Thanks for the memories...

This blog off is all about our most memorable moments. And if ya'll thought I'd only have one... tsk, tsk - you don't know me at.all. I have also included pictures of my memories because I am an over-achiever like that...

I had an idea of what I wanted to talk about-but after searching through hundreds of pictures, I found a couple of more things! And these are in no particular order. They're in order by the way I uploaded the pics!

Almost 1 year ago, myself, mom & Aunt Mary went to see Elvis at Graceland. That was something I had wanted to do for as long as I can remember. It's a really cool place that makes you feel like you're stepping back in time!

Hurricane Ike. Uhm, was this fall 2008? B-rad & I were at the houseboat...on the lake...when the hurricane came through. We came home to this sky.... And our electricity was out for 5 freakin' days. Bad...but memorable...My bff, Jenny, & I went to Florida for Spring Break in 1992. I was 16...she was 17. I had never been to Florida. Ever. I had never been on a plane. Ever. Jenny's moms boyfriend had those food thingies at fairs. They were working a fair in Florida & convinced my mother to put 2 teenage girls, un-supervised, on a plane for Florida. (I still can't believe she let us do it!)

We went to Disney & met Mickey!We burned the s*** out of ourselves on the beach because, 'we wanted to come home from Florida with a TAN!' I was in Marching Band all through high school & in the fall of 1992, the North Harrison Marching Cougars qualified for the STATE competition! This is a humungously big deal! We marched on the astro turf at the RCA Dome (Yes, that's how long ago it was----no Lucas Oil Stadium then..) I am on the top, right side of the heart in the curve. (It's also been so long ago that I don't remember exactly where I was!) UHM-I have seen Faith Hill in concert like 5 times. And I would do it 500 more! In 2007 we went all.the.way. to Cleveland, Ohio to see the Soul to Soul II tour. (Not to be confused with the regular ole Soul to Soul tour...we saw that one in Indy & Louisville. Don't judge me!)Who can forget mom & I watching Jer compete in the Louisville Ironman last fall? Super proud of the little brudder. I also learned that being a spectator required training all of its own! Start of the Kentucky State Fair. August 2009. Heart/Journey concert. SUPER excited...Then SUPER pissed when this is the traffic we were stuck in. For over an hour. We missed Heart. And I was mad. Hmph. We had seats on the floor & EVERYTHING! Some chick behind us offered to take our picture. And I think it is one of THE best pics of B-rad & I...e-ver. I guess that makes up for missing Heart? Uhm, yea, what-ever... During the summer of 2005 we went to Las Vegas. None of us had ever been there before! We took one whole day out & drove to the Grand Canyon! One of B-rad's 'must do's' was to fly over in a helicopter! So we splurged & did it! It was one of the coolest things I've ever done. Super scary, super expensive, but super cool! You can only see the Colorado River in the Canyon by air! The ice/winter storm of 2009. Don't forget we had had Hurricane Ike 4 months before this. And our power was out for 5 freakin' days.... The ice storm took us down for 7.freakin'.days. It was awful! It was even worse than Ike because it was soooo cold outside. We had to depend on kerosene for heat. But you can't have the kerosene going all day while you're not at home. Soooo, B-rad would get home around 4:00, the house was in the low 60's/high 50's. He would light the heater - it would warm up to the high 60's before bed. He would leave it lit for me to use in the mornings to heat water on to wash my face (oh, the humanity...) & then I would turn it off before I left. Sigh... there was never a sadder time than when the low, yellowish white glow it put off was snuffed out... (Except for when the loud purring engine of the generator was shut off...) We had a generator, but it can only run so many voltage thingies... and important stuff - like the Dish receiver. Duh. (No stove though. I had a PERFECT excuse to get outta cooking for those 7 days!) (No really, we have no water when the power is out because we have a well. And the well needs electric to pump the water up from the belly of the earth. You can't flush the toilets or run the water unless the generator is running. And that takes gas... B-rad would hook it up to ONLY the hot water heater to heat water for showers. It would use almost a whole tank of gas to do that. Then we'd un-hook the hot water heater, hook up the necessities we were running (including, but not limited to, the dish receiver...) & we'd take showers. Then I'd fill a stainless steel bowl with water to put on the kersone heater the next morning to heat up so we could brush our teeth & wash my face. It sucked.out.loud!!! But yea, we had no property damage...we had our health, blah, blah, blah...)

