Almost Gypsy Soul

[Linking up with Michelle at The Vintage Apple for Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday] When all else fails where do you turn..... duck tape and baling wire Pinterest! So when words are failing me for my blog, I link-up with Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday . So here goes some of my oldie but goodies, some new finds and Pinterest isn't Pinterest without some quotes. Some images had to be censored for blogland. Don't hate me. Click here to follow me on Pinterest. Oldie but Goodies New finds No, I am not pregnant, note the wine pic is bigger thus more important Quotes  I need reminded of (or just love)

This one isn't all in Sweetwater County, but neighboring Sublette County. Oil and gas is a major industry and source of income for both counties. It is very important to the local economy and in my opinion, quite interesting. This is the one where I get to go to an oil rig...like a real one, and not just beside it, but ON it....in the Jonah Field. Job perk, I guess you could say. According to some, its the next big demise of Wyoming (probably right after the downsizing of wild horse herds), but I think its cool! Plus I learned a whole bunch about the oil/gas field, both the Jonah and the new NPL field that is coming soon (hopefully to make my house worth 1 miiiilllllliiiiooonnnnn dollars)! I'll be the first to admit, I've probably forgotten more of the information that they shared with us on this day long tour than I remember, but I'll do my best. First off, my awesome PPE (personal protection equipment) Drill bit have some diamond insets in them. These th

This week I'll be livin' it up at Yellowstone, Billings, MT via Cody, WY, and Bear Lake/Montpelier, ID via Thermopolis, WY.

Welcome to Soul Food Friday ! I will host a link up the 4th Friday of the month. Link up to share with your fellow bloggers anything that motivates you, speaks to you or generally gets you excited about life.....share it at Soul Food Friday ! (get your badge at the bottom of my page :)) Food (literally) is my Soul Food. These dishes and any frown will turn upside down! Every town has that one food that just can't be replicated anywhere else and will forever be the favorite of anyone who has ever lived in that town....makes it famous if you will. Southside Bar and Grill, Limon, CO The pepperoni and onion calzone. I won't even order a calzone unless its at Southside. Trust me on this one, if you are in Limon, eat a calzone. And if you sit by Mike, he might buy it for  you! And those plates....been there since the Tornado I'm pretty sure. Mario's Pizzaria, Gunnison, CO The half and half salad with no black olives and ranch dressing. If you didn't t

I'm packing up on Sunday and I'm headed to Montana for a farm loan training for real estate appraisal authority. In case you didn't know I work for the US Department of Agriculture - Farm Service Agency on the farm programs side.  Apparently, someone (and I guess I'll admit, myself too) thought I didn't have enough to do administering farm programs to 2 counties, so I signed up for the Farm Loan Officer Training (FLOT) program. Perks include working with my super fun trainer, being stressed to the max at times and ..........going to Montana for a week. Unfortunately a bigger paycheck is not a perk, that's right folks sometimes I work for free. I am headed out on Sunday for a drive to Billings. Now since I will be traveling on Sunday, I decided that the route through the Park (that is what us Wyoming folks call Yellowstone....I'll have to ask if that is what they call it in MT too). I'll be staying the night in Cody, WY before heading into Billings. Aft

[Linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday] This carpet shampooer that Tylie bought me a few months ago. She musta ate something bad and it was put to good use and that is all the detail I will provide for your reading pleasure. These impulse buy Ariat shoes at the National High School Finals Rodeo trade show....so comfy and don't make my feet look huge......huge bonus points for them! All the fun folks that I re-connected with at the NHSFR and the new ones too. I think next year I might have to take the week off to keep up with them! Sunday afternoon naps after a long week of pretending I'm still a youngin' AND a big kid (going to work). ZZZZZZZZZZZZ What are you loving this Wednesday?

