I’m in Savannah, Georgia as I type this. Marlboro Man and the boys are with me. When I’m finished here (oh my, have we had an experience; more later) we’re driving to Atlanta for the rest of the weekend (I’ll be looking in on Bakerella while I’m there; please keep her in your prayers) then will be back home to the ranch on Sunday.

When we arrived in Savannah last night, the glorious smell hit me. Savannah smells like Hilton Head, where we used to go on vacations when I was a child. I don’t know what the smell is, either; it’s a marshy/swampy/salty/fishy smell, and I love it more than life itself. It reminds me of sand dollars and Topsiders and colorful beach towels…of childhood and rental bikes and madras. Nothing transports me to my youth more than that glorious, salty smell.

Crabbing is one of my strongest memories from vacations on Hilton Head. The very day we’d arrive on the island, we’d run to the market and buy crabbing nets. Then we’d tie chicken necks in the center and hurl the nets over the side of the dock…then wait. And when we pulled the nets from the water awhile later, there’d be three, four, sometimes six or seven crabs inside. Then I’d scream and run because I was too scared to invert the net and let the crabs fall into the big steel bucket. I didn’t like the sound of their hard shells crashing against the galvanized steel. And I didn’t want to get pinched. So my brother would invert the nets and let the crabs drop into the bucket, then he’d take credit for catching all the crabs. Then I’d call him a butt and tell on him.

My childhood memories are very, very strong.

I forget nothing.

Here are a couple of crab dips from my mom’s recipe binder. I made them earlier this week for no reason at all other than I was craving crab dip. I now know, after arriving in Savannah last night, that my heart must have been yearning for this little section of the South.

Here are the two yummy recipes:

CRAB DIP #1

This is a baked crab dip made delicious with horseradish. Add as much as your sinuses can stand!

You can make this ahead of time and keep it in the fridge, unbaked, until you’re ready to bake and serve. I love it.

Start with a couple of packages of cream cheese…

 
 
 
Whip them up to soften them a bit…

 
 
 
Then grab some crabmeat in any form: canned, frozen, fresh, single, married, or looking.

Yes, I used canned crabmeat. I live in northeastern Oklahoma, and I am not ashamed.

 
 
 
Drain the crabmeat (if it’s the canned stuff) and dump it into the cream cheese.

 
 
 
Then lop the tops off a few green onions.

 
 
 
Slice them up, then throw them into the mixing bowl.

 
 
 
Then add a little milk…

 
 
 
Horseradish…

 
 
 
Tabasco…

 
 
 
And salt.

 
 
 
Mix it all together until it’s all combined. Give it a taste on a chip or cracker and make sure the flavor/spiciness is what you want. I wound up adding more horseradish and Tabasco. I wanted to feel some heat!

 
 
 
Throw the mixture into a baking dish…

 
 
 
Spread out the surface with a spatula…

 
 
 
Then sprinkle the top with slivered almonds.

 
 
 
Throw this into the oven for 20 to 25 minutes…

 
 
 
Or until golden brown on top. As you can see, I couldn’t wait before using my wrinkled, pink rat claw into the shot.

I like hot crab dip, man.

CRAB DIP #2

I especially love this cold crab dip, made with avocados as a base.

I remember spreading this on a turkey sandwich once. Sublime.

Start with two bruised, pitiful looking avocados. But only if you want to be like me.

If you don’t want to be like me, use nice, lovely avocados.

Pit them and scoop out the good stuff into a blender or food processor.

 
 
 
Squeeze in some lemon juice.

Then sniff the lemon.

I love sniffing lemon.

 
 
 
Throw in some diced onion…

 
 
 
And a little Worcestershire.

 
 
 
Pulse-pulse-pulse to break up the avocado a bit.

 
 
 
Then throw in some cream cheese.

And speaking of cream cheese, the other day my daughter asked me what it was.

I couldn’t answer her.

The end.

 
 
 
Add some sour cream…

 
 
 
Add some salt…

 
 
 
Then dump in the (drained, if you’re using the canned stuff) crabmeat.

 
 
 
I went ahead and pulsed the crabmeat into the rest of the mixture, but if you’re using good lump crabmeat, just stir it in to retain a lot of the texture.