To this day I have total PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder...). When the power goes out, I cry & stomp around the house. I am convinced we are going to have to live like the Amish & then I break out in hives...

I hope you enjoyed my memories! Unconventional, I know...but did you expect any less?!

Dig deep into your memory banks...

Ok-stalkers, we're going to do another blog off!

This time we're gonna gossip about our most memorable moment(s). BUT... this cannot include meeting your spouse (or significant other) NOR birthin' your babies. (And anything remotely related to the former...getting engaged, finding out you were preggo... blah, blah, blah.)

Do you have just one moment that is seared into your brain forever? Or do you have 2 or 3 that had an impact good (or bad) on your life? (You are allowed to talk about more than one if need be.)

Lets have our homework done by Thursday, April 28th!

(One of) B-rad's happy places...

On Saturday, B-rad & I went on a road trip - a very rainy road trip! We had to travel to Boonville, IN to get some parts for the combine. 'Where in the heck is Boonville?!', you may exclaim? Well, it's one & half hours from our house-that's where the heck it is! It is west of Tell City & Ferdinand (which is near Holiday World...). It was also made famous when David Camm's 3rd(?) trial was held at their courthouse (Warrick County...)

Anywho...I digress... We (B-rad) hooked up the trailer to the truck & headed west. Actually, it wasn't that simple. It was pouring rain when we got into the truck, plus B-rad needed diesel. We had to stop at 3 gas stations before finally finding one where the credit card machine worked. (The lines must've been water-logged?) But this also caused B-rad to act like a psycho. It was hilarious hearing him yell at the gas stations, other motorists & just the world in general. That is SOOOO not him. Me - Yes! Him - not so much...

Ok-I digressed again. The reason for our trip: THIS is what B-rad's brother, Brian, did to the combine... Look closely at where the front window SHOULD be. See the sharp, jaggedy, triangular pieces hanging from the top? He got in the combine, started it up, it was in 'forward' gear & it took off & ran into the boom of the sprayer. Uh, yeah - it shattered the windshield & broke the skirting thingie underneaath that says 'Massey Ferguson'. Luckily, he wasn't hurt. Accidents happen. S*** happens that we didn't mean to have happen. That's why they're called accidents. You say you're sorry - you screwed up & move on. But then he had nerve. Real nerve. To blame a poor, innocent child for putting the combine in gear. Can you imagine this sweet little boy doing such an awful thing?!

He said that 'one of the kids must've gotten into the combine & was playing around & put it in forward'. To that I say: #1-I'm SOOOO glad it wasn't one of my non-kids (or B-rad...)!

#2- your kids were at the barn around all that big equipment & you weren't watching them?

& #3-shouldn't you check these things before you start the machine?

Can you believe he didn't ask me what I thought? Hmph.

Ok-so we headed out on our rainy, road-trip to the Massey Ferguson dealer. And I had forgotten how much B-rad loves coming here. Until we saw this:

and this... And when his head started spinning like Linda Blair in the Exorcist - it hit me. Blog.time. We usually drive across the street to the combine 'graveyard' to look at them. But this time we couldn't because of the trailer & the rain. How sad...B-rad's a multi tasker and since he could spin his head around AND load glass...

He caught sight of this beauty. It's a corn head. It's a lotta farming mumbo-jumbo you guys don't care about...but I'm gonna tell you anyway. The head is yellow because it technically goes on another brand of Agco combine. The dealership got a 'good deal' on them. And it just so happens it would fit our combine too. (You can easily change the yellow to red for a small fee of around $3000. I say let's not be color blind. Lets have a red machine & yellow head. It'll give it character...) Instead of the pointy row thingies being metal like the head now, they're some kind of 'poly'. I don't really know why that's better...but apparently it is because that's what everyone is going to now. It also has several updated features that allows less corn to fall out of the head.

Corn falling out = less moo-lah. The 'good deal' cost of this head is 'around $41,000'. Our head now has been around since 2000. It's 11 years old & has seen better days... (We didn't buy the yellow one or anything. B-rad just got a little misty eyed when he saw it. We took pictures & sent them to Brian too...) B-rad tried to figure out how to get everything tied down & secured.

And since I know (some) of you are nosey like me, & may wanna know what the going rate for glass smashed to smithareens on a combine & a shield thingie are going for, I will share with you.... (Again, soooo glad not the fault of one of my non-kids or B-rad...but in the spirit of full disclosure - B-rad DOES break his fair share of stuff. This time he was just in the clear!)

