Pioneer Woman Video!

The videos from our weekend on the ranch with Ree are on her blog.  If you want to see them, click the link below.  Just please keep in mind that the camera adds 75 pounds and approximately 4 chins.  At least, that's what I will choose to believe! 

All of the videos are great ~ I hope you enjoy them!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/06/grillin-recipe-contest-winner-videos/

Roll That Beautiful Bean Footage

We had an opportunity to tour the Bush's Beans Visitor Center recently.  On our way to Pigeon Forge, we often drive by the large plant, but we had never stopped at the new Visitor Center in Chestnut Hill, TN.  After meeting some new friends from Bush's Beans on our trip to Oklahoma, we were extra excited to check  it out.  Let me just tell you, Bush's Beans doesn't do anything half way.  The Visitor Center has a beautiful general store, an amazing museum that details the history of the company, and a yummy family cafe.  We met one of the store managers, Ricki.  She was so sweet and made our visit even more enjoyable.

Brian with the Bush's truck

The entrance

I had my picture taken with Duke and Jay

The Secret Family Recipe Book behind glass!  Ha!

Just one little bit of the huge museum

Inside the general store

The Bush's Beans Visitor Center

Bush's Beans plant

Menu at the cafe

Notice the Pinto Bean Pecan Pie ~ we didn't try it this time, but I heard it is really good!

Everybody gets the "Bean of the Day" to taste

Brian's bbq sandwich was very good

We were so glad we got to stop by and really had a wonderful visit there!

P.S. I really think if I could just have five minutes with Duke, I could convince him to tell me that secret recipe!

Our Pioneer Weekend

Well, I am just beside myself! I still can't believe that it happened!!! We just returned from an amazing weekend visiting The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond) at her ranch in Oklahoma.  I have been such a big fan of Ree's for many years, so it felt surreal to actually meet her in person.  The word "stalker" came up a few times when it became apparent that I knew more about her than she even knew about herself, but she was such a good sport with my star-struck self and tolerated my constant talking and staring like she didn't even notice.  Honestly, she was every bit as kind and down to earth as she appears on her blog and Food Network show.  

As soon as we landed on Friday afternoon, we were greeted by the film crew and other winners who had already arrived.  I am not even kidding when I tell you that they started strapping a microphone on me in the middle of the airport.  Maybe it wouldn't have been a big deal had I not been wearing a dress.  And this cute little sound guy, Sterling, insisted it had to go all the way up my dress and be attached in very interesting locations.  It required several sets of hands and some creative stretching on my part, but Mission Accomplished!  The next time I fly out to Ree's ranch, I will not wear a dress.  And yes, there will be a next time.  I refuse to believe otherwise.  

We began the two hour journey from the airport to the ranch being filmed and interviewed the whole way.  It was fun getting to know the other winners and their guests, as well as, the director, cameramen, sound technician, and various other important people who have all worked with some major movie stars on television shows and movies.  So obviously, we fit right in since I was on a local news commercial one time when I was around 12.  I was clearly kind of a big deal in their eyes.  I don't think they even thought it was weird when I took pictures of the local Pizza Hut and a stray cow here and there.  I'm sure all of their usual movie stars do that kind of thing.

I was a big, ridiculous mess when we pulled up to the entrance to the ranch and saw "The Sign".  It just all seemed so official at that point.  We had arrived.  

Here we are at the entrance to the Drummond Ranch
(Note: no microphones were visible in this picture...the magic of movies)

We hopped back in the car after one or ninety pictures of that sign and continued to drive approximately 100 more miles through the ranch to arrive at the lodge.  Did I mention that this ranch is humongous?  I'm pretty sure it's so big that they don't even know where it begins and ends (at least we couldn't ever get them to commit to a number of acres). Staying at the beautiful lodge where The Pioneer Woman's Food Network show is filmed was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.  The views are breathtaking!  Ree's house is about a mile away, and I could kind of see it if I squinted really hard and turned my head a certain way.  From what I could tell, it was also quite lovely.

The winners and their guests
(I miss them already)

Brian meeting Ree

We were soon introduced to Ree and welcomed into the lodge.  The dinner that was prepared for us was delicious!  All of the recipes that we ate for dinner that night were from Ree's cookbooks.  It was all so good, but my favorite of the night was the Rosemary Rolls.  I would have stuck a few extras in my pocket for later if it hadn't been for that difficult pocketless dress and pesky microphone pack taking up all my spare areas.

