Hubby Mine

Brian and Naruto
Brian, Gigi and Spirit's butt!

Wake up daddy!

Farm raised, rugged man.

I read this over at Ronnie's - Since I talked about myself last meme this one is for Brian.


1. He’s sitting in front of the TV: what is on the screen?
ESPN, a game, sports documentaries, more sports,...typical guy stuff.

2. You’re out to eat. What kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
French. Always French dressing.

3. What is one food he doesn’t like?
Not that he is a picky eater but for those that don't know Brian has a bicycle accident 10 years ago that left him without the senses of smell and taste so he only eats things he can remember and used to like, that look the way he likes it and have the right texture. Not a lot of variety because of it. But I would say he does not like anything dry.

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order?
Wow It has been years since we have gone to a bar! He would order diet coke! He does not drink alcohol. ( I do!)

5. Where did he go to high school?
Byron High School, Byron Minnesota

6. What size shoe does he wear?

13 Wide- big hands, big feet... you get it!

7. If he were to collect anything, what would it be?
Excellent cows to show!

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?
Tuna on a wheat bun.

9. What would the Husband eat every day if he could?
Sweet stuff and he does too!Candy, chocolate, cookies, you name it he eats everyday! He lives on those things- At night he likes healthy stuff like salads and grilled Salmon followed by a big bowl of ice-cream and cookies!

10. What is his favorite cereal?
Nowadays....Raisin Bran Crunch.

11. What would he never wear?
He is a simple dresser. Bibs and jeans for the farm life or athletic apparel for the day to day.
He would not wear sandals to save his life!

12. What is his favorite sports team?
Twins, Timberwolves, Vikings. But lately he likes the Twins more

13. Who is his best friend?
Me no doubt about it!

14. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do?

Swear. I love swearing and he finds it offensive unless the cows got out then its a go.

15. How many states has he lived in?

He was born and raised in the house we still live today.

16. What is his heritage?
Norwegian and German- He is a Minnesota boy!

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind?
I love baking- It would be chocolate. And very moist or else he won't eat.

18. Did he play sports in high school?
Football and Basketball. He gave up Football at 13 when he had a spinal fusion and the doctors told him he could not play anymore. They actually told him he could not farm, play any sports, lift weight of any kind... they would be surprised at all he does today! Duathlons and all!

19. What could he spend hours doing?
Anything to do with cycling , running, his show cows and the kids.

Merry moments on Christmas day!

Naruto loves red!

Gigi and Grandpa Jim

Hiding from the camera!

Gigi and cousin Laura

Naruto, cousin Robert and Brian -playing X-Box 360

Naruto, Gigi and cousins Laura and Robert

Gigi and her favorite things - horses, Barbie Diamond Castle and Disney Princesses

Wow! that is what Gigi wanted!

Gigi and Laura coloring together.

Gigi and Alexa- from Barbie Diamond Castle

Bold the things you have done

(Stolen from Frank who stole it from Sandy Feet.)

1. Started your own blog -"You think?" as Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs likes to say on NCIS

2. Slept under the stars My mom and I used to do that a lot. Bring sleeping bags out and sleep under the stars. 3. Played in a band . I am musically challenged. Really.
4. Visited Hawaii when I was 17 years old-that is 25 years ago!
5. Watched a meteor shower a dozen times and always made a wish for every one of them.

6. Given more than you can afford to charity - Once I gave some money I had for gasoline that month.
7. Been to Disneyland/world ( both)Yes and had fun like a kid!