Then it was time to leave. Tear. So we took the slow, sad drive out of their lot...

But no worries, there was more super cool farming stuff to look out on the drive out...

Is it just me or are you suppose to look FORWARD when you drive?

A birthday party where the surprise was on me.

One of the guys from the motorcycle gang had a birthday party Sunday evening at 4. That was wayyy too early for B-rad to come home from the farm, so we left a couple hours later & as always, were fashionably late... I was kinda sad because my buddy, Shauna, wasn't going to be able to come. It was her daughter's weekend with her dad & she was gonna have to drive to Tell City Sunday evening to pick her up. She had texted me earlier in the day to 'have fun at the party without her' & I texted her back that kids were a drag, she was abandoning me, blah, blah, blah.

B-rad decided he wanted to ride the motorcycle. Uhm-when you're on the motorcycle you can't really be worried about lookin' pretty. It's all about safety. I can't take my purse with all my girly crap. (But I DO have a little pouch thingie I use for my i d, lip stuff & eye drops...a girls got her necessities!) I can't wear earrings because my helmet smooshes them against my head. (But no worries, the earring get stored in the pouch thingie & go in my ears when I reach my destination.) I can't put my hair in a pony tail because the pony tail holder smashes against my head when my helmet is on. (Pony tail holder also goes in pouch thingie...) I don't wear nice clothes because the exhaust from the bike saturates its stinkiness into my clothes. Jeans & tennis shoes are also a must.

So we get to the party & we are getting off the bike & everyone is staring at us. UH ok? My hair looks like crap plus I'm working on taking off all my protective gear & I was like, "Why is everyone staring at us?!?!" I take my helmet off first (so I can take out my ipod ear-buds & hear if anyone is talking about me...) then the gloves & jacket come off. I try to kinda straighten up my hair. And everyone is still staring. I wanted to say, "Take a picture, it'll last longer...."

Then I look over. And there was Shauna grinning at me. She was standing behind one of the guys staring. Apparently she had told them all that she had decided to come but she wanted to surprise me. And they were all in on her little joke. Hmph.

(When I saw her, I just screamed, 'YOU CAME!', & ran over & hugged her. It was all very juvenile...) Have I mentioned I don't like surprises?!

Rhonda, myself & miss sassy surprises, Shauna...

The princess & the butterfly relaxing in the yard...I'm getting to that... (Ginmommy-get ready...there are lotsa pics of the little brother just.for.you...)

B-rad & I The birthday boy, Railing,& Jer.

Of course, birthday posts aren't complete without shots of people on their cell phones. First up-B-rad...

Jeremy had done the Shelbyville triathalon that morning & I had seen pics of him on facebook. I was asking him about them but he hadn't seen them yet. He got on HIS phone to see the pics. See that smile?... Attention whore I tell ya....

These are the pics from that mornings race...

I call this one, 'the one with the belly shirt'.

Shauna & Brian brought their little boy, Dylan. He just turned 3 & he's super cute. He had a sword he was playing with. He had Shauna put it down the back of his shirt & posed for a pic.

All Samurai's drink from sippy cups, right?

Dylan really likes B-rad. (All kids do...he's on their level...) Dylan was beating the crap outta B-rad with that sword.

And of course, B-rad plays along...

Jer instructed Dylan on the proper use of a sword to go for the kill.

Here they are again...the princess & the butterfly. I call B-rad a princess all.the.time because, well, he's a princess. I dubbed Jer the social butterfly because he's an attention whore & you just can't call him that in mixed company (well, I totally would...but sometimes I like to pretend my mother taught me manners...) Someone had commented on his racing pics that his new 'outfit?' looked good & he said, "I make everything I wear look good..." so I told Rhonda that he was just the prettiest little social butterfly in all the land.

The buttefly was eating a piece of celery & stood over the princesses shoulder & let the juice & his spit run onto her/his(?) shirt. Uh-gross.... See the guy behind them? Doesn't his face totally say, "What the hell is wrong with these guys?!"

Miss sassy surprises herself was wrapped up in her phone too... What I didn't realize is that she was texting me. Too bad no one got a pic of that...

You stalkers are NOT gonna believe this...

Yesterday a group of jewelry gals went to Indianapolis to their spring 'round-up'. We don't normally go to the Indy round up, we attend the one in Elizabethtown, KY, but their special guest was Bob Bolander. He is the vice-president of marketing for Premier Designs. He is a really funny guy & a great speaker so we all decided to go. It worked out nicely that it happened to fall on Thunder over Louisville day. I like to be as far away from Louisville as possible on that day... We stayed the night to hang out & visit & I came home today.

