Where's my Shoe?

So I thought today I would not talk about American Idol and talk more about my chocolate children. They are in the dog house today, literally. Remember the pretty flowers I planted on the porch, yeah Banjo and Birdie had so much fun playing with them this morning! The picture below is after I tried to re-pot some of them and Birdie was just so proud! So Anyway I put them both in the dog pen and gave them a time out for the morning. I was able to salvage most of the plants but there are a few that had to be thrown away. Banjo would NEVER do this by himself. I think maybe Birdie dared him? He knew he was in trouble too when I walked outside, he hung his head and tucked his tail and went straight into the dog pen. Birdie came running at me so proud of her accomplishment! ***side note*** We are using the book WaterDog to train Birdie, we used the same one to train Banjo and it's an amazing book. Just like any man would do, Sean went out and bought the video. I actually read the book. The video is better. As with any instructions are, it's easier to see someone doing it then to read what they are doing and try picture it in your head. Banjo isn't fully trained yet. We still have to finish him out, but Sean's been working so much we haven't had the time. Banjo will be in good shape by duck season though. Birdie is too young to train yet. Anyway, the book says we can't get onto her either, she's still not old enough to scold. We have to praise her for everything she does, even if it's wrong, up until she's a certain age. Needless to say I didn't praise her this morning. I was too mad.

Birdie Loves Shoes. This morning I couldn't find one of my boots because she had taken off with it. We don't let her just roam the house but from one minute to the next She'll run into the next bedroom and find something to chew on before you know what's happened. She's sneaky! Banjo never chewed on anything but my box springs. When we moved we stored my box springs and mattress in the garage and he ate a hole in it. That's really all he chewed besides the corner of the boot box and the arms of my father-in-laws expensive reclining lawn chairs. (Sorry Jim) Birdie chews on EVERYTHING. My cow skin rug, the carpet, Banjo, all my shoes, my feet, anything she can fit in her mouth. I think we got one extreme to the next when it came to dogs that chew. She's already chewed all the small cow hides I bought her, all her toys, almost everything in my house has had her sharp little teeth on them. Check out the picture below. As I was leaving my house to go back to work after lunch I was getting into my car and Banjo walked up wanting to play, I wanted to call in and tell them I wasn't coming back to work so bad. Who could resist this pitiful face. I left him there and watched him sit in the driveway, toy in mouth, through my rear view mirror.

So I'm pretty sure I almost got to see something I've always wanted to see but at the same time never want to experience. A Tornado. I was taking a bubble bath reading Breaking Free by Beth Moore. When I got a text message that said "tornado headed your way." I thought to myself "whatever. It's not even windy or stormy." I looked up into the night sky (through the bathroom skylight above the jacuzzi) and the tree above my house wasn't blowing and it wasn't raining. I jumped out of the tub to turn on the news to channel 4 and sure enough Good ol' Mike Francis informed me that a sevier thunderstorm with rotation possibly resulting in a tornado was in Traskwood headed for Haskell and if you lived around exit 114 take shelter Immediately!! Well i live half a mile from exit 114 so I Freaked out, woke Sean up, who was pissed I woke him up grabbed the dogs and ran outside to the porch. I mean I want to see a tornado, but this was a little to close for comfort. I always imagined seeing one miles and miles away, one that couldn't hurt me. Anyway, Sean got off the couch and went to bed grumbling and I sat on the porch with Banjo and Birdie to see if I could watch out for the Tornado. I would seriously rather see it coming and THEN run and hide, rather than to just run and hide and not know when to expect it. Plus, in my trailer crib if we get hit, were gone anyway so hiding in the hallway wouldn't matter one bit. I said a prayer then tried to relax. The next ten minutes were pretty boring and uneventful. I just watched Birdie and Banjo play with their toys and watched it lighting in the distance. The wind picked up just a little and I went back to see what Mike had to say. God answered my prayers and there was no longer threat of a tornado just hail, and boy did it hail. Big marble sized hail. Thank goodness we had no hail damage. Birdie got a big kick out of the hail that landed on the deck though. So my goal of seeing a tornado (in the distance) has yet to have been reached.

So Easter is this weekend. I know a lot of you mom's will think it's a little silly of me but I am really attached to my dogs and very protective. I can't even imagine what I'll be like when I have children. It will be ridiculous. You'll have to pray for my unborn children that they will actually get to live a normal life and not one that keeps them confined in the house with nothing around that could hurt them. As Much as I love my dogs, even though they are dogs, I would never make them go through any harm. I mean I cried when we neutered Banjo because I thought he was in pain. It's really amazing to think that God sacrificed his own Son to be crucified for us. It's amazing that God loves me so much that he let his Son suffer and die upon the cross so that I might have life. So that things would be easier for us. "Us" that are such sinful people, "Us" that has done nothing to receive his honor and mercy and forgiveness, "Us" that has turned our back on him so many times in the past and I'm sure will in the future. God knew everything we were going to do and all the sins we were going to commit, yet he gave his Son so that we might have life through him. It makes me so feel so humbled and loved. My God is a God of love and compassion, My God is a God who will never give me more than I can handle, My God is good, My God is the only GOD! And his Son is just as amazing. He suffered and Died for me so that I can live. He paid the ultimate sacrifice so that someone as insignificant as me could spend eternity with him. Then as if that wasn't enough, he rose from the dead just to prove that he was GOD and that he was the truth. Wow, I'm glad! Happy Easter everyone!

