callie’s favorite – sweet & sour chicken

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Whenever the question comes up (which is quite often) – “What should we have for supper”? – Callie’s quick to say, “Sweet and sour chicken”.  I know it will never compare to some of her favorite Chinese food restaurants but it probably comes in a very close second. It wasn’t until this past summer that I came up with this “keeper”.  And, best of all, it’s not that hard to make. 

This recipe begins with cutting up chicken breasts into one inch chunks. I suppose you’re gonna ask, “how much chicken”? I usually make this by sight more than by recipe. So, I’m going to say three large breasts for the four of us. I put flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder in a large zip lock baggie and shake the chicken pieces until they’re covered.

IMG_3209I add Crisco to my cast iron skillet and preheat. When the oil is good and hot, fry the chicken pieces until golden brown and no pink center.

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more than just addresses

I reached for my address book this afternoon and thought, “You know, I should share this with my friends”. I wish I knew what year I started filling this with family and friend’s addresses. If I were to guess, I would say 25 years ago. This little book is full of  history!

IMG_3237Last year, while at the NAFB convention, John Deere was handing out green duct tape. I thought it added some nice color to a book that was needing a little TLC.

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frank, pete and the yellow beast are now settled in for a long winter’s nap

IMG_4873The beauty of a Nebraska road as the sun starts to set.

The autumn color has been beautiful this year. And the sunsets…extraordinary! I don’t know if it’s the harvest dirt and dust to blame for creating these beautiful sunsets or if it’s because I’ve been outside at the exact time to witness them. Whatever it is, I have thoroughly enjoyed them.

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use moisturizer every day…and don’t forget your neck

IMG_3206The view from my window today on a dreary, wet Autumn day.

The last month has yielded a few new experiences for me. One of them being asked to participate in the Housewives of Rural America blog which ultimately landed me on the “Freshly Pressed” page of WordPress.com (an exciting moment!). Being involved with this awesome group of gals has also brought back memories of who I was 30 some years ago. You see, I view myself as the “older, wiser woman” in this group. I’m not so sure that I like the hard reality that I’m not as young as my mind has me believing that I am. Jim’s dad once said something  that I now understand a whole lot better, “Sometimes I have to stop and remember that I am 80 years old”. I can honestly say, I understand! My mind wants to trick me into thinking that I’m this 30-year-old person rather than nearly 52. Does this make sense? I honestly don’t feel as old as I am (until there’s a little pain here or there).

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happy wheatie reading!

These past few days have been interesting, to say the least!

When I was asked to write a post for Housewives of Rural America, I struggled. I struggled because it was the same ‘ole story that seems I’ve told over and over again. Who is going to want to read this again? But I wrote and as I wrote, the words came easier than anticipated and before I knew it, I had a fairly long post. I even apologized to Jenny and Katie for the length. They didn’t seem to mind, though, so I was excited to see how it would be accepted by the rest of the blog world.

What I didn’t expect was to open my email later that same day and read this in the subject line, “Congrats, you’ve been Freshly Pressed!”  I was so excited (to say the least)! It was like I had won the multi-million dollar lottery! My heart started racing and I began to furiously post everywhere (Facebook and Twitter) that my post was liked by the WordPress editors. I had always wondered what it would take to get on that particular page. Only…it didn’t show up. I started feeling like maybe they had made a mistake and decided it really wasn’t good enough for the honor. And then I got discouraged and told myself that it just wasn’t meant to be.

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the sound of rain

A weird sort of feeling just swept through me.

I’m sitting here listening to the rain  hit the window next to my “desk” in the living room.  If this were six weeks ago, we’d be enjoying a day off. And, believe me, there’s nothing better than waking up during the middle of the night hearing that sweet sound of rain pinging on the cottage roof.  No lunches would need to be packed and I would be able to sleep just as long as my body would let me. Unless, it meant ANOTHER day of sitting.

Tonight, it’s just rain.  Our lives aren’t controlled with weather as much anymore. Well, it still is for Jim. He’s still harvesting but the rest of us are involved in the “real” world again. Speaking of Jim, he finished with the soybeans last night and was going to start with corn today. Not so much now. I talked to harvesters today from North Dakota to Kansas and everyone is sitting now due to rain.  It’s a harvester’s holiday!

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nebraska, corn and eli

IMG_4748 Today was Eli’s 6 month birthday. And how did he celebrate? He went to the soybean field with his mama to ride in the Yellow Beast with his grandpa.

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Wordless Wednesday – Sweet Sixteen

Callie turned 16 yesterday. Hmmm…she was just a baby yesterday – my last baby.  Someone told me a long time ago how fast the years go. I had no clue til they were gone.

IMG_3129The night before, Taylor and I decorated the kitchen (a birthday tradition) and her car.

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nebraska to montana – montana to nebraska

In my previous post, scenes from j & t’s excellent adventure parts 3 & 4 (cont.), I left you with the arrival at “home, home”.  This gets a little confusing with referring back to posts but if you need to be reminded where we are from this point with the pictures I posted, you can refer back to scenes from j & t’s excellent adventure parts 3 & 4. 

After we got home, we TRIED to turn on the water, went through mail and whatnot. The next morning, we packed for a week and headed to Grand Island for Husker Harvest Days. We ran into all kinds of people we knew – including the Miseners.

IMG_4600Entering Husker Harvest Days in Grand Island, NE.

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scenes from j & t’s excellent adventure-parts 3 & 4 (cont.)

I’m not sure where this is going to lead but my intentions are to share with you some of the scenes of our travels from Montana to Nebraska, back to Montana and then, finally, back to Nebraska again.

We’ve been “home, home” for two weeks. ONLY two weeks. Harvest feels like a dream. Callie and I made a trip to Omaha on Saturday in search of the perfect Homecoming dress. We met Jenna very briefly at the mall and had lunch with her but basically the day was just a me-and-Cal-day. This doesn’t happen very often.  Anyways, she and I had some fairly deep discussions that day; one being about harvest. She and I agreed that unless you’re involved with harvest, you just can’t explain the feelings this industry creates deep down in your soul. We discussed how sad we were that there are people out there who haven’t any idea what a wonderful place Jordan, Montana is because it’s not within their 10 mile radius. Did we find the perfect dress? We found “plan B” dress. “Plan A” dress is on it’s way in the mail. Continue reading