Now, you can refrigerate it for a couple of hours before serving, of course. Just remember that avocado’s involved, and after a few hours, the top of the tip will start to discolor.

 
 
 
Dish it on up…

 
 
 
And surround it with corn chips or crackers.

 
 
 
Scrumptious!

Enjoy these crab dips, guys! Tailor them to your liking, using fresh crabmeat and altering the spices to suit your tastebuds.

Here are the handy dandy printables:

Recipe: Hot Crab Dip

Prep Time: 10 Minutes  |  Cook Time: 25 Minutes  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 12

Print Recipe 3"x5" Cards 4"x6" Cards Full Page

Ingredients

• 2 packages8 Ounce Cream Cheese
• 2 TablespoonsMayonnaise
• 2 cans(7-ounce Each) Crabmeat (or Use Fresh Or Frozen)
• 4 wholeGreen Onions, Sliced
• 2 TablespoonsWhole Milk
• 2 TablespoonsHorseradish (more To Taste)
• ½ teaspoonsSalt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 5 dashesTabasco (more Or Less To Taste)
• ¼ cupsSlivered Almonds

Preparation Instructions

Place cream cheese and mayonnaise in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat to combine. Add remaining ingredients except almonds and beat gently until just combined. Spoon into a heatproof baking dish. Sprinkle with slivered almonds, then bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and bubbly on top. Serve with corn chips or crackers.

Posted by Ree on March 7 2011

Recipe: Avocado Crab Dip

Prep Time: 10 Minutes  |  Cook Time:  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 12

Print Recipe 3"x5" Cards 4"x6" Cards Full Page

Ingredients

• 2 wholeAvocados, Seeded And Scooped
• 1 TablespoonLemon Juice
• 1 TablespoonChopped Onion
• 1 teaspoonWorcestershire Sauce
• 1 package8 Ounce Cream Cheese
• ¼ cupsSour Cream
• ¼ teaspoonsSalt
• 2 cans(7-ounce) Cans Crabmeat, Drained (can Use Fresh Or Frozen, Of Course)

Preparation Instructions

In a blender or food processor, combine avocado, lemon juice, onion, and Worcestershire. Pulse until combined. (Leave some texture to the avocados.)

Add cream cheese, sour cream, and salt. Pulse a couple of times. Stir in crab meat.

Chill dip until needed. Keep in mind that the avocado will discolor within a few hours, so make no more than a couple of hours before serving!

Posted by Ree on March 7 2011

The winners are:

#3030 Amelia: “I would eat… a big bowl of hearty beef stew with a thick slice of homemade french bread (whipped up in the new kitchenaid, of course), slathered with real salted butter. A big glass of Dr. Pepper, followed with a small piece of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and a glass of skim milk. Ah, bliss.”

#18715 Keri Always: “Something with cheese. Being 7.5 weeks pregnant, nothing is very tempting right now. Blech.”

#21729 Ro: “SUSHI. SUSHISUSHISUSHI. with tons of the really fatty white toro that I never get because I can’t afford it.”

Congrats, winners! Contact prizes@thepioneerwoman.com to claim your loot.

How gorgeous and adorable are these! Hand blown borosilicate glass bottles, made from the same sort of glass as Pyrex and your everyday run-of-the-mill scientific glassware. Amazing!

We have a weakness for miniature things anyhow, so we really have a shine on these. Love green glass!

Lordy! A wine bottle and a teeny Erlenmeyer flask!  The maker is a pro and has a degree in scientific glass blowing, but the work is surprisingly affordable. The etsy shop is called Kivaford. Imagine our surprise! Wouldn’t these be fab as wedding favors, for wee bud vases?

By Heather Sanders.

This week my kids joined several other students in a Mock City Council meeting held by the Mayor and his Deputy City Secretary at City Hall. Not only was this a wonderful event for homeschoolers, but a few local public and private school students were also in attendance.

Students reading a script were instructed to wear business attire appropriate to a City Council meeting. Boys were to have a collared shirt with tie, slacks and suits were welcomed. Girls were to wear dresses, skirts or slacks with a collared blouse.

“Citizens” dressed as they desired.

Boy Scouts in attendance, but not part of the Council, wore their Class A uniform and brought their books for the Mayor to sign.