Yuck

What is it about overcast days that make you feel so gross? What's weird is that when it rains I don't feel gross at all just the overcast days when it doesn't rain. When it rains, I don't mind being lonely, I cry right along with the sky. When it rains, I don't pretend to be happy, I don't even have to try. When it rains, Some people get down, They're sporting a frown, so I fit right in. Yeah, the sun may brighten your day but if I had my way, I'd take the rain. --One of my all time favorite songs by the Eli Young Band. Sean introduced me to "Red Dirt" Country or "Texas" country if you please. Actually Sean & I met at a Randy Rogers concert down town in Little Rock. We are Huge fans of going to hear any "Texas" country band play. A few of our favorites are Reckless Kelly, Eli Young, Charley Shaffner Band, Bleu Edmonston, Randy Rogers, Stoney Larue, oh and the list goes on and on and on. We've seen Bleu in concert probably 5+ times. We lived in Houston for a year, which was "Texas" country heaven! We attended so many concerts I can't count! Reckless Kelly was in town last weekend and we wanted to go SOOOO bad but Sean ended up having to go to the rodeo in McAleister a day early so he'd have a ride. Sad day...

Anyway You can go to www.Lonestarmusic.com and find out what "Texas" country band is playing and when! Notice I've put the word "Texas" in "quotations." I don't like calling it "Texas" country music because this genre of music actually originated in Stillwater Oklahoma! But it's been labeled "texas" country and I don't know what else to call it besides "red dirt" and that just sounds silly. I just found out that Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen are coming to Little Rock on mine and Sean's one year anniversary. How romantic would that be to celebrate our first year of marriage by going to see the band that brought us together? (whoever reads this, hint to Sean that's one of the many things I want him to do for me on our anniversary)



So anyway back to how gross I feel. I guess I've eaten too much sugar or not enough protein or something because I've felt bad all day. Our company is being treated to free food and drinks at the Travelers game tonight in Little Rock. Under any other circumstances I'd be extra excited about this, but with the weather and my yucky feeling body I'm really not looking forward to going. It probably doesn't help that I went to bed really late last night. After bible study my friend Stephanie and I walked around her neighborhood a few times and boy did it feel good! I really needed the exercise. When I got home I had to watch American Idol and didn't get to bed till around midnight.

So what about Scott Leaving AI? I cried. I know it was his time to go but it still makes me sad. He was such an optimistic and had such a great personality, he was really an inspiration to everyone! Oh well. By the way, was I the only one totally unimpressed with Kelly Pickler? I could've done better than her. She looked really cute though. I thought the bottom three were spot on and I think Anoop will be the next to leave us. Wow I'm obsessed!



Well off to the Travelers Game.
Have a great evening!
Jenna T.

American Idol Fan!

Life on the Circle T Ranch was boring yesterday. Me and the dogs went and kept Sean company while he shod Frosty, his bulldogging Horse. Then the dogs and I went home to eat dinner and then went to the practice pen around the time American Idol started. (Got one picture of Sean steer wrestling out of the shoot before my camera died. It got way to cold to get new batteries and stay.) I set my DVR to record AI thinking "I'll watch it tomorrow before the Results show." (I like to fast forward through all the non sense and just watch the performances.) So when I got to work this morning, I opened up my web browser to start some work and because I like to check the headlines and daily weather every morning, my browser homepage is yahoo.com. The main yahoo.com story this morning was "Major screw up on 'Idol' Many viewers miss Adam Lambert's moving song, and Simon's amazing reaction." As I read this I think to myself, "please don't say the show went to long and many people DVR's didn't record the last song," but of course as I read the article that's exactly what happened. I'm extremely upset about this. Dad informed me that they have their DVR set to record 10 minutes after the show they record, but since we just got our Dish, I'm not too sure what mine is set to. I'm praying it's set for 10 minutes, otherwise I'm left without hearing Adam sing. This has happened once before on Idol, a few weeks ago. Luckily I was actually watching the live version of that show so I didn't miss it. But I don't understand how a show as successful as Idol can't get their act together enough to not run overtime. Now I understand that many of the viewers out there love the judges and good ol' Seacrest and what he has to say but it's a Singing contest! Shut up Ryan & Simon and lets hear some singing!

