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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Relief, Recipe and wRiting

Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart. ~Erma Bombeck

Thanks for being patient with me yesterday... I'd gotten buried in LASR/WC/Aurora work. What's that? Aurora? Yep... we're adding another site to "The Long and the Short of It" brand -- a YA/Middle Grade site! WOOT! It launches 1/1/10 (and, how did it get to be almost 2010??), and we have all kinds of promo stuff going on: free ads, interviews, etc. So, if you or anyone you know writes YA/Middle Grade stuff email me for deets at lasreviews AT gmail DOT com -- k?

In any case, things got a little crazy the last couple of days and I just couldn't do even one more thing.

Hopefully today will be better.

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DD and I both were craving something sweet yesterday. We haven't had any dessert-type food in the house for over a week. No cookies, cakes, fudge... so I decided to make No-Bake Oatmeal Fudge until I realized we also had next to no sugar.

What to do?

I had DD make Peanut Butter Candy instead! It's easy and it's actually quite healthy, as sweets go. It's 100% natural with no refined ingredients. And it's yummy. So, I thought I'd share.

Peanut Butter Candy

1 cup Peanut Butter
1 cup Honey
1 1/2 c instant (dry) milk powder

Mix together and roll into balls. Put into fridge to harden. Eat!

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I had the best experience with our curriculum provider yesterday. We opted to do the DVD curriculum with Abeka Books this year. It's pricey, and I agonized over the choice... but then DD had a question about how to solve a math story problem. And here's what I've been coming up against in her math this year: I can get the right answer to the problems, but I can't always solve it the way THEY want it solved. This one was no different and I was completely stymied.

THEN I remembered that they offered live teacher support with the purchase, only I couldn't remember how to contact them. So I dug around on the Abeka site, and found an email link that looked right.

I emailed them with the exact question and problem and left my phone number... then told DD to go work on something else while we waited for a response.

Only, she didn't get more than about four steps from the table before the phone rang and it was THEM. A teacher was on the line and talked to DD, walking her through what she needed to do and answering all her questions.

Unbelievably fantastic. I've been so down about customer service lately, it was just incredible to have my faith in people and businesses restored. And the fact is, that one thing is worth all the extra cost of the program.

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I've made two writing decisions this week.

One: I'm shelving "Return to Stiller Creek". I still like the story, love the characters and am not completely giving up on them, but I just don't feel comfortable enough with the crime-solving details to rework and submit this. I'm letting it sit in my subconscious and letting my brain work through some other options for the story.

Two: I've started working on "Drive Me Crazy" (the sequel to "Kitchen Matches") again. I've had a dozen potential scenes pop into my head this week and they are funny (at least I think they are, lol) and some of them surprised me. And, on that note, I'm going to sign off and write before anyone wakes up.

Have a great Friday!

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Funnel Cakes

Tori... tell your mom they are easy-peasy. Check it out:

FUNNEL CAKES

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs
2 cups milk (whole tastes best)
1/2 cup white sugar
3 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

You can also add:

cinnamon
vanilla
almond

Or other flavors you enjoy

DIRECTIONS

* In a medium bowl, mix salt, baking powder, and half of the flour. Set aside.

* In a large bowl, cream eggs, sugar and milk. Add flour mixture and beat until smooth. Continue to add remaining flour, but use only enough to achieve desired consistency. Batter will be thin enough to run through a funnel.

* In an eight inch skillet, heat the oil to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

* Put your finger over the bottom opening of the funnel, and fill the funnel with a generous 1/2 cup of the batter. Hold the funnel close to the surface of the oil, and release the batter into the oil while making a circular motion. Fry until golden brown. Use tongs and wide spatula to turn the cake over carefully. Fry the second side one minute. Drain on paper towels, and sprinkle with sifted confectioners' sugar or cinnamon sugar.

NOTE: Oil must be HOT before you start, or the cakes will soak it up and be soggy.

Visits and Bad Bugs

Science, or para-science, tells us that geraniums bloom better if they are spoken to. But a kind word every now and then is really quite enough. Too much attention, like too much feeding, and weeding and hoeing, inhibits and embarrasses them. ~Victoria Glendinning

So, Michele and I had a wonderful (but too short) visit yesterday. It was incredible how quickly the time flew by. Yes, I took pix, but Michele doesn't like her picture online, so I can't share.

