Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Ree Drummond

Almost everyone in the country knows who the Pioneer Woman is:  She has a television show on Food Network and has a recipe book published every once in awhile.  If you know nothing else about her, you've at least seen her brand of dishes, plates, and pots and pans at Walmart.

Years ago some online group decided to have people vote for the best blog in various categories.  Her blog, "Confessions of a Pioneer Woman" won the "Best Kept Secret" award in 2007, and that is how I found her blog.  I was hooked from the very first time I surfed my way to her stories.  Sometimes I'd do a search of her blog trying to find a particularly funny story I remembered reading earlier.  I read many of them to Cliff, and he'd laugh along with me.  Her blog was always G-rated, although she had fun with focusing on her hatred of the word "panties" once.  She put a recorded sound-bite  of her youngest child, perhaps three years old at the time, saying "juice-bag"; but it sounded like he was saying "douche-bag".  Just silly little things, really, but she was funny.  There were delightful tales about her relationship with her "retarded brother" (her words).  The stories about him were among the best.  He liked to hang out at the fire station, and those men took good care of him.  For awhile he was getting drunk fairly often, but Ree told him she'd pay him a small amount each week... $5, I think... for not drinking.  Then he gladly stopped.

She and I emailed one another a handful of times, I guess because I shared the link to her blog on my blog; but  her readership was growing fast.  When she was publishing her first cookbook, she emailed me asking for my address.  Before long, I received a box containing five of those books.  I gave one to my daughter and one to my daughter-in-law.  Then I had a giveaway on my blog, and of course, I kept one that she autographed especially for me.  She gave me signed copies of her first three books, and by then she was on her new career in television.  

As she became more popular, some women started "I hate Pioneer Woman" blogs; they're still there if you want to do a search.  They didn't like her recipes, they thought she looked horrible, she didn't dress to suit them; and oh, yeah... she was a millionaire, because the Drummond Ranch is a huge corporation.  Did I mention that the nay-sayers said her kids were ugly?  I'm surprised they didn't call her the antichrist.  I think they are just jealous that she had a wealthy doctor for a dad, then had the nerve to marry a millionaire.  I love the woman, and always will.  I don't like cooking shows, so I don't watch her on television.  Her blog isn't fun any more, so I don't read it.  But I love the person that she is.

When Ree got the TV show, and sold her name to various companies, she became a product, and anything she might have said in the past could be brought up; then Food Network would look bad.  After she got so famous, I went one day to her blog to search for a particularly funny story about her brother, but it wasn't there.  So many of her funniest blog posts disappeared.  I do understand why sponsors would want the word "retarded" taken out; it's politically incorrect.  But so many of the hilarious stories are gone, or have been changed.

A couple weeks ago I used the Libby app on the iPad to "go" to the library from my easy chair and find a book to read.  I was surprised to see a new book by Ree Drummond, "Frontier Follies: Adventures in Marriage and Motherhood in the Middle of Nowhere".  I wondered if the stories in the book were anything like her blog used to be, and put it on the "hold" list.

Hallelujah!  Some of those familiar, treasured stories are there, and the Pioneer Woman is funny again. This is a book I might actually buy just for the memories.  I'm only 14% through the book (it will be a quick, easy read) but I know she won't be using the "r" word.  That's OK, and it's no doubt for the best; but there are so many other wonderful stories that can be told.  

You'll find the book in the public library, or you can buy it on Amazon HERE,  Or wait a year and get a used one on Abebooks.com really cheap.  I pity Kindle users, since most Kindles won't allow anyone to check out library books.  They want your money.  

I intend to have a good day, and my hope is that my readers have one too.  


14 comments:

  1. What an interesting story that you knew each other before she was famous. I have of course heard about her and seen her cooking show but since I haven't shopped at Walmart in decades, I didn't know she was a presence there. My wife was fascinated with her food in the beginning but over the years, we stopped watching mostly because her cooking just doesn't seem to be the healthiest. But it is still on my wife's bucket list that we have to stop by if we are ever near her town in Oklahoma. I don't know which town but I know my wife knows.

