Muscles!

Well, THAT threw you for a loop, didn't it?

I'm starting to appreciate mine.

When I was younger....much, much, much younger....the cool thing was NOT to have muscles, but to be tiny, feminine and hollow cheeked.

I come from a family (on both sides, really) with strong, muscular women. As a teen, I always hated wearing shorts or shorter skirts because my calves looked SO BIG!  I stayed away from tank tops because my arms had noticable biceps. I couldn't wear leggings with the long shirts...it looked like I had sausages for legs! It was NOT cool to have muscles in the 80's....or the 90's.... 

When I lived with Yosts, and worked at the arena, Kellie Y. and I regularly packed portable corral panels, individually. (Made of pipe, about 5 feet tall and 10 feet long)  We wanted very much to have Ty and George's approval and they did appreciate it, I think.  And lifting the 50 pound gate to let steers in the chute certainly toned our arms up, since we did that about 400 times in a day, 2-3 days a week, 12 weeks in a row. 

It came to our attention, though, that we were always the chute help and never the dates.

That's right! The delicate, feminine chicks went to the dances afterward, while we rubbed our sore muscles and fell into bed.

We got the big jobs that broke fingernails and made you smell like steers as early as 8 a.m.

Drats.

It appeared muscles were a big detriment, when dating cowboys.

(Real ranchers, however, choose wives BASED on their muscles and cooking ability...lucky for me!)

So most of my life, I've been ashamed of my muscular body, hiding anything that resembled a strong shape under long sleeves or jeans.

Heaven forbid I venture near a swim suit!

The last couple years, however, have changed all that.

First, it has become REALLY COOL to have muscles! 

Have you picked up a Shape or Fitness magazine, lately? Or an Athleta catalog?

Muscles are becoming....well.....can it be?.....sexy!

Bout darn time!

And then, my daughter has been showing me her muscles. 

She stretches, bends, flexes, runs and checks to see if they are bigger...

and asks me if I like her strong, fast legs.

They are beautiful, baby.

She delights, absolutely thrills, in the muscles I hated all my life!

They're a source of strength and beauty, a symbol of ability and speed!

Now, when I look in the mirror, I still first cringe and think, "too big". 

But I've learned to look again, with kinder eyes.

I see arms that can still lift panels, carry growing children with ease, beat eggs, row a kayak and heave salt sacks.

 I see my mom and my grandma.

I see legs that can run as far as I ask them, dance with great joy, act as springs when I ride the wheeler, climb hills, power a shovel, and kick balls back to my babies.

I see my Dutton cousins and great aunts.

I'm enjoying seeing what they can do, now that I've made peace with them.

I've found I'd much rather push them a little and feel them ache, than to neglect them and forget they're there.

I show Maggie my muscles, after she shows me hers, and she hopes that someday hers will be that big!

So do I.

Between the lines...

Aunt Rosie sent me a Red Raider hat around Christmas time and Angus had SERIOUS Guns Up envy.  To the point I had to hide the cap in my running shoes to be able to keep it. 

A couple weeks later, another package showed up in the mail with two more Red Raider hats!

We love them!  So, for Rosie, here we are in our Guns Up hats (as Angus calls them). 

(Had to take it with the tri-pod and timer, so it's a little...off.)

I guess you all know that the Red Raiders won their Ticket City Bowl game, 45-38, against Northwestern.

I'm Back!

My friend Sara, who apparently has even less of a life than I do (bless her heart), wrote me an email yesterday asking, "Are the Chronicles dead?"  She checks them daily. 

The Chronicles are NOT dead, but they are clinically depressed. 

"Do you have any ideas?", I queried, back, after assuring her that it was a lack of inspiration and not permanent closure of the site.

Well....as a matter of fact.....SO glad you asked.....
She had about 24 ideas and counting.
And she sent them back FAST! 

Sara would like to see more book posts, for starters.  Like, what books am I planning to read in 2011? 

Rubbing palms together, pencil in my hair, tea by my side, I proceeded to do some research.
(One mustn't rush into literature posts, you know.  That would be incredibly irresponsible and the repercussions could be severe, should a Chronicles reader walk up to me on the street and tie into me about, say, The Treasure of MontSegur, claiming it caused them permanent mental distress and several sleepless nights.  Ask my bookclub girls...)(That's a GREAT book, by the way.  But you have to be a big girl/boy to read it. And no, I can't tell you why....)

