Thursday, January 28, 2010

Vocabulary Lesson

In the third grade I had the much coveted Miss Theal. She was the sweetsy, loving, pretty teacher with a sing-songy voice that everyone hoped for. Each student in her class room felt as if they had won the lottery, everyone that is except me. I was not her biggest fan. Not because of her personality, mind you, but because of her favorite subject, VOCABULARY!!! I despised the weekly busy work of looking up and writing out dictionary definitions, writing each word five times each, and creating our own sentences with our new words. Why couldn't she simply introduce new words and tell us what they meant?

Well, you will be happy to know that I did survive Miss Theal's third grade class, but barely. And I am ashamed to admit that while homeschooling my son during his third grade year we followed much the same format for our vocabulary lessons (but I did take mercy upon him and leave out the creating new sentences). But I have chosen to be much kinder to you my loyal readers.

I could have never guessed that moving to "The Valley" would require vocabulary lessons, boy was I wrong. There have been times over the past 8 years I have wished desperately for a interpreter. In addition to the completely new words that I had never heard before there were also words that I thought I knew the definitions to, but was mistaken. So if you are headed for the wilds of the Eastern Oregon Mountains you may find the following vocabulary lesson helpful. (Don't worry, there will not be a test on Friday. It's really okay, Miss Theal will never know.)

Nouns

Rig- any vehicle that could or ever has transported a dead animal. This is not limited to pick up trucks or SUVs. A Honda Accord with the gold package is quite capable of hauling a deer that has been quartered.

Pop- a bubbly, sugar filled drink usually served from cans. Known in other parts of the country as soda.

Jockey Box- a bread box sized compartment on the passenger side interior of most "rigs", know in civilized societies as a glove compartment.
(I once asked my husband if he had ever actually put "jockeys" in his Jockey box. He simply rolled his eyes as I pulled a pair of gloves out of mine.)

Crick-(rhymes with stick) A small, quickly moving body of water, similar to a river. A common location for fishin' ( for definition of fishin' see verbs below)

Verbs

Hookie Bobbin'- although not yet an Olympic sport, this ageless past time requires great skill from the "Bobber". One attempts to stay on his feet, holding onto a car bumper while being pulled over the snow and ice. (No skis required)

Huntin' and Fishin'- The correct pronunciation for the commonly mispronounced words hunting and fishing.

Bagged- Not the act of placing ones groceries into a plastic or paper bag. The act of killing an animal one has been huntin'.

Muddin'- The act of driving in circles off road in an attempt to get ones car as covered with mud as possible. Bonus points are added for getting the "rig" stuck in the mud.
Well, I think that is enough new vocabulary for one week. After all, no one learns a whole new language in a week. Enjoy!

Rick's Cheesey Rice Casserole
All of this "red neck" talk has me craving some Cheese Whiz. We learned this recipe from a dear friend in of all places LA. Don't worry he was a Texas transplant.

2 cups cooked rice
1/2 cup celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 Jar Cheez Whiz
1 pkg  frozen chopped broccoli (thawed)
1 can cream of chicken
1 stick of butter

Saute veggies in butter, stir in rice, and set aside. In sauce pan on low heat warm up soup and Cheez Whiz. Combine all ingredients in buttered baking dish and bake at 350' for 30 min.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Camo Quilts?

I've been spending quite a bit of time looking at all of the wonderful crafting and sewing blogs lately. My fingers are itching to get back to creating. The feeling is slowly coming back to my hands and I find that I can sit for more that about 5 minutes at a time. So now the question comes, where to start? How about a funky T-shirt turned dress for my 10 year old girl child? Oh, that satin tank top with ruffles looks like a challenging project.

Ok, the T-shirt dress is out, my daughter would rather die than be seen in anything that even closely resembles a dress. And where the heck am I going to wear a satin tank? So perhaps I should look back over some recent pictures to see what we could really use. Well, there is that lovely one from Christmas where my husband is wearing his new camo hat with our kids school emblem emblazoned across the front. I could complain about the hat but I am the one who got it for him. We have a sweet friend who owns a fun little custom t-shirt company. She had made one for her own husband and my hubby couldn't stand the thought of not having one of his very own. So she graciously whipped one up just in time for Christmas.

I am pretty sure I have touched briefly on the topic of camo in earlier blogs, but I think the subject needs further investigation. Camouflage clothing is something of a staple around these parts. I get it, I get it, when you are out hunting and you don't want to be seen by the animal you are about to shoot for dinner, camo is a very important item. What I am unsure of is how it migrated off the hunting and battle fields and into everyday life. I don't know how it began, but this is one fashion statement that is here to stay.

I am starting to get use to seeing men in camo walking around Wal-Mart. I like to tell myself that these gents are just coming in from archery hunting to grab a can of Spam for dinner. And then, when I see a camo baseball hat I talk myself into believing that they accidentally grabbed their hunting hat on the way out the door. But I am still stumped when I see camo vests and bow-ties at weddings and proms. I just can't seem to come up with a likely reason one would need their neck and tummy to disappear into the surrounding brush, especially at a formal event. And it's not just the guys here. I see many darling girls in camo hats bedazzled with rhinestone crosses. I mean doesn't the bling give your position away?

But nothing challenges me more than the camouflage fabrics found in the yardage section at Wal-Mart. There is camo fleece, camo cotton, quilting camo, satin camo and not wanting to neglect the gals, pink camo.  And this is hot selling stuff. The employee at the cutting table mentioned to me that it never goes on sale due to how consistently is sells. I don't know, I am still not convinced, do we really need a camo quilt?

All things have their time and place. This includes Camouflage. Anytime you are shooting at something or someone is shooting at you, you may wear camo. But I have to draw the line in the sand there!!

I know, I am talking a good game, but the reality is I bought my husband a camo hat for Christmas (which he loves by the way) and that is just something I am going to have to live with for the rest of my life. (No really, he will most likely wear it that long!)

Baked Oatmeal
(I am pretty sure this is one of my husbands creations and oh so yummy!)

2-3c cooked oatmeal cooled
2 eggs
1 ½ c milk
3/4 c sugar
Blueberries
1tsp salt


Combine oatmeal & blueberries in bowl. Heat milk, sugar and salt until hot. Wisk eggs in seperate bowl, slowly add hot milk mixture while wisking (so you don't scamble your eggs). Pour into oatmeal mixture. Stir well and pour into buttered baking dish. Cook uncovered 350* for 1hr or until middle is set. Serve warm with cream and brown sugar.