Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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good news brewing

December 17, 2014

You who stop here and read my farm stories and book reviews and clumsy philosophy or spiritual meanderings, my running diaries, sporadic garden ideas and recipes and Ted Bundy memories, you are very special to me. You are friends who accept the crazy, irregular things I have to offer, and you often return the favor with so many beautiful thoughts and words of your own. While writing itself is cathartic, your support and affection truly nourish me. And I know you have hundreds of blogs available where you can spend your limited reading time. I know that. So I appreciate your attentive hearts all the more.

I like the idea of you sitting in my living room with your feet up, like this, dirty garden boots and everything. I just made you coffee and biscotti.
I like the idea of you sitting in my living room with your feet up, like this, dirty garden boots and everything. I just made you coffee and biscotti. We discuss everything under the Oklahoma sun.

In addition to being so generous, you have also been very patient with certain measures of ambiguity.

Over the years I have alluded to changing family dynamics and a deep grief I have carried for my children. Maybe you know part of our story, and maybe you don’t. But with few exceptions this blog has been a safe, prayerful, encouraging place to sort of synthesize all of my thoughts and feelings. Here, I get the chance to put into words not just what’s happening inside me or around me from day to day, month to month, but more importantly… the possible meanings behind things. Lessons to learn and hope to cement. And I know that usually sounds like stuff about the miracle of seeds germinating or the strength of a honey bee colony. Apparently this is the arena where God speaks to me.

God has been so good to us. He has sustained us over the years in amazing ways, and I try to celebrate that here and share it with you. He has been good to us in the garden, with the animals, and with our children, even (especially) when the pain has been excruciating, both for us and for them. And things have been hard. No doubt about it.

In recent weeks though, we’ve been more than sustained. Love is transforming things. As filled with miracles as our life has always been, this showering of grace and revelation is unprecedented. And resisting the urge to write about it all has felt unnatural, itchy. I am omitting the biggest stories in our life to talk about, what? What is more important?

So.

I’ll still be guarded with what I share, mostly because these stories are not all mine to tell; but I will begin to share some of the amazing things God is doing for our family. I owe at least that much. And honestly I can hardly hold it in any more.

joc sunset dusty

So this is me taking a deep breath and preparing to share some good news with you. Tentatively, with carefully chosen words, but still with so much unbridled joy!

Thank you so much for listening and praying.
You have no idea how much it means.
XOXOXOXO

 

5 Comments
Filed Under: 1000gifts, faith, thinky stuff

I love people who… Christmas edition

December 15, 2014

Back in August I wrote a fun post about some kinds of people I love. You all were so great! You added your own loving thoughts at the end of that post, on Facebook,Twitter, and in email, and it was one big warm fuzzy. Let’s do that again for Christmas, okay? Okay!

paperwhites

At Christmastime I love people who…

Send out Christmas cards with cute family photos in them.
Send out Christmas letters giving updates
on their family’s major events from the past year.
Or forget to actually mail their Christmas cards
even though they were purchased last year on sale and are just so cute.
(Not that I’ve ever done that.)

I love people who are devoted to real trees
and buy them from the same tree lot every year.
Also people who go cut down their Christmas tree, Clark Griswold style.
Who use artificial, pre-lit trees and fluff them out religiously.
Or who fawn over elegant flocked trees.
I really am crazy about people who love their antique metal trees.

I love people who host cookie exchanges and wear Santa aprons and silly sweaters.
I love people who faithfully buy those round tins of Danish butter cookies
and share them with me.
People who build actual gingerbread houses? Those folks are just plain legit. Amazing.

santa cowboy

I love people who feel passionately, one way or another, about Elf on a Shelf.
You just do you. And I’ma do me. Okay.
I have been known to actively defend parents who lie to their children
for too many years about Santa, etcetera.
It’s magical. I love you for lying about it a little. Or a lot.
I love every one of you who hangs a stocking, leaves cookies for Santa,
or feeds Santa’s reindeer (we do that).

Do you observe Advent? Do you light one more candle each week, pray,
and read devotionals with each other?
I love you. That is beautiful.
I love manger scene traditions and Christmas pageants,
solemn hymns at midnight and angels and stars as tree toppers.
I also love families who sing only the ridiculous, funny holiday tunes!
Who doesn’t, deep down, want a hippopotamus under the tree?

