every little thing

Just a quick post to show off the pictures I took today.  Pumpkin bread by Carolyn (how does she get her loaves to look so perfect?!).  The apple butter was a joint effort between the both of us.  This is the second batch of the year.  The first batch was apple-y and subtle, THIS batch is rich and spicy.....I'd like to do one more batch and aim for somewhere in the middle.  No that I'm complaining.....they both are totally delicious. 

For this batch, 10 pounds of apples yielded 10 half-pints.  But, I accidentally dropped one, so now there's only nine, oops, then I opened one for breakfast, so eight.  It was so good on the pumpkin bread, too.  So, who wants a jar?

Field trip, part two

Yep, another field trip today.  This time we visited the Throughgood House in Virginia Beach.  I would tell you about the history of the house and farm, but I wasn't paying attention to the speakers (and neither were the kids.)  It was all over their heads, probably more appropriate for third graders, not three-year-olds.  (And, according to our speaker, the Settlers and Indians were REALLY good FRIENDS. Uh, yeah.)  But, we all had fun anyway, and I managed to take some artsy pictures (the class pics with Max can be seen by friends and fam on the flickr site.) 

It was a lovely place, but mind-numbingly boring for a preschooler. You couldn't touch or sit on anything.  You had to be still and listen.  There were rocks to throw, trees to climb and old artifacts to smash.  There were animal furs you could touch, but after the ten-minute lecture on proper pelt stroking technique,  nobody even bothered.  But, kids are hilarious, and the question and answer session was funny.  The speaker holds up a raccoon pelt and asks if anyone know what animal the fur came from.  Here are several responses: "It's a cat!" "It's a turtle."  "I'm hungry."  "My brother Hayden likes corn." (You get the idea....)

I was determined that the kids learn SOMETHING on this trip, so, on the drive back to school, I took upon myself to teach Max, Conner and Christian (my crew) the proper way to pump your arm in order to entice large trucks to honk their horns.  The kids caught on right away, and although we did not receive any honking, despite our enthusiastic effort, I think the children enjoyed themselves.  I'm proud to be the one that taught them this fine skill, and I hope it serves them in the future.  (I also tried to school them on the musical genius of CSNY, but they forced me to change the station to Radio Disney.  Perhaps that will be a lesson for another day...)

Lost and Found

Does this blanket look familiar?  SOMEONE left it at our house last weekend.  Whoever it belongs to should pick it up as soon as possible, as Max is getting quite attached.....

So, today went by much too quickly.  Tuesday starts with a T and that stands for THRIFT in my book, so Max and I did our regular rounds at Thrift USA.  Not too exciting, but I did manage to dig up five sweaters to felt.  I still need to photograph the awesome haul from Saturday's yard sale-ing....good stuff.  Speaking of thrifting, I found these big stamps ages ago, and I've finally gotten around to using them.  I think they are meant for stamping patterns on walls, and I'm no sure how I planned to use them.....but today I made hand stamped wrapping paper for the holidays.

The pictures are crappy because it gets dark at 4:30 and there is no natural light, ugh.  SO, I will take more pics tomorrow.  But here is the general idea. Note that I used the good dishes to hold the paint, and used our wood floors as a work surface.  I would not recommend this technique.  (However, the Thesaurus makes a good weight.)

I used rolls of thin, brown craft paper we've had lying around for years.  The paint is leftover  from our breakfast nook ,"Malted Milk."  It's a very pale pink-ish.  Max helped for  about twenty minutes before he got bored, and that's a record. 

He used the leaf style stamp on big newsprint pages.  They will be good for small gifts, books, cds and such.  I did about 20 feet of the other print, but I know I will need more.  Luckily, there is more.

Now I need to find the perfect string, rope, ribbon or twine to go with it.  I like this bakers twine in blue and red.  But, I'd rather find something amazing and perfect (and cheap!) serendipitously while thrifting. This will be the first time I've coordinated all of my gifts and I'm excited to see how it all turns out.  I will need to do some *test* wrapping just to be sure.   If I make enough paper,  I may put together sets with 12 ft or so of paper, string of choice, coordinating tissue papers and handmade gift tags (possibly bird shaped?)  But I won't think about that now, I'll think about it tomorrow.....

Can we please go out for ice cream now?  I know it's raining, but I've been a good girl....and I do love ice cream.

*UPDATE*

No ice cream for me tonight, boo hoo.  The boys went to bed, and I got stuck with a cup of coffee, a sink full of dishes and the last fifteen minutes of Gilmore Girls.  I haven't been keeping up with it seriously this season, but what's up with Lorelei and Christopher?!  The next episode is "The Proposal in Paris"?!?!  This is just moving way to fast for me, slow down, I'm not that kinda girl.  Also, I don't get the weired after show discussion with the "American Eagle Girls".  Basically, twelve year olds in full make-up and pajamas with no acting ability pretending to be friends commenting about the show.  Very disturbing.  When I want vapid lunacy I will watch America's Next Top Model, thank-you-very-much.  Still love to catch that show now and then, remember the first season Kip?  God, that was great  fierce. 

