Square One

I have 2 posts currently sitting waiting to be finished...or should I say begun....I just can't do it. The constant rainy and mostly cold weather has rendered me all but useless. We had a slight change in house plans...we aren't listing until April which is somewhat of a relief so I will have two more months to live like a person who lives in a house...with all the dirty laundry I can stuff in my hamper...which has been welcomed back with open arms into our closet for all the world to see. Not to mention, I can actually come home and sit on the couch without the nagging pressure to throw something away. I am pretty sure I didn't get out of bed to shower until 11:30 on Saturday...disgusting I know. A life with no responsiblilties....we may never have kids.

I have also taken up projects {project} that were {was} long ago cast aside {read ruined from frustration} remember THIS project? I belive it started in the warm sunny month of August and then was quickly forgotten when my SAD kicked in about mid-October...all the sudden painting a green tree reminded me that is was cold and rainy and dark outside and I couldn't handle the memories of a warm green summer spent at the lake, or staring at the sun past 3pm...I also got mad because in theory a tree is easy to paint....until ypu try it and then it is infinitely harder than it appears...and taking on the mindset of a 3 year old who didn't get the stuffed bunny from Target they wanted for Easter {true story} and smearing the green paint all over the canvas did not magically make my creation look like a tree like I thought it would...ok I really didn't think it would...but you get the point...so there it lie...lay...sit...sat...a hideous monstrosity...never to be touched again until one day {Saturday} something came over me...maybe it was the realization that not only do I not have enough  furniture to furnish our new house...I have nothing to hang over the fireplace...which contrary to poplar/convential wisdom will not hold our tv...so I was off to Michaels for more paint to get me back to square one....so here it sits...lies...lays...

Back at square one...minus the tree trunk...never mind is has 926 pounds of paint on it and it will take a crane to get it over the fireplace...and its a far cry from this....

But I still have lots of work to do and just as much procrastination...and...whoever said I was a professional artist anyway...not I...on second thought I probably shouldn't have posted the two next to each other...I may have to take another 6 month hiatus on this one to go find my self esteem....

Making Attempting a Comeback

Surprise! I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I am going to try to pick this back up but we will see how it goes...bear with me over the next week it may be a bumpy ride. Our big stressful news is...  we are buying a new house! It was all finalized last week so I guess its safe to say ready or not we will be moving at the end of June. Don't worry its not far, in fact, it is very near where we live now...its just a bigger more family friendly house that has a better school system...no there is no baby...but there will be one day and we figure now will be a good time to make the move.

With that said, life since January has been a flurry of activity. I went to my first Atlanta market and it was everything I thought it would be and more {post forthcoming}, we had a FABULOUS long weekend at the beach {another post forthcoming}, I went to Oklahoma City for work {trust me there will be no post on this} and we have had numerous after work, Saturday morning, Sunday afternoon meetings with Real Estate agents trying to figure this whole thing out...oh for about the last 4 weeks or so {or this}. That doesn't include the 687,321,875 hours we have spent cleaning JUNK out of our current house. I don't know how we accumulated so much junk...oh wait yes I do...our parents told us to come get our childhood stuff out of their houses. {note to parents: it is not necessary that you keep every Barbie doll your child ever played with...they don't need counseling for that later...they need counseling for the above mentioned hours spent cleaning their house}

We are making the last final push to get things in order before the house goes on the market Friday, but I have come to the conclusion that people are just going to have to deal. They are going to have to deal with the fact that in reality my bathrobe and towel hang outside the shower because I use it each and everyday...and hiding such things under the bed or in a far away closet is extremely inconvenient for someone who has just taken a shower and is freezing. They are also going to have to deal with the fact that I enjoy having no less that 326 bottles of shampoo in the shower...sometimes I feel fruity sometimes I like coconut...so sorry. Isn't it enough that I made sure all my Pyrex and Corningware is stacked neatly in the cabinet, or that I may never find any of the other stuff that I had to stash away somewhere...that I will probably be finding pot holders in my nightstand for years to come? Oh and while I'm at it one last thing...we do have dirty laundry believe it or not and I do need to have the hamper in the closet lest I throw my clothes in the bathroom floor never to be picked up again...so you'll just have to imagine how big the closet is without a hamper...since of course you the buyer will not need a place for things such as dirty clothes....ok I think I am done...apparently I was correct about need counseling over this...how I have missed this little blog.

