Archives for April 2012

   With the weather warming up so much, the horses have been shedding like crazy. And so I have been brushing them like crazy, something that is so nice for both horse and human that it can scarcely be called a “chore.” Each of our three pasture ornaments has a certain way he or she likes to be groomed, and if you do it right you usually end up with a sleeping behemoth leaning against you. That’s kind of the paycheck for this particular task. All of them appreciate a nice lullaby, too, so I sing while I brush. Thank goodness they are not too picky about pitch, tone, or volume.

   The other day I caught myself singing Chanta a song that my human chickens used to love, too, one we sang every night at bedtime for years. Chim Chimmeree from Mary Poppins. Do you know it? It is soft and slow and sounds a little bit sad, but only until you really listen to the words… Then all of a sudden there is gentle contentment in this song, and truly it describes how I finally feel about my life, my job, my station in this world.

   Sometimes being W-2 challenged serves up a bit of an identity crisis, especially without children at home to justify my being home, at least publicly. I have friends with fascinating careers who are tempted to abandon them. Other friends have children but still crave something more. Several beautiful women in my life are ready for romance and frustrated by the games people play. We all have days when we envy other people’s situation a little bit, and possibly even feel intimidated. For example, I have so much admiration not only for homeschooling moms but also for professional women who keep it all together that sometimes I let it crush me. Then all of a sudden my joy has evaporated. Unfulfilled longings can be very painful, and we all feel that from time to time.

   This is such a waste of time and energy. Each of us plays a part in this world, and each of us has been given unmeasured gifts and blessings that are unique to our lives and our souls. In fact, I think that the same gift in one life will manifest very differently in another because of each person’s uniqueness. A deep, refreshing well of wonder can be found in learning to appreciate your own special circumstances long before anyone else appreciates it for you, regardless of whether anyone else ever does, even.

   I am not suggesting that we stop reaching for goals or blind ourselves to the possibilities of change; quite the opposite. I am suggesting that we spark change with appreciation instead of envy. Learning to savor the details of my life, evolving and unplanned though they may be, has done wonders for my heart. With that appreciation comes increased contentment, confidence, and joy! This has allowed me to be friends with women who not very long ago would have intimidated me to that point of crumbling retreat. It has allowed me to dream more freely and laugh a lot more. I wish for longer days instead of shorter ones, and lately I can pray for my children with more faith than worry. So the precipitation of learning to love your life, no matter how it may look to other people, is incredibly nourishing. Start today.

   I certainly hope for a future where I can impart this feeling and so much more to my girls. Maybe the lullaby sank into their hearts years ago and they’ll realize it along with me.

The Ladder of Life is an Illusion, Be Happy. 
xoxoxoxo


Linking up to Mama Kat, in answer to her question: What do you love most about your job?

   The cookie contest is complete. The taste test is totaled. The fancy fun has come to fruition.

   Okay.

   It started last week when my Grandpa, parents, and little brother came to the farm for dinner and dessert. You may remember that the six of us split our votes evenly between the three recipes that night. Science required that the experiment continue.

   So it did continue this Tuesday night when we had dinner with Handsome’s parents. His Mom was wonderfully studious about her evaluation, and I love her for that! She weighed every nibble even before we had dinner and wrote about each recipe. Thanks Judy!

   But we still had dough in the freezer, and we still needed more votes.

   So finally the taste test concluded today when I sent the remaining five samples to the Commish. Do you know how awesome those people are? They divided the five sets of cookies into about a dozen smaller sets and sent Handsome home with that many votes and remarks. You guys, thank you so much for participating! I especially liked how the ladies up front all shared one comment card and things got a little argumentative in ink. LOL

The Contenders:
   I decided on the three most distinctive recipes at my disposal, though many were offered. Let’s just say that when chocolate chips and butter go on sale at the grocery store, I have some more experiments to conduct… Thank you to Rosalie and Amber in particular! xoxo

   The recipes, in order of appearance in the taste test, belong to…

1. Edie at lifeingrace blog
2. Tanya at: Sunday Baker
3. and little ole me. 

Prep Notes:

Recipe #1:
   The dough for Edie’s cookie feels like shortbread as you mix it, which means that my youngest daughter, my little sister Guinevere, and my good friend M will all love it. It’s almost sandy, in a wonderfully delicate way. It also holds its shape really well, not expanding at all in the oven. I made the imprints with my first two knuckles, per some comments I read below Edie’s blog entry. I think they turned out super pretty. These would be perfect for a ladies’ tea party or pretty little reception of some kind.

