The year in review...

I have seen a lot of people highlight their most popular blog post on their blogs, so as part of my year in review, I thought I'd do the same....

My most popular post wasn't even something I wrote. It was a share from a Twitter friend, featuring a video of So God Made a Farmer, voiced by Paul Harvey. I just watched it again. It still sends shivers down (or up) my spine.

My next most popular blog post was how I couldn't comment on my own blog. I got a comment back from Sarah at The House Ag Built about how to fix it. It worked for me and apparently for other folks as well, because it generated the most comments, all saying, "Hey, it worked for me, too!"

So, thank you Sarah for sharing your wisdom and thank me for complaining! :)

Otherwise, what can I say about 2011?

One word: WET.

Snow and rain pretty much dominates my memories of 2011. Does that happen as you get older? Do you just spend more and more time thinking about and marveling at the weather? Or was 2011 one for the record books? Well, I watched a special on television the other night, and it would seem that weather made big news all over the place. So even though I'm getting old, I can pretend it was just that wild of a weather year.

It started in January. I happened to be in Atlanta when they got the mother of all ice storms. Pretty much shut down the city. Luckily, I was one of the few people who didn't have their flight cancelled or changed. I got back home without having to wash out a single pair of underwear.

We had snow until....well actually, I don't remember when until. But my post on May 18 indicates that things were growing, so it couldn't have been that bad. Why do I remember it being bad?

Maybe because everyone was bracing themselves for the Missouri River flood. Our home was never in peril -- we'd have to have a flood of Noah proportions for that to happen -- but we knew plenty of others who weren't so lucky.

Then in late June, the Mouse River flooded and many, many homes in Minot and in other cities along the river did not survive the devastation.

It rained so much farmers around the state couldn't plant their crops and I didn't have to water the garden -- that I didn't get planted until June 19 -- more than two or three times the whole summer. Despite all the rain, the late planting date meant the corn didn't mature and the carrots were few and far between (of course it didn't help that my daughter thought the carrot tops were weeds). But I did have awesome pumpkin crop. All these babies were from our garden....

Some time in late August, God must have realized the faucet had been leaking a little too much in this neck of the woods. Our fall was gorgeous and our winter has been unseasonably warm and without snow. And it sounds like we will be going into 2012 with nary a bit of the white stuff.

What do you remember most about your 2011?

Dawn 

Yes, I'm getting older, but I'm doing it in style!

The other day, when the cyber-bullies got my computer and it crashed irretrievably, the negative self-talk started almost immediately. You old buffoon, I thought. How could you not see it? You're getting old!

Then my mindset suddenly changed.

Well, of course, I am getting old, I told myself. It's part of the whole deal. We all get older with each minute. (Wow! That sounds all downer-like and stuff, doesn't it?) But I didn't think of it in that way.

Like Faye Zurcher says in this Minot Daily News story, it's not so bad because the older you get, the less people expect of you.

Or maybe we expect a little less from ourselves.

At least that's what I think is happening to me. Maybe it has to do with the fact that you realize you are getting older and you can't be expected to juggle as many balls as you could when you were 25.

Or maybe it's self-acceptance; the thought that, maybe, just maybe, you are okay, just the way you are. You don't have to be like somebody else to be somebody. And that maybe all this time the only one you've been trying to prove yourself to, is yourself. And you're finally satisfied with the results.

If that's what it means to get older, I'm looking forward to the rest of the ride.

Plus the extra nap time!

Dawn

Wordless Wednesday: Crashed!

My computer was wiped out by a virus. Totally. Suddenly, this is looking like the way to go!

I'm dreaming of a brown Christmas

It has been a few years since this has happened, but the ground will be brown at My Two Acres this year for Christmas.

At first I said I would be happy if we had at least a little of the white stuff for the holiday.

It is a woman's prerogative to change her mind, right? Well, I'm changing it!!!

I'm thinking no snow is the way to go. Especially after the abundance that we have had the last few years.

This is grass. Normally, it would be under at least a couple feet of the white stuff by now.

And as I hear it, it could be around 40 degrees on Christmas Day.

That's what I love about North Country weather. It's like watching a movie with the plot twist you never saw coming! Or like the guy that found a mountain lion in his house:

http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/grassy-butte-rancher-kills-mountain-lion-in-his-house/article_1bb75bac-2ce3-11e1-a47d-001871e3ce6c.html

Keeps us on our toes!