I've always wanted to say I read War and Peace.  Don't you think that's the mark of someone well-read?  If you ask them, "So, have you REALLY read War and Peace?" and they confidently say, "YES.  Several years ago..."  (Never mind that it actually TOOK them several years...they took on the challenge and did it.)

So, I'm going to read War and Peace.  I feel confident that I can, having taken Anna Karenina and Les Miserables on and finished them.  They were little old starter books, I think.  Gulp.

I want to read Mark Twain's Autobiography, published as per his request 100 years after his death.  Doesn't that intrigue you? It sounds positively juicy to me!

The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins is next.  I really should've already done this, but I was busy with Les Mis....(That's my standard reading excuse, now.  Just WAIT until I finish War and Peace! "Oh, I didn't get to that; I was on page 1058 of War and Peace...  Maybe next year, darling...")

I try to read some contemporary books, too; not just dusty, pretentious old classics.

I have my eye on David Baldacci's Hell's Corner, The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebowitz, Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy, and the next #1 Ladies Detective Agency novel. 

After looking at 100 Books You Must Read Before You Die, and noting it didn't have any Calvin and Hobbes, Louis L'Amour or Patrick McManus, I threw it out and decided to make my own list. 

What about you? Any literature goals for the year?
(Want to read War and Peace with me?)

Christmas in the country...

Twas the night before Christmas,

And next to the house

Everything was rockin'

Because of the cows.

They snuck in the back way,

They snuck in the shed.

They snuggled right down

In our old flower bed.

We pulled in the yard

With our tired kids and then

The headlights revealed

Where those bad cows had been!

The bovines were snotty

And huffy and mad.

Cause we'd come to shut down

All the fun that they'd had.

While Pa in his Muck boots

And I in my heels

Ventured forth to evict them

And call them "soon meals"...

Out on the lawn,

There arose such a clatter,

The dogs sprang from their slumber

To see what was the matter.

One Hamburger Helper

Was a little too quick,

She took out the fence

And made me feel sick.

Pa ran them off

And then parked the car

They trotted right out,

But they didn't go far.

We swung shut the gate,

And locked it up tight.

But we heard them complain

As we tromped out of sight...

"Merry Cow-mas to all....

We're just done for tonight!"

*True story

Fish Cookies

*It's NOT what you're thinking...

My friend and borrowed mom, Karen Sue, started these.  It's an incredibly long story, but I'll condense it for you...sorta.  She and her younger daughters were hanging out at my teeny-weeny apartment, one Sunday afternoon, waiting for her oldest daughter and I to finish our Christmas cantata practice. They discovered my Pillsbury Complete Book of Baking (it really is), and decided to make the rolled sugar cookies. 

Being a bachelorette, I had limited resources and I'm still amazed they came up with the ingredients.  Anyway, the only cookie cutter I had at the time was a trout shaped one.  Isn't that crazy?  But I love to fish, so it didn't seem so odd at the time.  They whipped up the sugar cookies and it turned out to be the gold standard of Christmas cookies for us!

When I lived with Yosts, in the summer, occasionally we'd make a batch, because we'd be sitting around talking about them and be struck with an overwhelming desire to eat more.  I found a trout cookie cutter for Karen, amazingly enough, and we've always referred to them as Fish Cookies.  Everyone sort of gags when we say we'll make Fish Cookies, but when they experience them, they repent. 

My decorating crew...

Of course, you can cut other shapes, if you MUST.

Angus started out as a minimalist, with a slap of green frosting.  He got better as he went, though.

When he REALLY concentrates, out comes the tongue!  He ended up making a snowman cookie that had, in this order: heavy frosting, sugar sprinkles, heavy frosting, red hots (about 18), little swirl of frosting.  I'll bet it weighed an easy pound.  Took him 10 minutes.  AND...yes, I know you want to know...he ATE it.  But not in one sitting.  It was too much, even for him....

We try not to think about things like this too much when considering whether to eat the finished products or not.  Maggie was very artistic and frustrated with the frosting in the decorating tube that didn't perform to her standards...

 We had so much fun!

