By Fidelity and Fortitude - Homeschool Blogger

Pioneer Woman Addict - Photos

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:36:00 -0600

Here's where we started out in line at 12:50 p.m.

Waaaaay up there, in the center of the photo, Ree is answering random questions from those in line. We couldn't hear most of it because malls are not known for their excellent acoustics. From this point, the line winds to the left around the escalator, behind the stage and then comes back to the opening right in front of us. From that point, then, it was another two hours.

At least as we were winding around the stage, we were close enough to get a good photo of Ree and her gorgeous boots. You go, girl. The Orange Julius was doing a brisk business from this event; standing in line makes one almighty parched.

See that guy to the left of me? That's Marlboro Man, Ree's cowboy. He and their two little boys spent a while signing cookbooks and getting their picture taken with crazy female fans. The boys' attention span didn't last long and they ran off (in the dubious care of several singularly unsmiling Barnes and Noble workers) to get snacks and run off the wiggles. But since his attention span is longer or maybe just because he has a little more self-discipline, Ladd, aka MM, signed for a long time.

See? And for the record, I read her blog for her sparkling wit and the delicious, full-fat recipes. What!?

On this page, their younger boy wrote his name, Todd, by his picture and then wrote "Alex" by his sister. He looked at me and said, "Alex." He's a little guy and was proud of his ability to write not only his own name, but also his sister's name.

And, then, finally, finally, finally, the big moment with my new BFF. We bonded.

Poor Ree must have been exhausted by this point. After all, she had been at this for five hours, too. Of course, I wasn't making a profit from every stroke of my pen and that can be a powerful energy source, but still. In the picture, you can tell she's thinking, "Man, my cheeks hurt. What am I going to do with a box of half-melted Buckeyes? When can I go back to my hotel room and jump in the jacuzzi?"

While she was writing, she paused after the second "n" in my name and for one horrifying moment, I thought I was going to have to ask her to put the "e" on the end. If I had walked away with it inscribed to "Ann" I could not have borne it. I would have had to donate it to some poor soul named "Ann." You may imagine my immense relief when she added the "e" before going on to add the highly personalized message. I had obviously impressed upon her my sparkling wit and effervescent personality, else she would not have gone back and added the smiley face after she made the heart. Remember, we bonded.

Here we are with our free t-shirts (they only cost 5 hours of our lives!) and our signed cookbooks. The big "I"s on our foreheads are either for "Insane" or...

Well, yeah, insane is about it. But insanity for short periods of time is a lot of fun.

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman Addict

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:34:00 -0600

I have lineaphobia. I hate standing in lines. My father-in-law has trafficaphobia, a fear of traffic which leads him to find the most roundabout, back-road-iest route he can find. But this isn't about him. It's about my fear of standing in long lines.

I have never known an entertainer, politician, roller coaster, author, or holiday figure worth standing in a ten-minute line for, let alone a five hour, two-mile long line in the Mall of America on a Saturday. And yet, that's what I did today.

Who, you may ask, would I do such a thing for? Sarah Palin? (Jane Austen, maybe, but she's not available.) Oprah Winfrey? Santa Claus? Nope. I did it for Ree.

A few of you have discovered Ree, aka Pioneer Woman, for yourself. I"ve been reading and mildly addicted to her blog for about two years now. I don't read it daily, but I keep up. She is married to a rancher, has four kids and homeschools. But this lady isn't your jumper-wearing, braid-swinging homeschool mama. Her blog has cowboys, cooking, kids, homeschooling, gardening, photography, cows, horses, dogs, and, oh yes, cowboys. All of those topics are interesting on their own, certainly, but what makes the blog so entertaining, what brings people back, is Ree herself. She writes just as though we were sitting down with a cup of coffee for a cozy chat about the everyday stuff of life. Just us and several million other readers. Somehow she fits us all into her virtual living room and makes us all comfy with her sense of humor, her openess, and her genuine love for her family and the people around her. We all feel as though we know her, we're a part of her life.

I know! I know! It seems kind of creepy and stalker-y when we talk about this woman and her family like we have dinner with them every night. We start parroting phrases that she uses all the time. We wonder, "What would Ree think of this?" or "Wouldn't Ree think this is funny?" And yet, that's what she invites is to feel when we cozy up to her blog.

So, when I learned that Ree would be at the Mall of America for a book signing event (here's her new book The Pioneer Woman Cooks) I immediately staked a claim on my calendar for this day and laid my plans.

Some time ago, I discovered that my friend, Stephanie, is also a PW fan, so we finagled child care for our kids (seven between the two of us) and headed down to the most insane mall in the country, maybe the world. We planned to check out the line and assess the situation. We would stand in line for a while and then, if it was taking too long, we would just go. We'd give it another half hour and then decide if we should go. We'd give it a little longer since we seemed to be making progress. We'd go if the tearful phone calls from children didn't desist. Well, and theeeennn...by theennnn...you know...we were so far in line, we had spent so much time already, it would be a shame to go. So, by a hundred tiny decisions, we ended up standing in line for five hours to sit beside Ree herself for two seconds, get a picture with her, and move along.

