Our Secret To Success

It was early morning, not a cloud in the sky, with the highs for the day predicted to be in the hundreds, it was already humid. They sat waiting for the light to turn green when the daughter looked towards her mother and said, “That’s the kind of car I want when I get old enough to drive.”

The mother glanced out her window and pointed to the four door sedan that was in front of the cute little convertible sports car she knew her child was referring to and replied, “What, that white one right there?”

“Nooo, not that one; that one.” She said, calling her mother’s attention to the death trap behind it.

“Well, you’ll have to wait until you’re able to afford that one on your own because your father and I aren’t going to get you a car like that.”

“What kind of car will you get me?”

“Something safe, with four doors and a roof, and something that you will be able to pay for with whatever job you have. I wasn’t given a car; my father helped me get one, but I had to pay for it out of my own money that’s what I plan on doing for you. I think it helps you better understand the value of a dollar and what it’s like to have to be responsible for something.”

“Who will teach me how to drive?”

“Your father or I will.”

“I want you to teach me; daddy drives crazy.”

“Daddy drives for a living every single day, I’m sure he would be just as good at teaching you to drive as I would.”

“Well, that’s true; but you drive on the interstate every day.”

“So does your daddy.” She said as she chuckled inwardly between the vast differences of driving a big rig across the U.S. and taking the interstate to come into town each day.

“That’s true!” the girl exclaims, as if the thought that he actually drives every day is just now occurring to her “I never realized how much you and daddy have in common. I see now why you guys are in love.”

Yes, that must be it!

Today we celebrate thirteen years of marriage and I now know that the secret to our success stems from our all important commonality of driving down the interstate every day. ;)

Happy Anniversary, Babe.

I love you (and not just because we both drive on the interstate every day either) but I'm talkin' 'bout for real dough.

Farm Town Shelly

For those of you who might not have noticed; I’ve been MIA in Blogville for a while.

It seems my blogging brain has taken a leave of absence. There are things that happen almost daily that I laugh at and think what a good story it would make but I haven’t written in so long, it looks likes I may have forgotten how.

Anyway, although I have been missing from Blog Land, I have still been around; so I thought I would take a minute to let you all know, just in case you were interested, what it is that is taking up all of my time these days – aside from the usual: Work, Kids, Pets, Family/Friends, Movies, Reading, Cleaning – Okay so, being honest, cleaning isn’t really playing THAT big of a part in this scenario (since I do my best to avoid it like the plague) but, since I live with the human tornado, it is a small factor - et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The list could go on for days…

The newest addiction in my life (and I try to only allow myself one addiction at a time – not including my books) is my Farm.

Yep, you read that right…I have a Farm. And, as it turns out, I’m a very good farmer! Who knew? A girl who can’t even keep her plastic plants alive is now a Virtuoso Farmer - and it must be so, because that’s what it tells me under the status bar, whenever I visit my Farm Town.

Okay, okay, so if you want to get technical about it, it is only a ‘virtual’ farm; but still… to me - and probably several other thousands of people, like me, who are addicted to this Facebook application – it is very real.

I’ve got all kinds of crops! Corn, Coffee, Pumpkins, Peas, Sunflowers, etc.

I have a barn with hay in it and a variety of animals: horses, cows, narcoleptic pigs, little chicks, roosters, donkeys and llamas too – I’m hoping someone will gift me a turkey soon and I can’t wait ‘til I can get a bull!

I’ve also got a cute little white house with several puppies and a few cats milling around outside. It’s surrounded by hedges and a beautiful river, and I’ve planted several flowers out front to add a splash of color.

Now, I know what you’re thinking; so let me just go ahead and ease your mind…
No, I really don’t think my success at farming has anything to do with having OCD tendencies; although, I have discovered that ones ability to become an avid virtual farmer must be genetic.

For instance, mom and I are both outstanding members of the Farm Town community - Nope, just because she has those very same tendencies towards OCD, I still don't think that has anything to do with how skilled we are in Farm Town ;) We really do our part to keep things thriving and beautiful, and we’re exceptional neighbors! Making sure to visit all of our surrounding farms to rake, weed and water whenever needed.

In fact, I call mom the Farm Town Stalker. Every time I turn the computer on and go to my farm she’s already there, looking around and leaving me messages letting me know how many crops I have in need of harvesting. HA!

In contrast, we have another family of farmers, whose names I won’t mention (uh-hum, Amy and Sandra), who really stink aren't very good at this farming thing. They both have four little fields that they planted eons ago and then they never came back to care for them. Mom and I both keep doing our part to help maintain their farm, but it's all to no avail. No amount of water, weeding or raking is going to make those poor crops come back to life. :(

Hmmm…that leads me to another thought: Maybe, if we could convince them to become better members of the Farm Town society, I would be able to devote more time to some of my other passions, such as blogging. I’m just sayin’ ;)

Okay, so now that I’ve admitted yet another of my many few obsessions; I promise, I’ll try to do a better job of figuring out how to devote an equal amount of time to all of my addictions passions.

Until I figure it out, I’m certainly open to your ideas and/or suggestions… And here's a little snapshot of what's been consuming my spare time :)