8. Climbed a mountain .I climbed Pico da Agulhas Negras in Itatiaia National Park, Brazil

9. Held a praying mantis I love those buggers!!!
10. Sang a solo-I cannot hold a tune to save my life- even my kids tell me to stop singing!
11. Bungee jumped- I could never do I am "chicken"!
12. Visited Paris with my now husband - 2 months after we met.
13. Watched a lightning storm from the top of a mountain. It was miles away so a beautiful spectacle on a Summer night.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch I am a really good artist ( drawing specially) and very few people know that.
15. Adopted a child- no but I think about it sometimes.
16. Had food poisoning- no I am those people that can eat anything, I mean anything.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables -Yes and I like them so much I think they are too cute to eat...but so much more tasty than store bought.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train. I loved sleeping on the train bed, all the moving from side to side....
21. Had a pillow fight. I love pillow fights!!!!!!!!!!!
22. Hitch hiked One time when our car broke down!
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill Hell yeah! But worked sick many days too!
24. Built a snow fort -I am from Rio de Janeiro-but I still have time now that I am in Minnesota!
25. Held a lamb-
26. Gone skinny dipping. Oh yeah! Many times......did I say I grew up in Brazil a few blocks from the beach??!!

27. Run a Marathon - no way. I run from running!Brian runs enough for both of us.

Brian is he one in the right - pictured here after running a race.

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse Solar and lunar. Yep!
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset Love sunrises in the beach!
31. Hit a home run -only if you mean by marrying my hot husband!
32. Been on a cruise - I have been inside cruise boats and even slept in one but never took the cruise for an overnight.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors France and Belgium but not Germany , Portugal and Holland.
35. Seen an Amish community Yep I even go shopping there once in a while.
36. Taught yourself a new language I learned Spanish all by myself!
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - I am satisfied but would still like more money! Do I contradict myself?
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing- only indoor climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke- ARE YOU CRAZY!?
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant. I bought meals for homeless people and kids from restaurants.
44. Visited Africa- that was my childhood dream after I saw the movie Born Free

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight Yes but never with a person I loved :(
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted by a family friend
48. Gone deep sea fishing- I have gone in the boat but did not fish!
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person -
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris- No way I was going to stay in line and pay all that money! - The truth is we only had one day in Paris to see it all so we stayed in the bottom and looked up!
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling -I looooove scuba diving!
52. Kissed in the rain- my kissable husband!
53. Played in the mud- I played in the mud, in the sand, in the dirt, in the manure, you name it!
54. Gone to a drive-in theater- Last time I went was in 1983
55. Been in a movie- no but in many TV Ads and TV shows in Brazil
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business - many times from dog business to producing stickers for kids.

Started showing dogs professionally at 15. Here is at 17 winning a puppy group with my schnauzer puppy!

58. Taken a martial arts class- the only one in my family that did not
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies- not but used to eat a lot of it!
62. Gone whale watching Yes but we did not see any whales:(
63. Gotten flowers for no reason -from my now husband before we even met in person!
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma- I used to be a VIP donor! I used to donate every 60 days for years.
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check many! All my mistake for not keeping it organized!
68. Flown in a helicopter with my dad in my birthday over the city of Rio de Janeiro- stunning!.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy- no but I painted a picture of one of them and I still have the painting in my bedroom wall.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial- with my cousin Alex
71. Eaten Caviar- With my grandfather when I was a child!
72. Pieced a quilt- I am not a crafty person!
73. Stood in Times Square Absolutely!
74. Toured the Everglades - does driving across it counts?
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle with my crazy friend Zeca Maron on a Ninja
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person And even took a little plane ride to fly over it
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper A few times all for good stuff.
85. Read the entire Bible .

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - I cannot kill a fly!but I can enjoy an already dead animal.

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life - some kid swimming on the beach that really did not know how to swim. I was only around 10 or so.

90. Sat on a jury - no but I have a Law Degree

91. Met someone famous-I know a lot of famous people in Brazil. Grew up around famous people because of my father's profession

92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one -my biggest fear is loosing a child.

94. Had a baby -TWO!!

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit- my ex-husband stuff with his ex-wife!Long story......

98. Owned a cell phone Since 1992

99. Been stung by a bee- many times!

And...I VOTED FOR ....I don't vote yet. I only hold a green card. You need to get you citizenship for voting and it costs a bunch of money!

Have your cake and eat it too!!!!!!

Gigi has discovered a very yummy body wrap ! Cake and frosting will make you sweet, soft and definitely mouth watering.

