Somebody found the Halloween Box

AND..

the camera.

Apple Pie Cake

My tree is full of apples. I'm not sure what kind they are because the former owners said it was a volunteer. It just came up! The apples are good baking and eating apples. So I am looking at apple recipes I've copied down over the years and I'm trying some of them.

The first one I tried is called Apple Pie Cake. I think it turned out yummy.

I am not a pie maker. I've never mastered pie crust because I don't really like pie crust. I do like apple pie however. It's one of the few pies I do like. The apple-cinnamony goodness soaks into the crust and makes it edible.

I've only made one apple pie in my whole life however.

This recipe does taste very similar to apple pie but you can whip it up in a few minutes. No pie crust to master! The ingredients are simple and usually on hand. I am sure you can use white flour if you don't have whole wheat. If you want to make it and you live in my neighborhood.... call me. I can spare 1/2 C. I usually have some in my freezer.

Apple Pie Cake

1 egg

3/4 C brown sugar

4-5 apples, peel, core, chop (mine weren't chopped really fine, I'd say roughly chopped)

1/2 C Whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat egg, add sugar and vanilla - Add apples. MIx well. Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and mix well.

Pour into a greased pie plate.

Bake 25-30 min. Cool 10 min. slice.

It was a little sticky and didn't come out super clean but clean enough. It's not as pretty as a pie but it tastes very similar.

Let me know if you try it and like it.

of ribbons, medals and cows.....

I think I've mentioned that Rachel is running with the Cross Country team this year.....

She ran with the team all summer and by August was ready to quit and agonized several days over the decision. She was feeling like it had SUCKED the fun right out of summer.

I es'plained it all to you here but let me sum up...

She persevered

and discovered that, like many things that seem difficult at first, it's been totally worth it.

These are her cool running shoes with removable spikes....

(for other non-runners like myself, the spikes are good when you are on grass/dirt terrain but not when you're running a race in an urban area)

I had no idea there were such shoes. They are really lightweight. She only wears them for races.

Each race is basically a 5K (3.1 miles)

She's been running on the JV team and doing pretty well. She's generally been placing in the top 25% of her races. She's raced against as few as 60 girls and I think as many as 166.

She's placed 5th in the 2nd race she ran and came home with a medal. That made her feel like summer had really been worth it. She's placed 5th a couple times, 14th, in the 20's and so on but always in the top 25% which she felt pretty good about.

A couple weeks ago her coach had her fill in a varsity spot in a race because some of the team members had been ill. She finished the race with a time consistent with what she was used to running but, because it was varsity with older girls, she placed in the 60's and that did NOT make her happy.

A few weeks ago she got to go on an overnight trip to a race in Boise, Idaho. She got to ride the bus with her team, stay in a hotel, have a pasta dinner at a restaurant with the team. It was lots of fun.

It was NOT lots of fun for the mom who waited up til 3 in the morning for her to come home when the tentative itinerary said they'd be arriving at 11:00- 12:00ish. She doesn't have a cell phone so I couldn't call her. A boy from our neighborhood who does have a cell phone and I was supposed to pick up at the school so I didn't feel bad calling at 1am and 2am DIDNT PICK UP HIS PHONE and needless to say after about 1:30 I was freaking out and praying for her safety and wondering at what point you call the Highway patrol and ask about bus accidents. I was sitting at the computer when I heard laughing voices on my front porch. Another boy from our neighborhood had his car parked at the school and brought her and the other boy home which was SO nice and I totally appreciated not having to drive to the school but I had to say to my tired, beautiful daughter...

"you could have called when you realized you were SEVERAL hours off schedule!"

She wrinkled her brow, frowned and agree'd that would have been a really good idea and next time she'll think of that....

Then her eyebrows smoothed, the corners of her mouth turned up into a smile and her whole face lit up as she pulled a medal out of her bag and went on to tell me with a joyous, tired face that she placed 5th at the race telling me "I ran hard because I WANTED that cow!"

whaaaaat......

"this cow" she held up a little stuffed animal. Being on the JV team, she raced after varsity teams and saw another teammate with a cow and he told her "they only give them to the first 7 athletes that place in each race". That gave her the will to push it. She wanted that cow!

The medal was pretty cool too!