Some day I'll be able to tell about the moments I sat beside her. How my mind completely blanked at the crucial moment (probably as much from finally sitting down after 5 hours on my feet as from awe at being so near PW). How I handed her a little box of melted Buckeyes and apologized for them (what a dork!). How I think she tried to say something kind to the idiot lady, but by then my mouth was already moving and I couldn't stop talking once I'd started. How I moved away so quickly, she couldn't have answered me if she'd wanted to. *sigh* Everyone else made it look so easy, even the ladies with two toddlers in tow. But really, what can one do or say in 2.7 seconds to impress upon the admired person the full extent of one's sparkling wit and effervescent personality? Just isn't possible, at least for me. But I can't talk about it yet. It's too traumatic.

Instead, I'll give you some lessons I learned today:

1. Never go to the Mall of America on a Saturday.

2. The line is always longer than it looks.

3. Stephanie and I share some important things in common: husbands who are avowed city-slickers, who are non-demonstrative, but are excellent gift-givers; painful memories of third grade; and a terror of forever screwing up our childrens' knowledge of and ability to deal with the birds and the bees.

4. Standing in line for five hours is curiously exhausting. Not that Ree's job of sitting in one place, signing books and making chit-chat with total strangers was not exhausting. I'm just sayin.' In case you wondered.

5. Use the buddy system. If you're going to stand in line for 5 hours, do it with a friend. Stephanie held my place in line while I went to get us something to drink and, later, for me to take a potty break. The endeavor might have failed early on if not for my buddy. (Thanks, Steph!) Incidentally, my buddy also remembered her camera when I did not!

6. Stand around with complete strangers for long enough and you can make some pretty good friends. The girl ahead of us was getting an autographed copy of the book for her mother's Christmas gift, the lady behind us had considered wearing high heeled boots but was thankful she had chosen flats, another lady has a mother who lives in Mansfield, Ohio, and another lady had arrived fresh from her own stables to catch a glimpse of Ree.

7. Do not attempt to stand in a line like that for five hours with children. God bless the babies, toddlers, tikes, and early elementary kids for their incredible patience. I'm not sure whether to send a sympathetic nod to their harried parents or just to say, "Are you insane?!"

8. And, most importantly, never go to the Mall of America on a Saturday. Seriously. Don't do it.

I never camped out to buy Springsteen tickets; I never waited for the midnight release of a Harry Potter book; I never dressed up like an Ewok for a Star Wars premier; and I've never been to Boston in the fall. But I have stood in line for five hours to see a homeschooling rancher's wife from Oklahoma. Yeah. That's how I roll. After I've tried all of the recipes, I'll let you know if it was worth it.

Target Gift Card Giveaway

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:30:00 -0600

No, I'm not giving away a Target Gift Card. I'm trying to win one for myself! But you can try for it, too! I just found this lovely blog, called Oodlekadoodle Primitives. It's written by a tech-savvy great-grandmother who lives down the road from me in Faribault, MN. On her blog, she shares lots of yummy recipes. And $25 Target gift cards! That could come in handy when Christmas shopping for four kids and extended family! Even if I don't win the card, though, I think I'll go back for some of those delicious-looking recipes!

American Girl Place

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:57:00 -0600

For Johanna's birthday, Mom, Sam, Johanna and I went to the American Girl Place at the Mall of America. Johanna doesn't have an American Girl. She has this doll from Vision Forum, but she loves "Felicity" from the American Girl series. In the picture above, Johanna is posing beside the Felicity display.

For a snack, we went to the American Girl Cafe where Johanna and Sam were each allowed to choose a doll to take care of at our table.

Sam named his doll "George."

As we sat there waiting for our pretzel bread and cheese fondue, a waitress brought out mini-muffins and tiny cups of pink lemonade for the dolls. Here, Sam is demonstrating to Johanna the proper way to feed the dolls.

We had a lovely time.

When we were done, Johanna was allowed to pick out her birthday presents - a Felicity movie and a beautiful new dress for her doll.

I hope Johanna thoroughly enjoys being eight years old. It's a magical age and never comes back again. Of course, no age comes back again, but none has the same dreams and amusements as being an eight-year-old girl.

More Birthday

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:36:00 -0600

Here's the birthday boy from yesterday.

Hard to believe that 12 years ago I was holding my precious baby bundle for the first time. I never got tired of staring at him, watching the expressions as they flitted across his tiny face. He was the sweetest, cutest, best baby ever. Of course, I went on to have three more sweetest, cutest, best babies, but William was the first.

Twelve years feels like such a short time and such a long time. He has changed quite a bit, to say the least, but I have changed, too. Motherhood has brought out the worst and hopefully the best in me. My older brother, Tom, sometimes complains about being the oldest and how tough that is and I being the middle child must staunchly pooh-pooh this idea. Now that I'm a parent, though, I have to admit that, at least in our family, being the oldest really is tough. Poor William is our guinea pig, he leads the vanguard in teaching us how to be parents: how to make rules, set limits, enforce them, be flexible, back down, apologize, start over, do better. He paves the way for the younger ones, breaks down the parental strongholds, so their lives won't be so difficult. He's a real Lech Walesa. Okay, maybe I'm getting dramatic now.

