Current events

SO it's been a couple of weeks since you've heard from me... & I'm sorry for you.

3 weeks & over $22,000.00 later, B-rad & his brother got the replacement motor in the combine & now all is well again in the world.  B-rad was out really late last weekend trying to get as much done as possible before the snow.  Friday he got home around 1:30am & Saturday around 12:30am.  (& of course he was up early both days.)  He was down a couple of days from the snow but now he's back to green flag racing...until it rains Sunday.

Beans are totally done (which is good because in this weather w/ all the getting wet & drying over & over the pods start to pop open & all the beans fall out.  {And I ain't going out there to pick them up by hand, ya'll.})  Corn is about 1/2 way finished - so he still has 400-500 acres to go.  I can only remember one year when he was done before Thanksgiving (there had been a drought & there was hardly anything to harvest) so he will be running Thanksgiving day after lunch...& they think they may still be running until Christmas.

Oh, the humanity....

***

I have had my super cool iPhone 6 for 2 months... TWO.  And I am on my 4th case.

Yea - that sounds about right.

I have a sickness- ya'll KNOW this...

I picked this beauty up 2 weeks ago from Etsy for $20.  It came from China & I LOVE all the glitter.  Sadly, I hated how the case fit my phone & felt in my hand.  (& I thought B-rad was the princess..) 

It offered no protection for my phone.  I'm not hard on my phone at all so I don't need anything at the Otterbox level, but I do need more then glitter protecting the back...

As I was hunting my next case, I had seen an ad on Facebook for mycustomcase.com. (Tell me the damn computer doesn't know what we look at!  Michael Kors bags pop up all the time too.  Sigh...)  A girl at work showed me a Groupon for that website for a $47 purchase for $20.  Sign me up.

It can me monogrammed or have your name written on it but I elected to not have it personalized.  It doesn't save you any money, but I didn't like how it looked.  I opted to get what I like to refer to as the 'condom' for this case. 

 Phone condom =  rubber bumper for 'extra protection'.  

(When a girl at work asked me about the different cases you can get & I told her about it - at the end she said, "Is that really what it's called - a condom?"  I said, "No, technically it's called a 'rubber bumper' but I think condom is funnier.")

***

Brodbeck Seed did a Facebook contest for the most 'likes' on a harvest picture & B-rad posted this picture our nephew Brady took.  Brady's in the Case tractor & B-rad is in the combine coming towards him.  We love the pic & it's even at the top of the blog.  

  B-rad & I shamelessly asked all our FB friends to go 'like' the pic so he could win got the most likes & won the contest.  

Sadly for Brady he's not on Facebook (he's 18 - he's too cool for Facebook) so he misses out on the prize - I can't help it.  Too bad, so sad.    

If it makes you feel better we did rub it in tell him B-rad won a prize from Brodbeck for a picture he took...

***

Since I have recently appointed myself been referred to as the 'Apple Queen' by my friends & co-workers, I have set up 5 new phones from older models for other people in the last couple of months  (B-rad did his all by himself.).  I had only done this process TWICE in my life - once from the 4 to 5 & then from the 5 to the 6.  I'm not sure why people think that makes me an expert - but they do.   Most people I helped have only had one phone & this was the first time they were changing them over.  They were super intimidated by the whole process & just wanted me to do it. (Hey-I learned to 'fake it 'till I make it' in the jewelry biz.  It's all about confidence, people!)  I don't mind at all, but it makes me nervous because if something goes wrong - they're gonna blame me.  I have also texted step-by-step instructions to countless others for them to follow.  I have found as long as they follow my lengthy text verbatim they have no problems!

Recently I changed over a phone for the daughter of one of the men I work for.  Now - if this applies to you, I'm sorry - but you should be ASHAMED of yourself.  

Over 2,000 UNREAD emails...

20 MISSED calls....

20 unread texts.... (She was in a group text because while I was backing it up it just kept going off... by the time I was done with the phone {I had it for an hour} she had 47 texts....

Here's the worst part - this girl is 19 years old.  

A) What 19 year old doesn't know how to switch over her own iPhone?

B)  What 19 year old isn't on top of her phone at ALL times?  

(Disclaimer - all the unread emails & missed calls were that number when I got the phone...me having it for an hour didn't create that mess, people.)