We didn't do much besides talk. We went to lunch and walked the dog and watched the birds on the feeders, and seldom shut our mouths. *G* It was good.

We took a walkabout my yard, and I mentioned to her that my previously healthy squash had died and she suggested it might be the squash vine borer -- which fits the symptoms to a T! I've seen the moth around, but didn't know what it was. Now I do, and it goes on my "kill without regard" list (not many bugs go on that: mosquitoes and black flies, ticks, japanese beetles and red lily beetles are there) AND now I understand why I've been told to keep piling dirt up around the base of the squash plant as it grows -- that is an organic way to keep the plant from dying, even if the borer attacks (sounds like a bad B movie).

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Brandy... I love tomatoes in all forms, so seldom have enough to can, freeze or make sauce. Making sauce can be a pain if you don't have the right equipment (I use a vittorio strainer so I don't have to scald and peel the tomatoes). I do like fresh salsa a LOT, and can eat it as a meal. I even use it as the "dressing" on my salad -- much healthier than regular dressing.

Try this:

3 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup finely diced onion
5 serrano chiles, finely chopped (you can use a can of diced green chile from the store - for more heat, add a jalapeno pepper but DON'T use the seeds!)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
minced fresh garlic to taste (one or two cloves)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons lime juice

You'll want it to set for a bit in the fridge before eating it to let all the flavors combine.

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You Are the Innovator

You're the type of person who is always a step ahead of everyone else. You thrive when you're experimenting with new designs, ideas, and attitudes. You are a creative person with many talents. You have to have artistic outlets in your life. You need to create - whether it's writing furiously or redecorating your home. If not, your life becomes chaotic. You tire of doing the same thing every day. You change your job, friends, and personal style often. You are at your best when you have a focus. If not, you develop a flaky artist's temperament.

What Role Do You Play?

Except for that last (because I LOVE routine and "sameness"), that's pretty close!

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Cookies

“A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand." -- Author Unknown

What better thing to do when you're trapped inside from MORE RAIN, and already bumming because the critters are eating your plants?

BAKE COOKIES!!

DD and I couldn't decide what kind sounded better and DH can't make decisions (no, really, I'm NOT JOKING), so we made...

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies
(yummies for the indecisive person)

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the peanut butter, water and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda, stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, stir in the rolled oats and chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an unprepared cookie sheet.

3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cookies are lightly toasted on the edges. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on wire racks.

***Now...***

Because I never, never ever make a recipe exactly as written, here are the changes I made:

1. I doubled the peanut butter (and if you use chunky peanut butter, it's even better).

2. I omitted the water.

3. I used multi-grain flour (I finally ground the grain I have, so I used flour from brown rice, oat groats and quinoa -- it LOOKS white, so my DH will eat what I bake. He won't eat stuff from whole wheat, so I fool him. Muh-ha-ha...)

4. I cut the sugar in half.

5. And, because I doubled the peanut butter, I cut back on the butter and used 1/2 cup.

6. I also cooked them for 14 minutes.

They are YUMMY!!! Even DH ate four with a glass of milk... and yes, you will need something to drink, these are not light, fluffy cookies. They have substance.

Enjoy!

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Pillar Place 2008 update:

ALL of the dill pillars are now pupa's -- one of them, clearly not so bright, made its pupa on the dill stem. I don't think that stem is going to last 10 - 14 days, so I'm considering what to do. Stupid pillar...

All but the two tiny parsley pillars we have are pupa or on walkabout. One of those pillars made its pupa on a parsley stem -- BUT, unlike the dill, the parsley stem just gets brown and woody when it gets old (the parsley had bolted, so the stems are a good half inch or more in diameter). Still, clearly I don't have the brightest pillars in the world.

Our first pupa, Bubba, should be hatching into a butterfly this week. I sure hope the rain stops!!!

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You Are 76% Tortured Genius

You are smart. Brilliant in fact. And while it's a blessing, it's also a curse. Your head is filled with everything - grand ideas, insufferable worries, and a good deal of angst.

Are You a Tortured Genius?

