Funny Vegetarian Commercial

Maybe you should reconsider becoming a vegetarian . . . .






And please don't be offended, if there really are any vegetarians reading this . . . admit it, it is kind of funny.


Have a nice (and safe!) day,

Mattie

Dusty's Trail

30

The countdown begins. I'm setting up thirty as the number of days that you'll have to wait to see my new book. (It may be more or less depending on a lot of different things) VERY unfortunately, it will not be in time for Christmas, but I will be making advance sale coupons for those who want to buy them as a gift. In "celebration" I will post the synopsis of the book here. It is what will be on the back of the book. However, it may change if I get the proof and I don't like it.

  WANTED:

YOUNG, SKINNY WIRY RIDERS, NOT OVER 18.

MUST BE EXPERT RIDERS

WILLING TO RISK LIFE DAILY.

ORPHANS PREFERRED.

WAGES $25 A WEEK.

    

When young Levi Anderson reads this ad in a local newspaper, he can hardly resist the urge to saddle up and head out for a new job.

Trouble is, his horse Dusty doesn’t think it’s such a good idea.

Dusty enjoys his quiet life working on Levi’s small family ranch, taking Levi to town, chasing cows, fixing fence and sometimes even horseracing with the neighbors. He couldn’t imagine leaving.

Levi steals away in the middle of the night, taking the reluctant Dusty along with him. Dusty may sometimes rear and buck, gallop and balk, but he tries to be good and really is in with his friend and rider Levi for the long run. And the more they gallop on those wild runs with the “Pony Mail”, the closer they bond as friends.

But when Indian trouble arises, endangering the Pony Express Stations and Levi’s life, will Dusty prove to be a worthy mount?

　________________________________________________________

     Keep on reading this blog for other cool stuff coming up!

    

     Day  #25 - See what the advance sale coupons look like (I will try to make them a little special for those who wish to put them under the tree)

     

     Day #20-- Book excerpt of Dusty's Trail -- about one full quarter of an exciting chapter

     Day  #10--Get a look at the painting that will be used for the cover

     Day  #5-- I spill the beans about my third book! =)

    

     Day #1-- Get a look at the finished product!
  

     Day # 0 -- I send out pre-ordered books.

  To pre-order books, email me or call me. I am setting up a pre-order special, all the way to day #0.

     Buy the first book at retail price ($7.95) , and get the second for $6.00, or buy three for $20. I will send out advance sale coupons as soon as I receive payment for the books.  

     Here's an awesome picture of a Pony Express rider I found on the Internet. The picture conveys some of the action and adventure that lies in my new book!Sorry, I'm just sooooo excited! I hope you are too!

Mattie

Some Things You Didn't Know About Thanksgiving

  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
 Are you remembering to give thanks? I wasn't planning on doing anything really amazing for Thanksgiving but now Grandma and Grandpa are here so we're going to have the works.  And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, here is some interesting facts for you.

1. While the first Thanksgiving was held in 1621, it would take more than 150 years before all 13 colonies celebrated Thanksgiving at once, in October 1777. In 1789, George Washington hailed the holiday, while President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the notion, calling Thanksgiving “the most ridiculous idea” ever conceived. For his part, Benjamin Franklin had such an affinity for turkey that he lobbied to make it the national bird (to no avail).

2. The average person consumes about 3,000 calories during Thanksgiving dinner. With other meals and snacking that can easily go up to around 4,000 and 6,000 calories. It could take 8 hours or more of moderate exercise to burn that off. (Making you feel a little guilty!)

3. Thanksgiving may not have actually started with the Pilgrims, although this all is still very controversial. There are different places that claim to have had the first Thanksgiving, including Texas and Virgina, and without the Pilgrims. If it did start in Plymouth Rock, we still don't know if they even ate Turkey. The only thing we know for sure that they had was deer meat.

4. Have you ever heard of a Turducken? It sounds super gross to me, but some people claim it to be a delicious delicacy. This is exactly what it is: a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. Whoa!

 I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving! Here's a challenge for you: Think of ten things you are thankful for. Then think of ten things you are not thankful for. Figure out a way or a reason why you really are thankful for it.

