Only Fern

TGIF by onlyfern featuring rubber shoes

Father's Day weekend found me hundreds of miles south of my Dad, and at least 40 degrees hotter outside than my Dad on Saturday.  My folks traveled to Wyoming for a cousin's wedding. Congratulations Johanna!! I hear that it was a beautiful ceremony, a wonderful day, and that you were a pretty bride.  Who could want more, right?! I found myself home for the entire weekend with no obligations filling my calendar.  Saturday, I putzed around the house--cleaned, washed laundry, found new recipes to try, worked on a dissertation, you know anything NOT OUTSIDE in the blistering 112 degree heat.  Yes, I said 112!!  Newton has come to believe that he is now a house dog.  "Hi, my name is Fern and I have turned my blue heeler into a grouchy show heifer.  All he has done for 2 days is eat, want to stay inside, and lay under the fan." Friday afternoon I had laid a Beef Flank Steak out to thaw.  When using this particular cut of meat, please be sure to giv...

It's Friday!! Okay, so that really doesn't count when all I have looming ahead of me is DISSERTATION! However, I do I have some weekend recommendations brought about by recent experiences. **please note, any day of the week is fine** 1) Boxed Wine. A recent find is 'The Black Box' boxed wine. One box of wine is equal to 4 bottles of wine. At my local H.E.B. it worked out to $5 and some change/bottle! Score! I tried the Cabernet Sauvignon. Not too shabby. The box claims that wine will stay fresh for up to a month. I say, "Who keeps open wine around that long??!!" 2) Eggs. Eggs were my staple one week recently. I think I ate eggs at least 4x one week. Not just any ol' eggs--I made scrambled eggs with tomato, onion, feta, and basil...scrambled eggs with tomato, bacon, mushrooms, onion and blue cheese...scrambled eggs with pico de galo and cheddar and avocado. The eggs with tomato, basil, onion, and feta were by far my favorite. Don't go t...

I had a great weekend. Spent Friday at the Texas State Jr. Hereford Show. Caught up with some old friends, made a few new ones, and got to hang out with the cows (my favorite part...it was cheaper than seeing a shrink). It was Fun In The Sun on Saturday at the Texas Reds Festival --a celebration of steak and wine! Tried most of the wine and missed the steak. I'm okay with that...I really enjoy the steak that I am capable of at home--Nebraska Beef and Cavender's Greek Seasoning--mmmmm delicious! It was VERY, VERY hot that afternoon, but Brandi and I persevered. Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards Landon Winery Inwood Estates Vineyard I've had in my possession a Wine for Dummies book. I've made it through a chapter or two, and I've set it aside for one reason or another. I think I need to get it back out. I went through the tasting on Saturday with this attitude "Fern, do you like it?" I answered "yes" to some, "mmm, okay" to many, and ...

I tried not one, but three new recipes this weekend! I tried the Steak Bites recipe I posted awhile back. DELICIOUS! I was right...beef in butter cooked in an iron skillet...AMAZING! Mom mentioned a recent "invention", some kind of salad. It sounded good. I tried it. It's good! Cucumber, tomato, purple onion, red bell pepper, with balsamic vinaigrette. I let all of that soak, I guess the correct term would be marinade. When it was time to serve, I added feta. I am a genius...YUMM-O! That was last night. This morning I got the wild hair to make pancakes and bacon. May not sound difficult to some, but I've never made pancakes before in all of my years. It was a mix, don't let me fool you. But, I did use cream (fat free creamer) instead of milk and added a little vanilla. After I poured each pancake in my skillet, I added blueberries. Such a good idea! If you add them after mixing, the berries stay whole and the batter doesn't get all purpley. M...

Pisces February 19 - March 20 Seek out the beautiful and marvelous today, dear Pisces! It is one of those times when the cheap and shoddy just won't do. You need the Rolls Royce to take you to the ball tonight, not the beat-up lemon that barely chugs along. Travel in style and dress as if you are flying first-class all the way. There is a boisterous social element to the day that should make your waking hours pleasurable and possibly very romantic. I have my horoscope on MyMSN page, which is my internet homepage. This is today's. Will someone please tell me what this means?!?! Seek out the beautiful and marvelous ...well, I shouldn't look in the mirror then! It's a glasses, t-shirt, and tennies day. Yes, mom, I did put on make up (very minimal, but it's there!). The Acura is amazing, and she is not a lemon! Travel in style and dress as if you are flying first-class all the way. We've already covered this...not happening. possibly very romantic ...who write...

Howdy! I haven't forgotten. Thursday through Sunday last week I took a little "vacation". I was at the barn on campus...preparing for a lamb sale. Yes, it's true. It was great! It's one of my favorite weekends of the entire year, and it's definitely on my top ten things I will miss when/if I ever leave here list! There was four days of good food, good friends, good laughs, and oh yeah, there were sheep. Most everyone worked hard, but we also focused on the food and the fun too. My computer was in the shop, so I really didn't feel overly guilty for playing for 4 days! I slung hash, went on beverage runs, watered sheep, made sheep pens, ran to the mall for sale day wardrobe advice, ran random errands (4 consecutive trips to Tractor Supply)...I was your all-around gal. I even offered to wash sheep. Friday was amazing...we relaxed, we ate, we ate, we ate some more...and of course we had to wash down all of that delicious barbecue (Hops farmers ever...

Unfortunately, I have a case of the Mondays... After a short chat with my major professor, I am bummed. This damn research project may be the death of me... After what seems like years, but is only months, it's not going to be as earth shattering as I'd hoped...no wonder no one wants to hire me... It's true folks, I peaked somewhere around the age of 11. My computer has a hic-up today...I hope that it is only the crappy network, as I don't want to pay the $35 diagnostic fee + whatever they have to do to it + $50 rush fee because I don't want to/can't really wait 3 to 5 days! I've ran virus scan and will start a de-frag shortly, so wish me luck!! I'd be better off losing a kidney instead of this computer at present. My weekend started off with a bang and ended with a thud! I spent Friday lunch with Stanley and Johnny D at Wings-n-More...ate too many fried pickle chips, hot wings, chicken fingers, and curly fries...but man was it delicious. The company...

I made a big girl purchase this weekend. I bought a new mattress on Friday. They delivered it on Saturday. I have slept amazingly ever since! It was a very adult purchase, but I was was careful in my research and I tried several stores in town. I did try no less than 5 mattress stores in town, and returned to the first because they 1-were the most reasonable in price and 2-had the friendliest and most helpful staff. I upgraded to a queen, and so far the only difference I've noticed is that there's less room in my room. As I upgraded, I had to upgrade some of my bedding. Through this process I have learned this DO NOT BUY CHEAP SHEETS! The cheap sheets will itch you! I have since replaced the itchy sheets with some that I found that are much softer...no, they are not 500 count Egyptian cotton, but they are cute (brown and cream giraffe print) and sateen finish! This bed purchase, like most things I do was rather dramatic. This should not be surprising to those of you who...