Current events

First - I got another a new cell phone case.... 

Don't act shocked...

C'mon....

You should be used to this by now.

I've been working slowly on re-decorating our house.  I can't remember if I've told ya'll about it (surely I did - I tell ya'll everything).  I really, really want to share what I've done so far but I kind of want to wait until it's all done.  (But who am I kidding?  I'll never be able to wait that long...)

Alicia offered months ago to come by the house to help me pick out paint colors for the walls.  I hate to have her make a special trip ALL the way to the country where she was born & raised before she became a city slicker just for that so we've just been kind of waiting until she was out this way.  Her brother & sister in law (HI ROBIN!) live like 5 miles from me so when I was invited to their son's 1st birthday party, it seemed like the perfect time for her to stop by.  

 (When I told people the birthday party was for my friend Alicia's brother (because most my people know Alicia, not Robin & Matt) they were perplexed.  Like, 'why is she getting invited to Alicia's brothers sons party?!'  UHM, yes -  I have infiltrated the Gettelfinger family...I told ya'll they love me...)  

(And don't forget I took Matt & Robin's wedding pics a little over 2 years ago.  LOVE me, people....)

Alicia came over & shot down my brown paint samples for the kitchen & dining room faster than I could snatch them off the walls.  (Thank GAWD.)  It will make more sense when I finally show you pics of the new 'stuff' I've put up on the cabinets, but they have brown & (you guessed it) purple in them.  Alicia said, to me, "I would paint it this purple right here."  Angels.were.singing.  I knew I was her friend for a reason....

My dining room wall is pretty large, & it slants up to the vaulted ceiling so I was having a hard time trying to figure out what to put there. I looked at paintings on Amazon but they were like hundreds of dollars.  Gulp.  And then, Alicia gave me her next gem.  Her mother in law (B-rad's aunt) had her hubby make her wooden frames & she put fabric over them.  UHM, yes please...

I started searching Pinterest & found so many cute ideas... 

THIS is the one I settled on.  

Could you just DIE?  

Since I'm pretty & have no carpentry bones in my BODY I just come up with the crazy plans & leave it to B-rad to execute them for me.  I wouldn't say he's eager to help, but he does humor me.  Unless it's spring or fall & then I'm getting yelled at.  You'd think after all these years I'd learn...

So he helped me Sunday night measure how much of the actual wall I we wanted the monstrosity to cover.  I wrote it down & said, "Ok Mac, now it's up to you to figure out how big each 'frame' will need to be."  

He sat down at his computer & about an hour later he gave me this:

 UHM, I don't brag on my husband EVER very often, but I must tell you - he is so talented at stuff like this.  He whipped this right up & now he knows what size he's going to have to make the frames (uh, you didn't think I was doing that, did you?!) & they are all spaced exactly 2" apart.  If I was in charge they would be slapped up there in the biggest hot mess you've ever seen.  I'm going to shop for fabrics in a couple of weeks.  I have 13 frames to fill & I don't want any of the fabrics to be the same.  Oh, what fun for B-rad... 

Jaime Mac, Picasso...same difference

Denise was kind enough to ask me to join in on a 'girls night out' at the Uptown Art painting place.  I'm all about a girls night out so I didn't let the fact that I can't even draw a stick person deter me.  

I went to Alicia's house to catch a ride with her & some of the other gals.  I finally got to meet their new puppy, Reese. (pronounced like a Reese cup).  They've had her since Christmas.  She is a sweet girl, but she's hyper as all get out... (I can't tell you how many pics I took before I got one of her sitting still.)

We had to have a stern talk pretty quickly about the fact that she was trying to eat my purple scarf.  Hmph.

Nora hung out with me while Alicia was getting ready.  And Miss Thang threw herself a little tantrum because she was thirsty.  It was totally hilarious because normally she has such a sweet disposition.  I told Alicia I had to share this w/ ya'll because she always makes her kids look soooo perfect...

