Sounds of the Season

Dec25

I LOVE Christmas music! I insist all passengers of any car I’m in endure the sounds of the season with me. I’ve even blessed them with my beautiful voice . For those of you who have been with me during this glorious season, you know what I’m talking about! I’m sad to think that in one more day, the Christmas music will have run its course and I will have to wait another year to hear the sounds that bring back so many memories of Christmas’ past.

For me, there are two songs that really mean Christmas is on the horizon. The first one is Gene Autry’s “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”. Actually, any of Gene’s songs or those sung by Burl Ives can get the ‘ole memories flowing and that’s when I really find my singing voice! The other song I dearly love is “Oh Holy Night”. Watch out when that one comes on the radio!! And…it doesn’t matter who sings this song – it ALWAYS brings the goose bumps!

For the girls, when they hear Nat King Cole’s “Chestnuts Roasting On an open Fire”, the radio is turned up way loud and they feel like it’s Christmas time once again.

This year, I have found a new song that meant a lot to me the very first time I heard it. This one, I’m going to share with you. Listen to the words very carefully and let them sink deep into your soul!

I pray that today brings you lots of great memories and it’s Christ’s birthday that you celebrate!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE ENTIRE ZEORIAN CLAN!

One of my favorite Christmas traditions

Dec23

This past week has been CRAZY!

When I got home from Washington, DC on Saturday, I knew I was going to have to hit the ground running since I had only purchased one gift for Christmas. On Monday, the race began. Every day it was a trip to the big city to find the perfect gift for each name on my list. I was still looking for those gifts last night and am still short one (that I know of). It has been one of the longest weeks ever! Thank goodness Jamie didn’t have to work on Monday and was able to tag along with ideas and pointers for her sisters.

Wednesday night was the night set aside to head to the mall for the annual Santa picture. I didn’t get any bad vibes about doing it until we were standing in line (a very long line) with a whole bunch of little, little kids. And, of course, the camera was having issues so we had to wait. At least I didn’t have to try to keep my kids happy and deal with the crying like most of the other parents did. However, while we were standing there, I was informed by my kids they were the oldest ones in line and this would probably be the last year for this tradition. Ok, I suppose I have gotten away with it a lot longer than I ever anticipated. I decided tonight, though, that I would share the “firsts” and a few “in betweens” just in case this IS the last year. While I was looking through the book, the pictures I saw reconfirmed the reason why I have insisted on this tradition. It’s great fun to see how the girls have changed from 1986 to present.

Today was spent entirely in the kitchen. It started fairly early this morning and ended about two hours ago. I haven’t made holiday sweets in quite a long time. We always make our traditional sugar cookies for Santa but nothing more than that. I used to make goodies to give to my neighbors along with a Swedish Kringle. BUT, it got to be too much and trying to be Martha Stewart was killing the holiday fun. Today just about killed the holiday fun once again. So much work and most of it will probably get thrown away in a week or so. We started the morning making Oreo balls, Mocha balls, some sort of Frito chewy treat, bugle snacks dipped in white almond bark and an m&m candy (looked like an ice cream cone), spritz cookies, cut out sugar cookies and brownies frosted with cookie dough. Tomorrow afternoon will be spent decorating the sugar cookies and making Jim’s favorite – peanut brittle. Guess what…there’s zero calories in all of this

As I’m typing this, my personal elf, Miss Callie, is wrapping my presents. I think Christmas is actually going to happen in the Zeorian household after all!

Gosh…I look so young! The first year of being a mommy – 1986. Jamie was NOT happy about sitting next to that big man dressed in a red suit. That’s why I’m in the picture, too.

1988 – Jamie was almost 3 and Jenna was 7 months.

1994 – Taylor had just joined our family 7 weeks prior to the picture. Jamie was almost 9 and Jenna was 6.

1997 – Fourth and final addition to the family. Callie was 2 1/2 months old, Jamie nearly 12, Jenna 9 and Taylor 3.

2000 – Jamie was too cool to join the sisters for the Santa picture. She was nearly 15 years old at the time. Jenna is 12, Taylor is 6 and Callie is 3.

2003 – Jamie decided to jump back in the pictures in 2001. She is 17, Jenna is 15, Taylor is 9 and Callie is 6.

2006 – This was taken on Jamie’s 21st birthday, Jenna is 18, Taylor is 12 and Callie is 9.

2009 – Jamie is nearly 24, Jenna is 21, Taylor is 15 and Callie is 12.

P.S. Happy 26th birthday, Jamie!

Starting my day off with a tear

Dec16

Yesterday, I mentioned that those of us who are doing the DC thing or anything to help with our organization sacrifice a lot for the time we give. Here’s one example – the Christmas concert I didn’t get to see Taylor and Callie perform last night:

As I sit here in my room with tears in my eyes, I am thankful for today’s technology! I love you Taylor & Cal and I’m sorry I missed your night. I can’t make it up to you but I do know you understand. Doesn’t help me feel any less sad though!

