It's been busy

These days seem busier than ever its hard to keep up with it all. But isn't that how it always is with a family, there is always something that needs to be done. There is always something put on the back burner for another time. Sometimes my head feels so cluttered, with those projects and jobs sitting back there for so long there is no room for the things you cant get to now. So, when it comes to setting something else back there it just falls off the side of the stove and is gone (maybe forever). I figure I need to dig out those dusty things, reaching all the way to the back and to the bottom of the pile. I need to go back to the beginning and start purging what doesn't really matter and finish what does. That should give more room....right? Will that help my brain come back to a more productive and less confusing state? I sure hope so.

So here are some highlights of the past few months or so that I have been meaning to write about or get out there... just taking some stuff off the burner!

We got nearly 2 pounds of kale from the garden

and made southern greens, with scalloped potatoes, and mustard roasted chicken

we broke out the deep fryer and make home made french fries

Sophia and Annabelle knit a bracelet

I finished one of two roman blinds for our bedroom 

using a tutorial from Jen Duncan

Made homemade granola bars with dates, dry apricots, and blueberries

from Ina Garten

Made a birthday gift for Mrs. Jessica

Followed Pseudocook.blogspot.com

substituting salmon for tuna

Started making our own spaghetti

 and linguini

 

For things like chicken noodle soup!

Do you see the volume up button? I fixed it with some scrap booking glue and a piece of foil!

and last but not least finished my Sophias quilt that i initially started nearly 5 years ago,

hows that for digging out a burried to-do?

 

My babies are growing waaay to fast 

without words

He mesmerizes me

This sweater was the first thing I made him once I knew he was a boy.

Grandmas stool

My grandma Pearline has had this stool since before I was born.  I remember sitting on it as a little girl at the kitchen table with all the grown ups. I remember my brothers and cousins sitting on it too, or pulling out the steps and climbing up it. I remember trying to sit on it at the table when I was older, but my legs were too big.

She gave it to me many years ago, when my first child was still a baby, and as she grew we used it the same way. We also used it to paint rooms and reach stuff up high. It has always squeaked when we pull the steps out. It is a good stool, and unfortunately as time goes on it has shown its scars of use.

But it is a good stool and it has a long life ahead of it. So yesterday while my baby boy was sleeping and the girls were running around with their friends outside, I fixed it.

I had to scrub it clean again, and find a screw that would fit where one was lost to its leg. I took of the seat and back and removed the old vinyl and foam and cleaned off the rust. I was going to use just any fabric really, but then I spotted some oilcloth fabric I used to make sandwich bags with for my girls. Luckily I had just enough for the job. So I used some quilt batting to replace the old foam, streached the fabric over and put it back together.

Good as new!

Stockings

With the addition of our son this year I decided it was time to make our stockings! All with fabric and scraps I already had, I just traced one i had onto paper for a template and made up the rest.

John's

Daddy's

  

 Annabelle's

 

 

Sophia's 

.

and Mommy's

 

Gasoline.

A few months ago we had to get a bigger car, baby number three was almost here and we were not going to fit in the other one, especially with all the baby gear that would be in tow as well. So hubby got me one.

I love it. I love how it purrs as I am coasting up the highway, I love the GPS that keeps me on track, I love how sexy it is, I love how comfortable the family is inside, and it fits all our gear perfectly.

But lately when I am driving my car and cruising up the expressway I realize how many hundreds of cars are going with me, how many hundreds of cars cross my path, how many thousands of cars are traveling up the highway as I pass over it. So, now when I look at all those cars I see money burning, I see all the gas pumps running, I see all the refineries and trucks full of gas, I see the pollution. I feel sick.

I see the gas running out. and when the gas runs out we are going to be in a whole lot of trouble. Because we are so dependent on these cars to get us everything. What if we didn't have these cars, what would happen to us?

This is very troubling, we all need to start working on a solution. If we all do a little to curb our driving habits we can make a big difference. Little things... little things become bigger things.

• Try to run as many errands at once, plan that trip in a circle rotating to the right. You will sit at less lights by making less lefts, and you wont leave the house repeatedly to go to yet another store.
• Plan meals ahead and buy more at once, keep and inventory of food and items your family needs so you go out less often. I use a checklist on the fridge, I also ask everyone in the house if they noticed anything we have run out of so I can pick it up while I am out.

What ideas do you have so that we are behind the wheel less often?

Applesauce

A few weeks ago I picked up 40 pounds of apples at our local farmers market we chose Jona-gold and Mutsu apples

Annabelle peeling, coring, and slicing the apples

Sophia's turn

Cooking the apples

Cinnamon on the left, regular on the right.

We still have 12 pounds of apples and we need to decide what to do with them fast!

Halloween is almost here

This awesome lady named Bakerella published a book. An awesome book Cake Pops! We love them because they are so tender, so flavorful, and so darn cute! The girls school had a bake sale at their Halloween Happening celebration this Friday, so I thought I would donate some. Another parent donated some too, and so I purchased them. Why not try someone else's right? Wrong!! What a disappointment! Nothing against the cook, but they were made with the commercial cake pop mold, and they were unfortunately dry and plain. Below is the correct way to make cake pops.

 

 Bake a boxed cake, make sure not to use a supermoist,

if that is all you can find add less frosting (thats what I did)

 When the cake is cool crumble it into a bowl and add some frosting.

 Make sure the frosting is incorporated and helps the crumbs stick together.

Roll into 1 1/2 inch balls and refrigerate.

 Melt some chocolate candy coating.

 Dip the end of a lollypop stick in the chocolate and then insert into a cake ball.

  Dip the ball into the chocolate to coat

 Then decorate as you wish

 I burnt the orange candy coating in the microwave,

luckily I had some in brown on hand.

 

 

I had some labels, by Martha Stewart Crafts, for goodie bags but decided to stick them on some mason jars instead. Now we can use them year after year!

 

 Happy Halloween!!