So I will be back...with some more fun posts...with pictures...I just don't want to risk it since I still have no luck uploading them on this computer anymore...and I am done trying to figure out why.

I Have a Good Excuse

I have several actually....

1. Blogger and I still disagree about uploading photos with posts...it isn't taking too kindly to them and I haven't had the time or patience to deal with it

2. I have to go out of town again for work....but will then enjoy a long weekend at the beach

3. There have been LOTS of things going that have totally disrupted my daily routine....well really one...I had a picture to share as proof but refer to #1 on that one...and no it is not a baby...I'll share more if and when the decision is final...if I don't have a stroke before then.

I'll be back I promise with pictures...I'll just have to blog from home...my work computer kicks me off blogger when I upload pictures...I'm pretty sure its a conspiracy...Have a wonderful week. I'm off to Oklahoma City!

Labor of Love

**Editor's Note Blogger and I had conflicting ideas about when this post should be posted...I have been trying since last Thursday...it decided that today would be more appropriate so enjoy...I promise I am not this much of a procrastinator on wrapping up Christmas...its the post that is the labor of love...the other was super easy...promise

I'm just going to go ahead and wrap up Christmas...otherwise it will be March 12th and you'll be getting a picture of my Christmas tree. The weeks leading up to Christmas were such a flurry of gift buying, gift wrapping, candy making, tree decorating, stressing, packing, one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish....that I probably could drag it out that long to everyone's pain and misery. Instead, I thought I would share something that is so easy...that I can do it....and it makes a great gift...at least I think so....you may have to ask my 873,482 family members and co-workers who received some.

I start craving apple butter sometime during the first week of October...it just happens...something about the crispness in the air reminding me of the crispness of an apple....I don't know...it just hits me. So this year, instead of sitting around moping about how I won't get to go to Huber's in the fall I decided to take action and do something about it. I Googled appler butter and decided I would make my own. I'm not sure how it happened...divine intervention maybe but I found what sounded like a foolproof recipe. Go figure it was over on Darby's blog. She does all sorts of great homemade things...and she has three kids....and I just have three dogs so how hard could it be?

Crock Pot Apple Butter {yields 5 pints}

16 peeled, cored & chopped apples
1 1/2 C white sugar
1 C light brown sugar
2 T cinnamon
1/2 t ground cloves
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t kosher salt

Place all ingredients in crock pot and stir so all apples are coated. Cook on HIGH for 1 hour. Reduce to LOW for 8 to 10 hours; stir occasionally...but really walk away for 8 hours...I think I forgot the stir occasionally part and it was just fine.
 
A few notes. I used a variety of apples. I read that the best apples for making apple butter are the baking kind, or the ones that have a firmer texture, so I used some granny smith, gala, cameo etc...Also, before adding the dry ingredients to the crockpot I dumped them in a bowl and mixed together so that everything distributed evenly and there wasn't one apple piece that tasted like a clove.

Before
{You should really put the cover on your crockpot at this point but I was too busy trying to take a picture to be distracted by details}

After

{notice the stay warm light...it was probably more like 9.375 hours...I had things to do}

I used a ladle for soup to scoop out the soft apples into a blender with a little of the juice. That way the apple butter stayed pretty thick when blended. I pulsed it a few times in the blender and wah-lah! The first batch I made I put juice and all in the blender and it was fine...it was just a little thin for my taste. It also yielded 10 1/2 pint jars just as the recipe says...using less juice only yielded about 7 1/2 pint jars so I had a few extra batches to make...don't mind the spatters of apple butter you will see...I am still finding them in my kitchen.

After blending the mixture, I poured it into the jars {I had already sterilized them...or in my case put them in the dishwasher...same difference....right???} I had the water boiling for the water bath and once I sterilized the lids I put them on, screwed on the tops and dropped them in...

Gan came through and saved me with a pot...apparently they don't make stock pots as deep as they used to and Wal-Mart has decided no one cans anymore and has done away with the canning section...not to mention my glass top stove {they are NOT cool no matter what anyone tells you}refuses to make a normal water bath canner boil....but I digress...I boiled the jars for 10 minutes...in water...not real impressive. Then I put them aside until I heard them tink...or whatever it is they do when they seal...if they didn't I had to take the lids off and start over but only a few dared defy me...by the 3rd batch none of them did...they must have known I was at my apple butter making end.

The final step in the process was the label...in my search for a water bath canner online I came across canning pantry. They have a new design service that lets you customize labels in all shapes and sizes and their designs are way cuter than the standard old lady label...no offense old ladies.

