So Proud!

I know Veterans Day has passed already, but it's always in season to be patriotic.

Are you proud to be an American?

Well you should be. And you should be displaying that patriotism constantly. With one of these.

GO AMERICA!

This coaster's gonna crash

I should have spent my time sewing my costume.

Some 'Awws' for today...

Get your 'Awws' on. I'm directing you to another blog. It's awesome...way better than this one. And I stumbled on a post that is just too adorable not to share.

Super cute farm cakes await.

So about that Halloween interview

I had an interview on Friday and I wore Halloween socks.

I thought a full on costume might detract from my winning smile and thoughtful answers, but I figured I could swing the socks.

Sparkly spiders and webs. It was a good decision.

Talk about sacrifice!

Recently my love for Halloween and my hatred for job hunting hit head on. For better or worse, my sense of obligation won out and Halloween lost.

Here's the play by play:

I LOVE Halloween. Absolutely. It always ranks as my favorite holiday. I spend weeks of my life thinking about it and preparing for it. Selecting a costume, making a costume, encouraging others to wear costumes, planning parties, attending parties, promoting and decorating parties with clever invitations and too much crepe paper. In short, it's awesome. I <3 it.

I HATE job hunting. I find it demoralizing and boring. My eyes hurt from staring at the computer for too many hours in a row. My ass hurts from sitting on it all day. And my soul hurts from the near constant rejection. Plus, I don't have any money and thinking about how I'm going to pay my bills causes me physical pain. This is not my idea of a fun time. It's the opposite of my idea for a fun time.

Thankfully, I've had several interviews. It's a key step in getting the job hunting to stop for a while. Unfortunately these interviews came during the holiday season. This meant that instead of sewing a horn, ears, and tail for the fabulous unicorn costume I had dreamed up, I spent the week preceding Halloween researching and preparing a presentation for an interview. It's just not right.

Despite the neglect I showed Halloween, Halloween showed me a great time. I wore a pirate costume from a few years ago and it looked good if not unique. I went to a birthday party and saw friends I hadn't seen in a very long time. I drank free beer. Ate amazingly delicious mac and cheese. Walked about town with a zebra. Watched Hocus Pocus. All good things.

And I have a sweet Halloween costume idea for next year. Hands off the unicorn costume...it's mine!

Speaking of organic dairying

I absolutely LOVE this.

It's fun, it's funny, it's clever. All good things. Plus it's about organic dairying, treating your cows well, and combines two generally opposing things -country life and hip hop. More good things. I don't know anything about Yeo Valley Dairy (except what they mention in the music video) and I'm not here to shill British yogurt.

I just want to bring a little sunshine to your day.

Here and now.

As you know, I'm back in Minneapolis. I've actually been back for a few weeks now. And things are good.

I'm living with some old friends and some new potentially future friends. Everyone seems very friendly. And I'm loving being back in the city. The buildings are tall, the people are plentiful, and the weather has been fantastic enough that I can get outside and enjoy all of the sights and sounds that Minneapolis has to offer. This could be the start of a great new year.

But it's hard to throw myself into it all. I spend nearly all of my time writing coverletters and that makes for a simultaneously boring and tense life. Thankfully, I've had some success and I've gotten a few promising interviews, but they've been out of state. Knowing that I might be moving away soon makes it seem pointless to put effort into being here. I haven't finished unpacking -what's the point if I'll just need to pack it up again. I can't bring myself to live in the present -all I can think about is the future. And yet, not putting effort into being here and ignoring the present is going to make the here and now a disappointing place to be.

So sue me.

Yeah, yeah. I know you're judging me.

Monday I made ratatouille and zucchini bread. Chock full of delicious farm fresh veggies and organic goodness. It was amazing and there are still leftovers.

Yesterday I made eggplant parmigiana. Chock full of delicious farm fresh veggies and organic goodness. It was scrumptious and there are still leftovers.

Today. Well today, I picked up a $5 pepperoni pizza from Little Caesars. Chock full of things I don't want to know about from places I'd rather be ignorant of. And it was tasty.

So you just keep on judging.

I want to milk your cow.

Seriously. I want to milk your cow.

Now I realize that you probably don’t own a cow. I don’t know many people who do. And the cow owners I do know probably aren’t reading this. BUT. If you do have cow, this is for you.

I’ve wanted to milk a cow for a while now. Mostly for the novelty of it. It seems so quaint and rustic. But I’m sure quaint and rustic don’t quit cover it –I’ve heard it killer on the hands. Now that I’ve lived as a farmer however, this desire has mushroomed. As have my reasons for wanting to do it.

I want to get my hands dirty. I want to meet the cow that is making my food and I want to know the effort required of her and of me needed to milk her. I want to see the process from start to finish –cow to bucket to fridge. That’s right, no fancy milking machines here –that would be too easy. I want my hands to hurt, I want the full experience. I want my hands there when she gives up her food for her baby so that I can enjoy it. If that’s too much for me and if I can’t handle the reality of the experience, then maybe dairy isn’t something I deserve to enjoy.

Also, I want to see where and how the cows live. It’s important to me that they get to lead happy lives and that they have the opportunity to do cow things with their cow friends and families. Being in the sun, grazing, sexing, mothering, socializing. The least I can do to show my gratitude for their sacrifice for my table is to ensure that they have a chance at a decent life.

So, if you have a cow that you will let me milk. Let me know!

Only Happy Cows need apply.