Where I Ask for your Help....

The video for Ancestry.com's "The Star of Your Family" is up.
It's official.


I'm in.


While there's still a month to go before it was due, I feel like I'm behind the 8-ball here.  Videos are ranked by how many times it is watched and how many people "like" them.  I thought at first you had to like it only on facebook.  But it looks like it's the "likes" on YouTube that count.  I think?  I'm not sure.


Granted, this has nothing to do with the judging.  BUT.  If it is one of the top viewed or top liked videos?  It stays at the top of the list, being viewed sooner rather than later.  Right now, I'm video number 36 out of 37.


Even though I'm not last?  Trust me.  I know what it's like to be last (says the girl who was always picked last in gym).


So, help a sister out.
Will you pass the word?  View the video?  "Like" it on YouTube?
(to "like" it, push play and then hover your mouse/pointer over the video...there's a drop down menu that appears.  Click the "thumbs up" button and you're done!)


You can like it on Facebook, too, by clicking here (I'm currently the 3rd video in the "most recent" listing).  Just click my video and click the "like" button under the video.


Anyway....I'd love for you to view it (again).  
And "like" it.  
And tell your friends that you "know this lady who made this video and wants to win a contest."


Thanks for your support, folks!  This is good fun!

Could you imagine if I had kids what I'd be doing to my friends and family to persuade them to buy cookies, or popcorn or wrapping paper or who-knows-what?  Good golly....

My Video Project...

So, remember the not-so-scientific-poll where I asked you about what approach I should take in making a video for a contest?


Well.  Here's my first attempt and I need your two cents.


It's for Ancestry.com's contest "Who's the Star of your Family".  With this contest, the winner receives help with their family tree from Ancestry.com's experts!  There are two lines of my tree that are not researched at all and I want help from them!


Take a peek.
What do you think?
Is it clear?  Does something not make sense? 





Be honest.  I can take it.
(I think)
(Just so you know, this took me 6 hours to make....)

Apparently I'm too Young....

My grandpa was in town the other day to visit a medical specialist in town.  He stayed with us for a night and we had a really nice visit.  After dinner he asked the Big Guy to go out to the car and get an envelope sitting in the front seat.  He grabs the envelope, gives it to my grandpa and I notice it's full of photos.


I said to my grandpa, "there aren't a bunch of naughty photos in that envelope, is there?"
He held the envelope close to his chest like he was trying to hide it from me.  He said, "I don't think you're old enough to look at these...."


And then he flashed that good ol' grandpa grin and showed me this:

(Yes.  I took a photo of a photo)

He then proclaimed, "I have this blown up to an 8x10 at home."


Let's hope we're all smiling this big when we're 83 years old!

Here's Your Sign....

This weekend, the Big Guy and I went to some open houses of homes that are for sale.  While we don't intend to buy a house for another year or so, we've decided to start keeping our eye out.  


This has been a hard season for the Big Guy.  His parents have purchased some property near a lake and will be building a home there in the future, which will result in selling the farm.  We've been offered the option to buy the farm.  We don't know if we will or not.  We do know that we want to be sure of our choice--live on the farm or live in town.  So, to be sure, we have to look at all the options.


Of course, if a lake home comes onto the market that is cheap and has more than one bedroom and indoor plumbing we may look at it.


(yes.  some lake homes in our price range have NO INDOOR TOILETS.)
(How is this possible in Minnesota?!)


On Saturday we were at a property in town.  Nothing fancy--just your typical split level 1980's style house.  Ironically, we both liked it.  It was well maintained and actually had some nice updates.

This isn't the actual house, but you get the idea...

As we walked outside and we were in the backyard we were talking about the typical stuff:  building a small patio, a fence for the dog, doggy doors, where to put the BBQ and the Big Guy looked at the small garden patch that was outside.  He froze.


"Strawberries"


Sure enough in the garden were a small patch of strawberries.

Photo Credit

The Big Guy's grandpa--who is no longer with us, but the Big Guy just adores--had a very large strawberry patch on the farm.  The Big Guy got a little misty.  I said, "You know.  It's a sign.  This is meant to be."


