Mall of America and the Pioneer Woman

First of all let me just say.

Ree Drummond Rocks.

I went to see her at Mall of America on Saturday.

I waited in line for 5 hours to see her.

You're wondering who she is right?

www.thepioneerwoman.com

She is one of the coolest ladies I know and I swear we could be sisters. Or something. Not in a stalker sort of way.

She is a city girl, who fell in love, moved to the country and fell in love with it.

I'm a country girl who fell in love, moved to the city, and now my guy and I are trying to get moved back out to the country that we love.

She homeschools.

I homeschoool.

She cooks.

I cook.

There are a lot of other similarites but the most is that she has this wicked sweet cookbook out, of which I stood in line for 5 hours to get signed.



Everything in it, from the recipes to the anticdotes, I love. I connect with.

She rocks.

Here's a few shots from the day at MOA.




I would have liked to have had a few more seconds, that's right seconds, with her, but when over 500 people came to see her, I couldn't be greedy. I just hope she likes the stuff I gave her. Homeade Pumpkin Toffee Pecan cookies, a festive holiday apron that I made and a bag of my favorite coffee... see posts below. :D

Thanks Ree~ You Rock.

Pre-Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

Duh right?

Well today I'm crazy busy with other stuff besides the rat race of getting turkey stuffs ready. I have homeschool with the kids until noon, a Chiro appt at 1:30, then more homeschool stuffs starting at 3, when my nieces and newphew come over for craft time.

Their mom isn't big into crafts and well... I am. So we hang out, do crafts and visit. It's a good excuse.

I like good excuses for things.

Like when I purposly wear "owie" shoes so I can buy new ones.

Come on, who HASN'T done that?...

...

Let me rephrase... what woman, who is as much of a shoe horse as I am, hasnt'?

There we go... that makes sense.


So today we're working on Christmas presents.

Not sure exactly what yet, but it should be fun. I'm pretty sure with all the extra crafty crap I have laying around we'll find something useful to do with it.

Monday, Monday <--this is singing of course.

So the cake turned out.

And the kitchen is now 90% clean.

Today is another day however it is a very full day.







Alright, so these are my new favorite thing...






Today I will be drinking multiple of these.

And then I will be going to bed when the sun goes down... which these days is around 4.

But this morning, with my first sip of go go juice... my body sighs and all is good in the world.

Here's what I'm drinking.




It's like an orgasm in a decent sized to-go cup that you don't throw away... Life is good day... Life is good today.

Adios and Via Con Dios...

Sunday

Today is Sunday.


I'd rather be veggin until Church tonight.

However I'm working on cake.

My hands hurt and I feel like I'm going to puke.

I'm not ill. I just think I ate too much frosting.



It's pretty much done. And after it is, I want to go and crawl back into bed. But no such luck. I have to then beautify the rest of my familiy so we can go to the reception where I will then set up said cake. I hope it makes the ride. I can't imagaine. OY.

I'm thinking today is going to be a much needed coffee day... I just hope my stomach can handle it.

November on the Ranch

I was thinking this morning about November back home. Obviously this picture is not not in November. Much to green. Yes this is the extent of green in Eastern Oregon. Field stay mostly nice, mountains are dry as dirt.




I was thinking about it though, and about how on a November morning I would probably be getting up bright and early to go work cows. It was about the time to do preg-testing which entailed corral work. Fun stuff actually. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Course I wasn't the one stickin my arm up Bessie's Hoo Haw either. LOL


My mom would make potato soup and grilled cheese sandiwiches for lunch. We'd come home covered in... well you can guess. Regailing the tails of the corral enough to have mom getting up and leaving the table. She doesn't have a weak stomach. She just didn't care to hear about it all.



For the record the only picture that is mine, from my ranch is the top one. The others are the other lucky bastards who are still fortunate enough to live on a a ranch.

I miss it so much.

Getting dirty.
Working hard.
Staying physically fit.

Working on a ranch, you don't have the option to sit on your butt eating bon bons.



You're working hard, on the ground, in the saddle busting your butt.



I think the thing I regret the most about my life on the ranch, besides the fact I'm not still there... I never took a camera with me to take the pictures I now have to search for on Google. Hoping something will capture a bit of what I had back home.

That's it for now.

I'm off to get more coffee and go to my husband's basketball game.

BoGo

Newest Acquisition:






I told you BoGo was my biggest weakeness. The coolest part, was I got my son a clearance set of shoes for 5 bucks. LOL! BONUS!

The Cake

So I'm making a sister in law a reception cake...

Funny thing was she asked me to do it first, but then when I told her I was flattered that she chose me since our other sister in law is a pastry chef, she kicked me to the curb. She asked the pastry chef SIL if she'd do it... Funny thing is, now she's stuck back with me because my PCSIL can't stand to do reception/wedding cakes. LOL! I found this funny.

More to come, including pics.



This is the inspiration... I just hope what I make doesn't land on cakewrecks. LOL!