At Christmastime I adore folks who go all out
making handmade gifts, baking elaborate sweets,
covering every edible thing in the house with chocolate,
and crafting perfect paper snowflakes. I love those things!
I also think people who stick with gift cards are the bomb-diggity,
because they usually have more time to cuddle and watch movies!
Like Elf.

I really really love people who hang lights on their house,
whether it’s a simple white strand over the front door
or a complex, colorful, set-to-music extravaganza
that triples the electricity bill. It matters.

cool lights

 

How could we ever go on without the tradition keepers?
How could we ever manage to laugh at ourselves without the more carefree among us?
I love all of you, each of you, for every bit of magic you bring to Christmas, year after year.
And to those of you who I’ll see this season, I hope I can find some magic to cast in your direction, too.

Merry Christmas!!
XOXOXOXO

 

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Filed Under: memories

friday 5 at the farm: photos & captions

December 12, 2014

Whoa, is it really Friday? I’m not complaining, because Fridays are awesome. But I am surprised. Life lately has been lulling me with such pleasure, so many daily graces and perfect rhythms, that I forget to notice the passage of time. And I’m getting really good at Carpe Diem; it’s just that sometimes I forget which Diem it is.

How about a little Friday 5 at the Farm, just some photos and short stories? Okay.

Photo #1: Below you see an image of what holds my attention most of my waking hours: Books and sunlight. I am reading two very different from each other books right now, and each of them is fascinating in its own right. And I still haven’t told you more about Tasting Home! Sometimes I think about starting a blog just for book reviews. Because of all my spare time, you know.

  • Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  • The Mapmaker’s Dream by James Cowan

And sunlight. Oklahoma has been so wrapped in fog that every ray of warmth we enjoy is a total pleasure. Winter is right around the corner, and it promises to be a cold, wet, snowy season. For all my Carpe Diem preaching, I am already craving springtime.

 

f5f books lace

Photo #2: This horse below is Dusty, you may know. He is our girls’ horse, a smallish mixed breed with a heart of gold. He and our girls basically grew up together. He is cut now but before that little procedure he managed to sneakily father the only two colts to spring from the equine loins of the Lazy W. Our oldest daughter has been spending a lot of time at the farm lately, riding bareback and training Dusty to learn some basic groundwork. He’s doing great, but she does mildly reprimand me for having him so conditioned for treats. Apparently horses are supposed to obey voice commands more than Oreo offerings? Who knew. Here you see Dusty sporting a cool pair of her sunglasses. He is very likely the most photographed animal on the farm right now, thanks to her visits and loving devotion.

 

f5f dusty shades

Photo #3: A decent trade for sunlight is the wintertime staple of homemade pie crust. Cold, dark months boast so many good reasons to enjoy this simple pleasure. Whatever recipe you use, may I gently suggest that you try this? Divide your fat between half butter and half shortening. It is perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfect. Delicious, flaky, tender, flavorful. Whether for a sweet or a savory dish (here I was making homemade chicken pot pie), this combination is really truly amazing. As a side note, we tried chicken pot pie with finely diced potatoes in the mix, and it was really good. Maybe great. Possibly worth exploring again and sharing with you fine people.

f5f pie crust

Photo #4: Pacino, our blue and gold macaw, has been a lot of fun lately, too. Still perhaps not as photographed as Dusty, but he does get a lot of face time. He’s been keeping me company while I crochet scarves and fold laundry, and he is really good at never letting the house grow too quiet.

f5f pacino

Photo #5: Always take the scenic route, friends. Slow down. Neglect multi-tasking when you can. Taste the food you eat. Write down the details of your day, the things you see, hear, feel, smell, touch, think, and experience. Open your eyes wide and unclench your fists. Soak up the world with your heart. It is so beautiful, this world, and so are you.

f5f scenic route

Okay, that makes five photos and five short stories! Thank you so very much for visiting. I hope your weekend is shaping up to be restful, happy, loving, productive, and whatever else you need it to be.

Always take the scenic route.
Always.
XOXOXO

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Filed Under: daily life, Farm Life, Friday 5 at the Farm, thinky stuff

low visibility

December 7, 2014

All week we have been wrapped in thick, wet fog. Cool, gray, drizzly, dense fog that keeps our vision close and our temperatures low. And for all the dreariness, it has been magical. Oklahoma rarely has this many consecutive foggy days. I find it perfectly enchanting.

