People Never Cease to Amaze Me

Last night around 8:45 p.m. Chris and I were working outside. I was watering our garden and Chris was raking some rock in the driveway that he couldn't get to with the loader.

A truck slowed on the county road near our house and then proceeded to speed off pretty quickly. Next thing Chris new, a little puppy was running through our field after the truck. Once the truck was out of sight, the pup slowed his pace a little bit. Chris called out to it and the pup came right over to him.

I am amazed how a person can do this to a dog. How do you have the nerve to load up your pet into the car and drive out a county road, open the door and push it out? What kind of person are you? Seriously, people probably think that I am nuts because of how much I love my pets, but I couldn't even do that to a pet that I didn't even know.

Needless to say, we gained a new pet. It is a boy and we believe that he is some sort of mix with a bird dog. We took him down to my parents. The pup had no less than 50 ticks all over him which we removed. We fed him and bathed him. He also got to play with the other doggies around my mom's house. Around 10:30, we took him back up to Chris's where the pup crashed on the couch and didn't move until 5:00 this morning. I went up this morning to sit with the pup while Chris showered and got ready for work.

So without further delay, here is the newest member of our little family Boots:

As much as I hate to see animals mistreated and dumped off, I honestly believe that God knows where to have dogs dumped. He knows that we will take them in and give them a good home. The Gabel/Upton bunch loves animals and treat them like natural members of the family. This new pup is no exception. Boots just doesn't know how lucky he got yesterday!

Weekend Recap

Normally I post about our weekends on Monday, but yesterday was a crazy day. It was busy at work. I had tons to do, but luckily most of my desk is cleaned off now. Then after work yesterday, Chris and I were working outside at the house. We didn't even get to eat until after 8:00 p.m.

This past weekend was a very busy one for us. We got tons done but there is still so much to do before Friday.

This past Friday, I headed into town after work to watch my nephew Kolton play his last game of t-ball. I love watching t-ball games. The little kiddos are so adorable. Kolt still gets distracted and plays in the dirt most of the time, but boy does he love to hit and run the bases. Here are a few pictures from the night.

After the game, mom and I took dinner to our boys. After dinner Chris and I tended to our garden. I'm anxious for all the fresh veggies. We are a little behind everyone else since our garden got planted so late. But so far, our family has been sharing with us and I'm sure when we have extras after their gardens are done producing, we can share too. We don't have a huge garden, but we have way more than we could eat. But it could be worse, Chris's brother planted 750 tomatoe plants. CRAZY!!! We just relaxed after that.

Saturday morning, we got up early and headed to town to get some errands out of the way. It happens that at least once a week, we have to go to Hirsch. This is a farm supply store. I'm pretty certain that this is Chris's favorite place to go. We got a few things for the farm. We then headed to get Chris a new pistol. We are taking our conceal and carry class in a couple of weeks and he wanted a new pistol to take the class. We got him a Taurus Millennium 9mm. It is a great little gun and has good safety features for the little ones who are at our house how and for our future children. We grabbed some snacks and headed back to Pomona.

Chris then went to take my dad to get his truck. While the boys were gone, I headed back to town with my mother. We had lunch with my grandmother, sister and her two boys. Soon there will be one more little boy too. After lunch, we did a little shopping. I got a few pairs of jeans (which is a rarity) and a new wrap for my swim suit. We are going to the lake saturday and the river on Monday, so I figured now would be a great time to get a coverup. We also went grocery shopping.

Once we got back to Pomona, Chris and I worked some ont he driveway. We are staking it out for new rock. Chris got frustrated with the ties we had as they bowed in the barn in just a couple of weeks. We gave that up pretty quick. His temper and tools aren't a good combination. Instead we worked on cleaning out the shop. We are hoping start closing that in soon. We will be making Chris a 3-bay shop and will have a 2 bay garage. Currently we have been storing junk out there. We loaded up all the scraps and trash from working on the house and finally after ensuring no one we knew wanted them, got rid of the kitchen cabinets. Goodbye trash and terrible cabinets!!!

We had barbeque chicken for dinner and picked up some around the house getting ready for the upcoming weekend. Chris also fixed the vacuum which was wonderful. It had gotten clogged from all the construction mess around the house.

Sunday we were back at the house projects again. We finished getting ties in the drive. Chris is taking rock down there this week so we will have a great driveway before the weekend. It really helps having a dad with a rock quarry, a dump truck driving fiance and a front end loader sitting at the house to help do the finishing work. I'm anxious to see it done.