Merry Christmas to all!

Dawn

Wordless Wednesday: Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

Hunk of Meat Monday: Slow-cooked pheasant

I haven't made this recipe for a few years, but I did this weekend, and by golly, it's as good as I remember! The thing that takes the longest in the preparation of this delish dish is cutting apart the pheasant and searching for errant BBs!

Once it's in the oven, you can do all kinds of other things. (My daughter and I went shopping for a "girl" present for her class Christmas party.)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

Ingredients:
Dried beef
Two phesants, cut into pieces
1 package low sodium bacon
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 oz of  sour cream

Place a layer of rinsed dried beef in the bottom of a cake pan.

Wrap pieces of cut-up pheasant in bacon.

Mix 8 oz. of sour cream with one can of cream of mushroom soup.

Spread soup and sour cream mixture evenly over the bacon wrapped pieces of pheasant.

Cover and bake at 250 degrees for two hours. Remove foil and bake another hour.

Just getting ready to pull it out of the oven!

It's very rich, but it sure taste delicious. The pheasant stays super moist and it tastes great served over wild rice.

Dawn

Photo Friday: Snow dust

A dusting of snow on my beat-up old watering can with some lifeless moonbeam coreopsis just to the right. Thought it was kinda purty!

Dawn

Clean kitchen psychology

We started a new thing last week: Keeping the kitchen clean.

By that, I mean no piles of mail on the counter, no keeping art projects and crayons on the counter, no dirty dishes in the sink and no leaving clean dishes in the sink to air dry.

Now, I like to think of myself as a glass-half full kind of girl. I don't like to dwell on the negative. And I LOVE coming home to a clean kitchen after work.

There is a but....

When your kitchen is clean, you don't really  like to mess it up. (Of course the "you" in this sentence is really "me" but I'm hoping that I get a few commiserators nodding their heads!)

But the messing up part is inevitable.

I made cookies one night after supper this week so my son could take them to a function the next evening. By the time I cleaned up after supper, messed up the kitchen making the cookies and cleaned up again, I was seriously starting to question this whole clean kitchen project.

I felt like my whole evening was spent in the kitchen, and truthfully, I guess it came pretty close. Because by the time I had everything cleaned up, it was time to start getting kids ready for bed.

Suddenly, I'm going, "I thought this clean kitchen thing was supposed to make me feel good!"

And that makes me crabby.

So, contrary to making me feel all happy and in control, I'm crabby because we have a clean kitchen.

I'm also crabby when the kitchen is a mess.

What have we learned? Maybe I'm just crabby!

Hmmm. Time for lunch.

Dawn

What's for supper?

Do you and your family eat meals together often? I ask because I can honestly say that the only time we aren't eating supper together is when my kids are having sleepovers at other people's houses.

Oh, our supper might consist of nothing more than a frozen pizza and carrot sticks if we're in a hurry to get out the door for something. But my family and I, with our decidedly spoiled Springer drooling profusely next to the table, generally eat supper together five or six nights out of the week.

I didn't truly realize we are a mealtime anomaly until I ran across the following blog post...

Cooking for my family is, in my own weird way, my ultimate expression of love for them. I'm not saying that's the way it should be, it's just what my internal compass says is important.

Of course, that means that I am CONSTANTLY asking, "What do you want for supper?"

I said it was important for me to cook for my family. I didn't say I was very creative when it came to the kitchen.

I'm not much of a food experimenter. I find a recipe that generates a positive response, and I will keep going back to it until I hear the groans when I say, "I'm making beef stroganoff."

I do tend to use a few of those kit meals too. Buy two bags of the stuff, throw them in the pan and heat until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees! Supper in 15! Whew!

So I'm by no means a virtuoso in the kitchen. I'm just steady. And probably too predictable. But at least I can say my need to "meal my family" has some positive benefits for them.

Here all this time, I just thought I was being selfish!

Dawn

Thankful Thursday: I saw the word "Norwegian"

I was scanning an email I received this morning and caught the word "Norwegian" and any time I see that word, I always have to stop and read it. I like to call myself a Swede, probably because they don't get as much grief as Norwegians, but I still carry a quarter of that Norsky blood in my veins. (That may explain a few things about me!)

