Giving

Around the holidays, it's kind of easy for my cherubs to get absorbed in what they want instead of what they can give, so yesterday afternoon, we had a chance to do a little giving.

I have to admit that, if it was not for the "requirement" of his confirmation, we may not have done this, but after we did, I'm thinking it might have to be a yearly event.

Part of my son's confirmation requirement is to donate his time, service or money to charities and we decided that a donation, with his own money, to the food bank was a good thing. So we first went to the local food bank and asked them what they needed. It was not what we expected, so I'm glad we asked.

"Can openers. Toothpaste. Toothbrushes. Shampoo. Soap," the kind lady said.

My son was concerned that we wouldn't be able to get much because those things are more expensive, but when you do a little comparative shopping and stick with basic items (like the good-old cavity-fighting toothpaste without all the whiteners and breath fresheners) you can actually get quite a bit! I even told my son that I'd throw in a few extra dollars so we could get extra items.

We came out of the store with two good-sized bags of items to donate. I told my son he could deliver the bags himself while his sister and I waited in the car.

When he came out, he said, "The lady asked if we needed a receipt for tax purposes. I told her 'no.' Is that right?"

I just smiled and said, "That's right."

Then I asked him, "How do you feel?"

He said, "Great!"

So did I.

Happy 2011!

Dawn

Santa brought a sketch book

Santa brought my 8-year-old daughter a sketch book in her stocking. Smart dude! Because we spent several hours behind the wheel to make the varied family Christmas celebrations and there was much time for drawing.

The second leg of the trip was about a three and a half hour drive. But she had her drawing pad and boy did she make use of it.

I thought of a word, and she drew it. Fourteen times.

It was actually a lot of fun and helped pass the time for both of us. Toward the end, I was having a tough time thinking of words that she could draw.

But on our way back home, we played the same "game," and this time I had a bunch of words ready. In fact, my daughter suggested I write them down. So I did.

Of course, the process didn't take quite as long because I didn't have to hem and haw to think the next word, but it was still fun and the trip didn't seem to take nearly as long.

So thank you, Santa, for bringing that sketch book. You really are one smart elf!

Dawn

My Merry Christmas post

Okay, so I'm being a little goofy! But the sentiment is sincere!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

Watch out for Santa and his reindeer!

Dawn

Wordless Wednesday

Less is more

That old saying, "Sometimes less is more" proved to be highly accurate when it came to my baking extravaganza last night for my daughter's school Christmas party.

We made the brownies with the funky sprinkles, no problem. But then it came time to make the waffle cookies. That pound of butter that I thought I had in the freezer either decided to head south for the winter, or I used it and then forgot I used it.

So, I had to make a special trip to the store. When I got to the store, however, I thought, "While I'm here, I may well get this, and this and this." I even found a couple of Christmas presents for my kids.

Needless to say, that pound of butter (less) turned into a whopping $116 bill (more).

I don't think the individual who originated that saying meant it quite like I'm portraying the less is more deal,(http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/226400.html), but to put it bluntly, I am a grocer's dream.

I go into the store and grab one of those little red baskets.

Without fail, I get to the checkout with 20 pounds of goods overflowing said little red basket, with more "stuff" balancing on my arms and head, and the check-out clerk looking at me with one of those, "Why didn't you just get a cart, you dummy?" looks.

I just smile sheepishly and try to make excuses for myself.

You'd think I'd learn. In fact, once, they didn't have any little red baskets, and I grumbled about having to take one of the big carts.

Of course, I filled it.

Bring a list, you say? Doesn't help. My lists are woefully inadequate most of the time. And even when something is ON the list, I don't necessarily get it, because I'm too busy getting stuff NOT on the list.

By the way, I figured out less is more in the actual production of waffle cookies too. Less mixing makes for less (for lack of a better word) crystallization of the batter as it bakes in the waffle iron. I have no idea why. My best guess is the number of eggs (there are four) has something to do with it.

So there you have it. In My Two Acres, less is more. In more ways than one.

