Bad Hair Day

I'm tempted to write about the election yesterday, but I think I'll refrain. :) (Did you vote?) Instead I'll just post a picture of Nathan. He finally took several steps last Saturday. I know he can do it, but just doesn't feel like it. He is a very good crawler so I think he figures why waste the time to learn to walk. Instead he spends most of his time crawling on things like the kitchen table. :( What a boy. He is still a sweet, sweet child, but is learning to yell rather loudly whenever things don't go his way or if Isaiah gets to close to him.

Applesauce

I love watching cooking shows. My favorite part is when they use those little glass bowls full of premeasured ingredients. Doesn't that make cooking look so easy? Sometimes I wonder where the minimum wage, overworked, probably starved, frazzled haired worker is that is measuring out 2 Tbsp. of sugar, a pinch of salt and an "eyeball it" of whatever. You never see them. Just Martha, or Rachel or whomever. Anyway. I can't watch cooking shows, but I do get a kick out of some of the blogs out there that show pictures of all of the ingredients for a recipe. It just looks so neat and organized. Sometimes I like to feel neat and organized too. So on Saturday when I made applesauce I took pictures! Aren't you thrilled? Just humor me or find another site. :)

Step 1: I love apples. Take away the brown spots and don't you just smile?

Part II: I also love the smell of apples cooking. I like this picture because it just looks domestic. The big pot, the wooden spoon. I can still smell it.

Section C: The Machine. This thing is incredible. It belongs to my grandma, but maybe I'll get one for Christmas. I can't help but wonder what would happen if I ran something other than apples thru it. Hummm...

Finally: The finished product. (or part of it) Success. Sorry no picture of the canning process, which I think might be my favorite part. Oh well.

So much for Cooking with Sabrina. Be sure to watch my next show when I tell you about the Cream of Celery soup I made for supper. It's titled "What was I thinking?!"

Pumpkin Bars

I love fall. I love the cooler weather, the leaves, sweatshirts, apples, pumpkins, brown, orange, red. You get the idea. One of the best things about fall is the food. I love it. Here is a favorite from the RL Mennonite cookbook (for those of you that have it). I've made it a lot and people love it. Sorry I don't have any pictures. I thought about making it just for the pictures, but then I'd eat it, and when I start eating these things it's very hard to stop.

Pumpkin Bars

3 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 c. oil
1 - 2 c. pumpkin
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
Nutmeg if desired (I don't use it)
1 c. raisins or nuts, optional (I don't use these either)

Beat eggs. Add sugar, oil and pumpkin; then add dry ingredients. Pour into a greased 11 x 15 pan. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Icing:
3 oz. cream cheese (soft)
1/2 c margarine (soft)
2 Tbs. milk
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
Vanilla -just guess :)

Beat cream cheese. Add margarine, milk, vanilla and powdered sugar. Beat. Spread over warm bars.

Pictures

Here are some random pictures. There are so many more I'd like to post, but who has the time?!

I really like this picture of Isaiah, but I wish it wasn't so light.

This picture is just to make my mom's heart skip a beat. :) He didn't fall out this night, but of course we forgot to put the mattress down and he did fall out a couple nights later -I saw him go -scared the wits out of me. The mattress got put down that night. 10:30 at night and the whole family is in the boy's room watching Daddy work. Note the blinds to the right of the crib. This one looks almost new compared to the one on the other window between their beds. They like to play peak-a-boo with them.

Mom bought Nathan this Monkey and he loves it!

Helping Grandma wash apples for applesause

Crock and Pot

After my rather depressing post this morning I thought I'd come back with a new subject. By the way, Jo and Joy, I like your suggestions, just ignore it. I'm considering a news free fast!

On to better things. Food! I found this site the other day. I spent very little time on the site and I have no idea if I will ever use any of her recipes. However, it did get my excited about using my crockpot again. Why is it that fall and winter are crockpot seasons? I've always thought that summer would be a better time to use a crockpot because you could have a hot supper without making your kitchen hot. Oh well.

Here's the question, what is your favorite crock recipe? I have the Fix it and Forget it cookbook, but it has been a hit or miss for me and the misses are very painful when the end of supper comes and no one liked it and I have TONS of leftovers. I usually freeze it and try to bring it out another time with an innocent look on my face. (note: this rarely works -unless we have company. evil chuckle, evil chuckle)

If you have the Fix it and Forget it book, what is your favorite recipes? I'm in a cooking slump and could use some get-up-and-go.

Economy

Yesterday I had a new post rolling around in my head, but never got to the computer to type it out. Now it feels old and I don't feel like writing it out. So I'm posting just to say I'm here. Thank you for all your comments on my previous post! I would like to respond to each one, but seriously just don't feel like taking the time.

Are any of you following our economy? Stock market? I don't want to depress anyone, but this morning I'm just feeling a little low so I thought I'd blog about it. I know I am to trust God in all things, I know, from experience, that God does provide, but I can't help feeling a little sober too. Not long ago we watched the movie "Cinderella Man". It was recommend to us. I'll say this, the story line was good and based on a true story, but the language was not good. For that reason I will not recommend it and highly doubt we will ever watch it again. I keep seeing scenes from the movie. I'm not even sure why I am writing all this. Maybe just to get it off my chest. On a better note, I just saw gas for $2.99 a gallon! Not bad, not bad.

How are you feeling? Are you optimistic? Scared? Ignoring it?

Monday Morning

I thought I'd post about what I am doing right now. I'm drinking coffee and reading blogs. It's 8:21 on Monday morning and I'm drinking coffee and reading blogs.

My kids are eating Alphabits. No good mother would feed her kids Alphabits for breakfast on a Monday morning. I'm trying not to think about the 12 (groan) grams for sugar per serving. Why do I even buy this junk? Because it was cheap. And because the boys are happy and quiet and I'm drinking coffee and reading blogs.

My mom was hear last week and it was a great week. I'll post some pictures of that later. But for now I'm drinking coffee and reading blogs.

We are have guests for supper and I have a huge pile of laundry to tackle and a house that needs at least a surface clean, but I'm drinking coffee and reading blogs.

Well, I'm leaving to make my to do list for today. My coffee is cold and I think I'm caught up on the the interesting blogs.