New Year, New Stuff

Jan 20, 2015 by Lauren

Every year I like to look back at the past year through photos, blog posts, emails and etc. and get a good overview of how last year went.  It’s less a list of resolutions and more a guide on how not to F up/how to keep being awesome.

As I looked back over the last year’s worth of Facebook posts, photos, blogs, and more, I realized there were quite a few areas in which I could vastly improve.  Probably the most obvious of which was how (in)frequently I post here.  According to my records, I wrote 6 blogs last year.  SIX.  That’s one every 2 months (and in reality, more like 3 in one month and nothing for 3 months).  Not cool.

After some introspection on the matter, I made two decisions.

#1.  Things have to change.  See, I started writing this blog when we got married and I moved to Goofy Ridge.  Adam and I celebrated our 7th anniversary yesterday.  Suffice to say, my perspective has changed in the last seven years. 🙂  When I began this blog, I would talk to my suburban friends about my life and frequently hear them shocked and amazed at how things operate in a rural area.  Those of you who remember the Frank bumper story know what I mean.  But, like many things in life, the longer you’re exposed to them, the more normal they seem.  Maybe it’s because we have two kids now and we just don’t get out much but I’m finding myself exposed to fewer things that you might find on Dog the Bounty Hunter and more and more things likely found on a riveting episode of Guy’s Grocery Games.

 

(I know, Mom.  I watch too much tv.)

 

(No, I do not watch Dog the Bounty Hunter.)

 

(Or Guy’s Grocery Games.)

 

#2.  Those of you who have followed me this long deserve an explanation of what I WAS doing, when I should/could have been blogging.  🙂

 

 

But, you’ll have to wait on that until a later date.  Those fun-sucking kids I mentioned?  (Oh, did I not mention they’re fun-suckers?  They’re fun-suckers.  Luckily, they are also cute.  Most of the time.)  Anyway, the fun-suckers are boycotting nap time today.  More on my 2014 Blog Absence Explanation to come.

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Our Own Personal Tooth Fairy

Aug 12, 2014 by Lauren

I’ve written a few times about G$’s teeth.  It’s not a good situation.  He is now three and most of his teeth are yellowed from damaged/incorrectly formed enamel.

There is good news.  His teeth haven’t changed or worsened.  THANK YOU, JESUS!  We are still applying fluoride and special toothpaste but, overall, things are going as well as can be expected.  If nothing else, we can be grateful that he hasn’t needed baby caps (yet)!

Recently, he had his 3 year checkup.  They were finally able to take x-rays (God knows how, because I heard the epic fit from across the room!) and they are cautiously optimistic for his adult teeth.  They said the shape is good (If they were damaged like his baby teeth, the X-rays would show jagged, oddly shaped teeth.  Instead, they showed normal, smooth, wavy teeth.) although they are not quite as developed as the dentist would like.  And we found out he has an extra tooth in the roof of his mouth.  How weird is that?!  Either way, we are happy for ANY good news when it’s tooth-related! 🙂

The best news of all, however, doesn’t involve G$’s teeth at all.  Princess E’s first two teeth came through and they are SNOW WHITE!  WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!  I don’t know if words can truly express our excitement.  Although we are much more comfortable dealing with the damaged teeth and all the issues that come with them, we always hoped any future children would be spared this issue.  And she has!  Hallelujah!

It’s like we have our own personal tooth fairy watching over both kids.

 

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Farm Census

May 23, 2014 by Lauren

The USDA recently released its latest Census of Agriculture.  This census is done every five years, unlike the population census.

For all of us ag nerds, it was chock full of interesting information.  Here are a few tidbits:

 

– The total number of farmers is down, with the decrease in female farmers being greater than the decrease in male farmers.

– 70% of farmers now have the internet (up from 57% in 2007!)

– The average age of farmers is 58.3 years old

– 57% of farmers sold less than $10,000 worth of crops/livestock (This is total sales, not net profit.)

– 70% of farmers report that less than 25% of their income comes from farming

 

What do all these numbers mean?

 

For our family, they illustrate that farming is a very risky business (and not in the Tom Cruise underwear and socks kind of way).  And although things can change in an instant, FOR NOW, we are among the lucky ones.  We are safe.  We have a roof over our heads.  We can pay our bills.  We are happy.  We are blessed.