   I first tried this recipe because Edie and her friends seem to be making waves with it, flying high its banner of long shelf life and reliability. I am ON BOARD. This is a great cookie, and I bet it would be amazing with just halved pecans, like a pecan sandie. It’s that cookie. Yum.

Recipe #2:
   This delish concoction from Tanya over at Sunday Baker makes a hekuva lotta cookies, you guys! I mean, my biggest mixing bowls were barely big enough to contain the dough! And she calls for a whopping 4 1/2 cups of mix-ins. FOUR AND A HALF CUPS! Wowsa. That’s more than I have ever used for one batch, but it is exactly what was needed for this massive but moist dough. There was probably twice as much of this particular dough than the others, so if you’re looking for a HUGE turn out and a versatile cookie, this is your pick.
   This cookie dough has an unusual secret ingredient, too… which I think makes a really wonderful difference in the finished product. You should visit her site to see the recipe for yourself, but I’ll whisper this much: instant vanilla pudding mix. So good.

Recipe #3: 
   My recipe… I have made this so many times I can do it in my sleep. You can too. It is basic and easily memorized, and it comes together in just a few minutes. My girls have made this about a thousand times, too, and so far it reigns as fave with Handsome. We almost always have a batch of this dough waiting in the freezer.

Tasters’ Comments:
Recipe #1:
“Perfect!”
“Could open a bakery with these.”
“Loved the dough, tasted like Braum’s cookie dough ice cream.”
“Thought it tasted a little too floury”
“I like the light taste of the dough.”
“Too flourish but tasty- maybe not so thick next time”
“I LIKE thick and buttery”
“Floury, not a sweet cookie”
“Texture of a butter-cookie, good dipping cookie.”
“Wouldn’t be a favorite”
“More like sugar/ shortbread cookies with chocolate chips.”
“Looks funny”
“Yummy!”
“Very good!”
“Crispiest”
“Good flavor, very sugar cookie-ish, a little on the flaky side, perfect amount of chocolate chips-to-dough ratio.”


Recipe #2:
“Could use a little more coconut”
“Very chewy and different, I like”
“Great chewy base, good nutty flavor.”
“Chewy, tasty- my favorite”
“Don’t groove the coconut texture, Love the chocolate/pecan mixture, just the right amount of chewy.”
“Really good, it had a really sweet taste to it.”
“Very good”
“Her favorite- very sweet and salty, she likes salt.”
“Brown sugar? Coconut? Good cookie”
“Very good- love nuts and coconut”
“I love the crunchy dough, real different taste, love the extra…”
“A lot like traditional chocolate chip cookie except not quite chewy.”
“Looks chunky”
“…there are many who aren’t fond of coconut and nuts, but I loved the actual dough flavor the best in that cookie.”


Recipe #3:
“Very chocolaty chocolate chips.”
“Great chewy texture, great flavor”
“Almost not cooked in the middle enough, good though”
“Good texture!”
“Good texture, not much flavor”
“Too soft and sweet”
“My favorite!”
“Nice and soft”
“My favorite- very chocolaty.”
“Too much chocolate, couldn’t taste anything else.”
“Tasted more of a sugar cookie texture, definitely softer”
“Moist, creamy”
“Reminds me of eating brownies.”
“Good dough flavor. A little underdone and a little high in the chocolate-to-dough ratio.”
“Tasty- more traditional chocolate chip cookie. Yummy”
“Very tasty”


Voting Results…
(Drum-roll…)

   So there we have it! A tasteless, laborious week devoid of pleasure… Sigh… All in the name of culinary science.

   As you can see from reading the remarks offered up by all of my fabulous taste-testers, cookie preferences vary greatly from person to person, and we pleasure seekers can take it pretty seriously when called upon. Some people loved the coconut; others might have chosen that recipe had it not contained coconut. Some people love chewy; others not so much. Some people like more chocolate saturation than others.

   At least now you can get a glimpse of what each one has to offer and maybe try one of these recipes for yourself. In fact, if you do, please drop me a note! And if you visit the other bloggers, tell em who sent ya.

