Thank God that's over with (almost)

I am still recovering from the holidays and have yet to take down the Christmas tree but I'll get to that soon enough.

I have to back up all the way to Thanksgiving and tell you how all my festive dishes turned out.  They ROCKED the Casbah!  All I heard during dinner were groans of delight and clinking of serving spoons because everyone was going for seconds.  There was the big ol' ham, mashed potatoes (I was so worn out by the time it came to the potatoes I just made a regular batch instead of garlic and horseradish like I said I would make), a modified green bean casserole, rolls, sweet potato pie, apple pie, mocha silk pie, and pecan pie--ALL FROM SCRATCH!  It was pretty darn tasty if I do say so myself.

We had quite a mix of family to help us count our blessings and everything we are thankful for.  Some of my family, some of Eric's, and the house was packed.  I quite enjoyed it.

On to Christmas.  I tried as best as I could to start the shopping early this year and was successful at getting a big chunk out of the way.  My husband did most of his shopping online, which is way better than shopping on the 23rd or even the 24th of December with all the other dim-bulb procrastinators like he did last year.  No, instead of shopping at the last minute, he decides to re-do our garage.  A WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS!  There was no stopping him but I think he learned that a week before Christmas is not the best time to do a project that involves piling up a bunch of crap in the dining room, tearing down a half-wall which, incidentally was about as difficult to tear down as the Berlin wall; painting the walls and the floor, then moving said crap back into the garage.  Needless to say, it did not get done before Christmas but it's done now so I'll quit my yapping about it.  We had several different family gatherings to attend which is funny because at three of them we see some of the same people.  We had 5 in total and as much as I love my family, I'm glad that's over and I can kick back a bit.

I have lots of new toys to play with and a kid on break so we've been playing with this cool marble wall coaster.  You use putty to stick tubes and tracks to a wall to make a course for a marble to run through and it's totally awesome!  We've also been playing Scrabble Flash and it is super cool for word nerds like us.  One more goofy thing we've been playing with is the Criss Angel magic kit.  It was a gift for my daughter from my mom, and don't laugh or roll your eyes because it has some pretty good tricks in it that will blow your mind.  Seriously.  Tomorrow we are off to the Bricktown ball park to go snow tubing so that should be fun. 

I'll eventually take down the Christmas tree and we can call 2010 a gonner.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

3 months, really?

I just realized how long it's been since I last blogged and I have to tell you, it just seems like a few weeks ago.  But, it's right there--August was the last time and it was also the month I was supposed to get a new truck tag and I just did that yesterday so...yes.  I am the world's biggest procrastinator.  I take pride in it.

Anyway, I've been filling my time with the regular stuff--laundry, work, laundry, cooking, laundry, crocheting, and laundry.  For three people we wear a lot of clothes.  Also, there was getting in a routine with school, homework, Halloween preparations, rearranging my store, and more laundry.

To add a whole lot more to my plate, I'm going to have Thanksgiving dinner at my house this year.  See what I did there, more on my plate, dinner...I know, I know.  I really only did that for Nikki's sake.  (She is not-so-secretly addicted to punnery.)  I'm going to make a big ol' ham, roasted garlic and horseradish mashed potatoes, a Pioneer Woman green bean casserole along with her cornbread dressing with sausage and apples, and her sweet potatoes.  If you want really easy, great-tasting recipes, you must check out her website.  She has a lot of other great stuff on there and she's cute as a button!  And she's an Okie!

I'm also going to make pies from scratch too.  I have never made a successful pie, but this is my chance!  It's going to be my best pie-making excursion ever!  It better be or I might look back on this entry and cry.

I promise I'm going to at least make a more concerted effort to blog a little more frequently.  Notice the carefully chosen words that all procrastinators should know.  Wish me luck with all that cooking!

Hello again, lost poundage, why do you keep coming back to see me?

