Confessions Link-Up

I tell myself I'm going to do this each week, and I don't.  So, I'm writing the post now, on Saturday, and will try to schedule it to post on Wednesday.
*I did not post this last Wednesday, but I am this Wednesday!

I confess that I'm a lazy, lazy bum on weekends, and just don't want to do anything!

I confess that I have been obsessively counting calories on livestrong.com and have been doing very well! Also, it seems to be working.  I know this because...

I confess that I weigh myself every morning on our wildly inaccurate bathroom scale.  It's good to keep an eye on things!

I confess that I'm almost as excited for all the takeout that I get to eat over our Christmas vacation as I am about seeing family and friends....almost. Hey, I get to talk to family and friends and tell them I miss them. I do not get to talk to Chipotle and tell the burritos how much I miss them.  That's normal, right?

I confess I am counting the days until Christmas Break (when you read this, there will be 9 (correction: 6!!!) school days)!!!!!

I confess I am hard on my students because I want them to succeed and start taking responsibility for themselves.

I confess that the above confession is making a lot more work for me and driving me to frustration and exhaustion on a daily basis.  I'm starting to understand why some teacher run off worksheets and fill their days with that, but I won't, and I hope it's worth it.

I confess that I love when I have my room full of students getting help for their work, but some days, I need the room to myself during prep and I kick most out.  Though that's very rare.

I confess that I just ate a bunch of homemade potato chips, and I want more.  It's just baked potato slices and the dip is made with greek yogurt so there's no fat.  Maybe I'll make more....(this is happening on Saturday).

Whew! I just kept thinking of stuff.  All done!

Hunting...From a City Girl's Perspective

"As a little girl, did you ever think you be hunting deer in a snow storm in Idaho?" the fella asked.

"Not even once," I replied.

I grew up in a medium sized city in Ohio with parents who are neither hunters nor fishers.  Our idea of outdoors was the creek down the street from my house.  I grew up on store bought meat, as most people do, and never knew there was another way.  I always thought guns were cool, and when we visited my Virginia family I got my first taste of shooting.  Still, I never saw myself owning a gun or hunting for my food. 

When I moved to Virginia and spent more time with my family who are avid hunters, I started to think it might be something I'd be into.  I had shot more guns and eaten venison by then, and I started to think why not. I had also met the fella, a born and bred Wisconsin country boy who grew up hunting.  It sounded pretty cool.  That summer, I took my hunter's safety course and got my license.  I got a few strange looks since the only other girls there were with their dads or boyfriends.  There I sat attentively listening to the rules, techniques, and history and trying to commit it all to memory.

I saw no deer during my first hunting excursion with my uncle.  But he did give me my first gun as a graduation present.

I was a tad excited.

  I didn't get to go the year after since we had just moved to Idaho and didn't want to buy non-resident (read: expensive) tags.  I eagerly waited for this year so I could see if I had what it took to be a hunter.  It can take a lot of time walking quietly in the cold before you get one and I'm not a huge fan of quiet or cold. 

Here are 4 things I learned in my 4 days of hunting:

1. Watching hunters together is fascinating.  It's like they have this connection between their brains that makes everyone know what the other is thinking without many words.  As a novice, it's incredible to watch.  I'd hear a few hushed whispers between the fella and the friend we went with and before I knew it, a plan was hatched and we were walking to the determined location that I wouldn't have been able to find with a detailed map.  The directions sound something like this: 

Hunter 1: Remember that stump we walked by yesterday where that branch was broken.

Hunter 2: Where we saw those tracks? Yep.

Hunter 1: Walk to that spot and then circle over the ridge and meet us on that knob where we glassed the field.

Hunter 2: Gotcha.

I stand there trying desperately to remember all the stumps that I've walked by and tracks I've seen.  My eyes start to cross and when asked if I know where we're going I say, "Of course, lead the way."

2. Walking is usually very simple.  Unless you're hunting. There are lots of things to think about while you walk.  For instance:

-Don't drag your feet.  Meaning pick up your foot and set it down softly yet deliberately in front of you.  Sounds simple.  Now add  work boots, two layers of pants, 4 layers of shirts, a fleece, a jacket, gloves, and a gun you've never really handled.

-When you pick your feet up in the aforementioned way, your legs will get sore.  Seriously, put on all that stuff and march around.  It's quite a workout.

