My Brush With Fame: The Pioneer Woman

Here it is - my signed copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond. Oh, and look! It's signed to me! That's because it's MINE! ALL MINE!!! (Until the ebay auction closes, that is!) KIDDING!

My mom and I went to see The Pioneer Woman (aka Ree Drummond) tonight at the Community Center. Initially, I wasn't going to go just 'cause. I also figured my sister would go with my mom, so I wasn't too worried about my mom going by herself (you know how she gets unsupervised!). Then a friend of mine came into the library today and said, "Did you go last night?" all excited because she was thinking that this groupie gathering was a day earlier than it was, and that got me excited (because I'm easily influenced like that - I'm thankful every day that my friends don't deal crack). And I called my mom and said I'd go with her.

{The last time I went somewhere famous-like with my mom was several years ago. We went to see Yanni in Tulsa. Then my groupie-wannabe mom wanted to try and meet him. So we stood in downtown Tulsa waiting for Yanni to emerge from the back door. Eventually he did and my mom shook his hand and said, "May I bear children for you?" I grabbed that woman and dragged her to the car. What was she thinking? Her tubes had been tied for YEARS!}

But, knowing that she wouldn't say anything like that to Ree, and since Ree graduated a year ahead of me in school, I decided to go and get my cookbook signed and have a grand ol' time.

Finally, The Pioneer Woman showed. (I say finally as if she made us wait. She didn't.) Mikey introduced her and then he promptly stole the mic and announced that he was 42 years old and was single. (When I used to live in certain apartments here in town during my single years, Mikey also lived there and he would, indeed, fold my laundry, all the while telling me I was pretty! True story.)

Ree actually spoke for m a y b e five minutes. Then she asked for questions. There were none. So the signing began. And the waiting began.

My mom and I took a self-portrait.. (Because we are not only groupies, but we are also secret sophomores!)

Here was the crowd around the signing tables. It was a long line and my feet hurt, so we sat and watched the crowd. Picked out people we knew and people we had seen at The Wal-Marts.

Then these bozos showed up and stood in front of us. Seriously. I didn't even use a zoom lens. So, hey! Don Johnson-posers: If you recognize your butts, I forgive you for blocking my people watching. Oh! And get new jackets, dudes! Some friends of Ree's had made some of her recipes, so we tried them. Here's my mom trying an oatmeal krispie cookies. It was good.

Here's my mom trying a Sugar Cookies. It was also good.

I tried a Mocha Brownie. It was with this little nugget of chocolate goodness that I discovered I was magic. Pay close attention to this picture... See the Mocha Brownie?

And now it's gone! Magically amazing!! Since this was a new skill, I had to go get another brownie and try my magic-ness again...

This one was extra gooey... and my mom thought I would drop it. Moms...

Look - it's disappearing s l o w e r than the other one, but disappearing none the less!

Going... Going...

Going...
Gone! See - magic, I tell ya!

After about 39 hours (or 2 hours... I lost all track of time), we were getting close! My mom, who worked in the discipline office at the high school during Ree's senior year said to her: I remember you in school. Ree asked how. My mom explained her position and Ree said, "That's not ringing a bell..." Nice. Keep denying the sins of your youth, PW! (I kid!!)

Ree was gracious and posed with us both for pictures. Then her BFF jumped up and took a pic of me and Ree at the same time that my mom snapped this pic. See? Ree is looking at Becky and I am looking at my mom. This should go on that Awkward Family Photos website!

Then my mom took a pic of me and Ree and Becky. Becky and I are kinda like BFFs in that we see each other at Food Pyramid and Drug Warehouse and The Wal-Marts... Ya know. That kind of BFF. (Again, I kid! Please, do not file cyber stalking charges, Ree and Becky. Please!) The look on my face should tell you I'm clinically harmless!

It was a fun night and I'm really glad I got to be a groupie with my mom!!! And I super glad my mom didn't make any indecent proposals to anyone at all.

{Another funny mom story: Ree's dad did my mom's knee replacement several, several, several years ago. My mom now walks with a cane - not because of the surgery, though! So when we went in, Ree's dad noticed my mom and they chit-chatted about Ree's book and her success and the weather and Christmas card lists, etc... My mom was impressed that he remembered her. I, however, think he saw the cane and was scoutin' for business... then he recognized her face and had to make all nice and whatnot so people wouldn't think that HE was the reason this poor crippled old lady walks with a cane! -- I jest - she's not poor!}

Merry Christmas, Earl!

