My New Toy

cool photoshop stuff

I hate when women gush about their spouses all over their blogs, so I have no intention of doing so. That said, sometimes my husband totally kicks ass at being a husband.

I’ve been taking a lot of photos of the farm and trying to learn how to use Photoshop to do cool stuff with them, like this.

Last week I was admiring my sister-in-law’s awesome new camera. So he went out and bought me a new Nikon camera with money he had been saving to buy himself a new toy for the farm.

It was like the Gift of the Magi, but even better since I didn’t have to buy anything for him!

Chainsaw Adventures

Don't worry. I got this.

This weekend I used a chainsaw for the first time. Writing this post means I still have all my fingers, which means my first chainsaw adventure was a success!

The 3 Unfortunate Black Friday Shopping Types

So this is Christmas. Well, Black Friday anyway. (Note, my husband says it is more politically correct to refer to it as African American Friday, but I’ve never been very PC.)

I’ve been shopping the Black Friday deals for years now. I always enjoy the adrenaline rush I get from getting a $10 cashmere sweater or some buy one get one free DVDs. It is over the past few years that I have noticed there are definitely a few personality types that love Black Friday. In fact, I often wonder if I am really just as thrilled by the unique holiday people-watching as the doorbuster deals. Here’s my breakdown of the people to watch out for next holiday season.

Oh Yeah We Did

weekend getaway

It seems like the moment you least expect it, your life can change. One day you’re lamenting the fact that you can’t get the place of your dreams because your current house won’t sell. The next day, you’re saying, “Screw it. Let’s take on a second mortgage!”

Ok, before you start giving me financial advice, let me explain.

I’m a farmer now.

3 Easy Steps to Douchey Email Writing

OKAY?????!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to talk about a serious problem plaguing the internets today. The AOLspace and the Facetweets and the YouVideos of the cyberspaces are really the least of our problems indeed.

No. Today I am here to talk to you about a two far more serious matters: caps lock and excessive punctuation.

Lately I have been opening a lot more emails from these passive aggressive asshats.  The sad part is, they are usually high-level professionals. I would like to pretend that they don’t have a good grasp of proper internet communication etiquette. But I think they know exactly what they are doing.

Run for your lives! Cats at the Office!

The other day at work I had a strange run in with the resident cat lady.

this is a cat lady

Yep.

Cats.

At work.

It all started when I naively assumed I could go to the breakroom to wash the plethora of coffee cups that tend to accumulate on my desk throughout the day without facing some sort of drama.

Boy, was I wrong.

I came around to corner to find a fellow employee standing in front of the first aid kit with her hands bleeding all over the place.

I Love/Hate Dierbergs

I am a big supporter of local businesses. That is why it pains me to see Dierbergs becoming one of my least favorite places to go.

I get it. The economy is bad. Staffing is expensive. But really, guys, if you are going to tout customer service as something that sets you apart from those national chains, and expect me to pay a premium for it, then you gotta give me some customer service.

A Bad Day and Chick-Fil-A

My Favorite Childhood Book

Remember Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? We all have them. It seems like this past week I’ve had several of them. Tuesday was one such day. I’m not going to go into detail about what made it so terrible, but here’s how it got a little bit better.