-Keep your head up while not dragging your feet and walking over rocky, unknown terrain.

-Look for deer.  Look for deer while picking your feet up, wearing a million layers, and not making noise on crunchy leaves.

3. You and your gun will become one.

Weird right.  But seriously, the first day I carried the gun, my arms hurt, my shoulders hurt, my hands hurt.  It was weird.  Following all of the above steps for walking (no pun intended! Wait. I intend that pun.) while carrying a loaded weapon (safety on of course) makes you really aware of your actions and how much you use your arms while walking in unfamiliar territory.

By today, before I did anything I thought, "Where should the gun be." Whether crossing through barbed wire (yes, I did get my pants caught once and almost fell on my face.  Thank you for asking), tight-roping across a fallen tree to cross a creek, or climbing a hill, the first thought was always about where the gun should be.

***If you don't like hearing of animals killed for sustenance, STOP READING!

4. When the deer is in your sights you shake, badly.  It's also hard to breathe.

I don't remember the last time I had a reaction like that.  Maybe when I saw the helgramites. No, this was worse.  The fella and I crept to the wooden fence between me and the deer, and I got set to shoot.  I pulled the hammer back while watching the four does that were in the field in front of me.  I got one in my sights and waited as she took a few steps away from the tree she had been standing behind. And then I started to shake.  Oh, did I shake.  The fella said the gun was rattling against the fence I was using for a rest, but I don't believe him! My breath was in short huffs.  When I pulled the trigger, I saw a flash of light and barely heard the shot.  I'll spare you the details of the rest, but I got my deer.  One shot.

No, when I was a little girl I did not see myself doing this.  I didn't see myself getting excited because now we have two deer in the freezer to get us through the winter and we don't have to buy meat on our meager grocery budget.  I didn't see myself traipsing around Idaho woods and fields carrying a muzzle loader that I'm a pretty good shot with.  I didn't see myself already thinking about next deer season and what I can do better. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Not a Reaction I Expected

Do you know what a helgramite is? Neither did I until yesterday.

Let's back up for a sec.  I have a completely irrational fear of cockroaches.  Like I won't even touch a dead one. I won't let one be flushed down the toilet-even if it's dead.  If I see one, I run screaming to the other side of the room, trembling until someone takes care of the situation.  I have yet to be alone with one, and I imagine  a moment like that would look something like a crying, shaking heap in a corner. Ridiculous.

So yesterday, the fella comes home from work and says, "Oh, I almost forgot, I have helgramites in my lunch box.  I found them at work, they're in a water bottle. I can use them for bait when I fish."

"Huh. Well that's neat.  Now you don't have to buy them."

He brought them over to me and held up the bottle.  He was very proud of his find.  I had a realization.  Helgramites look like skinny cockroaches.  I backed up to the counter, eyes wide, breathing heavily, voice shaking as I said, "Oh, that's so great. Uh huh. Awesome."

And then I started crying.

Not sobbing or anything, but eyes brimming with tears while the fella stared at me.  At one point I said, "I don't know what's happening. This is not the reaction I expected."  The fella said that he did not expect that reaction either-and really who would-and backed slowly away from the crazy person and put his little friends in the garage.

THEN, I decided that it was ridiculous for a grown woman to have such a strong and, frankly, insane reaction to a bug (well, bugs) trapped in a bottle.  So, I tip-toed out to the garage, crept around the 4-wheeler, and looked down at the bottle sitting by the tires.  I slowly lowered myself to the garage floor and looked at them.  I even poked the bottle to see if they would move.  I named one Helga and decided she's their leader.

True story.

Friday's Letters

I haven't done a Friday's Letter Link-Up for quite awhile (I just realized that my "Q" key sticks a little), so since I'm sitting in yoga pants (because I will work out eventually) watching Live with Kelly and Michael-did NOT know Michael Strahan was the new co-host!-I'd get back in the swing o' things-this first paragraph had a lot of interjections, and I'm ok with that.  And the fella says that sometimes he can't follow my train of thought, psh.

Dear Fella, sorry I'm not always clear about what I'm talking about and that I jump around when I tell stories, and then think you're not listening when you don't know what I'm talking about. I'm working on it.

Dear Pilates, I love you. I'm going today, especially since I skipped out on yoga yesterday in favor or a glass of wine.

