I won't quit my day job! ;)

Scott and I were high school sweethearts.  Awww!  Funny thing is that prior to our dating we were in a Social Studies class where the teacher was trying to make a point about small towns and he asked if anyone planned on coming back here after college to live and raise a family here...Scott and I had the only two hands in the air.

Jump forward to junior year - eeks! that was 18 years ago! - I decided to take a couple of shop classes.  I've always liked cars and like to know how things work, so I took Basic Automotive Maintenance and Small Engines.  Lucky for me that I made this decision because it is where I REALLY met this super nice guy you might know named Scott.  There were only two girls in our Small Engines class and though we tried our best to be self-sufficient, there were times we needed assistance and Scott was one of the few "nice guys" in class who would help us or explain it to us.  Before too long I was thinking to myself,  "Hey, I kinda like him..."  12 years of marriage later...

On Saturday I had actually taken the time to wash and vacuum out my car - shout out to my brother Zac and sister-in-law Kelly who own "All Washed Up" car wash for the free wash! :)  Vehicle washing, waxing, and detailing is something I enjoy doing but often falls to the bottom of the list.

Scott had mentioned that the car looked great but was in need of an oil change.  While I'm not naive enough to think that I can still do it by myself, I do like to dust off some of my vehicle skills every now and again so I don't forget how to do it.  Yesterday my mom had the girls for the afternoon and Scott was working at the shop - yes, it is a Sunday, but the work still has to get done.  So Jake and I headed to the shop to get it done!

 

We taught Jake a few of the basics of car maintenance and he felt pretty important checking the air pressure in the tires and adjusting them!  I managed to get the oil plug out and oil drained, but the filter is another story...

I've had lots of different cars - Mercury Marquis, Mercury Cougar, 2 Ford Mustangs, Lincoln Town Car, Ford Escape, and I'm currently on my 2nd Ford Expedition (Zac's day job is a car salesman for Chuck Spaeth Ford so I get talked in to trading cars a lot!) - anyhow, this is THE WORST oil filter to try and replace.  It required a lot of help from Scott.

When I was done Scott informed me that he's not sure he likes a girl with dirty hands.  Well then!

Who wore it better? ;)

Then Scott decided it was time for me to have a truck driving lesson.  The last time I tried was about 12 years ago and neither of us had the patience for it!  (Learning how to drive truck is on my bucket list, but we never seem to find time to get around to it.)  Thank goodness for all my brothers - I can drive a manual transmission which certainly helped in this situation!  Scott had me park a trailer, back up to a second trailer and move it, then hook up to a third and pull it into the line of loaded trucks that are ready for the road.

I did it!  Jake will tell you the ride was a little bit jerky every now and again - I will tell you Scott has A LOT of patience and makes everything he does with trucks look effortless.  Hopefully it's not another 12 years before my next lesson!

George Strait Cookies

So what do you do when your brain is on overload AND your husband is driving truck until late AND your kids happen to go to sleep on the FIRST try?  You bake.  You make everyone's favorite cookie!  For our family those happen to (currently) be a cookie I came up with by picking my favorite part of every cookie recipe - sorry if someone has also come up with this exact combo and I didn't recognize you.  We call these "George Strait Cookies" because I came up with this particular recipe when making cookies to take with for our weekend in the Twin Cities to go to the George Strait concert with Scott's family.  Cookies make your house smell wonderful and fresh cookies for a bedtime snack after a super long day are a small way to show Scott how much I appreciate how hard he works so that I can be home with our kids.

George Strait Cookies
1 C. Butter
1 C. Granulated Sugar
1 C. Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 C. Flour
2 1/2 C. Oatmeal - Blended
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder
CHIPS - Whatever flavor - milk, semi sweet, butterscotch, peanut butter, dark chocolate - your choice - and as many or few as you like!

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned,

Cream the butter and sugars.  Then add the eggs and vanilla.

Blend up the 2 1/2 cups of oats.

Mix in the flour, oats, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

Ready for any chips you want to throw at it!

The Pampered Chef scoops are perfect for this!

Ready to eat! 

Good night!

Trucks, trucks, trucks!

In the middle of all of life's busyness it's nice to have traditions, no matter how simple they are.  A little backstory:  Scott and I both work for his parent's trucking company, G & M Runge, Inc.  I do paperwork from home and Scott spends his morning and afternoon dispatching drivers to haul grain for our local coop, WFS.  When he is done with that job he goes from the office to the shop where he is also the company mechanic.  Friday night Scott, his Dad (Glenn), and Jacob went out to Sioux Falls to pick up a new truck.  So as tradition would have it, I took the kids to the shop Saturday for the first ride in the new truck.  Since I have been around trucks for the last 18 years, I take for granted being right at home around the massive equipment, but thought I'd give you a little tour in case you are not.