 And once Miss Thang had her drink, she was back to being sweet.   

Reese is pretty gentle with the kids, but she's as big as Nora.  She walked right up to her & gently knocked her over.  I took pics watched until Nora started screaming...then I finally told Reese to let her up.

While Alicia & I were chatting in the kitchen, Reese came in & in true 'I will misbehave when mom has company over' fashion, she peed right behind me.   It's so funny to me that Alicia has a dog.  She's not a 'dog' person...she had a cat growing up, so it's funny for me to see her now taking care of this dog!

 

The rest of the gals arrived & we headed over to the paint class.  I have never done anything like this before.  I've heard lots of people talk about it, but I had no idea what to expect.  We were painting a 'funky wine bottle'.  They explain how this is supposed to be fun & that if you have fun you will enjoy your finished product.  (I'm assuming that's for all those weird people who think everything has to be perfect.)  We also decided everything you paint there is 'funky' because they say 9,000 times, "It's ok - just make it funky..."   

They take you through step-by-step on what to paint, where to paint, which brush to use & which color to use to make it very simple.  Because I was too busy worrying about how stupid my painting would turn out I'm a good student, I didn't take ANY pictures during the class.  Just know that your painting doesn't resemble anything until almost the very end.

 You sit at these long tables with lots of other painters & we were joking with the gals across from us throughout the night.  When one of us would complain, another one would say, "Are you having FUN?!  You're supposed to be having FUN!"   At one point towards the end of the night, one of them bumped the table & said, 'Oh, I'm sorry.!'  I told her, 'Way to go...you nearly ruined my perfect painting!'  

I don't know what I think about mine.  I like it - & quite honestly I'm shocked I was able to do anything like this - really.  I'm happy with how my bottle turned out especially after how it started out.   My plan is to hang it in the hallway by our guest bath so all the people that come visit us can see it.  Then, if I go to more classes I can hang all my masterpieces there...ya know - like my own little art gallery.  Duh...

Thanks for the invite, Denise!  

A day with my jewelry friends.

Last Saturday I had to be up at the un-Godly hour of 4:30am to go to Indy for our Premier regional rally.  

For the past three years that I've been going - they've been a 2 day event.  There were like 6-7 rallies all over the United States held over 2 weekends.  But this year, Premier changed things up & had 34 rally sites on only one day.   It was definitely different...not good or bad  different.  Just different.  There's a HUGE difference in having 1500-1700 jewelry ladies in one room as opposed to 400ish.   

Sonny & B-rad were fast asleep when I left.

 We had a nice size group attend this year. 13 total.

 Look at all the fun ya'll missed...  (Do you think Brenda reads this blog to learn B-rad's trick?!) 

 I have 3 gals who I have personally sponsored into the business.  They were all able to go this year which was awesome.

Alicia is a nurse by trade & she's one of the hardest working gals I've EVER met.  She always has at least 2 jobs.  Always.  She works for Humana by day, Providence by night & weekend & jewelry lady somewhere in between.   She has a great attitude & I just love her.  She's going to the Daughtry concert w/ Shauna & I in a couple of weeks!  

 Next is April.  She's crazy a stay at home mom.  She & I are working on understanding each other.  She can be very negative & I have a hard time dealing with that.  I tell her all the time the only person who is standing in her way is HER.  She has a beautiful personality & is a very, very sweet lady.  If she could get some inner confidence she would be unstoppable.   You might be wondering why I don't just give her some of my confidence since I have enough for both of us?  If only it were that easy...

 And last is Tricia.  Oh, my word - Tricia.  (She is Tracey's sister)  I can't explain to you how much I love her.  She's sarcastic, she's hilarious, she's fun... (Wow, who does that sound like?  No wonder I love her so much...)  Tricia is a very hard worker & out of all the girls, she seems to 'get it', ya know?  I always tell the girls, "I can teach you SO much about this business if you will just listen to me."  Tricia listens.

