Pioneer Woman in OKC

Last night "The Pioneer Woman" Ree came to Oklahoma City. She visited the Full Circle bookstore as part of her "Griswold (Drummond) Family Book Trip."

Hundreds of people waited in line to meet Ree and have her sign her new cookbook, "The Pioneer Woman Cooks."

Some arrived prior to 4 in the afternoon to wait in the yet to be formed line. Others waited until after midnight to have a chance to meet Ree and get their copy of the book signed.

Chris, an employee of the Full Circle Bookstore, said they underestimated just how many would attend the event. The store had copies of Ree's book, and were quickly sold out. They pulled 200 more extra copies that the Drummond's had brought with them.

Chris said that there were over 350 people there to see her. Fans of Ree brought their friends, and spouses; some even brought their children. Those that went were able to not only meet Ree, but they got to meet her whole family. Chris said that Ladd, Ree's husband really enjoyed being social and the whole family worked the line. Those that wanted her families autograph got their signatures too. Having her whole family along was, "A delight, no problems!" Chris said.

The earliest person to wait in line was eager enough to get there at 3:40. Stephanie Conrad has a proclaimed "celebrity crush" and anxiously waited 3 hours to be first in line. Her waiting paid off when she was the first to have Ree sign her book. After meeting Ree, Stephanie chatted it up with Ree's family. One of the boys announced he wanted to sign some books. Ladd was quick to try and explain that this was his momma's thing. But Stephanie jumped in and had the boys sign too.

One of the last to leave had been waiting over 4 hours. Jennifer Marshall was fast approaching midnight when her wait was awarded with signatures on her 4 books. She was among the last of 20 people that the Drummond family stayed to sign autographs for. Jenn said that during the wait she got to know everyone well in line and the employees of the Full Circle Bookstore were awesome to keep everyone informed of how close they were to getting to have their books signed. It was great of them to stay open so late.

If you missed the Thursday night event you can simply travel a little way to have your chance to meet Ree and get your copy of her cookbook signed. The Pioneer Woman will be in Pawhuska Sarturday night and Ponca City November 28th. If you care to drive out of state there are many other dates available. Dallas Texas, December 1st and what looks to be an amazing event in Kansas City on November 16.

For a full listing of her tour, check Ree's tour date page --> here.

I missed last nights party at the bookstore so I anxiously looked to The Oklahoman for details. I wanted to "read all about it." I wanted to see photos and read about peoples experiences. I wanted to read about what I had missed. I was happy to see Ree's photo in the paper with instructions to go to NewsOK to get the whole story. There was no story. No details. I found out more early in the day through two twitter posts than I did through the paper. I left a comment but the moderator never allowed it. *(Looks like a few details have been added to the page during the day ... still too big of an event to let it pass without more details.)


So I wrote my own story. Hope you enjoyed it.
For more- (because I know you just can't get enough!)
What the paper had to say the day before the event.
What the paper had to say about the event.
Another link I found after some digging, of Photos of the book signing.
Ree's take on the night
Stephanie Conrad's report of meeting Ree
Edited to add:
Paper's interview with Ree

I heart Tamilflu!

Wow- amazing stuff! Worth every cent!

Zuckerman's famous pig

I was going to write yesterday about how I thought things were getting so much better around here. Jay was home from being out of town since last Thursday. Tucker was back up and feeling fine- so much so that he tried to turn our family prayer time into a game of red rover. (What is it with boys and their need to bust through things?- Why does a family kneeling & holding hands send a signal to their brains- must-break-through!)
I had finally made it out of the house for some much needed air and errands.
And then.
The school called. It was the nurse. Another one down. This time its Luke.

I immediately called our Dr. and asked to have the nurse call me. With Luke you just never know. They got him in first thing this morning.

He has tested positive for fine swine, has a sinus infection and is on the way to pneumonia again.

We are currently well stocked in Motrin/Tylenol, Lysol, and Clorox Wipes.