Let's just pause here for a moment of silence

So basically we just ate and visited with Ree and the other guests that evening.  And that is the story of how Ree became my new BFF (in my mind at least).

You can imagine my excitement when Ladd and the boys moseyed in wearing real cowboy boots and hats (like with real cow manure on them and stuff). It was so interesting to talk to Ladd about their life on the ranch.  All four children were absolutely precious.  I couldn't believe how tall her beautiful, sweet daughters were and her boys were so cute and fun.  And none of them showed any concern when I took continual pictures of them either.   

Brian and Ladd
(Just two cowboys shootin' the bull)

I even got to meet Cowboy Josh.  He lives and works full time on the ranch, and he seemed happy to oblige me and my picture taking.  He doesn't know this, but I also took a picture of his house on the ranch.  Let's just keep that between us if you don't mind.

Everybody in Oklahoma was very tall!

On Saturday, the winners got to prepare their recipes on camera with Ree.  Of course, we all reattached our mic packs for the day, but I had learned a lesson from the unfortunate "airport dress incident" and wore something that was much more cooperative.  Brian and I were overwhelmed by the huge production involved.  We knew the cooking segments would be filmed, but we had no idea just how detailed the process would be.  We were expecting a little local guy with a camcorder to video Brian and Ree cooking for a few minutes.  Boy howdy, we were wrong! (Some of that cowboy talk may have rubbed off on me.)  Just to give you an idea, I present this to you:

Brian getting his hair and makeup done
(He pretended he didn't like it)

Brian and Ree had to cook his recipe together two times.  The first time they had to talk and explain everything they were doing as they cooked.  The second time was for close up shots of their hands and the food.  It was fun to watch the three cameramen move around to get certain "shots" and hear the director saying "Action" over and over.  They even had one of those fancy little things that you click and say "Take 1"! 

Fancy little "Take 1" thing

Those were some serious lights

Brian loved cooking with Ree in her amazing kitchen.  (I may have posed in several locations throughout the kitchen when no one was looking and forced Brian to take my picture as I pretended to be the star of my own show.  Maybe I did or maybe I didn't.)

Pioneer Woman and The Next Food Network Star

While Brian was busy cooking, I hung out with Charlie.  He's my other new BFF.  Seriously, you don't lay like that with someone who you don't consider a close friend in my opinion.  He's a Basset Hound and could hardly contain his excitement about all of the hoopla in the kitchen.

BFF, Brian, & Me

Now, I'd like to introduce you to a fine gentleman I met during my visit.  His name is Ol' Yeller.  

I rode him on a tour of the ranch.  He was such a good sport.  Bless his little horse heart.  I'm sure he rolled his horse eyes when he heard me announce I'd never been on a horse before.  I was constantly pulling his reigns the wrong way and accidentally making him stop when I really wanted him to go.  I was definitely a thorn in his hoof that day.  

Two of Ree's kids, Paige and Brice, took us on our little horse riding adventure.  They showed us all around and really stretched my horse riding lack o' skills when they took us down steep hills and through ponds.  The views from all over the ranch were worth it though! Unfortunately, I had to pull out my teacher/mama voice when Brice did this:

"Does your Mama let you do that? I don't want her mad at me if you fall!"

Brian and Ree also had to do the "grilling segment" outside where they actually cooked the chicken and discussed various meat/grilling topics only pausing for the cameramen to get a "sizzle shot" of the meat cooking.

After all of the cooking and grilling segments were finished, the food stylist (yes, I said food stylist) did a fabulous job of placing the food, beans, and other side dishes on the plates to display the four winning recipes.  Then many pictures were taken of the beautiful plates of food.

Brian's chicken posing for a picture

Finally, the time came for everyone to eat! We all served our plates (while being filmed of course) and sat down at this lovely table to eat.

We stuffed ourselves and enjoyed the beautiful Oklahoma evening.  Just a bunch of new friends enjoying each other's company while chowing down on some fabulous grub.  That was more of my cowboy talk...chowing and grub.

Was Brian licking his lips at the tasty food?

We feel so blessed to have had this experience. Everyone we met made the trip even more enjoyable.  Thank you so much to Bush's Grillin' Beans, BlogHer, and The Pioneer Woman, Ree (BFF).  If you want to see more pictures, and trust me I have many more, go here.  I'll be posting them over the next couple of days.