First off, this is Ol' Blue - otherwise known as 1741.  I couldn't do a post about trucks without sharing her first.  There is a special place in my heart for this truck - while it is not the prettiest, newest, or most comfy truck in the fleet, it is the truck Scott used to drive and the one I've taken the majority of my rides in.  A cool fact we share during Ag in the Classroom is that this truck has about 1,480,000 miles on it which is enough for it to have driven around the earth 59 times!  And it's never been in an accident!

Back to the new truck...  Just like our pick-ups are Fords and are tractors are Case IH, we like the best for our trucks - that's why we have Kenworths! ;)  This is what a brand spanking new, super clean engine looks like - don't worry, it won't stay that way for long!

Our future truck driver, Jake - he could sit in a truck all day long - even if it's not moving!

This is what the dash of a truck looks like - never mind the small piece that is removed while Scott was installing some new technology.  LOTS of gauges, switches, and dials and truck drivers have to know what every one of them does.

Now to the bunk - this is behind the drivers seat.  The top cabinet is a closet for clothes and personal items.  The bottom is a built in refrigerator.  The little black panel on the left side of the cabinet is the rear controls including lights, radio, alarm clock, door locks...

This is behind the passenger seat - more storage and a TV mount.

A new safety feature for team drivers is a net with a seat belt to keep them safe while they are sleeping and their teammate is driving.  In older trucks there was just one belt across the middle of the bed.  There is currently no one that team drives at G & M, so no need for use of the net just yet!

Keeley, Kate, & Jake are the official truck testers and have been taking trucks on their "first drive" since they were in infant car seats!

Yep - I love a truck driver!  Never thought those words would have come out of my mouth when I was little and playing house! ;)  Truck drivers are real people, too, and some of the hardest working and nicest people I've ever met.

Kids being kids...Chillin' in the bunk.

My view for the ride - must say, the ride was extremely comfortable!

Pull it!  Pull it!  They each had to make sure the air horn works!

It passed the kids's inspection ;)  Now it just needs it's decals and the driver to "move in".

Welcome to G&M, 1780!

Ag in the Classroom

Yesterday Scott and I had the privilege to go to the school our children attend, Northside Elementary, and participate in our county Farm Bureau's Ag in the Classroom event.  We got to talk about Ag with 65 AWESOMELY BEHAVED 5th graders.  This is the 3rd year we have participated in the event and our co-speakers have remained the same.  Between the 4 of us we cover a lot of areas of agriculture and give the students a diverse example of agricultural careers.  Our partners in Ag include Dustin Anderson...

Dustin is a husband, father of 3 boys, school board member, and a crop and hog farmer - and graduated from the St. James schools.

Dustin is showing the kids a feed sample.  Did you know pigs have more taste buds than humans but are fed the same thing everyday?!?

Our other partner in Ag education is Kinzee Miest - she is an awesome "teacher" and is the perfect example of being involved in Ag at a young age - she is a freshman at St. James High School.  Her family runs a dairy - she is the oldest of 3 kids.  Did you know that each cow in a dairy has a name and isn't just a number?  Love that!

Dairy farmers NEVER get a day off - the cows need to be milked twice a day.  It doesn't matter if it is Easter, Christmas, your birthday, or you want to go on a vacation - the cows NEED to be milked - think of that next time you grab a gallon out of your fridge.  Thank a dairy farmer!

Last up was Scott and me.  This year was a special year as our oldest, Jacob, is in 5th grade and we have never presented Ag in the Classroom to one of our own!  I don't have a lot to teach about Ag as I am new to a lot of it myself.  I do my best to support those in the Ag industry - from doing Scott's paperwork to organizing events such as Farm and Home Safety Camp, Ag in the Classroom, and Breakfast on the Farm.  I'm kind of a behind the scenes paperwork person.

Unlike me, my wonderful husband can educate on a number of levels - he shares hands on experience about livestock hauling, grain hauling, truck mechanic work, farming, and dispatching trucks.  Do you eat John Morrell bacon, Armour Lunchmakers, Gatorade, Quaker granola bars?  There is a good chance G&M Runge, Inc. hauled them to Minnesota for you!  On a side note - notice that Scott is wearing a wedding ring in the picture above - that is not a normal occurrence for someone in his profession - most mechanics and farmers do not wear their wedding rings because they risk losing a finger if it gets caught on something.  I love and appreciate my husband because he had the forethought to stick the ring in his pocket to wear it when we went to the school.  Way better than getting flowers!!!

Our Ag in the Classroom team 3 years strong! Dustin, Kinzee, Scott, & Sam.

After school I took the kids to SuperFair Foods to complete the Farm Bureau Spring Picnic Marketbasket Survey.  The Marketbasket Survey is a survey run through the American Farm Bureau Federation to track retail food price trends and overall affordability of food in America.