Dear Fox Montana Station Manager, thanks for sending a nice, informative reply to my emotionally wrought letter of distress when you didn't play the Packer game last week. This week is a bye so you're off the hook, but PLEASE play it next week!!!

Dear Breaking Dawn Part 2, I'm excited to see you, but I'm super sad there won't be any more.  I should just re-read the books I think.

Dear Work, I suppose I'll go do some now.  Not because I want to, but because the battery on my computer is almost dead, and I figure this will be the best time to go to work.

Dear New iPad, I think I like you. I really like iMessage and because it's on the iPad, I feel like It's professional to message other teachers in between classes.  I also like Facetime.

Dear Thanksgiving/Holiday Season, I'M SO EXCITED!!!! There are only 6.5 workdays until Thanksgiving Break.  I'm getting super excited to head back east for Christmas Break, too!!!!

Dear Fella, I think it's amazing that you do dishes while I cook so we can hang out in the kitchen.  I also think it's amazing that after parent/teacher conferences and a 13+ hour workday, I came home to a roast, potatoes, and carrots.  Not all guys do stuff like that, and I consider myself very lucky :)

That's all!

Life Lately

Life lately has been crazy! Between the fella working a (sort of) second job, me working, me trying to work out regularly, helping friends, and making holiday plans (i.e. Christmas shopping) there's been a lot going on.  I think things are going to slow down a little now.  Though parent/teacher conferences are Wednesday, so we'll see.

Here are some things that have been going on:

1. We got our first snow...it's gone now.

2. I bought a pasta maker at a yard sale for TWO DOLLARS (it's like $80 online!) and had a pasta making adventure! I made it a little too thick, but it was DELICIOUS! I'm really loving this making-our-food-from-scratch thing.  We're still not the healthiest eaters, but we rarely eat processed/packaged foods.  I also made homemade meatballs with the pasta.  Num!

So pretty :)

3. The people we used to rent from and that the fella has worked for had their annual Angus sale, so we went and helped out.  I didn't take many pictures though.  I always feel a little awkward taking random pictures.  Is that something you just get over, or do other people not feel awkward? Anyway...

 I watched the sale for awhile, and it's amazing how fast everything moves.  My face always itches at auctions because I know I shouldn't move my hands.  I don't want to walk out of there with a $5000 bull!

I had a very serious conversation with a 5 year old about how poop that comes from a cow's butt is the same as poop that comes from a human's butt.  He was trying to convince his little brother that poop was not interesting.  It was awesome.

I also heard this conversation:

Buyer Check-In Lady "Have you bought from the sale before?"

Buyer "No, but I have bought semen."

 What's weird is that it was a completely normal conversation at a cattle ranch.

4. I got an iPad at school.  I'm not sure what to do with it.  I'm really not too impressed so far.  But I'll keep trying.

5. Ohio State (my Alma Mater/love of my life football team) is UNDEFEATED!!! After a shaky season riddled with scandal, an interim head coach, and ineligibility for the post-season (we're still ineligible), we're turning things around. A Heisman candidate, Urban Meyer, and a (so far) undefeated season! Never mind that I don't get to watch any of the games because of our lack of cable, I'm just happy we're doing well!!!

Confessions Link Up!

I found a new blog the other day that I've been spending my lunch hour reading. Mrs. Bear over at Think Happy Thoughts started a link up party for Wednesday's Confessions and I wanted to join! So here goes...

I confess...that I spend a lot of my lunch/prep poking around the internet while I eat.  It keeps me sane :)

I confess...I'm so excited about the pizza and wings that are in the oven for supper.

I confess...that I've gone to the bar instead of going to yoga for just about every Thursday this week. I'm changing that tomorrow...and I have wine ready for me at home so I have incentive to come home after yoga!

I confess...I kind of wish I had experienced Frankenstorm.  I used to live in VA and was there for a Noreaster, and it was really interesting/a little scary.  But really I'm glad I was safe and dry in Idaho.

I confess...I watch way too much t.v. and I can't wait to catch up on all my shows this weekend :)

There ya have it! Wednesday's Confessions! This was a quick one...there's only about 5 minutes left on my pizza!!!!

It's the Little Things

I know I've written a lot about field trips lately, but something happened on the most recent field trip that I thought was really interesting that got me thinking more about the little moments in life that we sometimes miss.  Little experiences that slip by as we look toward other things.