So much for all the hard work with a variety of exercise including stretching, strengthening, and aerobics.  I reached my goal and then I totally let loose!  I guess drinking beer, eating cheesecake, and sitting around like a bump on a log don't amount to having a svelte figure.  I think that maybe I thought, however illogically, that I would somehow magically stay at my goal weight no matter what else I did.  I know, I know.  That's just dumb.  I guess I better get back on the wagon.  Or have a beer.

Pump up the jam

This summer, my little girl and I have decided to do all kinds of homestead-y projects.  One of them is making jam.  I have never done it, but have thoroughly researched it and I'm pretty sure I possess the necessary skills to make it happen.  We are going to try strawberry first and later on down the line blueberry, raspberry, and even apple butter.  How exciting!  I know, we're dorks.

Anyway, here is our jam making in pictures:

We started with 4 pounds for fresh strawberries, then hulled and crushed them before adding 4 pounds of sugar.  Yes, 4 pounds.  I've never claimed to be an angel.

The recipe I was using then had me bring this mixture to a boil, then reduce heat slightly and cook until it reached desired consistency.  I think this took about 25-30 minutes.  If it doesn't thicken quite like you want it to, you could add liquid pectin, return to full boil for 1 minute then remove from heat before canning.


My jam came out a little thinner than I would have liked, but it's pretty tasty and no one has complained.

Lickety split

I know some of you as parents often bribe your children to get them to succumb to your will.  I rarely have to do that with my child, as she will pretty much do whatever I tell her to.  Sure, she moans and groans a little, but what 8-year-old wants to clean her room or take a bath?  That being said, we had to do major grocery shopping and since she didn't want to go, I bribed her with a stop off at Braum's for a banana split.  My daughter then informed me she had never had a banana split and I was appalled!  How could I have deprived my girl of such a wonderful treat?  I immediately took her to the nearest Braum's (25 miles away) and we waited in line for a good 15 minutes, which was fine because the people-watching in Braum's is PHENOMENAL.  We shared this beautiful banana split:

In approximately 6.4 seconds, it looked like this:

It was a feeding frenzy!  People were staring with mouths agape and neither one of us cared!  Total abandon!  We didn't eat like ladies in the slightest, but we did wipe our mouths delicately when we were finished and got up and exited the store gracefully.  And miserable.

Patio renovation...part 2

Well, it's been over a month since I last blogged about our patio renovation, and the more you get to know me, you will come to understand that I am a prefessional procrastinator who is married to a professional procrastinator.  To our credit, we have had a lot of things going on but I'll keep it real and tell you the truth:  we have been to busy with work (him) and having fun (both of us).  But now, we must get serious!  Procrastinators unite!  Tomorrow.  Ahem.

So far, the flagstone is clean and has a polyurethane coat on it.  I want to get a second coat down this week.  My husband and I painted a bunch of the wood we are using since we are sloppy painters and didn't want to make a mess on the stone or the screening.  Also, the framing for the screening is partially done.  Maybe the next time I blog about it, it will be finished!  Who am I kidding?

Here are some pictures:

So far, so good.  Let's just hope it keeps going that way!  For any of you working on home improvement projects, you are not alone.  Don't watch too much DIY network or HGTV.  That stuff will just lead to more projects that will inevitably lead you to ask yourself the question, "When did I become such a grown up?"

KB Photography

I would like for everyone to take a gander at my very talented sister-in-law's photography website.  She's got major skills and really loves what she does and it shows in her work. 

http://kandisbarnesphotography.com/

It's definitely worth a look, even if you aren't local.

Just happy to see me?

The other day I was in my nicely air conditioned house, minding my own business humming a little tune merrily while I worked when my husband comes in a tells me I have to come outside and see something.  Now, when you live in the country, you just never know what that thing might end up being.  It could be exciting, beautiful, scary, unbelievable, funny, or a combination of all of those things.  The anticipation during the walk out the door can sometimes be too much!

So, we walk outside so my husband can show me the snake he found right up by our house. 

Keep in mind, PETA types, we can not have a snake hanging around our house, so this one ended up dead and is now feeding fish and turtles in our pond.  Circle of life, people.  Come on.

