Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Snow, Snow, and More Snow!








Mother nature blessed everyone in the NW MO and NE KS area with a White Christmas. On Sunday when I was travelling home I kept seeing more and more snow as I got closer to home. As I pulled into St. Joe I couldn't believe how much snow we received. With approximately 10-12 inches with up to 5 ft drifts in places, we were hit with a blizzard.

As I travelled through town on roads that are still covered with snow and ice, I was not looking forward to the mess we would be battling all week.

However, my first instinct was that it's going to take me all night to clean out my driveway in the cold. But, when I pulled in to the driveway I was praising the person who cleaned it out for me. I'm not sure who cleaned out my driveway, but it was one of the best Christmas gifts I received!!

In watching the weather and listening to people talk around the office it looks like we will be receiving more snow tomorrow. St. Joe is going to be in an even bigger mess when we receive another few inches on the 12 we already have.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and looking forward to a Happy New Year. This past Sunday at church our pastor talked about the Christmas rush being like the song from Alabama, I'm in a hurry. The song goes "I'm in a hurry to get things done, oh I rush and rush until life's no fun." This hit home as we spend countless hours shopping and wrapping the presents that only takes seconds to unwrap. Often, we get so caught up in the Christmas season that we don't make the time to enjoy and 'have fun' during the holiday. I know Christmas is over, but I hope everyone takes the time to 'have fun' this holiday season with your family and friends.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

You know you are from a small town when.....

As I traveled home for the holidays I thought about the small town atmosphere that I had when growing up. Living in a town of 85,000 has been quite a change for me as my home town of Hanston is pushing 250 people. As I travel into town I look at my old schools, the 'beer joint' Evy's, dad's part store, the bank, and the coop and think about how much fun I had growing up in a small town. Things it home for me as mom and I were planning the meal for Christmas dinner and we were missing a few items. Well, in St. Joe I would just hop in the car and run to Wal-Mart or the grocery store and pick up the missing items and be back in ten minutes. No, we had to make 2-3 phone calls and ask everyone in town if they needed anything from the grocery store in the neighboring city as we are going to make a run! A 15 minute trip in St. Joe took us 1 hour in a small town!!

I thought I would come up with a few of my own you know you are from a small town when.....
  • You don't have a single stop light in the whole town and your roads are dirt.
  • You 'dragged' main on Friday and Saturday night wasting mom and dad's gas.
  • You would stop one of your friends in another car and sit in the middle of the road chatting. If anyone came up, you wouldn't move your car as you knew they would go around you. If they didn't, then you figured they were travelling in to meet someone.
  • You went out for sports.
  • You couldn't by cigarettes or booze underage because everyone knows how old you are.
  • You had bonfires.
  • You went country cruising.
  • You knew everyone in your school by first and last name.
  • You drove 45 minutes to go out to eat and to the movies on a date.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

My Wish for You in 2010

May peace break into your home and may theives come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assualt your lips!
May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.
May the problems you had, forget your home address!
In simple words.....May 2010 be the best year of your life!!!

Monday, December 21, 2009

A Cut Above the Rest

On January 1, tune in to the Tournament of Roses parade to see for the very first time a youth agriculture organization float featured during the parade. That's right, 2010 is the first year for the National FFA organization to have a float in the parade. With the support from RFD-tv, the float will future national officers, national advisors, and state presidents from all states.

The float, FFA Today, is one of the largest in the parade, at 75 feet long, 30 feet tall and 18 feet wide. It features three gigantic sculptures depicting FFA members engaging in agricultural, educational and development activities. The float will further be highlighted by several elements from the FFA emblem, each with a significant meaning. Alongside the emblem are a sleek horse, a combine, barn and windmill, a stand of evergreens, a grove of fruit trees, and finally urban buildings and a communications satellite - contrasting with the rural features to display the scope of FFA activities.

The float is designed to represent FFA and agriculture as it will be seen by all spectators, both at the parade and sitting in their living rooms.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

I'm a big sister!