 I've said many times that my town is smaaaaaalllll. But sometimes even I forget how small.  When we were at the museum a few girls came up to me all excited, "Ms. K!" they said, "come ride the elevator with us!"

What?

There was a sign next to the elevator that said children had to be supervised, but I couldn't figure out why in the world they wanted to ride the elevator to the only other floor in the building, the 2nd.

"C'mon! It's so much fun!" they all exclaimed.  By that time they were pulling me towards it.

"Um...ok. Sure," I said.  As we rushed to the elevator and they pushed the button to call the elevator to us, it hit me! We don't have elevators.  I can think of one, maybe two, buildings that might have an elevator.  This was cool!  I rode with the girls to the 2nd floor and off they skipped.  I wasn't planning to ride again, but a kid that I know doesn't get out much came walking up to me expressing disappointment that he hadn't gotten to ride.  I asked if he had ridden one before, and he said maybe once or twice.  We got on the elevator, he pushed the button, and as the elevator started it's 1 floor descent he beamed.  There was a window on the back side of the elevator and he was very impressed that we could see outside.  

I must have let 30 kids ride the elevator, and it was the most fun I've ever had on an elevator ride.

The next time you ride an elevator, enjoy it :)

My morning view that I'm trying to fully appreciate everyday :)

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About a Middle School Fieldtrip

Yesterday, we took the kids on another field trip.  My little town is an hour in any direction away from another town, and those towns are smaller than this one.  The nearest Wal-Mart is 2.5 hours away.  Suffice it to say any field trip we go on require at least a two and a half hour bus ride.  As I mentioned in my last post, the smells of the bus are varied, everything from sweat to lotion to chips (I'll come back to the chips).

There are a few rules on the bus:

1. Boys in front, girls in back (just so there's no hanky panky)

2. No food on the bus because the kids have trouble picking up their own trash

3. No touching each other horse play style

4. Sit

Other than that they're allowed to wear hats, use electronics, talk, sing, laugh, pass electronic notes (i.e. writing a note/memo on their phone and passing it back and forth on the bus).

I spent the day alternately laughing hysterically and being furious depending on whether or not they decided to follow the above rules.

Here are some interesting things:

1. My hair was done no less than 7 times.

2. I actually said the phrase, "You don't poop out of your foot" when a kid kept insisting he was sitting on his bottom and was really sitting on his foot.

3. I used my talent for sniffing out food and had to yell to the back of the bus that, "I smell chips! If you have chips and I find them, I WILL eat them.  I love chips. I think you have Doritos."

4. I heard this phrase come out of nowhere from a kid who just cracks me up: "I do not like tie dye tshirts in case you were asking."

5. We had to stop after driving for only an hour because of a potty emergency.  The town's population was equal to the number of kids we had on the buses.  About a hundred.  The teeny tiny town store had only one bathroom and obviously couldn't accommodate the 60 kids who just HAD to go.  So we circled around town trying to find a bathroom and ended up at the school whose staff was kind enough to let us all run in and potty.

6. On the way back, a girl on my bus really did have to go.  She kept screaming, "It's giving me goosebumps! I have to go so bad!!! I just pushed my bellybutton and I felt a little come out!"  We passed a porta-potty and she slammed herself against the window and screamed, "NOOOOOO!"  We finally stopped, and I've never seen that girl run so fast. And she's an athlete.

7. They aren't allowed to eat on the bus.  Asking these kids to go for two and a half hours without eating is like, well I don't know what it's like because I don't think there's really anything to compare it to.  After an hour they were SO HUNGRY.  Like, "I'm going to pass out if I don't eat something RIGHT NOW," kind of hungry.  "How can you not let us eaaaaaat???"  "This is SO UNFAIR" kind of hungry.  I've never seen anything like it.  An entire bus full of starving children.  

8. We had a spell-off between two of the kids for the last few minutes of the bus ride and lots of people paid attention.  Yes, we were that bored.  But it was really cool.  Neither one could spell "patriocisity." Mostly because I made it up.

9. Overall, lots of fun.  Though I wouldn't want to do it every week!

10. On a semi-related note, the chipmunk from this post is alive and well.  Well being a relative term since we're pretty sure Jojo (that's his name) suffered some brain damage from the rock.  He lets you pet him.  I got to pet a chipmunk!!!!

And there you have it, everything you didn't know you wanted to know about middle school field trips!

