Proud to be an Okie (but I'm not from Muskogee)

I love living in Oklahoma.  We have the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets, the very diverse weather, some of which can scare the pants off of you, lots of varied geological landscapes and lakes.  But by far sunsets are my favorite.  Here are some pictures, although they are not nearly as beautiful as seeing the real thing.

Nice and peaceful, right?  Here are some that aren't quite so.  This is the kind of weather you've got to keep your eye on here because it can lead to some really bad storms and even potentially a tornado, so you've got to be ready to jump in your fraidy hole, aka the cellar or basement.  Not at this time of year though.  Just in spring and a little bit in fall.  Everything has to be just right to spawn a twister.

And when we have thunderstorms, they can take your breath away too.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures.  Maybe someday I will learn to take a decent picture, but until that day, please bear with me.

In addition to beautiful sunsets and crazy weather, we Okies have lots of cool places to visit.  One of my family's favorite places to go is to the Wichita Mountains in Lawton, OK.  We do some hiking and relaxing and then we eat at Meer's where they have the best longhorn burgers you can get in Oklahoma.  They fill up a pie plate and I can eat a whole one!  You have to also get the fried okra and follow it all up with piping hot peach cobbler topped with homemade vanilla ice cream.  Tip:  find the crispy yet chewy pieces of the cobbler crust and you will find eutopia.  Picutres of the Wichitas in all their glory:

I can't find my pictures of us at Meer's.  I had some and if I ever find them I will post them.  I am very unorganized.  Can you tell?

The best part of living in Oklahoma is in my own backyard.  Kids, dogs, and horses roam free and there's always something to do.  When we have company, especially kids, we're outside.  My husband does some dutch oven cooking that is to die for.  We have campfires, fishing, frog hunting, fort and teepee building.  Just basically everything I need to be happy.





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.