Teaching Children About Local Government

While national news can be rather compelling as it splashes across our television and computer screens, it is just as important for our children to understand who is responsible for the local roads, parks and schools. When our children understand how they are represented, and by whom, they will begin to grasp the importance of their local city government.

Our Mayor graciously spent 15 minutes describing the types of decisions made by the City Council on behalf of its constituents.

How did I know it was 15 minutes?
A digital clock hung right over his head the entire time.
It would be difficult to be longwinded in City Chambers.

The Mayor also discussed the importance of being community-minded. The remaining 15 minutes was filled with a wide range of questions from the students; he patiently and thoroughly answered each one.

One topic that seemed to spark the students’ interest was the needed renovations to our city’s water plant. The students were enthralled by how much it would cost ($13 million), where our water comes from, how many water sources are available to our city, how that water is transported, and what role the city plays in the water that comes out of our tap at home.

They also learned our Mayor is bi-vocational. He works as an architect to pay the bills because his mayoral salary is $50/month.

I have to admit, that surprised me too.
Just for the record?
I don’t want to run for mayor.

The Mock City Council Begins

After the mayor spoke our City Secretary briefed the group and then set about situating the City Councilmembers in Chambers.

Scripts were handed-out for our mock mayor, mock city council members, mock charter officers and mock citizens presenting to the council.

After our mock mayor “called to order” we stood to pledge to the flags and remained standing for the invocation.

After hearing from the “Director of Parks and Recreation” Ms. Sanders makes a motion to approve Item A to purchase and install energy-efficient lighting and structures at our local park.

Meredith and other mock City Councilmembers listened intently to the mock City Manager’s Report regarding the library renovation progress.

The script was dutifully written with current city politics in mind. For instance, our library is undergoing reconstruction and we did recently approve new energy-efficient lighting for our local park.

As the kids read through the script they were able to see how their local city government truly affects their day-to-day…from the quality of our library to the lighting available at the baseball and soccer fields.

Emelie played the part of a local newspaper reporter. Following a proposal to initiate a public service announcement regarding the dangers of texting while driving, Emelie addressed the council.

“This question is for Mr. Duke. Councilmember, you stated that a member of the University Police Department helped you produce the report about Texting While Driving. Do you plan to work with the Huntsville Police Department on future research or fact-finding?”

Like I said, the scripts touched on real issues and real ways citizens in attendance might address the council members.

There are many different ways to teach about local government. For instance, children are often familiar with the role of the president, but might not understand what a mayor does; explain it to them. Describe the decisions your local city government has made recently, especially decisions that might have directly/indirectly affected your children.

You can also branch-out with older children by comparing local government to national government. Ask them how the mayor is like the president or how the council members are like the Senate or House of Representatives.

Better yet, take your children to a local city council meeting at your city hall. Our local city council meets regularly and anyone is welcome to attend.

Have you taught your children about local government yet? Are your kids aware of who sits on your local city council? Did they join you when you voted in the last local election? Share how you have exposed your children to the work of their local government or just offer suggestions to homeschoolers for how they can help their kids feel more locally connected.

OMSH/Heather L. Sanders is “Momma” to three kids, Emelie, Meredith and Kenny. When not homeschooling, Heather designs websites and writes about life in the piney woods of Texas at OMSH.com.

We all love to know what goes on behind the scenes – a glimpse into the kitchen of that hot new restaurant or the chance to sit at the drawing board of our favorite fashion designer… we’re giddy at the thought!  So in the spirit of sharing, we welcome you to our latest weekly feature – Studio Snapshot.  You might get a sneak peek at a snazzy new design we’re dreaming up, hear about fun happenings around the studio, or meet some of the awesome people who make Hello!Lucky a super fun place to work!

Our current project is a little office makeover and here Lillian organizes samples in preparation for their shift across the studio.  How gorgeous is that shelf with its lacy carved details?  It was custom made just for us by our lovely and talented friends at Because We Can!

The result of all that hard work is a bright and airy space where customers can browse stationery, buy the latest greeting card or discuss custom wedding invitations with our helpful staff.  Pop in and say hello!

We adore this charming turquoise settee for spontaneous client chats and our giant farmhouse table is just the place for full scale design brainstorming!

Rows and rows of organized samples make it easy to spot favorite designs and gather inspiration!