Teacher Problems

I've come to realize that teacher problems are probably the most random, funniest problems there are.  We have real problems, of course, but a lot of the time I find myself standing somewhere and coming up with a solution to the most ridiculous problems I've every heard.

Just yesterday I heard a story about a teacher who had a student, that I have now, who used to smell her hair.  Like multiple times per day. Whaaaaaat!?!

The 8th graders went on a field trip to Crystal Park in Montana last week.  Crystal Park is basically a dirt hillside chock full of actual crystals.  I don't know why they're they, but it's darn cool!  After a 2.5 hour drive filled will camp songs, giggles, occasional scolding, and all the smells that come with a bus load of middle schoolers, we arrived at the park.  The kids were armed with shovels, pails, and sifting screens and off they went.  Dirt flew and kids exclaimed as they found crystals worth keeping.

At one point, one boy saw a squirrel and yelled, "SQUIRREL!!!" Four boys ran after him while one hollered, "Don't touch the wildlife."  I'm still not sure what the goal of chasing a squirrel was, but they were on a mission.  They walked back to their spot after a spirited 4-second chase.  Around that same time (here's where teacher problems come in), some other students came tearing down the hill shouting that another boy had killed a chipmunk with a rock.  It was big news! The student in question came down shortly after, and I asked him what had happened.  He replied that he didn't know.  "Well did you do it on purpose?" I asked.  He was adamant that he did not do it on purpose, and after thinking for a second, I realized that the likely hood of hitting a chipmunk with a rock on purpose probably wasn't that great.  Then he told me that another teacher had it.  When I asked why, he said that the teacher was going to take it to his wife (another teacher at the school).  I tried to wrap my mind around why this teacher would want to take a dead chipmunk to his wife while the student shrugged his shoulders and wandered off.

When I saw the teacher in question coming down to path towards me I asked if he had given the chipmunk mouth-to-mouth.  "Not yet," he said and tapped his shirt pocket.  The chipmunk, with a broken leg and a head injury, was tucked snugly in his pocket.  He transported it back to school in an empty water bottle and as of today, it's still alive!

Last year, I had a group of girls bring me a baby bird who chirped through my last three classes of the day.  I had kids feed it with an eye dropper during down time.

And that's just a taste of a day in the life of a teacher :)

4-Wheeling

After hunting a few times in the mountainous terrain, the fella and I decided to keep our eyes open for a 4-wheeler.  We knew we'd use them, and I didn't want to look back at our time in Idaho and say, "Wouldn't it have been cool if we would have had 4-wheelers?"  There's so many places here that you just can't get to with a truck.  We kept our eyes and ears open and one day the fella called me at work and said he heard about a few on the radio.  We were going to drive an hour to the next town to look at them, but then the seller said he was headed our way anyway and would bring them to us.  He was bringing two, but we just wanted one.

A few hours later, he drove away with an empty trailer, and we sat in our driveway with 2 new toys.

Up until yesterday, we had only used one for hunting.  We decided to take them out for their first trip :)

That's hard to do with a truck but a piece of cake for a 4-wheeler!

An old work site.

There were 5 or 6 cabins where the workers would stay.  It was waaay in the middle of nowhere!

After 7 miles and an hour and a half, we made it to the lake!

That's our town!

We had so much fun, but today my hand, shoulder, and butt are killing me!!! (Does that count as a workout???)

Oh, and just because, here's a picture of me from a few weeks ago before going grouse hunting. I got 2, the fella got 3!

Age?

Today, one of my favorite blogs Back East Blonde talked about how she still doesn't feel like a grown up despite living with her beau, having a house, getting a puppy, and having a grown up job.  I feel like this all.the.time!

I told my dad once that I couldn't believe that I was a grown up and I had my own apartment (this was years ago) and a job and all that.  I asked him if you ever really start to feel like an adult.  He chuckled and said, "Ha, no. And wait until you have kids!"  I ask the fella the same question sometimes, especially since he always seems so much better at adult stuff that me.  You know, like knowing what copay means for insurance.  He said he doesn't feel like a grown up either.

As I hang out with people my age and older, I realized we're exactly the same as we were when we were kids/teenagers.  We still make dirty jokes (like the kids I teach who don't realize I've already made all the jokes they're just learning), act inappropriately in public (we just make sure no one's looking), and giggle during meetings.