Youth today - I tell ya it's sad...

***

There was some excitement at my parents house when we had the big snow.  Marcia texted me to say that a tree in their yard was on fire (remember she lives across the street?).  I called mom at work (she works close to home) & she rushed home.  I called dad - he was at the house, but had no idea anything was even going on.  I told him, "Go outside & look at the trees!  Marcia Gettelfinger says one is on fire."  

Since the snow came so early there were still leaves on the trees so that made the branches hold more snow & become heavier than normal.  It was leaning down on an electrical wire.  UH YEA.  It was causing the wire to spark so the fire department was called to watch it to make sure it didn't get out of control.  That afternoon the electric company was there to trim the branch.

***

 Shauna's daughter, Ally (she's almost 11), has helped me for the last couple of years buy gifts for a needy child & fill a shoe box for mom's church.  This year when we planned to go shopping for the box, Shauna had asked if I could also take Ally shopping for a pretty dress to wear at her talent show.  (Shauna still can't drive after her neck surgery.)  Of course that was no problem, I have been clothes shopping w/ them before.  I barely remember shopping w/ my mom when I was little & you moms can relate - but they don't get along the best when they're clothes shopping.   (It's a mother/daughter thing.  You know how it is when it's someone OTHER than your parent telling you stuff - you tend to listen better, be less argumentative, etc.  That's just how it is...) 

If you are thinking I was out of my element - you are right!  But we walked into the store like we owned the place & we went to the section that I thought looked like it might fit her.  (I'm a great adult, huh?  Maybe Shauna should re-think this whole thing?)  Ally is quite tall & very thin so she's kind of at that in-between stage because girls is too small & juniors is too big.

We went to JC Penney's first & I explained to Ally that we had a budget we had to stick to, we had a lot of things to get accomplished for the night & we needed to communicate good & stay on track.   We found a dress she liked at Penney's, but she also wanted to go to another store.  And since I'm a softie like that - I took her.  

Some of her stipulations: (remember what it was like to be a 10 year old girl?  {And this is what some of you have to look forward too!})

1.  Long.

2.  NO long sleeves.

3.  NOT itchy.

4.  Not only was it for the talent show, it also had to double as an outfit appropriate for her 'job' as CEO of Biztown.  (I have no idea what Biztown is but she went on & on about it.  They were going on a field trip at school the next day for it... to it?  Anyone?)

Even though she wanted a long dress, she tried on a lot of shorter ones.  Surprisingly there aren't many longer dresses out there for young girls.

(Notice the HUGE smile on her face in the blue dress?  We were cracking up at this one because it was REALLY short on her!)

 

 From inside the dressing room I heard, "I'm having SOOO much fun!"  I said, "UHM, hello Ally?  Did you not think you would have fun w/ me?  I'm a fun gal!"  She said, "I don't know - I thought I would be on my phone all night playing games - but I'm having fun!"

Although she is still a little girl she can act very mature at times.  I made her come out & show me all the dresses (hello-her mom had trusted me w/ a MAJOR responsibility - I didn't wanna screw it up!) & she would give me her narrative about them - what she liked, what she didn't like, how they fit, etc.  Even though some of the dresses were NOT the right looks I figured there was no harm in letting her try them on. After all - she was having FUN!   I had already told her that I reserved the right to veto any dress even she liked if it wasn't appropriate for her or for school.  

Then she said, "What's veto mean?"

Shauna has her kids refer to B-rad & I as 'aunt & uncle'.  For her it's a form of respect from them to us & also is an indication to them that we are adults they can trust.  I enjoy that because our niece & nephews NEVER referred to me as aunt.  B-rad was always Uncle Brad, but now that the kids are getting older (Cole is 12) they don't refer to him as "Uncle" much anymore.  At one point Ally said, "I LOVE my dress!  When my friends ask me where I got it I'm going to tell them my Aunt helped me pick it out!"  Even after trying on the dresses at the other store - we decided on the first one she tried on at Penney's.   

C'mon people - she's adorable...

Ally & I had a great time together.  She told me she wished we could do a shoe box every month :) so  I told Shauna I need to take her on little outings here & there.   She's a really sweet little girl & I'm so happy I could help her find a dress!