Photo Op of the Century... Oz Girl Rustles Longhorn!

And I thought LadyRider and I would have a run-of-the-mill day in the big city today. I'll be sure to remember in future that LadyRider doesn't do run-of-the-mill, especially with her camera in hand!

There's no spoiler alert here... if you want the whole story and the incriminating photos to go along with the {ahem} fictional tale, you'll just have to head on over to LadyRider's blog to find out exactly what happened on Friday's sunny yet very, very WINDY Wichita afternoon.

But ...don't believe a word of LadyRider's ridiculous western tale... it's quite apparent she has aspirations of being the next Louis L'Amour.

P.S.  Leave nice comments for LadyRider, snarky comments here.  Hey I can't blame you on THIS one!  :-)

My Marlboro Man

No, I'm not stealing Ree Drummond's affectionate term for her husband here... I just happen to think that every single one of us married women has a "Marlboro Man"... you know, the guy who fixes things around the house, keeps the yard all mowed and looking nice, and keeps your car tires all full of air... he slings the hay bales from the trailer to the barn/shop (oh sure, I could do it if I HAD to), repairs the chicken coop so you can finally purchase your first flock of babies, starts a compost pile for the garden that he's going to till for you... and on and on and on I could rant.

{If you don't know who Ree Drummond is, and I would hazard a guess to say that almost all my readers do know who she is.... then you need to go here to read more about the Pioneer Woman, and right here to find out about her Marlboro Man.}


Let's face it... my Marlboro Man is my go-to guy. Not just because I love him and I have so much fun with him, but because he's good at everything he does, and his mind is chock-full of knowledge and wisdom. He's one of the smartest guys I've met, and just the best when it comes to problem-solving.  Sometimes I feel like such a duh when he comes up with solutions that should have been obvious to me!  He's so good at making stuff out of stuff... he's a green kind of guy and probably doesn't even realize it.  He's uber-patient with the animals (and me!), and he's the epitome of calm in a panic situation... call me melodramatic and DON'T come to me in a panic situation!  I can calm down (eventually) but calm is not my normal operating system. I have utter respect for the way he handles our horses... he's mega-matter-of-fact and down to earth and REAL.  Yep, he knows how to keep everything real on the ranch.

Maybe those are some of the reasons we work so well together.


Our 2nd anniversary was March 14.  Since we don't eat out much... I mean, there's no restaurants within a 15 mile radius of our house... we splurged and went to PF Chang's in Wichita.  He loves Chinese, me not so much, but I can stomach Chang's.  He was the only cowboy in the restaurant that day.  He remarked that no one else wore their cowboy hat to lunch at Chang's... I replied that the other cowboys could be found across town at the local barbeque.  How many REAL cowboys eat Chinese?!

Trust me, he looked good in his cowboy hat in that Chinese restaurant.


If you haven't read "our story", you'll just have to click here and find out how we met.  Sometimes life does hand us something better than just lemons... we don't always have to make lemonade. 

But it's always good to know HOW to make lemonade, just in case... 


I won't lie.  I can honestly say that from the summer of 2004 to February of 2007 when I finally met my husband, the guys I met were the worst, the scariest, the most devious and scheming, disgusting ... need I go on?  After the guy who was a compulsive dating site lurker and king of chat with zillions of girls (I dated THAT one for a year, shame on me) to the suicide-threatening goob who stalked me by watching my house and questioning my every move (I went to the grocery store for tea, ass-wipe...I wish all my girls coulda been there when I practically THREW him out my front door after that ludicrous scene), I had decided that the online dating game was no longer for me.

Am I ever glad I gave one more website one more chance, else I would never be where I am today.  Jobless or not, I still believe that I am in the best place I've ever been in my life, and I'm truly thankful and grateful for my Marlboro Man.

How about you?  Is your hubby your Marlboro Man?  :-)


Blogs and Giveaways ...Peas in a Pod? Or Not?

I've been thinking about blogs and giveaways for some time now... let's face it, there are tons of giveaways out there in bloggy land. So I got to wondering... how many people really like blog giveaways? Y'all know that I've had giveaways. The bottom line for me... I really enjoy GIVING, so I love sending something to someone when they win one of my giveaways. The flip side for me is that I feel sooooo bad for all the people who enter my giveaways and don't win. I mean, seriously, it makes me feel rotten. It just doesn't seem fair to me, and my heart really wants to make everyone a winner!

Some of the giveaways are easy - leave a comment and you're entered. Others have all kinds of rules and stipulations, and additional ways to get extra entries.

So, I'm curious... do you like blog giveaways? 

Vote in my poll on the right sidebar.
Voting will close on 3/31/10. 

Leave a comment on this post if you'd like to provide more detail as to why you do or don't like blog giveaways.

And don't worry... I'm not offended if you DON'T like'em! I'm on the fence myself when it comes to entering giveaways. Sometimes I like'em, other times I don't want to be bothered!  

*gasp* ... did I just say that?!