I Survived Christmas

Hope Santa brought ya'll what you asked for. I got a new pair of cowboy boots. There is nothing better than getting new boots for Christmas. It just makes me happy, happy, happy. If I didn't get anything for Christmas for the rest of my life except boots and jeans, I would be absolutely happy. It was a great day with my folks and sister and taking Granny her gifts but I have to say I'm glad it's over. I do wish that people would leave their outside decorations & lights up until at least the end of February. There's no law saying they have to come down, well unless you live in one of those "yuppie subdivisions". Out here in the sticks we can do whatever we want and I think we should, at least, leave the lights up & decorations that aren't actual Christmas related. It's so depressing there's no leaves on the trees, the grass is dead. Everything outside is the same dull brown color. It would be great because you see Rednecks go crazy when it comes to Christmas lights and yard decorations. We will put lights on anything sitting or standing in the yard and the house. Lights made in to stars, bells, horses running, crosses & race cars. On highway 169 there's a house that always has some scene with race cars pulling Santa's sleigh. One year the cars and the sleigh were just leaving the ground and there was police car chasing them. That was my all time favorite. This year they have taken off and their is a blue car with yellow 48 numbers still on the ground with the hood up. Now if you're any kind of a redneck you know that #48 is the Lowes sponsored car, driven by Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie's won like 4 or 5 Nascar Championships in a row. You either love him or hate him. I think he's an arrogant ass so this little scene makes me smile every time I go past it. Out here closer to where I live a house has sprint cars made out of lights set up to look like they are racing. It's pretty awesome too. These are the kinds of decorations that should be left up for a while longer just to keep things a little more cheerful. The old tractor or wagon that's been wrapped in lights, they should leave them up all year long because they're just cool looking at night. I saw a windmill covered in lights, last night, and it looked pretty awesome too. Some times it's the little things like that can lift a person's spirits and put a smile on their face and isn't that kind of what the Christmas spirit is all about? So let me just say that Christmas lights should stay up as long you want to leave them up or at least until the trees start getting leaves again. It shouldn't be about spending a butt load of money, you don't have, to buy a bunch of presents. Christmas should be about family & friends and doing things for those less fortunate even if its just putting a smile on their face with your yard full of Christmas lights. Besides it wouldn't be that hard to take those lights in the shape of a bell or wreath and move them around a little to make a heart shape and there you go, Valentine's decorations. Know what I mean?

Looking Back

Went to Oklahoma City on Thursday for the funeral of my Grandma's sister. It's a shame that funerals have replaced family reunions. It seems they are the only time that families get together any more. Facebook Twitter and such have replaced getting together in person. Remember those reunions? The organizers picked a place so that everyone would be driving about the same distance. It always turned out to be some little town no one had ever been to. You load up as many family members as you could cram in the car, plus ice chests, toys, blankets & lawn chairs, drive 75-150 miles to a park that obviously had been mowed for the first time in a year, yesterday. Which didn't do anything but piss off the chiggers, mosquitoes, flies and other insects that had been living there undisturbed. There's a concrete slab with what's left of a cover after the big storm this past spring. A swing set with a couple of broken swings and a one of those metal slides that heats up to 250 degrees by noon. The water fountains didn't work and water barely trickled out of the only hydrant. But there was tons of good food, fried chicken, baked hams, potato salads, baked beans, cookies, pies & cakes. Not to mention all the fresh cucumbers, watermelons and other goods from the gardens. Lemonade and sweet tea by the gallons. In the end in spite of chiggers, red ants & flies everyone always had a good time. But back to my original thought. Aunt Mae's service was nice, the minister did a pretty good job. My mind wandered a few times but I think the message he was trying to send had to do with the legacy you leave behind and how family and who you are or how you are perceived are the important things not worldly possessions. As he put it "you've never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul". That being said we sent Aunt Mae to be with the Angels in fine fashion. Even though I don't see them often enough I have a fantastic family that I love dearly and no matter how long between trips to southern Oklahoma, I never feel better than when I see that red dirt and I know I'm home.

