This Dating Whoa was all me.

Back in 2005 I got married, and by January of 2007 I was divorced. I’m giving this little bit of background information because it’s probably important in understanding why I was “nervous” on my first date after spending nearly 6 years with the same guy. First dates, after being with the same person for numerous years, are scary, mind altering episodes. Of course, that might have just been me. Lets face it. I was the girl in high school that hugged the wall, walked quickly to class with my head down, never made eye contact, never played sports, and never kissed a boy until I was 18, let alone went on a date. Yeah. I was that girl. *head desk* Which reminds me of one of the few times I went to a football game and wore a cowboy hat. Only cowboy hat in the crowd.

October of 2006 I decided I was done spending life as a wall flower and that I was going to take the world on for a change. I signed up for a dance class to learn how to two step and jitterbug. I’d never been taught, and only rarely ever danced, even though it was the one thing in life I desperately wanted to learn. I was too shy to go after it. Back then, I certainly wasn’t living my new mantra of “Pioneer On!” like I plan on doing now.

First night at the class was great fun. The guy to girl ratio was about right and the instructor was good. Even with the wafting B.O. cloud that followed him. I was hooked and proud of myself for stepping outside of my safety zone. Second class was even better because a group of hunky guys showed up. Same age group as I, and fun. One guy in particular, James, was hunkier than the others and me being drunk on my new found “take charge” attitude decided getting a date with him would be my next goal.

Several classes and a couple emails/phone calls later first date happens. Now in my defense I was nervous. Real nervous. Changed clothes about 30 times and probably restyled my hair at last 15. I was determined to make a good impression. Probably a little to determined because I ended up picking him up, and planning the evening’s activities. Which was supposed to include a drive to Sir Scots Oasis in Manhattan Montana. They’ve got the best steak fingers of all time, and it’s an insanely friendly place to go.

Ended up being that I didn’t plan very well because Sir Scot’s was full and we ended up in Bozeman and Johnny Carionos. No biggie. Still good food, just a slightly farther drive and plenty of time to get to know each other, right?

Cue the strawberries and blueberries.

My car just happened to be in the shop at this time, so I was zipping around in a sporty Pontiac G6. A car that had me literally speeding everywhere because I wasn’t used to having a vehicle that accelerated quickly.

Add in my nervousness about being in a small car with hunky James and it was a recipe for disaster.

Ended up with a speeding ticket for doing 97 on the highway, which has a speed limit of 75. And I tried flirting with the officer in an effort to get out of the ticket, which didn’t help.

I’m pretty sure that was the beginning of the end of that relationship, which lasted 3 weeks and ended with him saying “He just wasn’t falling in love”.

Go figure.

*head desk*

I have spring fever, along with cabin fever and sushi fever.

*sigh*

So, in the guise of perking myself up, I’ve created this new outfit to work towards purchasing.

What are your thoughts?

Spring Out by UBetchaApparel featuring zip jackets

So for the new year, I’m researching recipes from the Great Depression. And yes I realize that Clara has a corner on the market with her recipes, video’s and stories of what it was actually like to live during the depression. I can’t compete with that. And I’m not about to try. I just want to try making a few of the more obscure recipes that were invented during the depression.

You know. For fun!

I’m planning on starting with this recipe. This sounds a lot like my Granma’s recipe called “Shipwreck”, but with a few variations. Although, I’m betting that during the depression ground beef might have been hard to come by, so I wonder if they used hot dogs instead? Or no meat at all? Anyone know?

1929 Depression Casserole

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
Kidney beans (1 can)
5 sliced raw lg. potatoes
3 sliced raw onions
10 oz. bottle catsup
Salt, pepper and garlic powder
Green pepper

Brown ground beef and flavor with salt, pepper and garlic powder. In 9 x 13 inch casserole pan layer kidney beans, sliced raw potatoes, sliced onion, diced green pepper, top with ground beef, and cover with catsup, repeat with a second layer in same order. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours. Uncover during the last 15 minutes of baking. May need to add small amount of water if too dry.

Recipe found at Cooks.com

You can’t make a depression era casserole without wearing a vintage inspired apron, right? Didn’t think so. Try these babies on for size.

Yeah…so normally I don’t listen to a lot of pop…

But this is just fun to listen to while getting ready for a big night on the town.

Or shoveling snow off the front walk…

Which reminds me. I think I need a super cute pair of snow boots to shovel in. I mean…I gotta get some hot on some how? Right? Suggestions?

They have to be functional as well as fab!

Labor Day, September 7th, 2010.

I went for a ride. On a motorcycle. On the back of a Harley to be exact. Don’t you judge me. Usually I’m a street bike/Yamaha kind of girl or a snowmobile girl. I don’t ride Harley’s. The whole experience really helped to solidify a few things for me.

• Number 1: I’m not as badass as I thought. Anyone that can ride a Harley and totally enjoy it has my respect. I’ll be walking bow-legged and stiff for several days. The upside, though, is that all my years horseback really helped in maintaining my balance and not having to grab for leather, so to speak.

• Number 2: Don’t EVER cut my hair short. EVER. Wearing a helmet was almost like having short hair. And I can’t pull that look off to save my life. I’m never visiting this thought again. It’s staying in the deep, dark recesses of my mind.

• Number 3: When looking at ones shadow, while riding down the road on the back of a Harley, and the image from the movie “Wedding Planner” pops into your head of Matthew McConaughey and Justin Chambers riding on the moped, don’t laugh. Also, don’t laugh harder when “Mossimo” is whistling while riding the moped back from the vineyard, accompanies the previous image either. BAD! The image and whistling together really is a riot! But don’t laugh!

And that’s as far as I’m going with this story. It really should be on the “Dating Whoa’s Saga” and maybe someday I’ll add it, but I’m going on a second date, so I can’t really classify it as a whoa. Not yet anyway!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Labor Day weekend!