She is a police officer by day & I LOVE listening to her stories.  She has seen some crazy shit go down.  (When I tell her all about B-rad's gun purchases, she simply & calmly says, "Awesome".  Really?!)

One of the most exciting things about Rally is that we get new jewelry.  Who doesn't love that?  Puh-leez.  

 I really believe that Premier had no choice but to hold all the Rally's in one day.  Last year they asked the sites who had their rally's first to please not post anything on social media until the other Rally's were held the next weekend.  I think most people respected that, but I really don't see how they could've kept a lid on it this year.   There were pics on facebook less than 5 minutes after they presented it to us.

 8 of the 13 of us stopped on the way home in Edinburgh to eat at Max & Erma's.  We all talked & chit chatted but soon I noticed everyone was on their phone.  I just found this hilarious.  The only person not on her phone on the left is my trouble maker, Tricia.... she knew I was taking the pic & decided to pick her nose.  Oh, Tricia... 

All shall be revealed

Every time I do a 'you ask, I answer' blog post - all ya'll wanna know about is why I don't want kids. (Ok, last time you asked farming questions too... thank GAWD finally - a little variety...)  No one ever asks, 'Hey Jaime Mac - where do you work?  What do you do while you're at work for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week?'  And I've been tried not to be bitter about that by turning my lack of bitterness into funny blogging moments.  (At least I think they're funny...) Like when I bitch about my job & then remind you in the most loving way how you don't know what I do because you never ask.  Surely you remember....?

So I've decided it's time.... it's time to move on to bitching at you for other things reveal all my secrets.  Like that tv show when magicians reveal how they do their tricks?  Yea, this is going to be just.like.that...but get comfy...it's way longer than a 30 minute show...including commercials.

I work at a farm & lawn equipment dealership in Palmyra.  It is like 7 miles from home which is awesome because it takes about 10 minutes to get there.  It is also awesome because it's about 2 minutes from my moms (which is where I eat lunch every day.)   One great advantage is that I can wear pretty much whatever I want.  I wear jeans every.single.day.  It's almost heaven..until I get pissed off about something...

When I say 'farm', think tractors like you see B-rad in on this blog (I like to tell people that I live with a farmer AND work with farmers.  What a fabulous life for me!)  (along with farming 'implements'.  Hay balers, discs, planters, etc.)  Of course, 'lawn' means lawn mowers, tillers, weed eaters, etc.  We are a seasonal business so we're super busy in the spring (farmers planting), the summer (people mowing) & fall (farmers harvesting).  The winter is super dead around here.  We are very fortunate though, that they never lay any of us off.  We come to work, stare at our desks like zombies, collect a paycheck & go home.  Sure, sometimes it's nice to sit all day & do nothing & get paid, but it's exhausting too. I could be getting so much more done at home if I had a day off here & there.  

The business is family 'owned'... I mean, it's an incorporation & all that jazz, but it was started by a man 84ish years ago...his son came along & joined the business with another guy (Ever heard of Earl Book's Carriage Ford? MMMM HMMMMM.  That other guy was him...)...now their sons are the managers & stockholders.  Did you notice I didn't mention daughters?!  ALL the stockholders are MEN.  Yes, you read that correctly.  MEN.  All the managers are MEN.  At the Palmyra store there are around 35 employees.... only 5 are women.  UH HUH.  Starting to understand why I'm freakin' crazy?  I refer to it sometimes as "the good 'ole boys club" AND say if you don't have a penis there, you don't count.  And I truly believe that.  (And for a woman's lib chick like me, that's hard to deal with...)  