Yesterday, I decided we were going to take Christmas card pictures. As is a tradition (because we did it last year), we dug out the Santa hats and headed to the golf course. I figured this way, I'd get a picture of Brian with the girls for the cards.

But, this is one sneaky man.

He agreed to go with us knowing my objective was to take pictures.

He wore his sweat hat - the NSU hat that he loves the most, wears the most and sweats in the most. It's grody.

He wore his long-sleeve Bruin shirt from his coaching days -- you know, the shirt with a hole in the shoulder.

He wore shorts. And since we do not live in Hawaii, New Zealand or Equidor, the shorts are out of place for a Christmas card picture.

So, while I was posing and snapping and fretting and fuming, Earl Woods here gave me my space and pretended he didn't know us.

Then, he took over the part of Earl and pretended that Hadley & Briley were Tiger, and there was joy throughout the land.

...But so much for having him in my Christmas picture!

Messing with Brian

Brian was gone all week to Indianapolis last week to the National Middle School Conference. SOMEHOW, he scored a room to himself in a Westin (none the less!) and even had a catered dinner, free of charge.

I stayed home - and while I had a wonderful night to myself - I was so glad to see him back!! And so I had to mess with him. He was tired from traveling and was very susceptible to being punk'd (as my good friend Ashton would say!). I'd already worn the "Whoops! I'm pregnant" gag out.

I originally thought that we'd park right across from his terminal and then when he'd call to say he had landed, I'd say, "Wha---??? I didn't think that was for another hour!" and then just watch him squirm. But, when he did call and say he had landed, we really were about 15 minutes away... So I kinda of did that, only for reals, though.

Then it hit me! As we were eating dinner that evening, I said, "Oh! I put up the Christmas tree this weekend!" And just left it at that...

And look! I really did!

May your days be merry and bright!

ALL BY MYSELF... that was weird!

Friday night something happened that had not happened in over 11 years. I spent the night ALL. BY. MYSELF. No joke.

Let me be clear: I have NO desire to be all by myself ever again in my life. I do enjoy the snippets of quiet time I get to myself now and again, but I honestly wouldn't be happy being by myself ever again.

With all that being said, it was so nice to have a giant block of alone time. And it was all thanks to my friend, Heather.

My friend Heather's daughter had a birthday party-sleepover and Hadley was invited. And since her other daughter and Briley have become good friends, Briley was invited as well. And Brian had his last night of conference in Indianapolis.

And I found myself all alone!

I did go out to dinner with my mom and she came over and we watched a chick flick (which Brian told me later that he wanted to see - reason #5,235,257 that I love that man!). Then my mom went home. After that, I found myself all alone!

I made two baby books: One for my cousin, Courty, who is expecting a boy - um... any minute now (note to self: Get baby book in the mail ASAP) and one for my sister who is expecting a girl in February.

I watched another movie that was recommended by my friend Heather - who happened to have the girls that night! (Gee, she sure was instrumental in my having a great evening!) Then I finished a book I had been working on and then I started a new book.

At 10:00 Heather called and said Briley wasn't feeling well. She said that she thought it was nerves, but Briley wanted to talk to me. I thought my evening alone had come to an end, and I was OK with that. But our conversation went a little something like this:

Me: Bugsy, what's wrong?

B: I have a fever and my head hurts and my stomach hurts.

Me: Have Mrs. S take your fever.

Heather {in the background}: She doesn't have a fever. I've checked!

B: I don't have a fever.

Me: You want me to come and get you, Bugs?

B: NO! Stay at HOME . Do NOT come over here, OK?

So, I stayed home and did not go get her. Oddly enough, it was the only night while Brian was gone that I actually slept. I went to sleep about 2:00 and slept soundly until I heard the garage door open.

No. I didn't hear that.

Yes. I did!

Someone was in the house! I think I hear footsteps.

Yes, I do hear footsteps.

Oh. No.

I grab my phone and punch in 911 and put my finger on the green button, ready to seek help once I determined that I wasn't asleep and imagining it. The clock said 8:00 AM... weird time to have a break-in!

I move down the hall and run smack dab into...

... Briley and Hadley.

I double check the time again: 8:01 AM.

"Where's Mrs. S?" I asked.

Then I hear the tires squealing down the road and I know that my time of solitary thoughts is over.

But it was heaven while it lasted... and I was missing my fam (once I woke completely up and explained to the 911 operator exactly why I was fearful of my daughters breaking into my own home...)