Walking around the farm, the intense moisture slicks my eyeballs and makes my wavy hair curly. The ground is saturated. Spongy. We look for the animals around the farm but only see them as blue shadows and silhouettes emerging from the blurry distance. And barely a breeze moves the naked trees.

The Pine Forest is a still life of flat, sharp edges, a painted cardboard scene for a fairy tale puppet show. All dressed in that enchanted fog.

I can feel the clock hands slowing down under the weight of it all, and it is wonderful.

fog, lazy w, oklahoma, faith
Dulcinea in the denim blue, foggy twilight.

Of course driving in the heavy fog takes special care, too. You absolutely must go slowly, and your lights cannot be too direct, too far reaching. The fog draws us in, folds us over onto ourselves a bit, shrinks our vision. This frustrates some people, but it’s temporary.

Everything, after all, is temporary.

Mysteries that seem unfathomable are dissolved in the warm light of truth. Terrible walls crumble apart. People are reunited by Love in ways that no one might predict.

The fog eventually lifts.

So if you are feeling socked in by life, if you’re having trouble seeing very far into the future, take heart. Sometimes that’s just how it is. Take a deep breath then let it out, slowly. Be very still and quiet. Take a look around yourself, right exactly where you are. There is plenty to be done in this moment, and there is plenty to enjoy, too.

Don’t be bothered by the fog. It will eventually thin out and disappear completely. The horizon will be clear again, your vision full. Soon the sun will be dazzling bright again, maybe when you least expect it.

Until that moment, be here. Be very present and calm, very still and safe in this moment, and enjoy the world’s magical appearance. Soon the rest of it will be revealed.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow:
for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
~Matthew 6:34
XOXOXOXO

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Filed Under: 1000gifts, daily life, faith, thinky stuff

lazy w pizza crust

December 7, 2014

Raise your hand if you love pizza! Raise both hands if you love homemade pizza! Homemade pizza is one of my favorite meals to arrange here at the farm. We no longer do it every single week, but we do it plenty. I love the fact that on pizza night everyone can eat exactly what they want, it makes the house smell amazing, and the whole process slows us down a bit. Pizza day is always fun!

This beautiful woman is my friend Melissa. She is one of the most avid readers I know (three cheers for our Oklahoma book club!) and loves homemade pizza almost as much as I do. Hi Melissa!
This beautiful woman is my friend Melissa. She is one of the most avid readers I know (three cheers for our Oklahoma book club!) and loves homemade pizza almost as much as I do. Hi Melissa!

 

Toppings are simple and completely up to you. Here at the W, we always make two sauces: Heavy, salty Alfredo in one pot and slow-simmered, sweet and garlicky marinara in another. (Sometimes I mix mine into a pink sauce.) Then we offer chopped grilled chicken breast (amazing with Alfredo), some raw veggies and herbs (I vote for mushrooms, basil, and parsley whenever possible), maybe jarred olives and artichokes, and sometimes pepperoni, ground Italian sausage, etc. And of course mozzarella and parmesean cheeses.

The details totally depend on our group that night. Have you tried Edie’s son’s version with honey and garlic? Delish. Often guests are happy to bring fun toppings to share, too! This is one of the coolest pot luck strategies in my opinion: “I’ll make a ton of dough and sauce, and y’all bring toppings!” Instant party.

 

lazyw pizza dough, recipe, pizza reicpe
When our oldest daughter comes home for pizza night, she tends to fill one crust to the max and flip in over into a big, billowy calzone. It looks so good! But she’s tiny and eats like a bird. So guess who always takes leftovers with her?

If toppings are the paint, then crust is the canvas. Excellent pizza really relies on excellent crust, doesn’t it? After trying several recipes and methods over time I have finally settled on a certain combination that all of us love. It’s tender, hand-tossable, easy, and reliable. My book club girls have been requesting this recipe, and I might as well put it here on my blog in case the crispy, wrinkled recipe pages where I’ve been taking notes over the years ever finally bite the dust.

Okay. My favorite pizza crust is basically from a slightly tweaked Betty Crocker recipe.