Chocolate is Good For You.
It’s a Fact.
See You at the Gym!
xoxoxoxo

   Apart from the big stuff, the unanswered problems and heartaches in life that underscore joy and around which we work constantly, there are some common things that drive me absolutely crazy. Out of my mind. Way past calm and pleasant. Dangerously close to a real emotional deficit. Do we have any of these button pushers in common? Let’s see…

• Having dirty floors.
• That tangle in the back and bottom of my hair after wearing a ponytail or messy bun outside or in bed too long.
• Running out of exactly two crucial things between big trips to the store.
• Lacking the willpower or creativity to work around those needs and spending an hour in the car to go buy those two crucial things.
• Having seventeen and a half blog posts written but zero polished and ready to share.
• Going through the motions with the animals and forgetting to slow down and enjoy them.
• Returning books to the library late despite my eight million warnings and reminders to myself.
• Looking through dirty windows.
• Opening a bottle of dried spices and shaking them into a pot then realizing it’s supposed to be a flip top canister, not a screw top, and suddenly I have six Tablespoons of oregano and basil in the spaghetti sauce instead of a couple of teaspoons.
• Composing a note to someone in my head while my hands are busy then when I see them realizing I never actually sent it.
• Forgetting a load of clean laundry in the dryer so long it gets wrinkly.
• Having a dirty car.
• Constantly misspelling the word “from.” 
• Forgetting romaine or any other type of lettuce in the crisper drawer. WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?
• Forgetting to wear deodorant on only one side.

   Hi there! If you have been reading at the Lazy W for a bit then you are familiar with my ten-four-good-buddy M Half. She is the smart as snot girl blogger with whom I shared that infamous Pine Forest Misadventure. Okay. M is in Europe this month enjoying a much deserved sabbatical, and I have to say that North America is poorer for her absence. Do take a peek at her blog; she is chronicling great stuff daily!
   However. 
   Today I am going to take advantage of her not being at a six-hour striking distance and write a rebuttal to her recently published “G is for Goosed by a Gander.” Everybody relax! Especially you, Mom! Last month she shared her version of the hike, so now I am simply offering my version of this, umm, violation, but as a line-by-line argument. Fair’s fair, baby!

M Said:
I’ve been avoiding telling this story for a couple of weeks now. I keep reliving the whole thing and    the worst part, the worst part, is how no one came to my defense. They sat and watched, nay, they laughed. Laughed a horrible, terrible, heartless laugh. I think there were tears in his eyes, and he almost fell off his chair. In retrospect, I sort of wish he had.


I Say: 
Yes, we laughed. But it was anything but heartless. Our hearts were fully involved in the transaction. No one laughs that hard without some passion.


M Said:
Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me back up.


I Say:
That’s what she said.


M Said:
I asked Marie if I could spend a day working with her at the Lazy W. I’ve spent many days watching her work, doing my own computer-y stuff, and listening to her move about. This time, I wanted to leave the computer in the car and join her in doing chores. She writes about brushing the horses and it just sounds all romantic and dreamy and wonderful. I’ve been around enough that I know it’s hard work. Marie works harder than I do, for sure. But for a day? Sounded like fun. It’s like The Lazy W is my own personal dude ranch. And Marie cooks. Bonus.

So theyer I was, ready for some werkin. 

I Say:
We actually do talk this way when we’re alone at the farm. Case in Point? Murder Sheyed.

She Said:
We cleaned out buffalo and horse troughs. She shoveled poo. I got sunburned. We ate fruit and cheese. Her Handsome came home and we all sat outside chatting in the shade. Marie told me again how MIA and Mama Goose had come to sit on her back while she read the other day.


I Say:
I really don’t work that hard. But I do move around a lot, on account of the excessive coffee intake around here. And actually when M asked how she could help, I shrewdly assigned her one of my least favorite tasks… scooping debris out of the large-animal troughs. LOL But she’s a trooper. And yes, she did get a little pink around the shoulders, a fact I grew to regret later that day… Regarding my prior goose-sitting experiences, let me stress that up to this point everything had been platonic. I had been reading on a picnic blanket when both Mia and Momma Goose climbed gingerly on the small of my back and sunned themselves while I polished off some good fiction. After a few chapters everyone’s innocence was still perfectly in tact. This was about two weeks before the incident being described here.


She Said:
She came out of the house waving a blanket around. “Let’s see if they come sit with you!” She spread the blanket out and I giddily stretched out on my belly to try it.


Sure enough, MIA didn’t even hesitate. He climbed right up on my shoulder and positioned himself somewhere around the back of my head. 


I Say:
This was a red flag that I missed. Mia wasted zero seconds getting to M’s shoulder blade area. There was no polite back sitting or sun cuddling whatsoever. And the truth? I was instantly transfixed. Frozen in morbid observation. My bad.


She Said:
His little feet were a bit scratchy and on freshly sunburned skin, I felt a little tender. Marie asked if he was hurting me and I said a little. This next part is a bit of a blur. I have spent the last week trying to figure it all out.


