social Media | It's no secret that I am a social media nerd. It weirdly excites me. As does advertising campaigns, online analytical numbers, and PR success stories (and fails). I know, call me what you like, but there is a reason I picked this profession. Anyways, I have found some great SM (yes, I am even that nerdy that I abbreviate it) stats and ideas that week that completely motivated me. So much so that I have a whole blog post in the works.

Did you know that the average Facebook user spends seven hours and 45 minutes on the social network each month? And you can quadruple that number for me. (I am getting paid for it people, don't judge!)

Life Changes | Two of my long-time BFF's have had some big life changes in the last few months – job, engagement, baby – that deserved celebration. Pizza, spumante, the lake and catching up? Nothing is better.

{I am a sucker for anything mini -- this bottle of champagne was too cute!}

Husband | I am not being sappy when I write this (I actually hate all things sappy), just realistic – this week Marko has been pretty great. He spent two nights in the tractor while I got to have all the fun (side note - digging is fun, just not Twins game & girls night type of fun), and the first night his butt wasn't glued to the seat, he helped me clean the house. He deserves some type of award, but by the time he reads this, the size of his head will be enough. :)

Chief | A lot of things battled for this 5th spot, but I am pretty sure that Eric Church at the Target Center is going to take the prize. I am admittedly writing this on Thursday because there is no way after a night at EC that I would want to get up & post, but am confident that this concert will be the highlight of my week.

{via}

I can't say it enough, I am blessed with so many good things!

Happy Friday!

High Five For Friday!

It's Friday, Friday, Friday!

(imagine me being Rebecca Black belting that out right now.)

I don't know about you, but my week flew by, which I love.

Once again, I am linking up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk for her High-Five For Friday! Hopefully, you're celebrating your week today, too!

High-Five Numero Uno goes to the sunlight that is now streaming into my office every morning! Yep, I upgraded and got a cubicle with a window! It has its downfalls – like the that printer brings people and unwanted noise constantly into my little space; but I will take the sunlight everyday of the week. I might even get a plant now!? How exciting. :)

My second High Five goes to finally getting our bank accounts figured out and finalized...it only took 6 months. So nice to have loans paid off and have goals nearly set for our future.

And this leads nicely into my third High Five -- Marko & I are celebrating 6 months of marriage bliss tomorrow! It's amazing how much things have changed in that time and I love the people we have become.  Don't get me wrong, I still want to punch him some days, but he's also my best friend. We're celebrating tomorrow with garage sales, some wine and a fabulous little girl's birthday party!

{my favorite picture from thousands of wedding photos!}

We also got a nice surprise this week and got our wedding book in the mail! Perfect timing, right? I have raved about our photographers before, but really, I can't say it enough. They. are. fabulous. And Jessica (half of the great duo) is the cutest darn thing – it was better than Christmas morning and her wrapping was perfect!

{watch for a post to come on this!}

And finally, High Five #5 goes to all the free goodies I got this week. I don't know about you, but I love freebies. Honestly, I could hate the darn thing, but if it's free -- I want it. It might be a problem

My grab of the week? All these magazines....

{I have lots of reading ahead!}

 And that's all folks. Have an excellent weekend! Soak up the sun & enjoy every second of it!

High Five For Friday

Finally, Friday, you are here!

I don't know about you but 70 degree weather and sunshine makes weeks in the office seem terrible. I don't know how I am going to handle the summer. Luckily though, I have a new office starting tomorrow with lots of light and sun. Maybe I can get a tan through the window!?

I decided I am going to try to make "High Five For Friday" with Lauren at From My Grey Desk a regular addition to Cows, Corn & Country. Hopefully, as you're reading you find some reasons to celebrate too!

High Five #1 goes out to the new Essie nail polish I splurged on this week. I picked up the nail polish addition from my BFF last fall, but this was my first Essie purchase. I am loving the spring Tart Deco color and day 2 without any chips. I am thinking it's going to much more durable than my $2.00 bottles.

High Five #2 goes to the finally getting out to Target Field for a Twins game. We got lucky and got some last minute tickets to Tuesday night's game. We went with Mark's co-worker and wife and their adorable 3-month-old son. Seriously, you should see the hair on this kid's head! He's a cutie. When they slipped out because of rain we met up with Misty & her boyfriend Matt, who just happened to be at the game too! The Twins ended up losing terribly to the Red Sox, but nothing beats outdoor baseball.

{we had killer seats right behind home plate.}

High Five #3 is for a spotless house. Mark spent Wednesday night in the tractor and I wasn't feeling so hot, so I stayed home and went super domestic on our house. The bathrooms are cleaned, the floors are swept, laundry done and everything dusted. Best feeling in the world. Unfortunately, the house being clean didn't make me feel any better and I spent most of Thursday sick. 

High Five #4 goes out to it being 5K week. I am ashamed to admit that I am terribly unprepared and my run Wednesday night went awful. However, I am blaming the bad run on my cold and I am excited to just get it over with. Even if I walk half of it, it's still an accomplishment in my mind...and door prizes and massages at the end! And I also decided that I am signing up for at least one more this summer yet. Any ideas on where or when?

And my last High Five For Friday is for hitting the big 5-0 in followers! Thanks everyone! If you want to follow my blog, you just have to click on "Join This Site" in the upper right hand corner or subscribe via email. To celebrate, I think I am might have my first giveaway next week!

Have a good weekend! The 5K is Sunday morning so while you are at church on Sunday, send a prayer my way! :)