A little more history - I got this job when my sister in law was pregnant with our nephew, Cole.  I had worked at a cable company in Louisville that had shut down in Dec. 2001.  I was sitting at home all day, everyday, trying to figure out what to spend my severance check on, collecting unemployment from the state of Kentucky & loving it.  I'd shop....I'd watch tv...I'd sleep late...  Eventually I had to quit the shopping...but I'd stay up really late....& then sleep all day... then not take a shower or change my clothes for days.  (Attractive, I know...)  Lora asked me if I might be able to fill in for her when she was out on maternity leave with Cole.  I did an interview & the next day I started.  It was Mar. 2002.   

I'll go into more detail later, but basically I work for the office department.  Meaning billing, whole goods sales (tractors, lawnmowers), payroll, accounting, that sort of thing... that's important in a second...

There was no desk space for me after Lora came back in the fall of 2002 so I just kinda floated around.  It was awful.  I had to ask people if I could use their computers, phones, desks, whatever to get my work done.  A couple of years later, they did some remodeling & they made me a spot....in the SERVICE office.  UHM, like I know anything about SERVICE?!   I shared the office with the service manager (who is a guy - shocker) & another girl on the other side of the partition.  She was the 'service writer' & took care of the service related phone calls & figuring customer bills.  And since I was in the same room, they saw it fit to make me the 'back-up' when she wasn't around.  Yea, I know a LOT about service now....

(Recently we had some personnel changes & they hired a GUY to be that service writer....& he works on the other side of the wall now.  I'm surrounded by men.  SIGH.  And HE is the reason I had my melt down about 3 months ago.  They hired him to do the job...he had been there 6 months & he wasn't cutting it...so they had ME (& the other WOMEN...isn't THAT interesting?!) still doing some of his job duties...then they gave him a raise.)

I wanted to start by complaining telling you about the condition in which I work.  I have no access to windows from my desk.  I have no clue if it's sunny, raining, snowing or if a tornado is coming to get us.  Seriously.  

This is my wall...my computer is to the left.

I try to keep little things around to make my desk not so boring.  Shauna gave me this Maxine calendar & I love it.  She's sarcastic & funny.  She's me in like, uhm, er 40 years?!

My mouse pad has a clear cover that lifts up & I added the bright flowers forever ago.

  (UHM, I need a new mouse... like asap...)

You may not know that along with my obsession of Prince William, cell phone covers & purses - I also have a love of lip gloss.  I found this a LONG time ago & had to put it on the mouse pad.  

My jewelry mom, Brenda, sent me this in an email a few years ago.  I find it hilarious.

This is what I see when I look to the right.  That chair belongs to the MAN service manager.  Those big black things are book shelves.  There are chairs on the other side so he can have 'privacy' to speak to customers when they drop off their equipment for repair.  

This is the hallway behind me.  Yes, my back faces a door.  I can't tell you how many times a day someone sneaks up on me to gently kick my chair to scare the bejeezus outta me or pull my hair or something.  Good times...

 There are several different jobs I do (including but not limited to): balancing the bank statement, processing rental contracts, scheduling mechanics for service schools, processing monthly customer statements & looking at computers & iPhones.  (Lots of people here aren't comfortable with computers.  I hear, "JAIME...CAN YOU COME LOOK AT THIS COMPUTER FOR ME?!"  or "JAIME...MY SCREEN WON'T PRINT!" many times a week.) 

With all that being said, I have 2 jobs that take up most of my time. One of the 'lines' of equipment we sell are Kubota's.  THIS is a Kubota... of course there are all different models, but what lets you know it's a Kubota is that it's orange.  ORANGE.

We have inventory books where I have to HAND WRITE each piece of equipment that comes in.  Why don't we do it electronically?  Tsk, tsk people - they're OLD SCHOOL here.  Plus at any given moment, someone could come up & need to look at 'the Kubota book' & me having it on my computer doesn't help them.  Hmph.

After writing it all in the book, I have to key the information into our computer system for accounting purposes.  (Remember, I told you I'm in the accounting department?)

Some people refer to me as the Kubota Queen (& anything with the word Queen in it is ok by me...) because anytime anyone has a Kubota question - they come to me.  