Ingredients:

5 to 6 cups all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt (I admit to a psychotic addiction to sea salt)
4 1/2 teaspoons of yeast (or 2 envelopes)
6 generous Tablespoons of olive oil
2 cups very warm water (see notes below for a REALLY cool trick)
optional: garlic powder and dried Italian spices to taste

Now, Method:

  1. First bring some water to boil in your tea kettle. When it is really whistling, measure into a heatproof measuring bowl one cup of boiling water, then add to that one cup of cold tap water. The half-and-half combination will give you precisely the right temperature you need to activate and grow your yeast, without needing a thermometer or endless water corrections. It’s magic. Kitchen magic, I tell you! (In case you want to check, the yeast needs water that is 120*-130* F)
  2. Now in a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups of the flour with all of your sugar, salt, and yeast. Using nothing more than a wooden spoon (I mean you could use an electric mixer, but let’s be Amish!), stir in the olive oil and magical warm water. Be sure to scrape down and incorporate all the dry stuff. At this stage, if you want fancy dough, add garlic powder and Italian spices too. It’s truly wonderful with or without.
  3. Now add enough of the remaining flour to your dough to make it nice and soft (I err on the side of less, since you’ll generously dust your working surface later). Betty Crocker says the dough should begin to leave the sides of your bowl.
  4. Dust your working surface with more flour and knead the whole fragrant, malleable heap of goodness with your bare hands. Knead it for several minutes, until it’s “smooth and springy” Ms. Crocker advises. The transformation is just beautiful. It feels sexy in your hands. But, in an Amish way. Totally wholesome.
  5. Now leave the giant ball of heavy, yeasty, silky dough in the same large bowl and cover lightly. You can use plastic wrap or maybe a clean, damp cotton tea towel. It’s only going to rise once, unlike lots of breads, and only for half an hour. And honestly I feel like thin crust is the way to live your life. So if it doesn’t rise to the sky that’s fine. But if you want it really thick and poofy, then make sure your dough is kept warm somehow. I always use an oven proof glass bowl just in case I feel the need to slip it into a barely warm oven (less than 200*).

The Fun Part! and extra notes:

  1. Okay, now the dough becomes a crust! I’ve given you the proportions for a double recipe, which is actually four good sized pizzas. So tear it apart once, then again, so you have four similar hunks of smooth, springy dough.
  2. Each one can be handed to its potential toppings artist for hand-tossing, rolling, or just pressing onto a pizza stone or greased cookie sheet. Instruct each other to speak with bad Italian accents as you work.
  3. By the way, for a really cool restaurant effect, use a drizzling of olive oil and a sprinkling of corn meal on your pan.
  4. If you’ve made more dough than you need, just pop it into a freezer bag and seal well for the next pizza party.
  5. For thin crusts, make sure to roll or toss it even thinner than you think you should, then pre-bake at about 400* for less than 10 minutes. It won’t come out crisp yet, but after you top it and bake it again? Perfect.
  6. For thick crusts, don’t handle it much more. Just shape it and let it rise once more on the stone or cookie sheet.
  7. Either way, once you’re ready, top it all to your heart’s content with everything that pleases your pizza-loving soul.
  8. For book club recently, I rolled some dough extra thin, topped it with marinara, cheese, and pepperoni, rolled it up, brushed the outside with egg wash and added Parmesan, then sliced it crosswise like you would cinnamon rolls. Cook slices on their sides for really yummy pizza roll ups!
  9. Okay, traditional pizzas just go in a hot oven until cheese is melted. Thin crusts only take about 10 minutes at maybe 425*, thick crusts take up to 20 minutes at 375*.

pizza

Friends, I’m telling you, there are two ginormous slices of leftover homemade pizza in my refrigerator right now. I’m not hungry. Not at all. But after talking to you about this I am giving serious consideration to eating that stuff cold.

Cold pizza, family, and friends who love books. Life is good.

“You better cut the pizza in four pieces
 because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.”
~Yogi Berra
XOXOXOXO

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Filed Under: book club, daily life, recipesTagged: pizza crust, recipes

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Hi! I'm Marie. Welcome to the Lazy W. xoxo

Hi! I’m Marie. This is the Lazy W.

A hobby farming, book reading, coffee drinking, romance having, miles running girl in Oklahoma. Soaking up the particular beauty of every day. Blogging on the side. Welcome to the Lazy W!

I Believe Strongly in the Power of Gratitude & Joy Seeking

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"Edit your life freely and ruthlessly. It's your masterpiece after all." ~Nathan W. Morris

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