We had parent/teacher conferences last night and it was so wonderful to hear his teachers talk about what an amazing young man he is becoming. We talked about his faults and struggles as well, but we really are so proud of our William and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for him.

Birthday girl!

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 20:30:00 -0600

To Autumn

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:37:00 -0500

Most autumnal poems are dark and depressing - beautiful and evocative and great if you're in a bad mood anyway and just want to wallow in it for a while - but today, I am happy and I hope you are, too. So, here is a happy fall poem. Enjoy!

To Autumn by William Blake

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stain’d
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou may’st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.

The narrow bud opens her beauties to
The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins;
Blossoms hang round the brows of Morning, and
Flourish down the bright cheek of modest Eve,
Till clust’ring Summer breaks forth into singing,
And feather’d clouds strew flowers round her head.

The spirits of the air live in the smells
Of fruit; and Joy, with pinions light, roves round
The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.”
Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat,
Then rose, girded himself, and o’er the bleak
Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.

More family vacation

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:11:00 -0500

I don't have much time this morning. We've got to get going to Micah's speech meet (he's set to recite "Matilda" by Hillaire Belloc), then get some cleaning/baking/schooling done, then go pick up my mom at the airport!

But I'll show you Teddy's cabin before I rush off for the day.

This is Teddy's Maltese Cross cabin, a mansion by local standards - of the time. It has three rooms and a loft - all the luxury one could ask for. He lived here when he first came to the area, before he went further north and built his super-duper mansion cabin with eight rooms!

This is the view from the kitchen window.

They have many items which Teddy used while he was there and a nervous little park ranger told us about his time there.

There is also a display in the visitors' center which we went through: all the TR you can stand in one day! Of course, our level of tolerance is higher than most people's when it comes to TR.

From there, we headed down south to the other Dakota.

Favorite sight

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:53:00 -0500

This is one my favorite sights. Makes me smile every time.

North Dakota: Bismarck and points west

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:32:00 -0500

I'm going back here a bit to share from our trip to the Badlands at the end of August. It really was a great trip - lots of fun and family bonding and no rain.

The first day we drove. A lot. We drove all the way from St. Paul to Bismarck, ND. If you want to know how far that is, look it up on your atlas; I can't bear to look. Sometimes it's best when our memories gloss over the worst trauma of an exerience. In fact, the entire human race depends on women's memories glossing over the staggering pain and agony of childbirth and convincing us it's a good idea to do it again. But that's not the point here. What was my point? Oh, yes, driving. Not just driving, of course, but driving with four young children one of which is three years old. Here's what Sam was driven to doing for entertainment:

Sucking on empty water bottles. What else is there to do? Look out the window? Once you've seen one upper midwest prairie you've pretty much seen them all.

That night, we stayed in a motel in Bismarck. We went swimming and relaxed.

Next morning, we decided to stop and see the ugliest capital building in the entire United States, maybe the world. The guidebook claimed that it is "Art Deco" but we found it "Plain Ugly." It does have a lovely statue of Sacagawea, though.

This was our first bison of the trip and was surprisingly docile and friendly.

From there we drove on west to Teddy Roosevelt National Park. As many of you know, John is a big fan of TR and William's middle name is Roosevelt (for Teddy, not Franklin, you may be sure), so this was an exciting pilgrimage for all of us.

This was what we could see from our campground and is pretty representative of the landscape there in the southern half of TRNP.

That evening, we took the scenic loop around the park and, as we had hoped, encountered wildlife along the way. The first real, live bison we saw had its south ended pointed toward us and was...uh...making a buffalo chip (how's that for euphemism?) so we decided not to take a picture of our first real, live bison.

Moving on.

We eventually came across some more real, live bison, much better behaved than the first. Bison are awesome and intimidating, especially up close. These were on the road ahead of us and beside us. They walked right past us.

This fella was farther away and slightly less scary, but quite photogenic.

At one point, we got out and hiked to the top of Buck Hill. Sam found a cool hole in one of the rocks and thought he should stick his hand in there. Thankfully, I reached him before some angry rattler could!

There are several prairie dog towns in the park and we had fun watching the dogs pop in and out of their holes. Some of them were a little to comfortable with modern living - several holes were right at the edge of the road!

Wild horses caused quite a traffic jam at one particular turn off in the road. They were beautiful.

Once the scenic tour was done, we headed back to the campground where a park ranger was giving a talk about Teddy Roosevelt and his time on the ranch there. Sam wasn't particularly interested, but the rest of us enjoyed it.

That night, we fell asleep under a huge sky-full of stars. We don't get that in the city so it was an extra special treat to look up and enjoy the beauty of God's creation.