Monday! I really sort of enjoy Monday’s because they mean I can have some say in determining how the rest of my week will go. Monday’s really are fantastic for starting out on the right foot.

That being said…here’s some fun copper for today.

Missficklemedia’s Handcrafted Jewelry Components – An Etsy Shop

Lazy Acres Copper Bedding by Michael Payne Bedding

MilkyPunch – An Etsy shop

These bobby pins reminded me of fall weddings. Hard to believe fall is right around the corner. I’m sort of looking forward to the cooler temperatures and the garden bounty that’s sure to start appearing!

Rustica Hardware

Yes…One day…Copper tub…you will be mine!

Have a Mini Skirt of a day!

Jenny

After finally making it through Davie Airey’s “ABC URL” list (which, by the way, was fantastic) I’ve decided to create my own list.
The idea is to type just a letter in your browser’s address bar, then list the first URL that appears.

Here’s mine.

• A http://acowboyswife.com/ (no surprise here; I read Lori’s blog daily)
• B https://www.broderbros.com/cgi-bin/online/webbro/bro-index.w (use this site a lot for t-shirt orders–imagine that)
• C http://www.capitalpress.com/ (read this publication regularly)
• D http://www.davewhitmoyer.com/ (again, no suprise. i’m working on the graphics for this website)
• E http://www.equestriancollections.com/ (i do some catalog/image linking for this company as well as purchase items from them)
• F http://www.fmylife.com/ (okay so apparently I don’t get any work done — i read a few of these when i need a little inspiration)
• G http://www.gloomis.com/ (i was looking at their fly rods, but will probably go with a sage. any suggestions?)
• H http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/ (love this site, and this artist. one of my must reads)
• I http://www.inciweb.org/ (check this site daily during the summer, fall and early winter months)
• J http://www.jayanndesigns.com/ (imagine that — my design/portfolio website
• K http://www.beartoothnbc.com/ (local news station — i haven’t looked at this in months
• L http://usa.loccitane.com/FO/Home.aspx (found this site several months ago — enjoy looking at their product
• M http://www.russell.visitmt.com/listings/9219.htm (headed to the MAGIE for a few hours tomorrow afternoon
• N http://www.northwesternenergy.com/ (this is where I pay my power and heat bill — UGH!)
• O http://www.oubetcha.com/ (this was a given, so I’m doing a second link because i’m sure everyone guessed my own site would come up. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/o/default.aspx (really wanted to go see this show at some point in time — maybe in july with my sister
• P http://www.istockphoto.com/index.php (stock photo site)
• Q http://www.quiltsforkids.org/ (another project site i visit regularily)
• R http://www.rasushi.com/ (my daily drool — love sushi!)
• S http://snopes.com/ (think the last time i used this was to check up on a “missing child” report that wasn’t on the Amber Alert site
• T http://www.textsfromlastnight.com/(another one of those “when i need a laught…” sites)
• U http://www.uboat.net/ (my brother and i use this to look up information while we watch the NATGEO, HIST or MILT channels — we know how to party)
• V http://www.vmagazine.com/ (no clue really — think i remember clicking on a link and being taken to this site)
• W http://www.wolfammo.com/ (never actually used this ammunition, but found it one day searching with my brother, and now we look at it all the time — again, we know how to really have fun)
• X http://www.foxnews.com/ (nothing to say here, i read FOX NEWS! i watch FOX NEWS! i listen to FOX NEWS! basically, it’s on all the time)
• Y http://www.etsy.com/ (i look at ETSY all the time…)
• Z http://www.rodeonz.co.nz/default.asp (have several guys interested in joining TEAM UBETCHA from NZ)

Post a link to your ABC URL list! Will be loads of fun to see where everyone spends their time while online!

Have a beautiful weekend!

Jenny

Hi!

So I took the month of December and thought up some fun and exciting posts for the new year, 2010. I want to have some more interaction happening here! Lots more!

So, for the month of January I’m hosting a “Virtual Soup Recipe X-Change!” But we are doing it “Beef Style!”

You heard me!

If you’d like to participate, leave a comment on this post with either; the actual recipe or a link to the recipe that you have posted on your site. At the end of the month, I’ll take everyone’s recipes, create a mini cookbook pdf, and post it here for everyone to download! Each recipe must contain “beef” as one of the ingredients. Beef bouillon, however, doesn’t count!

I’d really like to get about 50 recipes to create this mini cookbook with! Credit will be given where credit is due! Start posting those recipes!

Happy New Year!

Good afternoon all!

Let me introduce my friends (well it’s really me) “The Skirts”. The Skirts are a bit like a sorority, in the sense that we all come together to make this unique mess.  Me!

Almost Betty – Red Skirt. Almost Betty is my inner Betty Crocker. She’s basically bursting at the seams to bake, cook, fry, saute and generally be in the kitchen. This is the me that wears the apron.

Almost Martha – Green Skirt. Almost Martha is my inner Martha Stewart. She’s the green thumb, jack-of-all-trades, crafty gal who can do it all. At least I think I can

Almost Laura – Orange Skirt. Almost Laura is my inner Laura Ingalls Wilder. She’s my inner child, story teller, writer, thinker, player and the one with all the fun stuff.

Almost Jeanette – Brown Skirt. Almost Jeanette is my inner Jeannette Rankin. My inner politician, fighter, and “I want to help change the word” me. Military and Liberty!

Basically, that sums it up. I have ideas for other skirts, so we shall see what the future brings. For now, four is probably more than enough to unleash on all the innocents of mankind. Mixed in with all of these you’ll find flights of fancy and some hard-knock lessons.

Soon to come – Almost Fanny. She’s a rip-roarin good time!