Almost Gypsy Soul

Preface: I have actually considered having my own kid for the sole perk of Elf on A Shelf....then my wits came back to me and decided that maybe I should just borrow one for a few weeks of the year, might fit my current life stage better. As in better for me and WAY better for said kid. Current: I got the following letter from Jacob in Tennessee.   Dear Jennifer, In school we read a book about a boy who got flattened by a bulletin board. His name was Stanley, now is Flat Stanley. He wanted to go on a trip, so his family folded him up and mailed him to California. I am mailing my Flat Stanley to you. Please take him somewhere and write me back telling me about his adventures. if you have pictures, postcards or brochures, please send them back with him.  I will share his adventures with my classmates and this will help my classmates and I learn more about other places in the world. Thanks for helping me with this project. I wish I could fold myself up and visit you. L...

 Rock Springs is the host of the National High School Finals Rodeo for the past 2 years and 3 more. I am lucky enough to have some cool friends that work for Resistol, Cactus, NRS etc....and they descend upon Rock Springs each year for the trade show at the NHSFR. Now you all know that I have a raging social life so I'm really excited to have some folks to go out to dinner with, drink an more than one adult beverages with, sit in the shade of a really fancy NRS horse trailer,  go golfing and the annual grill party at my house! Plus they gather attention everywhere because they drink Coors Light and wear cowboy hats.....its like being famous in this town I think. Its always good to see them and catch up. I think they look forward to it as much as I do!

Yes, you read that correctly....the single girl has a 3 year anniversary. Where's my cake? And this anniversary feeds my soul. Grab the button (its at the bottom of my page), link-up and let us know what feeds your soul. Tomorrow, September 28, marks the 3 years since I made the decision to become a Be The Match registry member. The registry is a connection resource to match donors with people with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. Assistant Pack Leader beat the hell out of Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a blood cancer and has been clear for just over 3 years now. While she was fighting, it made me realize how precious life is and how lucky I am to be in a position to help others. When they started talking bone marrow transplants for her, I knew I'd be the first to sign up to be tested for a match. The Drs. ended up using a procedure that utilized her own marrow, but I decided that I would sign up for the National Registry , you just never know when s...

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...

It's something you always knew, just sometimes life gets in the way and it gets pushed to the back of your mind. Friends are my soul food! Unfortunately, last week I was reminded to NOT let life push this little piece of fact to the back of my mind, to love my friends, to let my friends know that I love them, to take a little extra time to send that email or text or pick up the phone and make the call, to spend more than is in the travel budget, to take 10 days 2 1/2 weeks off to drive what I'm going to refer to as the Giant Friend Loop Road Trip (GRLRT) instead of flying in/out in 3 days time, to buy the random gift you know they will love.   As I looked around the room, which was full, at the wake I realized how many lives this young man had touched so deeply in just 27 short years. The next day the sanctuary, the hall and foyer were filled with people wanting to pay their last respects to their friend. I am reminded to strive to be like Joe Don, to strive to be a...

Its my blog and this one is all about me! Prairie Princess  tagged me in this ABC's of me post she did last week, so I'm playing along! I'm sure you will learn more than you ever wanted to know about me! A. Attached or Single? Single (with a dog and a mortgage) B. Best Friend?  I have a few best friends, but Military Friend has been my friend since like forever and we just pick up wherever we left off.  C. Cake or Pie? Pie, wait cake ....no pie...strawberry pie that they used to make at Waunita Hot Springs Ranch, final answer. D. Day of Choice? Saturday, I have the whole day to do whatever I want, plus its usually Saturday that I spend on the slopes, boarding or on the lake. Plus I have Sunday to recover! E. Essential Item? Pod, I need background noise. F. Favorite Color? Green, I didn't used to say this, but then one day I realized how much green is in my life (too bad that wasn't true of my bank account too :)) G. Gummy bears or worms? Bea...

Okie Cowboy Family really did become my real family. I met Okie Cowboy at Waunita Hot Springs Ranch quite some time ago. He had come back to help out for a couple weeks one summer while I was working there in college. Turns out he had met his wife there a few years before this. I didn't really get to know Okie Cowboy Mom until I packed all my stuff and moved to Oklahoma for grad school at Oklahoma State. We all instantly liked each other and were immediately friends, plus you gotta form alliances around this guy! I spent a fair amount of time out at their house dinners, horses, ranch rodeos, concerts, Sonic pitstops etc....we kept pretty busy, but sometimes it was just hanging out...in the country, relaxing. Okie Cowboy even had Bandit, who is Tylie's baby daddy. Once Okie Cowboy met Tylie, the first thing he asked me was if she had been spayed. I told him "No, not yet, but I am planning on it soon" He talked me into having pups and he picked out the first o...

Dear Donor Family, My name is {Gatekeeper} and I received your loved one’s heart. The most important thing I want to tell you is that I am so grateful to you! There are no other words to express my gratitude other than Thank You!  I have thought about what to say over and over, and I want to say the right things but I’m not sure what those words are. In your time of grief you made a decision that saved my life. I would not be alive if it were not for you. I know very little about your loved one, but I would love to know much more! What I do know is that he must have been an incredible person. The fact that you have allowed him to live on inside of me is a testament to how much he was loved by you.  There are so many thing I would like to tell all of you, but I don’t want to overwhelm you. I do want you to know that I was sick for a very long time, and I do not take for granted a healthy heart! When I was 14 I was diagnosed with a rare cancer so I began che...

I'm O- and they always hit the vein on the first try! For these 2 reasons I feel like I'm supposed to give blood, regularly semi-regularly. Hey, lets be realistic, I don't get it done all the time, but they are pretty good about calling me and asking me to come in when I'm eligible again and there is a blood drive in my town coming up.  Click here for more information on giving blood. I donate with United Blood Services in Wyoming. I'll be honest, I've started trying to give double reds because I'm not eligible to donate as often and I'm more likely to get an appointment made if I don't have to go so often. :) Plus, they love it when you agree to give double reds! Did you know that double red donations are usually given to surgery or trauma patients? To find out more about donating a Power Red , click here . Plus you can say Power Red , that's cool right? A little personal note on giving double reds because it is different than giving w...

Some people know real famous people, like the ones you might see on tv, or on a stage, or in a mug shot . Sorry, that wasn't very nice. Anyway, I like to think that I have several people that I know in real life that should be famous because they are that nice, that giving and/or that awesome! As I'm writing this, I think this might become a "series".....hum....must make a special tag in case I decide to follow through on this. So here is my first famous person, although it would probably be most accurate to describe him as an acquaintance.....we drank beer together at calf fry and have a good mutual friend, so introducing my first famous person friend! Nick - he is going to be famous for hiking the Appalachian Trail! He will be starting his journey with his border collie, Gus on March 15, 2013 and will be on this adventure for approximately 5 months. Now the part that I am really excited about.......he has a blog so that someone who is a gypsy soul at h...