Missouri

Our Snow Apocalypse

My truck was totally cleaned off when I went to bed last night…
Saw this on a friend’s Facebook page… oh so true (haha) (It is meant to be harmless fun…):
 
Public service announcement for Missouri 😆 🥶❄️🧊😳
 
All of you transplants that are new to Missouri are about to experience a “Missouri Winter 🥶 ”. This is 6 or 7 days of cold 🥶 , maybe some ice 🧊 and snow ❄️ with single-digit temperatures and with a wind chill, it will be well below zero. The weatherman will threaten snow ❄️. Know that it may snow ❄️, and it may not and if the weatherman says 2 inches then it could be 10 or it could be 1/2”. It doesn’t really matter how much snow ❄️ it is, we’ll all freak out because we don’t see snow often.
 
The threat of snow ❄️ (or ice 🧊 ) from the weatherman is your prompt to head to the grocery store and buy milk 🥛, eggs 🥚, and bread 🥖. It doesn’t matter if you need these items. It’s just what we do. Everyone in town will be there.
 
You’ll also need to make a mad dash for faucet covers and finding them and getting out of the store will be like an episode of the hunger games. You’re in the redneck district.
 
Don’t look for a sled 🛷 . You won’t find one. In the rare chance, we get enough ice or snow to sled grab some cardboard or a trash can lid, and go find the nearest hill. You may become alarmed by the fact that you’re “sledding” towards a ditch, fence, tree 🌲, or maybe into a road. Just go with it. You’ll be fine.
 

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3-2-1 Cake Mix and Cake

This weekend was special. It is our annual Trails for Kids fundraiser. If you have been here anytime at all… you know that usually, we have this ride in April. Also… this year has been “interesting” (to say the least!) so we had to postpone until this past weekend. All summer long we wondered if it would even happen. I mean seriously…

But the time came and it did, in fact, happen! I can’t give away any of the details on the ride just yet but know, it was a MAJOR success! That would be an understatement!

On Friday night of our fundraiser, we have a bake sale. A few years ago I had a chocolate chip cookie in a cast-iron skillet go for $130. Well, this year I had something go for more than that… but that’s another story for another time :). Yup, I’m mean.

Today I want to share a recipe I’ve shared before… BUT… the cool thing is this is perfect for camping. And since this fundraiser involves camping, what better time to share, am I right?

3-2-1 Cake Mix & Cake

Ingredients for Cake Mix Setup:

  • A box of Angel Food Cake mix
  • A box of your favorite flavor of cake (chocolate, funfetti, lemon, you name it!)
  • A ziplock bag

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The Farmer’s Daughter – An Ozark Eatery – Cassville, MO

This picture and the next were taken during our first visit to The Farmer’s Daughter restaurant back in the Fall of 2018. That was the first and last time we’d eaten there until last night. There are a couple of reasons behind that… one we don’t live in Cassville. We usually just pass through on our way to the lake. And it’s not just right around the corner from our house either. And 2, our first experience there wasn’t so great. But that all changed last night! (more…)

Crazy Weather… Coronavirus Day 47

I mentioned the other day that the weather has been crazy! Well, that’s no joke. But what’s really interesting is… we haven’t heard a whole lot about tornadoes lately. I’m scared of tornadoes. But they seem to be fairly scarce these days. I can’t help but wonder if they got wind of Coronavirus. haha. There actually was a tornado that hit down south… some people weren’t allowed into a tornado shelter because they didn’t have masks on. That’s not right. But that’s neither here nor there. I wasn’t there, it just made the news. I can’t do anything about it.

We had a tornado hit local here last night though. In fact, in the area near my old house. So after we got the all-clear, we decided we needed some ice cream. We went the LONG way to get ice cream and went to check out the area. If the tornado actually touched down, it was in the middle of a field. 

But then the sky blew up. It was flipping nuts! It looked as though it was absolutely ON FIRE. I’ve never seen such a vibrant orange sky. It was crazy.

With the way this year is headed, I can’t say that anything much surprises me these days.

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Expecting a “New One” – Coronavirus Day 32

For the record, It’s NOT me. Now back to regularly scheduled programming. haha.