A letterpress dress?  Oh yes!  This festive number was handmade by one of our crafty employees with Cherry Blossom save the date and RSVP cards.  Could there be a new trend in paper bridesmaid dresses?

A travel themed display showcases some adorable variations on our Destination Series created with local design duo Lab Partners.

With so many vivid colors and sweet little details its hard to pick a favorite but we’re always going to be partial to our home sweet home – good old San Francisco!

We hope to see you soon!

1. This is my brother-in-law, Tim.

This photo is one of many Marlboro Man snapped while at the farm last week.

I like it a lot.

I like Tim, too. As brothers-in-law go, he ain’t bad.

Don’t tell him I said that, okay?

2. I wrecked my car yesterday afternoon.

No one was hurt.

3. Except my pride.

And it was very, very hurt.

4. Oh, and some fence, too.

The fence was hurt very, very badly.

5. My car ain’t doing so well, either.

Please, Rhonda. Help me?

6. I’m not posting photos of the car, the fence, or my pride today.

Oh, I’ll post them.

Just not today.

7. First I have to apologize to Cowboy Josh for the fact that the fence he took such pride in constructing last year is no longer with us.

It wasn’t my fault!

There was a wind shear.

Or a solar flare or something.

8. I’m an excellent driver.

I’m an excellent driver…I’m an excellent driver…

Today, this is my mantra.

9. Marlboro Man, the boys, and I are going on an adventure today.

I’ll post more about it later this week.

10. We won’t be taking my car…

…for obvious reasons.

Driving an old feed truck from now on,
Pioneer Woman

Today…

Because my eyes are puffy…

Because my kitchen is messy…

Because my arms are jiggly…

And because I love ya…

 
I’m giving away three (3) of these gorgeous candy apple red KitchenAid stand mixers.

I love this mixer.

It’s red.

It’s shiny.

It’ll keep you out of trouble.

TO ENTER

To enter the giveaway, just answer the following questions in the Comments section of this post:

What would you choose to eat for your ideal dinner?

Would you have steak, mashed potatoes, and chocolate cake?

Sushi, wine, and green tea ice cream?

A big, fat Big Mac?

Just share your idea of a perfect dinner in the Comments section of this post and you’re automatically entered to win a mixer.

THE RULES

One entry per person, please. Strictly enforced with a wire whisk.

No entries after noon Pacific Time Thursday.

Winners will be selected at random and announced Thursday night.

Note: Replies to comments are unable to be counted as entries. Please leave one comment (not a reply) as your entry.

Lots of Love,
P-Dub

____________________________

Giveaway sponsored by Pioneer Woman.

Community Question is a new category here at PW Homeschooling. Inspired by readers bold enough to email us with very challenging questions we could not adequately answer, we felt confident this would be a perfect venue for these type of questions. Thank you in advance for graciously sharing your knowledge and personal experiences.

—————————————————–

The following question is from Karey H.

“I need help. My son is in seventh grade at public school. He homeschooled until third grade and then we put him in public school. He has been ill with a variety of things, mainly viral, and has missed almost three weeks of school in the last two months. Having him home has been wonderful. He has a second grader sister and a preschool brother, both are homeschooled. We have been talking and I think we are ready for him to at least finish out the year at home. He has the usual fear of not having friends. I have already signed him up for 4H and we are going to start checking out our YMCA. My fear is “Where do I start?” The school year is nearly over. I don’t want to invest in a whole year of curriculum.

So some suggestions please – also, what should a seventh grader’s day look like?”

Karen needs your advice and encouragement. Have you pulled your child(ren) from school following an extensive period of illness? How would you tackle Karey’s curriculum question for finishing out the school year?

Here’s a basic photography post from our old friend Jessica Claire, wedding and portrait photographer extraordinaire. Welcome back, Jessica! –PW

If I had to name one real, concrete difference that separates an amateur photographer from a professional, it would be that a professional chooses and controls the type of light they want to show in that photo. Notice that I did not say that the difference is in the content or the appeal of the photos themselves–certainly a person who got their first camera today is no less capable of taking a photograph that is as significant, meaningful, or beautiful as any professional. Just because someone doesn’t earn their living as a photographer doesn’t mean their photos are less impactful or important. But there is always plenty of room to grow in terms of getting that photo to look “on paper” the way it is in your mind as you shoot it.