So I haven't heard last night's singing yet but I do have my top 5 picked from previous weeks. Since I am not a famous singer or famous record producer don't vote based on my criticisms. Theses are in no particular order....

Adam is a brilliant singer and brilliant artist, but I don't get his feminine ways or his outfits. I love listening to him but I was really turned off by his version of Ring of Fire. I'm sure June Carter-Cash rolled in her grave after that song was over. It made me feel like a sinner for listening to it.

Allison is very unlikeable, annoying, and immature. But she's got a voice on her like Kelly Clarkson! If this was solely a voice contest she'd be in my top two, but unfortunately people look at likability and she, in my opinion, isn't very likable. Maybe if she got a better stylist??

Kris is a great singer, not as good as Adam but he is so cute and so endearing and down to earth. I think he's got a great tone to his voice, but sometimes I wish his mouth didn't look so funny when he sings.

Danny is a great singer but very uncool and nerdy in my opinion. He reminds me of this really loser guy I met in College who thought he was so cool, but he wasn't. He needs to loose the glasses. That would make me like him better.

Lil is a great singer but not all of her performances are as flawless as I'd like for them to be for an R & B singer. She's got cute kids too :) And a ghetto boo-tay!

Well have a Great Wednesday Night. I've got Laundry to do and Bible Study to attend. I'll leave you with a picture of my puppies. Birdie begging for food and Banjo, you can't tell in this picture but if you look really close you can see him very small in the rear of the steers getting them up to the pen. He's not only a duck dog but a cow dog also!

Until tomorrow!

Jenna T.

This is The Queen

For those of you know me, you know me to be a little on the prissy side when it comes to being a country girl. I am a little high maintenance, but only compared to those hard core country girls. I don't mind getting down and dirty every once in awhile, but only if I'm wearing the right clothes and shoes. Anyway I'd like to introduce to you one of the many reason's I can confidently call my self a country redneck.... My House!! or as I call it my Double Wide Trailer Crib. Sean and I decided to go the cheap route and buy a modular home rather than buy or build a house. We also chose this option because it's about 100 yards from the arena and in case you didn't know this already, Sean's summer nights are spent at the arena from after work until around midnight. This was more convenient for me to step out on the porch and yell, "SEAN COME HOME NOW!" In stead of wondering why he wasn't home three hours ago and having to drive to the arena to make sure he wasn't in a ditch somewhere. (I'm paranoid) Another plus side to buying a trailer is when a tornado is in the forecast or a flood is on it's way, we can just hook up and drive off! No but seriously, we couldn't do that if we wanted to, and going the cheaper way now gives me time to dream up and save for my DREAM house. And I promise I already have it drawn up in my head.

Anyway here are a couple pictures of my kitchen and living room. I'll have to get pictures of the outside to you tomorrow. I don't have any on my camera. Can you see the big screen TV? We bought that with some of the money Sean won at the rodeo. I wasn't too excited about a TV that big, I think it's a little over the top for our living room but Sean informed me that "Men Need Big TV's" So I guess I really didn't have a choice in the matter. Most of the decorations in the house were wedding gifts. I was really lucky to have gotten such beautiful things. Banjo accidentally broke one of my beautiful tall glass vases last night. He didn't mean too he just fell asleep and rolled over in his sleep and knocked it against the couch table. I was really sad. Every time I think about my cute little home I sing to myself "This is the queen of my double wide trailer With the polyester curtains and the redwood deck Sometimes shes runs and I've got to trail her Dang her black heart and her pretty red neck." haha good ol Sammy Kershaw. But really, I joke about living in a double wide but I'm very proud of our little home. It's perfect for us. We worked really hard to get it looking as cute as it does and I love living there!

I'm really proud of my special e-bay find...my cow skin rug! It's perfect for my living room and the dogs love sleeping on it! It smells good too. It came from the cowhidecorral.com They have some pretty good prices on their rugs, in my opinion. Also a plus for people with new dogs, Birdie had an accident on the rug last night and it didn't soak in (because it's leather) and it cleaned really easily. I was upset and first but then Sean reminded me that is was at one time in it's life a cow and it's had worse things on it than a little puppy pee. Oh and by the way we did decide on Birdie, it just kind of fits her. Her papers show her as "Lil Miss Lady Bird" She's doing really well in the potty department and getting better at sleeping all night. She woke me up once last night and twice Saturday night. Maybe tonight I won't wake up at all!

Well it's 5' oclock, time to go home. I hope you have a great Tuesday, It's been slow at work and I've got tons of dishes to look forward to when I get home! We'll be at the arena all night tonight, I'll have pictures to show tomorrow. Before I go today I'd like to brag on my children one last time (for the day) We're very proud of Birdie for only being 8 weeks old and already loves playing in the water. And Banjo, who learned to fly!