Over the past few months more and more of my mommy girlfriends are reading The Pioneer Woman, buying her cookbook, homeschooling, gardening, photographing, sewing, blogging and whatever else they feel they need to do to find the homemaker within them.
I have heard a few comments like “I just want to be the next Pioneer Woman” or “She is homeschooling just like Pioneer Woman”.
Now I do not know Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman but like hundreds of thousands of women, I love her. She is not perfect. And I don’t need to be either. I also am not conforming to her passions and loves just because I think that is what I should do.
I blog, take pictures and live my North Dakota prairie life as best I can for my family.
I am not the next Pioneer Woman. Nor do I want to be.
I don’t make her recipes to be like her. I use her recipes because they simplify my life. They are practical.
The ingredients are simple that I can most always buy in my one and only local and small town grocery store and not have to travel 100 miles to get some specialty grocery item.
First of all, I do not have time for that. Secondly, I’m on a budget. I need practicality. Pioneer Woman’s recipes provide that to me while helping me expand my cooking for our family meals.
And her recipes make things like meatloaf into something I once thought as boring into a fantastic, mouth watering meal.
But what makes Pioneer Woman truly a success in my mind is she is authentic.
She is original.
She is transparent to a point.
Some women connect with her lifestyle because it is something maybe they long for or do not have. Other women connect to her blog because of her photography, her insight into homeschooling, her thinking and fresh perspective. Regardless, to me why women connect with Ree Drummond or anyone like her is for authenticity.
You should be yourself and blog because you want to, not because you are trying to be something you are not. Be original and authentic. Stick to your values.
Connect with other moms like you, who are authentic and you can relate to and then also connect to others that are different if you would like to expand your perspective and thinking.
Now I will step off my Be Yourself When Blogging soap box to show you a bit more of our North Dakota prairie life over the past few days…
Our son Hunter had his first ever youth pheasant hunt with our friend Ben and his dog…appropriately named…Hunter. Most of the pheasants are hiding in the unharvested corn fields right now and they only saw one rooster early Saturday morning. But we are hoping for more pheasant hunting success this coming weekend when Nathan, Hunter, Ben and dog Hunter head out for another hunt.
Nathan and I don’t get a date night very often. But this past Saturday night…we got just that as our local hospital foundation held a fundraiser complete with a superbly catered meal from Reister Meats of Streeter, ND. Cornish game hen, moist and tasty, stuffed, on a bed of wild rice with green string beans. It was steaming hot and for a huge event like that I have had very few catered meals that were as good as we had on Saturday night.
The entertainment was a hypnotist. Thankfully neither of us volunteered but we laughed until we cried and our bellies hurt at those that were hypnotized. The hypnotist also did magic tricks. And unfortunately he paraded to the back of the room as my back faced the stage and I stared down at the table. He climbed over people to get to me in the middle of the table and HANDCUFFED me to pull me on stage to do one of his magic tricks that involved lighter fluid and fire.
No pictures.
But I survived.
It was the best date night we have had in a long time and most definitely the best local on the prairie date night.
On Sunday before the pumpkin patch outing Anika went with Nathan, Gpa Eldon and Nana to cousin Ally Jane’s baptism in a nearby town. Miss E, Hunter and I stayed home for Sunday school obligations but then made it over for a family noon meal.
Miss E loves Baby Ally Jane who is her second cousin but as you can see Ally was tired out on Sunday after wearing her fancy white dress and being held by oodles of family members.
I don’t get many great pictures of Anika these days because as I said yesterday she is always climbing.
She remains a superb sleeper which has never worn off on her older sister but when she is awake she looks like the above picture most of the time.
So there’s a wrap on my authentic prairie life. The girls are at Lori’s home daycare. Our son is in our local, rural public school. I have bills to pay. My desk is a disaster. Our favorite cleaning princess is scrubbing our floors and bathrooms today. I have laundry to wash and laundry to fold and laundry to put away. I am not sewing my children’s halloween costumes. Instead I ordered them online for full price and most magically they will show up on my door step. I don’t know yet what I am making for supper. My husband works at least 14 hours a day but remains the most hands on daddy and devoted husband I could ask for and our life is close enough to perfect for me.
It is time for my lunch blogging break to be complete so I can hop on a two hour conference call in my home office on the prairie where outside it is a sunny and 70ish degrees.
I’m no Pioneer Woman. But our prairie life and this blog are authentic, fairly transparent and what I love most about blogging is telling our story and connecting to my family, friends and meeting new friends.
It is close enough to perfect for me.
Katie, I am enjoying your blog because it’s an entertaining way to get to know you. It’s good to be centered and authentic and not afraid to be free to be ourselves. That “perfect” mold of someone else is only perfect for them.
Great post! Hypnotist’s are hysterical I am laughing out loud thinking of a time when I saw one who had the biggest, manliest, country boy thinking he was Shania Twain and singing, “Man I Feel Like a Woman” on stage! Everyone was laughing so hard they were crying! Thanks for the reminder that we should be true to ourselves even when blogging!
I read both your blog and Pioneer Women’s because you are people who I find interesting and would love to meet someday. Keep up the great work!!
Great post! I actually hadn’t heard of Pioneer Woman before, so I wouldn’t even of drawn that assumption. She sounds like a neat lady though! 🙂
I love how real and honest you are. I have really enjoyed readig your blog.
Well said on P-Dub. I absolutely heart her, but it is because she is herself and that is why I love so many blogs of authentic women like yourself!
I have been the victim of a hypnotist. It was FB Young Farmer Conference. I will never be the same again. Neither will those in the audience.
Scott Mcfall one of the greatest hypnotists ever. You must go to see him sometime. My bro and I were victims to play into being on the spotlight on his stage a few years ago. I remember some of the things i did while being under. I can’t believe it. I heard about the feedback afterwards of some of the most embrassing things that I did or even said. I was told on how the crowd was laughing at us both till their bellies hurt. What a fun night will have to do that again sometime.