those of you who know me well know I love to eat. Ask anyone I work with, my students, (especially those who are always with me on FFA trips) and they will tell you on any given day, we will eat at least 4 times, because I love to eat and try new places.
well recently, my good friend Anna introduced me to Ree Drummond, who could easily be my best friend as well as yours, I get this idea just from readin her "confessions" about her life as a ranch wife in the middle of no where. go to the pioneer woman and check her out, you will surely fall in love as fast as I did.
Anyways, Anna introduced me to her through her blog postings, as well as her sister Katy's blog posting but most recently at our friend Mattie's bridal shower, Anna gave her The Pioneer Woman Cooks - a WONDERFUL cookbook that I secretively thumbed through and decided it was a must in my kitchen. I strongly suggest anyone and all woman have it on hand in their kitchens to use at a moments notice. I bought mine on Amazon, but I read on her site that you can get them at Target, WalMart and other fine bookstores.
I have also made a profession change. ha! just kidding! don't wet yourself, I am just changing my profession for the summer.... much a surprise (pleasent surprise I hope) to my wonderful husband, I will become a cooking extrodinaire and I plan to cook page by page, the entire cookbook this summer. Is this a challeneg? most certainly! am I up for it? most definitely.
so look forward to future postings as I do plan to keep you updated on my successes and surely some failures as well.
Foodies, I have officially joined!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
boots and spurs
Case LOVES his boots. He also LOVES his spurs. most of the time, he must wear them everywhere, whether or not he is riding his horse or not. The other night he nearly refused to remove them before bed time, even then, he attempted to convince me he was going to take them to bed.
potty training has begun
school is officially out and we officially began potty training Case on Friday afternoon. I say officially, because before now we just let him go potty whever, no big deal, I don' really care attitude and mentality. However, I now am on a mission to have him completely potty trained by the end of the summer. So far,... doing good. as of yesterday, I thought he was about to defeat me... then I learned that as long as I let him do the choosing of undies choices, he is sold on going on the potty! its been great!
I might be speaking to soon, so I will quit and give you some pictures to enjoy.
Case was enjoying running in the field below the house and also showing me his "nalga" (bottom in spanish)
Monday, May 10, 2010
Mothers Day
We went down to Elgin to celebrate mothers day with my dad's side of the family. My parents, Tyler and Christie, my grandparents and Eric and I all went down. It was truly a great time, Case and Ila played well together, I helped my mom make lunch and we just had fun hanging out on the ranch.
Plus, my grandpa gave us a calf table, so life is good and all was wonderful!
Happy Mothers Day to all you wonderful mothers!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Ranch Wife 101
Ranch Wife 101
Wyoming Ranch Wife posted these guidelines on her blog recently; I still think they're applicable to most women in ranch situations whether you're married to a cowboy or not. I stole this off of my friend Katys' blog, as I feel they are very applicable to my life and probably yours as well!
1. Always load your horse last in the trailer so it is the first one unloaded. By the time he's got his horse unloaded, you will have your cinch pulled and be mounted up and ready to go - lessening the chance of him riding off without you with your horse trying to follow while you are still trying to get your foot in the stirrup.
2. Never - and I repeat never - ever believe the phrase "We'll be right back," when he asked you to help him do something out on the ranch. The echoing words, "this will only take a little while" have filtered through generations of ranch wives and still today should invoke sincere distrust in the woman who hears them.
3. Always know there is NO romantic intention when he pleadingly asks you take a ride in his pickup with him around the ranch while he checks waters and looks at cattle. What that sweet request really means is he wants someone to open the gates.
4. He will always expect you to quickly be able to find one stray in a four-section brush-covered pasture, but he will never be able to find the mayonnaise jar in four-square feet of regrigerator.
5. Count every head of everything you see - cattle especially, but sometimes horses, deer, quail or whatever moves. Count it in the gate, out the gate or on the horizon. The first time you don't count is when he will have expected that you did. That blank eyelash-batting look you give him when he asks "How many?" will not be acceptable.
6. Know that you will never be able to ride a horse or drive a pickup to suit him. Given the choice of jobs, choose throwing the feed off the back of the pickup. If he is on the back and you are driving, the oportunity for constant criticism of speed, ability and your eyesight will be utilized to the full extent. "How in the *$&# could you NOT see that hole?"
