Lazy W Marie

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

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literary saturday: ten great things I read this week

Hello, welcome to Saturday again! This past week I have enjoyed some delicious, thought-provoking online reading material, taking a short break from books. After reviewing these saved links, it became obvious that I have been:

  • hungry
  • feeling very romantic and reflective
  • craving miles
  • still hungry

Then I realized it haaaas been Valentine season, so that might be why I am finding so many lovey-dovey treasures scattered about. And as for the non-romance-related posts? See for yourself:

  1. How Real People Really Make Love Ann Voskamp nails it again.
  2. 14 Signs You’re in the Right Relationship Not to brag, but… We totally got 14 /14. (brushes off shoulder and smooches spouse)
  3. Ten Big Truths for Every Committed Couple My friend Kelly wrote this series over a period of time and has been sharing it piecemeal on Facebook, to the delight of her online community. Rumor has it the whole series could soon be destined for the public 3-D bookshelf. (Yay!!) In the mean time, read this. It’s smart, practical, beautiful, inspiring. Just like Kelly. Who, by the way, is a licensed marriage and family therapist and marital researcher. She not only knows what she’s talking about; she cares deeply. Read and share these Ten Big Truths with other special couples.
  4. Being Fed I don’t visit Not Without Salt often enough, but when I do I am delighted by her voice, story, and clear, colorful, truly stunning photos. Read this short piece about being fed. It’s a food blog, but this is about more than a meal. Gorgeous.
  5. How to Make the Long Run a Good One Hungry Runner Girl shared this just when I needed it. She talks about fueling, which I am tweaking lately. But the most useful bit? Imagining and determining the long run to be good even before you lace up. Also, break up your distance into smaller chunks. This make the long stretch much more doable! With each increment your body is warmer and warmer, more pliable, more able to run another increment. Then all of a sudden you’re done! I love this advice and have put it into practice plenty since reading it.
  6. Sausage and Mushroom Risotto Even if you don’t want to prepare this recipe (why wouldn’t you?), please read Joy’s words for the sheer pleasure. I swear she could make cold, stale leftovers sound appealing. For the record, I definitely want to try this recipe, as my belly cannot seem to get enough mushrooms or starch.
  7. Grub Street Diet And this is a fun little food diary Joy kept for a popular website feature. Super cool. It almost made me want to translate a few days’ worth of My Fitness Pal entries into something more like a story. I love food.
  8. Colds are Caused by Conflict Okay, yes. Yes yes yes. Call me crazy (again), but I believe this and agree wholeheartedly. I also believe in straight-up old-fashioned germs of course, and I take medicine when I need to, but here is yet another expression of how our mental or psychic selves influence our physical bodies. Oh man.
  9. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough I love the OKC Thunder!!!
  10. Why Readers are the Best People to Fall in Love With Hubba hubba. xoxo
In addition to great reading, this week has served up some incredible skies. Of course. Thank you so much, Oklahoma. xoxo
In addition to great reading, this week has served up some incredible skies. Of course. Thank you so much, Oklahoma. xoxo

What have you been discovering to soak up with your smart little eyeballs? Have you signed up for Feedly yet? Tell me everything.

Happy Saturday friends!! Read your heart out.

XOXOXOXO

 

 

 

 

 

 

better boxed brownies & other kitchen ideas

It’s Tuesday! Let’s talk about food. I have lots of things to say because we’ve been feasting like kings and queens around here, finding personal little twists along the way. What follows is just a quick list of ideas for you to try.

And what’s a feast without dessert? Whether you’re indulging in a comforting slice of cake, a box of cookies, or something adventurous like a pistachio-studded cannoli, dessert is the cherry on top of any meal. If you’re craving something sweet and don’t feel like baking or running out, ordering online is a game-changer. Imagine having your favorite treats delivered right to your door, perfectly packaged and ready to delight.

Check out this website named Treats N Stuff. They offer an incredible selection of desserts that will elevate any occasion—or make an ordinary Tuesday feel extraordinary. From classic favorites to unique confections, there’s something for everyone, and the convenience of online ordering ensures that your sweet cravings are satisfied without missing a beat.

Crab Meat Fettuccine Alfredo: This sounds so much fancier and more complicated than it is to make. I served it to Handsome for our Valentine’s dinner here at the farm, and I suspect it will become a staple rotation in our “special occasion” menu. The only two differences between this dish and our standard baked Alfredo are: 1) using some Old Bay seasoning along with the nutmeg, garlic, salt and pepper and 2) adding to the finished but still simmering sauce a can of sweet crab claw meat which you have first drained and steamed with lemon juice. Once the noodles, sauce, and crab meat are all combined, just pour it into a buttered casserole dish, grate some extra cheese on top, and bake till the tips and edges of that cheese are golden.
Oh man. So good. Handsome loved it as much as I did, and although we filled our bellies I was able to freeze a half a ton more for Jocelyn. The seafood and Old Bay seasoning made us remember New Orleans. So, double win! This is my contribution to your Mardi Gras, by the way. Give it a shot.
Last note on this recipe, I owe big thanks to Kelly and Katie for answering my crabby questions while grocery shopping! They steered me firmly but gently away from both imitation crab meat and canned something else. LOL The $6 can of claw meat was definitely worth the tiny splurge!

