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C is for

Crockpot - potato and green bean casserole on the menu for tonight with some sausage

Cold - had to give in and turn the furnace on, brrrrrrrrr

Crazy kids - it's knowing they can't go outside that is fueling them I think

Cookies - they are almost gone :(

Carving pumpkins - after school today, what a mess

tookies

My nose is cold and I am in my own home. I find this the perfect excuse to A) use the dryer and B) turn the oven on. While it's on we should probably put it to good use and make COOKIES! I mean just because we have had cake almost every day since October 8th we can't deny the perfect cookie baking day a dream of her own.

Addi has been fighting a cold and her naptime :) for a while now. She whines and grumbles every day. "Mom, I am a big girl, see I have unerwear!", "Mom, but it is not dark out yet." "Mom, my mattress gives me owies." This last one I thought was fairly clever and she demanded it for several days until yesterday when I tried to change her sheets and noticed small holes in her sheet. Um, yeah, the springs have broken through the !@#$ mattress. So, into the bunk beds she goes. Shoot, I felt dumb. But today she took FOREVER to get to sleep so by the time she went down Nora was up and at 'em.

Back to the cookies...

Nora and I started making cookies and I put all the ingredients on the counter.
She eyed the m&m's. She watched them carefully. She helped me by dumping ingredient after ingredient into the mixing bowl. When I came to the chocolate she shrieked when I dumped a part of the package in and her hand went deep into the peanut buttery, oatmeal sugared batter. She was trying to save the colored yummies from a slow and heated death. She succeeeded in rescuing a few of them until I finally gave in and gave her a handful in the measuring cup. She was happy to wait until the "tookies" were done to eat the rest.

I love that little colorful chocolate lover:) Wonder where she gets her addiction?

Rescue

I am not sure how many of you have almost nine year old girls. But, you can be sure there is no chance of me ever buying a costume that I have seen in the stores or online for my nine year old little girl. They are better suited for much older girls or better yet the rag bucket and there may not enough material for a rag. I was soooooooooooo relieved when Maleah matter of factly decided that she wanted to be a puppy.

I dug out the old sewing machine and cut a huge blanket that I thrifted (and bleached) around her tallish, skinny, shape. Then, I whistled a tune and sewed it up. The result? She looked like gumby. She didn't want me to dye it green so I cut out the belly and added a black piece to make a tummy panel. Um, this is when my sister rescued me.




Stay tuned to see the final result!

Three!

Happy Birthday Addison!

Monday Multitudes #609-622

Still counting with me?


I haven't had my coffee yet this morning and we are in full swing with birthdaypallooza. Addison turns three today. She was a real miracle conceived a month after chemotherapy and born whole, healthy and amazingly wonderful. I still have a hard time believing she is mine.

Today, Lord, I have so much to be thankful for. So much more than on this simple list. I am blessed. Ridiculously blessed beyond recognition. I am blinded by all the wonderful gifts you have given me.

a family birthday party with wonderful fellowship and food

a bountiful church supper and country store and most importantly a wonderful time had by all

time for dad to hunt

time for me to attempt to make a puppy costume for Maleah

my sister to come and "rescue" my puppy costume, Jo - you are amazing!

"new" doors

beautiful fall weather

good friends, really awesome spectacularly wonderful friends and even better family!

good health

healing for mom, JoAnn, Harriet, Janel, Pat,and Jack

someone to walk with who keeps me accountable for moving

the strength to bake a cake and finish a puppy costume today, Lord, please

a busy week, again

Frugal is as frugal does

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Nora rides the elliptical I recently found on craigslist!

Have you ever read The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn?

I bought a copy of the book after a dear friend recommended it years ago. It is pretty radical stuff about saving money and raising a family. But, I liked it.

Anyway...in the book she talks about her neighbor or someone throwing away a half eaten apple AND that her attempts to dig it out of the trash to make a single serving of apple crisp horrified the onlookers. Or maybe she didn't do that but she just thought about it, I can't really remember.

For a couple of days now the girls have been begging for apples and eating one or two slices and not touching the rest. So, I being my insane frugal self, have been Ziploc bagging them with a squirt of lemon juice in the hopes of "re"using them. I do the same with the half eaten bananas, only those go right into the freezer for bread. Yep, I am frugal all right; cheap, white-trash, call it what you will...

Today, I noticed a plethora of apple slices in the fridge so I googled a recipe.

YUMMY! You have got to try this one. Easy and healthy. The brown sugar caramelizes a bit in the high temperature and what you end up with is a carmel topped, soft as silk, wheat apple muffin.....mmmmm heaven. She has lots of pretty pictures over on her site. I just have one :)

Smitten Kitchen posted the recipe and I made a few changes for myself...


Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

from Smitten...
These dark, crazy moist muffins will keep well for several days, and the brown sugar on top, should you not skimp on it like I did, adds a crunchy touch, perfect for those of you who know that the lid is the best part.

Yield: she said 18, I got 24
1 cup (4 ounces) whole wheat flour
1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I gave up trying to keep unsalted butter around and just used the regular ol' salted kind)

1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 tsp of flax seed (ground)

1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup (8 ounces) buttermilk or yogurt (I used 6 oz of vanilla flavored Yoplait and a bit of water to make up for the lack of liquid)

2 large apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped (my pieces were quite large)
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Grease and flour 24 muffin cups and set aside.

Mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and add the granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add the egg and mix well; stop once to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.Mix in the buttermilk gently. (If you over-mix, the buttermilk will cause the mixture to curdle.) Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the apple chunks.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, sprinkling the remaining 1/4cup brown sugar on top. (YUMMY CARAMEL TOPPING) Bake for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 400°F, and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.