A while back my real life and blogging friend, Football Fan, wrote about her trip to The Cowboy Rides Away Tour with King George. As I started commenting on her blog post, I realized I was telling her the entire story about my George concert experience a few years back at Cheyenne Frontier Days and ended my comment early with ........"but.....well I'm just going to write a blog about it" So here is said blog! As long as I can remember there have been 3 artists on my dream concerts list 1)George, 2)Brooks & Dunn and 3)Garth. When I found out that George was going to be at CFD, I immediately called the Sisters and ordered us tickets. We got the "Party Zone" which is standing room down on the track between the stage and the grandstands. We had been to CFD concerts before and the Party Zone was awesome, comfortable and fun, close to the action. BE WARNED! THE PARTY ZONE IS NO PARTY AT A GEORGE CONCERT! I have never been surrounded by more rude, obnoxious

Have you ever read the urban dictionary? Did you even know there was such a thing as an urban dictionary? I learned about its existence from Assistant Pack Leader when she bought her "hooptie". I learned of said purchase via text message and I had no idea what a "hooptie" was. About 10 days later after it had been the victim of attempted grand theft auto , I was home and was informed about the proper definition of a "hooptie". If you missed the grand theft auto story make sure to click the link and check it out! But back to a "hooptie" Any car that meets the following: a) driver must enter car through passenger side b) three different brand and size tires - 3 of them missing hubcap c) exhaust is held up by half a clothes hanger - other half replaces the antenna d) backfires every three blocks - loudest backfire being when car is turned off e) must open door at drive-thrus as windows don't roll down f) you only get one AM

When I was growing up I thought I had it so bad. I had chores, I had a summer job, I got spanked, I got grounded, I was responsible for my own checking account. The older I got the more I realized how thankful I am for the "rough childhood" I had. My parents taught me responsibility, integrity and that there ARE consequences for my actions. This week I spent a fair amount of time at the National High School Finals Rodeo that is held here in Rock Springs where there is somewhere around 6,000 high school kids here from all over the U.S., Canada and Australia competing in 10 days of high school rodeo. A few days ago, I was sitting outside the NRS trailers talking with Chance and a mother and her 7ish year old screamed by. The mother was dragging the little boy by while he was screaming and crying "I want that rope." As they made their way in front of us, he grabbed her arm, shoved it in his mouth and proceeded to bite her as hard as he could. She threatened that

 [Linking up with Julia at Black Tag Diaries for Thankful Thursday] "The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale and pays freight both ways" ~ John F. Kennedy This is where I came from (photos courtesy of Amy , told you I'm not very good at this picture thing) Where this (even though most will argue about the 'right' color)....... turns into this....... I love eastern Colorado. I am thankful for growing up there. And I'm missing it a whole bunch lately.

He knows me. He is allowed to say things to me that others would get slapped for. We lived together. He is OCD. I make piles (clean, neat, tidy ones). He does dishes. I make messes in the kitchen. He is nice to my dog even after she bit him. He wouldn't let his dog bite me. I call him an old man, but he can't wait until is excited I'm finally 30 because we made a pact to get married when we both turned 30, if we weren't already married. He's been waiting a while ;). He'd drive across the state of Oklahoma when my heart had been broken and left with no ride home just to pick me up and take me home (unfortunately this is not theoretical). He calls just to check in on me. He buys me Cattlemens' when I'm in Oklahoma City. He lets me ride his best reining horse and doesn't laugh when I almost fall off. He lets me call him a nerd. He's one of the good ones.

Saturday  I played "Mommy" for a day. Colorado Transplant Friend and Little Boy were scheduled for some "intensive potty training". I think I got the better end of the deal, although I'm sure Little Boy did great. My plan of attack against a 9 month old? Wear her out! (so we Aunt Jen can take a nap). I'll hand it over to Miller Baby for the rest of the story. First things first, we did a little volunteer work at the National High School Finals Rodeo. Aunt Jen and I were at horse check-in where we were responsible for chatting with contestants and their parents, make them feel welcome in Rock Springs ya know!? While I checked health papers, Coggins papers and stall assignments before sending them on to the brand inspector, Aunt Jen put the mane tags in. I was a pretty big deal at horse check-in! Aunt Jen completely screwed up my schedule and I took a nap before we ate lunch at......1:30! But since its kinda her first day, I didn't even cry. We stopped

Well, life caught up to me and my blog took a backseat for a few days. BUT I'm back and hopefully full of BS true stories to tell you. You can look forward to reading about speedos at the Hampton on Mondays, camping and gettin' extreme on the wakeboard, volunteering at the National High School Finals Rodeo, golfing with the cowboys, being Mommy for a day, the towing of the boat and maybe some serious thoughts sprinkled in there. See I really have been busy! Stayed tuned for some fun stories and I'm ashamed to say, mostly without pictures. :( Boo.