crab meat fettuccine alfredo
crab meat fettuccine alfredo

Kale-Mushroom-Swiss Salad: Okay, this could have been better had I used true olive oil and balsamic vinegar instead of plain ol’ bottled Italian dressing, but I was out of balsamic that day. I took this to book club a couple of weeks ago and one of the ladies said the kale was a bit “pokey.”  haha Kale gets more tender with an olive oil massage. Such is life.
The basics are: De-stemmed and torn up kale, raw mushrooms, and grated Swiss cheese, plus simple dressing. If you use true olive oil, start by massaging the kale shreds with that then add the rest of the food. Dress with balsamic vinegar, season with salt and pepper, and you’re done. It tastes lots better after marinating in the fridge for a while. The kale obsession continues.

Better Boxed Brownies: While most dishes seem to be much better prepared from scratch, and that’s definitely the way we usually roll around here, brownies seem to be better from the box. Or at least simpler and just as good, as long as you tweak the box instructions just a little.
I swap out the 1/4 cup of water for the same amount of heavy cream. Then brown and cool butter in the same amount as the box asks for oil. Do not add an extra egg, as this will make the finished product fluffier and more cake-like. Shouldn’t great brownies be fudgy? Then of course add you own special touch! Like candy or chopped nuts or anything you want.
For Valentine’s Day I topped the raw brownie batter with nine evenly spaced Ferrero Rocher candies. Do you love these as much as we do? All alone they are so delicate and crispy, so much subtle hazelnut flavor, I just… I just can’t. It’s almost too much with the brownies. So to make it even better I ate my fancy Valentine brownie with a scoop of frozen Cool Whip. Tones it down, you know?

better boxed brownies
Try these little changes. They make a world of difference with your boxed brownies! xoxo

Buttermilk Biscuits: When you make biscuits from scratch, what fat do you use? My favorite recipe calls for shortening, but I like the taste of butter, then I remembered how well pie crust turns out when I divide the fat need between the two.
So on Monday I made an icy-day cozy hibernation breakfast of pork chops, fried eggs, gravy, and homemade buttermilk biscuits made with half cold butter and half shortening. They were amazing! Light-years better than any other biscuit I have ever put in my mouth. Soft yet crispy. Tender, fluffy, buttery tasting, and sky high (though that property is owed to the baking powder).
So that’s my last kitchen tip today: when making buttermilk biscuits from scratch, use half butter and half shortening. Bam.

Okay, those are the kitcheny things on my mind today. What little culinary experiments have you tried recently? As a side note, these delicious adventures are why no matter how much I run I don’t seem to be slimming down much. LOL More on that in a couple of weeks on an upcoming Marathon Monday.

Happy cooking! And even happier eating.
Laissez les bon temps roulez
XOXOXOXO

friday 5 at the farm: valentine preview

Hello, happy Friday! And Happy Valentine’s weekend to you too!

Handsome and I slept downstairs last night just for fun and both woke up around 4:30 this morning to some strange noises in the house. I’ll spare you the details in case you are easily frightened, but suffice it to say that we firmly believe this house to be haunted and this morning’s noises weren’t NOT footsteps. In our bedroom. Where neither of us were.

Anyway.

We couldn’t go back to sleep so we watched some reruns of Love Boat and snuggled. Then as we were stretching awake to tiptoe outside for Hot Tub Summit I realized I’d forgotten to fill my precious coffee machine with water last night. So the grounds were there, hot and fragrant, but dry. So no coffee yet. Womp womp.

Then the sky outside was so beautiful but also kind of thick and murky, like a werewolf sky, with the moon barely pressing through the darkness. Just an hour later, though, and it is hot pink and brilliant purple. Big, layered poofs of clouds and sunburst, another thrilling Oklahoma sunrise.

Anyway.

Happy Friday the 13th! Let’s hope the rest of the day’s weirdness is purely fun, like this. And let’s hope all of it morphs into beauty like the sky did, too. I have a 15 mile run scheduled then plenty of time to get ready for weekend #1 of our Valentine festivity. This year we agreed to split the holiday between two weekends: I arrange our meals and celebration this first go round and he does the same next weekend. I love this plan! It should keep up from overlapping or interfering with little surprise details, you know?

Fingers crossed that the ghost or whatever is upstairs gives us some privacy.

