This Will Change Things!!!

Ya'll, I had an epiphany yesterday.

I was reading this post on Pioneer Woman's photography blog and right about the point where she said, "I took the camera off of auto focus," is when it hit me-- if I could find the auto focus on my camera I might be able to take some decent pictures!!

Holy moly, I'm a genius!  After a little googoogling I flipped a switch on my camera and voila!  Instant! Clear! Pictures!

Sure, if you're smart enough to use your high-powered rifle camera this is no big deal to you......

But, if you're me......

After months of despair over the craptastic pictures you've been taking......

This is positively huge!!

(These pictures are of me and Boots packing our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  You should do this to if you're not already.)

I want you to know this post sucks. 

I had it all planned out in my head, I was going to write about how I found this great glass beverage dispenser by accident at a super clearance store at an excellent price (60% off at $11.25) while shopping for shorts (thisclose to buying a hot pink pair) and new blue jeans. 

I was going to write about standing in line for 20 minutes! behind two Indian (real Indians, not Native American Indians) women who haggled with the check out girl over 5 blankets and three bag fulls of kids clothes.

I was going to write about how clean and pretty it was after I got it home and washed it up and poured it full of cold coffee and called it a wonderful night and couldn't wait until morning!

Then the blessed thing leaked! 

And I had to change the title from "Cheap Thrills and Borrowed Ideas" to "Complications Arose, Ensued, Were Overcome" and hope that someone caught that random movie reference.  Then my dang post erased itself!

Not a good time in blogland tonight.

I had plans to point out the only flaw I could find (until it leaked coffee everywhere.)

And instruct you all to inspire the sparkly on top of the handle.

Oooooooohhh, ahhhhhh!

And question what is this tear drop-shaped glass "birthmark" is.

But I got aggravated and just threw it all in a regular ol' tea pitcher and slammed it down in the fridge.

But after a coupla hours of catching up on my DVR and g00gling "glass beverage dispenser parts" to no avail, I decided to take the dang thang apart!

Just a little twist here and pull there and I had three pieces in my hand.  For kicks I put it back together, to see if I could and hope that miraculously fixed it.

Whaddoya know, all it needed was a good tightening and it was just as I had imagined, although a little later than I'd hoped.

Hallelujah.

Oh, yeah.  The "Borrowed Ideas" part came from here.  Check it out if you're like my husband and convinced I'm a mad scientist in the kitchen.

Help From Oklahoma (I fixed the link, my bad!)

Read here to find out what Pioneer Woman is doing to help us.

Because They're the Devil to Make!!

This past week I've been wishing for deviled eggs.
I took it upon myself to learn how to make this delectable Southern Baptist staple today.
Here are lots of really bad pictures of my cooking experiment first time making deviled eggs.

Start with a dozen eggs in a pot.

Add water and boil the heck out of them.

Question: Why do the butts of eggs bubble?

Boil violently!

Remove from heat, cover and allow to cool for about twenty minutes.

Rinse with cold water.

Crack and peel.

(There's no picture here because it is impossible to crack eggs with two hands and take pictures of the process with two hands, short of having an arm transplantwhatever.

Be gentle!

Some of them look better than others.

Slice and take out the yolks.

Smash 'em up!

Salt

Pepper

Mustard

Vinegar (can't see that), pickles (supposed to use sweet, I used dill)

Stir together

Pour in a bag (again, only two arms!), pipe into egg halfs

Admire work

Realize you forgot paprika

Have small scuffle with Boots about being a taste-tester because apparently he thinks you're going to poison hiim with something you plan to eat yourself.

Finally convince him they're safe for human consumption.

Admire whiskery face.

The End!

I got my recipe from Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen website.

Maybe You Shouldn't Judge a Book by Its Cover......

......but don't cook/eat things that look like lunch revisited!

Homemade Biscuits

In an effort to escape the box (or the can) I've been trying to branch out and make things from scratch rather than buy them premade.

Everybody knows (especially Boots) that I have this thing for The Pioneer Woman.
PW has opened my...no...influenced my...not exactly...she's...
What can I say about Pioneer Woman?
She's The Pioneer Woman!

So, I've got this really easy-peasy recipe from her cookbook for homemade biscuits.
The biscuits themselves are really good, but the cook herself, i.e. me, needs practice.
I've made these biscuits twice and while I love them (since I put the work into them and I'll eat just about anything!), they are not quite refined enough for the culinary tastes of more delicate stomachs.

They need work.
They.  Are.  Thick.
Too thick.

I love a thick biscuit, but not so thick that they're not quite cooked (or is it baked?) all the way through.

They need work.

(I do have pictures of the first batch I made but, I'm still having problems with my laptop and memory card.  My apologies!)

Last night I tried to make Pioneer Woman's Life By Chocolate recipe.
But I had to stop what I was doing before I even made it half-way because I don't have all the ingredients.
It always happens like that. 
I'm so impatient to make something that I can't spend time making sure I have everything to make it a success.
Maybe tonight after I make a short trip to the store.