"Apple Pie and Me oh my!

... Home is where I might be... uh huh... take me back...I'm comin' home"

I have that song zipping through my head. I wish I knew it's name and who sings it and then I could down load it and groove to it. I've heard it on the radio all summer long, and can never get the name. So if there are people out there who know it and can tell it to me... LET ME KNOW! For I fear I'm driving my dear old husband to drink humming the tune and coming up with one word in ten. I think I've covered my lack of musical talent in earlier blogs. Even the girls will correct me now... I used to be able to sing to them at night, usually church primary songs and now they sit up and holler "MOM! That's NOT how it goes!!" which in turn makes me holler back.. "Then YOU sing it to me!" LIttle farts. They usually can sing it to me.:)

So tonight I must have made the most delicious meal ever. That or I starved them long enough that they ate EVERYthing off of the table, I kid you not. I did an apple pie (Thanks song) out of Mackintosh apples, I grate a little fresh ginger and lemon peel into the apples and let it sit while I make the crust. It gives the pie a little zip. Then I chopped up onions, carrots and celery and laid it in the bottom of my glass 9x13. Then I washed my bird, patted him dry with paper towels and then rubbed him down with melted butter, sea salt, crushed garlic and 2 tablespoons of dry Ranch Dressing mix. (I mixed all of the dry ingredients with the butter so it was like a lotion.) The girls all think it's funny when I'm doing a chicken for dinner... I sing and make it dance a little... I tell them it's like a little baby, we give it a bath, dry it off and then lotion it up. I'm evidently a crack up because it never fails... lots of giggling girls...even the too cool 13 year old is caught. What ever it takes. :) Anyway... I baked the bird and then made these great mashed potatoes with cream and butter. Once the bird was done, I drained all the cholesterol packed juices into a pan and mixed in some cornstarch and made a delightful gravy to spoon over the spuds. And is there any doubt now, why I weigh 300 pounds?

Actually, I don't cook like that every day. Usually we have a grilled or baked protein, fresh salad and a steamed veggie. But when I do cook like Julia Child, I usually do it on Sunday. Some thing about the old tradition of having a grand meal in the early evening after church that has always appealed to me. Especially if I can get a family from church to come over last minute. I love doing that. Of coarse, Dan is driven crazy by it... he is such an anti social butterfly. I on the other hand, LOVE feeding other people. I like the cooking and hosting part. Lot's of fun. And I was surprised to find out that my girls are becoming like me. They like to have people over and invite the neighborhood kids into our garage and pass out snacks and bottles of water. Drives their dad crazy makes me laugh and offer cookies too.

Um. Nothing says fall like an apple pie made from new crop apples. Well, maybe dipping carmel and sliced apples might say fall louder... but not by much! :)

Late Nights and Early Mornings

New blog design. So much lighter than the black, and believe me, I'm stupid when it comes to updating and decorating.

Speaking of which, I went to the fabulous house of a friend, the cute little mama has four daughters like me but smaller. Her house is SO freaking cute! All decorated, cute little artsy fartsy things on the walls. I loved it. then I came home to my house. Not so cute and artsy-fartsy. Oh well, at least it's semi- clean and smells nice. :) I did try and paint my living room. This where the Late nights comes in. Dan had a consulting job out of town and was gone for a week. I took the girls over to their grandparents for their vacation and I came home to work. I got a wild hair up in a dark place and decided "Let's paint!" I picked out these great colors... a Chocolate cherry for the powder room down stairs and Bearded Iris for the great room fire place wall. Picture deep dark brick red and deep dark blue/purple. While I was up a ladder, I remembered on important fact... DAN is the painter in the family, not I. I'm slapping on thick coats of the red in the power room.. decide I need to do two walls instead of the original plan of just one wall. Picture myself, a three hundred pound woman teetering atop a step ladder, straining and stretching to reach the upper left hand corner of the wall directly over the toilet. I think to myself... 'I'd better not put my weight on to the toilet, it'll break... I think I can just reach...' I loose my balance and careen into the wall, my roller swiping across the ceiling on my decent. Nice. Now not only can I not reach the corner, but I cannot reach the ceiling to clean off the paint. Dan is GOING TO KILL me. Good thing I had covered the floor with the drop cloth. By the way, I'm working full time during this rip apart and paint project and Dan keeps calling me to ask me what I'm doing. Am I lonely? Am I getting enough sleep? Do I miss the girls? What am I doing? I'm huffing and puffing and sweating like crazy when I answer the multiple calls. Do I DARE tell him what I'm up to? Ah.. no. I have to say, I love the colors. I really truly love the great room wall... I even remembered how to paint by the time I got to it so it looks pretty good. Now, if only I can finish the guest bedroom....

School is back in... YIPPEE! We've had a few hairy days with Elaina and her need to use the toilet and to remember to eat. Oh, that's right... she ISN'T eating and it's kind of freaking me out. Trying not to over stress her out or to threaten too much. But if she doesn't start eating, we are going to be back on the good ship to hell like we were in May. Dr. Christie has said we may need to start pumping in pedisure at night to maintain weight. That'll be lovely. Can't wait.

Eden told me on the first day of school "Mom! You can leave now!". Gratitude for you. She had a hard day today though. Poor baby. She and Eryn rode their bikes to school... but Eden crashed and burned and ended up needing to come home. She told me "Mom, I just want to stay home and play with Kate and Sadie today," as she is crying broken heartedly. So I let her lay with me in the bed (I'm trying to sleep as I work nights) and cry a little. Then I was a mean MEAN mommy and told her she had to go to school because that was her work. My job was to sleep and she would not want to sleep all day with me. "Yes I would mom! I would take a nap!" Which is when I got up out of bed, coaxed her down stairs, stuffed some chocolate in her weeping mouth ( it worked by the way, dried up those tears in record time.) and drove her to school in my plaid pajamas. Once she got there, she was o.k. This whole day everyday thing is a killer.

Now the sweet babies are all tucked into bed, the dad should be home from teaching City U in the next half hour and I will be off to work. I got to sleep for four hours today. Hopefully I will be busy enough at work to keep awake. If not, there is always zip fizz and diet Dr. Pepper. >!< Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it for this late night, early morning!