This is not the first snake and certainly not the last, but hopefully we won't see any for a while.

Release the hounds

I'd like to expose the world to my mutts.  Their names are Sandy and Mojo. They are total weirdos.  Sandy showed up at our house just a few days before a major ice storm and I had to take her in.  She's so sweet and I couldn't leave a sweet little doggie out in the cold with icicles hanging off of her.  We claimed her, not knowing that she was pregnant and would soon give birth to 6 puppies, one of which was Mojo.

They run around the spread doing God knows what, but they always come home and make sure to talk to us and smile at us a little.  And, yes, they talk and smile, although Sandy is a bit more vocal and a little smilier.  That's a word, right?  Now it is.

This is Sandy with my daughter, ready to herd her if she needs to:

Here is little puppy Mojo.  She's so tiny and cute and soft!

Here's Mojo now:

3 years old and a total freakazoid!  I never know what dead animal is going to show up in my yard, when my wrists are going to get gnawed on for stopping the belly rub or paying attention to Sandy, or even when she will bolt up out of her sleep to take off like a bullet after something in the pasture.  My dogs are quite the source of entertainment.

Patio Renovation...Part 1

My lovely husband likes to keep me on my toes and his latest way of doing that is to start a home improvement project.  I can tell when he's got an idea cooking because he folds his arms and squints a little and starts a sentence with, "What would you think if we..." and we end up doing something crazy like remodeling something or opening a book store.  I decided long ago to just go with it because it usually ends up pretty cool.  If it was left to me, nothing would ever change.  Ever.  But, that's not how it is, or even how it should be, so I guess it's quite a blessing we ended up together.

If you are not into home improvement projects, skip this post because it is completely eaten up with it.

Stage one in the renovation was to clear out all the junk on the patio.  Dog houses included.  This thoroughly confused one of our dogs and I watched her sniff around where her house had been and she looked at me as though asking for help.  I showed her where her house was and she huffed about it for a minute before going in.  We had a TON of stuff out there, man!  A literal TON.  Well, maybe a half ton.  Okay, a quarter ton.  That's still a lot, right? 

The next step was to power wash the flagstone.  I always thought it was pretty, but with it being outside, it was hard to keep clean and I never noticed how dirty it really was.  Here is a  5-year-old picture of the flagstone before washing it.  Also, our patio is now covered.  And I am no longer that thin.

And, a picture of the flagstone with a dog sitting on it:

I couldn't help myself.  She's just so darn cute. 

So we got all the stuff off the patio and now our yard looks like Sanford and Son set up shop there.  I am a bit of a neat freak so it is vexing to say the least but my mantra since starting this project is, "It will all be worth it in the end".  Actually, I have a lot of mantras lately but this one applies to a whole mess of things in my life.  Maybe you should try it too! Or "Count to 10" or "Take a deep breath" or "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me".  Give it a try.  Or don't.

More on the renovation in the coming weeks.

The Tao of Horses

This is Lady. 

She is very sweet, but only if you pay all your attention to her.  She doesn't like it when you pet or feed the other horses and lets it be known.  Lady has only been with us a short while, so I'm still getting to know her.  Like I said, she's sweet.  She's a bit tempestuous and very funny if you watch from a distance.  What I didn't know about her is that if she is startled, something strange happens to her.

I was out taking pictures around the house and of course thought of taking some of the horses.  There are three, but Lady was the only one around.  I took a few and wanted to get some of her whole body and started to take a few steps back.  I accidentally stumbled over a brush hog for the tractor and it made a noise.  Lady startled and took off like a rocket.  I lured her back to me with my sweet, angelic voice, and then I noticed the strange thing happening to her.  Her breath was finally calming down...

...and she started falling asleep.  It was as if by being startled and getting a shot of adrenaline, she sort of shorted out and needed to take a nap for a minute.

Poor thing.  I didn't mean to freak her out so bad.  I hoped she would forgive me.

Then she leaned in for a kiss and I knew she had.