Last week was the "Region race". This is the race that decides which schools get to move on to the state competition. JV athletes don't get to compete at the State meet but they do help their team earn points. She came home very happy to have placed 2nd AND beat her personal time record by a WHOPPING 2 minutes and 18 seconds.

Her usual time is about 22:13

Her region time was 19:55

Pretty cool.

I asked her what was different?

She said,

"I could just see it. I knew I could do it"

I have really enjoyed watching the transformation of her feelings about cross country. She loves the kids. She loves her coach. The feelings of inadequacy and isolation are a thing of the past. She's part of a team.

It's been a good thing for her. It does take a lot of time but the exercise also helps her feel balanced and healthy which is important to her. I think this is really something she's going to continue with the next 2 years.

She's discovered something-

She's a runner.

Why I love cub scouts

Jacob is done with Cub Scouts. He's moved onto the bigger, less parent-centered world of Boy Scouts. It wasn't long after he exited that we had another enter however....

Mason turned 8 in May and we started working on his Wolf badge.

Working through the requirements is a good impetus to have all kinds of important discussions with your child. We've had these talks before but it's always good to revisit them: what to do to stay safe in your home and out of it; what good manners are; what kindness is; how to be healthy, etc.

We've been working on his cooking requirment this last week. He helped me make dinner one day, set the table AND washed the dishes. He's done all these chores before but usually one at a time. He really got an idea of what it takes to put a meal on for a family by doing all on one night.

Another part of the requirement was to "plan an outdoor meal". He's been so excited about planning this one but for one reason or another it keeps getting set aside. With the weather cooling I figured we'd better just plan a day and then make it happen no matter what.

Several Months ago his Grandma Donna had given him a bag of S'More fixings: a box of graham crackers, a giant hershey bar & a bag of marshmallows. We had put this "somewhere safe" and then couldn't find it and figured it had been thrown away by mistake.

Well, over conference weekend, we found the bag of goodies tucked away in a cupboard and we knew it was time to plan!!!

We decided that we'd do it Monday night for FHE. We kind of dropped the ball after making that decision and he forgot to plan a menu with his dad but Monday afternoon I decided we'd better move forward so he and I came up with a tentative menu and he called his Dad for final approval. Mark approved so we went to the store and shopped for the ingredients.

Hot dogs

buns

bananas, apples, strawberries and a peach for fruit salad

chips

sour cream for dip

He helped me wash and slice the strawberries. I've never had him slice anything with a sharp knife before so he was pretty excited about this. I cut up the apples and the peach but he drained the mandarin oranges, sliced the bananas and folded in the vanilla yogurt.

He also helped make the chip dip.

Our big bad boy scout took charge of starting the fire in his father's absence. (He was still at work) He got dryer lint and his pocket knife to make kindling. He was very serious about the whole process and wanted to do it all himself. I tried to help, indicating that I had gone to girl's camp for many years and learned to start fires myself, but he was very dubious about my having the proper firestarting knowledge that he has gained in his 14 month sojourn as a boy scout. I tried to be patient and let him be in charge.....

It was very hard.

But between the two of us, we did get the fire going.

That's all that matters.

Of course after a day of very lovely calm weather, just as we got our hot dogs 0n the roasters, the wind started. We persevered.

The wind would whip in spurts and then calm so it wasn't too bad.

Everybody had a good time

Especially our Wolf who got it all started.

That's why I love Cub Scouts....

It pushes us

to have moments like this.

Not by the hair of his chiny-chin-chin~

Carly needs test subjects as she learns her CNA skills.

Last week she cornered everyone in the house to take their blood pressure and pulse.

The only trouble she had was when she couldn't get her blood pressure cuff to tighten around Mason's skinny little arm!

This week there was only one person in the house who could help her out-

She needed a guy with whiskers!

As much as she dreaded asking her dad if she could shave him, she dreaded asking her guy friends more-

So... with great trepidation, she approached.

He was surprisingly good-natured about letting her shave him. This is not to say he was not quite a bit nervous. He asked me to stay in the room for moral support....

She was tentative.

She was wary.

She didn't shave all that close but she got that first shave under her belt.

Afterwards they had a conversation I always thought I'd hear him having with Jacob first....

"And for a really close shave, here's what I do......."

Meet Babbette

Isn't she cute?

My mom brought her to me a little while ago.

Her little flecks of yellow match my front room walls exactly.