My challenge to you this coming month: Give up your flash! At least, give it up during all hours while the sun shines down on us.

Why, you might say, should I turn off my flash?

Of course flash has many uses, among them getting rid of shadows on faces (or intentionally creating them), or allowing you to take a nice sharp and clear photo when it would be too dark otherwise. But when you look at photos shot in natural light, there is a luminous, natural beauty to them that flash simply cannot recreate. That look can take your photos from average to spectacular—fast!

What you need: Any camera that allows you to control when the flash goes on and off, subject who will sit still, and LIGHT! The light can be from a window, your open front door, or out in nature.

What to do: If you are using a camera and don’t feel comfortable shooting manual settings, set that baby to Aperture Priority at the absolute widest aperture available to you (that means the smallest number). The smaller the number, the more light it lets in (I know, it can be confusing). If you are indoors, the light should be BEHIND you, shining towards your subject, like this:

Another option is to set your camera on Shutter Priority, which means that you pick the shutter speed. Indoors, if your subject is not moving or only moving a little bit, don’t go below 1/100. If your subject is a fast mover, you can safely select 1/250.

 
If you are outdoors on a bright sunny day, try to shoot your subject in the shade if at all possible! Sun directly on a face especially in the middle of the day generally is not flattering (and flash won’t make that better.) Aim for spots like this:

 
or this:

 
or this:

 
If you want to get more advanced, try backlighting! That’s when the light is BEHIND your subject, pointing towards you. That’s what’ll get you an an effect like this:

In any case, after a few sessions of practice, you should be all set and ready to shoot without that flash! Post links in the comments to your results when you give it a whirl, and we’ll highlight a few of our faves to share here!

To ask me more questions about light, nature walks, or anything else, feel free to leave a comment below!

Jessica
Jessica’s Website
Jessica’s Facebook
Jessica’s Twitter
Jessica’s Bag, Shootsac

Happy Mardi Gras!

Click on this link to find out how to make this beautiful king cake. The site includes nice pictures and instructions for baking and frosting.

Be sure to remember the baby!

We’re excited about the new Garden of Love stamp design by José Ortega.  Love the whimsical illustrations! Coming out May 19th, it will be a beautiful embellishment for wedding invitations and wedding rsvp cards!

Good for just about anything one might wish to mail, but we think it’d be extra wonderful for garden wedding invitations and floral wedding invitations.

My oldest child participated in a science fair several weeks ago. We had a heckuva good time working on her project, which we adapted from a book (The Complete Handbook of Science Fair Experiments, by Julianne Blair Bochinsky, Dec. 2004) my BFF Hyacinth checked out for us from the library because we don’t ever go to town.

Don’t be like us.

Project Title: “The Effects of Gender Identity on Short Term Memory.”

The purpose of the experiment was to show the effects of a child’s gender on his or her short term memory. For the experiment, my girl was to create a poster of randomly-placed objects; ten specifically associated with the female gender, the other ten associated with the male gender. She would then test individual children—the same number of boys and girls—by having them sit in front of the poster for fifteen seconds. Then she’d remove the poster and ask them to name as many objects as they could recall from memory. The idea was to determine whether the boys remembered the male-specific objects with greater frequency, and whether the girls remembered the female-specific objects with greater frequency.

THE POSTER

One of the first things my girl needed to do was to decide which gender-specific objects to include on the testing poster. After taking turns shouting out a few typically female (and typically male) objects—truck! doll! gun! dress!—I called a halt to the verbal brainstorm and decided to conduct a mini-experiment of my own. I directed my two girls to write down their own lists of girl-specific and boy-specific objects (without input from each other) and I decided to do the same. Then, we’d compare our two lists and pull the ten most popular items (ten for each gender) from the three lists.

The results of the mini-experiment were so interesting. First, coming up with gender-specific items wasn’t as easy as it sounded. But once I forced myself to stereotype certain objects as male or female, I noticed a trend. I’ll share that in a second.

Our final list looked something like this:

Girl

Doll
Ring
Flower
Lipstick
Peace Sign (Don’t ask; I tried to overrule it)
High Heeled Shoe
Unicorn (Huh? Okay, fine)
Princess Crown
Purse
Heart

Boy

Football
Baseball
Gun
Sword
Skateboard (Female skaters, please accept my apologies)
Viking Helmet
Superman Symbol
Truck
Grenade
Skull (Grody.)