We also worked some in the house which was a nice change in the heat. We finished putting up trim and baseboards in the new kitchen. It looks very nice and fairly easy once we got started. The kitchen is done now. It is just time now to get decorations out. I have been collecting red and white gingham decorations for about 4 years now. Chris is going to hate helping me dig all that stuff back out. Here is the kitchen:

 

We had dinner with my parents: charcole cheeseburgers with fresh tomatoes (yum) and homemade fresh peach cobbler (even more yum). We got a small storm and rain Sunday after dinner. It was such a blessing. It wasn't near enough rain, but we will be happy with anything that we can get.

We still have plenty of cleaning to do this week to get ready for Friday. I'm anxious to see how many visitors our new house gets. Plus we are very excited to see all the family this weekend! Hope your weekend was great!

A little Survey

I had a great weekend. There is a lot to post on about the weekend, so I will do that a little later today. Here before work starts, I will do a little survey that I took from Mallory's page.

A- My AIR CONDITIONER is set on: 74 degrees. Chris would love to have is lower, but I get cold enough in there as it is. Plus I'm cheap and won't let him run it too much
B- My BEDROOM theme is: At my mom's is yellow and blue. Chris and I haven't decided on anything for our bedroom yet. Guess we should probably look into that

C- The CAR in the driveway is: Currently there are no cars in our driveway as Chris and I are both at work. Typically there is a GMC Sierra and a Pontiac Grand Am. We also have a trailer loaded down with trash and a Cat 960 front end loader

D- My DESK looks: here at work has a couple piles on it. At least I will have a busy day
E- The EXACT time I wake up daily is: 5:30 a.m.
F- The FIRST thing I wash in the shower is: my legs

G- My GARAGE is filled with: Lots of things. Piles of wood, a pile of t-posts, landscape timbers, a freezer, old carpet, barbed wire and lots of tools

H- My HOUSE is: wonderful and we love our little piece of heaven in the country.

I- If you peeked INSIDE my bedroom you'd see: At my moms - a bed, nightstand, chest of drawers, desk and Dozer toys all over the floor. At Chris's a bed, nightstand, dresser, tools and a box left to be unpacked

J- My favorite JUICE is: Berry punch

K- The best part of my KITCHEN is: everything. I love my new cabinets and appliances. I also love the floors and the countertops. I love that I picked it all out and that it is mine

L- The LAST person who visited my home was: Chris's dad, step mom and little brother
M- The last piece of MAIL for me was: a bill

N- My NEIGHBORS think I'm: the greatest daughter ever. That's what I get for living next to my mom

O- If you OPENED my fridge you'd see: Tons of mountain dew. Chris is an addict. But the rest is typical food ready to be cooked for the week

P- My last house PARTY was: We haven't really had a party in our house yet. I will be throwing Chris a birthday party here soon. His birthday is one week from today

Q- A QUICK meal I like to fix is: pasta with spaghetti sauce and melted cheese

R- My favorite ROOM of the house is: the back porch. We spend so much time out there. We relax on the patio set and watch Dozer play in the yard

S- The SHAMPOO brand I use is: Pantene Pro-V

T- My largest TELEVISION is: I think it is 42 inches. We bought it from my uncle so I'm not exactly sure on that

U- UNDER my bed you will find: A huge picture of my grandma and grandpa about a year after they opened their cafe

V- The last time I VACUUMED was: last night. Chris finally got the vacuum fixed. It had gotten clogged with dust

W- Looking out my WINDOW I see: heaven. We are blessed to live in the country and there is nothing prettier than seeing open fields, trees and nature in the mornings.

X- I wish I had X-TRA: time in every day. There are never enough hours in the day to get done what needs to be done

Y- My YARD is: 28.5 acres
Z- ZZZZZZZ My bedtime is: 10:30 unless Dozer is wired and won't lay down which means I cannot sleep

5 Question Friday

I am so excited that it is Friday. I'm ready to get off work (yes, it hasn't even started yet) and get this weekend started. We have so much to do this weekend and during the week to get ready for all the company and events of next weekend. Well, here it goes.

1. Do you know how to play a musical instrument? You bet. I started on the trumpet and was quite good at it. Then I switched to the french horn and was even better at it. I tried the marching drums for a little bit, but it wasn't for me. Those things are HEAVY

2. What is your pet peeve while driving? I have so many, I don't even know where to begin.
People driving in the "hammer" lane below the speed limit
People pulling out in front of you on the highway and then don't drive the speed limit
People who don't use their blinkers
People who slam on their brakes for no reason
People who will wait til the last minute to get into the turning lane slowing down all other traffic
People who will drive in the farthest lane from where they need to be then cut across 4 lanes of traffic to turn
There are so many more, but basically I hate people and how they drive

