Finally Friday

I'm struggling again to get moving...I guess this is just the way it's going to be for now. This week has seemed to drag, must be because of the weather. 

I enjoyed your comments on yesterday's post...snouts and tails??? LOL!! I had no idea those were a traditional part of Scrapple!! YUCK!! I'll be wary if I have the opportunity to eat it made by someone else!

I will continue chipping away at my project list today as well as spend the afternoon at the organ, so much music to practice for holiday events coming up! No students scheduled today and I don't have to cook, we have enough left overs, so that gives me a more relaxed day.

I'll have more to chat about later....

From The Kitchen

I really must stop dawdling over my coffee every morning - I'm just not getting the things done I need to do. How can I discipline myself to save my computing until evening?? This is my wake up time, my time to connect with friends and the rest of the world...and coffee...let's not forget the coffee. 

I have been a day ahead all week as if time isn't flying by fast enough! I have to keep checking my calendar for the day, date and what students I have scheduled. Today I have four, beginning at 2:30 and ending at 7:30. 

I have no idea what is for supper tonight...I may have to make another quiche because I forgot to take meat out of the freezer again. 

Have you ever heard of scrapple?? It's something my mother-in-law used to make all the time and Hubby loves it. In 33 years of marriage I have never attempted it until yesterday. I did good. It's missing something...a seasoning...it doesn't have quite the right flavor, but Hubby liked it. I'm going to write my MIL (one more thing to add to the to-do list) and ask her if she remembers her recipe. Here's the one I made:

Scrapple
2 C. ground pork (MIL used the meat from pork hocks she got from the meat counter, I think leftover pork, roast beef, sausage, chicken, turkey would all work - I used ground pork this time and it was fine, though the pieces of meat were a bit large. You want small pieces so the cornmeal stays together).  
3 C. meat broth
1 C. corn meal 
1 1/2 t. sage
Combine meat and broth. Heat to boiling. Add sage and salt and pepper to taste - I just added salt and pepper at serving. Sift in corn-meal slowly, stirring constantly. Cook 30 minutes (I didn't do this step and I don't see it was any worse off...maybe it's just to blend the flavor more?) Pour into mold (I used a bread pan because that's what MIL always used) Chill until firm. Cut in thin slices and fry until browned. 
We've enjoyed this recipe this week for both breakfast and lunch along with a quiche I made. 

Last night we got a craving after supper...for cake. So, though I rarely bake anymore (because I eat it), I baked a cake...my favorite fall cake, a recipe from my mother...I'm not sure where she found it.

Oatmeal Cake
Pour 1 1/2 C. boiling water over 1 C. quick oats and let stand for 25 minutes. 
Cream together and add:
1 C. brown sugar
1 C. white sugar (in my attempts to be healthier, I substituted coconut palm sugar and succanaut)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla 
1/2 C. butter 1 1/3 C. flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes - use toothpick test.
Topping:
1 stick (1/2 C.) butter
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 C. canned milk (I used almond milk. Milk of your choice will work, the result just isn't as thick)
Melt over low flame and pour over cake while warm...cool cake slightly first. 
Makes 2 round pans or 1 9x13 pan

I've decided though I'm not going completely off my eating plan, I'm going to relax a bit until after the holidays. Thank you for all your sweet comments both here and on FB regarding the pictures I posted. I'm enjoying them, but my face is much fuller (and the rest of me LOL) than it should be and come first of the year, I must take care of that...pain or not!

Let me know if you try either of these recipes and what you think of them. ENJOY!

Photo Shoot

It's been a busy week...Sunday was the LSMTA Piano Recital, my students all did well. Hubby saved the day again by printing the programs at the last minute and serving refreshments when he noticed the rest of us got caught talking. 

Monday I went down the hill for organ practice time and had a scary trip back home; I'm trying to decide whether or not I should continue that trek during the winter months. Because of the snow, I've had several cancellations and reschedules lately, the reschedules I don't mind so much, but the cancellations sure cut into my budget at a tough time of year. I have three scheduled for today and two of them are very late...maybe they're not coming? 

I have a grocery trip I need to do for our Thanksgiving week, but customers have not been paying in a timely manner, so we are behind. Please pray I can pay bills and get the food I need to feed my kids when they arrive. 

I have a very long list of small projects that need doing...I won't bore you with it, just know that I am overwhelmed by it and by the amount of music I have to learn between now and Christmas so please pray for me. Daughter #2 is our budding photographer...she really does quite well and we are hoping to be able to purchase a camera for her for graduation. Last weekend she borrowed the camera from work so she could get some good shots of herself for her web page and resume and I mentioned how I'd like to have some good photos of me at the organ,so we took full advantage and had a great time doing a photo shoot. She took all these pictures, even the ones of herself (technically), she got everything all set up and all that had to be done was click the shutter. I hope you enjoy....

