Mid-December PHFR.

Not to be confused with a PHFT, which is the sound you make when someone says something preposterous. 

{PRETTY}

Last weekend, Zeke and I went "home-" back to our teeny tiny hometown where both sets of our folks live. 

My mom threw me a surprise birthday party (not on my birthday, which was part of the surprise), complete with presents and cupcakes and streamers and my little nephew and his "Happy Birthday"-"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" mash up. 

And the next day, my mother-in-law came over, got me in the car, and took me to a salon. 

I'm not really one for salons. I get my hair cut at the Walmart once every six months or so. But she decided it was time for me to get some pampering in, so I got an actual hair cut and then got my nails done. 

I'm a terrible nailbiter and I didn't know about the manicure thing, so I didn't have any nails to get done... so I got acrylics. They're kind of weird, but I actually like them, and they make my hands look so pretty! 

{HAPPY}

Despite all the birthday festivities that were planned unbeknownst to me, the purpose of the trip was to make a ton of Christmas cookies, which we did get around to eventually.

Molasses cookie dough. So, so happy. 

{FUNNY}

Zeke's been wanting to trade in one of our couches and put a recliner in its place for a couple of months now. 

I went to a ladies' group meeting on Monday, and came home to a changed living room. 

And, because he's tall and the recliner wasn't...

Cinderblocks. 

Hunky Husband Life Hack. 

{REAL}

Zeke's been battling a bit of a sore throat lately... 

... this was the little pile he made from dumping his pockets out last night. 

Linking up today with Like Mother, Like Daughter! 

Weekend Update 07.26.2014

So this weekend, was... well, it was interesting.

You know how Friday went down... I pretty much inhaled some chocolate...

so I was looking forward to a weekend away. I was really, really looking forward to it.


So Friday afternoon, I quickly shoved clothing and a toothbrush into a duffel bag and then jumped into a truck with Zeke to head back "home." We took a truck because he was getting rid of three couches for Camp, and by "get rid" I mean he was going to put them on his dad's burn pile at the farm.

We stopped for gas in town, and the gas station lady told us about a family whose home collapsed and ruined all their furniture, so then we took a detour to give the couches to that family. Which worked out great.

And on the way back from the detour, we saw these guys running across the road...

... without a momma in sight, so we thought maybe they'd have a happy life at Dad's farm. You know, since he wasn't getting the couches, maybe he'd want some ducks.

So after all that, we got back to our hometown around ten or so.  I stopped off at my folks house to beg a dress off my sister for the wedding we were heading to the next day... but nothing fit right, really, so that was a bummer. And then we went to sleep.

The next day, we got up and had breakfast, and then I went shopping with Zeke's mom for a dress for the wedding. It was so much fun. Really. It was great. I'm not much of a shopper, to be honest- I don't like trying things on or matching this with that... ugh.

But I had so much fun with my mother-in-law. I love her. And I found a dress that was comfy and that I'll wear again, so that was good.

Zeke and I met up again, headed to the city to look at a trailer (?) and start toward the wedding.

This is the last of Zeke's buddies to get married. It was a fun wedding- at a vineyard in South Dakota (yes, they have those- I was surprised, too), and at the end of it all, they got hitched, which, I'm told, is the point of weddings, anyway.

But, I don't know. There were lots of Zeke's buddies there, but Zeke hasn't really hung out with many of them in a while. And I haven't hung out with their wives very much at all. Apparently, they've all hung out with one another a lot, though.

They also all have children (minus the busy bride and groom), so most of the conversation centered around their toddlers. Which, okay, I get that. But I just felt so left out.

I know that I shouldn't feel this way, but it was hard for me to be around so many pregnant ladies and gals with babies. Why do their bodies work and mine doesn't? It doesn't seem fair. I tried to focus on contentment and joy, but it was tough. Zeke and I have been together for years longer than the majority of his friends, and many of them are already expecting baby #2. It was hard for me. I felt a little like I was standing still, watching them all speed past us. And there's nothing I can do about it.

We left pretty early- I was tired and not much in the mood for dancing.

On the way home, Zeke's dad called to tell us that the little ducklings had died.

I got all melodramatic and moody at that point. Because seriously? God couldn't just give me that one?

I was upset most of the rest of the night. We headed back home to our own home early Sunday, just in time to catch this eye catching parade...

What more do you need to cheer you up than miles of people on tractors?

I'm hoping that this week goes a little more smoothly, I guess. Pray for me when you think of it, will you?

Have a great week!

Fishing in the Dark (What We Did this Weekend)

Our little tiny camper- which we pulled behind the Vibe- hence the hitch in my entryway!

We got to our campsite around 9:30 pm or so (and it was dark, so all these pictures are from Saturday morning, of course).

The "getting to the site at 9:30" thing was not my idea, to be clear.

Maybe you have a husband like mine and can sympathize- a "just one more thing" husband. You know, the ones who find something else they should probably get done just when you were thinking you'd be leaving. And he hasn't even packed! Well, I have one of those husbands, and I also have a "got to talking" husband.

I had planned on getting to the campsite at 6:30 or so. Zeke had different ideas. Not only did he need to move cement after work, but he had to service the Bobcat, and drop off his computer at our friends' house (this friend happens to fix computers- a good network of handy friends is a blessing, but that's another post).

And at the friend's house, Zeke got to talking (for exactly seventeen minutes)... and we were already much later than I had planned, so I was a bit grouchy.

I guess I need to take my own advice and work on growing some fruit (patience in particular)!

We got a marvelous campsite- down right by the beach.

It was very cold when we set up- I wore a long sleeved shirt, a zip-up sweater, another zip-up sweatshirt, and my flannel coat, sitting next to the fire. And shivered the entire time. But my first experience with nighttime fishing made up for it. Did you know you can fish in the dark? I had no idea.

(Sorry about the guts in the picture. Gross.)

We caught this guy and two more of his little bullhead friends ...

... and we ate 'em for breakfast! They were delicious. And Zeke, who didn't bring the right fish-cleaning tools didn't even swear once while using his Leatherman to yank the yuck out of them while running them under freezing cold water in the freezing cold wind. He did grumble a little, though.

But it was worth it.

Because they were yummy.

Zeke had volunteers coming in on Saturday afternoon, so we had to head back around lunch time, but we had a nice time on our first (albeit short) camping trip of the season.