Her funny little cocked head and quizzical expression make me happy every time I look at her.

It's like I caught her by surprise.....

again.

When I was little I wanted a bird. My dad said "over his dead body".

He's not a bird lover.

at all.

I love to watch the birds in my yard. Sometimes when I am getting ready for the day up in my 2nd floor bathroom, I'll turn off the blow dryer and look out the window and watch the birds foraging, hunting across the lawn. Sometimes I watch so long I get behind schedule. They intrigue me. I like to watch their little squabbles over whatever succulent berry, crunchy nut or wriggling worm one has and all the others want. I like to watch as some give up their prize at the slightest squawk and others fight the good fight flying off with their snack to a secure location. well... more like a secure for 2 seconds location because it's likely they'll have to fight for it again anywhere they're visible. It's never really secure until its swallowed.

I have no desire for a pet right now. I have too many people to take care of to add one more.

But when the kids grow up and move away.....

I think I'd like a bird.

Not a big, loud, squawky, talking bird.

Just a sweet small one that sings

and will hop into a patient hand.

I think I'd like it if she had a little yellow...

Like Babbette.

I told Mark that the other day.

He said.....

"Whaaaaaaaaaaat?"

I guess we're gonna see about that.

I should be getting ready for work....

But Instead, I'm looking at all the old pictures people have uploaded on facebook of me in high school. I decided to put them here and comment on them so my kids could make fun of me later.......

So really, I'm not wasting time.

I'm doing family history!

I was in a pageant. he he

Miss Yucca Valley 1988 I think. I didn't win a thing but I had fun.

In our Small town, it was sort of the thing to do your Junior year. You learned how to walk in a swimsuit in heels. A serious life skill I've needed often in the last 20 years.

I think this is 9th or 10th grade. 10th if you made me guess.

I cheered sophomore and junior years.

I was so shy & self-conscious in Junior high. 9th grade was a little better for me, I started coming out of my shell. I had a very outgoing best friend who convinced me to try out with her at the end of 9th grade for the JV squad. Halfway through the week, she quit and I didn't. I made it and really had a great time doing it. I had some really good friends on the squad who had been my friends already and I don't think we were like the sterotypical "mean girls" you see in the movies. I really don't. It helped me feel more confident and I'll always love cheerleading for that.

I couldn't even do a cartwheel. (once again, benefits of a small town.) I could do the splits though and I was an awesome base on the mounts. Nobody else was strong enough hold up the split mount. I took great pride in that. As I looked forward to my senior year, most of my friends on the squad and I decided we didn't want to be that busy, we wanted to go to the football games and just enjoy them and have more time to just be so we didn't try out for our Senior year. It was a good decision.

Can you find me?

Back row left...

This was junior year 1987-88: Varsity squad

9th or 10th again.

Christy, we did look alike even then. I didn't see it though. I sure do now.

Senior Prom.

They don't do pictures now like they did then. Everyone has their digital cameras.

We took our date pictures and then our girlfriend pictures.

Then we passed them out with little notes on the back. It was an agonizing process. You bought the package with as many wallets as you could afford and then parceled them out as people asked for them with your little heartfelt notes, hoping you didn't run out if someone "important" asked you for one.

With Carly's dances, a friend just takes pictures and then they upload them to facebook.

That's me in the blue dress. I felt so fancy. I found that Gunne Sax dress in Seventeen Magazine (*which I read religiously every month) and then found it at the mall and put it on Layaway. The dresses for my other dances I had found at discount GunneSax stores or Nordstroms rack or borrowed. This one was my big splurge. I found the matching gloves (Gloves with formals were big in the 80's.) and sparkly rhinestone and fake blue gem earrings and necklace. It was my dream formal outfit. LOVED IT!

Then, while it was all on layaway, my boyfriend and I broke up. We were still going to go together until I caught him writing notes about me that ended up with a big screaming fight in the parking lot. Just as I pushed him on the chest and yelled "FINE!! SCREW PROM!" I remembered my lovely dress and reconsidered.

I am not usually an impulsive girl who acts without thinking through consequence but I was SO mad- darn it. ... as I pictured my lovely dress in my mind I didn't care so much about the note anymore. I just wanted a date to prom.....

Ahh...

It was fun to reminisce but now I have to go blow dry my hair.