7. Never let yourself be on foot in the alley when he is sorting cattle horseback. When he has shoved 20 head of running, bucking, kicking yearlings at you and then hollers "Hold 'em, hold 'em" at the top of his lungs, don't think that you can do it without the loss of life or limb. Contrary to what he will lead you to believe, walking back to the house is always an option that has been used throughout time.
8. Don't expect him to correctly close the snap-on tops on the plastic refrigerator containers, but know he will expect you to always close every gate. His reasoning, the cows will get out; the food will not.
9. Always praise him when he helps in the kitchen - the very same way he does when you help with the ranch work - or not.
10. Know that when you step out of the house you move from the "wife" department to "hired hand" status. Although the word "hired" indicates there will be a paycheck that you will never see, rest assured you will have job security. The price is just right. And most of the time you will be "the best help he has" even if it is because you are the ONLY help he has.
I love these words of wisdom! Growing up working a ranch with my dad, these applied to me long before I was married and now, although I don't live on a ranch, a farm suffices as well. I was reading these off to Eric and some, especially #'s 2,4, 5,7, 8 and 10 are ones that he laughed out loud at. Not sure if that was a good thing, or if he was just confirming the words I was reading.
Wyoming Ranch Wife posted these guidelines on her blog recently; I still think they're applicable to most women in ranch situations whether you're married to a cowboy or not. I stole this off of my friend Katys' blog, as I feel they are very applicable to my life and probably yours as well!
1. Always load your horse last in the trailer so it is the first one unloaded. By the time he's got his horse unloaded, you will have your cinch pulled and be mounted up and ready to go - lessening the chance of him riding off without you with your horse trying to follow while you are still trying to get your foot in the stirrup.
2. Never - and I repeat never - ever believe the phrase "We'll be right back," when he asked you to help him do something out on the ranch. The echoing words, "this will only take a little while" have filtered through generations of ranch wives and still today should invoke sincere distrust in the woman who hears them.
3. Always know there is NO romantic intention when he pleadingly asks you take a ride in his pickup with him around the ranch while he checks waters and looks at cattle. What that sweet request really means is he wants someone to open the gates.
4. He will always expect you to quickly be able to find one stray in a four-section brush-covered pasture, but he will never be able to find the mayonnaise jar in four-square feet of regrigerator.
5. Count every head of everything you see - cattle especially, but sometimes horses, deer, quail or whatever moves. Count it in the gate, out the gate or on the horizon. The first time you don't count is when he will have expected that you did. That blank eyelash-batting look you give him when he asks "How many?" will not be acceptable.
6. Know that you will never be able to ride a horse or drive a pickup to suit him. Given the choice of jobs, choose throwing the feed off the back of the pickup. If he is on the back and you are driving, the oportunity for constant criticism of speed, ability and your eyesight will be utilized to the full extent. "How in the *$&# could you NOT see that hole?"
7. Never let yourself be on foot in the alley when he is sorting cattle horseback. When he has shoved 20 head of running, bucking, kicking yearlings at you and then hollers "Hold 'em, hold 'em" at the top of his lungs, don't think that you can do it without the loss of life or limb. Contrary to what he will lead you to believe, walking back to the house is always an option that has been used throughout time.
8. Don't expect him to correctly close the snap-on tops on the plastic refrigerator containers, but know he will expect you to always close every gate. His reasoning, the cows will get out; the food will not.
9. Always praise him when he helps in the kitchen - the very same way he does when you help with the ranch work - or not.
10. Know that when you step out of the house you move from the "wife" department to "hired hand" status. Although the word "hired" indicates there will be a paycheck that you will never see, rest assured you will have job security. The price is just right. And most of the time you will be "the best help he has" even if it is because you are the ONLY help he has.
I love these words of wisdom! Growing up working a ranch with my dad, these applied to me long before I was married and now, although I don't live on a ranch, a farm suffices as well. I was reading these off to Eric and some, especially #'s 2,4, 5,7, 8 and 10 are ones that he laughed out loud at. Not sure if that was a good thing, or if he was just confirming the words I was reading.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Case
One of my students is a fashionista with a camera and a cool picture editing program called picnik.. she did this picture for me and I told her I was going to steal it and put it on the blog.
Yesterday she told me I was a "super cool ag teacher" and I love this picture!
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