If you're reading this than you are probably familiar with Jeff Foxworthy's "You Might Be A Redneck" jokes. I got a book of them and was appalled to see that about half of them described my house and/or my life. I started wondering what exactly makes a person a redneck & do people know they're rednecks. I think geography has a lot to do with it. I live in Oklahoma so that explains a lot. Not only do I live in Oklahoma but I live in the country between 2 small almost non existent towns. My husband hunts & I love to fish so check that off and finally we both drive pick ups including a Jeep Scrambler, which is a Jeep pick up, with a lift kit, big tires and spotlights on top. I live in boots and have been known to wear them with cut offs and my swim suit. I do have a legitimate reason for wearing boots and a bikini. It was the first summer that the temperature was 108+ every day and we had an outbreak of snakes around the house and I was not about to step on a snake in flip flops. Our house is decorated in, what is now referred to as "collectibles" which means old stuff that isn't an antique and my husband's deer mounts, an elk mount, his grizzly bear and an antelope mount. A huge pile of deer sheds, which are their horns that have fallen off, elk sheds & a moose shed. Buffalo skulls & rocks. There's more to it than just that though. I food you eat says a lot about you too. Mine and Wes' favorite is gravy. If a redneck tells you that they want gravy, you know they don't mean brown gravy or some fancy sauce. Gravy is made from the grease of whatever you just fried except fish. NEVER use grease you fry fish in. Usually it's chicken fried steak, tenderized round steak for those of you that aren't familiar, fried chicken, pork chops, hamburger, sausage or bacon.

This is how I make mine: Save some of the grease back after you're done frying your meat. I don't know exactly how much I just eyeball it. Let the grease cool down then add 2-4 tablespoons of flour to the grease & dissolve. I now know this is called a rue. Then add milk, I don't know how much I just eyeball it. I turn the burner up on high and start stirring, I use a whisk or a fork, then turn the burner back to low & continue to stir and add pepper until you get the consistency you want. Gravy goes on mashed potatoes, of course, whatever meat you're having, bread or biscuits. Another important Food FYI; you can dip anything in a bowl with egg & milk in it then roll it in flour salt and pepper, throw it in some hot grease and it will taste good. The motto is everything tastes better fried and it does. In the summer there's nothing better than fried chicken, fried okra, fried squash, fried green tomatoes. Put that with some green beans and new potatoes cooked in a dutch over with bacon, or rubbing bacon grease on a sweet potato and baking it in the oven or cucumbers and onions that have been soaking in vinegar. Nothing fancy just good eats. Now in the sandwich department nothing can beat fried bologna or Underwoods Deviled Ham. Throw a piece of bologna in a skillet, cut a slit in it to keep it from growing a bubble while it's frying. Cook it til the edges start getting crispy, put it on fresh white bread or potato bread with yellow mustard and cheese if you like. To fix the deviled ham sandwich, get a can of Underwoods Deviled Ham, it's the best. Yellow mustard on your bread then spread deviled ham over that good and thick. Then get a handful of Lays potato chips crunch them up and sprinkle them on top of that, slap that other piece of bread on and you have one helluva a good sandwich. I was either watching Duck Dynasty or clip on YouTube the other day and Jase was talking about how Rednecks don't throw anything away because if they need to fix anything or build something they have the stuff to do it right there.

You can see from this picture of our bone yard my husband, Wes, is a firm believer in not throwing anything out. I have to admit Jase is right. I've seen him go out there and find just what he needed to build something or fix something. Still it does make you think of Hoarders when you see it. Then there's the little things that scream Redneck. A true Redneck or Country Boy has the ability to fix anything with baling wire and duct tape. They will always have a good supply of both-some in the house, some in the barn and some in their truck. Because you just never know. Some Links I like: If you are a Twitter fan follow @BlakeShelton. His tweets are hysterical Thanks ya'll