After the round up, our group took a pic with Bob. Uhm-he's the only one with a Y chromosome in the picture.... Ok-so here's the best part of the whole darn story. So at round-ups the ladies in Leadership bring gifts. Just like cutsie stuff super cool jewelry ladies would want. Check-out bags, cute frames, purses, showcases, cutsie things to put on your jewelry table, etc. You can buy raffle tickets & then you put them in the items you'd like to win. So I check everything out & put tickets ONLY in the things I want. Then I put more tickets in the stuff I really, really want.

At the end of the day, they draw the tickets. And our group hadn't won anything yet. But I didn't put my tickets in a lot of the items because there was something I really, really wanted. A purse. Shocker... I had put quite a few tickets in that purse.

So they're drawing & the purse comes up. And I've got my tickets. And I'm reading my numbers. And I thought I heard my number. But of course I gotta double check my tickets because I don't wanna look like a moron by jumping up & screaming like a banshee if I don't have the right number.

But I DID have the right number. And I DID jump up & scream, "THAT'S ME!!!" And because jewerly ladies are so supportive, all my jewelry sistas were screaming & clapping with me! And I was SOOOO happy!!!! I really do need another purse... (You guys can sense the sarcasm, right?!)

Here she is in all her glory. Tell me you're jealous & you love it & wish you could have it. It's ador-a-ble. (Yes, that's my purple Vera Bradley travel bag behind it. Don't judge me...) (One of my hotel-mates said, "Are you taking a picture of that purse?" I said, "UH YES! It's for my BLOG!") It also came with a matching wallet & zebra striped flip flops. Score! However, I didn't really need the wallet because I have a zebra striped clutch with a "J" on it I got for Christmas. My jewelry Grandma, Gerilee, has a zebra striped purse. (It's just not as cute as mine. Pssssh.) So I asked her if she'd like the wallet & of course, she did! See, I can be nice when I want to...

The newest, most tiniest McAfee!

Our friends/cousins Daniel & Alicia had their new baby GIRL, Nora Christine, yesterday! I went over after work to visit. As I turned down the hall to find the room...I heard voices - lotsa voices. I knew THAT was the room! Daniel's parents, sisters & their husbands were there & Alicia's parents & her brother & their families were there! The room was crowded, hot & LOUD! (I told her, "Don't you know by now to ask for a suite or for them to knock out a wall when you have babies?! Sheesh!")I am a HUGE disappointment to myself & others because I didn't take my camera! I left the house yesterday KNOWING full well she was gonna have that baby, but I guess the excitement was too much for me & I walked outta the house without it! Trust me-they were ALL on me about it! (But that's why I love them!)

Daniel was on swaddling detail!

Sam was very interested in his new baby sister & all the family that was there to visit... Ok-I find this hilarious. Alicia put this bow on her head & we all went ape-shit, of course. How adorable is this?! The cameras came outta the wood work & the flashes were going off like crazy. This chick is destined to be like Princess Diana!!!! See the red light of someones camera getting ready to go off?! Disclaimer - I DID wait a respectable amount of time for the parents, grandparents & aunt to take their pictures. But I wanted a picture too! (In my best whiniest voice!)

A-HA! I got one with no obstructions!

Alicia's mom has made Nora a TON of adorable afghans! AND she made her this hat! I just LOVE it! The little flower is too cute! Great job, Marcia!

After all the family left, Daniel went to get Alicia something to eat so I stayed & visited with her (and uhm held Nora...). It was super quiet in the room & started to cool down! We chatted about how everything went with Nora's birth ('cuz ya know I like to hear those stories to freak me out...) & all kinds of other stuff. Well, uhm apparently babies need to go #2 after they're born? And it's not like normal #2-it's like all the grossness they ingested while they were cookin' in their mama. I'm smart enough to know that Nora had gas while I was holding her. So Alicia wondered if she had done her #2... Well, I'm also smart enough to know how to look & see. So I uncovered her & pulled back her diaper & yes, she had, in fact, done what she needed to do. And the evidence was on.my.fingers! Good thing I love that girl! I offered to change her diaper but Alicia was nice enough to warn me against doing so. She had it all.over.her & even up her back (oh, those are the WORST!)

Congratulations to the McAfee family on your newest addition! We love you!