And Heather? I SO owe you ... anytime, anyplace, I'll gladly take your chickas!!! Because I am SURE they will be the easier end of the stick when compared to my chickas! And then you will understand the pure joy of going to the bathroom by yourself and picking a movie by yourself and finishing a book without getting up from the chair to mop up a gallon of milk and a cup of Frosted Cheerios. And you can take pictures of yourself and just be...

Yum! Yum!

Wednesday night, the girls and I made some homemade noodles... then we added them to Chicken and Gravy and poured them over homemade mashed 'tatos and it was a good meal.

Let me rephrase that, my mom, my sister and I enjoyed a good meal. The girls ate mashed 'tatoes and green beans. Oh, and rolls. Don't forget the almight roll!

The making of the noodles was really easy! Easier than I imagined they'd be. Just crack 2 eggs into a cup of flour and mix, roll and cut! Hadley really did most of that part.

And does it look like the most delish meal ever? (PS - I put an entire container of yellow food coloring in to make it look not so pasty-white, dead, ashy-skin-like.)

And my sister ate SO much she swelled up like this... Jeez! What a fatso!

She's a born natural!

Over Fall Break, Briley got sick and that cut our break short - then I got sick and that cut it even shorter. Brian and Hadley, however, stayed well and had a great time playing golf. We've found this fun course in Broken Arrow called Lil Links. Brian says it's perfect for the girls to just go out and really have fun playing without worrying about messing with someone else's game!



So he and Hadley went out and spent the afternoon at Lil' Links. Brian came back with goosebumps and giggling like a 10-year old girl because Hadley was hooked. She fell in love with the game and had a grand time playing!

Brian was kind enough to take the camera, while I took the sick kid to the doctor, and capture Hadley's new passion...

He even took some funny shots - like this one, where Hadley's playing just like her Daddy!!

By Briley

Briley LOVES taking pictures... and most of the time, she's really good at it. During Fall Break, we stopped to take a picture and Briley begged to take the pic. So, I gave her my camera and she promptly took this picture... of this somewhat professional looking photographer taking a picture of the landmark I wanted a picture of. Then she took this picture:

This was the picture I wanted and, honestly? I think Briley did a much better job than the somewhat professional photographer did.

Maybe she has a future in this...

Reason #495,830,294,817,495 I love this kid...

Over fall break, we had a day to hang out in Tulsa while Brian was still in meetings. So, on the suggestion of my friend, Dawn, we went to the Art Play Place at 41st and Memorial. (*Funny story about that location at the end of this entry... stay tuned!)



Anyway, I armed myself with my camera and the girls painted away. Hadley painted two dogs and Briley painted a dolphin and a kitty cat. When we finished, I noticed my camera and said, "Oh shoot! I forgot to take pictures!" Hadley said, "Here, Mom... I'll pretend to still paint so you can get a picture..."



Isn't she the best???

Later on that day, we saw these cute little figurines and she said, "Stop, Momma! That'll be another great picture for you!" And she ran over to them and pretended to eat the fake ice cream. She's a keeper... for now!

*The night before we went to Tulsa, Dawn and I were talking about what I was going to do with the girls. I said I had wanted to go to a certain place, but couldn't find anyone to really tell me much about it. She said I should go to the Art Play Place. She'd taken her daughter and friends there and it was a lot of fun! I asked her where it was and she - who grew up in Tulsa - couldn't tell me the street name, but she did know it was across from Priscilla's - where fun and fantasy meet!! And that's reason #53,896,082 I love Dawn!!

Sometimes...

Sometimes I'll get caught up in doing something around the house (usually laundry because I swear laundry is like a Gremlin... once you get it wet or let it see the light, it multiplies and turns evil!). Then I notice that the girls are not fighting and everything is quiet. Usually, I hide because that means they're plotting against me.



And sometimes when I'm feeling really brave (or I've had a few drinks), I'll go smoke 'em out and find out exactly what their doing.



On a very rare occasion, I'll get to see this: And it makes me so happy to know they are getting along and despite the last blood-inducing, tile shattering fight, they do love each other.



Most the time, though, they're plotting... against me!

And, of course, the kids too!

Halloween just wasn't about the grown-ups having a grown-up time without the kids. We easily could have done that, but we let the kids have their fun, too.



Hadley was dressed as Kaya, the American Girl. American Girl has several series of books about various girls in different time periods of American History. Kaya is one of these girls. Most people, who are not 8 - 12 year old girls OR librarians, have no idea about American Girls and their characters. So all night this was the conversation:

Random person: Oh! Are you Pocohontas?