Mattie

I Would Have Never Known These Words Existed

 if I had never worked. :) Kind of a boring post, but informational if you plan on getting a teenage job soon. Just another lame post by Mattie because she doesn't know what to write about.

GLOSSARY OF TEENAGE WORK TERMS

DELUXE--A way people like their burgers--with everything, sometimes with a few exceptions, don't forget to charge extra!

CHECKER/CARRYOUT: Two different positions at small-town grocery stores. Checker is a sometimes coveted position of supposed laziness that only the girls and old ladies get.  I prefer to work carryout, characterized by its long days of facing, stocking and bathroom cleaning, as well as-- well, carrying out groceries. Usually only the boys work it but I like it better because it's way less boring.

FACE: To continually pull products to the front of the shelf and rearrange products so that they look neater. In other's (not necessarily my own) words: a waste of life.

FLATS: Black trays that hold 20, 50 or up to a hundred individual plants. I've spent quite a few hours washing these.

FLUFFING: To "fluff" the dirt around the plants, getting the moldy, flattened dirt freshened up and providing air to the plant.

H+B : Apparently, another name for the Health&Beauty section of the Grocery Store.

MESSUPS: Toppled ice cream cones, ruined shakes and sundaes--the less experience, the more messups. Kept in the freezer in the back. But SHHH! It's a secret. I take them home for my siblings to enjoy.

HELGA: The name of our ice cream machine. (Yes, our ice cream machine) It says so on her name tag. (Although there is another secret reason for her name tag) Helga can be pretty temperamental at times!

WALK IN: A large refrigerator that you can walk in. Duh! :)

#1, 2, 3 and so on: Greenhouses. I have a hard time keeping track of which one's which.

V-00:  Value=$0 A coupon that has this number on it has absolutely no value. It's a fake!

I know this probably won't be much use to you. But congratulations on reading the full post!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving, (look for a Thanksgiving post tomorrow)
Mattie

An interesting recipe for you

  Today is bright and snappy. I let my horse Spike out because he's not going anywhere with all of this snow on the ground, but he refuses to let me catch him. The cold air is making the 21 year-old pretty excited. Speaking of that, his birthday is Jan. 1 (as all Standadbred's are) and he'll be 22. Boy time goes fast. I got him when he was seventeen. Here's a very unfocused picture that will make you dizzy, courtesy of Clarissa. Spike is the dark brown one, Sunny's got her head stuck in the feeder. Clarissa thought it was really funny, because when the camera occasionally flashed the horses would go running!

  The recipe is for a cheese ring, a deliciously unhealthy thing you can make to go with pizza. Except for the crust, I basically made it up. Here it is:

 Delicious Cheese Ring

Note: I make this recipe in a bread machine. If you don't have one, you can make it as you would any other dough  with appropriate times to rise, etc. If you really want clear directions on how to do that, you can email me.

1/2 t. Salt

3 cups All-purpose flour

1 -1/2 t. Active Dry Yeast

7/8-1 cup water

2 T. Olive or Vegetable Oil 

Butter

Dried Minced Garlic

Mozzarella Cheese

1. Combine all of the first set of ingredients into the bread machine pan, and select dough setting.

2. When dough is done, pull it out of the bread machine and roll about half of it out onto a floured surface. You can use all of the dough, 1/2 of it or even 1/4 of it depending on how large you want the cheese ring.  (Because we have such a large family, I can usually make 2 fairly large cheese rings from the dough.) It should be rolled out between 1/4-1/2 of an inch thick depending on how much bread/how fluffy you want it.

3. Place the rolled disk onto a pizza pan. Take an empty round container such as a sour cream cup and use it to make a hole in the center of the dough. Next, spread butter all around the dough's surface. Sprinkle about 2 Tbs. minced garlic (or to taste) around  the ring. Then sprinkle Mozzarella cheese around the outside of the dough. (How much depends on how big your cheese ring is.)

4. Roll the ring up. It should look like a bulgy under inflated tire when you're finished. Make sure to pinch up the edges so that the cheese doesn't leak out.

