Satellite Virgin- the Trilogy

I know, I know, but I just can't help myself.  This show sucks me in every time!  There are almost always empty beer cans used as some kind of decoration and the brides dress, if not entirely camo, has camo on it somewhere.  And though I generally find him annoying, Tom Arnold does a great job of hosting it.  I'm a country girl, so I've been expose to plenty a redneckisms; but this show never fails to surprise me.  Sometimes you can tell the couple beefs it up for the show.  But then you get those legit couples that are truly redneck.  Like the 40 year old bride who lost her teeth the day of the wedding and her Mom offered to let her borrow her's (don't worry, the wayward dentures were soon located).  So if you need a little redneck/hillbilly/white trash entertainment click on over to CMT's My Big Redneck Wedding- you won't be disappointed.

Thursdays have been TV night in our family for a while.  Josh & I record the NBC Thursday night line up and then watch it after the kids go to be.  The Office was always our favorite.  But now it has a new contender that may soon surpass it in my book.  Parks and Recreation is super funny.  All the characters are so unique & the actors are awesome.  Plus Rob Lowe is in it, and ever since Wayne's World Ive thought he is so handsome, "Hi Rob".  Anywho... this is the show I look forward to on Thursdays now.  The scenarios are classic, and truly the character development is one of the best since the office.  Check it out, I promise you'll laugh.

I heart Throwndown With Bobby Flay.  In fact I think I heart Bobby Flay, or his cooking at least.  Once in New York I went to one of his restaurants (that has since closed down) and had this lamb shank that I swear I can still taste.  You know something's good when ten years later you still taste it.  The premise of the show is Bobby finds a cook that is known (at least in their area) for a good dish.  It could be Philly cheesestakes, chicken fried steak, apple brown betty- whatever.  So Bobby secretly tries to make the same dish only better.  Then the Food Channel sets up a pretend cooking class or taping for the locally famous cook.  While this poor person (so nervous already I'm sure) is trying to display their talents for their famous dish Bobby pops up and challenges them to a "throwdown".  The two cooks go at it making the same dish & then a non-bias panel of judges from that area blindly tastes both dishes & decides the winner.  This show grabs me in every time.  First I like watching Bobby cook.  Second I learn new methods and recipes to make dishes.  Third I like how his competition isn't famous people.  He'll find Joe Shmo from Nowhere, Texas who can make amazing biscuits and challenge him.  I love that it gives real cooks, in real life a chance to get recognized.  Fourth, look at the stinkin' graphic for his show, it's so cool!  I'll watch it just because of the graphic (I'm very aesthetically persuaded).  Plus, it's always fun to see who wins.  Good job at a great show Bobby.  Now please send me some of your lamb shank with rozoto as made in your Bolo restaurant... please!

Hope all my well informed and professional TV reviews helped ya'll.  I know you really needed my opinion about this matter.  If there's a great show that I didn't mention that I should have shout it out in the comments section below.  Happy veggin' out.

Preach it Sista

I read the Pioneer Woman's blog today and couldn't help but laugh.  Laugh because I can totally relate with her. First read her blog entry for today here.  Now continue reading...

Amen Sister!  There are gloves everywhere here as well.  I especially despise it when they find their hay laden, dirt covered selves on the kitchen counter.

Part of my problem is my Dad's unsaitable desire & access to deer skinned gloves.  Do you think I need to call the "Hoarding: Buried Alive" folks?

Preach it!  The boots.  Oh, the boots.  How they consume every last inch of both entry ways of our house.  And in winter it all doubles with snow boots added on to the pile.   

I need to add one more thing.  Since we live in Montana.  Since it's been stinkin' cold this winter.  Since is never ending here (especially this year).  I need to add on the annoying amount of hats, scarves, & mittens that are trying to take over our abode.  This was my solution for my three oldest children, & even then the garments flood out of their bins.  Just another reason I can't wait for winter to end!


So whether you're on a cattle ranch down in Oklahoma with the Pioneer Woman, or on a horse ranch in the mountains of Montana the problems seem to be universal.  It's good to know one is not alone.


P.S. I will continue my wild adventures in the world of satellite television tomorrow.