Hadley: No, I'm Kaya.

Random Person: A little Indian girl?
Hadley: An American Girl.

Randome Person: Oh, right. Native American. Sorry.

Hadley was just trying to get her costume straight and people thought she was going all PC on them!

Briley was a black cat. She couldn't give me a nice face when I was taking her picture. She tried to give me a "hissy" face. Then she tried to "growl" at me. Then she looked sad because she was a poor abandoned kitty, "Like on the ASPCA commercials, ya know?" Finally, I said told her I just wanted a nice one of her smiling. She informed me that she couldn't smile because she was a cat. I told her to think of someone or something that she really liked. She said, "Like Nathaniel?" I said, "Do you like Nathaniel?" And she gave me this face... We're in so much trouble!

Then, she climbed our tree... because that's what cats do.

I hope Nathaniel likes cats...

The crazies come out during Halloween!!!

Brian and I decided to have a "Costumes and Kids NOT Optional" party - this is also known as a grown-ups only party. No kids allowed. Since having kids, I don't think we've had one of these kinds of parties that wasn't a business-type parties. And while those are fun (and a lot funner if there's an open bar!), it's not quite the same as when we just get together and hang out at our own home!

Andy and Sheila were rednecks... or, as Hadley put it, "You mean hillbillies? Like the Baldknobbers in Branson?" And I said, "Yes, O wise one..." What you don't see here is that Sheila's barefooted and Andy had an ice cream tub filled with a six pack and ice. Very classy! Lora and Brian went all literary and classic on us as the incestuous couple Zeus and his sister/wife Hera. Personally, I loved Lora's wig - you'll see why in a minute. And by the end of the night, Zeus has transformed himself to a human in the form of Brian... apparently the white was itchy!

We did not have best costume awards, but we should have just so we could have awarded Brad Best Costume of the night. He was a flasher and Dawn was his correctional officer. Oh. My. Heavens. I have NO idea what kind of bet they had between themselves, but it was so worth it for the rest of us to see Brad in his underwear (well, we didn't see that part) and Dawn spilling out of her dress!!

And here's cutest couple of the evening: Ron and Hermioney from Harry Potter. Jason actually commented to Kristin, "I'm so glad I have a collection of wigs." They are on the list ETERNALLY for any costumed get-together just so we can see all those wigs!

Finally - Dog and his wife, Beth showed up at the party... Oh, wait. They threw the party! I had higher heels that I was going to wear, but once I got my boobs on, I couldn't see where I was walking, so those heels came off. The boobs, however, lasted teh whole night. While I was getting stuff out of the oven, I was really afriad that my chest would explode or my hair would ignite. Neither happend, which just goes to show that the Halloween powers liked my costume. The next morning, however, Briley did take my boobs and rub them against the brick wall and there went my career as Beth!

Happy Halloween, y'all!

Carving Pumpkins!

We carved pumpkins on Thursday night. We carved them on Thursday because Friday, Brian and I were having friends over and Saturday night was Halloween, so there's nothing like putting it off until the last minute!!

Hadley wanted her pumpkin "upside down" - so the eyes were below the nose and the mouth was on top of the jack-o-lantern. Then, she took this really cool pic: Once the girls draw on their design, Brian pretty much carves whatever he wants to, as demonstrated by THIS pic taken by Briley:

The girls' favorite part is digging out the guts. Really. We could just buy pumpkins and let them dig out the guts and they'd be happy!

How Pops Made Our Fall Break...

For Fall Break, I told Brian we just needed to get away -- Even if it was just for a night, our fam really needed a break!! So, we planned on leaving Thursday evening after Brian finished his meetings and we'd head to Oklahoma City, spend the night, play some golf and leisurely head home on Friday.

On the way there, we'd stop at Pops. Pops has over 500 different kinds of pops available to you! In all reality, it's a gas station with a grill and milkshake machine. But, we stopped - nonetheless - and had a great time... I was the only one of us who actually drank a pop - Route 66 Root Beer.

As soon as the waitress sat our food down, Briley said, "I don't feel good." And it just went downhill from there. We came home Friday morning and took her into the doctor with a virus that eventually developed into strep.

Then Saturday, I had bronchitus and strep.

Then Fall Break was over.

So, thank you, Pops, for giving me a little break... It's not what I had in my mind, but it'll do until the next break!