Cooking Adventures....Recipe #1

The first recipe I made on my way to cooking through all of my recipes was one I'd made before. The recipe, Cake Mix Cookies, is a recipe I got from my mom. They are the easiest cookies to make and they are so moist!

The ingredients are 1 stick of margarine, 2 eggs, and 1 box of cake mix (any flavor).

Melt one stick of margarine. I melted mine in the microwave. You can also melt it on the stove.

Remove from heat and add 2 eggs.

Mix and add 1 cake mix (any flavor).

Drop by spoonful onto cookie sheet. Bake 8-9 minutes at 350 degrees.

Moist, yummy cookies! I hope you enjoy these.

Who Says Kansas is Flat?

I know people who come to Kansas thinking that it's all flat. Anyone who says that has never been to Northern Kansas. Recently on a trip up to my grandma's house for a family reunion, I took some photos of what I call "Kansas Hills". (I do apologize ahead of time if my photography skills aren't great at showing these so called hills).

There are some hills that if you aren't ready for it, your stomach will either drop to your toes, or go up in your throat.

I always enjoy the scenery of the drive to see my family. In the fall, there are many trees that have leaves changing colors.

Adventures in Cooking

Just recently, I was looking through some of my recipe cards. I got to thinking I haven't tried hardly any of them. My bright (or dumb, depending on who you ask) idea? To cook my way through my recipe cards and cook books. This might take me the next 5 or 10 years, or maybe the rest of my life. Inspiration came from the movie "Julie & Julia". Where as she had one cookbook and one year to cook her way through the recipes, I've got about 10-12 various cookbooks and about 100-200 (or more) recipe cards. Like true Julie style from the movie, I'm going to try writing about each recipe I make. What I liked or didn't like about it; if I invited family or friends over to enjoy it with me. As I go along, I'm going to try posting a few recipes here and there. Maybe you can try some of them too.

Saddle Pictures

Here are some pictures of the saddle I received from my step dad. I still have yet to do anything with it. I can't afford to repair or fix it up, let alone have someone else do it. I need to the research to see what I could be able to do on my own. I know that it is already in bad shape, but I don't want to do more harm than good. If you have suggestions, I would be glad to hear them!

Saddle:Part two

So in my last post, I promised pictures of the saddle I got. For some crazy reason though, the computer is not wanting to upload my pictures. I guess I will have to try again, or find another way....

Summer Project: researching saddle repair

One evening, I was at my mom's house. My step-dad, Jeff, made the comment he had something old for me. He went to the storage shed behind the garage and came back a few moments later with an old, worn out saddle. He and his brother had been cleaning out their dad's sheds and found this saddle. Jeff said it had no family ties or family history. It was mine if I wanted to take the time to figure out how to clean it up, fix it up and either keep it or sell it when I was done. Granted, knowing nothing on how to repair a saddle, I'm taking the time to research how much I can do myself and getting help when there's something I'm unable to do. I'm excited to take on the task of fixing up this saddle. I'm going to be taking pictures as I go. (Pictures to come)

It's been over a year since I last posted anything. I have lost about 30 lbs and would still like to lose another 15-20 lbs. In August, I moved to a different town for 6 months and met some wonderful people. I even made friends with a few South Africans (who happened to be married to some of my friends) and I was able to learn some of their language. I plan on furthering my learning of Afrikaans because not only do I find it interesting, but then I can be able to talk with my South African friends in their language and not just in English.

This past year, I also learned how to be a stronger, tougher, and wiser person. A guy I dated treated me like I was nothing. He made me feel so small and insignificant. To him, I could never do anything right. Many times, the way he said things was almost so subtle that I missed it or if I had caught what he meant, I wasn't sure if others heard. I was starting to feel like I was going crazy. On the night of my 30th birthday, I had invited my family and a few close friends over to my mom's house. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves from what I could tell. My family and friends were picking up on some of the things he was saying to me, and they didn't like how I was being treated. Towards the end of the evening, something changed. The guy I was dating decided out of the blue that he and my out of town friends needed to leave. He told me I made him look bad in front of my parents after we left. The next day when I asked my parents about it, they said he had made his own self look bad.

It took me about another 4 months or so to finally end the relationship entirely and cut off all ties. I remember telling friends to never put up with an abusive person, whether it was physical, mental, emotional, or otherwise. But here I was going back over and over several times. I am thankful I finally got the common sense God intended me to have to get out of it. Ladies, if you are ever in a relationship with a guy and your family is telling you to get out of it because of the way he treats you, please listen to them.