Since we’ve been home on this self-quarantine type whatever you want to call it, we’ve been doing a lot of riding. This has been our form of social distancing. But it has also been our form of not going mad in the house. Before this week, I’m pretty sure we’ve only missed riding a handful of times in the last month. That’s not bad, right? So why have we missed so much this last month? Well, because we started questioning if Aloha (the horse) was pregnant. 

We’ve had a lot of times in the past few years we thought she was bred. Always turned out she wasn’t. We’ve only had her checked by a vet for pregnancy one time. That was the only time we really thought, fingers crossed, she might be. She wasn’t. She was open (not in foal). 

Now one thing about this mare (female horse) is that she is kind of short and chunky anyway. That’s just her build. Big-boned as some might call it. (more…)

George Strait Concert Kansas City: Where We Stayed and Ate

We saw George Strait in concert. The end. 

Haha, no, but seriously, we did! He was friggin awesome!! So here’s how our day/trip went.

Hubby and I have been doing Keto (More to come on that). We decided that we could find something to eat at José Peppers. Plus, we really like José Peppers… win win.

José Peppers

1100 E North Ave
Belton, MO 64012

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King George – The Bucket List

King George. That’s all I need to say. If you don’t know who he is… we might not be friends. Haha. 

Okay, so King George is also known as George Strait. One of the best singers of all time. He could sing the phone book and make it a #1 hit.

When I was younger, I always said that there were 3 men… a cutting horse trainer, a family friend who also showed cutting horses, and George Strait. My dad used to laugh at this. They don’t let me forget that either.

I have always wanted to see him in concert too, but then in 2012, he announced that his Cowboy Rides Away Tour would be his last tour. He was retiring. And… I didn’t get to see him. I was a little frustrated. The tour ended on June 7, 2014. That was it. I was so sad and frustrated. 

BUT then… he announced that he was going to do a very short tour, including Las Vegas. My parent’s trip last summer got rerouted to Las Vegas and they got to see him in concert. My dad bragged and bragged. Last fall I had some friends who were headed to Las Vegas and I asked if they were going to see George Strait? They said, No, Reba. And somehow that got us started looking up George Strait. 

My friend Shaye, who was looking this up with me, found tickets to see him in Kansas City in January for dirt cheap. I didn’t believe her so I mentioned something to hubby. Next thing I know…

We. Had. Tickets.

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Orange Beach, Alabama – Part 4 (the end)

Here we are, winding down the trip to Orange Beach, Alabama. Make sure you read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Thursday morning started with breakfast. Earlier in the week, when we went to the Mexican Restaurant, I saw a place to get Beignets. Now, I know that’s more of a signature New Orleans item, but still, I wanted to try them. I mentioned it to hubby and he was all for it. So off to Café Beignet, we went. Again, we left my MIL and little one to get dressed at the hotel. Note: They never got dressed when we’d go off to get breakfast. 

Café Beignet

Rouses Market
25405 Perdido Beach Blvd
Orange Beach, AL

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Walking in a Winter Wonderland (in November…)

I woke up on November 12, 2018, wondering if I still lived in Southwest Missouri. Why do you ask? Because we got snow. Snow in November. That doesn’t typically happen in Southwest Missouri until late December or January if any at all. And it wasn’t just a light dusting… oh no… it was flat out snow. I think we got a few inches.

And of course, school was canceled. So we went out and played in the snow. (more…)

Kansas City: Where We Stayed, Where We Ate, What We Did

Wow, it’s been quite a while since we actually went to Kansas City, but still, it’s worth mentioning.

Last month we made a weekend trip, actually just an overnight trip to Kansas City. The goal was to go to the Farmer’s Market and get Jalapeños. I know that sounds funny, but hubby makes these things called candied jalapeños and the best place to get bulk jalapeños at a decent price is the City Market in Kansas City. Gosh, I love that place. The first time we went, I wound up buying 20 pounds of jalapeños. This time we only bought 15 pounds. haha. You still get just as many weird looks buying 5 pounds fewer jalapeños.

But, because we went, we decided to make it a weekend trip. This summer’s goal has been to Have Fun!

Where We Stayed

4600 Summit St. Kansas City, MO

We stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites Kansas City Country Club Plaza. (more…)