I was going to get really fancy and put fabric over the lids with a spreader tied to it...but that was a little much to ask mere days before Christmas not to mention everyone and their mother decided to buy every Christmas spreader in the Birmingham area...and coordinating fabric with labels was never my strong suit...coordinating fabric with anything is not my strong suit. So I am sorry family...I did not go all out on your Christmas gifts...maybe next year I'll start in May...so you can have fabric on your apple butter.

This was SOO easy I encourage everyone to try it...and it was foolproof...I mean I did it...and as far as I know no one has gotten food poisoning from it...The longest part is the peeling and the coring and the chopping of the apples...after that it is a breeze. High 1 hour....Low and walk away for 8 or 9.375....blend...pour... boil...I think it took about 30 minutes total to can {boil} each time I made a batch {about 7 jars}. Really you could skip that part because most people are going to finish their jar before it goes bad...I just wanted to pretend I lived in 1932 in a rural area and that I was going to have to survive on apple butter over the winter so I canned it. Try it please...you won't be sorry if you do...you will if you don't...

Hope everyone had a very happy New Year and hopefully Blogger and I can make amends even though it got off on the wrong foot with me....

Christmas Portrait

What does your Christmas look like?

Is there a beautifully decorated tree with presents underneath?

Is there food as far as you can see and cider to keep you warm?

Do the husbands hold the babies...

and laughter fill the air?

Does someone play Santa Claus to  pass out all the presents?

Do you leave your favorite pink scarf laying...lying...whatever on the piano bench....I mean do all the cousins play together nicely...

Until something goes awry...

and then chaos springs forth and all control is gone...

and at the center of it all seems to be your husband?

Does everyone calm down and you take your family portrait?

or do you get tired of taking pictures and hand the camera over?

Or at the end are you just tired of it all?

Do you feel like your Christmas blog post is stretching on into enternity...so you'll have mercy and end it here?

We had a very merry, chaotic, whirlwind, tiring Christmas week filled with family, food, laughter, and best of all memories...oh and lots of driving. We are so blessed to have so many people that love us and that we call family. We hope that everyone had a safe and Merry Christmas and that 2010 will maybe just slow down a little bit....

Live from Louisville

It was Skyline time and I ate a disgusting amount of it...but it's the Holidays...and I'm just getting warmed up.

Insert Clever Christmas Post Here

This is going to be all over the place this morning so just forgive me. I am trying to cram a few things in so that you are not getting Christmas posts in the middle of March. We are headed to Louisville today and I am not prepared. I have a few last minute gifts to buy which if push comes to shove I can procrastinate until we get to Louisville {I wrote this two days ago and nothing has changed...so I will be finishing up in Louisville}. Do you like how I did that...how I am so stressed about not having enough time but in the same sentence can figure out how I can procrastinate a little longer {and I did}?

I have managed to get a few things accomplished. The Christmas cards I had been waiting on finally came in and they went in the mail this week. Would you like to see? Even though most of the people who read this will probably be getting their own....or should I say have gotten their own.

There it is my little labor of love...it's nothing fancy but it pretty well describes the nature of our family {no animals were harmed during the making of this card although they almost were...some dogs {Curby} didn't feel the need to sit still under the Christmas tree...although that may have had something to do with the light on my camera that terrified her.}

I was still waiting on my labels to come in last week and in the meantime had to come up with something else to give to co-workers. My sister asked the other day if I had my grandmother's fudge recipe and BINGO...I knew what I could make. Do you remember that Friend's episode where Phoebe tries to figure out her grandmother's super secrect cookie recipe? I felt like I was in that episode because no one in the family had the recipe. Everyone remembered a few ingredients and we were left to Google to try to figure out the rest...and do you know what I found? The Fantasy Fudge recipe from the back of the Marshmallow Creme jar...go figure her cookie recipe was the one straight off the Nestle Tollhouse bag {just like Phoebe's} so I guess I should have known. I spent two nights trying to make enough to feed an army give to our co-workers and if I never see fudge again I am ok with that...sweets were never really my weakness anyway...probably because my dad  never rarely let us have any.

 

It wasn't the prettiest fudge anyone has ever seen but hey...I thought the containers were cute and we all know the right accessories can really help out...not to mention how can you go wrong with butter,sugar, and chocolate? I am going to end this here...since I have been trying to post this for two days and Blogger keeps having issues. I'll be back with a few more Christmas posts never fear...they could get interesting.