Happy Birthday Gramps

Today would have been my Gramp's birthday. We would have thrown him a birthday party. Luke and I would have invited him to the family picnic on Saturday. I think that is the hardest part about when someone you love passes and you have to go through all of their special days without them. I mean who wouldn't want to celebrate him. He was the most amazing man. He was the best Grandpa. He was my main father figure growing up and he rocked it. I still like when I shock my husband because I know how to do some random thing that my Gramps taught me when I was a tomboy. I was thinking this morning that I wish I had something that I did every year on his birthday to remember him. Then I thought about what I did today and I thought he'd be pretty okay with that. See, he loved taking care of the house and getting ready for family gatherings. He loved gardening together. and if he would have lived to meet her he would have loved KayCee and loved that I'm getting ready to have her on the farm. He would have loved the farm and seeing his little Punkin trying to remember how to be okay with having to get dirty. I try to think about what advice he would have when I'm having a rough day. Usually that reminds me to put things into perspective and do what I've got to do. The thing grandpa was best at was being a Grandpa and teaching us all the best lessons. He taught us that the best way to get what we want is to work hard for it. He taught us that if you work hard all day it can be very rewarding to fall asleep in the chair watching T.V. but the most important lesson that he taught us was caring about others and helping anyone if you have the power to do so. I always worry that as the years go by I might forget what his voice sounded like or forget how wonderful his bear hugs were. But I don't think I could ever forget anything about my hero. I miss you Gramps. Happy Birthday!

Just keep swimming!

So the last year has been a rough one for my husband and I. He lost his job and has yet to find a new one. We lost his grandpa. I had another cancer scare with my uterus. But through all of this we come home every night and we spend a little time together and we unwind. We try and succeed most days in finding the bright spots. We laugh at our cats and dogs doing silly things. We can't pay our cable bill but we have spent more time reading to each other! We have had fun catching up on shows we used to watch by watching them online. We spend more time outside. We have also had to sell several things we own. But our house is getting less cluttered and we're realizing that we don't need cable or things when we have us. I used to worry that if I got married I'd run out of things to talk about with my husband. That has never once happened mostly because there is always some animal that I am trying to convince him that we need on the farm. Last night I tried to convince him that we needed a bunch of prairie dogs. I lost. The point of all this rambling is that even when times are hard. You have to just keep swimming. Look at the bright side. There is almost always a bright side. Every day is a gift from God. Try to treat it like that!

Tuff

Today could have been considered a bad day. I broke out in hives, was stung by a bee multiple times, had bad pains remaining from the biopsy. Instead I choose to look at the bright side. Today was a good day because I got to be outside. Today was a good day because my husband, my brother and I got my garden in. Today was a good day because I survived being stung multiple times. Today was a good day because even after all of that and all the allergy meds to keep me alive I mustered the energy to cook. So, even though several bad things happened I'm choosing to make it a good day. I chose to keep going and be Tuff. I chose how my day would be. Thanks to my husband and little brothers hard work we have a lot to show for our work day! It was a good day!

Dear Gramps

Dear Gramps,

        You have been gone for years now. I still miss you everyday. I wonder if you knew how much you meant to me. I hope that you did. I had such an unstable childhood but the one thing I could always count on was you. My brothers and I were getting rained on waiting for the bus. You showed up the next weekend and built us a bus stop. I wanted a goat and there you were to build a goat pen with me. You were always there when we needed you. Now you're in heaven and I'd like to think you're still there when I need you. I think about what you would think of me living on a farm. I think you would be pleased. I was always such a city girl but I loved following you around so much that I would go do "boy things" as long as it meant time with you. I think that you were the first one to see the country princess side of me.

        I used to cry every time I thought of you. I missed you then and I miss you now. It hasn't lessened over the years but I have learned to live with missing you. I will always miss you. Lately though I smile when I think of you. I remember getting the pool ready every year with you and I smile. When I'm tending my garden I remember helping you with the garden and eating all the ground cherries before we could even bring them to the house. My husband was surprised by that because he didn't think I'd eat something fresh from the dirt. All of these memories make me smile.

        If I could have one more day with you I would tell you about all the times since you've gone that I wished more then anything that you were with me. I would show you my wedding pictures. I would tell you that I love you so much and I would get as many of your big bear hugs as I could. I'd ask you about Grandma and Alice and all the other loved ones up there. I would most of all thank you for helping me to become who I am. You always made me feel like I was important. You made me feel like it was okay to be the sassy girl I was and not to always just think about others. You are a huge part of who I am and I love you so much. I wish I had one more day with you but I know that I would wake up the next day and have to go through the mourning process all over again. I know I would always want just one more day. Sending hugs and kisses to heaven Gramps. I miss you.

                                                                              -Punkin

How to do everything wrong at Self Checkout.

I have some tips if you want to drive your self checkout person bananas.

1. bring your own bags but don't push the I brought my own bags button and then sigh loudly when the scale alarms. (we love that)

2. With every single item push skip bagging and then immediately bag the item and again sigh loudly and stare when the scale alarm goes off.

3. If you have a question wait until they help another customer and then stand there saying excuse me I need help. Mam Hello? and pretend that you are the only one there and they aren't monitoring 6-7 transactions at once.

4. If you make a mistake act like it's the machine's fault or even better somehow the self checkout person's fault. because they just call it self checkout so you can blame anyone but yourself for all mistakes.

5. Ask the self checkout person for every single produce code because you're clearly to important to look it up like everyone else.

7. Walk up and say "I don't know how to use these but the lines are long can you just do it for me?" because again you are the most important person in the world and the self checkout person is clearly an octopus with the ability to just ring everyone up at once. Just ignore the "self" part of self checkout.

And when all else fails act like as big of a jerk as possible. be loud and selfish. OR if you want to be a good human being and don't want your self checkout person secretly daydreaming about an anvil dropping on you like in cartoons. Then maybe don't do any of these things. Keep in mind that they are dealing with several people at once and usually running the front end breaks and organizing who needs to be where on the front end. Please be nice. We have all been in a hurry before but no need to ruin someone else's day! Also if you make a mistake don't worry we are all aware the machines are nuts sometimes and nobody is judging you unless your rude and then we'll judge you  A LOT, Lol :)

Two words that can make my day

So I am not really a huge T.v. or movie person. But I could watch YouTube for hours on end. There are so many YouTubers I love to watch. Of course daily grace. I like pointlessblog. vlogbrothers were the original ones who got me into YouTube. I like bitsandclips and missjenfabulous but there is one YouTuber who I look forward to her videos every Sunday. I watch all my videos in order but if I see this person has a new video I always watch hers first. She's adorable full of positivity and has probably the cutest baby on earth. The beginning of her videos start with two words that always make me smile, Aloha Sprinklerinos! Yep I adore Sprinkleofglitter. I love how happy she is. I love seeing how amazing she is with her daughter. I love her friendship with Zoella which reminds me so much of my besty and me. It also doesn't hurt that she's British and has an adorable accent. She likes all things pink and sparkly and she's not afraid to be silly or a little geeky or totally fangirl out. I like that because I do all those things. She has a great mix of content on her channel. She posts beauty, lifestyle, mommy stuff, etc. She's even a bit obsessed with stationary and organization like me. So next time you find yourself on YouTube check her out I bet you anything she'll make you smile and the babyglitter videos will for sure brighten your day! +Louise Pentland +Louise Pentland +Zoe Sugg +Grace Helbig +Alfie Deyes +MissJenFABULOUS https://www.youtube.com/user/Sprinkleofglitter