Dawn

I'll be baking

My daughter lamented a few weeks ago how she was feeling pretty bad because she hadn't had an opportunity to bring any goodies for any of their school celebrations yet. So, of course I said, "Well, tell your teacher we'll make treats for Christmas!"

She did. I got the letter and tonight, I will be baking.

I'm going semi-easy, but all chocolate. Brownies from a box with festive Christmas sprinkles and chocolate waffle cookies.

Even though it would seem that waffle cookies should be easy, they can be a bugger, because, well, because Grandma makes them and even though I got the recipe from her, they still don't turn out quite as good as how Grandma makes them. How does that happen? My husband says she probably forgot to tell me an ingredient. I doubt that very much. I'm guessing there is probably a secret in the mixing process that makes all the difference. My guess? I over mix. Or maybe I under mix. I don't even know enough to know which extreme I should take.

I think, however, the last time, I mixed a lot. So tonight, I'm going to go the under mixing route.

And, if they don't turn out quite right, I have a tub of cookie mix in the freezer that I purchased through my son's orchestra fundraiser. So all will not be lost if under mixing leads to unsharable cookies. (My family, even though they may complain, will eat all my cookie mistakes!)

I'll let you know how it all burns out. (Nope, that wasn't a typo!)

Your baking-challenged buddy!

Dawn

Barely barley

They say change is good. Right? So I felt the need to change the look of my blog. Again.

Some people like clean lines, minimal "clutter." I tend to be more "visual" in nature, so a little more clutter is actually okay by me. (I guess if you look in my house, you'd be able to guess that about me, but that's a story for another time.)

I'm not actually sure what the background picture is, but I thought the color scheme went well with my header. By the way, did I ever explain that the butterfly is a drawing by my daughter?

Oh, and speaking of drawings, I have yet another to share. The other day, I shared one of a smiling girl in the rain.

Today, I'm sharing one of "recognizing."

I'm guessing she is the one with the long hair and peace sign on her shirt (she's been drawing a lot of those since she was a hippie for Halloween!)

But the funniest thing about her drawing is that she did what I do a lot, and I'm old enough to know better.

"I BARLEY recognized you!" instead of "I barely recognized you!"

Do I recognize a pattern, here?

Dawn

God Bless Farmers

"For every grain of sand on every shore, there's a seed that is planted in the soil."

Back in October, I blogged about Cheryl Bombenger's wonderful third-grade class and the song they performed called God Bless The Farmer. I videotaped the children singing the song and we played it at the NDFB annual meeting banquet. Cheryl was in the audience, too, and the crowd gave her a standing ovation for her work.

Cheryl also had her class write Dear Farmer letters, and there were some at each table at the banquet.

This past week, I posted several of the letters on the NDFB website They are so straight-from-the-heart and sweet, I just felt like they needed a larger audience.

Please, be sure to go to the link and share it with others. Their messages of thanks just make you feel good to be involved in agriculture.

So God Bless Farmers, and God Bless people like Cheryl and her students, who share a very important message with all of us.

Dawn

Real or fake?

I may change my mind at some point (I'm a woman, so I'm entitled!) but I absolutely love having a real Christmas tree in my house for the holidays.

Yes, I am the only one who waters the thing, and it does drop needles all over the floor, but

And I'm not saving a tree or the planet or anything by NOT choosing a real tree. In fact, I'm helping out tree farmers by purchasing a real tree.

I just read in the FBNews that 31% of the folks plan to purchase a real tree for Christmas this year.

The FBlog also has an entry about Christmas trees, and if you want even more information, the National Christmas Tree Association has a website you won't want to miss.

I may not be among the 22% who say they are done with their Christmas shopping, but I'm feeling pretty good right now about being a real Christmas tree lover.

Here's hoping that whatever tree you have in your home, you enjoyed decorating it and having it in your house to celebrate the reason for the season.

Dawn

Sugar and Spice

I love my little girl's drawings. Everyone is always smiling and the messages are always positive. Sugar and spice, every inch of her.

I was looking through her school papers the other day and on the back of one of her worksheets were picturesshe had drawn. They weren't on the spelling list for the week, so they must have been assigned to illustrate particular words.