I was focusing on trying to soothe my skin when I realized there was something going on behind my head. MIA was pulling my hair, and hard. There was a flurry of activity and I couldn’t figure out what it was until I saw Handsome’s face. He was red, laughing with big fat tears rolling down his face. His expression told me everything I needed to know about MIA’s intentions with the back of my head.

Where was Marie? Right next to me. Laughing, watching, and doing nothing to stop it.

I Say:
Raise your hand if you have ever laughed nervously or if you loved National Geographic shows. It’s fascinating, right?

She Said:
“Ow, get him off me! It hurts!” I’m not sure how long it took. 3 hours? 30 minutes? Maybe 15 seconds … it’s all the same.


I Say:
Like, eight and a half seconds. It would have been a winning rodeo score.

She Said:
Finally Marie pulled this lusty bird off my head and I sat up to fend off any additional advances. Handsome still couldn’t actually form words with the laughter ripping through him. Marie looked a bit stunned. MIA kept trying to … woo … me again.


There was some talk of video and YouTube and encouragement for me to lay back down to replay the sordid scene all over again.

“NO!”


I Say:
Perhaps M has forgotten HER offer to put Mia on MY back and replay the drama in reverse! Perhaps the tears of laughter in her own eyes had obscured her vision just a tiny bit, and the tears of laughter on mine and Handsome’s faces appeared just a little fatter than they really were. Maybe. But I do admit there was talk of YouTube. And later that night Hubs (M’s guy) was on board, ready to rake in the cash, already making financial plans for the inevitable golden egg.

She Said:
And that’s how my relationship with MIA crossed a line we can’t ever uncross. I may never see geese the same way again.


No geese were harmed in the construction of this blog post. My ego, however, may never be the same.


I Say:
Mia was certainly affected by the whole thing, though not the least bit harmed. His love for M is stronger than ever. And while he and Momma still take sun naps with with me, now there is no fraction of a chance that gander is allowed anywhere north of my rib cage. Ever. I may even paint a sign warning visitors of the lustiness around here. 


As for my friendship with M, I just hope she still trusts me. I hope she knows deep in her bones that I would never allow that to happen with a hooved animal or even a talon-weilding rooster. Also, if she needs some neosporin I have some handy. And I hope she takes it as a compliment that Mia loves her so.

   Welcome to the weekend, you guys! Wow, this has been a happy, productive week around the farm. I do not feel caught up exactly, not even close actually, but no worries. I do feel the swell of springtime and the momentum of so many worthwhile projects lifting me up out of what is normally lots of regret and worry. The magic of this time of year is in full effect, regenerating me day after day.

   As I write this, the buttery sun is at my back. The geese are waking up from an afternoon nap, unwinding their long necks and stretching those wings into asymmetrical shapes. The Oklahoma wind is blowing but relatively mellow. And I can see the newness of our downstairs rooms after rearranging some beloved artwork. The indulgence of an afternoon cup of very good coffee suddenly has me thinking of New Orleans. But then it usually does.

   What have we been up to…

   A few days ago my wonderful parents, my little brother Philip, and our Grandpa Rex joined us for dinner at the farm and also a chocolate-chip cookie taste test. That was fun! The six of us sampled three different recipes and then cast our votes. Do you know what happened? An even split! No kidding. Each of the three recipes received precisely two votes, so while there was no loser, there also was no winner.

   Soooo… in order to pursue a slightly more scientific model and to rid our freezer of the very tempting raw cookie dough, on Monday morning I’ll be sending little taste test kits to Handsome’s office for our friends and cohorts there to break the tie. And odd number of kits this time. Surely by Tuesday we’ll have some results worth sharing! And you’ll get to see the three amazing recipes too.

   A few days before that, I was very happy to welcome to the farm two young women who were interested in looking at textiles for sale. Jaimee and Rebekah visited on a particularly gorgeous evening, and we spent as much time playing with the animals as we did chatting about aprons. Turns out that Rebekah has discovered her “spirit animal” is a buffalo, so she and Chunk-hi spent several minutes bonding. It was really special. Not everyone gets why we love buffalo so much, but when someone does it feels so very good.

   A few days before that, last weekend in fact, we ventured about an hour from the farm to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of a local landmark’s renovation. In Arcadia, Oklahoma, sits a very old wooden barn, all red, and perfectly cylindrical. And domed. Lots of people are fascinated by this structure, as well they should be. And over the years it has gained a bit of a cult following for all its owners’ interesting stories and restoration efforts.

   Anyway, the day we visited was also the day of the predicted storms and tornadoes, so we were on high alert. You can see in the photo below that our skies were anything but blue that day.