You should be here!

This morning my dad, three of my sisters, and I all traveled to the most Wonderful Place in the World - Manhattan, KS. We wanted to be there for College Game Day to support the Wildcats and Coach Martin, and to set a record for the most people ever to attend College Game Day and show the rest of the world where the best fans are at. Good times, lots of great purple, and a fun way to start out the day.

Now we're back at home, where my sisters have helped me cook and clean. We're having some friends over tonight to watch the game. And as of right now, the food we are serving is as follows:

• Meatballs
• Cheesy Olive Bread
• Sourdough bread bowl w/ Dill Dip
• Pico de Gallo
• Guacamole
• Inside Out Oreo Cookies (little mounds of deliciousness)
• Magic Bars (ya know-w/ the coconut and chocolate chips and butterscotch chips, etc.)
• Sausage Wonton cups

Basically a conglomeration of some of the best food ever.

Oh, and beer too.

Go State! EMAW!

Kansas Day

Tomorrow is Kansas Day. I think in honor of this momentous day, I shall wear a sunflower in my hair, a picture of a meadowlark on my shirt, sit under a cottonwood for lunch, sing "Home on the Range", and of course-the best part of Kansas Day as I remember from my childhood-eat Kansas Dirt Cake with the little gummy worm.

See Mom, you can't say I didn't learn anything from school.

I Look Good

I think that I have finally mastered the confidence, the attitude, and the sexiness of a woman in a skirt, some sweet tights, and beautiful shoes. Thank you Mary Kay-not only do I get the awesome skin care and makeup-but I look hot in my red top and zebra patterned skirt.

Two-Timing

I have an issue with these actors and actresses that play two different characters on two different TV shows at the same time. You got that Carla Gallo? You can't be Sweets's girlfriend on Bones, and then show up as a calmer, wiser woman on some TV show my husband's been watching. That's not ok. And Kelly Stables, you can't be both the bubbly blonde receptionist/girlfriend for Alan on Two and a Half Men, and then play a brunette elf on a made for TV movie that's part of ABC's 25 Days of Christmas. It's confusing and I just don't approve of it.

And maybe my husband has a point that I just watch too much TV-but that can't really be it.

I hate making up titles

Today my husband got a phone call from a "recruiter" asking if he would be interested in a position with an elevator in Kentucky. Not exactly a job offer, but just one of those things. He jokingly asked me if I would want to move. But the thing is, my heart jumped and I wished that we could just pick up and go. Just leave and live there and experience that. But see there's the whole we own a farm and a house and this is the place that we were meant to settle down at, kinda thing. This area, this location, this lifestyle, it's what we always wanted. But still, for an instance, I wished we could just go.

When we got married, we moved to Oklahoma. We were excited to get away from home for awhile, just be the two of us-figuring out this whole grownup life, marriage thing together-away from the everyday proximity of family and old friends. Not that we ever would forget them, but we just wanted to try something different. And so we ended up in Oklahoma, with promises from his then-company that we would be relocated after 6-12 months, and then again in 12-18months. But instead, we spent every weekend back here in Kansas, and moved back "home" on our 6 month wedding anniversary.

.......So much for the interesting traveling newlyweds that only made it home for the holidays before having to rush off again to a new place, to see and live those things that the newlyweds would never again see or live. That newlywed couple never had a chance.

And I wonder, I wonder what things would have been like. If Mark and I had made different decisions, where would we be? Would we be happy, would we be happier?

With the recent TV show, Buried Life, where 4 guys make their "Bucket List" or whatever you call it, where you write down exactly what you want to do before you die-it's had me considering those questions of importance and life and living. And I thought about it, if I knew that I only had two weeks to live-what would I do? I wouldn't fly to Paris, I wouldn't jump out of an airplane-but instead I would surround myself with my loved ones-my husband, my siblings, my family and great friends. I would love on them, and let them know exactly what I hoped for each of them. We would talk and laugh and remember and create new memories. And the beautiful thing is that's what we're doing now, just without the constant reminder that life can be short. So maybe I should worry more about the moments I am in, as opposed to where I could have been.

And don't worry I still want to fly to Paris and get a tattoo and live my life, but it will still always center around those I love. And that's how I know that we made the best decision for us.

We lost a bedroom

This weekend Mark and I had my younger brother and sister over. They were excited to hang out with us for the weekend, and we were excited for the free labor. So we put them to work. We decided it was time to attack the basement. Our house is a split level and so there's "4 levels." When you walk in our front door, you walk into the living room (which has already been remade into a beautiful room-if I do say so myself) and from that living room you can walk down into what would probably be considered the "family room."














It was decent sized, probably about 12 by 20. So not bad, but when you consider that we want a bar, and a sectional and a big screen and a hotdog cooker, there's not a lot of room. And of course it had paneling, because what family room is complete without paneling.













There was also a bedroom, the "Coca Cola" room, with wallpaper and border and cement floors, and paneling on two of the walls. This was one of the 5 bedrooms. But these are all the "BEFORE" pictures! Because.....