In the middle of a cold and snowy winter, this one really brought a smile to my face:

Even in the middle of a downpour, this little girl is all smiles and hearts! And I'm sharing because I figure we can all use a few more smiles and hearts in our lives.


Dawn

And now, the flip side of technology

My son told my husband and I a few nights ago that a policeman said we were smart.

It's kind of funny that my first thought when he said that WASN'T, "When were you talking to a policeman and why?" Rather, it was, "Wow! A policeman thinks WE'RE smart?"

My next question, however, was, "Why?"

Turns out it was part of a class in his school and the police officer asked how many kids had cell phones and how many had easy access to the Internet. Our son has neither, and he was about the only kid that dared to raise his hand in the class when the officer asked.

That's when the officer said, "You have smart parents."

While it was nice to hear that someone thought we were wise to limit our kids' access to "modern technology," it also got me thinking about the big picture, the picture bigger than me.

Yesterday I talked about how nice it was to have so much technology available to me to help me do my job. But kids really are having to deal with a lot of additional pressures, having so much technology at their fingertips. In fact, we just got an awareness pamphlet in the mail, yesterday, about children and cell phones and the dangers of of them.

So even though I enjoy how much more I can do in my job with technology, I'm not in any hurry to have my kids online or texting. They deserve as much time as possible to be kids.

And hey, if a policeman says we're smart, well, I'm going to believe him!!

Dawn

Kicking and screaming

I have always been excited by technological advances. (I was the kid who wore out the National Geographic magazines that had anything to do with space, and the Childcraft books that said we could maybe have hovercraft instead of cars by the time I "got big" were read and reread.)

Maybe I'm not big enough, yet, because I'm still waiting for my hovercraft, but I sure do like how technology has allowed me to do stuff in my job that I never thought I would be able to do.

You might call me a semi-early adopter of technology. My cell phone is older than the hills, in technological terms anyway! (It's going to be three at Christmas! And by the way, that was my FIRST cell phone!) But I started social networks for North Dakota Farm Bureau before Facebook became THEE social network. I started editing video on my desktop and have created a pile of videos and plan to create a pile more before I'm through, thanks to the wonder that is YouTube.

I tweet, I post, I follow, I like. I don't see the need to put any of those things down, because from a communicator's standpoint, it's all good; an exciting, mostly free and engaging way to get your information out to a bunch of people.

I haven't quite figured out, however, how to "sell" others on the concept of telling their stories online. I'm not a very good salesperson. In fact, I am NOT a salesperson. I don't have the constitution for it. I don't handle rejection well.

I'm a storyteller, which can be a form of sales, too, but not enough of one to be very effective. So when I see effective "sales" information on why or how farmers and ranchers should blog, tweet or "book," I like pass it along.

That's why I'm sharing this link from Michele Payn-Knoper's Gate to Plate blog. She actually is featuring a guest blog from Ohio Farm Bureau communicator Dan Toland. He makes a lot of good points and since I couldn't have sold it better myself....

http://networkedblogs.com/bEM6U

Happy tweeting, linking, booking and blogging, to you!

Dawn

Now, I REALLY wish I was a farmer

Calling all farmers and ranchers who have a dirty job!!! (Isn't that all of you????) I just got this from American Farm Bureau, and I think it sounds like a LOT of fun!!!! So get out your video cameras, folks, and participate in the Farm/Ranch Families Work video contest!

"Farm and ranch families perform a lot of dirty, tough jobs in the process of providing food and fiber for their fellow Americans. But, the big question is—Can they compete with show host and narrator Mike Rowe, who will be the keynote speaker at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 2011 Annual Meeting, Jan. 10, in Atlanta? We will soon find out.

"Farm Bureau members from across the nation are invited to shoot and share their best home videos posted to YouTube of just how challenging, arduous and grungy farm and ranch work can be. And, if their real-life farm and ranch jobs are tough enough and compelling in video format, they will have a chance to see their video on the big screen, in front of 5,000 or so other farmers and ranchers attending the 2011 AFBF Annual Meeting, Jan. 9-11, in Atlanta.