One last thing, Brian never did wear those chaps, boots, and cowboy hat that I had hoped for...but there's always next time!

"I attended the retreat at the Pioneer Woman's ranch as part of a contest I won, sponsored by Bush's Grillin' Beans.  As a winner, I received complimentary travel and accommodations at the Ranch, along with a welcome gift from Bush's Grillin' Beans.  All opinions are entirely my own."

I Promise I'm Trying

We are back from the most fabulous weekend ever visiting Oklahoma, meeting The Pioneer Woman, and staying on her ranch.  I will be posting approximately one million pictures as soon as I get them all sorted out.  It may take me a few days.  Please stand by.  You may now return to your normal programming.

P.S. I've missed you.

Where The Wind Comes Sweeping Down The Plains

Oklahoma! That's where we're going!!! We are still in shock, but we have HUGE news!

Brian entered a recipe contest on The Pioneer Woman's website a while back.  We really did it mostly for fun, never dreaming in a million years that his recipe would get picked out of the 1,300-1,400 recipes that were submitted.  BUT HE WON!  So we're going to spend a weekend on the ranch with Ree.  FOR REAL! I am so excited and of course so proud of him.  I've always known that he's the best cook/chef/culinary artist in the world, but it's so nice for him to get to have such a neat opportunity.

Go here to see the official announcement on The Pioneer Woman's website.

I may get to see him in those chaps and cowboy boots after all! Giddy up!

Wednesday

I went to Claire's Kindergarten graduation this morning.  Then tonight I went out to dinner with some of the girls in my Lifegroup at church.  I'm pretty sure we were the loudest table in the restaurant with about twelve different conversations going at the same time.

Debbie, Tina, & Wendy

Jane, Leslie, & Me

We certainly had fun!

A Special Surprise

I was surprised at school today when the secretary walked through my door to deliver these beautiful flowers to me.  They were from one of my sweet students and her family.  It meant SO MUCH to me! I'm going to miss these little monkeys a lot when they move on to second grade.

(Just to keep it real...one little boy just randomly announced this today: "One time I threw up and my dog ate it".)

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have...FIRST GRADE!

Because I'm Still Processing

Today was interesting to say the least.  (Chances are, you won't care about this at all).

A couple of days before spring break, I was asked if it would be ok for some school board members to visit my classroom on April 17.  Sure.  I didn't even hesitate.  I was under the impression that a few people might walk through my room as they also visited every other class in the building. 

Today is April 17.  In case you didn't know.  This morning, I was handed a schedule that had four teachers' names on it. I was one of four.  In the whole building.  "Here's the schedule for the visit today.  There will be two groups.  Included in these groups are the Superintendent of Schools, THREE Assistant Superintendents and ALL of the school board members.  Oh, and you're first on the list.  They'll probably stay for a while to watch and talk to the kids and ask you questions. Have fun!" Excuse me? I did not sign up for this.  I guess I should feel good that my class was chosen for the visit, but my stress level went up about 52 notches.  I found myself in a way-bigger-deal situation that I had anticipated. 

As promised, I had two groups of VIPs visit my classroom today.  It was fine. The kids were well behaved.  The activities went as planned.  I didn't have a full blown panic attack (just a mini one).  Everybody seemed happy, and it was actually a quite pleasant experience.  I call that success.

So what is the take away? What should I learn from all of this?

In the words of Steve Winwood:

You just roll with it, baby
Come on and just roll with it, baby
You and me, roll with it, baby
Hang on and just roll with it, baby

(Now that song is stuck in my head)

Tales From The Nursing Home

Today was my first day back to school after Spring Break.  And it wasn't pretty.  At all. 

I got to bed last night a little late because I have some wild friends who shall only be referred to as MLBSG or S, L, & R.  Being the Mamaw that I am, 11:00 was certainly past my school night bedtime.  We had so much fun though, and it was totally worth it.

Unfortunately, I didn't sleep great and definitely have some sinus issues starting.  So I felt kinda puny-ish.  Also, I made a remarkable discovery today.  Apparently, ten days out of school is the exact amount of time it takes for first graders to forget every rule and procedure they ever knew. 

I had really great intentions of walking tonight, but I just went and talked myself right out of it.  I blamed it on my tiring, puny-ish day.  Then I decided that I definitely should stay in and rest up for my big night of television.  It's hard on a Mamaw to watch Dancing With The Stars and The Voice all in one night. 

