Finally Fall Daybook

FOR TODAY

Outside my window...
Fall is here!  The mornings and evenings are gloriously cool with a distinct lack of humidity in the air the rest of the time.  It's verra nice!  Leaves ought to start turning soon; it's still pretty green here.

I am thinking...
About what to write in this space.

I am thankful...
Thankful for beautiful mornings spent outside in the sunshine.

From the school table...
Work, work, work.  Midterms coming up already, so Pip is feeling the pressure!

In the kitchen...
I need to revamp my 7 weeks of menus.  I planned for 6 dinners per week and it's too much.  It often takes more than a week to get through all the dishes and there is too much waste from produce going bad.  It's not saving me any money to be prepared, and the fridge is full of too much food.  As I recall, this happened last time I used these menus, too.  So, I'm going to delete one meal each week, and, maybe, move those to another week.  I may end up with 8 or 9 weeks of meals!

I am wearing...
Workout clothes to go to cross country practice and walk, but Pippo is lying on the floor moaning about it.  :-)  It doesn't take much to convince me!  I'm all for staying home, getting our work started earlier, and resting my sore ankle which now 'clicks' when I try to walk normally.

Of course, now that it's too late to go, I realize that I'm also missing my really nice morning rosary and prayer time.

What I’m doing with fiber...
Oh. My.  This.  (But that doesn't really tell you anything, does it?  It's not a very good blog, even from a bad blogger's perspective.)  There are 9 shops in the metro area participating, and if you go to each one, spend $10, and get your passport stamped, you get entered into a drawing for each store you went to.  If you go to all the stores, you're entered for the grand prize of $1000 worth of yarn and supplies!  I've been, literally, saving my pennies, so I can try to hit all the stores this year.  Everyone wants something knitted for their birthday or Christmas this year, right?

I am going...
To 5 more yarn stores tomorrow. :-D

I am wondering...
What the odds are of winning the Grand Prize this year.  I heard a couple of years ago, that only 2 women made it to all the stores and were entered into the Grand Prize drawing.  Yesterday, one shop owner said that she had already completed the passports of 2 women! So, are they the same 2?  Or will there be a bigger pool?  At least 3, I'm thinking, because of me.  ;-)

I am reading...
Technically, I finished it, but I've been picking it up and re-reading because I enjoyed it so much: Falling for Your Madness by Katherine Grubb.

Eccentric literature professor David approaches Laura for a counter-cultural, rule-filled relationship filled with poetry, flowers and bottom-less cups of tea. He makes it very clear to her that they are just friends. If she wants to be more -- if she wants to be sweethearts -- then she is the only one that can move them forward. Laura is smitten by his humor, his charm, and his English accent (which turns out to be fake). In his company, she has never felt more beautiful or ladylike. David tells Laura that the reason he has these rules is because he is bound by the laws of chivalry, both body and soul. Then Laura finds out the real reason, one that's ancient, filled with legend and magic. Yet Laura has complete control of this madman. Should she release him or tell him she wants more? Is he eccentric or just mad? Falling For Your Madness is not just a romantic comedy, but it also asks the question, who has the most power in a relationship? The lady? Or the gentleman?

It was a light, fun read that took me by surprise, and I could hardly put it down.  I love the way she blended the magical elements of the story with some real truths about how dating relationships should be conducted.

I am hoping and praying...
...for my kids
...for Thomas Peters' complete recovery from his spinal cord injury
...for Elizabeth DeHority whose cancer has returned.  It's very bad news.

Around the house...
Bags of soft, squishy happiness.  (That would be yarn, people!)

One of my favorite things...
Wandering through little knit shops, feeling all the things.  Crazy, right?  Can you relate, or are you totally confused about why someone would do such a thing?

A few plans for the rest of the week...
School, yarn shopping.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...
 
What I did Thursday.  I waxed The Green Thing with Annie Sloan's dark wax over the clear wax.  It was much darker than I expected and I used  a lot of elbow grease to buff it.  The pic on the right is a truer representation of the color; the left looks too muddy.  You can see that I still hadn't done the mirror when I took the pics, but it matches now, too.

Hosted by The Simple Woman's Daybook

Leaving Comments

Since all the buzz around my corner of the internet is about leaving comments, I am dutifully clicking through to the blogs from my Feedly to leave a bit of joy.  How about you?

It's a little harder when I read on my phone----though I LOVE my Feedly app better than the computer, in some ways----so I have to remember to go back when I'm at the computer, but I'm trying.

In case you didn't get it:  That's a hint!  And if you are in the habit of commenting regularly, thank you!  Just like in person, I like to get responses when I talk.  Don't you?

:-)

Favorite School Snack

Now that my kids need to take lunch to school every day, and Meg and Pip have "snack time" (insert big eye roll here), I need to keep them supplied with snacks and sandwich fixin's.  I simply refuse to buy the goldfish that Meg asks for because there is 0 nutrition.

I know---I'm a nutrition snob.  But we do have plenty of times when we eat garbage!  Like the obligatory doughnuts after confession.  It just seems wrong to me to give them something like that on a daily basis when a little effort provides something much better---and they like it more, too.

Oh, and I did buy them Nutella-to-Go once.

Yesterday, we were out of snacks due to a busy weekend with no time or energy to think about it, but it takes only 15 minutes to whip up their absolute favorite treat:

One Minute Fudgies

(there should be sparkles and flashing lights there!)

1/2 C butter

1/2 C cocoa powder

1 C evaporated milk (but I always use whole)

2 c sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 C natural peanut butter

6 C oats

Melt butter, add the cocoa, milk, and sugar, mixing well.  Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute while stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Stir in vanilla and peanut butter.  Last, add oats and mix well.

Let it cool for a few minutes, so you can handle it, and drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet.  Give them a little help making them round, and then you're finished.  No baking necessary!

 And way more nutrition than extruded starchy fish.

I don't know where the recipe for these came from.  It might have been my La Leche League cookbook from many years ago.  There are similar no-bake chocolate cookies on the web that use different amounts of the ingredients.  We tried one last week that everyone loved (like this).  They oozed into a traditional cookie shape and then hardened like pralines.  They were very popular.  I think because the sugar ratio was higher.  ;-)  I'm sticking with my recipe for every day.  In fact, I've been known to put in half the sugar and no one notices!  You could definitely do that if, instead of natural, you use regular peanut butter that has sugar in it.

Let me know what you think!  Have you made something like this before?  I'm always interested in other ideas, if you have them.