I. Am. Tired!

Dec15

So, in my last posting I told you I would be heading to Hutchinson, KS and then to Washington, DC. For anyone who thinks the last few days have been a vacation…I’d like to say YOU ARE SO WRONG (yes, I AM yelling)! The meeting in KS went well and it was great seeing the rest of the team (USCHI Board of Directors). It’s always good to get together with people from our industry when it’s not in a working atmosphere. Building relationships is the best thing a person could do for themselves – my thought any way. From KS, we flew to DC. We’ve had two FULL days of constant walking and talking on ”the hill”.

To be honest with you, I was definitely not looking forward to this trip. I had fallen into the negative trap of “this isn’t going anywhere”, “they say they listen but they really don’t”, “you’re not making a difference”, etc. etc. However, we started yesterday morning and things just started falling into place. It went from one good thing to the next. Each one of those ”good things” fell into place just as they were meant to. Contacts have been made and when it appeared that it would be hard, it got easy again. Today, we learned more and even got to visit with two members of Congress – Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown and Ohio Congressman Bob Gibbs. I shook hands with Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson last night. He happened to be in the same restaurant as we were in. It’s a BIG deal when you actually get to shake the hand of one of our elected officials and give them the opportunity to have a conversation with real people. It’s fun to see them and their staffers actually loosen up and they themselves turn into real people. I can only hope the time I and the others have sacrificed will make a difference for our organization and for agriculture. It definitely has not been a vacation. One of these days, I’m coming to DC to see some of the wonderful historic sites and will be staying away from the “hill”!

Looks like a few tax dollars are being spent on some repairs.

The Christmas tree in front of the Capitol.

Heading for our first appointment-ready to change the world

Inside the Cannon Building.

Railing inside one of the House buildings.

I feel so left out with my “dumb” phone!

Inside the Senate Hart Building.

Waiting…waiting…waiting

Senate offices in the Hart building.

We were able to poke our head in the Library of Congress on our way back to the hotel when our day was over. Beautiful!

Kansas ornament on the Christmas Tree in the Library of Congress. I couldn’t find Nebraska’s.

A little biased

Dec12

Today I am going to brag on my daughter’s blog (Jenna aka Yensy Photos). Check out her gift of photography by clicking on the link below:

http://yensyphotos.wordpress.com/

Tim Hus the Canadian Cowboy Singer

Dec11

Well, the next few days are going to be a little on the hectic side. I had to make a trip to Hutchinson, KS for a USCHI meeting for the next two days and then several of us will be going to DC to try to make a few of our Senators and Congressmen aware of a problem the custom harvesting industry is dealing with – only being able to haul up to 119 gallons of diesel fuel to our equipment. Oh, it’s a fight that’s been fought for the past 20 years but apparently the common sense we need in DC doesn’t exist because we can’t seem to make them understand why it needs to be changed. The only change we’ve seen in the past 20 years is the equipment is even larger than it was when we began the fight. One combine holds up to 250 gallons of diesel. A forage harvester holds more than that. So, while I’m out trying to change the world , I’ll post a couple of fun songs we heard while we were in Calgary last weekend. I’ll keep you posted on how the DC trip goes…

Our little piece of the world

Dec9

The snow we got yesterday afternoon and overnight amounted to about 3 inches of new powdery snow. I went out this a.m. and scooped it away – again. Warmer temps are predicted for the weekend so maybe the sun will help me with the rest. It was so pretty, I thought I’d share with you:

Out of the Country

Dec8

Yep, we literally were out of the country!

The U.S. Custom Harvesters Board of Directors were invited by the Association of Canadian Custom Harvesters – www.acchi.com – to attend their annual convention and meeting in Calgary, Alberta. Jim and I decided it was time to make a trip north and participate. Kent Braathen and Roger (and Lisa) Sammons were also able to attend. (You can click on the address to view the ACCHI website.)

What a wonderful experience!! Over the past 30 years, there’s been a lot of history between our two groups – and some of it not so good. My feelings are it’s time for a change. After all, we are all harvesters and we have a job that needs to be done – “harvest the crops that feed the world”. The same problems that affect the U.S. harvesters also affect the Canadian harvesters. The attendees welcomed us and made us feel like we were part of their family. ”Family” – a common denominator of the two groups. We ARE family and that feeling is felt when attending both group’s conventions. There’s nothing quite like being a member of the harvesting family!

After the convention was over on Saturday, we headed for the Calgary Tower for lunch. Then the snow began. Not much snow (maybe 4 inches) but who wants to go out when that begins to put a damper on things? So, for the evening, we opted for pizza and stories in the hotel room with the others who were still hanging around.

On Sunday, we took a quick trip out of Calgary and headed to Banff for an afternoon of sightseeing. We stopped at a majestic old hotel and walked around it for a while and then headed for the gondola ride up the side of a mountain. BEAUTIFUL!! I was certainly wishing we had more time to take in all the beauty that Banff and Canada had to offer.

The trip was way too quick but definitely worth it. Thank you, Association of Canadian Custom Harvesters, Inc. for making me feel so welcome! You are an amazing bunch of people. Now I can’t wait til summer so I can be watching for you on the road.