Cast Iron Pan & Walmart

Over the Weekend I had to question what year we were in… Here’s the story…

Saturday we wound up in Pawhuska, Oklahoma at The Pioneer Woman’s places… (the Merc, her new store, and of course the Lodge where she films her show). You are invited to the Lodge on the days that it is open, you just have to get a ticket at the Merc. We wanted to eat at the Merc, but we had to put our name on the list. It was a 2 1/2-3 hour wait to get in and we arrived at 10:45 a.m. We got our ticket to the Lodge and the guy told us we had plenty of time to go to the Lodge and come back. We were like 68 on the list and at about 15 you needed to head back this way. Cool. (more…)

Look for the Good

Here we are… the last day of the year. We’re about to complete another trip around the sun. And while there is a lot to be upset about in 2020… there’s a lot of good that came out of 2020 as well. What?

One thing that keeps coming running through my mind was a fight that my husband and I had. It revolved around time. Not enough time. Not enough time to do what we wanted. It was a bad fight and I truthfully don’t want to go into detail… but still… it was a bad fight. I can’t remember when it happened. I know it was after Christmas, but before the shut down in March.

You know when they say, will the fight matter in an hour, a day, a month, or even a year, should you fight for it? This particular fight really did seem to matter. It kind of feels like it still matters. (more…)

Friendsgiving 2020

Let’s just put a disclaimer out here because… I know most people’s feelings about get together this year. They aren’t popular. I would also like to state that most of the people that were here have had Covid. No, we didn’t give it to each other… all at different times… so during this event, we had the immunity and no one got Covid at this event. Now that that is out of the way…

Friendsgiving 2020

So KW’s mom has a picture very similar to this at a Thanksgiving when she was about 18 months of age (so a bit younger than he is here…). We decided to recreate the picture. I really wanted to put the pictures side by side, but after digging through all of Deb’s photos, we couldn’t find Shaye’s picture like this… It also took a little convincing KW that this was okay to do, even though apparently he likes butter just as much as his momma did.

They’re not Leggins, They’re not Jeans, They’re jeggings… aka Turkey eating pants! (think Joey from Friends) (more…)

I have Covid-19

It’s taken a while to convince myself it is okay to say that. Why? There is a certain stigma around it… It feels like I am the plague. Not that I have it… but that I am it. People want to avoid me…

Ooo you didn’t follow the “rules.” Oooo you’re dirty. You aren’t clean. You don’t know how to wash your hands.

Really, whatever else someone might say. There are a lot of things out there too. But I’m here to tell you… I’m personally on the verge of being a germ-a-phobe. I’m not quite one but I might as well be… My hands are so dried out from washing them sooooo much. I carry hand sanitizer in my truck, in the pocket of my pants, always.

The mask you ask… what is my stance. I think it’s stupid. BUT before you yell at me, I wear it. I don’t want to… but I do. I get pissed off every time I have to put the damn thing on. I have it in my back pocket at all times. I spray it down with hand sanitizer every time I take it off because, Hello… I don’t want all those germs up against my face all the time. Think about it… you go to a bathroom, especially a public bathroom, a toilet flushes… particles fly as they say. You breathe in and it gets on your mask and bam… you’re walking around with other people’s shit on your face. Congratulations whoever thought masks were a good thing. I hate public bathrooms in the first place. Then that thought makes me want to gag.

Through the 7 stages of grief… I bounce around as many people do.

  1. Shock/denial
  2. Guilt
  3. Anger/Bargaining
  4. Depression
  5. Upward turn
  6. Reconstruction
  7. Acceptance

Shock/Denial

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How to: Onion

Onions are one of those tricky vegetables. I’ve had friends (usually little kiddos) that can’t pronounce it correctly. The most common for a while was yonion. :). And it makes a lot of people cry. I can’t say everyone because I don’t cry cutting up onions, but I run people out of the house cutting up onions. My favorite thing to do IS cut up onions. So I always volunteer to cut onion for people. ALWAYS. 

So why do Onions make you cry?

Onions produce the chemical irritant known as syn-propanethial-S-oxide. The synthase enzyme converts the amino acid sulfoxides of the onion into sulfenic acid. It stimulates the eyes’ lachrymal glands so they release tears.

Do some Onions make you cry more than others?

It takes a lot of precise chemical reactions to produce tears. White, yellow, and red onions all have a higher concentration of the onion enzyme necessary to create syn-propanethial-S-oxide while sweet onions, green onions, and scallions have fewer of the necessary enzymes.

Do different Onions work better for certain things?

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Vampire Folklore

VAMPIRES

In vampire folklore, a vampire initially emerges as a soft blurry shape with no bones. He was “bags of blood” with red, glowing eyes and, instead of a nose, had a sharp snout that he sucked blood with. If he could survive for 40 days, he would then develop bones and a body and become much more dangerous and difficult to kill.

Today vampires are widely believed to be very old, tall, attractive, intelligent and aristocratic, sleep in coffins on native ground, have an insatiable thirst for blood, and who must be staked through the heart to be killed. In contrast, folkloric vampires (before Bram Stoker) are usually peasants of low intelligence, recently dead, do not need their native soil, and are often cremated with or without being staked. (more…)

Black & White Photos

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times… there’s something so classic and beautiful about a black and white photo. I recently watched The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Spoiler (but it’s an old movie so…)… at the end of the movie he photographs his brother’s wedding. All the photos they show were in black and white. I’ve always wanted to photograph a black and white wedding. Now, would I only want black and white wedding photos, probably not… BUT!!!!

October 10th, I got to photograph my husband’s friend since junior high’s wedding. It was pretty exciting. And while I edited all photos in color… I turned them all black and white too.

Oh… and if you notice below I have 3 cameras… I’m NOT a professional videographer, but I got to play and make them a video too. It was a lot of fun!

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The Northern Lights Quilt

Finally, the little’s quilt is done. While we were in Alaska, she was infatuated with the Northern Lights. Unfortunately, we weren’t there at the right time to see them. The ideal is mid-August through April. We were there at the end of July… so bummer. I told her we’d have to go back sometime in winter. I want to see a REAL snow! Although… recently I heard about looking at it in an icehouse in Finland. Maybe that’s where/how we should see the Northern Lights.

We immediately started working on the quilts when we got home because the little was so excited. We only bought a panel and one piece of material for her quilt while we were there. The rest was either bought locally or was stuff my grandma had stashed in her sewing room. (more…)