Satellite Virgin Continued- UPDATE

I love all the conversation sparked by my Bachelor post.  It seems I've started a flood of admitting ladies who watching the cheesy show.   I'm glad I could help in this first step of the healing process- admitting. But I'd like to share a little tid bit with ya'll.  For all the ladies that have said, "I watch that too", I'd like to point out that their husbands/boyfriend watch it with them.  And if your man is anything like mine, he's very vocal while watching.  I.E. "Dude, you need to get rid of her.", "That girl is crazy!", "She will not age well.",  "I bet she'll age well."  Point being: men you can no longer hide!  The jig is up, we know you like the bachelor as much as us girls.  That's right, I'm calling you out Josh, Beau, Keith, & Buck.  

Ladies, feel free to add on to this list in the comments section.

P.S. I can't believe he didn't get rid of Ashley, that girl (& her family) is crazy!  I think Chantal's parents' house is what kept her around this week.  I'm rooting for Emily, she's the most grounded & "normal" (as my husband puts it).

P.S.S. Men, don't bother calling me to let me know that you in fact do not watch the bachelor.  I will not believe you.  You might as well join us girls & admit that you watch this wonderfully American, time wasting, reality show.

Satellite Virgin Continued

For those of you who know me I'm sure this one is a shocker, but I'm hooked.  I watch The Bachelor, and I like it!  I got hooked on this back when we lived in our old house and didn't have satellite.  We had a whopping five channels to choose from.  With slim pickens' on shows my Monday night television watching was dedicated to The Bachelor (or Bachelorette).  I use to "phone watch" it with my sis-in-law Booba.  We'd text back and forth the whole show- "He needs to get rid of her."  "She's psycho!"  "I bet he picks her."  And ya want to know something else- my husband watches it with me (and so does Booba's husband).  We take bets on who will be proposed to at the end, and comment on who is crazy, over dramatic, hyper emotional, etc.  It's mindless TV at it's best and I love it!  When I watch this I'm truly veggin' out.

    

    The Bachelor- Brad Womack           My Bro- Gabriel Womack

I'm more interested in this season more than ever before because the Bachelor's last name is Womack, which is my maiden name.  He also hails from Texas and my Womack side of the family is from Oklahoma- not too far away.  So the chance that we're related is there.  Plus he's a twin, and I have twins.  And lastly, he oddly reminds me of my little brother Gabriel.  Does anyone else see this?

Now I know more of us are Bachelor fans than we'd like to admit.  If you watch it you've got to give a shout out in the comments post.  Let me know who else I can phone watch this with!

Satellite Virgin

Since living at my parents house on our family ranch I have been introduced to the world of satellite TV.  Of course I've encountered this phenomenon at hotels or visiting family; but I've never lived with it.  Therefore I've experimented with many new shows.  Over the next few days I'm going to share some of my favs with you.

Let's start w/ HGTV's show Sarah's House.  I dig this show, a lot.  The premise is that this designer, Sarah, buys old houses and fixes them up (generally cottages or farm houses).  Every season is a new house. First of all it's always been my dream to find an old farm house and spruce it up, so the show hooks me right there.  Secondly, I love this lady's style.  She blends shabby chic/farmhouse with contemporary- beautiful.

The host is pleasant enough.  She's Canadian, so I catch myself listening to her accent a lot.  Almost every episode the contractor gets something up like a wall, tile or chimney and has to tear it down at her request (poor guy).

She also spends an exorbitant amount of money that I can't even comprehend on bathtubs, fabric, & tile.  So I live vicariously through her interior design expenses.  Lastly, she has this funny little assistant guy Tommy who reminds me of a boy in our church.  So I watch him intently- hello bizzaro twin guy.

This show is a good source of decorating inspiration and ideas.  Even though she has a huge budget she still gets a lot of stuff from flea markets and antique shops- just my style.

I like getting fresh ideas for my someday fixer upper.  So, if you need a new show to get hooked on.  Or your house needs some decorating inspiration.  Or if you want to watch bizzaro twin guy to the guy at my church guy.  Then tune into Sarah's House on HGTV.

*check out more pixs on her Canadian HGTV website

Get Ya'll Some Biscuits

One thing I'm passionate about in cooking is flaky pie crust & flaky biscuits.  I have tried many recipes & methods and have watch a lot of Food Network show on the matter.  After meshing a few ideas & recipes together I have come up with a method to make flaky, buttery biscuits that work every time.  Here goes...

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tbls baking powder
1 tsp salt
8 tbls cold butter cubed
4 tbls butter
3/4 cup milk or butter milk

First things first, make sure your butter is cold.  Cold butter is the key to being flaky (in biscuits, not life).  I cube my butter & then stick it back in the fridge.  Preset your oven to 425 degrees.