But when I saw the reason for the article, I just had to smile...

Norwegians Dismayed by Butter Shortage

Reuters reports that citizens of Norway are facing a critical shortage of butter, thanks to a high-fat, low-carb diet craze sweeping the nation. The timing could not be worse, as traditional Norwegian holiday foods call for abundant use of butter and other dairy products. Retail prices have soared along with demand, with some shoppers now paying four times the typical price for butter."

Oh, I'm so proud right now! Seriously! I LOVE Norwegian holiday food. I LOVE Swedish holiday food too. In fact, I might get them a little confused from time to time because, well, with so many of both at the family gatherings, I was never really sure what came from where. And although the recipe link I'm sharing here isn't necessarily the same recipe my mom used for the cookies I ate as a kid, they look JUST like the cookies my mom used to make. And it even has "butter" right in the name!

http://www.food.com/recipe/norwegian-butter-cookies-265591

So on this Thankful Thursday, I'm thankful for my Norsky-Swede heritage and all those Norwegian/Swedish holiday treats. But I'm even more thankful for living in the United States, where there is no shortage of butter!

I can just FEEL those unwanted pounds, ready to pounce on me!!!

Dawn

I have this notebook....

I carry one of those little 3 x 5 inch notebooks in my purse so I can write down important information in it, like what groceries I need to get when I run to the store over my lunch hour!

But the other day, I noticed that I had a few "surprises" in my book. They are courtesy of my nine-year-old, who just needs to pick up a pencil and draw every once in awhile. These little gems always bring a smile to my face!

This is one notebook I will keep!

Dawn



The dapper Swede and the "iffy" Scot

Bless my mother's heart. Not too long ago, she made copies of a photo from my past and gave it to me. I look at it about every day and I can't help but smile.

The tow-head on the right is one of my younger brothers, who actually stands about that much taller than me now when I'm NOT sitting and at 40+ is STILL a tow-head. And, of course, the goof with the tam and tartan plaid who looks like she is thinking, "Do I have to have my picture taken" is none other than yours truly.

I am pretty sure my mom sewed that outfit for me because she was -- and still is -- very handy with a sewing machine. I did not inherit that ability. About the only thing I do is put patches on knees of jeans and sew buttons back on shirts. I did sew a comforter once. ONCE. It has been relegated to the bed in the camper, but I have to admit that, even after all these years, it still has a lot of wear in it. I am much happier buying my comforters, these days!

I don't remember for sure if this is an "after church" shot or not, but I'm guessing it is, because we are posing on the steps of the house that was my grandma and grandpa's house. We typically went to Grandma and Grandpa's on Sundays after church and they probably thought we looked so cute in our Sunday best that they needed to get a photo before we shed or filthied what we were wearing.

This house is actually my tow-headed brother's house now, and since he is a farmer/carpenter, he has done a lot of updates. The steps are no longer there (or if they are, they are covered up with a deck).

It's kind of funny how you forget so much until you see a picture like this. I will treasure it because it reminds me of all the wonderful memories of growing up on a farm and how much I love my family, even though the visits are short and few and far between.

Dawn

My last Focus

After 26 years writing for and almost as long editing North Dakota Farm Bureau's official publication, which has been through more than one make-over, I'm letting go.

To be honest, it's about time!

I read a Dakota Farmer story not too very long ago with the headline: Your No. 1 Job - Replace Yourself. It was a story about one of Jolene Brown's talks, and granted she was talking about farmers, but I still think it is pretty good advice, no matter what business you are in.

Jolene said that if you want the farm to continue, and you are in your 50s, you better think about switching from being a manager to a mentor.

I must point out that I have a few months before I become part of the "in your 50s clan," but I have also been around long enough to know that no one is irreplaceable. And when an opportunity comes along to shake things up a little, well, it seems like you should take advantage of the opportunity! 

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed every minute of writing for NDFB's publication. I was able to be a part of some changes and experiments -- Dakota Family, Perspective, Focus -- in the last 26 years. And for that, I am extremely thankful. But, at the same time, sometimes people need to change too. I'm at that changing place. So it was extremely cool that Joey Tigges came along. I'm totally excited to see what she will do to take Farm Bureau's publication in new and exciting directions.

Meanwhile, I'll be "focusing" on web, radio and video.

Dawn