And I kid you not....at that second.  I got MY sign.


A monarch butterfly on the tree, next to the strawberry patch.

Photo credit

See.  The monarch?  That's my grandma, who is also no longer with us.  Since her passing, any significant family event (during the non-winter months, anyway) has been visited by a monarch.  Birthday's, holiday's, family gatherings.....a monarch seems to always pop up.  


I looked at the Big Guy and said, "OK.  Seriously.....there's MY sign" and I pointed to the tree where the monarch landed.


While this house may not be THE house we purchase, I took this as a sign to say, "It's OK to look at a house in town.  It's OK if you don't live on the farm."


As far as I'm concerned, my grandma and his grandpa can show up at anytime.

Why I Hate Technology....

Yesterday, technology was the thorn in my side.  I was asked to present a workshop of leadership at a camp meeting.  I've done this presentation a million times, but over the years I've had to adapt to technology.

This particular presentation uses movie clips to highlight different points of leadership.  In the 90's when I first did this presentation--I copied movie clips onto one VHS tape and played the clips that way.

Image from Google Images

It was easy.

All the clips were in order.

And all I had to carry around was a VHS tape and my handouts.

Now, with DVD's, it's a bit of a challenge.  I've had someone be my helper in the past setting up the DVD's to the point I needed.  Wanting to bypass that, I thought I was being all technology savvy using clips from You Tube and embedding them into my power point presentation.

It didn't work.

Not even a little bit.

Add to that the the GPS in my car led me to a hay field in the middle of Sherberne County, causing me to be late, I felt totally off my game.....yesterday was a tough day.  

I think I like VHS tapes and paper maps.

You know.  The way it was "in the olden days".

Big Deal or Not a Big Deal....

Each week I do some menu planning for the Big Guy and I.  It began before we were married when we would play the game of "What do you want...."  You know this game, I'm sure.  You've walked through the door and you hear, "What do you want for dinner?"

I hated that game.

Which is why I started meal planning.  Recently I was scouring the internet for some new food ideas.  I was on the food network site and you can search by shows.  I know that the blogger, the Pioneer Woman, has a Food network show.  I'll be honest, I've seen 2 of her shows.  I have to admit--I'm not a fan of the show.  Just like I'm not a fan of Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, Guys Big Bite or some of the other shows on Food Network.  You either like them or you don't.

But that doesn't mean I wouldn't consider one of her recipes.  I have her cookbook and we do like a few of those recipes.

I clicked her name and looked through the recipes.  This one caught my eye.  I'm a sucker for a good oatmeal bar.

Yes.  I had to figure out how to take a screen shot on my Mac.  Sometimes I miss my PC. 

As I looked at it I did a double take.

That's the recipe that I uploaded to her recipe sharing site Tasty Kitchen last year.

The difference?  A little more butter, and she uses a jar of preserves, where I make my filling from scratch.

I wouldn't have thought anything of it, except that it was a featured recipe on her Tasty Kitchen blog last spring when rhubarb was in season.  Here's the proof:

While I'm not asking the Pioneer Woman to give me credit (because I don't deserve the credit.  I didn't create this recipe from scratch--I found it ages ago and cannot tell you where I found it because I don't remember.), I have to question--is this a big deal or not?


Is it OK to take a recipe, change one item and then claim it as your own?
Am I the pot calling the kettle black because I posted a recipe on a recipe sharing site that I didn't create myself nor say "not mine, but I love it"??
What's the difference between this and exchanging recipes with a friend to find that they're the same?


I want to be clear, I'm not starting a war with the Pioneer Woman (I have nothing against her).  


But it has me wondering about people who have cooking shows on Food Network.  If you're going to have a show--you are giving the viewers the impression that YOU created the recipe yourself.  I would expect that there is a great deal of borrowing going on in the internet-food loving-pinning on pinterest-changing up a recipe to meet your needs-kind of world.  So to be able to claim "that's mine!" is hard to do accurately.


Maybe she found this elsewhere.
Maybe she was given the recipe by a friend.
Maybe she found it online at it's true source (that true source not being me).


Thoughts?