Once again Pensive Robin is hosting a Blog Hop – which is kind of like a Open House for bloggers. I’ve met some of the sweetest people on previous Blog Hops and I’m so excited to meet some more!
So – hey everybody- come on in and make yourself at home!
Let me introduce myself!
I’m Melinda – a 40 something country gal living with my amazing husband and five kids on our land in the beautiful hills of southern Iowa. Our nearest neighbors are Amish.
My husband and I will celebrate 20 years of marriage next week!
I have a huge gardens, an orchard, lots of chickens, crazy hormones, 3-1/2 teenagers, 1 1/2 pre-teens, and a big old farmhouse that we are renovating.
And I’m a chocoholic.
Totally.
I ate the head of a caramel Santa Claus for breakfast. I found him in the freezer when I went looking for cheese. He just looked at me and said, “Eat me already – I’ve been in here since December!” 
My other addictions include Food Network, Christian fiction, cooking, baking, and thrift store shopping.
Both my husband and I have large – slightly crazy families – so I have massive amounts of company – sometimes for a week at a time. I love feeding the multitudes!
I write about raising teens, growing old, country living and the craziness of life.
Sometimes I’m silly. Sometimes I’m serious. But I try to always stay real.
Thanks for stopping by!
Come back soon!
Hi there! I’m visiting from the blog hop, although I’ve been here before.
I think it’s so funny that you ate the chocolate Santa for breakfast…now that’s hard core chocolate love!!
Hi! Stopping by from the Hop! I love the name of your blog!
Okay, I am really jealous of the chickens. I have always wanted chickens!
I can’t wait to follow you, my goal is to really start simple living – nothing complicated, just God my family and well…..the Army doesn’t help making it simple but we try
Thanks for stopping by my blog, I’m so glad I participated in this Hop!
Good to meet you!!! Hope to get to know you better as I peruse more of your blog!
I LOVE me some chocolate. I so wish I could do the gardening thing but I tend to kill any plants near me!
Love that you have a tag just for chocolate. I do, too. We have more in common than that, though: I’m also 40-something, I like cooking and baking, and I have an almost-teenager. (I shudder at the thought.)
I’m looking forward to reading more of your blog!
Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier. Maybe I can get some garden tips from you!
Jumped over from the Blog Hop! I have always wanted to visit an Amish village:)
I love chocolate too!
Thank you so much for the sweet comment! We are looking forward to the next 70 years or so together. =) Happy Anniversary to you! And as I sit here and type this, I am eating a Milka chocolate bar. After just finishing my Zumba class. Ha!
You sound absolutely fascinating! Enjoy your anniversary!
You’re blog looks great, and I love your humor! So glad we could “meet” via the blog hop.
I love your “1/2 teen, 1/2 preteen”! I was that child – 8 going on 14 – and I have a feeling my oldest (currently 3.5) will be the same way.
Have a great time at the blog hop!
Isn’t this fun! I’m so glad you came by my blog. I was just looking around on your site and came across the fruit fly trap. I have to send that to my mom! They live in the country and grow a lot of their own food, so mom’s kitchen is always full of home grown goodies. Of course that means fruit flies abound. She’d love your traps!
Thanks for visiting my site! Amish blood runs in our veins. Maybe we’re related to your neighbors!
I read your comment on my blog, and then I saw that you love the Anne books. =) Must mean you are a kindred spirit. Nice to “meet” you.
Just hopping over to say hi! Thanks for your comment on my blog.
Have you been back to Cheyenne since your honeymoon? I imagine a lot has changed except downtown. We’ve been here just about 7 months now. We love the weather but we haven’t enjoyed a whole winter yet. We’ll see how I feel about the snow next May.
I look forward to following your blog and getting to know you better. Have a blessed day!
Hi,
I’m stopping by from the party
I am a 40 something wife to (1) and mother to (3).
You sound like a fun person to get to kinow.
I hope you stop by my blog.
Chocholics unite!