These aren't a new recipe off of Pinterest, but has become a staple in my attempt at dieting. If  you are anything like me as soon as you try to start watching what you eat, all of a sudden all you can see, taste and want is donuts, chocolate, ice cream, pizza (I could go on, but I'll spare us the torture). These powerballs are energy packed....if I'm starving before my workout I pop a couple of these and it gets me through. If I'm craving some sort of dessert, I'll have one of these, they satisfy as dessert! As usual, I didn't have all the ingredients on hand so mine have varied a little bit so listed below is my edited recipe. Click here if you want the "real" recipe. 1 cup (dry) oatmeal (I used old-fashioned oats) 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/2 cup ground flaxseed or wheat germ (or add more oatmeal if you don't have flaxseed or wheat germ) 1/2 cup Andes baking chips 1/3 cup honey 1 tsp. vanilla extract Stir all ingredients together

I spent my 4th of July helping out my co-worker by supervising a high school boys basketball team's concession stand at the youth rodeo that is held every July 4th in Farson, WY. On my way back to town, the radio advertised a photo contest and I thought, well maybe I should enter....I don't know what I might won't win, but I should still enter. So as soon as I got home, I looked through my Wyoming photos (I should really take a few more!) and uploaded the following photos to the contest. Hey, ya can't win if you don't enter, but if you'd like to help tip the scales my way visit the website and vote for one of my photos! The rules for the contest were pretty easy All photos must be taken in Wyoming  All photos must be “family friendly” in order to be entered into the contest  Photos can include any type of photo from landscapes, action photos, underwater, glamour , wedding, architecture etc.  Must upload all photos on website  Any person can submit photo

Its here! Its here! Its here! YIPPEEE! My favorite holiday of all time! I love everything about the 4th of July, what it means, how we celebrate.everything. Over the years, how I have celebrated has changed. From spending the holiday at wheat harvest, Thank you Amy for being good at taking photos to spending the week in mountains with the Cowboys, Thank you Yahoo for housing photos  to BBQ, yard games and  in the trailer park to days at the lake camping and boating. But it all means the same..... . "we are the land of the free because we are the home of the brave" God Bless America!

When I started pushin' 30, it started pushin' back ......and I compiled this Dirty 30 list . I'm now  halfway through my 30th year. My progress report? Well its a few days late  I think I'm doing pretty good so far! I'm adding on to my first quarter report (shown in brown ) and my running totals after the second quarter are in green . And remember when I reserved my right to change and amend my list....yep I'm doing that and those are in purple. 1. Hike a 14'er 2. Run the Tower Rock 10K 5K 3. Buy the person behind me's meal 4. Lose 30 lbs (7/30) This obviously isn't going as well as one would hope. Encouraging words appreciated (or possibly yelling at my lazy rear would be more appropriate). I'll report I'm down a few pounds....long ways to go!  We will not be talking about this one at this time.   5. Save $6,000 What was the moral of the story about the tortoise and the hare? BAM! Hit my goal way early in the year! Thank you t

I'll preface this post with I don't have kids of my own (I don't want to lose any readers!) so in my expert opinion......here we go. As I'm out and about, I've noticed that little kids all have their own cell phone, Ipad (I mean seriously they took the book Goodnight Moon and turned it into Goodnight Ipad ), Ipod, Gameboy (whatever the new ones are called, I realize that Gameboy is so yesterday) and various other devices that require some sort of charging cord. Along with packing these items around, it seems that many kiddos also pack around the opinion that they have to have these items and their parents owe it to them to spend the money so that they might carry them to school each day. I have even offered the advice to one of my ranchers "If you have trouble, just ask one of your grandkids to send me the email from your Iphone." Last week, a friend from back home posted this video of the reveal of her daughter's birthday gift from Mom and Dad.

It’s July, you know what the means?   We celebrate the birth of America!   We have BBQ’s, we gather with friends and family, we go camping or to the lake, and we shoot off fireworks.   But the most important part of this holiday is not a day off (although that is pretty nice!), it’s the fact that the greatest nation is the world came into existence this month 237 years ago.   So, this playlist is devoted to America… Enjoy… Ray Charles; America the Beautiful Toby Keith; Made in America Shooter Jennings; 4 th of July Don McLean; American Pie Lee Greenwood; God Bless the USA Sorry no Red Dirt, maybe next month Happy Birthday America!!!!