Friday

There is little chance that meteorologists can solve the mysteries of weather until they gain an understanding of the mutual attraction of rain and weekends. ~Arnot Sheppard

I spent all day yesterday thinking it was Friday (though not having my DH home should have been my first clue). So, I'll need to remind myself that today is NOT Saturday.

Sheesh.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions on DD's poor bloody nose problems. I'll be reminding her daily to moisten her nose with Vaseline and put a pot of water to boil on the wood stove (when we start using it). Even so, she gets them just as frequently in the summer as she does in the winter, so I'm not sure the humidity level contributes greatly. I was heartened by the fact that several of you suffered from them as kids, but outgrew it. Here's hoping she's the same!

Regardless, at least last night was quiet. Yay.

My SIL gave me a pile of apples from her neighbor's tree and I've been struggling to decide what to do with them. They're quite small (but tasty) and would take forever to make applesauce with (peeling and coring them ... OY VEY). Well, yesterday a.m. I grated up five of them, peel and all, and made apple bread. And it was delicious.

So... if you have a few apples too many, why don't you give it a try?

APPLE BREAD

2 c Brown Sugar (I only used one and it tasted fine)
4 eggs
4 c flour (I used 1 1/2 c WW flour, 1 1/2 AP flour and 1 cup oatmeal)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp buttermilk
2 tsp cinnamon
1 c butter (I used 1/2 c)
3 c grated apples

Cream together sugar & butter. Add eggs, vanilla and buttermilk and beat well. Add apples. Mix dry ingredients together in separate bowl and then add to wet mixture. Mix well and put in greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 45 mins.

Note: I used one loaf pan and two muffin tins, and baked the muffins for 30 mins. These would have tasted fantastic with raisins added, too. Or maybe some orange zest. Or blueberries. *G*

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I suspect today may include working with the piles of wood at my neighbor's house. Or chopping and stacking what we have left here. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, to today is the day!

Hope you have a great Friday. Oh -- and if you write Steampunk, see the call out, below!

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My Little Entrepreneur

"Big thinking precedes great achievement." — Wilferd Peterson

So, DD is really enjoying beading stuff. She has the book thongs down and made four yesterday (for an order she already got *G*). They're gorgeous -- see? Here are two I took pictures of (the other two are on colored ribbon with colored beads):




I'll be honest and say that I had no idea beading was so complicated. I took her to AC Moore and Michaels and got pretty much the bare minimum in supplies. I spent ... a lot (and that with coupons, sales AND my 10% off teacher discount at AC Moore) and we came home with: 6 different pliers, wire, hemp, ribbon, leather, and twine, crimping beads and tubes, three kinds of needles, a book on beading and beads. And what I got isn't even for regular jewelry making or using those itty-bitty beads.

In any case, she's excited and really applying herself (and taking her time) which is good to see. She's not the most patient kid in the world.

After she does several more thongs, we'll move on to bracelets, I think. I hope I don't need more supplies for them!

I told her once she'd made at least 6 more thongs, I'd open her Etsy shop for her. She's already planning on how she'll spend her millions...

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We picked all our apples yesterday. They were the UGLIEST looking things you've ever seen, but boy did they taste good! We all ate some, and then I made a pile of applesauce. My SIL called and said our other SIL had dropped off a bushel of peaches from their tree and SIL had spent the morning pureeing them and did I want some? YOU BET.

I didn't have time to can the sauce yesterday, so today I'm going to make half regular applesauce and half peach-applesauce and can it all up. I think I might make some peach jam, too, if I have enough puree.

I'm also going to experiment with making my own refried beans (we use them a lot and they're so ridiculously expensive to buy) and canning them in pint jars. I don't know if I have to pressure can them or not, so will have to investigate.

Feeling a little like pioneer woman, lol.

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This and That

Weekends are a bit like rainbows; they look good from a distance but disappear when you get up close to them. ~John Shirley

DD has to make a potpourri pie for her art lesson this week. It's different smelly things in a dish covered with strips of felt to look like a pie. She went outside with our harvesting basket (the one we use to pick veggies) and came back in with stuff I wouldn't have thought of putting together. Her "pie" ended up being chives, rosemary and cinnamon (which she grated from cinnamon sticks). Surprisingly, it smelled AWESOME. In fact, I think I'm going to put it in my bathroom :-)

Tomorrow our 4Runner goes to its new home and I won't be able to avoid learning how my new-to-me car works anymore. How sad is it that I'm overwhelmed by The Pea? Mary mentioned yesterday that she had family members who recently bought brand new cars and had to attend a class to find out how everything works!! A CLASS.

Dear heavens.

Our local fair is coming up in two weekends. DD is bouncing off the walls about it -- says it's almost as good as Christmas. She asked me what I liked best about it (I said "the food" ... lol) and she said, "I like the horse shows and the exhibits and the rides and the cows and the food... I like EVERYTHING."

She's thinking about going on the big Ferris wheel this year, but isn't sure because I won't go on with her (yeah, I'll do roller coasters, but Ferris wheels terrify me). We're torn between going on "bracelet day" when you buy a bracelet for $20 and can ride rides until you vomit, or going on a different day when the fairway won't be so crowded, but you use tickets -- and she'd only get to go on 5-6 rides. Tough decisions to make at ten.

We're not sure what to do with Dakota on fair day, either. We'd either have to crate her for 6 - 7 hours or take her to day care. Every time we've taken her to day care, she's gotten sick, but I don't love the idea of crating the little bundle of energy for that long either. Days like these, I really miss my last dog. She was so easy.

DH wants to get a log-splitter for our three cords of wood this year. The past couple of times we've taken down our own trees for firewood, we've split it all by hand. It's great exercise, but very time-consuming, and we're running out of time this year. Guess we'll find out...

I'm going to pick all the apples off of our trees today. I think I might make applesauce, though the idea of it exhausts me. But, we got enough this year we can't just eat them all, so I have to do something with them.

Got any fun ideas of what to do with a bunch of apples?

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You Are North

Like a Viking, you are assertive, decisive, and dominant. You seek power and destroy those in your way. People admire that you are so confident and independent. You seem to have the world figured out. Sometimes you come across as pushy and aggressive... not that you mind! You like being seen as tough. You make a fairly good leader, especially in times that require grit and ruthlessness. You are a warrior.

Are You North, South, East, or West?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

Next stop: World Domination! ........ muhahahahahaha.......

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