3. Would you rather have a housekeeper or unlimited spa services? I would love to have a housekeeper. Granted I probably wouldn't be happy with them because they couldn't do everything exactly how I want it done, but the help around the house would be great. I feel like I have to vacuum evey day due to the crap that Chris brings into the house. Laundry is always piled up. It's so dusty everywhere since we live on a dirt road

4. Is there a song that you hear that will take you back to the moment, like a junior high or high school dance? Any NSync or Bankstreet Boys song takes me back to middle school. Those groups were big and they were played heavily on the radio and during our school dances. I remember dancing at school dances to "God Must have Spent a Little More Time on You"
5. What song best represents your life right now? I'm in the middle of wedding planning. With that, I am always looking back on Chris and I's relationship thinking about conversations we have had and the memories that we have made. We often look back at old pictures. In that, I think that "Then" by Brad Paisley describes that.
But for life in general, "In a Hurry" by Alabama describes the rest of my life. Things are so busy and we have so little time to just sit and relax.
There also should be a fight song thrown in there to represent how I feel about the company who sold us a bad motor.
 
Hope that the weekend treats you well! If you want to play along, head over to Five Crooked Halos and link up!

The bright spots in a day

I seriously believe with all my heart that I am in love with the greatest guy. He always can bring a smile to my face no matter what. When I stress about the little things, he is always there to make me laugh.

We have been looking at a monogram or other similar design to place on our invites, programs and anything else that we can find. My maid of honor, Maggie, has been faithfully working on these. She has designed several, all of which I love. She is way more creative about those things than I am.

Apparently, Chris cares more about those little things than I thought that he would. He kept picking things that he didn't like about every single one. He'd say things like "that looks like shit" (please excuse his mouth), "hell no", "that looks like a trampy tattoo" and even at one point fired Maggie. Please know Maggie that I love you and he was joking about his comments.

Well, after about 20 minutes of looking at designs, he finally tells me that he is just going to pick something because I couldn't do it. When I asked why, he just looks at me with this huge smile and says "I have good taste because I picked you. You have bad taste because you picked me"

Isn't he just precious? He threatened me about posting it to facebook, so I agreed. Too bad he didn't think about this. He wouldn't want anyone to know that he has a sweet side to him. I'm just glad to have him in my life. Despite all the other bad things going on, it is great to know that I have something amazing to go home to every night.

Feeling Really Frustrated

It has now been one full week since we talked to the shop in Michigan who sold us a motor for Chris's truck. Dad offered him one heck of a deal and we were supposed to have all of our parts on Monday. It is now Wednesday and we have nothing. It's just stupid. I don't understand how you can run a company like that.

How can you stay in business?

How do you let someone spend $13,000 on a motor that is supposed to be new, but put used parts in it?

How do you claim to be all Christian and attend prayer meetings and breakfasts every day and then go to work to screw people over?

But dear Steve, you did mess with the wrong people. You will get a big surprise here in a few days. You may be able to jerk normal people around and who you normally deal business with may not be very intelligent and bend to your ways. But not us. You are really lucky that you are several states away and we are too busy to come pay you a personal visit.

I guess we will see what happens the rest of the day. Today will be determination day. You can fix your mistake or we will make sure that you are sorry you messed with us.

Well, enough about the truck. We only spent about 5 hours as a family last night talking about it.

Something else that really bothers me is couples who try to pretend that they are perfect when they aren't. I'm tired of hearing about a "perfect" and "wonderful" husband and dad, when that person is not. I'm not stupid and what you told me just a few days ago is just the opposite of that. Nobody believes the lies so stop talking about it.

Weekend Recap

Well, it is Monday again. After a busy and hot weekend, I am still exhausted!

I guess Friday would be the best place to start. I was in a divorce trial all day Friday. And when I say all day, I mean all day. We started around 9 a.m. and we didn't get out until around 8 p.m. The child's attorney is about to move out of state, and we wanted to make sure that we got in all of the trial before he left. We will miss you Kelly Bosserman!!! Anyways, it was a sad, sad trial. I was so wore out when I left and all I wanted to do was go home and go to bed. I rode back up to Willow to get my car to head home. Well, bad thing was that my car wouldn't start. I swear that I cannot go an entire month without my car breaking down. It's looking more and more like time for a new one. The only problem is that when I am away at school and working part time, I cannot afford a car payment. I was hoping that my car would last til I graduate, but I'm not so sure about that anymore. I couldn't get ahold of Chris becuase he was working outside, so my mother had to come and get me.

Saturday morning, Chris and I got up pretty early so we could go look at my car before it got too hot. Luckily Chris is now close enough that I can ride the 4-wheeler to his house to get him up in the mornings. He couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. We are guessing it is something in the computer system of the car. The car ran fine Friday morning and everything seems to be working in the car, it just isn't wanting to start. We then headed back to WP. We ran a few errands and spent some time with his dad for father's day. Kit Kat was the most excited to see us though. She was so excited to see Chris that she nailed him in the knee. Today, his knee is still purple and swollen. Poor guy.