5. Bake at 400 degrees for 14-20 minutes, (once again, it depends on how big your ring is) Be careful, it can be hard to tell when it's done. I've bit into a doughy cheese ring more than once. Let cool before tasting.

I know, I know, what an appropriate recipe for Thanksgiving! I just had it last night though, so I it was pretty fresh in my mind. And note: this recipe will take a lot of trial and error. And if you do try it out, let me know how it tasted because it might not actually be delicious I just might have a really weird sense of taste!

Thanksgiving is 2 days away! I hope you have a happy one!

    The Dairy Queen

Even More Snow!

  There's a TON of snow out right now. I'd say at least three inches, and it keeps falling! Jay called me at 8:30 this morning and asked me to come into work. What did I say? I told him "well, I will come if I can make it out of my driveway." :D
     Since all of my siblings are gone and life is very boring, I guess I'm going to do a tag. (no one actually tagged me, but I thought it would be intesting to put one on here)
  
  A General Winter-ish Tag:

Favorite smell? Horses (clean ones, anyway)

Favorite Food? I don't know, it changes a lot. Right now I think it's chocolate-covered pretzels

Favorite Color? I always like my colors in pairs. My favorite is Brown&Pink.

Favorite Drink? Moutain Dew Throwback

Favorite Place to Go? Mexico, New York

Favorite Candy? Shock Tarts. :)

Favorite Clothing to wear? Anything informal. Jeans and T-shirt will always do.

Favorite Holiday? Christmas

Favorite Pie? French Silk

Favorite thing to do when no one's Watching? Rock out on my guitar and sing like I think I can sing.

Favorite thing about Snow? Dogsledding!

Least Favorite Thing About Snow? Trying to get to work, also ice and spinning out on the road.

Biggest Pet Peeve? Hmmm, don't know for sure. I think maybe it's got a name. (VIOLETTE!) Just kidding. I don't have one. :)

Best part about winter? Spring!

I don't know if I can tag anyone back though because a big part of the people who read this don't even have blogs! But please feel free to comment and post some (or all) of this tag and your answers for everyone to read.

I took a few pictures from inside the house today because I really didn't want to go out in my pajamas. Here's a our winter wonderland for you: (and trust me, things look a lot better when our yard is covered with snow then when it's not!)

Man-I've got a lot of work to do if I plan on getting to Jay's today.

Poor Ducks are Still outside. They could go into the chicken barn, but they really are determined to
stay out as long as they can.

Cody keeping watch.

     Oh, yes there is one thing that I have been doing.

    I'm going to learn to take care of cars! Well, at least a little bit. Here's 1 book I'm going to start off with. It promises to be easy. (Picture from http://www.amazon.com/)
    Try to stay warm today!
    Mattie

Snowball Festival

    Hi! Sorry I haven't posted for awhile.
    Yesterday, I went to the Snowball Festival in Valley City, North Dakota to sell books. It was an event where people mainly went to shop for Christmas stuff, but there were also a few kinds of entertainment things like Santa Claus visiting,some tap-dancing teenagers a guitar player/singer and a piano player. I only sold about 11 books. Mainly I think it is because I wasn't really in an ideal place, about 95% of the stuff that was there was craft stuff. But I talked to a lot of people, and that is the most important thing.
     Sometimes selling books at events can be the thing I dislike most about my project. A lot of people simply walk by after a quick glance, coldly ignoring my "hi" and frowning. (Hey I'm not making a major profit or hardly any profit off these so layoff) Some people can even say mean things that really hurt.
     But I try not to dwell on it and I remember that for every one mean, hurtful thing that people can randomly say there is about 10 good things that people tell me. But then I also remember that for every 50 good things people say to me, I get about one book sale. :S
     But there was a few people who came and said that they already had my book and that they really liked it. I'm glad for that! Cause right now it's just mostly getting my name out there for people to know about me. Sorry! There's no pictures though because I was all by myself and I forgot the camera. arrgh.  
     I am so impatient for my second book. I wish it was here now. (Or preferably, yesterday.) It snowed today for the first time so here's a picture of some of it.

      I had to get the ducks some water this morning because all of theirs froze up. Notice how the cat's looking at the light colored duck in the picture. Cute!

    

     Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving,

     Mattie