"It’s all part of AFBF’s “Farm/Ranch Families Work” video contest. The deadline for the contest is Dec. 29, 2010. Once members have their hard-work videos posted to YouTube, all they need to do is send a link before the deadline date to the contest e-mail address: FBWORKS@fb.org.

"The video contest draws on the annual meeting’s overall theme of “Producing Results,” and is well-matched with the subject of hard work, which is often the favorite topic of our keynote speaker Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs program.

"The winning video submitted by a Farm Bureau member will be featured during the 2011 AFBF Annual Meeting Closing General Session, Monday, Jan. 10.

"A full listing of the contest rules can be found at: http://fb.org/index.php?fuseaction=2011annual.contest."

I love watching Dirty Jobs and will be excited to see the results of this contest!!

Dawn

Winter Wonderland

The view from our back step today at noon. Purty, isn't it?

Dawn

A taxing state of affairs

I am kind of irked right now. And I probably shouldn't be writing this, but sometimes you just have to vent.

I was reading a special report in the American Farm Bureau Federation's official newspaper, FBNews, about a young couple's struggle to pay death taxes even though the family had the help of an attorney.

This young couple with a 900-acre farm is struggling to pay thousands of dollars in estate taxes because, and I quote, "Mark's grandfather, George, worked closely with an attorney to pass the farm estate to Mark. They knew of an obscure clause in the IRS code that increased the amount of inheritance tax owed when the estate skipped a generation, but the amount planned for was grossly underestimated."

So this estate tax stuff -- a tax that is supposedly keeping "rich people" (whoever THEY are) passing on too much good stuff to heirs when they die -- is affecting a 900-acre farmer whose family PLANNED for a transfer. And it still wasn't enough. I think there is something SERIOUSLY wrong with this picture.

Oh, I'm sure someone has a list of reasons why estate taxes should revert to a $1 million exemption and a rate of 55 percent starting on January 1, but you won't convince me of anything on that list. That's because no matter how rich or not rich someone is, taxing those you leave behind when you die is a horrible thing to do.

When you think about it, it's the ultimate insult. We didn't get enough out of you when you were alive, so we're going to make your family pay when you are dead.

Phooey!

Dawn

Have you leveraged your scalable interfaces today?

I may not be a good writer, but I am a fascinated by language. I subscribe to a public relations social  network and when people write about what they don't like about what is happening to the English language, I always click on the link and find myself reading every post.

While some language purists find things like verbized nouns abhorrent and decidedly lazy and unwitty, I think they are funny.  In fact, I have been known to "verbize" a noun or two, in a vain attempt to convince myself that I can be witty and funny and not so lazy with the English language.

I did not have the wit to use the word "complexify" as one poster complained. ("Poster" in this case meaning, "a person posting a message on the topic.") I might have to spend the day porching to refine my verbification ability.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of clicking on another thread about "what grammar goofs drive you nuts?"

An hour later, I emerge from a haze of grumbles and gripes on everything from idiotic misuse of words to clever misuse of words. I have to share a couple of them:


"It drives me crazy when people say, 'I'm nauseous' when they mean they are nauseated. To be nauseous doesn't mean that you are sick to your stomach; it means that you make others sick! Nobody uses this correctly!"


Except for me, that is. I truly DO consider myself nauseous!!!
And I was especially tickled by this post: "Discourse a golf pro, depose a model, disconcert a bad violinist, demoralize a preacher, discredit a banker, dismiss a bride, declaim an insurance agent, decrease a tailor," because I thought they were all clever and, well, fun.

My absolute favorite, however, is a jargon emitter (Be warned if you click on this website link that it uses more colorful language than "jargon emitter.") with meaningless phrases like: Reinvent cutting-edge synergies; innovate next-generation infomediaries; incentivize distributed initiatives; generate bricks-and-clicks deliverables; strategize sticky experiences; and my favorite, synergize proactive schemas.

I actually don't know what any of those mean, but it all sounds like something I should be doing, so I better get back to leveraging my scalable interfaces.

Dawn