We tore down the paneling (just for full disclosure-this was actually done probably about 5 months ago.)

We tore out the ceiling in the bedroom (again like 5 months ago).

And then this weekend the real fun was had. This is everyone punching, kicking, and karate chopping through the walls.

Oh yes, good times were had by all.

This is why they come to hang out with us, we do typically put them to work......but it usually involves demolition. And what almost 10-year old and 14-year old don't like destruction!

The holes are getting bigger!

I love it!

We opened up the window and just passed all the dryboard chunks out. It was like a relay, I felt like I was on Holmes on Homes.

And finally-Victory! Our home is no longer a 5 bedroom, but instead a 4br with a (soon to be gorgeous) family room.

Just in case you didn't think I was strange enough

Do you remember those grade school days when after recess, everyone lined up at the water fountain and if you took too long, you'd get in trouble? You could only drink from the fountain for five seconds, and everyone behind you would loudly count together, One....Two...Threeeeee...FOURRRRR....FI- and finally the water retaining offender would step away, allowing the next individual to go through the whole process again. Well, can I tell you a secret? Another one, after that long list of quirks (I prefer to call them quirks, makes them more adorable-less obnoxious.) But..... I still count to myself in my head when I'm drinking out of a water fountain. Not that I do that very often, the water fountain doesn't present itself as an opportunity much anymore.

And on a sidenote-I wore flip flops yesterday. That's right Kansas Winter! You're going down! Your threat of many more inches of snow and ice that will only pile upon the slushy, dirty, grungy inches of snow and ice still here does NOT scare me!

Road Warriors

Today I will be traveling down the road, headed on our way out of town, out of the state, out of this snow!

Hopefully....

We'll have to see.

But I do know one thing, as we're traveling down the road, with our bags, and books to read in the airport, and blankets to keep us warm, and the rest of the junk that I think needs to go along with-I won't be worried. Because my husband is my champion, my bad weather-late night-long drive- truck driving champion.

As we traveled from one Christmas to another this past holiday season, I knew that we would get there safe and sound and warm, because I trust my husband and his driving abilities. That was definitely a huge positive on the list of reasons why to marry my farmer husband.

And because we won't be back until after his birthday, and I probably won't be doing any updates until then-I just want to say, Thanks honey. I love you. You are a wonderful man, and my favorite guy to have around. Happy 25th!

This is for you Brandi

Ten Things You Didn't Know that You Wanted To Know About Miranda:
(Or maybe 10, we'll see how ambitious I get.)

1. When I was in grade school, I competed in math competitions. I believe I even owned a shirt that said Math-A-Thon. And, though I can distinctly remembering my math teacher joking about the fact that some people were probably only in the competition for all the amazing junk food our parents made for the intense studying sessions after school (meaning me) I took home 2 Golds, and 1 Silver during my 6th grade year-and yes there were only 3 different contests, and no I didn't really get medals.

2. I have a very obsessive nature-but only about dumb things. If I start reading a book, or playing a computer game, or watching a new TV show, it's about all that I want to do or think about. Not healthy, not healthy at all.

3. Staying with my weird numbers theme, I have a weird thing for numbers. I always try to make numbers that I see add up to each other, or arrange them in a sequence or something. For instance, I just turned over 189981 miles in my car. And it made me happy. I like combination locks that have an interesting pattern, something like 38, 85, 53. But if I look at the clock and it's 4:17-it does nothing for me.

4. My favorite number is 21, I don't want to explain all the reasons why, because I've probably already scared you enough.

5. I am headed to Florida with my inlaws, and I think that perhaps it has not yet set in, because I cannot get excited about packing. And normally I'm all about packing, with lists upon lists, and doublechecking and going over it again my head and counting the days and what outfits I have. And so far, not so much.

6. I have probably painted my toenails less than 5 times myself in my entire life, and even less than that for my fingers-I just suck at it, and so I refuse.

7. At family gatherings I don't worry about bringing food, I bring the wine. And yes, I bring the cheap stuff to set out first, and the good stuff for me to hide (I hide it in my own wineglass.) But my family doesn't care, boxed wine is still wine!

8. Most days, I feel as if I am wasting my intelligence, my degree, and my experience with my current job-but I don't know what to do about it.

9. In my head, I am still skinnier than I am in real life-that also means that in my head I have much smaller boobs. But now, after this whole getting married and gaining 30 pounds thing, it has worked out for the better for my husband (wink wink nudge nudge, if you get what I'm saying.) And so I'm a little obsessed with my boobs now. If I was a dude, I would definitely be a boob guy. I'm just sayin'.

10. I love to go grocery shopping, and I really love to go grocery shopping with my husband. I know, its kind of stick a finger down your throat disgusting, but we have fun conversations and silly jokes and just time together. Plus I can combine my love of food with my love of math and figure out exactly which brand or item costs the least per ounce. It doesn't get any better than that.