HGTV 2010 Dream Home Giveaway

It seems unreal that I live just a few miles from HGTV's 2010 Dream Home Giveaway. Located on the east side of the mountains in New Mexico, the home is an contemporary pueblo style that oozes with refinement and luxury. The home comes with an office with a private bath, three bedrooms and breathtaking views. It is far enough from Albuquerque and Santa Fe to have the anemities of a big city, yet out of town enough to not have the problems.

Check it out and register to win beginning January 1, 2010.

HGTV Dream Home Giveaway Begins January 1, 2010: Widget for HGTV's Dream Home Giveaway
Sign up to win HGTV's Dream Home 2010 Giveaway. The first HGTV Dream Home to be built in the Southwest.
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Urban Meyer will retire after the Sugar Bowl

The Sugar Bowl will be bittersweet this year with the announced resignation of Florida Gator's head coach Urban Meyer. Meyer has lead the Gator's into a jewel among college football programs.

Florida Gator's Urban Meyer to Resign After Sugar Bowl
Urban Meyer, 45, will step down after the Sugar Bowl as the Florida Gator's head coach
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What in the world is a Groupon?

Believe it or not, a groupon is kinda like a group using their buying power to get an amazing deal.

www.groupon.com has set up an interesting permise. If you can get enough people to buy something, the business will offer an incredible discount.

Check out groupon and what they're about by reading:



Groupon, Groupon, What is a Groupon?

Oprah's O Magazine 12 days of "Give-O-Way" Contest Codes

Check out this recently published content on AC:

Codes to Enter Oprah.Com/12 Days "Give-O-Way"; O Magazine's Daily Codes for "Give O Way"


Oprah.com/12 days is underway. Want to get a jump start on the daily codes? Here is a complete list of daily codes as well as a link back to the entry site.

Oprah.com/12 days Oprah Winfrey and O Magazine's 12 Days of Christmas Give-O-Way

What an amazing contest. Oprah and O Magazine is having a twelve day of Christmas give-o-way.



O Magazine's 12 Days of Christmas Give-o-way; Oprah Winfrey "Give-o-way" for Christmas

New Mexico Loses a Great Man

I was lucky enough to meet Governor Bruce King twice.  He was an amazing man with remarkable skills.  How he managed to remember me I will never figure out.

Traveling Tips

It seems we barely get to one end our commute when it's time to pack up and head to the other end.  I drive myself nuts trying to remember what I needed for which end. 

My poor husband use to end up with 20 pairs of socks on one end and none when we got home.  This commuting did not work very well.

Then, I discovered a bit of magic.  My notebook.  It's just a simple spiral bound notebook, but I have learned to take it everywhere.  I keep lists going for what I need where, what needs to be done, errands to run and even a quick list of phone numbers I need to call.

It has saved me countless headaches.

Windfarms

Windfarms are springing up all over rural New Mexico.  While I am all for the "going green" and renewable energy, as a native to an area where new windfarms are locating, I am having trouble with the fact that the electricity will shipped out of state.  The truly strange part of this, my local electricty company is getting together with several other New Mexico providers to buy their electricity from Colorado.

It would make more sense to me to provide electricity for rural residents and ranches as well as other markets.  We are the ones who have to look at the wind turbines.  Shouldn't we get something out of it besides incurring the costs of shpping that energy out of state?

Who You Know and What You Know

My son and daughter in law needed a place for the winter.  They did not have heat or water where they had been staying, and winter is coming on fast. 

The kids had made a decision to move to town for the winter.  They poured over the classified adds to no avail.  When Cristy and I went to the feed store to pick up grain for the cows, I told her to go look at the bulletin board by the front door. 

She found a 3 bedroom, two bath house with a phone number and a price that was within their budget.  We left the feed store and she called the number while we were still in town.  It turned out that the lady was a friend and that the house had been available for less than a week.  Cristy was able to talk to her and check it out.  Strangely, it was the same house my oldest son had first rented when he left the nest several years before. 

So, today while we're packing to head back to Portales, we are also helping the couple move to their new house.  Because the lady remembered Brian and me, Cristy and David are able to move in right away even though their check won't be here for rents and deposits until next Monday.  It's one of the major advantages of living in a small town.

Headed to the Ranch

A two hundred mile commute is not fun.  Especially since we have been doing it for three years now.  To day is Friday and Jerry should get off about noon.  I'll have the truck packed, gassed and ready to go.  With any luck, three long hours later, we'll be home. 

It is always so nice to get either end.  We call the home end "The Ranch", and when we come back to Portales, we call this end "The Place."  It is really cool that we call both places "Home."  We mean it too.  Yes, we love the ranch and being playing with the cows, seeing the family, but it is so nice to head back "Home to the Place." at the end of the
weekend to our quiet little corner.

A picture of the Ranch

October is Harvest and Balloon Watching Season

It's fall.  That means it's time to get ready for winter out here on the ranch.  I have put up three 40 pound sacks of green chili, have a beef in the freezer and am in the process of canning peaches and making jelly.  This is definitely my favorite time of the year.

It's also time for the 38th annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiestival.  If you can arrainge to be in Albuquerque from the 1st Saturday through the 2nd Sunday, you will be in for a treat.  The skies just fill with hot air balloons.  Around 600 different balloons take off and float around the city.  It is literally the most photographed event of the year!