I spent Saturday evening at a birthday party for a 4 year old. He is the son of a girl that I work with and who is actually one of my bridesmaids. Seth was adorable and so happy for his birthday party. I got him a accessory pack for his Thomas the Train Set. I actually got him a set that he didn't have.  Chris missed the party due to his knee injury. He didn't feel much like going anywhere the rest of the day.

Isn't that just precious. After the party, I went home to take care of my injured boy. We just watched a little TV and took care of our garden.

Of course, Sunday was Father's Day. Chris and I spent the entire day with my dad and worked on all the projects that he wanted to do. I got up and fixed him his favorite breakfast and ended the day with a steak dinner and cheesecake.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Chris and I didn't get much done on our house. Here it is over 90 degrees (with heat index over 100) and the a/c went out at our house on Thursday. Gross huh?!? We both have lots of family coming in for the 4th (just two weeks away) and most haven't seen our house and we will be expecting to see lots of visitors. There are a lot of little details t work on the house, but it is so hard to work with it so hot. Hopefully we can have a productive weekend on the hosue next weekend and through the week once the a/c gets fixed tomorrow.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend too!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Well, today is Father's day. Although my father doesn't read my blog (or even know what a blog is), I figured I would write  few words about the wonderful man that I call "daddy"

My dad is the hardest working person that I know. From the time that I was little, he has worked hard with the business that he built. There were many times that he worked 7 days a week for months and even years at a time. He worked from dusk until dark at night. His business was a huge priority to him and he always wanted to make sure that his work committments were taken care of.

My dad was always the go-to person for advice. He had been through a lot in his life and could usually lead you in the right direction with your situation. Granted most of his advice had something to do with the rock quarry, but that was what he knew. Somehow is always just worked.

My dad has always provided for his family. No matter what, we were always taken care of. Even my siblings who are married and gone from the family home are stll under dad's watchful eye and if anyone needs anything, they know they can count on Gary Gabel. He even takes care of people who are his family. If he knows you need something and he can help, he will.

My dad is an animal lover. One of his previous employees actually told us that if he came back in a second life that he wanted to be a pet of the Gabel household since we treat our pets better than most people treat their children. He loves the pets and takes it just as hard as the rest of us when we lose one. He works on their discipline and teaches them tricks and the ways of the world. He spent a lot of time working with Dozer while I was gone away to school. All the pets even go to work with my dad. They are truely parts of the family.

His newest obsession is the cows that he bought a few months ago. Those 20 calves are his "girls" and he spends at least an hour with them each and every night. He has been naming them and can tell you the different personalities of each one.

My dad has always been over protective of me. I was your baby girl. He checked in on me while I was sleeping when I was little, even though I had the greatest guard dog. He calls me every 15 minutes while I am traveling. He worries about me in the bad weather. He worries about me just being 200 miles away at school. He was cautious about every guy I ever dated. He was uneasy about Chris in the beginning, but has now taken Christopher in as a natural member of the family.

My dad has been soooo supportative of my schooling. When I was younger, he told me that he would send me to school for whatever I wanted to do. I was about 6 when I decided that I was going to go to law school and you were right there to support me. You never complain about check that goes to the school and I know that there will not be a man more proud at Mizzou law school graduation in 2011. He is also possibly the only man proud that his daughter is known as a bitch.

My dad has the greatest sayings that he uses on a regular basis. The rest of the family reuses. We joke that when my dad passes away that we will make a book of his little sayings. Here are just a few and trust me there are way more!

- Children learn in 3 ways. By example. By example. And by example.

-Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

-Adapt and overcome.

My dad doesn't understand while prices are so high on simple groceries like peanut butter.

My dad is always looking for "something sweet to eat"

My dad doesn't understand why I started planning a wedding a year in advance.

My dad is stubborn and stuck in his ways. You try changing him and you will not win.

My dad is the greatest man that I know and I am proud to call him my dad!! I'm also proud to be known as a mini-Gary. Happy father's day!

Getting to Know You Sunday

Well, it's Sunday again. So it is time for Getting to Know You hosted by Mann Land 5.

1. While at the beach, pool, etc..Do you cover up your assets or show them off? If you know me at all, you know that I tend to be a very conservative dresser. I am never showing my assets off. Granted I don't have huge boobs, so it is hard to flaunt them anyway. My bathing suit is pretty conservative as well. It is a two piece, but no boobs hanging out and my bottom is a skirt


2. Road trips or Plane trips? I enjoy road trips. I think that you can see more while on the road. You can stop in all the little towns and just enjoy the trip more.