So right off the bat, my girls and I recognized that most of the items on the Boy list were things they could use to do things, defend themselves, or make a living. Most of the items on the Girl list, on the other hand, were things that they could use to adorn themselves and be sparkly and pretty.

Then I got depressed.

Then I snapped out of it, told the girls we could prove the world wrong later, but for now we had to buckle down and get this science fair project done so we could all get on with our lives. So my oldest spent an afternoon using a black Sharpie to draw the twenty blackline images, in random placement, on a large piece of white posterboard.

The unicorn was especially charming.

THE SUBJECTS

Once the testing poster was ready, it dawned on us that the experiment called for testing fifty elementary-age children. Riiiiight. Fifty children? Har dee har har. Where in tarnation did anyone think we were going to find fifty children? I have four children. Will that work? They have two cousins—that’s six! But wait. The tester can’t test herself. Back down to five. And her sister took part in compiling the gender-specific list of items so she’s out of the picture, too. Back down to four.

Houston, we have a problem.

After several hours of wailing over our isolated plight, my girls reached into their soul, found a little shred of resolve, and began counting the number of young boys and girls they knew, either through church or soccer or Hyacinth’s kids, who live smack dab in the middle of all the neighborhood action in town. Ultimately, my oldest assured me—then proved on paper—that she could, in fact, come up with thirty children, fifteen boys and fifteen girls, whom she could use as subjects for the project. I decided thirty was good enough.

THE TESTING

One dark and stormy day in January, my girl traveled to town and convinced a couple of fourth and fifth grade teachers at the local elementary school to let her yank a few of their students out of class for about a minute apiece. Thank you, Mrs. Hendricks and Mrs. Jones, for supporting a weird homeschooling family in your area.

Here was the testing procedure:

The subjects: Thirty children—fifteen boys and fifteen girls—in fourth and fifth grade.

1. Test each child individually in a quiet room without distractions. Read these directions to each child:

“I will show you some pictures for fifteen seconds. When the time is up, I will take the pictures away and ask you to name as many of the pictures as you can remember.”

2. Tabulate the results. Group the data according to whether each child remembers a majority or a minority of the items traditionally associated with his or her gender or simply an equal number of both male- and female-specific pictures.

THE RESULTS

Marlboro Man helped our girl compile a detailed spreadsheet that specified what objects each child (“Girl 1, Girl 2, Girl 3…etc.”) remembered, and it showed some interesting details. For instance, nearly every subject—both male and female—remembered both the doll and the gun. But very few subjects—only a small handful—remembered the purse and the grenade.

The charts below show the more general results.

To summarize, the children remembered a majority of the pictures associated with their own gender.

My girl’s hypothesis was supported.

We did wind up having a good cause-and-effect discussion about the results: was the experiment truly measuring the effects of gender…or simply interest? And was the interest a result of the child’s gender, or a result of societal and behavioral conditioning? (Boys are given toy trucks to play with, girls are given princess crowns.) In the end, we had no concrete answers, but it did make for a meaningful (and head-spinning) discussion.

THE SCIENCE FAIR

My girl came away from the science fair with a blue ribbon. And just never you mind that several students at the fair were awarded blue ribbons; I could swear my girl’s ribbon was a little bit shinier! I think it must have been the Extra Special Blue Ribbon.

Or maybe it was her sweat.

She is my daughter, after all.

In terms of going back and forth between photos and just having an all-around difficult time choosing a winner, this decision might have been the toughest ever.

Before I announce the winner, here’s what I loved about all of the finalists.

Finalists: contact prizes@thepioneerwoman.com to claim your prize, a $75 gift card from B & H Photo & Video.

 
By crazy8photography. This is so sunshiny and sweet, and I love how it captures the spirit of sisterhood.

 
 
 
By algozigian. Stunning, haunting, beautiful. A sister capturing her healing (and surviving) sister with such a beautiful shot…it touched me (and everyone) deeply.

 
 
 
By LydiaJo. This was one of my favorites from the beginning. It’s a great shot with a great background, but I just love how the sisters are cracking up. This photo makes me smile.

 
 
 
By CoriK. This is a darling, carefree photo. I love the wildness of their hair and the playfulness of their expressions.