I also handle all the financing from Kubota.  Ya know how if you buy a car from GM or Ford & they have financing for it?  Same with Kubota.  They have a financing company & the salesmen bring me their information & I key it all in & print out all the legal schmegal papers.  Once the paper work is complete, I process it all on our end, process it on Kubota's website & send it off.  

(That's another reason I'm so crazy busy at the end of the year....farmers like to come in on New Years Eve to buy equipment to get the tax write off.  Today is Jan. 11th & I'm STILL working on contracts dated 12/31/12.  [It's no wonder why I have no clue what year to date stuff...I'm constantly dating 2013, then have to switch to 2012.  Ugh.]  I'm super far behind...& you'll know why in just moments....)

My other main job is Payroll.  BUM BUM BUUUUM....yes, I'm THAT gal.  I'm the one that has the stress of paying everyone correctly.  Yay me.  There are 7 locations total & I do the payroll for all of them.  After a few years, my boss decided to bestow upon me the task of paying the taxes as well.  (which I'm not sure was because he trusted me to do it or he was sick of doing it himself...) So, all those nice taxes that come out of your paycheck, - this chick is responsible for sending those in to the state & federal governments.  Not stressful at all...

Along with paying the monthly & quarterly taxes, I was also blessed with the esteemed honor of doing W2's.  

Now, this is the bane of my existence.  Truly.  It totally stresses me out.

With our payroll system, I have only a small window of time after I do the last payroll of the year to get everything done & closed before I can start the first payroll of the new year.  We get paid every week & Monday is payroll day.  Obviously, the New Year Holiday happens in there too which takes out another day I could be number crunching.  For nearly a week, my desk looks like this all.day.long.

I have to reconcile what I've done ALL.YEAR.LONG.  It's 7 stores, over 100 employees in Indiana AND Kentucky...totalling over $5,000,000.00 in payroll.  (UHM, yea - that's $5 MILLION...)  I'll never, ever, ever forget when my boss forced decided to have me do W2's.  He gave me the spreadsheet below & said, "It better match... & I mean to the penny, girl."  Exact.words.  There was no ink on this thing...just numbers.  LORD help me.  I have had to lovingly ink this thing all up over the years with my notes so I knew what the hell I was doing.  (I mean, sure-you've heard of the FICA tax?  Well, on government forms & W2's it's called 'social security' tax.  I had to learn all that crap the hard way, people...)

 I have cheat sheets for EVERYTHING.  It's really confusing because our payroll system labels things differently than what's on the government forms.  And honestly, I'm so freakin' nervous when I do it, I need the cheat sheets to remember where the hell I'm supposed to be looking for my numbers.

Along with the state & federal taxes, I have to pay local taxes as well.  Indiana employees pay a county tax  & Kentucky employees are required to pay a city tax.  Each 'tax' has a folder in my drawer...

And each folder has...you guessed it...cheat notes on it!  I can't keep all this crap straight.  Indiana does one thing, Kentucky does another - who can remember all that?  But in turn, I know all kinds of useless knowledge...like how much the FICA (or social security) went back up to this year (that's why people have been bitching about their paychecks being smaller...have ya'll heard that?!)... & what the wage limit is for state unemployment that employers pay for us.  ($9500 in Indiana...$9300 in Kentucky (which is up from $9000 last year). That means your employer pays unemployment tax to your state on the first $9500 you make (in Indiana, of course)  I mean, who DOESN'T love those little tidbits of pure gold?! 

Like I said - USELESS. 

 After all is said & done, I'm left with this stack of papers.  Believe it or not, after doing this for like 5-6 years now, I kinda know what all the papers are actually for!  