Well, I reckon I better skedaddle since I'm no spring chicken, and I'm plum tuckered out.  I guess I'll just piddle the night away watchin' my stories. 

Goodnight. Sleep tight. Mamaw loves you.

I Always Keep My Promises

So I'm about to hit you with some riveting photos.

Last night, Parker and Claire spent the night with Nana, so Brian and I went to Chop House.  Brian LOVES Chop House with all of his heart.  We usually go about once a year for his birthday, so this non-birthday trip was extra special.  I like it, but I don't love it (kind of like dark chocolate).

So the first picture that I give you is this:

My salad

Picture number two:

My steak and baked potato

 Now before you get too excited, I should just tell you that it wasn't as good as it looks.  See that potato up there? It was (three words) Fab.U.Lous.  BUT:

My steak was a little weird.  It had a whacked out texture or something.  I didn't say a word though because I didn't want to ruin Brian's ultimate Chop House experience that he had going on.  Then all of a sudden he said, "This steak is a little different tonight.  The texture is strange and the flavor is a little off".

Yes! I knew it!

So he says they get one more chance, and if it's not-so-great again, then it's over.  He's already planning a break up.  Even though I just moderately like the place, I actually feel a little nervous for Chop House.  

Because we are party animals, we went to Barnes and Noble after dinner. 

Here is Brian's dessert: 

Two forks...but I didn't take a single bite

 This was my dessert:

Yummy!

That's all I have for you today.  Except that I accidentally squirted my "only thing that keeps me from being totally bald" conditioner onto my body loofah thingee.  So I'm afraid that the hair on my arms will suddenly grow in think and full.  Wonder if it would work on eyebrows?

Hold On To Your Socks

Because I'm about to rock your socks off with some exciting pictures.

Yesterday, we had another fun Spring Break day of doing not much at all other than running around here and there all day.  Brian and I had to meet with our accountant in the morning, then the kids and I shopped a little.  They were extra thrilled to try on clothes and shoes at several stores as you can imagine.  I may have encouraged them to stay the course by the promise of an Icee at Target.  I'm not above a good old-fashioned bribe.  Plus, it is spring break after all. 

Things took a dramatic turn for the worse when the Icee machine had a sign that said "Closed for Repair".  Words of Doom.

With the promise of a Sonic half-price slushy sometime between the afternoon hours of 2:00 and 4:00, we headed off to eat a nutritious lunch at Arby's. 

I present to you the first exciting picture of the day:

See I told you it was going to make your life complete.

After lunch, we had some time to kill before Happy Hour began.  For the sake of saving $1.19, I refused to go before 2:00 and pay full price.  Being frugal is probably one of my best strengths.  I bet Brian would totally agree with that last statement.  Ahem.

So we stopped by Mom's house to visit a bit.  Then Megan came by.  Then Mike.  There was a lot of talking.  Two and a half hours later, I screeched into Sonic on a wing and a prayer just in time to make the 4:00 Happy Hour cut-off.  And drinks were served.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture.

Then last night, I got to spend some time with Lisa eating, driving, and shopping.  We pretty much solved all the problems of the world (as usual).

But here is the only picture I took:

I really have no explanation for why I took this picture.  Yes, it's a picture of my foot.  Maybe I wanted to document that I actually can still half way stand up in heels even though I never wear them anymore.  Or maybe I just wanted to see what it looked like on my giant foot.  Or maybe I just wanted to look like the crazy lady who takes pictures of her own foot in the middle of T J Maxx.

I did discover that I truly can't walk in heels anymore.  I eventually put the other shoe on too and tried to walk around.  If they had people watching the store through security cameras at that moment, somebody got a real laugh.  "Hey, look at crazy lady taking pictures of her foot and walking around like a newborn calf."

In other news, I found myself defending my OVER THE COUNTER Sleep Aid that is currently my drug of choice on more than one occasion yesterday.  So apparently I felt the need to take a picture of my brand new box when I got home last night.  Somehow, I rationalize that it is safer than Nyquil (my one true love) because there is no pain medication or allergy medication or ingredients that contain alcohol.  And I only take one.  That's half a dose.  It's totally non habit forming.  See it says it right there on the box (in this last exciting picture from the day):

You can go ahead and put your socks back on for now, but just so you know...today promises some excitement too, so I'll be back soon with more pictures.  The fun never stops around here.