Ain't no mountain high enough

I love that you take pictures while I'm driving.

I love that you love toys.

I love this little person we made (couldn't have done it without you.)

I even love your shiny shoes, just don't tell anybody.   

XOXO,

Bel

I have discovered the true meaning of christmas

Ahhh.  Nothing like an exhilarating jaunt through Walmart to put one in the holiday spirit.  Just when I thought Christmas couldn't get anymore plastic-inflatable-strobe-lightedly ridiculous......Walmart raises the bar.  (I'm not sure what the fish tanks have to do with all this, but Max made me take pictures of them, so there they are.)   And here is what else we saw,

ANOTHER themed Elmo.....this is just getting silly.  Tickle me Elmo, Hokey Pokey Elmo, Exercise Elmo, Learn my name Elmo, Lunch Time Elmo, Christmas Elmo, Tie My Shoes Elmo, Clean the Lint Trap Elmo, Make a Cheese Ball Elmo, Light My Cigarette Elmo, Do your Taxes Elmo.....when will it end? 

And every year Holiday Barbie looks more and more like a hooker.   And what's up with this?

Why does Walmart think it's necessary to hook hundreds of bycicles 30 feet in the air to the ceiling?  That's not smart.  I was scared they were going to crash down on us....but wait, I'm sure that the hard-working, well-paid employees of Walmart took great pains to attach them very securely. Yeah.  And what happens if someone (with bionic vision that can see the bike and read the price tag) decides to buy one?  They'd need whatever cherry picker they used to get the darn things up there in the first place hauled over, raised up, bike un hooked....ugh.  It just boggles the mind.  But wait, I saved the best for last.  Meet Booty Shaker Santa:

Max was intrigued.  The packaged touted "TRY ME!"  so we pressed the button and......

Santa's head bobs and a scratchy, unidentifiable song plays....seemed innocent enough, until......

Santa does a 180, shoves his "rosy cheeks" in your faces and gyrates grotesquely as the music blares louder and I recognize the song, "Y'all ready for this".   It was unspeakable.  But, Max seemed to think it was pretty fun, and danced along.

This novelty also comes in Booty Shaker Snowman, and retails for $19.89.  I actually think I'll get one for all of my friends and family this year.  Sigh.

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat

So, I was all geared up to do my "Why I'm not excited about Christmas this year" post today, but I decided to just write about food instead, in hopes that it will cheer me up (and I know it will.)  Ahhhh....Ginger Tea Bread.  My quest to find a recipe close to the one at the Briar Patch is finally over.  This bread is light, yet also dense and gooey...how is that possible?  I bought fresh ginger this year, and WOW....better than ever.  I cannot find the website where I found the recipe, so I'm just going to copy it here:

Ginger Tea Bread

Sift together:

2 3/4 C. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1tsp. baking soda

4 tsp. ginger (don't skimp)

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. cloves (i never have ground cloves, oops)

Cream together:

1 C. softened butter

1 C. sugar (white or brown)

Add:

2 eggs

1 C. molasses

Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well

Add:

1 C. boiling water

Mix till combined.  Pour into greased  loaf or mini-loaf pans.  Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.  Be sure not to over cook.  Let cool completely and enjoy with cold milk. Yum.

The loaves puff up then deflate quite a bit, but don't let that scare you.  Also, the outer top will be crusty at first.  After it cools, put into a zip lock bag and it will all become soft and gooey.  I'm sure it would be smashing paired with a bit of homemade apple butter.  I really must can another batch soon. 

We gave out cheap-ish candy this year, but I thought the chick-o-sticks, bubble yum and Mary janes were so cute and vintage-y looking.  The highlight of the evening was the new apple pie recipe I tried.  It came highly recommended by other bloggers, so I had to see what all the fuss was about.   Whoa...it's my new favorite pie.  Sour Cream Apple Pie, to be exact.  Very easy to make, I even used a frozen pie crust (gasp!) and it was just heavenly.  There is no top crust, just an appley, custardy -goodness filling and a crunchy, strudel-like topping.  I had it for breakfast too.  I wish I'd taken a picture, but it's actually not a particularly "pretty" looking pie.  Sort of rustic, and the filling oozed out a tad during baking, so I'm glad I put the pie pan on a baking sheet.  If you do nothing else this month, make this pie.  Today's baking adventure?  Probably just some cookies....I'm so loving my new Sonoma baking sheets.