3. I can't stand it when...? People block the aisles in the grocery store. It drives me nuts. Sometimes they will just be walking along when you are behind them and they will just stop or sometimes you get groups of several families with the carts blocking an entire aisle.

4. Have you ever gone topless at the beach? Heck no!!! Again, I'm pretty conservative with my body and there is NO way that I would ever go topless at a beach or anywhere else in public for that matter

5. How many blog carnivals do you do a week? None

6. My favorite thing about the weekend is...? Spending more time with Chris and continuing to work on our house and outside of our house

7. Pancakes or waffles? Depends on my mood. I love both and would be happy with either any day of the week

8. Water Park or Amusement Park? Depends on how hot it is. I love amusement parks because there are typically more to do and see. Plus you can aways find a water ride and can get the best of both worlds

Head over to Mann Land 5 and play along!

5 Question Friday

Yah for Fridays. I'm about to head out for a trial in Howell County, but I thought that I would take a minute to post my 5 Question Friday before I left.

1. What is your favorite thing about summertime? Currently, it is being home for the summers. Being away while going to school is straining on all my relationships. So I enjoy taking a break from the books and being at home enjoying the family and the outdoors.


2. What is your ideal retirement location (if money didn't matter)? I'm pretty much a homebody and I don't think that Chris and I would ever want to leave the area. We will probably retire in Pomona,  but might vacation more to other places

3. Do you live in the same town you grew up in? Not technically. When I was born and up until I was in high school the house that I was raised in was in WP and now I live in Pomona, but the towns are like 10 miles apart so I say that I do. I spent most of my childhood between WP and WS anyway and Pomona is right in the middle

4. What nervous habit did you have as a child that you kicked to the curb before becoming an adult? Biting my fingernails. I did all the time. My grandmother would even try offering me money to stop biting them, but I didn't until college

5. What is the most embarrassing thing that happened to you while on the job? I honestly cannot think of anything right now. I do embarrassing things all the time, so there is no telling what it would be, but right now, I'm drawing a blank.
 
Hope the heat isn't too unbearable for you and that you can enjoy your weekends. Head over to Five Crooked Halos and play along!!!
 

Rest of the Weekend

After the productive Friday, the rest of the weekend was pretty low key.


Friday night, Chris and I went to visit his aunt and uncle. Chris and Doug had made some trade on tools. (who knows, boys are crazy). It was nice to just visit with family. Chris stayed outside most of the time talking to Doug. I stayed inside in the air conditioning visiting with Brenda. I shared with her all the things I done during that day. It was pretty late when we left and I was starving. We picked up Taco Bell on the way home to see our little puppy. He gets so upset when we leave him. He even cries when I take a shower in the mornings.

How could you not love this little guy?

Saturday, Dozer and I got were up bright and early. Sometimes I wish that little guy would sleep in some, but I guess he keeps me productive. We went over to get Chris up shortly thereafter. Chris and I picked up a few things around the house and start some laundry. We then dropped Dozer off at my moms and headed to town to take care of a few errands. We had a great morning and got lots done. Around lunch time I met up with my mom, grandma, sister and her two boys to eat at Quiznos. Chris doesn’t care about girl lunches so he went to Hirsch (figures).

I met back up with Chris later in the afternoon. He and my dad went out to fix some fence while my mother and I worked some more on wedding plans. It feels so good to be getting things done. I’m just glad that we can get some stuff done while I am home and it won’t be so stressful for me during my last year of law school and during the time I will be studying for the bar. We had dinner and then Chris and I had to go to Wal-Mart to buy some bolt cutters that the boys broke today.

Sunday was a pretty low key day as well. After lunch Chris and my dad went to look at a cattle trailer and corral. My dad has become obsessed with cattle. At least he had something else that he loves besides the rock quarry. It was hot and I stayed inside most of the day. I did some cleaning, laundry and my mom and I stained the doors on my pantry. Boy do they look better. The little things are coming along on the house. If only I could get Chris inside to work on some projects. He loves outside but there are things inside that I cannot do. This weekend, it is supposed to be really hot, so maybe I’ll convince him to stay in the air conditioning to help me out. We have tons of family coming in for the 4th and I know everyone will want to see the house. There are a few loose ends to tie up before its ready to be shown.

Well that is about it for our weekend. Nothing too exciting but spending it with the most important people in my life is what matters. Hope you all have a great week!!

Day off Friday = Productive Wedding Planning Day

I took Friday off to handle some errands and meetings for the upcoming wedding. At times it still seems not real. Chris and I have been together for so long and we always talked about getting married "someday", but it was always something in the future that we didn't really know about. We talked about wedding plans little by little, but now it is official and we have our date set. I am so excited!!!

