Three Daughter's Ranch Where life is always just a little crazy

The other day I went looking for our plunger as we were having yet another plumbing emergency thanks to our lovely septic system….. And, as luck would have it, the mighty plunger was nowhere to be found. After not finding it in the cabin, I went over and looked in the main house with no luck. Just to be thorough I checked the two travel trailers and ended my search after checking both garages…the plungers were officially missing. I finally gave up and asked Jason since I knew he was the last one to use it in the main house where the most recent plumbing emergency occurred not too long ago. I asked him where in the world he put it when he was done as I had been looking pretty much everywhere I thought a plunger could possibly be and detailed out my hide and seek search around our property. He said

“I don’t know, did you check outside on the ground?” to which I replied “Why would I look outside on the ground????”

Starting to get impatient he said “Sometimes I throw it out the window when I’m done.”

I think I stood there with my jaw on the ground for a full 20 seconds….processing that one statement.

“You mean you threw it out the bathroom window? ”

“Yeah, I do that sometimes… Don’t you? ”

No. I don’t. I can honestly say that thought has NEVER even occurred to me. My very next thought was “thank God we live out in the country were neighbors are not super close so that they can’t wonder with amazement at a plunger flying out the window.”

The missing plungers showed up a few days later….probably having been drug off by the dogs after their flight out the window….

One of my favorite events every year is our neighborhood New Year’s Eve Progressive. I can’t say with 100% certainty when I started this tradition but it spans at least the last 6 years. We start here at the Skinner Ranch and make our way eating and drinking through the evening as we briskly brave the chilly air walking from house to house. When we first started this, my girls would make it to the first few houses and eventually opt to return home where kid friendly snacks and Just Dance were entertainment enough. Now they can hang in there with the best of us….

Last night’s evening started off slower than in the past. Our “home” this year is our tiny cabin as we remodel our farmhouse and it is about as tiny as you can get. Most of the neighbors did not make the optional first stop here for the traditional expresso martini so we had some time to kill….and a dance party ensued. Que Jason setting up a last minute amp and some speakers, plug in the iPhone and wahla….we were up and running. I love dancing more than just about anything but with a room full of teenagers, I was NOT about to be the first one to make a move. No worries. Bella kicked it off in high gear with what I call the “used car balloon wavy” dance. From there we all joined in at some point…the two oldest teens wearing their matching Thing One and Thing Two once pajamas. Our tiny cabin heated up fast so we moved the dance party out to the deck where we coulee REALLY get our groove on.

At some point we released we were late to the next stop on the agenda (and I new I had enough bribery material successfully recorded) and we joined the rest of the neighborhood.

Flash forward to the last stop of the evening…our tiny cabin. We filled our tiny cabin with more than 20 people. I was impressed that we all fit and were fairly comfortable as well. We rang in the new year with champagne, jello shots, popcorn and donuts. We stayed up until 2 hanging out with the greatest neighbors a gal could ask for. Like all good things, the evening had to end and eventually we all went to bed.

The next morning, the 4 teens were passed out all over the tiny cabin so Jason and I had to creep around as quietly as possible to let them sleep lest we wake the angry beasts. Taking my first sober view of the remains from the night before, the mess was amazing. Champagne glasses left all around and jello shots laying in sad globs on the floor. Party hats and noisemakers tucked into every crevice. Popcorn and donut sprinkles littered the floor like edible confetti. It was a sight to see for sure. I silently cleaned it all up, impressed with my ninja cleaning skills. The only part I could not really tackle was the vacuuming which I decided could wait until the beasts awakened. When the girls FINALLY joined the world at noon I could not contain my excitement of being able to finish cleaning  and I quipped ” Holy cow it’s like we had a party or something here last night” to which Bella replied “Actually I was thinking that it doesn’t look that bad at all”…..When I reminded her that I had been up for HOURS before her and did 90% of the cleanup in that time the realization dawned on her face as she said “Oh yeah. Riiiight.” See? The new year is already making us wiser.