Wash, Dry, Fold, Repeat

Wash, Dry, Fold, Repeat

My family is really weird to me because they choose not to use a dryer to dry their clothes. I know that it is because they are trying to save energy and relieve themselves of the risk of shrinking their clothes, and I agree that there are some more delicate items of clothing that need to be line dried. However, I usually wash all my usual clothes at the end of the week and I end up with two to three loads. Not only is there not room on the line for that much, but I also don't have hours and hours to spend waiting for load after load to air dry. 

Luckily for me, one of our family friends got a new washer and dryer a few months ago that she was just so excited for me to try. Honestly, it was just your standard washer and dryer. But it was nice because her daughter has been a lifetime friend of mine and is also the girl I went skiing and to wild country with the other day, and it was good to spend more time with her before I go back to Mizzou. 

I am very much looking forward to returning to Columbia, but also a little stressed! I drive back on Sunday after I pick up my manly friend (not a boyfriend; still working on the commitment part!) from the airport. I am making headway on my to-do list though. One of the things I had to do before I leave is to get completely everything out of my wrecked car so it can be salvaged. I wasn't expecting to get so emotional while I was sitting in the driver seat on a dog food bag so I wouldn't cut my butt on the glass that covers the entire car. I managed to get everything out, but even though I felt like a wuss I was sobbing by the end of it. It made me so anxious to be back in the place where it all went down that when I came back inside I actually vomited. I got the job done, though, and now I should never have to go in it again. In fact, by the next time I visit home it will have already been taken away to a salvage yard. I don't know; I feel silly getting so worked up about just sitting in the car, but I try to give myself some credit. After all, I should have died in there and that rightfully shakes me up. I definitely look forward to taking my new car back to Mizzou after I visit for Mardi Gras in St.Louis City!  

New Car and Farm Work

New Car and Farm Work



Today I was busy with two main things: working on our family farm and driving with my parents to look at a used car for sale (spoilers: we bought it!). At our farm my mom, little sister (who is a freshman in high school), and dad all worked to cut and remove undergrowth from our woods. The plant, called Honeysuckle, takes over all the newly sprouted trees with its broad leafy branches, leaving no sunlight for new vegetation. So one by one my dad saws down. Our job is to drag the branches either into a ditch or into a row we form that my dad would push together with a grader blade later to burn. Who says women can't do manual labor?! In case you haven't noticed, I don't have any brothers! I have been brought up as a classy lady, but one who isn't afraid to get her hands a little dirty on the farm, even if it's only 17 degrees out!

Our farm is over one hundred years old. It is registered as a Missouri Century Farm. My great great grandpa bought the property originally, and my grandpa was born in that house along with all his immediate relatives before him...which is admittedly a little creepy!! Of course there has been renovations and additions to the house and many out buildings, but there are a lot of original antiques too. I do not live on the farm because my grandparents still reside in it, but at such point they require a nursing home my parents would move in. We live only two miles away. and unless we are harvesting wheat and straw or hay we usually only work on Saturdays.

 The interesting thing is that I don't live in a rural area. I live in suburbs consisting of stores and residential areas. My family's land is actually the largest piece of privately owned land in the county even accounting for pieces of it that have been sold throughout the years! We have been given many offers to sell, but we are the last farm left in our area. There are plenty of commercial shopping centers, don't you think it's important to leave a few original pieces of time alone?

Usually we put in a full day of work there, but after lunch we instead headed out to see the car we were interested in buying. The hope was to replace the car of which I described the crash a few entries ago. I ended up getting another Chrysler Sebring just as I had before. It is a different color and it is four years older, but had the same amount of miles as when I first bought my other one. I am still on the fence as to whether I like it just because I really liked my newer and nicer one, but I am fortunate to have found a reliable car and hopefully I won't be housebound much longer!! All in all, it was a positive, productive day. Now I'll take a long, hot shower before I relax and watch some Supernatural!

Mizzou Family

Mizzou Family



Today I just feel really off. I'm bored but nothing seems interesting. I think it's because I miss my friends since I'm still on Winter Break, and nothing sounds as exciting unless I'm doing it with them. I don't go back until the 17th! My hometown friends here are all going back to their respective colleges before me, and of course my (more numerous) friends from college are scattered all over the country (and actually the world!).

It just has me thinking about friends and distance. It never occurred to me that, unlike in high school where my friends were mostly within the school district lines, I would have friends from absolutely everywhere. I mean it used to be hard to maintain friendships even just a few school districts away, or heck, even in the other high school in MY school district! But now my friends' locations are so various, and it offers me a new perspective. I like meeting people from so many different places. I travel a ton but I've lived in the same suburb my whole life, almost. It's so interesting to hear peoples' stories of their life or experiences in a big city or in a rural town or in a faraway country. Whether they live there or just are traveling over the break, I have friends and sorority sisters in probably ten or twelve different states and also one in Korea, Brussels, London, Spain and France!

It is just a wonder to me that wherever we come from, we all belong to our beloved University. We leave for the summer or the Christmas Break or what have you to rejoin our families or to travel and gain new and lasting memories. But then soon on the 17th we will return to what many of us refer to as "home"; Columbia, Missouri. (Yes, I am a Mizzou student! I have debated how many specific details to give. But since I have shared my college I will not share what sorority I belong to, I have decided.)

I have always felt close to Mizzou since both parents, my older sister, and my uncle all have attended. But once I got there myself of course my love grew more!! I just think it is so amazing how close I am to everyone there. Just thinking of how scattered we are, but then we come home to be with our second family: our Mizzou friends. So yeah I feel weird, because even though I am enjoying the break and spending time with my family, I miss my Mizzou family and I don't feel the same not being close to them! I look forward to returning and attempting my second semester!