Today, I met my little sister. Yes, I'm 24 years old and became a big sister due to being a volunteer for the organization, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of St. Joseph. My little sister is a 8 year old, blonde haired, brown eyed girl with glasses named Alexys. She comes from a single parent family and has an older 19 year old brother. As soon as I walked in the door she looks at her mom and goes "ah, she's so pretty," so I guess she was happy to see me! She's a great match for me as she is a little diva and chatter box just like me. This afternoon, we only had 45 minutes before she had to go to her church play practice so we went to Culvers for ice cream (where she wanted three scoops of ice cream) and just chatted and ate ice cream. Let's just say we didn't need the sheet of get to know each other questions, as both of us talked the whole time.

I'm super excited to be apart of a great organization and to help out a young child. I will continue to give you updates of our times together and post pictures soon.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Granny's Sugar Cookies

One of my favorite things to do during the Christmas holiday is to whip up a batch of Granny's sugar cookies! Granny passed down the recipe to us that contains a Ruff family secret ingredient, sour cream. You may think that sounds odd, but let me tell you, they are some tasty cookies!

A week ago, St. Joe received approximately 8 inches of snow and ice, so work was cancelled. Yippee!! I enjoyed the snow day as an 8 year old would, as I slept in and wore my pajamas all day. But, I did have a job to do and that was make cookies for the two Christmas parties coming up. So, my roommates and I decided to decorate the sugar cookies. After decorating over 65 cookies we had enough for the work Christmas party and our Ugly Sweater Christmas party at the Lucky Shamrock Ranch.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Blind Side: Courage and Honor

Currently, in the movie theatres is an outstanding movie called the Blind Side. I've seen it twice, once with my mom and the other with my roommate Crystal. It's an amazing story, as an upscale caucasian family takes in an african american teenager, named Big Mike, who to some may be known as 'homeless'.

In the movie Big Mike writes an assignment about honor and courage. The entire movie is reflected off of honor and courage as both Big Mike and the family step out of the comfort zones to do what's humanly right. Big Mike had to leave his lifestyle in Hurt Village where it was full of drugs, booze and violence. As a loving son, he knew that his mother and their lifestyle was not for him so he became a runner to find something better out on his own.

On the other hand, the family had to deal with the pressure of their peers and family of high status when they took in a young african ameican teenager. After receiving criticism, luckily they put their reputation aside and followed their hearts as providing Big Mike with love, a bed and an education.

Having the courage to reach down and help someone at a lower level overcome their obstacles is an incredible journey. Going out of your comfort zone to help others, is something that I feel is self rewarding. In doing so, I promise you that you will learn about others and yourself.

Lucky Shamrock Ranch






This past June, I purchased my first house. A 1980's model split level house with three bedrooms, 2.5 balths, and a well designed floor plan. I figured a house would be a good investment as I will get the first-time homeowners tax credit, and I will actually have some equity.


The house is in great shape, but only needed a fresh coat of paint and a lil' country look. Luckily, my mom and a family friend of ours from Tonganoxie, Kris Welter, came up to help me paint as I was in the middle of my busiest time of year at work. Plus, they were much better painters than I am!! I painted the ceiling! Whoops!



I don't think dad was impressed with the landscaping, as there was none. So with the help of my dad and Jim Welter we did some landscaping. I didn't know how to do the step look, but with Jim's expertise in landscaping we got it mastered. I also planted flowers in the front flower bed and around the large tree in the middle of my yard. My goal next year is to plant additional flowers in the bed and around the tree. I'm not much of a green thumb, but I enjoy the excuse to do something outside.

I have two roommates that live with me and we all get along great. Rachel and Crystal both work at the American Angus Association too. We all work in different departments, so sometimes the only time we see each other when we come home.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Welcome

Hello All!

Welcome to my blog. I'm Robin Ruff, the Director of Junior Activities for the American Angus Association. I'm a 24 year old Kansas native living in St. Joseph, Mo. I'm a true wildcat, who bleeds purple, as I graduated from Kansas State University in May or 2007 with an Agribusiness degree. I grew up on a small farm in Hanston, KS. Hanston is located about 40 miles northest of Dodge City in southwest Kansas. I come a great family of five, where I am the youngest of three girls.