Complete!

My day was complete with my first Harley ride of the year - a little cold and windy, but a RIDE is a RIDE!

Clotheslines & Steaks with Red Wine Mushrooms

Another action packed weekend has come and gone in our household!  We actually had a rare Saturday home - well, Scott worked all day as usual, but we didn't have any school activities or social events we needed to attend, so it's still a day home!  One of our nieces, Emilia, and nephews, Damion, came over for the afternoon so we decided to do manicures with a Jamberry nail accent.

Their nails :)

Being the CRAZY girls they are!

I took advantage of the BEAUTIFUL day and washed all the bedding and hung it on the clothesline - let me tell you, if you've never experienced sheets dried outside, you have never had the best night's sleep possible!  EVERYONE slept through the night in their own beds last night!

There is a story behind my clothesline, too.  I have wonderful memories of hanging clothes on the line with my Mom and my Grandma Hellickson.  It is something important to me and there are some smells and experiences that just can't be re-created by dryer sheets!  My mom knew not having a clothesline was a big deal to me, so she purchased a retractable one for my birthday 3 years ago.  We went back and forth over where to install it as we didn't want to lose yard space and Scott didn't want anything unsightly in the yard ;).  My amazing oldest brother, Deric, figured out a way to attach the clothesline base to our deck in a discrete manner.

Then it latches to a pole between the lilacs.  The pole also conveniently comes out of the ground so you are only left with a little cement circle.

Ta-Da!!!  Our kids now know the benefits of drying clothes outside - not only does it save electricity, but they smell SOOOO much better!

While the sheets were drying I started prepping some sirloin steaks for supper (taken from our bulk meat in our extra freezer so they are not as "red" as fresh) - a little fresh ground salt and pepper rubbed on each side...

Then into a bag to marinate with some red wine - any will do - just pour some in and lay them flat in the fridge and flip a few times for an hour or so....

While the meat was marinating, I gave Mr. Runge a ride back to the shop to get his Harley to bring it back home for the season. Yay!  If you had told me when we were 17 that this boy was ever going to ride a motorcycle I would have laughed in your face!  I was the one to wildly ride 3-wheelers and dirt bikes with my brothers and nephews!  Scott was way too safe and straight laced...apparently over 17 years we unknowingly figured out a way to balance my wild with his sensibility and it works!  Nonetheless, I wouldn't trade my Harley riding "Scott 2015" for anything - we are constantly growing and changing together and he still is the perfect guy for me!

Back to the meal - The original recipe came from "The Pioneer Woman" Steak with Burgundy Mushroom Sauce, but I adjusted a few things, of course.  Chop up a pound of mushrooms - or buy them pre-chopped, really doesn't matter.  I'm weird and find chopping and food prep soothing.

I also made a foil packet of potatoes - these are SUPER easy and use whatever you have on hand.  Start with a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil and spray it with Pam.  Then wash and chunk up how many potatoes you need to feed your fam.  Dot with some butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Top with whatever cheese you want - I used cheddar and a little bit of gouda.  I also added green onions and rosemary.  Whatever herbs you like!

Then seal up your packet and grill on medium heat for about 25 minutes.

Back to the mushrooms...melt 1/2 stick of butter in a pan over medium high heat.  Add 3-4 cloves minced garlic and 3-4 green onions, sliced.  Then add your mushrooms.

They will reduce down - cook until golden - about 10 minutes.

Then pour in a cup or so of red wine.  I used a sweeter one this time because that's what we had in the fridge.

Now it's time to throw the marinated steaks on the grill.  Season with additional salt and pepper if you want.

This is what the mushrooms look like when they are done.  Most of the liquid is absorbed or cooks off.  You can add additional red wine if you would like it more sauce like - my kids love the mushrooms but don't like sauce running into other meal items on their plate...

The delicious potato packet fresh off the grill!

Top with some fresh parsley or chives to make it look pretty!

Top your steak with a generous portion of mushrooms and add some parsley.  (Pardon the over-use of parsley - I would typically use chives on the potatoes but it is too early in the year yet.)  DELICIOUS!

When you have recovered from your food coma, you should go soak your daughters headbands in Oxiclean - those suckers are dirtier than you think!  And your daughter MIGHT have a piano contest in the morning and should look her best!

Sunday we were off for a rare day in the Cities.  So proud of Keeley for making it to the State Piano Contest on her first try!  No matter what the outcome - she's braver than I was at 8!

After piano we headed to the Mall of America - we promised Kate and Keeley a visit to the American Girl store to get their dolls ear's pierced and get their (rats nest) hair fixed.

All done! (Meanwhile the boys hit up Carhartt, Boot Barn, and Harley Davidson...)

Ending a Sunday night the way it should be - snuggles with Dad and an old school Disney move - Cow Belles!