I got invited to a party last Sat for the Red Hat group. I got all kinds of grief because I'm TOO YOUNG to be there, which was kind of fun. I told them I was 65 and I got more grief. It was great. Anyway our activity was to try our hand at painting vegetables with the help of a professional artist (my neighbor's sister-in-law) . She came down from Seattle to visit. Most ladies painted a pear. One lady tackled some radishes. I painted a red pepper. I don't think any of us finished, but here's my half finished attempt. It took about 1/2 hour.

It's acrylic on water color paper. And now it's in my cupboard with other painted forgetables. I love to paint, but who has time, ya know?

Time for dessert

We had an RS dinner a few weeks ago and had apple cake with carmel sauce for dessert. I was the only one who exercised no self control and went back for seconds. You may already have a recipe like this, but if not, you gotta try it!!!

Here it is:

4 C apples, peel, dice
2 C sugar
1/2 C oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
2 C flour
2 tsp soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Mix by hand: all dry ingredients then add oil and eggs, then apples. Grease adn flour 9X13 pan. Pour mixture in pan and bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Sauce:
1/2 C butter
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C can milk
1 tsp vanilla

Cook in small saucepan until bubbly. Do not burn. Pour over cake. Can add whipped topping too.
Enjoy! I didn't add walnuts when I made it last night and it's still fabulishious.

Start your day with a bang?

The youngest came in this morning when I got home from dropping off his brother at school and said, "I've got some good news and some bad news...

The good news is: I'm ready for school!," and then he posed. "The bad news is: There is something wrong with the car!!"

What he didn't know, was that I already knew there was something wrong with the car since I had spent the last 30 minutes talking to a nice police officer at the scene of the accident I caused.
The car was still steaming and hissing like a snake.

The motorcylist I hit is fine. The other car driver he hit is fine. I'll be paying the fine.

Glancing for a second at the sign on the local grocery store announcing a case lot sale was not worth starting the day off with a 'bang'.

Owwie

I got a little owwie the other day. I was in a hurry-- on my way to get the cookie monster to a soccer game and needed to stop at the grocery store for a couple of 'Mini me' sandwiches they sell. I knew we would both be hungry and the game was a half hour drive away, so I stopped and we jumped out of the car and ran in and grabbed some mini me's and water and a few chips and hurried thru checkout as fast as anyone can hurry that is and got on our way.

The snow and ice remover was under the driver's seat. The flat scraper end was sticking out, so when I hurried to get out of the car to run into the store, I caught my leg on the edge of the scraper. Ouch! It hurt. It left a whitish line. No damage. Run! By the time we got to check out, that whitish line was bleeding. No time for bleeding boo boos! Run!

Back in the car, I found a kleenex while cookie monster found his first aid kit in his soccer bag and gave me a bandaid and some ointment. What a boy scout!

Bandaid covered owwie and so we were off to the game. No worries. The next day I went for my usual hike up the hill with the doggie, got home to shower and lo and behold my owwie had blossomed into an early Halloween decoration!!

Here it is. Ugh!

Mother Hubbard finally cleaned her cupboard

You know how you go through those times when things in your house drive you crazy, because you haven't had time to get to them???? Ok, maybe you get to them, but I just somehow don't. Anyway I had one of those days, (they amazingly come cyclically) when everything was driving me nuts and so I started with the bathroom and cleaned it with a vengeance. Then I went after the laundry and then the kitchen. I scoured and magic erasered like a mad woman. I was the germ terminator with a double holster of bleach and lysol. Yippee-Ky-yea!

Then I open the cupboard. Hummmmm, hot chocolate raspberry, hot chocolate mint truffle, hot chocolate cocoa.... what's that?, a jar of homemade wassail powder(gift of neighbor), another jar homemade wassail powder (gift of the same neighbor), another and another and another, and another and another. 7 jars of homemade wassail with the Merry Christmas note still attached! Gees I'm pathetic!

I haven't gotten around to making Wassail for 7 years! Wow. You can only do that in December, right? Unfortunately, because of my rabid need for order and space, it's on it's way out along with an assortment of canned clams, crab and other ancient non edible items.

The seagulls that hang out at the landfill will smell Christmas in the air a little earlier this year.