And, because I'm feeling magnanimous and wishing I had a gift for each of you, I'm sharing the recipe!  But you must promise me that when you use it, you don't call them sugar cookies.  They are Fish Cookies!

Fish Cookies

1 cup sugar

1 cup REAL butter, softened

 (Don't EVER think of using margarine in Fish Cookies!)

3 T milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

In large bowl, combine sugar, butter, milk, vanilla and egg; blend well. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt; mix well.  Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate 1 hour for easier handling.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

On lightly floured surface, roll out 1/2 of dough at a time to 1/4 inch thickness. (Trust me, it's better this thick!)

Keep remaining dough refrigerated. 

Cut with cookie cutters and place 1 inch apart (that's for my step-mom, who is a stickler for detail) on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 5-9 minutes (or until they smell done) and the edges are barely tinted light brown.  Immediately remove from cookie sheets and cool.

Makes 5-6 dozen cookies! (or, if you roll 'em thick, 4ish dozen)

Mmmmmmm!

Off Broadway

To say the least...

Maggie and her schoolmates had their Christmas program last night, at the Cohagen Community hall!  The reason I say "schoolmates" is because there are only five kids in the whole school, and only one of them is her actual classmate.  (He also happens to be the guys she insists she's going to marry, so THAT'S handy.)

Our teacher, Celestia (Who also happens to be Maggie and Angus' grandma by circumstance), writes the plays herself and the roles are tailored to each child.  It's incredible.  And each play has the Christmas story, read from the book of Luke in the Bible.  Aren't we fortunate, to still be able to include that in our Christmas celebration?

This was before the big program....the Men, solving world problems discussing the weather. 

The kids used different instruments with all their songs, except The Friendly Beasts, and in that song they each had a solo.  We sat in the audience, mouths hanging open, at their beautiful voices.  We had NO idea they could sing like that! 

Maggie was a poor little flower girl named (funnily, to me) Flower.  She kept trying to peddle her wares to different, pompous customers that came to the Christmas store, only to be rejected every time.  Here she is, trying to sell to Ben, who will have NONE of her flowers, for any reason or price!

Can you believe that the only two girls in the school got to have a tea party as part of the play?  They were so cute!

Santa! (Maggie knows that THIS Santa is an imposter.  Oh, she'll take his candy and play along, but the REAL Santa had better make an appearance on Christmas Eve...)

Angus, on the other hand, BELIEVES.  The tricky thing is that they've seen Santa twice this week and both times he's asked what they want for Christmas.  The old boy OBVIOUSLY needs to write this stuff down, because he's hopelessly forgetful...

Audience members who shall remain unnamed here, but that hold special places in our hearts! (Another fun thing about our friendship with Glasscocks has been that their kids and ours "share" grandparents.  Yours, mine, ours.  That sort of thing.)

Traci and I each made huge roasters of chili, and the rest of the community filled in the gaps around it.  Wonderful food, as usual, but the cookie/candy table?  Swoon!

Maggie, very seriously, sat me down the night before the program and in a roundabout way indicated that I should wear a dress.  Then she downright insisted, once I picked up on the clues.  So I was very overdressed for the party, but she was so thrilled that we both had our fancy dresses on!

The Princess on rollerblades, in her fancy Christmas dress!  If you think all of her tights have holes in the knee region, you think right.  You can dress her up, but you can't make her behave like a lady all night.  We're still working on that.

Ain't it funny, how time slips away...?

Any Willie Nelson fan will recognize that song!

ARE there Willie Nelson fans out there, anymore?

My Dad liked Waylon and Willie and Chris Cristofferson, and listened to them a lot when I was growing up. (On EIGHT TRACKS!  That's right.  I'm THAT old.) 

Anyway....
It's been awhile since I posted and I'm getting some disgruntled readers.  Well, they USED to read the Chronicles.  I may have lost them, by this time, with my lack of post-age. 

Couple things...
(I'm very fond of "Two things".  I may send three different emails to someone, each containing "Two things:".  Why not send "Six things:", you ask?  Have you ever tried to plow through a list of six things, made longer by a verbose blondish sort? Yeah.  Not fun.)

First, I really just want to wrap up the blog challenge, because it weighs heavy on me, and this is the last post for that challenge.  And, oddly enough, the easiest one. 

The challenge asked, "If you could only give one gift, what would you give and to whom?"