I am tired. It was proven to me how tired, when I opened a correspondence with our schools principal and realized I had misspelled my own last name. I am completely embarrassed, and am blaming it on being tired.

Forget I said that

Did I say he was fever free? Why did I have to say that?!

This? No, this? No, this? Well what about this?

He has the sickness. I am not naming it but it sure seems he has it- or had it. He is finally fever free after a 4 day run of it. But he still sounds all congested. That combined with his normal three year old talk, makes it comical with the things he says. Or the things I think he says.

Tucker was crying as I was putting him to bed. Crying for his ribbons. Sure, I use a lot of ribbon but I did not realize he had become so attached to them. After several minutes of: no, not tonight, no I am not going to give you any ribbons, the light bulb went off in my brain and Tucker finally got his point across.

He was crying for his weapons.

Not only did I have to soothe him for not understanding him, but I then had to soothe him for my sudden laughter that scared him when I finally figured out what he wanted. And then soothe him some more when I couldn't figure out which weapon he wanted. You know, there is the problem of not understanding the words such as, gun sounds like nun- but then there is the whole repurposing-of-household-objects-to-make-them-into-whatever-weapon-I-want-at-the-moment problem. It could be anything!

I gave in- and just let him show me what he wanted.
The re-purposed ribbon-I mean weapon of choice that started and ended all the crying?
A long handled windshield brush/scraper that he had swiped from the car.

Woa- good thing we figured that out! I will sleep better knowing that if there is danger I am protected.

dinner and 7-11

Last Friday night it was our pleasure to go have dinner and play 7-11 with our friends the Smiths.
I asked Savanna if it was a little strange for us to be in "her territory"- and she was a really good sport with having her family at her friends house.

Our family seemed especially loud and it was not the last time over the weekend that I felt like our family was a circus!

But the Smiths were so kind to put up with us all, and made everyone feel included.


Jim helped me with my camera

and he even took some shots of his own.

We played 7-11- and I tried to take photos and jot down notes.


I mentioned the game when I posted here, and I received a few questions on how to play. Lori was the one who taught Savanna and I how to play so it seemed fitting to include them on my attempt to explain the game.
So now I will try and give some round about directions. Anyone- please feel free to add any more directions/questions in the comments!

Deck of Skipbo cards:
Every player gets 8 cards. Without looking at the cards place them face down. Everyone turns any 3 of their cards over.
Point of the game is to have the least amount of points.
pairs cancel out
skipbo , Seven's and Elevens =0
quad of anything equals -20

Turns- draw from discard pile or top of the other deck or skip.
Trade out with 1 that is already up, or replace one that is face down or skip.


Start thinking of what the opponets need next to you and then don't put that card down.


First one with all cards turned over ends the game, and starts adding up points.

click photo for larger image
Jenna's total for this game was 6. The seven, eleven, skibo's and the pair of two's all were zero.

Then everyone goes around taking one last turn then flipping over remianing cards and adding up points.
Keep playing as many rounds as you wish.
You can play this with a large group or small. All together as a group, or breaking down into smaller ones and rotating the winners/ or losers around the tables, and then having the winners play one game at the end.
It is even fun to play with just two people.


Thanks to Lori for teaching us this game- and to the whole Smith family for having our circus over!

Dear Jay

I am sorry.

All my love,

Alisa

Hidden Mickey Moment #3

Thanks to Lori, and also to his brothers exclamations of finding his own"created" hidden Mickey's, Tucker found his first "Hidden Mickey" in a little bowl of marshmallows.
He was so excited and yelled "Hey mom, a hidden miee!"

I would give up chocolate but I am not a quitter

Great read for a monday morning! Who knew that it could actually be so great for us!
(saw it from Stacy Julian!)
It gave me a chuckle and think of someone very dear who once complained when I suggested we cut back on our milk consumption "don't take away one of my only joy's in life!"
Only he likes his milk better with chocolate in it!
Sounds like a great excuse to pick up another gallon, and a new container of Quick- I will ask Tucker to help me remember to get it the next time we go to the store.