I love the Santa in the freezer. And chocolate caramel, no less. Yummmm. Tonight, after quesadillas for dinner…
Ice cream pie. MMmmmmmm. Yes, I forgive you for drooling all over my blog comment.
I am addicted to thrift store shopping too!
I love me some Food Network. My husband and I watch it together now, which makes my heart happy.
Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier. It’s nice to meet you through Robin’s Blog Hop.
Great to learn more about you! I’m also a chocoholic!
I love dark chocolate…
Congratulations on 20 years next week! That is awesome!!
Happy Blog Hop ’10. I look forward to reading your posts…blogging is such fun!
Okay that totally describes you Melinda
How funny to see it in print 
hee hee
Happy pre-anniversary!!
~Cinnamon
Thanks for visiting my blog…I’m a chocolaholic, too!
And we’re practically neighbors…I’m in Kansas City…I work with the American Red Cross office here in KC, but go all over if there’s national work needed.
And I hope I never have to visit Iowa again….for flooding! Ha!
Oops…I meant, that I loved Iowa….but I hope it never experiences any more flooding…I realized after I typed that, that it may have sounded wrong….it’s late and I’m brain dead!
Girl, you are my kind of friend! I am also a country girl from Oklahoma and I love the Food Network! And I am not too far away from having teens…I could use some advice!
Have a wonderful night!
Hi there, Just want to introduce myself and say “Hey!” Thanks for stopping by my blog today and leaving a message. I always love “meeting” other Moms of FIVE! Raising five is such an amazing journey . . . don’t you think?
Would love for you to stop in again soon! I just may have to return to your little corner of the world too! God Bless!
Nice to meet you, thank you for visiting our blog!!!
Nice to meet you! We are country folk at heart,but had to move to the city for my husband’s job! We miss it dearly!
I tried for a VBAC for my second,but it failed. My birth stories are here at this blog : http//heatherforhim.blogspot.com/ Can’t wait to know more about you!
You sound like my kinda gal. We are country people as well, only we have a small family and wish we had a large one. Anyway, I look forward to reading more. BTW – I would have eaten the Santa also
mmm…chocolate! I love that you have a tag just for chocolate…I have a tag on my blog just for Olive Garden. HA!
Happy early anniversary
Stopping by from the blog hop…funny about the santa head!
Hi! Hopped on over from the BlogHop. I will definitely be back. Looks like we have somethings in common. =)
Hi Melinda! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog… you should totally get out your sewing machine! You have a beautiful family. Living in a country farmhouse is a bit of a dream of mine… but I think I’m too much of a city/suburban girl at heart. Have a great weekend! See you again soon.
I love your fun description of you and your blog. Sounds like a blast. I can’t wait until I live somewhere where I can have a garden!
Alicia
Stopping in from the ‘hop’… well HELLO neighbor to the east! (Nebraskan here) Congratulations on your upcoming wedding anniversary… that is wonderful!! An orchard sounds amazing!
~Jennifer
I am stopping by from the bloghop. I love your blog.
Hi Melinda–thanks for letting us hop on by! Your almost last paragraph about being serious and silly and real–I think I wrote almost the same thing in my post. And I’m 40 something too… I live on less than a 1/4 acre in a suburb in Colorado though…and don’t have chickens, and can’t grow things. I’ve been known to eat chocolate for breakfast too–breakfast of champions (with diet coke of course). Nice to blog-meet you!
Hi Melinda, thanks for stopping by my blog. It’s good to be able to Hop your way and meet you. We do seem to like a lot of the same things – I’ve been known to eat some pretty sweet things for breakfast, too!
[...] Blog Hop ’10 [...]
Hi I Love chocolate too and usually have a candy bar or hersheys kisses for pre morning breakfast:O) Glad to meet ya isabel
I’m still hopping around on the Blog Hop!
That’s what I’d call a breakfast of champions…
Just HOPPIN by,
Oh I love your blog and have to come back again.