That's a snap.

For about 8 years, I've had the secret dream of someday winning the lottery and building a new library/community building in Jordan.  The existing library is in an old, old, falling down, cold/hot building with very little room and no way to expand.  I even have the floor plan sort of laid out.  And we really need a place in Jordan to have babyshowers, knitting groups, bookclubs, 4-H meetings, and those sorts of things.  Someplace nice and friendly and convenient and MODERN...like, with hot and cold running water and climate control and those sorts of crazy things. 

So that would be my one gift, and it would be for the whole county.  Wouldn't that be glorious? 
Of course, I may need to actually BUY a lottery ticket to have any hopes of making it reality....

Second thing is that I really do appreciate everyone who stops by here and reads the Chronicles.  I've "met" the coolest people, who left comments and thoughts, and continue to correspond via email with me.  And my local lurkers...I love you guys!  I never know who's going to walk up to me on the street (We have one, you know, in Jordan.  Really.) and remark about a Chronicle post. You all come out of the blue!

I've been refraining from posting a lot of community things, as of late, because it was hinted to me that perhaps others would like more privacy.  Things like bookclub.  After thinking about it for awhile, I'll continue to post those things, but not with pictures.  And anyone who wants a pseudonym can contact me.  My friends are a huge part of my life, and I simply can't write, here, without including them in the posts. 

See?  That wasn't as painful as you'd anticipated, was it?

Now I can put up some Christmas posts and other nonsense that I've been storing up in my already-crowded bean!

Challenging, to say the least...

Bet you thought I'd forgotten about the blog challenge, huh?
It's still going! There's a topic this week, then next and we won't start another until the first week of January. 

The NEXT blog challenge will be topics that I've been working on.  They have a sort of Crazy Mary feel to them, so we'll see how that goes.  Anyone interested in joining?  Feeling like starting your New Year with some craziness?  It would be fun to have a couple more people involved!

The challenge this week is to write about the one book that has affected me the most in my life, so far.

Excuse me?

ONE book?

Besides the Bible?
(Which is FULL of books!  I love that! God's Word is made up of a BUNCH of books...He gave us a living library.  How cool is that?)

I really did think about this challenge quite a lot.  It reminds me of the "If you could only take one book to a deserted island, what would it be?" question.

Darned if I know.

Because a book influences my life nearly every day.  And it's not always deep, meaningful influence either. 

Sometimes it's finding a substitution for an ingredient in the back of a cookbook. (If you don't have one full egg, use two egg whites.  Huh?)
Sometimes it's how to apply eye make up properly. (Thank you, Bobbi Brown!)
Sometimes it's learning that bees wings aren't attached to any muscles, that it's the muscles in the thorax that make them move. (My abs ache, thinking about it...)

Choosing just one influential book would be like choosing one favorite child...I don't think it can be done. 

So I think I failed this challenge.  But I'm still working on it.  Probably, in the middle of the night, I'll sit up straight in bed and say, ".....".  For now, I'm flaking out.

Cookie Day Part II

We do other things besides decorate cookies and eat!

The cousins did a lot of sledding. It was perfect; the snow was hard and slick and they just zoomed down the little hills! 

We cut a big load of firewood for Grandma.  Here's Cowboy PopPops and the Farmer, cutting down the first tree.  The good news is that it didn't hit anyone or smash any vehicles...

 ...the bad news is that it got stuck in a neighboring tree and we had to get B.J. to pull it down with his pickup. 

 This tree isn't going to catch on anything!

 Cowboy PopPops built a fire from some of the twigs and bark, and it was wonderful to be able to warm little toes while the grownups loaded wood.  The kids played in the trees, made forts and all sorts of fun tromping around. 

When we got home, we unloaded the wood and then...you guessed it...ate a bite. 

Meghan, Cari and Tristin had gone to town, so it was a pretty quiet evening.  Once we got the babies bedded down on a humongous air mattress, (it WAS huge...and held three girls, width-wise) B.J. and I slipped down to Grandma Dutton's house to watch Round 10 of the National Finals.  It was such a treat! We didn't make it through the whole thing....we quit it after the saddle broncs.  Guess we're getting old...

This was the first year the kids and I stayed overnight, and it was such a good thing to do. 

