Tag Archives: memories

while you were away

by Nebraska Wheatie

That’s what my Twitter feed tells me. When I see that, I feel behind. It’s been that sort of winter!

Reader BEWARE – you are about to see a whole lot of pictures and not many words while I attempt to get you caught up on where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to.  I’ve made a few trips since the first of the year. A couple of excursions to DC, a trip to Phoenix, to Billings and one more scheduled to Colby, KS before the beginning of the 2015 harvest. Of all these trips, the very best one was the trip to Phoenix. This took me away from home one day short of two weeks. But…it was two weeks with Jenna and I would do it all over again if I could. We left Omaha on a very COLD, windy day with anticipation of much warmer temps once we started heading south. The one thing I would change, if I could, would be that Jenna wouldn’t have been suffering from a miserable cold.

IMG_7498She’s done this ever since she was a little girl (and she’ll probably be mad at me after she sees this picture. 

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a change in the fleet

by Nebraska Wheatie

IMG_7849It’s the same thing every year – as long as I remember…”when will you be heading south”? I’ve jokingly said we need to create two signs. The first one we should either wear or carry around says, “I don’t know for sure” and the other one “it wasn’t a vacation”.

Preparations for harvest 2015 have begun. Slow but sure. Jim has never been lucky enough to have a nice shed to work in. He is at the mercy of the weather. If it’s raining, the outside work is put on hold and something else picked up until the sun is shining.  As you can tell from the picture, we’ve had a few good days.

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from the archives

by Nebraska Wheatie

24_Mar.WH05SRE.inddThis was in the March 24, 2015 Omaha World-Herald.

“I think you made the paper today…is this you?” – Jenn (texted to me at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning)

“Yes!”, I responded to my cousin’s question. “This is in today’s paper??”

“Yep! Living Section page 5E”, was her reply.

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the path i have chosen

by Nebraska Wheatie

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I’m headed back home after being in DC this past week. I finally have a bit of time to myself to reflect on the past couple of weeks (actually months) and I find myself wondering where in the world the time went. How could it already be the first week of February? This makes me think about what I have traded my days for.

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the value of a gift

by Nebraska Wheatie

I guess I’m still a kid at heart! I love Christmas and I love receiving boxes in the mail! So, when I received my box from my “Secret Santa”, I couldn’t wait to open it!

Thanks to some lovely ladies, my second year of participating in the Christmas In the Country was a success! These gals certainly know how to organize and create a fun activity during the Christmas season! Thank you Laurie, Jamie, Robyn and Erin! You gals are the best! And…Merry Christmas to you – all of you! It seems like the holiday was a year ago already but my Christmas tree and decorations remind me that it really wasn’t THAT long ago (no, I still haven’t taken any of it down)!

So, to give you a bit of an idea of what this is all about, I agreed to be a part of the gift exchange in November. Those gals that I just mentioned gathered names of people wanting to participate (from all walks of life) and then matched us with another blogger. The name I was given was Amber whose blog is, “A Gentle Word“. I, of course, had to visit her blog when I was trying to figure out what to send her and realized that she is way younger than me, has way younger children than me and yet we share some same similarities and life experiences. Her blog was something I needed at the time. Her writing provided my crazy soul with a bit of peace that it needed! I didn’t take any pictures of what I sent to her. However, I did send her an angel like the ones I had made for my girls and for some of my close friends:

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This is my angel.

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traditional traditions

by Nebraska Wheatie

I have to begin this with a HAPPY 29th BIRTHDAY to Jamie!!!

Our family loves traditions! And, this time of the year is one time that traditions run rampant!

One tradition that was started way back when was the yearly visit to see Santa Claus. I wrote a post about the very last picture of the four girls with Santa. That’s already been three years ago. Gosh, a lot has happened in those three years! Today, Taylor and I tagged along with Jamie, Eli and Nora while they waited in line (over two hours) to see Santa. I think the outcome was worth it!

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the past six weeks in a nutshell – part 2

by Nebraska Wheatie

The next days of being home meant unloading the Cottage. You have to remember that when we left in June, I had basically loaded everything I would need from our house into the Cottage. The house was closed up to everyone and everything EXCEPT the spiders. They apparently went to work overtime this summer in making our home their home. The first thing I needed to do was recapture my home and send those nasty little devils on a hike (thanks to the vacuum cleaner)! Cleaning the Cottage is so much easier!

On Saturday morning, we were up early with a destination of Boone, IA – we being Curt, Jamie, Eli, Jim and me. Earlier in the summer, Jamie and I had purchased tickets to ride the train knowing how obsessed Eli is with trains. It was going to be Eli’s day of “go go’s”. I couldn’t wait to see his reaction once we got to the depot and he would see the trains. The day was gorgeous! A bit of a summery heat but it was better than too chilly!

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condensing the journey

by Nebraska Wheatie

img_13812As the water swirled down the kitchen sink, I became aware that it was probably the last sink of dishes I will do in the Cottage in 2014. Suddenly everything I do tonight takes on a whole different feel.

Yep, the 2014 harvest journey is officially over. Tomorrow morning will be the first trip headed in the direction of home. The Beast will be waiting for our return in a few days.

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a generation who can’t let it happen again

by Nebraska Wheatie

I can’t believe it’s been 13 years.

In March, the Z Crew made a trip to New York City. And, of course, the one place we all agreed to visit was the 9/11 Memorial. So, today takes on a whole different feel after actually standing on the same ground where so many died. Being in the city and seeing for myself how it is laid out helped me to understand how chaotic it must have been. But really…how could I know? I wasn’t there.

IMG_3507This was the first time I had ever been in New York so the skyline of the past wasn’t being missed. I didn’t know any different.

Just as there is a generation who don’t know what our world and our country was like prior to 9/11. They don’t know any different.

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hyperemesis gravidarum (HG)

by Nebraska Wheatie

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I was going to post pictures of our first day of the three we spent in the mountains but something else felt like it needed to be shared.

This morning, I woke up to the news that Kate Middleton was pregnant again. About an hour later, Jamie texted me, “Kate Middleton is having another baby. Parallel lives.”

I loved Princess Diana. I think that weird sort of love for her and her life was because she and I were so close in age. I always thought it was sort of “cool” to think about how similar we were and yet so very, very different. She was a Princess, for crying out loud! We continued our parallel lives with our weddings and babies (my two older girls). I was devastated when I learned of her death on Sunday, August 31, 1997. The girls and I were sitting in the little Lutheran Church in Jordan when it was announced. I remember the immediate sick feeling I felt in the pit of my stomach.  How could this be? I felt like I had lost a good friend.

Years later, the parallel lives continue with Jamie and Prince William. Married the same month/same year (April 2011), 1st baby within months of each other (2013) and now pregnancy #2 at the same time. Parallel lives.

Poor Kate! I feel so sorry for her – for anyone who is so sick with their pregnancy that it feels like it would be easier to die. I know.

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