Our daughter #2 and soon to be college graduate in search of a job..Pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Scientific and Technical Communication, a minor in Journalism and a certificate in Media with a concentration in Marketing. 

What I do: Communication, Collaboration, Photography, Design, Technical Writing, Creative Writing, Editing, Marketing, Publications, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, Cumulus, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint.

And if the job has anything to do with bicycles, that will just be icing on the cake !

Hubby and Me on a brisk Sunday morning before church: 

And finally, my long awaited pictures of me at the organ. Mentor chose his favorite and wanted me to add it to my email signature and so I have done. He also told me I needed to share it with Gordon; he said "he'd be so proud":

Stay safe and warm!

Throwback Thursday

Yes...I'm participating in Throwback Thursday...my first. I don't know how often I'll do this, but it works for today. I've been working to clean and organize my computer files like I mentioned in yesterdays blog entry and I wanted to share a couple with you today.

The first one is only a throwback to last weekend...LOL. I began making artist trading cards again...I'm not real happy about it because though they are fun, they take up way too much time that I want to spend scrapbooking. Why am I doing it you ask? Well, since the scrapbook store closed, just like I feared, I have lost touch with my friends from there. Without the store, we don't have a reason to get together regularly and easily except for the monthly ATC meeting. SOooo...in order  to see my friends I'm making ATC's. :P Anyway, I was not excited about the ones I made this month, so I didn't take any photos of them, but while we were at our meeting, our hostess took our picture of us posing with her cat, Bob.

Three of these ladies are dear friends and have taught me so much about paper crafting...we have so much fun when we're together. Mary is next to me, Linda is next to her (she is the expert on "tea bag folding" and "spirelli"), and across the counter from her is Jeanne (I can't even count the number of things she has taught me). At the bottom of the photo is Mary Ann, I don't know her very well, only from the ATC meetings. I am planning a get together after the holidays to have them over for a crop.

The second photo throws us back much further. In my file organizing project, I've run across an annoyance on my computer. I can click on a file, open it up to view, then click the arrow which should take me to the next photo on the list, but instead it jumps around randomly to other photos and I haven't been able to figure out where it goes or why it chooses to display the particular photos it displays. It's quite annoying when trying to work with a specific group of photos. Anyway, I was working away and clicked on this recent photo of me and my son on his wedding day.

It's a new favorite of mine for obvious reasons. I then clicked the next arrow and it took me here:

Suddenly the tears were flowing. Pretty weird if you ask me.

Three students scheduled for today...one made it so far, the others just rescheduled for tomorrow, so I'm done for the day. Calico beans for supper tonight with corn bread. Not much excites me about food these days, but this does. :)

 Well, I'm making a little progress with my project, more to come...stay tuned...

Oh My Goodness !!

We certainly do have a lot to catch up on! I had to go back and read up on what I posted last...I almost got lost trying to find my way around LOL! So here's the plan...there is a lot to share and I don't want to overwhelm you all in one post, so I will be working on the project of sorting and cleaning out my computer files and pictures and sharing things with you as I go along. By the time I finish, we should be all caught up...that is if I can do it fast enough LOL. 

So we got our first big storm of the season yesterday, dumping approx. 24 inches of unwelcome white stuff. Here is a picture of our downtown that someone posted on Facebook:

Most of my students yesterday and today cancelled so I started a major cleaning project that has been waiting for me for weeks. I cleaned the kitchen walls and ceiling to get rid of what swatting mosquitoes this summer left behind. I still have the rest of the house to do, but it's a start. While in the kitchen I also cleaned the stove, refrigerator, microwave, windows, coffee cart and counters. I hope to get to the cabinet door fronts soon and clean out the cupboards. I'm saving floor scrubbing until after the family leaves after the holidays. No sense cleaning before we have 6 dogs in the house!!

So with the coming of winter, I will spend today sharing our last bit of summer with you. We had a garden again this year, but it struggled due to our colder than normal temperatures. One day as the season was winding down and I was out picking some of the last of our produce and I snapped a few photos of the plants as they were going to seed. 

Hubby tilled it under and got the manure on it just in time before the snow began to fly! I'm already missing my tasty veggies...I'm so spoiled! I cooked up some frozen spinach from the store the other day and it was so bad I couldn't finish it! :P I even had a friend out there this year, though I was never able to get his picture. I named him Timothy (after the NCIS character Timothy McGee), he was a toad and I thought he truly did remind me of Sean Murray! He didn't seem too frightened of me as long as I watched where I stepped. His favorite place to hide was under the spinach! 

Well I hope you enjoyed the last of summer with me, I enjoyed visiting the garden one last time. 

More updates to come, stay tuned....