The first thing on the agenda was a meeting with the church. Although Chris and I met with the minister previously, we hadn't been on the full tour of the church and there was a lot of paperwork to turn in. Chris didn't take off work to go. Honestly, he isn't big on the details like this. He would much rather be at work. My mother was off Friday too so she went with me. We spent about 2 hours at the chuch. We learned what rooms we had access to, what furniture we could use and move, and about all the special features that the chuch offers. I am so excited. When we walked from the bridal room into the sanctuary, I cried. The First Baptist Church is beautiful and will make a fantasic backdrop to our special day. We then completed all of the paperwork that we could and turned it in. There is still more to do, but some of the forms aren't ready to be completed since I don't have all the details planned yet. We are getting there though.

Second, we headed over to the WP Daily Quill to look at invitation and program designs. I picked a design that I loved for the invites. I was really picky about them. I didn't want just plan invites. Lucky for me, the quill can make something like I wanted. We will work more with Kelly later. It is a little too soon to be ordering invites. Kelly also showed us a few options for programs. I picked some of those that I liked. Progress is being made and I like it!!!

My mother and I had a fantasic lunch at Prima's. It was nice to just talk to my mother. We then took a few of our leftover yardsale stuff to be donated. I took my leftover work clothes to Ozark Action and all of the other junk went to the Samaritan Outreach. I feel blessed that we can help those less fortunate than us.

After lunch, for our final meeting of the day, we went to WP Floral and Ballonery. I actually picked out most of the flowers for the entire day. The only things left are reception flowers. We can't decide those until we actually decide what design we are doing on the tables. My bouquet makes me very happy. I wanted an all white bouquet and I'm getting it. It will have 20 white roses (the smaller ones) and 12 stephanotis. It will look somewhat like this:

The other flowers being used for things like bridesmaid bouquets, bouts and other decorations are lilies, asters, gerber daisies, wax flowers and babys breath. They are all beautiful flowers and I am so excited.

Currently we are working on decor for the tables at the reception. I think that we are going to do a mix of flowers and candles.

As of now, two bridal shop appointments have been set up for July 17th in Springfield and I cannot wait!!!

I really enjoy getting to mark things of the to-do list and love working on details for our special day!!

Trucking Woes

There has been trouble in the trucking business lately.

As you may know, Christopher works with my parents and is the foreman of the dump trucking company. My dad brought Chris home from over the road and bought 2 dump trucks to keep him going. We bought the trucks about a year and a half ago. This one is Chris's baby. It's a 1991 International. It came to us as a beat up white cab. We had the bed put on it and painted and other repairs.

It is a beauty and sounds even better!!!

Well, Thursday afternoon on Chris's last load, his truck lost power while he was driving down the road and started blowing out white smoke. A couple of the guys from work headed out to try to fix it. Nothing they did seemed to work so they brought it back to the quarry. Friday a mechanic from Cliff's Truck Repair came out to investigate.

Just about the worse thing that it could have been was the problem. Apparently the turbo shelled out into the motor. I don't understand all of the details about what this does, but based on Chris and my father's reactions, it wasn't good. We got the final report on Saturday. Basically the head is now bad as well as the pistons and injectors. So we now have to rebuild the motor that is in it.

Now, I know what you are thinking, the truck is old and things happen. That would be true had the motor been the original motor. See truck motors last about 800,000 miles before needing a rebuild. But the problem is that this motor only has 30,000 miles on it. The original motor in the truck blew last summer and we put in a new $13,000 motor.

The main reasons that a turbo goes out (so I have been told) are dirty air and dirty oil. We had neither. The air filter looked brand new and was a few months old and Chris services his truck regularily. In my dad's business, maintenance is a big deal especially when you are talking about expensive machinery. Plus when the machines are down, you aren't making any money, so it pays to have them ready to go at all times.

So what was the cause of the problem? Poor workmanship in assembling the motor. When you buy a motor for something like this, certain parts of our truck had to be sent to the manufacturer to place on the motor to get the warranties valid. And apparently this wasn't done correctly.

Now, I will say that we had major problems with the company that we bought the motor from a year ago. The man took our money and parts to the motor and then stopped returning our phone calls. For something that we were promised would take 10 days to get the motor, took over a month. Then we only got the motor back when we had the police involved. Needless to say, it was a nightmare.

So this company not only caused us problems back then, but have again. I couldn't even begin to describe what they did so that it would make sense to anyone but a mechanic, so I will not even try, but just know that this company assembled it incorrectly. I guess we are lucky that it ran as long as it did.

