what’s a cowgirl to wear

September 30, 2010

I thought it would be fun to let you in on what’s going on over here

on the Buick ranch.

I have my dress narrowed down to two choices….

since this party is ‘glamorized country’…

whatever that means.

I thought i would let you girls decide which looks better.

The pin stripe dress {above}…which tends to show a bit more leg than i am comfortable with…

or the ruffled grey below.

I would have showed you my hair…but i put in to much aqua net…and didn’t feather it in time.

Actually…the real reason is the GREY is out of control…

and i thought i would just spare you the drama of a freak show.

oh…and yes…the jean jacket is part of the look….

and you are right…jean jackets are a big no-no

unless you live in Texas…or on a farm….

or are having a hoe down party…

or are part of a show/sale in which you sell vintage type goodies….

but please…oh please…just don’t wear your jean jacket with jeans.

i beg you.

The set….

errrr…

i mean the stage….

or the dance floor….is all done.

I bought some hay bales….and brought out my vintage porch railing…..

and put the walls up.

I repainted the floor yesterday….

and there are posts on all four corners to string lights from…

Now i just need help figuring out the dress.

hello?

anyone?

p.s. i added a little western action to the photos of me…so you couldn’t see that i didn’t have

my spanx on….it sorta blurred the fact that i have cellulite.

Tagged style Filed Under Uncategorized 125 Comments

baking and dancing

September 28, 2010

I really wanted to make an apple pie for my neighbors….

you’ll see why in a minute….

but i didn’t have any refrigerated pie crust laying around since i used what

i had to make my our apple pie on Sunday.

What i did have on hand were some crescent rolls…….

so my mind did a little turning…and i decided to make my own version of apple turnovers.

Normal turnovers are made with a puff pastry….but you got to do what you got to do

with what you have.

They turned out pretty good…and were so easy…that i though of all of you.

Unless of course you don’t eat sugar…or are gluten free…or are allergic to fruit…

then you can just skip to the bottom.

All you need is a package of crescent rolls….lemon juice…cinnamon…nutmeg…flour…sugar

cloves….and 2 apples.

Oh…and butter.

If you like butter that is.

If not….then you can probably still get away with making this…but butter is good.

Apparently butter gets a bad rap…. i am so sorry butter…i really do love you.

Peel and slice 2 apples really thin.

Then blend into the sliced apples

2 tbsp of sugar.

1/2 tbsp of flour.

1 tsp. of cinnamon

1/4.tsp of nutmeg

just a dash of cloves

1 tsp. of lemon juice

1 tbsp. of melted butter {optional depending on jean size}

Unroll the crescent rolls out without tearing them at the perforation.

fill with apple mixture.

Drizzle more butter if needed….

then fold the sides over…and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or till lightly brown.

Serve with your favorite vanilla ice cream…

or if you feel like you went a bit overboard with the butter…

just eat them plain but while they are still warm.

Have another if you wish….i mean…you made four of them.

Unless you doubled the recipe….then i cannot be held accountable for how many you eat.

Anyhoo…..

i made these for this man:

you might remember him from this post…

but in reality…he’s my neighbor.

and he built this in my backyard this last weekend…..

it’s an elevated dance floor….

which we are using for a Hoe Down party we are having this coming weekend.

I asked Fin if he wanted to help me paint.

Thank goodness for child labor….free child labor….

because while Fin painted my dance floor…

i caught up on my new people magazine and smoked a ciggie while barking out directions to him

Okay…

i didn’t really smoke…..

but the color i picked out to paint the floor is called smokey grey….

even though it looks a little blue in the photo.

I went to the paint store yesterday and asked for the CHEAPEST gallon of paint there was….

so the nice guy told me to get a gallon of FLAT paint…..

and it was only $10…

so i thought to myself….

SCORE

then i came home…..

Fin and i got the thing all painted.Then my girlfriend who is from Texas stopped by today …

and viewed our fabulous paint job…..

and told me….

how was there supposed to be any good dancing if the floor isn’t slick…

i mean…you can’t do the electric slide on a floor that’s painted in FLAT.

And where was the sawdust….

you have to have SAWDUST…..

all country dancing must be done on a SLICK floor with SAWDUST.

So….

back to the paint store i went today….

and bought a $28 gallon of extra GLOSSY paint…

so that i might be able to

GLIDE across the dance floor when i do the ELECTRIC SLIDE.

I might just have a few extra of those apple turnovers when i’m done

repainting the dance floor.

Feel free to have one or two for yourselves….

Tagged life Filed Under Uncategorized 21 Comments

I like pie

September 26, 2010

Saturday we woke up to a crisp 50 degree morning.

I suggested heading up to the town of Woodstock…….

where my favorite little mom and pop apple orchard is…

off the beaten track…..and i couldn’t believe when everyone agreed.

what the heck

Normally Saturday rolls around and we tend to split up based on who’s doing this

or who’s doing that….or a birthday party here….or one there.

This was our first Saturday where we had nothing on the agenda.

I love when this happens.

I also suggested that we pack a picnic.

I almost had a mini heart attack when i saw bryan filling up the mini cooler with

sandwiches and soda’s….because i’m the type of girls who would like it…

if just once….

we might be able to pack a picnic in a basket….

you know…like that thing called a picnic basket….

meant for picnics….

and bring a quilt instead of the ugly blanket/tarp like thing bryan won in some

work related contest a few years ago.

He rolled his eyes at me….but i reminded him that his grandmother would

love it if we brought her quilt out to use.

He obliged.

If you can look past the bitten ravaged fingernails…

you might see a sweet little apple holding an apple.


The great thing about apple picking in the cooler weather is

that there are no mosquitos.

I…personally….have a very close relationship with mosquitos….

they love and want me…

but it’s not mutual.

I love fall.

I love layers.

I love apples.

I love butter.

I love apple butter.

I love apple pie.

I love crust.

I love that my clothes feel tighter.

I love that i can NOT fit into my jeans from last year.

I love skirts.

I love that there is no need to wear tight jeans when you can wear skirts.

Okay…

i don’t really love butter….but it loves me…and it loves my thighs.

damn you butter.

The kids always have a blast when we go apple picking…

they tend to eat about a dozen apples between them.

They ran around…playing apple toss….having fun.

It was such a great start to fall…..


Then we got out my favorite quilt….

and the family lounged around and ate our picnic lunch from a basket.

No cooler needed.

Then i made apple pie…..

with my new oven.

Nothing better then sliced apples …some cinnamon…sugar…flour…nutmeg and lemon juice…

and yes…

i use refrigerated pie crusts.

Sue me….i am a cheater.

I also don’t know how to make the cute little ribbon edges around the pie either…

but that’s okay…because the pie turned out A-OKAY.

Just because i failed home economics 101 doesn’t mean i can’t bake a mean apple pie.

I like pie…

Here in Illinois….there are hundreds of independent apple orchards….many of them have gotten

big and feel like a tourist trap by charging you just to walk around the orchard…

and providing hay rides and such.

That’s great….but if you want something smaller and more quaint…

where you can throw a quilt down and take a nap under a tree…

let me know…i’ll be happy to email you the place we LOVE.

I love to support the little guys…the mom and pop places…

that only charge you for the apples…whether it be by the peck…or the bushel.

p.s. naps under an apple tree should always be free;-)

………………………………

UPDATE: for those of you that emailed me about the apple orchard…i just pulled up their

website {here} and it looks like this last weekend was it for apple picking due to the

fabulous weather we’ve had the last 4 weekends. Sorry friends.

You can still find some amazing little places on this site HERE

Tagged family, life Filed Under Uncategorized 36 Comments
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