NW OK Summer Bucket List

Summer time is here... along with the words every parent dreads.... "I'm bored!"

Find the perfect balance between downtime and fun in Northwest Oklahoma... and share your ideas in the comments section so that we can make this list a great one!

Sweet and Salty Valentines

If you're like me, I'm always short on time and high on ambition... Especially when it comes to holiday treats. These sweet and salty Valentine treats deliver on both levels.

Simply cover a baking sheet in a single layer of miniature pretzels and place a Hershey's Kiss on top of each pretzel. Carefully place the baking sheet in a 250 degree oven for 2 1/2 minutes. Immediately press a single M&M in the center of each Kiss.

Transfer the pan to the freezer for about 5 minutes to help these treats set up faster.

Having a bunch if pretzels left over, I decided to dip a few in some melted almond bark and then in red sprinkles just to finish off the ensemble.

The whole ordeal took me all of 20 minutes. Happy Valentine's Day!

The Grass Is Always Greener...

"You've got a cow out by the highway," says the gentleman with a slow drawl who stopped by the house around dusk last night. 

Teacher Appreciation Collage

'Tis the season to let our teachers know how much we appreciate all that they have done for (and put up with from) our children throughout the school year.  My friend Tiffany and I got together and came up with a couple of ideas to show our teachers how special they are.

After asking the children to describe their teacher in one word, she provided me with the list of attributes and the general idea and I put together these collages, printed them on photo paper and framed them.

Miss Gunn is a Texas Longhorn fan!

This was a simple and inexpensive way to give a gift that is sentimental without being cheesy - and straight from the mouths of the students... as you can see, many of the attributes were the same, so making the second one took less time.  

Simply choose a photo and make it the backdrop or watermark in a word processing document and then begin adding text boxes and turning them different ways, changing the font and color, etc.

Have a better idea?  Let us know!  Post it on our Facebook page and we could feature your project next! 

Searching for Inspiration

In the midst of a fiction novel I have run into my first bout with writer's block. I am about three quarters of the way through and as of lately I have a hard time imagining myself being creative anywhere other than in the middle of a pasture at dusk about 4 miles north of Sharon. Growing up I was always so disappointed that my parents didn't live in town. Now, I hate that I don't live in a pasture. Literally. All I want is a small house in the middle of nowhere. I don't want to see city lights, I'm rather partial to the lights of R.C. Phillips Cattle Company whose only purpose is to light the pens of cattle whining outside their house.

Another source of inspiration I've come to love is the sale barn. My mother recently told me how strange it was that when I'm having a bad day I prefer to go to the Woodward Livestock Auction and climb to the top of the old wooden stairs to catch a single seat in the corner and watch the cattle run through the pen. I can't explain the calming effect of the noise. The hooves of the cattle on the scales, the auctioneer taking bids from ranchers up and down the rows of seats, some dressed head to toe in fancy cowboy suits, while others clearly just came in from feeding their own cattle in their overalls and trucker hats.