Needless to say, I have two men in my life that are just sick/heartbroken/pissed about this whole deal. There will most likely be some sort of action taken against the company who sold us the motor. That guy should have done more investigating about us before he tried to screw us over. My dad is a stubborn hardass who will eliminate your business if you mess with him and then there is me, attorney-to-be. Watch out.

Chris's truck should be back and working in about a week, but for the time being, he will be driving the Kenworth.

Hopefully things will get better.

Get to Know You Sunday

This has been an enjoyable 3-day weekend for me. I got so much accomplished s far and there is still the rest of today. But it's Sunday, so its time for you to get to know me.

1. If you could have one of Superman's, powers which one would you want? Superhuman strength..Flight..Superhuman speed..X-Ray vision..etc.  Super human speed woul be great. I get so busy with school and now wedding planning. Plus trips from CoMo to WPMO would be a lot better with superhuman speed

2. The best thing I ever won is....? 2 honeymoon trips, which we never used, in fact we sold them

3. Have you ever skyped with a bloggy friend? I have never skyped period.

4. What is your favorite Summer month? July. I love all of the events around the 4th of July. Both Chris's family and my own have huge famly events. Then Chris's birthday is the 5th. And in July the rivers and lakes are warm enough that I want to get it

5. Pool, Lake, or Ocean? I love the lake, but it is a little far away so if I had a pool in the backyard, I would be very happy

6. One of my favorite Summer memories is.....? Right now, all things summer make me really happy. For me its the simple things that are my favorite things. I love sitting out on our deck talking to Chris with Dozer running around in the yard. I love BBQs with the family. I love trips to the lake and rivers. I love it all and nothing big stands out to me at the current moment

7. What's your favorite secret bargain? Everyday workoutside shirts for Chris that I can get at Country Mart (the grocery store for  $1)

8. Do you plan on or have you been watching the World Cup? I haven't been watching. I've got too much going on and I doubt that I do watch it
 
Hope the weekend has been great for everyone else. Don't forget to play along at Mann Land 5.

5 Question Friday

I am always so excited for Friday to be here. Today, I am more excited. I have the day off and will be going to a few wedding appointments. I thought I might try to sleep in a little this morning, but Dozer had different thoughts and woke me up at 5:15. So, I'm starting my blogging earlier today. Now, on to Five Question Friday sponsored by Five Crooked Halos.

1. What do you think makes a good friend, or friendship? Trust, loyalty, common interests, ability to have fun no matter what, ability to talk about anything


2. What is the last thing you bought & later regretted? I can't even remember. I am so tight with my money, I hardly ever buy anything that isn't necessary. Like today I have to go buy a t-post puller and barbed wire (what a life huh?)

3. Have you ever had a prank played on you? Yes, just the other day Chris did. Now, I will preface this story by reminding you that Chris works for my parents. It was Tuesday and I knew that Chris had several loads to be delivered at work (like 25 to be exact and that is more than one could do in a day). Well, he calls me about 11:30 a.m. to tell me that he was off work. I was shocked and asked why. He told me that he and my dad got into a fight and my dad sent him home. (although this has never happened, I wouldn't be totally surprised, the two of them both have terrible tempers). I started freaking out trying to figure out what the fight was over and stuff. Then he starts laughing and tells me that he was joking and his loads were cancelled and he went to go work at the farm

4. What is your favorite theme park? I have only been 3 (Silver Dollar City, Celebration City and Six Flags). But desire to want to go depends on what I am in the mood for. If I am feeling like shopping and walking around to enjoy the day, I go to Silver Dollar City. If I am looking for better rollar costers I head to Six Flags. Celebration City wasn't overly exciting the last time that I was there.

5. Have you ever seen someone else give birth? Nope and I doubt that I ever will. I don't want anyone video taping me giving birth (when Chris and I decide to have kiddos) so I won't even watch myself.

Don't forget to play along and link up!!!

Top 2 Tuesday

I feel terrible that I have not updated about my weekend, but things are crazy at the Gabel and Upton households. There has just been a lot going on. Most of the time I feel like I don't have time to sit down and eat dinner.

Well, it's Tuesday so that means Top 2 Tuesday featured by The Undomestic Momma. This week's topic is Favorite Books. I always take the time to read in an evening (except during finals time). I love crime books and things to do with the law. I also love suspensful books.

1. A Time to Kill by John Grisham

This is my all-time favortie book. The movie is fantastic too. Actually it is the movie that made me first decide that I wanted to become an attorney. The story line is wonderful. It's a little sad but in the end justice is served and to me that is what matters. For the longest time I thought that this was a true story only to find out just a few years ago that it wasn't. That alone should show you how great of a writer John Grisham is. I also love all of his other books. That are great stuff.