On a F**k Roll

Brian and I have laughed so hard with this video and picture that we wanted to share.



see more pwn and owned pictures

Mad Cow

This is funny. Too bad it is a picture of a cow since bulls have a different shape to their heads.But non the less...

WARNING: foul language and sexual insinuations

The Last Unicorn

I found this movie looking for horse movies for Gigi and it has become our favorite movie of the moment.
She calls her big stuffed unicorn Illusions. We sleep with it in our bed.
This the other version of the song and the movie opening:

More hair tranformations!

Gigi AKA Cinderella also is sporting a new hair style thanks to Naruto.

She and Daddy went for the minimal approach.

Their heads feel like stroking teddy bears. I sometimes do get sympathy looks and have been asked once how she was doing.

This is Cinderella giving Daddy a hair cut !

Naruto- what is in a name?

MD has changed his name again ...and hair

He used to be Mario and has been called Buzz, Indy ( Indiana Jones)and Luke ( Skywalker).

Now he officially introduces himself as Naruto.

He is also doing Taekwon Do and loving it.

Selfish Passion

Pat Robinson wrote this about 4 years ago and posted at the AlwaysUnschooled Yahoo Group today so I asked her if I could put it here and she said OK.

I just loved it as it is rings so true for me.

Here is goes:

Selfish Passion

I have a confession about a selfish passion of mine. It seems to have developed to the exclusion of many other worthy and enjoyable goals which I have held in the past. My passion is so integral to my Being now, that it is inseparable from my core needs.

I would have thought that I was sacrificing my other pleasures,challenges, and well deserved indulgences, if it hadn't become such a prominent aspect of my life. I thought that I "should" continue to be involved in my prior avocations, with due awareness of their continued importance, in my current and future life. But my passion seems to have become so rewarding and fulfilling, that I don't choose to participate in many of my prior activities. And my prior loves don't have the same significance that they once had.

My passion challenges me physically in the same way that exercising with the goal of climbing Mt. McKinley once pushed me further than I thought possible.

My passion challenges me mentally in the same way that the acuity of critically ill patients once demanded my most attentive and intellectual self.

My passion challenges me emotionally in the same way that caring for indigent people who had to choose between buying medicines or food or paying housing expenses, drained and empowered me to do more.

My passion challenges me socio-culturally in the same way that assimilating a third world culture required me to question all my assumptions.

My passion has supplanted the multitude of experiences which I once considered a whole and full life. But, I am becoming aware that my passion actually fulfills my goals of stretching my strengths beyond what I thought humanly possible.

My passion displays the beauty in every little thing, when I thought I must search and travel to find the beauty of the world.

My passion has provided me with opportunities to find the courage, and confidence, to follow my own path.

My passion has developed compassion for both, myself and others,beyond the judgments that I "knew" as right and wrong in the world.

My passion has demonstrated the hope of the future despite any insurmountable challenges of the moment.

My passion has shared the trust in all the goodness of life.

My passion has surrounded me with the joy of innocence that I lost a sa child, and opened my heart to its delights.

My passion has developed talents that I never knew were available tome, although I always demanded more of myself; but I never demanded as much as creative problem solving with another demands.

My passion has cultivated an imagination of the world as it could be.

My passion has endowed me with a reverence in wonder and miracle more devout than any faith could.

My passion has amplified my understanding of my significance in the universe.

My passion has produced more love than I dared to believe was possible.

My passion has given me the gift of faith in humanity.

My passion is being my son's mother.I have no other passion that holds more self-indulgence and personal growth.

Pat Robinson

Thanks Pat!
and thanks to Heather Brown for the picutes.

Racer X nd MD

Here a little bit of cat love from Racer X to MD ( still wearing his cast on left broken wrist/arm).

Princesses can do chores too

Who said princesses don't get their hands dirty. Gigi does chores everyday. She does it in style too!

There was a storm coming but she needed to go see her Bubbles ( her calf she showed at County Fair)!

Hot Dogs and Gigi

Dad likes to call the show cow "hot cows" but Gigi calls them "hot dogs".

Libby is our "hot dog" according to Gigi. She can pick her out even when she is in with all the other cows.