Ya see... Ahm brilliant! *G*

Rhubarb Cake Recipe & Misc.

A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken. ~James Dent

Okay... for those inquiring minds who asked, here is the rhubarb cake recipe I made the other day. I'll put the recipe down as it was originally written, and then tell you all the changes I made (I'm fairly certain I have never made a recipe exactly as it was written in my entire life).

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RHUBARB CAKE

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups rhubarb, chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup packed brown sugar

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, cream together butter or margarine and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla.

In another bowl, sift together 2 cups flour, soda, and salt. Add sifted ingredients alternately with buttermilk to creamed mixture.

Toss rhubarb with 1 tablespoon flour, and stir into batter. Spoon batter into buttered 9 x 13 inch pan, and smooth the surface.

Blend together 1/4 cup butter or margarine, cinnamon, and brown sugar; sprinkle evenly over batter.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes.

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Okay, now... the changes I made.

First, and most importantly: I used FOUR cups of rhubarb. And I all but pureed it because I don't like chunks.

I also cut back on the sugar slightly -- I used about 1 1/4 cups. I typically cut back on the sugar in any recipe, because I think they all over do it.

I added quick oats to the "crumble" as well -- about 1/2 cup.

I also ended up baking it for an additional 15 minutes -- that may be due to the extra rhubarb.

This was AWESOME served warm with a scoop of ice cream. I'm also going to try this with different fruits -- blueberries, strawberries, peaches. Yum. If you add other fruits, though, you can probably cut back even more on the sugar.

Oh... and I used half whole wheat flour and added a little wheat germ and ground flax seed to make believe I was being healthy. *G*

Enjoy!

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No writing. Did do some thinking about my stories, though, which I think counts as writing even though words didn't go down on the page. I do want to edit Stiller Creek soon, but something ... um... a little nuts has come up with the Long and the Short of It site, so I may not have time for much else over the next ten days or so.

Can you believe that June 9th is the official one year anniversary of the reviews blog? And August 27th is one year for the website. Amazing. It's flown by.

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We're still waiting for a day that doesn't have 25 mph winds to let the swallowtails hatch. It's been warm enough, and their pillar food is plenty big for them to lay eggs on, but the wind!!! Holy cow! It's insane. I want to give them a good start and not have them break their new little wings.

The milkweed is growing like mad, and we're excited to begin our monarch ranching again this year, though I don't believe that started until July (?) last year. I'll have to check my blog posts from last year.

The garden suffered no further fatalities thus far and I added 18 marigold plants around the outside as a general pest deterrent. I'm also going to liberally spread milorganite, which is officially a fertilizer (made from human waste... yes, really. No grosser than using cow poop, is it?) but also helps keep the deer away.

I planted annuals today, too. I did impatiens and portulaca. I just didn't have the brain power to be any more creative than that, though I did go so far as to buy striped impatiens this year, so that's something.

And that is my exciting life *G*. You?

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What Your Latte Says About You

You are interested in only pure and simple pleasures. You don't like to pollute your body or mind. You can be quite silly at times, but you know when to buckle down and be serious. Intense and energetic, you aren't completely happy unless you are bouncing off the walls. You're addicted to caffeine. There's no denying it. You are responsible, mature, and truly an adult. You're occasionally playful, but you find it hard to be carefree. You are deep and thoughtful, but you are never withdrawn.

What Does Your Latte Say About You?

That's fairly close... except for the "never withdrawn" part. Been there, done that, have the bumper sticker.

You?

I Wrote!

If you can't annoy somebody, there is little point in writing." - Kingsley Amis

Edited to add: ACK! Allie reminded me I forgot to give the results of the great bath mat debate AND my own response. Bad me.

Amazingly, eight people answered and the results were split right down the middle: four leave their mats on the floor all the time, and four prefer to pick them up in between showers.

Me? I leave mine down on the floor 24/7. Of course, I also dry off in the shower, so they don't get wet and rot the floor. Is that weird? Do YOU dry off in the shower or do you step out and dry off while standing on your bath mat?