I'm finally finished with my reconciliation & the W2's have been submitted to the Federal government & each state...but it's not all sunshine & butterflies around here...yet.  In the next few months, I could get a letter from the government that makes me break out in hives that they think I have an error.  Just last month I got a letter about our Federal Unemployment tax from 2011 that I had to prove I did correctly.  (We have some employees that live in Indiana & work in Kentucky & that causes me problems every.single.year.)  Now, I'm on to the job of catching up all the other work I can't do because my whole 8 hours is consumed with stupid payroll stuff....

Wow, are you exhausted?  I am!  I'm a little sad I've told you my sordid tale...no more bitching about how ya'll don't know what I do.   I guess I'll have to comfort myself by finding something else to complain about...shouldn't be that difficult...

Family (& friends) that shoot together, stay together.

 The Christmas of the gun has carried over into the 'New Year of the gun'.  We're all.about.guns right now at the McAfee compound.  And like the only advantage to living in the country is that you can get your gun on anytime.you.want & no one says anything to you.  Awesome.  At the end of the year, B-rad forced had me apply for my lifetime conceal carry permit. (If you don't know, that's where you are legally allowed to carry a gun hidden on you.  Whether it be in your pocket, your purse or even your bra....)  Now - I did not want to do it, but B-rad had heard that they were going to change some things with the permits & currently all you have to have is a background check & your finger prints on file.  It cost $160(!) dollars & in 3-4 short weeks, I should be able to hide a gun on me anytime I want.  Greaaat.  (In the spirit of full disclosure - he also wanted me to have it just 'in case' he ever left his handgun in my vehicle & I got pulled over.  [Because LORD knows I don't plan to carry a gun on myself.  Ever.] I could get in a LOT of trouble if I didn't have a permit & had a gun in my car.)

Every so often, people will come over to the house to 'shoot'.  We set up boxes or anything else laying around for them to practice.  We really do have a great spot because behind our house is nothing but farm land...our farm land, of course so there's no worries of shooting another person or house.  

This time they set up paper plates & used clothes pins to hold them up on wire racks.  UHM, does anyone else use clothes pins in their closet to hold up the arms of their sweaters on the hanger so you don't get that spot that sticks up when you wear it?  Well, I do that & they used all my clothes pins to hold up plates.  And since none of them are expert marksman, all my clothes pins got shot to hell...hmph.  (So if you see me with a sweater that's got a spot sticking up in the back - it's totally their fault...)

We had a TON of people come over this past Sunday... 11 to be precise. (12 if you count the 30 seconds that dad came, said hi to everyone, said it was too cold & left to go home.)  

B-rad's current obsession with guns has led him to make several purchases over the last week.  Several EXPENSIVE purchases.... And guess where B-rad got the funds for that?  UHM, yea - me.  (I save money...he spends it.  We're a perfect match....)  If you're friends with me on Facebook, you may have seen him professing his love to me this past week trying to butter me up & make me less irritated about the whole thing.  Gag...  (Even Butterfly admits that I've been MORE than generous in what I've let him buy.  Ya'll know it's bad when Butterfly is giving me props...)

Of course, I'm unable to give you all the details of his purchases because:  

A) I'm a girl & I don't care about guns or what they are.  

B) I don't want you to break in my house to try & get the guns because we will be forced to shoot your happy ass with the aforementioned purchases...

Again, your feelings on guns are your feelings on guns...& B-rad's feelings on guns are B-rad's feelings on guns.... but decided to buy this AR.  If it looks right out of a movie, that's because it kinda is.  AR stands for assault rife, people & Mom couldn't wait to try it out.

Princess & Butterfly are keeping a close eye on her....

There were guns & ammo all over the card table.  People would run up to the table, "Hey 'so & so', can I shoot your 'whatever it is'?"    It was a gun free for all.

Thankfully there was enough confusion with so many people shooting that no one was asking me if I wanted to shoot.  My normal response is, "No no, I'm good watching...."   