That is hard even for me! But she can tell who is who. And at 30 months old I know she cannot read tags yet ( show cows don't have tags anyway!)

Racer X and Gigi

Since our barn cats are all spayed and neutered we are now adopting stray or barn cats already fixed from CampCompanion who has helped us with out cats.

A couple months ago a cat shelter in town was closing and Michelle ( from the above organization) was tyring to place some animals. MD and Gigi love cats, specially MD so we went to take a look at them.

They fell in love with Stephen the white cat. We them decided that he would come live in the barn with our other cats. Our barn cats are taken care of as best as we can since some are feral.

They get heat lamps and shelter in our cold winters and food everyday. They also get medical care as best as we can ( see reason above).

Most cats are now friendly but we a few that you cannot touch. Michelle told us that Stephen had been a wild cat and he was friendly enough but to not let the kids pick him up.

A week after Stephen, now called Racer X- Speed Racer's brother cause he has a grey X in his head, kids can do almost anything to him. Gigi calls him Speed Racer but she know he is Racer X

He is absolutely become a pet! He loves the kids and is extremely friendly. If you sit down he will jump in your lap and rub you until you can't take it anymore! Or he will sneak and go take a nap with Gigi.

Singing

I can't sing to save my life. Really. Cannot hold a tune.
I am "vocally disabled" but at least I can sing the right words ( most of the time anyway).
Here is someone who ...well.....I will let you hear it for yourself.

We won!!!!!!!!!

MD and I won Best Video on Learn Nothing Day Contest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YAY for us!








And here is mario555555 AKA MD dressed with the shirt:












Best part is getting Sandra Dodd's book Moving a Puddle or Thinking Sticks.
So much fun making our YouTube Video !!!

We lost Landis.

One of our most important cow just had to be put down this past Tuesday. She was only four and a half years old.
On Friday night she got done milking as she was on of the last cows to be milked ( show cows and fresh cows go last)
She had just calved a few days earlier and was fat. She is also very big. She has been in a grass pasture and had lost a lot of weight but we could not put her on a diet since she was pregnant so the pasture was healthy for her and baby.
Well we are in the barn and my husband goes looking for her on the pasture since she did not come in to eat and he wanted to get her to her special pen.
The cows get food outside in the pasture and inside in the big freestall barn and they usually like to come in because of water.
She would always come into the barn since she knows she gets special food in her pen.
He finds her a few feet from the exit of the milking barn down on the floor.
The nightmare started that second . This was 9:30 at night. Next morning at 5:00 AM my hubby leaves for a two and a half hours drive one way to get the AQUACOW for her. He gets back home and we get her in and fill up with water. She cannot float her hips and hind legs.
She is so big and the aqua cow is even small for her but it helps to keep the weight off.
We keep her in for a few hours and then drain and we do that Saturday and Sunday all day and night. She is eating great and she is feisty and fighting every minute of it.
On Monday he drives again for another 5 hours to get a sling and see if that would help.
Again not working so good and she is also a bit to big for it.So we load her in to the trailer and take her to the University of Wisconsin -Madison where they are the best.
There they have a special sling that takes the cow to an aqua cow with controlled temperature and they can finally examine her and x- ray her.
They have state of the art stuff for cows there.
Hubby got home at 100AM.
The chief intern calls this morning ( She is awesome and has saved many famous Dairy Cows like the Jersey Veronica)

Well Landis dislocated her hips so bad there was nothing they could do.
She thinks it is because she was so fat that it was so badly dislocated ( probably got into a "fight")
We had to put her down. My husband is devastated.
We couldn't even save her ovaries since she just calved and its not cycling yet.

Showing Dogs

Some of you know that I have been showing dogs since I was 13 years old ( almost 30 years!).

Here is a picture of me winning at 15 with a clients Weimaraner named Yankee.

At 15 I was already one of the best handlers in the Brazil. I made my own money and had clients everywhere.

My Indiana Jones

MD loves Indiana Jones. We went to see the movie together when it came out. We had so much fun!!! Here is MD as Indy.

Check out the many faces of MD HERE