2. Blind Alley by Iris Johansen

One of my sister-in-laws brought me a whole stack of books by Iris Johansen. This was the first that I read and it was a great book. It is full of suspense. One of the great things about Johansen's books is that the characters will reappear in other books too. You follow the same people. This book is definately a page turner.

I occassionally will true crime books. I'm such a nerd though. Even the real life books that I read are about crimes too.

Head over to Taylor's blog at The Undomestic Momma and link up.

5 Question Friday

Even though it was a short work week, I am still glad to see that it is Friday. With that it means it is time once again for 5 Question Friday

1. If you could go back to college would you change your major? Or, if you were to go to college right now...what major would you choose? I've always thought that my second calling in life was to be an event planner. I'd probably do that

2. What do you love most about your home? That it is our peaceful little piece of heaven

3. What types of books do you like to read (if you like to read at all)? I like crime and mystery books (imagine that)

4. What is the grossest thing you've ever eaten? Grossest sounding is squid, but it is delicious

5. If you HAD to be a character on a TV show, whom would you be? I always admired Lucy Camden on the 7th Heaven. We were very similar in a lot of ways. Went to school to follow our dreams. Marry a great guy. Live in a house next to my parents. And we are both a little high strung and can be crazy.

Take a break out of your Friday and play along with Five Crooked Halos.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Weekend Recap

First day back to work after a long weekend are always harder than Mondays. At least we can look on the bright side of having a short work week.

Friday I got off a little early. The boss man is pretty generous on long weekends. I had to head to the house to help my mother pick up things for our company. One of my best friends Maggie came to town this weekend for a visit. She appears to really enjoy her visits to Howell County. Maybe she is a country girl at heart.

Friday night was pretty low-key. We made homemade tacos. We took Maggie to feed to cows. She finally got to pet one.

She was also introduced to the cow that my dad named after her.

The rest of the evening we talked about my wedding planning and looked at a few things online. We planned out what we were going to do Saturday. We were all exhausted and hit the sack pretty early.

Saturday was a jammed packed day. We got up and had breakfast and spent a little time on the back porch in the beautiful weather. We then headed to town. We had several errands to tend to. We went to Hirsch, two banks, Radio Shack and Wal-Mart. We also tended to a little wedding business. Maggie has been helping me with designing/shopping for bridal party dresses. She has been a lot of help so far. I'm grateful to have such a fantastic maid of honor. We also went to a floral shop to get some ideas. We looked through some books. Luckily, Maggie and I agree on bouquet styles. We couldn't make any firm decisions though. We are still over a year out and won't be able to know what is available and at what price quite yet. But at least we have ideas.

We had a great lunch at Colton's. Another friend of mine was in town from Wyoming. I hadn't seen her since my junior year in high school (almost 7 years ago). It was so good to see her. We had a great visit and it was nice to walk down memory lane with her too. We are planning getting together again before she goes back to Wyoming. Hopefully next time we meet up won't be another 7 years.

After lunch we headed back to the house. We went 4-wheeling. I had to teach Maggie how to drive, but by the end of the weekend, she was doing pretty good.

Saturday night we had a barbeque. It was nothing fancy just hamburgers. We were all saving room for homemade chocolate cake and homemade ice cream. This is one of Maggie's favorite parts. We spent most of the evening outside just talking.

Sunday was a day of painting for us. Maggie loves to paint and I was glad to take advantage of that while she was here. We got the second coat of paint on the front living room. That room and hallway are about done. The only thing left is baseboards and crown molding. We had a dinner of left overs and then rented Dear John. That was a great movie. Of course I cried and of course Chris and his cousin made fun of me.

Saturday before Maggie left was pretty low key. Kit Kat was over at Chris's for a visit so we decided that it was time Dozer and Kit-Kat met, after all, they are siblings and will soon be living together. Dozer was a little scared at first, but after a little growling and sniffing, Dozer decided that she was okay. They even played together. Aren't the kiddos precious?

After Maggie left, Chris and I worked on the driveway. We are lining the driveway with landscape timbers before we put more rock on it. It is starting to look really nice. We didn't get it fully done. We had lots to do. We used dad's loaded around the house too. That sure makes the farm work a lot easier. Plus it was nice to work together outside. Things are moving along faster at the house now that we are both working. We had dinner with my parents then headed back to the house to do more work.

We might be getting another dog. There has been a little beagle hanging around for the past few days. Neither Chris nor I have been able to get close to him, but we are trying. He has been staying in the shed at the house. He's a smart puppy. He made camp in something with a roof and close to a good, clean water supply (the cattle waterer). We have put out food for the pup so we will just wait and see how that turns out.

That's about it for the weekend in Pomona. I hope that you all had a great weekend too!