 (Honestly, I would like to be more comfortable around guns & know how they work & how to load & unload them & all that noise.  But it never really comes up until there are people at the house shooting & that's not the time for me to try to learn.  No one wants to stop all the shooting fun to take 30 a few minutes to teach me.   Plus, B-rad & I have a tendency to fight if he tries to teach me anything because I ask too many questions & then I don't understand & he gets frustrated with me & then I yell at him & lesson is over.... I need an innocent, patient third party to school me on guns...) 

It was really cold & windy Sunday when they were shooting.  We were all bundled up & you could over hear "I'm cold"..."I'm freezing"... "I can't feel my hands" coming from nearly everyone.  Shauna & I stayed outside for a while & then wised up & went inside to drink hot chocolate & be warm.

Ya'll may or may not know my rule of 'I never leave the house without earrings or eye makeup.'  Since I didn't technically leave my house - my rule remains unbroken...but you better look quick - you won't see this too often...  

Celebrating 2012

Saturday night our jewelry group got together to have a pitch in dinner & to recognize all our hard work over the last year.  

I was SUPER proud because 2 of my girls got recognized for being in the top of our group with sales!  Tricia was the #1 rookie for 2012!  She did 37 shows & she's only been a jewelry lady since March.  She's been a busy lady!

Alicia got recognized as being #4 in retail for the group!  I can't remember how many shows she did...I think like 17... you can't see her plaque because B-rad's job when I was up front was to take pics... & he didn't stand up for this one.  (Yes, I asked him to stand UP for the pics going forward...)

 Yours truly was the #1 retailer for the 3rd year in a row.  I did 40 home shows & retailed over $24,000.  UHM no wonder I'm tired....  I got a gift card for Hobby Lobby which I'm super pumped about since I'm working on re-decorating the house.

 I was also the #1 sponsor for our group.  

 And the gift for that from my upline...was a purple purse... a purple Jessica Simpson purse.  Oh, be still my heart....  

(yea, my arms are shot & I will be in pain for DAYS but it's too cute NOT to carry!  C'mon!)

The next award the group gives is the 'Servant's Heart' award.  It's for someone who is always there to help & encourage others & who has a heart to serve.  This year they did it different & let us each vote for who we thought should win.  

I must say, I was completely surprised (& humbled) when I found out my fellow jewelers had voted for me.   I almost cried.  Almost...  It is truly an honor that they felt I deserved this award.

(And no, I did not vote for myself...)

My up-line must have been tired of getting their picture taken (insanity, I say) because this time they let B-rad come up with me.  Check out my head band.  I told you I'm a 16 year old girl...

So, 40 shows.... wow... that's an average of over 3 a month.  I knew I was exhausted for a reason.  While I love to be the big winner (uhm I'm competitive, remember?) I'm going to make an effort this year to cut back some.  There were 3-4 months when I was doing 2 shows a week.  That's very difficult since I'm working 40 hours a week plus have other responsibilities at home with all the farm stuff.   Of course, I love the money & it has been a great way for me to be able to spend it on things I would normally be too cheap to buy.  It pays for Christmas for our families, I get my nails done every couple of weeks, I've been to see lots of Off Broadway shows & even have a trip to Chicago planned for this summer to see a concert.  (NO...not Faith Hill..that's Vegas, remember?!)  But along with the money comes a lot of hard work.  (Isn't that a bitch that they go hand in hand?!)  Don't get me wrong - I LOVE doing my jewelry shows.  I love Premier & everything they stand for.  The company was founded on biblical principals & they support missions all over the world.   They are SO good to us it almost makes me feel guilty.  I love spending the evening with fun ladies while they try on jewelry.  The BEST compliment I get is when they tell me after, 'You did a really good job, honey.  You are really good at this.'  And usually someone says it to me right when I'm down & need to hear it the most.  Isn't God funny like that?  

Our 3 Christmases

Yea, yea Christmas was totally 2 weeks ago but I am just now getting around to blogging about it wanted to drag out keep the spirit of Christmas going just a bit longer.  You know, for you stalkers that like to put your tree up in October...& start listening to Christmas music in November... 