Mix all the dry ingredients together.  Then cut in your COLD butter.  It should get kind of corn mealy (is that a word?), but you don't need to get the butter mixed in too well.  Some bigger chunks of butter should be visible- makes it flaky.

Next pour in the milk.

Stir lightly.  You don't want to over do it her or else you'll get tough biscuits.  Just stir until milk is incorporated.

Now using your hands make the dough into a ball, but don't over work it!  You don't want to warm up that butter, so make this a quick process.  Then pop it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to cool the butter down
again.

Stick your cast iron skillet or baking sheet in the oven with the 4 tbls butter on it.  Let the butter melt & then swirl the pan to coat.

On floured surface make the dough into a thick disc (like so).  Then roll it out to about 1/2 inch thickness.  Make sure to keep things lightly floured so they don't stick.  But don't over do on the flour- you still want flaky, non flour tasting biscuits.

Using a biscuit cutter of your choice (I like to use a small one for everyone else & a big one for me) cut you some biscuits.

Stick them into your buttered skillet/baking sheet & pop in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the tops are a light brown.  (look at that cute little "left over dough" biscuit, the baby will get that one)

When they come out they should look like this.  Almost like little layers.  Flaky, buttery, & yummy.  Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day with your loved ones.  Here are some loving pictures to commemorate this day.

Hope you have a great Valentine's Day.  Now I'm off to DQ with my little loves & my main love for some treats!

Cute Valentine's Cards

Here's another super simple homemade Valentine's Day card.  My girls are in kindergarten & this is what they did for their classmates this year.  Now before you say I'm Super Mom or way too ambitious, keep in mind that there are only ten kids in their class.  So overall we only had to make twenty.  I love the cute little dragon fly & that the candy is attached!  I found this idea at dltk-kids.com and just tweaked it for my purposes.  This card is simple, requires minimal grown up work, and gets your kids creative juices flowing.

First I altered the printable from the website to the size that would work best for Smarties or a snack size candy bar.  I also put four cards per page so there was less printing.  Here is my template.

Next cut out the cards by quartering the page with a cutting board or scissors.  Now let your kids get creative & color in the picture.  Then have them write who it's to & from on the back (or the front if they can write small enough).

For the wings I used foam heart stickers.  You could also cut out little hearts from construction paper if you like, but the stickers are much easier.

I think the wings pop out a little more if you layer the hearts by putting a smaller heart on top of the big heart.

Lastly I just used a glue stick to attach the candy & they were done.  Super cute homemade cards are the best.  You can easily alter this project based on the child's age & skill level.  Happy card making!

Here is the original template that I adapted
Here is a more technical template 

Valentines Gift for You Winner

Congrats to 
scrappy chic said...

We LOVE to leave each other (all 4 of us) little love notes & treats in fun metal mail boxes all month. We of course LOVE each other all the time, but this is fun way to remember and get CANDY!!!

BTW: that owl oven mitt is stinking CUTE!

So happy you get to use that stinkin' cute oven mitt for you Valentine's celebration.  Enjoy making more treats to show your love with this fun cookie kit.

Thanks for all who participated.  I love hearing about everyone's traditions!

How I pick a winner: I use random.com to generate the winners of my giveaways.  No one ever sponsors my giveaways... in fact it's usually stuff I find in the dollar bin at the store.

An Easy Valentine's Treat

This is a super easy way to make Valentine's Day cupcakes.  All you'll need is a heart shaped cookie cutter & colored sugar or sprinkles.

 

First make your desired flavor of cupcakes & frosting.  I like how chocolate cake looks with red & pink so I chose it.  I would suggest using white frosting because it makes the color sugar/sprinkles pop.  But you can get creative.  Heavily frost the cupcakes.  Then set the cookie cutter on top & lightly press down.

Next pour in a bit of sprinkles/colored sugar.  You don't need to fill the whole thing up, just enough to coat the space inside the cookie cutter.

Gently holding the cookie cutter in place swirl the sprinkles around until the entire space is coated.

Continue holding the cookie cutter in place & pour out the excess sprinkles.

Remove the cookie cutter and viola, the heart shape is there.  You can use all kinds of shapes & colors.  Whatever floats your boat.  This is super easy, but looks like you took all day to make them... you supreme baker you!