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So... wrote as much as I could yesterday. I don't know how long, because I couldn't get any interrupted time ("Mom! How do you reduce fractions again?"... "Arf!! I need to go out!!"... "RING!!!" phone call... "BEEPBEEPBEEP" chocolate pumpkin cupcakes are done... well, you get the point). I managed 917 words on "Return to Stiller Creek" which was a little surprising because I'd sort of written myself into a corner, but somehow as I stared at the screen, an idea came to me. You see, as always, I have the ending written and it's quite exciting (IMHO) with thunder and runaway horses and a murderer and a kidnapping and duct tape... but I wasn't sure how to get the story there. I think I figured it out, and all it took was my hero saying, "Why don't we start riding lessons this weekend?" I KNOW, shocked the heck out of me, too. But, with that simple phrase, it all fell into place. Now I just need to write it.

In one hour a day. If I manage approximately 1000 words a day, and I want 65,000 words, then I'll get it done in twenty days or less. That's not so bad. I'm going to shoot for the "or less" cuz I really just want to have something DONE. Keep me accountable, folks. Okay?

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A week or so ago, Jen mentioned to me that she was making cupcakes from chocolate cake mix and pumpkin. I thought it sounded fabulous, and planned on making them that day until I discovered it wasn't chocolate cake mix I had in my pantry, it was brownie mix. Well, I finally got to the store (I KNOW I could have made it from scratch...but I chose not to), got a box of mix and today... I made them.

Oh. My. Word.

These are the best, lightest, moistest cupcakes I've ever had. Yum. Yum. Yum. And it's so easy. Check it out:

1 Box chocolate cake mix
1 15 oz can of pumpkin
2 eggs
2 T vegetable oil

Mix (use an electric mixer so it gets really fluffy--usually I stir by hand, but this was a little lumpy, so I pulled out my mixer and by the time I was done, it was like mousse), put into cupcake tin, bake at 350 for 17 - 22 minutes (I did 22 because I use stoneware and it always takes a little longer).

Bliss.

Thanks, Jen!

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Just for Groovy who is sick with the flu -- And, yes, Groovy... I was a HUGE "Perfect Strangers" fan way back when. So, enjoy:



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So, Lianne posted these great pictures on her blog... all springlike with green grass and bushes and trees and sun. I'm eaten alive with jealousy. Here's what my yard looks like. First, to give you an idea of just how deep the snow is along our driveway... this is a regular sized basketball hoop--high enough to challenge my 6'3" husband:



And here is the view from my yard looking down the street:



Any bets on how long it will take to melt?

And, just because puppy pictures always make people warm and fuzzy -- we always say that it's a good thing she's cute:



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Your Learning Style: Innovative and Independent

You are determined and driven. Confident in your abilities, no field is too difficult for you. You Should Study: Astronomy Biology Chemistry Design Engineering Philosophy Physics Political Science

What Should You Study?

This may be the most wrong (wrongest? LOL) quiz I've ever taken. Physics? Engineering? Philosophy (remind me to tell you about my very short foray into a philosophy class in college sometime)???

ROFLOLOLOLOL.....

Pre-Thanksgiving Post

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. ~H.U. Westermayer

What I will be doing today:

Turkey Brine

INGREDIENTS:
1 gallon vegetable broth
1 cup sea salt
1 tablespoon crushed dried rosemary
1 tablespoon dried sage
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried savory
1 gallon ice water

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large stock pot, combine the vegetable broth, sea salt, rosemary, sage, thyme, and savory. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently to be sure salt is dissolved. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature.

2. When the broth mixture is cool, pour it into a clean 5 gallon bucket. Stir in the ice water.

3. Wash and dry your turkey. Make sure you have removed the innards. Place the turkey, breast down, into the brine. Make sure that the cavity gets filled. Place the bucket in the refrigerator overnight.

4. Remove the turkey carefully draining off the excess brine and pat dry. Discard excess brine.

5. Cook the turkey as desired reserving the drippings for gravy. Keep in mind that brined turkeys cook 20 to 30 minutes faster so watch the temperature gauge.

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I will ALSO be reviewing my galley's for "Don't Fence Me In".

You remember, the story with the GORGEOUS COVER!



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You Are The Stuffing

You're complicated and complex, yet all your pieces fit together. People miss you if you're gone - but they're not sure why.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

Oooh... complicated. Nifty.