Horse Play

This weekend was quite an eventful one.  Of course it was Easter weekend, (more on that later) but our family had another event to attend.  My daughter had her first big horse show!  She was excited, but I think I was more excited and nervous than she was.  What's funny is that the only event she was riding in was a lead line class, which is just the kid riding on the horse's back being led around on a rope by an older kid.  Granted, some skill is involved, and it was her first real show, but I really got all worked up over nothing.  All that preparation and nervousness for a little three-minute ride around half the arena.  I was happy though.  She got a blue ribbon and looked absolutely adorable in all her equestrian garb.

Just look at that face.  Who wouldn't love that face?  I know, I'm her mom and I'm a little biased, but, come on!  Gorgeous!

My friend Laura saw K (my daughter) all dressed up and exclaimed how she was just going to start dressing like that so people would think she's a "horse riding girl" too.  Let's hope they don't ask her any questions about riding or horses in general.

Endless love

Well, in my last post I announced my upcoming anniversary.  We took a great little trip to a spa resort called Ojo Caliente in New Mexico.  We got to walk around in our robes and a heat induced daze for 2 nights and 3 days.  Our stay included two 50-minute massages and since my husband doesn't "do" massages, I got to have his!  That means two massages in as many days!  My favorite masseuse there was a lady named Laurian who uses hot stones as a part of her regular massage.  She had a wonderful touch and her room was very warm.  Just know that if you go to her, she is very hippy-ish and talks about energy and grace a lot, which was fine with me, but some people think that's weird.  Anyhoodle, here are a few pictures of the place.

                               

Above is the view of the front of the plaza cottages.

                                           

View out the back door of the plaza cottages.

                   

This is my lovely husband ordering some delicious food from the Artesian Restaurant at Ojo Caliente.  Yummy!  And the food, too.

The first night we were there I had the pork osso buco, with grilled polenta, and a roasted tomato and a red chile pozole sauce.  Good stuff!  My husband had the enchiladas, topped with traditional green chile, New Mexico style with a fried egg on top.  It also came with a side of jicama peanut slaw.  He said the enchiladas were good, and I'm sure they were, but he'll eat anything.  The jicima peanut slaw was so good, I was trying to dissect it so I could make it at home.  So good I got it again the next day. 

One more thing about the food:  if you eat lunch there and you like fish, you have to try the Ojo fish tacos!  I almost died they were so good!  All the flavor combinations sent me over the edge.  Can you tell me likes me food?!  It had mango salsa, red chile sauce, mahi mahi, cabbage, lime, cilantro all wrapped up in 2 corn tortillas...oh, the humanity!  I also had some more of the jicima peanut slaw and ate until I felt my gut pop.  Then it was naptime.  Then it was sauna and steamroom time.  Back to being dazed and confused.  It was wonderful.

Sorry I didn't take more pictures of the resort. I couldn't really think all that clearly. Remember that heat induced daze I told you about?

As we left beautiful sunny New Mexico, we headed north to Moffat, Colorado to Joyful Journey hot springs.  I'm a big believer in omens and this what lay ahead of us:

Just a few minutes after I took this picture, there was a loud ***POP*** followed by a few expletives, a panicked look on my husband's face, and some expertly executed maneuvering of his part.  We had a blowout 2 MILES away from our destination.  TWO MILES!!!  We got pulled over, where there was no shoulder and my husband changed the tire.  It was windy and cold, but I had to stand behind the truck to make sure everyone saw that we were stopped and didn't plow into us and, you know, kill my beloved.  That would've been very bad.  Anyway, we got the tire fixed and went on our merry way.

We just stayed one night and really only went to meet up with two of the cutest people I've ever known, my husband's cousin, Jessica and her husband, Dusty.  I sure wish they lived closer so we could hang out more.  We soaked in the springs a bit, but after Ojo Caliente, I wasn't quite able to handle the heat for very long and we all decided we should go out to eat.  Yay!  My favorite hobby!  We went to eat at a place I cannot for the life of me remember the name of where I made the mistake of ordering the spiciest dish I have ever attempted to eat.  Note: attempted.  It was chipotle chicken with gorgonzola and bacon.  I thought my mouth would blister!  In Oklahoma, if you order chipotle anything, it's a little smoky and a little spicy, but flavorful and enjoyable, but apparently in Colorado, chipotle means BURN YOUR FACE OFF.  I don't know about you, but I don't like burning my face off. 

