Life | Midwestern At Heart

She’s Saddled – Coronavirus Day 18 (also)

This is Granny. Everyone, meet Granny, Granny, this is everyone.

She is a 2-year-old mare that we have. The youngest horse we have on our place. And it is time that we start doing something with her. She needs to earn her keep. haha. A few years ago I broke Bucky to ride. He was such an awesome horse. We sold him last year and to say I’m a little bitter about this… I am. I hear he’s an awesome horse though and the people who bought him are in love with him. That’s good.

A few years before that I broke Barbie to ride. Now… Once I got her broke, then I got pregnant and was “grounded” from riding horses for 9+ months… so my dad finished her for me. Because of potential complications, the doctors wouldn’t allow me to ride.

But now… we have Granny. That’s her barn name. A barn name is what you call them in the barn, etc… but they also have a registered name. Anyway… (more…)

Christmas House… Coronavirus Day 7

Here we are… Day 7 of this “You Should Stay Home Suggestion.” At this point, that’s where we are. There are some states I’ve heard who already have stay at home orders, but we’re just highly encouraged at this point.

Truthfully I am a homebody. I’m okay with being home. But this is eating at me. I like to go when I want to. I’m trying to do what’s best though, I don’t want to be the cause of a spread. At this point, there are no known cases in my county. So we’ll see.

This kind of feels like we’ve been given the gift of time. Nowhere to be and a lot of things canceled already so we have time. Just how on earth are we going to fill our time? Well today, at my house anyway, we’re doing the Christmas Gingerbread House. Say what? (more…)

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

It was interesting going back and reading this book. While it was a lot like the movie, there were a lot of differences too. I’m pretty sure years ago when I started reading the series, this was the last book I read through its entirety. But I have to say, it’s been years so I forgot quite a bit too.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

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Coronavirus Day 5

Just a friendly reminder. Especially since we don’t have any idea what lies ahead…

So much talk but at this point who really knows. We’re on spring break around here… but we got a phone call yesterday stating that school wasn’t starting back until April for one daughter and the other daughter’s school has been canceled for the rest of the school year.

Things are getting weird and scary. Don’t let fear be your driving force.

WTH is Happening? – St. Patrick’s Day – Coronavirus Day 4

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! In a matter of a few days, life has dramatically changed… It’s weird. What are we in for? I’m a little scared, but being scared doesn’t help things.

Earlier today the little and I decided to make cookies before we headed off to my parent’s house to ride horses. We’re being advised to steer clear of all people over the age of 65 who are at high risk. Well, my mom and dad kind of fall into the age category. I’m not steering clear of them though. I mean, I don’t want to be the cause of something, but going without seeing them would suck too.

I made the choice to let my little grow up with her grandparents and taking that away from her or them… that’s not an option. We’re around them almost every day anyway. So anyway… Maybe I’m a jerk… (more…)

Book Review: Bringing Up Bébé

I started this book in August 2018. Yes, that long ago. And finally finished it. I would read it and then quit. Read then quit. I’m not sure why I couldn’t just push through and finish it, but… I actually read it as a suggestion from a blogger, The Life of Bon. It sat on my Good Reads shelf looking like I wouldn’t read it. And truthfully, I wasn’t. But I finally did.

Bringing Up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman

The secret behind France’s astonishingly well-behaved children. When American journalist Pamela Druckerman has a baby in Paris, she doesn’t aspire to become a “French parent.” French parenting isn’t a known thing, like French fashion or French cheese. Even French parents themselves insist they aren’t doing anything special.

Yet, the French children Druckerman knows sleep through the night at two or three months old while those of her American friends take a year or more. French kids eat well-rounded meals that are more likely to include braised leeks than chicken nuggets. And while her American friends spend their visits resolving spats between their kids, her French friends sip coffee while the kids play. (more…)

Out of Our Control – Coronavirus Day 3

No truer words have been spoken. There is a lot of weird fear and hoarding going on lately. It is rather sad really. I don’t know anything more about the future than the next person. I did a little research on why people are hoarding toilet paper. It’s supposedly because when you can’t something you don’t understand, you feel better when you can control something. I guess being able to control the fact you have toilet paper is a happy thing? I’m back to being a little lost sadly.

My dad and husband both are constantly reminding me to not worry about the things we cannot control. That is really harder to do than said. (more…)

Time to Get Cooking… Coronavirus Day 2

So being shut in your house really gives you time to sit and think and think and think some more. Oy! I have to keep the radio or tv on or else I’m going nuts. And here we are on day 2. Okay, I might be overexaggerating right now. Truthfully, ask me on day 8 or 9 and that might actually be the truth. You never know.

But one thing that I have been thinking about a lot is cooking my way through the Julia Child Cookbook. Guys, this isn’t a new thought. Quite the contrary. I mentioned this in a blog post in 2018. OMG, I just looked up the original blog post to include with this. Get this, it was written on March 21, 2018. How close is that to current date? Today is March 15. That’s crazy.

I really want to do this. I’ve been talking to my husband a lot about in the last couple of months. I have a couple of holdbacks. First… have you seen the massive size of the cookbook? It’s huge. 2nd, While I try extremely hard not to be a picky eater, I’m afraid I might be too picky of an eater for this cookbook. (more…)

Wear the Damn Helmet… Coronavirus Day 1

The other day, in a matter of 5 minutes I saw no less than 4 posts where WHO was calling the Coronavirus (COVID-19) a Pandemic. Okay, so what does that mean?

Epidemic – noun – a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time.

Pandemic – adjective – prevalent over a whole country or the world.

Okay, what does that mean though? We know this is prevalent in multiple countries. We know countries like Italy are on lockdown and the U.S. has put a ban on travel in and out of regions around the world. But 4 different places telling us it is a pandemic, do we need to panic now or something? That really didn’t tell us anything other than something we already knew, they just declared what we already knew. I’m still scratching my head. (more…)

Book Review: Bridget Jones’s Diary

I know this is a movie that came out, oh gosh, way back when. But here’s the thing with this book… prior to starting Grad School, I bought this book, at a book sale at work for a quarter. It sat there waiting for me to read it for years. I’m talking years! Jump forward to grad school. I took a British Comedy class. I really had no choice. And this was actually on the book list that we had to read. Shhhh… I still never read it. I glossed over it enough to be able to talk in class about it, but I didn’t read it. I had this class the same semester that I had comps and this was the furthest thing from my mind. Oh, and watching the movie DOESN’T help unless you’re comparing how the book and the movie are DIFFERENT!