Creepy Crawly Contest Winner!

The creepy crawly we saw and caught and then let go back out into the backyard, (I KNOW!) was indeed a Oklahoma Brown Tarantula. Randy was spot on-

I decided to do two winners. I took the total number of comment's and drew for the winner. SO-



Amber! Email me
alisaspear at gmail dot com


And the winner for guessing Tarantula was:


Amy!


Now for a little odd tidbit of info- why I spelled Tarantula "tarantella."
When I was younger I took piano lessons. There was a song called "tarantella" and I remember there being a picture of a bunch of dancers on it. I wondered at the time if there was a spider (the "tarantella!") scaring all the dancers. In all my young wisdom I figured where else would they have come up with a spiders name to title the song!
I will come back tonight and tell you why. Very silly reason.

ray of light

Tucker and Savanna were playing upstairs.
There was a little patch of sunlight on the carpet and Tucker announced-
"look Na-na, I am standing in the hotness."

SPT-gray

Gray is the color of my clothes and of the weather but not my mood. I spent yesterday wearing the hood of my shirt up. I was cold. Last night after a full day of wearing it, Jay asked if it was my new solution to not doing my hair. It was not the intent, but it sure did work!
When its gray and chilly for more than a few days I have to fight the mood. It takes work to not give in to the grumpy gloom. Lots of light, good scents, music ... it takes me a while to focus.
What works for you to lift you out of the gloom?

What to Eat Wednesday- Applesauce

I have to interrupt the breakfast in bed experiment to throw this little recipe in. Luke had thrown himself an apple party. He set up centers, made plans, but only one problem. It was kind of spur of the moment. And Jack was sick.

So we invited one friend and Luke had a apple party for 2.


All of the apple talk made me think of applesauce. I got up early the next morning before anyone was awake and made my mother-in-law's applesauce. Luke woke up while I was making it and helped out. Very fitting since he was the inspiration.


I enjoyed the applesauce so much that I plan on buying more apples this Friday morning from Tanakas and making more to can. (Jay wonders why I call it canning, when I am putting it in jars. Should I be calling it bottling, or jarring or just putting up fruit?)


Carolyn's applesauce

8 apples peeled and cored


After the apples are peeled and cored chop them up. Put the apples in a pot. Cover with enough water to come up to the top of the apples.


Add 1 cup sugar and bring to a boil. Stir and turn down heat to low and cook for 30-40 minutes. Once apples are soft, shut heat off and add 1 teaspoon lemon extract.


Sprinkle with a little nutmeg.

Then mash with a potato masher until desired consistency.


Serve warm or cold.
Jay remembers eating this warm with toast at his Grandma's house, and our kids have had it with their Grandma so that is what we do too.

Creepy Crawly Contest

A few weeks ago Jack looked out the window and said-"Wow! There is a big spider walking on top of the grass."
My thoughts? That is sure a weird way to say you saw a spider, and it must be pretty big for it to be "walking on top of the grass."
Soon shrieks and squeals from the rest of the kids brought me to the window to indeed see a "big spider walking on top of the grass."


Luke was certain that it was a giant wolf spider, but I thought maybe a tarantella?

Whatever it was- it was HUGE! I have never seen a spider that big around my house.
We caught it and brought it home so that as soon as Jay got home he could check it out with our friend google.

What do you think it was?

I am in the mood for a little contest. So what do you think? What is your best guess?

Hidden Mickey Moment #2

Found this last April in a rinsed out yogurt container.

my bowl overfloweth

Tucker was helping me assemble a salad for our lunch. I was gathering ingredients and he was helping me put them in the bowl. We already had lettuce, crasins, feta, ranch dressing and hot peppers. I put two bags of two different kinds of peas on the table. The phone rang, I answered and started slicing some red onion when I heard "oops." I turned around and Tucker said, "I made a mess." He added the entire two bags to my salad.

Then he said- "I put too much in there."

Then he started eating our salad.