 
 
 
By akenmomma. A real crowd favorite, this touching shot so tenderly captures an unforgettable moment between two sisters. It makes me cry every time I see it.

 
 
 
By NanaBread. Another crowd favorite, this beautifully innocent photo captures childhood in such a lovely way. The faded tones are the icing on the cake. Gorgeous.

 
 
 
By baresilver. I loved this shot from the very beginning. The ivy background, the subject’s upward glance, the cloudy post-processing and faded tones. I absolutely love it, and it needs to be in a frame.

 
 
 
By munk797. This shot of four sisters is almost perfection. It’s so clear and beautiful, and their identical smiles are gorgeous.

 
 
 
By S.Louise…Beloved. I want to know more about this woman. The photo captures her so beautifully.

 
 
 
By Victoria. I love everything about this photo. The movement, the personality, the white dresses, the playfulness. Too lovely for words.

 
 
 
By mrsg4ever. The bride’s happy expression makes this shot for me. Her sister’s tight embrace brings a tear to my eye.

 
 
 
By clawsoncrystal. Fantastically fun shot. Great post processing, great color, fabulous personality.

 
 
 
By soleil today. Another one of my favorites, you can just feel the love all around them. I love their feminine country dresses and how tightly they’re holding each other.

*Sniff sniff*

I love my sister that much, too.

THE WINNER

The winner is…

akenmomma. This was such a tough one, but in the end, I just couldn’t deny the beauty and emotion of this photo. I love how serious they both are, as if they both realize just how important a moment they’re experiencing. And I love how unaware they are of the camera.

Congratulations, akenmomma! Contact prizes@thepioneerwoman.com to claim your $350 B & H Photo & Video gift card!

Thank you so much to all of you for sharing such beautiful photos over the past week. I’ve loved every minute of it.

Love,
P-Dub

Marlboro Man took the camera to the farm with him last week. The girls and I hadn’t gone along, and he knew I’d want to see the photos.

He was right.

 
 
 
See that kid there? I gave birth to him, you know.

Without meds, too.

It was wonderfully awful.

 
 
 
Marlboro Man and my brother-in-law Tim had gone down at the farm to ship some cattle they’d sold, cattle that had been grazing on wheat since around Thanksgiving.

 
 
 
Marlboro Man was on his horse keeping the cattle together as he snapped these shots.

He’s able to multi-task like that.

 
 
 
I, on the other hand, am not able to multitask like that. If I’d attempted this maneuver, one or all of the following would have taken place:

1. The cattle would have gotten away and would be on an island sipping mojitos by now.
2. No photos would have been taken because I would have been violently holding onto the reins to keep from falling off.
3. My horse would have bucked me off because he would have sensed he was dealing with an inexperienced wuss.
4. The cattle would have gotten away and would be on an island sipping mojitos by now.

 
 
 
Marlboro Man knew I’d want to see photos of the farm because he knows how much I love winter wheat. Look—you can see it just beyond the brown, dead grass.

 
 
 
Winter wheat is so, so beautiful.

 
 
 
It’s life amidst death…color amidst brown…beauty amidst dreariness.

 
 
 
There’s my baby, bringing up the rear.

 
 
 
And there’s my older boy again, keeping the herd together as it moved through the gate that leads to the homestead.

I gave birth to him, you know.

Without meds, too.

It was awfully wonderful.

The Mean Ol’ Schoolmarm is going to be a little open-minded today. She had a doughnut and she’s in a good mood. So feel free to weigh in with your opinion!

My whole life, whenever I’d utter the phrase “I’m done” in my mom’s presence, she’s softly and tenderly retort:

“Cookies and cakes are done.”

Then I’d get the munchies and go eat.

But back to the subject at hand: it was drilled into me time and time again that while both “done” and “finished” meant “brought to completion or accomplished,” DONE was used to describe things. FINISHED was used to describe people.

This is an overly simplified description of the rule, but in general, this is how I always understood it:

Correct: I am finally finished with my homework.
Incorrect: I am finally done with my homework.

I’ve begun wondering, however, if this is one of those antiquated rules that’s long since been eradicated by prolonged use of the “incorrect” way.

Have you heard of this rule?

Is it still in effect?

The Mean Ol’ Schoolmarm wants to learn something new today.