For Friday 5 this week, how about just a handful of photos of how I’m prepping for the weekend? Okay.

red tulips and a sparkly clean house (soon)
red tulips and a sparkly clean house (soon)
heart-shaped rib eye, cooked rare
heart-shaped rib eye, cooked rare
a carb-heavy New Orleans-inspired side dish involving this little treasure
A carb-heavy New Orleans-inspired side dish involving this little treasure. Oooh and apparently some fresh nail polish.
decadent dessert involving this, but not this alone
decadent dessert involving this, but not this alone
Our romantic plans this weekend do not include this feathery little guy. Can you babysit? Please? Pretty please?
Our romantic plans this weekend do not include this feathery little guy. Can you babysit? Please? Pretty please?

As I wrap this up and drink my last cup of Friday the 13th coffee, I can smell fresh sweet strawberries waiting to be slurped and enjoyed with my husband. I see a frilly three-dimensional card waiting to be sent to my youngest daughter, loaded with words that I pray (and trust) will soak into her heart. And I am thinking of the overwhelming power of Love, in all its manifestations, that keeps up moving and striving and then resting together day after day, no matter what happens to us or around us.

This snapshot was taken in the French Quarter at a very cool little artists' walk we both love. He was refusing to let me smooch him like I wanted to. Then he grabbed me and held me up in the air. xoxo
This snapshot was taken in the French Quarter at a very cool little artists’ walk we both love. He was refusing to let me smooch him like I wanted to. Then he grabbed me and held me up in the air. Then I got the smooch I wanted. xoxo

Come What May.

Happy Friday the 13th, sweet friends, And happy Valentine’s Day too. Much love to you always.

Love is a Many Splendored Thing
Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong
XOXOXO

no longer surprised by joy

When I first opened my eyes this morning, sunlight was streaming into our bedroom warm and smooth, molten, kinetic. The walls were pulsing with that wonderful early morning sheen, thick with golden light, and then in a moment it was gone. Slipped away in the cleaner white light of day. A rare moment captured.

Then a little bit later when Handsome and I stepped outside with our mugs of perfect coffee, ushering the chickens and geese out of their nighttime coop and tiptoeing towards Hot Tub Summit, we caught another rare moment. The east pasture and middle yard were capped with a thin blanket of wooly fog, rolled out like a blanket no more than twelve or fifteen feet above the ground. Through that fog, more sunlight streaming fiercely, joyously, making every tree branch come to life despite their dormancy. The backlit fog was stunning. And then it was gone, burned off in the warming rays.

These moments were brief but breathtaking, and I am so happy we both got to see them.

Miracles have been happening in our life. Always, yes I know. Life itself is a miracle. But friends… Miracles have been happening. Some of them have been direct answers to prayers, often desperate ones. Many of these prayers are several years old, too. Other miracles have been complete surprises, wonderful doses of saving grace from near tragedy or windfall joy out of the blue.

I try to move slowly through my days whenever possible so I can notice the details of life more fully, absorb them, and magnify the Light streaming in that gilds everything. Ann Voskamp illustrates this discipline beautifully. Besides making the days more lovely, this also serves to calm me with those yet unanswered prayers. I feel steady and sure, confident in the powerful Love surrounding us.

Today I barely feel the need to ask for anything more because the momentum of miracles in our life is so strong, so kinetic. But we are invited to ask largely, so I will. Before that though, and after it and all day every day, my prayer is Thank You. Thank you, and I trust You. I trust you with everything big and small, seen and unseen. Thank You.

 day lilies cs lewis

Are you seeing miracles in your life right now? Do you need a miracle? They are certainly available, and you don’t have to deserve them to receive them. But you do have to ask and trust.

Wishing you a really gorgeous, happy, love-filled Sunday. Handsome and I are soon heading back outside to soak up more unseasonably warm temperatures (Oklahoma still thinks it April, not February) and see what new miracles are on the horizon. Thank you so much for stopping in.

Thank You.
Thank You and I trust You.
XOXOXO

 

 

a girl and her horse

She loves him so much. I can see it in every movement, every word, every giggle. He loves her, too, like he loves no one else. They communicate in a secret, amazing way.

dusty joc black n white compressed

Her thin, muscular legs wrap around his belly, guiding him and loving him. Her hands brush and braid his mane or his tail. Her arms wrap greedily around his thick neck while her tiny feet endure hoof smashes and the occasional tap-kick. She pretends to scold him for this in a voice dripping with patience and understanding.

She leads him in circles and urges me to ride him, teaching me what she learned while she was gone. Such an incredible trade, an unexpected gift. She cleans his hooves and extends his legs forward to stretch and cuddle some more. She combs her fingers through his long, fuzzy, gray and white winter coat. She teaches him and loves him and needs him and is needed.

She shivers in the cool breeze but insists on keeping her skin (such a beautiful olive wrapping) exposed to the sun, she craves it so much. Then I bring her a blanket anyway so she can stay warm but also cuddle against him, warm on both sides now. She is as swaddled and kissed as when she was a baby, and watching her I feel every impulse in my body as before, everything in my heart and mind firing off with love and energy and hope for the future. Her future.

She holds his hoof and he holds her heart, and at this moment everything is exactly how it’s supposed to be. And I whisper thank you, thank you, thank you to the One who makes it possible.

XOXOXO