They got up, rolled off their air mattress and into bed with Grammy!

PopPops made us all bacon, eggs and toast....oh, it was GOOD!

And we had all morning to visit, drink coffee, shower and get ready to eat.

I love Cookie Day.

I love my family!

Cookie Day 2010!

My family has a great tradition that started with the blending of two families when my Dad and Karen got married.  Christmas was sort of a mess, because no one knew where to be or who to spend it with....common situation in blended families.  We came up with a cookie intensive day, where everyone brings cookies to share and we all decorate sugar cookies that day.  It has become our Christmas, in a way, and we look forward to it ALL year.  And not just because we adore sampling 20 different kinds of cookies and candy.  There's no restrictions on the consumption on Cookie Day.  None.  Even for the kids. 

But the very best part is getting siblings and grandparents and grandkids together for a day that doesn't revolve around presents...just around enjoying each other.  This year, Karen's kids were all home for their Grandpa's funeral, sadly.  But we were thrilled they were able to come to Cookie Day.  Barry's family didn't make it this year, but the rest of us did and it was a sweet time.  Here are some of the pictures!

Cousins!  Grammy Karen made all of us aprons for Cookie Day and here are the cousins wearing theirs.   Clockwise from the top: Tristin, Kamryn, Livvie, Angus and Maggie.  We were missing 6 cousins...missed them a LOT, in fact!  Angus is the only boy...for a while.  We're looking forward to another boy cousin in 2011! 

 Cari Mae, modeling her apron!

Jen, stirring caramels, in her apron.  The caramels were...beyond incredible.  I'm drooling all over the keyboard thinking about them.  Still.

This is a picture of SOME of the snacks.  I do not exaggerate when I tell you that every flat surface in the kitchen is covered with food. What you don't see here is a big roaster of Meghan's shortribs and a roaster of Cari's meatballs with chipotle raspberry sauce.  And other dips and chips lurking on the counters and in the fridge.  We didn't even get to some of it, despite a mighty effort to eat for 16 straight hours. 

I love my family...

Cari and me...the kitchen is so small that we're constantly running into each other, so we just stop and get a hug once in a while.  That's good stuff!

 B.J., filling his coffee cup AGAIN.  I think the boy had about 2 pots worth.  He was freezing, the whole two days we were there, and ended up cleaning the chimney on Sunday morning so we could have a REAL fire.  This was B.J.'s first Cookie Day, and we were really missing his little family.  Maybe someday...

 Grandma Dutton, enjoying all the family around.

 Grandpa Bud and Cari....Bonnie (Bud's wife) didn't make it because she was sick.  I miss her laugh and crazy socks!

 See the popcorn cake?  That's pretty much what the kids had for lunch.  Angus is getting his cowboy apron, here.  The kids wore their aprons all day!  They love them.

 Goofing around in the kitchen...we have so much fun!  *Disclaimer: only about 1 1/2 glasses of wine had been consumed at this point.  We're NATURALLY this way.

Cowboy PopPops, Grammy Karen and Tristin

 Bring on the cookies!!!

 We had a cookie decorating contest.  Everyone was very serious about their entries.

(Don't you love Maggie's apron? Bugs!  How appropriate for a girl who eats fried grasshopper legs...)

 His tongue sticks out when he concentrates.  This is a very intense activity, you know!

 Kamy, with a tried and true technique, perfected over many years of Cookie Day...

 Jen and Meghan...the Favorites.

 Yes! Even the guys decorate...sometimes.  And not for long.  But they do!

 Livvie and her avante garde cookie! She's so proud...worked on it a LONG time!

 The finished product...close up.  One wouldn't want to fall on this cookie...

 Sprinkles!  It's all about the sprinkles.  I don't know how many pounds we go through, every year.

Three of the most beautiful women I know...

No one eats the cookies Angus decorates.  Can't imagine why...

 Aftermath...

 Grammy Karen made two table runners and drew names for the winners.  Meghan and I won!  We're obviously her Favorites.

 Jen's caramels, all wrapped up, before we all fell on them and ate a bunch.  They were simply amazing. Notice I used the past tense, "were"....

There are two reactions to the sugar/food orgy.

Extreme buzzed-ness...

 ...or unconsciousness.

I'm going to have to break this post up into two parts! 

Stay tuned for Part II...