As a teacher, I still laugh to myself when I hang out with teachers who are just as childish as me outside of the classroom.  Remember when you thought teachers lived at school?  You'd see them in the grocery store and think, "There's Mrs. So-and-So. She eats food.  Just like the rest of us. That's weird."  The difference between us and kids is that we have to pretend.  Kids get to do all these things all of the time and it's acceptable.  We do all these things but have to pretend we don't.  Because we're grown up.  Responsible.  Reliable.

It's nice to know that as I get older I don't have to give any of that up...I just have to pretend to. :)

This Time of Year...

This time of year I get a little homesick.  I love midwest falls, I love the trees, the apple cider, the smells, and most of all, the football.  Buckeye Nation is a pretty cool place to be during football season.  In Virginia, I found an Ohio State bar that felt almost like home, and I got used to that.  We had our own little traditions in a home away form home.  If I couldn't be in a bar in Columbus, that was definitely the next best thing.  

Here in Idaho it's just not quite the same.  And this is the second year that the fella has been gone on the first game day (I realize this is the second, but we were in the mountains last week) which compounds the loneliness a little more though it doesn't occur to me until he's already left.  Not that he should stay home anyway just to watch me mope over my lack of football!

So, since I can't watch the game (and really I'm not that upset because watching here by myself just isn't the same), I'm going to put on my jersey, be sad for a few minutes, cheer up, and attempt to recreate Chipotle.  Though after my cooking adventure last night (imagine marinade exploding from the broken food processor) I don't know that I'm very optimistic at the moment.  And I'll wait until the day that I can be back in the midwest where Big Ten games are standard and the trees are golden.

A Day in the Life

I've live in Idaho for a year as of today (I'm writing this on the 18th).  One year ago today, the fella and I pulled into this little, random town in the middle of nowhere and for the first time lived on our own.  No roommates, no parents, just he and I and the deer in the yard.  We've loved every second of our life here and love the fact that it really is a random, off-the-beaten-path type of place. 

Two of my best friends in Columbus had many questions about life in Idaho-what do you do? Where do you go? Who do you hang out with? What places are there for food? etc.  I told them that I would do a few "day-in-the-life" posts to give them a glimpse into my daily life.  Today is Saturday, so I thought I'd do a post about a typical weekend day.

We woke up this morning and went to some yard sales.  I found a pair of jean capris for $2 (plus a free basket), a sign for the Laundry Room that says "Laundry Room-Drop Drawers Here" for $1, and a set of jumper cables for $1.

After that we came home and set up the army wall tent that we bought yesterday for our hunting camp.

All laid out ready to go!

The stakes and posts.

The center pole takes both of us to set up.  The fella takes the top part and heaves it up while I attempt to step on the end to steady it while simultaneously pushing from the bottom while trying to not fall over and ruin the whole thing.

All set up!

The inside is huge, and it came with a wood burning stove for those cold winter nights.

 After we set up the tent, I cut up some carrots and cantelope.

I attempted a healthy snack before our seriously unhealthy lunch.

 This weekend the Sacajawea Cultural Center is having their Heritage Days.  There are old-timey vendors, music, and dutch oven cooks who sell their food for very reasonable prices.

Dutch oven lunch-potatoes, pasta, paella, enchiladas, and bacon. Delicious! Apparently there are dutch oven cooking clubs.  It's kind of a big deal.

Primitive living exhibit.

I think this is beef jerky.

The outdoor kitchen.

Apparently this is the archaeological dig site. I think that plastic bottle is an original.

A bridge.  The fella was kind enough to say I could go first. Then we walked in the opposite direction.

Did you know that the Indians drank Arizona lemonade and ate Lunchables?  Neither did I.

 After our rather large lunch and walking around in the heat, we decided it was time for some relaxation, so we came home and settled into watch a few episodes of Lost.  We started watching it from the beginning a few weeks ago and we're hooked!

Then, the fella went out elk watching and I've settled in to watch The Devil Wears Prada (which I could watch a million times for some reason), eat popcorn, feel guilty about the popcorn, and then decide whether or not I should eat a salad to balance it out or just not eat anything else.  Ahhh, decisions. I decided to make chicken tenders with hot sauce. When the fella gets home, we'll probably watch another episode of Lost and then head to bed.

And that, my friends, is a day in the life in Idaho.  Next weekend in the fair and Rodeo that I'm very excited about.  Fingers crossed for funnel cakes!!!