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    1. I never met her in person, and we probably only connected by email 4 or 5 times. I'm not sure you'd say I "know" her; I just have a good opinion of her, and you know what they say about opinions. Cliff took me down to Pawhuska to see the Mercantile. The Immaculate Conception church is beautiful, and when we went, a lady gave us a tour of the inside. It is worth the time. We also went to the Osage Tribal museum. One thing that I missed, though, was the tour of the ranch. The Mercantile isn't that big deal, but I wanted to see it. There's a lot of over-priced souvenirs to buy. The lady at the Catholic Church did tell us that Ree and members of her family often show up and visit with the customers, and sometimes Ree goes upstairs and takes questions from visitors. I missed all of that.

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  2. What an absolutely wonderful story about Ree Drummond and your relationship with her. I didn't know her "back in the day" but I've always found her interesting... and nice. I think she has a genuine smile. Yes, she did probably have to "change" when she became a "brand" but I'm glad you found some of her old stories once again in that book. I'll have to see if our library has it too. Thank you for sharing. ~Andrea xoxo

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  3. I started following Ree back in 2007 when her blog was nominated as one of the best. I too find her blog more difficult to follow now, so I do not. I did see her once at the Tattered Cover in Denver. She was there one evening. I had gone to work at 6 in the morning, and left work at 6 in the evening, so I was not one of the people who had already stood in line for hours to get her books autographed. Knowing I was going to get up and repeat my previous day's schedule, I was not going to stay and get books autographed. I later found out that I would have been there until after midnight. Good for her for being that loyal to her fans.

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  4. I've had a few of her dishes at other people's homes and not liked them at all, although I'm sure there are other great recipes she makes. I liked her for a while but she never seemed quite genuine to me. I'm glad to hear that she took the time to send you the books. That makes me think better of her.

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    1. She used far too much butter in her recipes, and she's definitely not what I'd call a chef. I do her chicken-spaghetti once in a blue moon. Her early recipes were similar to what you get in those church cookbooks where everyone shares her favorite recipe for a fundraiser.

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  5. I used to watch her show on the Food Network and actually enjoyed it. I think she's "genuine", but I've always been highly suspicious of her absolutely perfect family. Her items at Walmart are nicely designed.

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    1. Before she wrote cookbooks and got her TV show, she let a few of the "warts" of life show. She didn't necessarily try to appear perfect then. She'd tell something that went wrong, then say, "I'm just keepin' it real." I never say anything on my blog about squabbles I have with my husband, or the grandchild using foul language on facebook for everyone to see, or the relative I worry about who is obviously an alcoholic... I could go on, but what I'm saying is that very few bloggers talk about the skeletons in their closets, especially if life in general is going fine.

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  6. I used to read the blog avidly, but then grew tired of it and stopped. The last time I read her blog, which was fairly recently, I noticed other people are writing some of it now. I don't "hate" her or anything, just not interested anymore. My sister gave me her first cookbook as present, and I love the chili recipe.

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  7. I watched her show a few times back when we had the Food Network, but it didn't usually come on during the hour I allowed myself for television.

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    1. I'd have no problem with an hour a day watching TV. I wouldn't be terribly upset if I didn't have a TV. I wish I felt that way about the Internet!

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  8. I love Ree too. She has a great sense of humor. and writes really well. I'm crazy about her bowls and cups too. love the florals. enjoy your book.

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  9. Actually, if you have Amazon Prime. (I do) you can read books free on your Kindle. I do that all the time. I have so many books over the years I have many bookcases full of them. So borrowing them from Amazon is a good way to read without spending a dime. My Amazon Prime cost is $99.00 a year. You can only get ten at a time but they will take one of the read ones back to keep it at ten. They just upload it.

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    1. They don't ever have the current books that people are recommending, or that I find on the New York Times best seller list. Before I started using my Library card online, I did read a few of those Amazon freebies on the iPad, but there were never any book I was actually looking for.

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