My husband is a 7th generation farmer.  That means we were lucky enough to have a bit of a head start with land and knowledge of the business side of farming.  The sad truth is that it is extremely difficult to get into farming without being “born into” it.  Land prices are sky rocketing.  Equipment costs are in the six-figure range.  That is why nearly HALF of farmers aren’t turning a net profit.  Talk about terrifying.  These are the people producing your food and growing the crops that make your clothes, fuel your cars, and become your craft beer.

The census shows that we aren’t all the stereotypical 80-year-old white male in coveralls who sits at the gas station drinking coffee and arguing about the weather.  Ok, some of us are.  But most of us have young children in rural areas where there aren’t always a lot of family, friends or TARGET conveniences of modern life.

We may be somewhat isolated but we want you, the general public, to know about our farms (and not just from a census).  We want you to see what we are doing, to know that 97% of us are family businesses, to know that we are just like you (but with a lot more corn and cattle).  Please ask us questions, read our blogs, tour our farms…just call first so we can change out of our coveralls. 🙂

The #1 thing the ag census indicates to me is that our numbers may be declining but our passion for farming is at an all-time high.

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Tales of a Ridge Rat

Mar 31, 2014 by Lauren

We interrupt your regularly scheduled craft programming to bring you yet another glorious tale of life in Goofy Ridge.

 

Planting season is gearing up, so this week we had a chemical company come down and start spreading fertilizer.  On their way from one field to the next, they noticed a lady pulled over on the side of the road.  It appeared she’d hit a raccoon.  They told Adam they were going to go check on her.

Adam told them to do another drive-by and scope it out before actually stopping because that raccoon had been dead on the side of the road for at least two days.

Imagine the fertilizer spreaders’ surprise when they drove by and saw this woman, with her BARE HANDS, holding the dead, bloated, rotting raccoon.  They proceeded to watch her cut the tail off with a knife, put it in her car and drive away.

 

Seriously…WHAT IS GOING ON AROUND HERE?!?!

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Update!

Dec 5, 2013 by Lauren

Just wanted to do a quick update and let you all know I haven’t forgotten about you!

 

The countdown to Ms. Navan’s arrival has begun…just over 5.5 weeks to go!  AAAAAAAHHH!

 

There should be a big, photo-filled update coming in the next week with not one but TWO finished quilts, so stay tuned for that (and hopefully a few more projects I will soon be crossing off the old to-do list)!

 

Thanks for your patience.  The third trimester is a biatch.

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Good News!

Nov 9, 2013 by Lauren

Some of you may remember a post I wrote last year called “Prayers Please.”  I’ve shared the link, in case you missed it last time.

The short version is G$’s baby teeth were coming in and appeared damaged.  Though we had no idea my mother/aunt’s tooth condition could be hereditary (especially since my siblings and cousins all have normal/enamel-covered teeth), it appears that it may be just that…hereditary.

We went to a pediatric dentist and she confirmed our fears: G$ was simply born with extremely damaged tooth enamel.  The good news (at the time) was that it appeared there was SOME enamel there, even though it was discolored and weak (my mom and aunt had virtually none).  We scheduled another visit in 6 months so we could determine if the last of his baby teeth (which hadn’t broken through yet) sustained any damage and to decide where to go from there.  We were told baby caps (who knew they even had such a thing?!) were going to be necessary, it’s just a matter of how many.

 

Although it wasn’t the news we were hoping to hear, Adam and I are very thankful that we have family who have been through this before and can help guide us on where to go and what to do.

 

Fast forward to this past Thursday.  The 6 month checkup.  I almost canceled because none of the 2 year molars we were waiting on had broken through yet.  At the last minute, I decided to keep the appointment so that the dentist could at least check the progress (or decay) of the teeth he has.

Much to my surprise, some of the molars ARE starting to come through (which explains his “bad attitude” this week!  WHOOPS!) and although at least one appears to be discolored, there is one molar that appears white (aka normal).  According to the dentist, that is a great sign that his permanent teeth may not be damaged!

 

We were shocked and so grateful!  Here’s to continued hoping that this is only a baby teeth problem! 🙂

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