Now, you have Jaime Mac Christmas posts in January.  You.are.welcome.

Our first Christmas obligation gathering was the BIG McAfee Christmas.  I say 'big' McAfee so you do not confuse it with our teeny immediate McAfee family.  (Which is not so teeny...but teeny to the BIG McAfee family. Follow all that?!)  The BIG McAfee Christmas includes B-rad's grandparents, their 5 children & their children.  And now all the 'grandkids' have a ridiculous perfectly fine number of children & it.is.insane.

This year I chose to bring an appetizer.  This is working smarter not harder, people.  

Lora's uncle had passed away & his funeral was going to be the same time as the Big McAfee Christmas.   The kids still wanted to come, so B-rad & I took them with us.  They are all at great ages because they can be left pretty much unattended.  Brady is 16, Cole is 10 & Derik is 20.  They can make their own plates of food....they can go to the bathroom by themselves....they eat without getting food all over themselves or the floor...they can throw their own plates away....they can wash their own hands.... (see where I'm going with this?)

When we got to B-rad's aunts house I did do the responsible adult thing & told Cole, "Cole-don't break anything & use your manners."  

Yep, my job here was done...

  There are something like 60 McAfee's under one roof.  Madness, I tell ya.  

 B-rad's aunt has this beautiful train town thingie set up on her hearth right at kid eye level.  I believe she has lost her mind by leaving it out where the kids can touch it, but eh-what do I know?  All I could do was watch & think, "WOW, I'm SO glad I'M not responsible for any of those kids touching ANY of that stuff OR breaking it."  Seriously.  (I'm really, REALLY confused as to why people wonder why I don't want kids?)

Our second Christmas was with B-rad's family. 

My job is to pass out our gifts to everyone because B-rad has no idea what we bought.  When I'm passing out gifts, I hand the camera to B-rad to take pics... & he never disappoints because I find pics of my butt on the camera.  Lucky you....

On Christmas day, we go to my parents house.  

And for whatever reason, THIS year after dinner - it became the Christmas of the gun.   

Now, let me back up for a second.... I know everyone has their feelings about guns & gun control & all that stuff.  And I have my opinions as well but much like religion, politics & pet peeves - it's one of those things we all need to agree to disagree about.

HOWEVER... My family is all.about.guns.  Surely you remember the story about mom taking her gun to Kansas with us onto the military base... ?

My dad has always had guns & always shot guns.  

To give you some perspective - he buys & sells guns like I get new cell phone cases...

 B-rad has no problem with them either... 

But me?  I'm scared to death of guns.  Like seriously.  I'm all about a power trip, but even THAT is too much power for me. 

 The boys were looking at the guns, holding up the guns, arguing discussing the guns.  Please don't misunderstand, they are gun lovers, but they are also responsible gun lovers.  The guns were unloaded & they never pointed them at anyone.  (Besides, that shit's just not funny....) 

Butterfly totally posed for this shot.  (no pun intended...) He is not pointing at Rhonda...he's pointing at the wall... but her covering her face is priceless.

I was sitting at the table, minding my own business & taking pics during the gun extravaganza.  Then Dad brought out a revolver for me to hold.  UHM, I didn't wanna hold the revolver...  
Since I didn't want to accidentally shoot anyone on Christmas, I asked dad, "It's not loaded, right?"  His loud response, "NO IT'S NOT LOADED!  I've got the shells right here in my hand DUMBASS."  
Yea, good times...

So I held the gun to make him stop screaming at me appease him & he asked if I wanted to take it home & I'm like, "UHM NOOO...."  And he asks, "I don't understand why you don't like guns?  You don't take after me or your mom!"  
Being the idiot I am, I tried to explain to him that I don't like them because they can KILL someone.  And he says, "Well that's the point - dumbass..."  

'Merry Christmas of the gun to me!