We had a great time and left the next day.  As we hit the open road, we noticed our truck riding a little rough and putting out smoke.  We thought maybe it was an issue with altitude, but soon realized it was something major.  We burned through 8 quarts of oil and buckets of sweat on the way home.  Got it checked out---engine's blown.  Great.  Vacation is over!  To top it all off, my hormones decided to go out of control the day after we got back.  Please keep my huband in your prayers beacause he is a great guy and is amazing at dealing with me and my insanity at the least convenient times.

Since I didn't take as many pictures as I would've liked, the links to Ojo Caliente and Joyful Journey are listed below:

 http://ojocalientesprings.com/index.php

http://www.joyfuljourneyhotsprings.com/

Super cool eagle cam!

For all you nature lovers out there, you have to check out this link.  It is a live view of a pair of bald eagles and their nest.  This nest is on OG&E property at Sooner Lake north of Stillwater, Oklahoma. The original dead nest tree used by this pair of eagles fell down after they nested and got to raise two little eaglets to flight.  I watched last year and it was so cool to watch from beginning to end, especially because the eaglets changed so much every day. This year, OG&E has erected an artificial tower which these eagles have adopted successfully. The site is updated when there is any change in status of what's going on with the birds or any technical issues. I hope you have as much fun watching as I know I will!

http://www.suttoncenter.org/eaglecam.html

Ahhhh....and ugh.

Spring is in the air around here and I couldn't be happier about it!  The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and I am uncharacteristically giddy.  I love being outside and taking in the warmth the sun has to offer, playing with my little girl, and generally being in bliss during my favorite season.  The flowers bloom, the grass turns green, and I feel like Snow White with all the creatures swarming around me while I sing to them and the look at me adoringly. 

With that being said, there is a flipside to spring that isn't so pretty or pleasant.  It of course has to do with people.  I am not a big fan of people and that's exactly why I don't surround myself with them.  Back to spring.  Spring is the time when people can't quite figure out how to dress.  The first inkling of a nice spring day and people are wearing short shorts and tank tops with flip-flops.  They are also wearing those short shorts from last year that they have most likely outgrown, leading me to see things that I don't necessarily want to see.  And the flip-flops.  Please spare my retinas and scrub your feet a bit (or more) before you don your summer shoes.  Maybe put on a dab of lotion, something! 

I am going to try a little something new and try to have faith in my fellow humans because, well, what's the harm?  I will try to hang on to that faith as long as I can but don't be surprised about how quickly it goes.  I am a somewhat impatient person.

Well, enjoy the beginning of Spring and try not to sprain your eyeballs on any of the monstrosities I went on a rant about!

In Spite of Ourselves...

This month I will be celebrating 10 years of marriage to my best friend/arch nemisis.  He is turning out to be a better man than I ever thought he could be.  In recanting our first meeting, my husband informed me that he thought my best friend, Laura and I were a couple of bitches.  Hot bitches, of course, but bitches nonetheless.  My husband and I were a hot mess when we first got together, and sometimes we still are, but have learned to roll with it and not to take anything too seriously.  We share a most excellent country life together that I never would have pictured myself in, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.  One thing I've learned in being married to my husband is that if you don't have bad intentions, you can't go wrong.  Oh, and to expect the unexpected.  He has turned my life into quite the ride.  In celebration of our "wuv...twoo wuv", I give you our song.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwJ2IzQTnhI

Welcome, welcome!

I have just decided in the last few days about starting a blog about this thing called my life.  I hope for it to be a bit like a journal and provide a way for me to reflect on "stuff".  Maybe along the way I'll make a few friends by sharing my experiences with fellow mothers, wives, country-dwellers, book lovers, and whoever else joins in.