I hate cooking.
I try…but even if I follow a recipe, I still screw it up. There are so many variables that affect the outcome. Baking on the other hand…if you follow the recipe exactly as it states, then it will turn out exactly how you expect.
I hate cooking.
Good thing I married a cook!
Yesterday, I went and did something a little out of character for me…I went and got a book signed by an author, Ree Drummond- The Pioneer Woman. She is a blogger. I have only been following her for about a year and a half, but she makes me laugh. I love her stories about her dog Charlie, life on her ranch and homeschooling her “punks.” Part of her blogging involves food and recipes and she just released a cookbook. Now…I am not a cook. In fact my dear husband does all of the cooking in our house. BUT, if I did cook, I could follow her recipes…they are super easy.
I found out The Pioneer Woman was coming to town and asked my mom if she would go with me to get a book signed. (My mom does not read her blog regularly, but I send her enough posts that she has some idea of what is going on.) We got there at 11:00 to get our signing tickets. We were told that she would start at 1pm and our color would probably not start signing until 2:30. We came back at 2:15ish and were told it would be another couple hours! CRAZY! All for a blogger! We came back at 4 and told we had at least another hour.
Finally at 4:30ish we got to get in the signing line. Let me tell you…people are WEIRD…VERY WEIRD. I am just amazed at the number of people primping before they got to the front of the line. Seriously?!?!? Maybe if I were meeting George Michael… The other thing that shocked me was the number of gifts that people brought Ree Drummond. There was a pile on the floor next to her. I am sure she has interesting stories to tell every night after these book signings! It is sorta like being a teacher at the end of the year, you get all this “stuff.” That “stuff” makes its way to a recycled gift box which can be used as a white elephant gift a few years down the road. Seriously…what is Ree going to do with a maroon A&M duck??? I digress…
I had my 4 yo with me and she told me she wanted to tell the lady signing books that her picture was on the front. LOL! She became shy once we got up there and didn’t say anything. My mom snapped this shot of us. Let me tell you…I have always thought Ree was pretty, but she is even prettier in real life. I can’t imagine being in her shoes…she lives on a ranch, homeschools her kids, starts a blog, writes a book and is now famous. I am convinced it is just in the stars for some people!
We went and picked up my grandfather for Thanksgiving. I use the term “picking up” lightly since it is a 6.5 hour drive to Abilene to get him. When we got to his house, his roses are in full bloom and there were butterflies everywhere! The monarchs are migrating south for the winter. I tried to get some pictures, but most of them flew away. It was getting dark , and was supposed to get cooler, so they did not return. I managed to get 1 good picture.
Ok…I know that when you get old, you have the right to be grouchy…but he has given new meaning to it! It is no wonder that he has 3 of his 5 children NOT talking to him and haven’t for a while. I am finally starting to see his true colors. It takes a very strong person to be able to look beyond the cynicism and ignore the rudeness. After a day I was ready to drop him off on the side of the road. Don’t get me wrong, I still love him because he is my grandfather…but OMG! I was told how everything I did was wrong! He complained about eating Thanksgiving dinner too late (we ate at 6pm), and how I did a 1/2 ass job refinishing our 22 year old table (it was not smooth enough), and how I need to use my blinker correctly (don’t push it all the way down if I am merging or it will break the clicker in it) and how we keep our house too cold and we need to turn the fans off and I could go on and on. I could go on…but he is old and I guess he has a right to be grouchy…maybe…
If you know me…I mean really know me, then you know about my bucket list. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to see 3 people in concert. These are the 3 artists that define the era that I grew up in, not to mention who I think have had the most influence in music for my generation.
I almost had a car accident when I found out that that my FAVORITE of the 3 was coming to concert in Houston. And I went. Then, Madonna came to concert in Houston. And I went. Then, I could not believe it, but Michael Jackson announced concerts! I tried…and tried to get tickets. Every time he announced more shows had been added, I was online trying to buy tickets. I had no idea how I was going to get to London, but I was determined! They were sold out.
And then he died.
I guess it was meant to be. Had he not died, the movie would not have been made, I would have probably not ever seen him in concert.
Last night, my 2 teaching BFF’s and I went to see MJ’s movie- This Is It. Thanks friends! I had so much fun!
I have mentioned before that every year I plant a garden.
I am not a good gardener.
In fact, to put it mildly, I suck at it.
But someday, I will get the hang of it.
This is my garden this year.
I tried to think about how things have grown in the past and plant accordingly. My tomatoes can usually take over the world and get taller than the fence, so I put them in the back. My cucumbers were so small last year (first year for those) so I thought I would put them in front of the tomatoes. I also planted some jalapenos on the end where it gets the most sun.
Of course…things are growing differently this year. But that is par for me. Nothing can ever be the same. It is now June and I still only have blooms on the tomatoes and cucumbers. When the fruit finally starts growing, I am not sure what we are going to do with it all! I caged the cucumbers this year, and they are taller than the tomatoes. Is that normal? oh well….
And here is the corn we decided to plant:
Yes, we have the ugly electrical box in our HUGE yard. Since it is only about 12 feet to our house, this nice 4 foot area takes up 1/3 of the yard. Not to mention they are finally working on the construction of the house next door, so they dug up part of my corn. But it was an experiment so I was not terribly upset.
Corn is weird.
It starts with the strings (not sure of the technical name). Then the corn starts growing.
Weird.
Then there is our carrots. This year I planted them in a planter. We have some friendly rabbits that keep getting in the yard.
And our herbs. I planted these 2 years ago thinking my DH would use them when he cooks. He never came out and picked them. So they died. I replanted them last year. Same thing. They died. I refused to plant them this year and they all grew back. I think it is a sign.
