Friday Recipe - Hot Apple Cider

This is perfect for a cold night! My neighbor made this for a party she had last year and it is SO good. I have been using her recipe ever since!

Hot Apple Cider
INGREDIENTS:
6 cups apple cider
1/4 cup real maple syrup
2 cinnamon sticks
6 whole cloves
6 whole allspice berries
1 orange peel, cut into strips
1 lemon peel, cut into strips

Pour the apple cider and maple syrup into a large stainless steel saucepan.

Place the cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice berries, orange peel and lemon peel in the center of a washed square of cheesecloth; fold up the sides of the cheesecloth to enclose the bundle, then tie it up with a length of kitchen string. Drop the spice bundle into the cider mixture.

Place the saucepan over moderate heat for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the cider is very hot but not boiling.

Remove the cider from the heat. Discard the spice bundle. Ladle the cider into big cups or mugs, adding a fresh cinnamon stick to each serving if desired.

**NOTE: If you don't have cheesecloth, you can also put spices directly in pan. After the cider is very warm you will need to strain off the spices before serving.**

We mix this up and then put it in a Crock-pot to keep it warm. It also makes the house smell so yummy!

Funny Pumpkin Story...

We were going through some old (old as in 7-8 years ago old) and found some Halloween pictures when the boys were about 2 and 3 years old. Spirit was probably 3, almost 4. He was dressed up like a big fluffy pumpkin. He was so stinkin' cute. I remember when we got the costume, I asked him and asked him if he was sure that was the one he wanted. He was certain. He was so sure he wanted it we couldn't get it off him for days. He slept in it and everything. So anyway, there we were looking at these pictures and here is the conversation that followed:

Spirit: "Mooooommmmmm! WHY did you dress me up like a dorky pumpkin."

Me: "You asked for that costume."

Spirit: "Why did I want that one?"

Me: "Because you were 3. You liked it. You liked it so much you even slept in it. We went to the pumpkin patch and you insisted on wearing it to the pumpkin patch too."

Spirit: "Oh mooooommmm. You did NOT let me wear it to the pumpkin patch."

Me: "Yesssss, I did. You were cute. Honey, you were only 3. It was cute."

Spirit: *Rolling his eyes and shaking his head*

Me: "it wouldn't be so cute if you did it NOW, but it was cute then."

Spirit: "I still can't believe you did that to me."

Did any of you catch that I did not DO this to him?? He chose that costume. Ugh. Typical male, doesn't listen to anything I say.

Fall Break

Seems like the kids just started the school year and here we are already taking a week off for "Fall Break". It technically has been 9 weeks since they started the school year, but it still seems too soon for a week long vacation!

Mr. Man (who gets 3 weeks paid vacation per year!) took this whole week off to be with the boys. Lady Bug still has school and I still have to work so the boys (all 3 of them!) headed out yesterday to go camping...not sure you can really call it "Camping", however, because they are in a trailer that has a propane stove, a microwave, a TV and a DVD player, plus running water and heat. They took their bikes and fishing poles. They should have a good time. Lady Bug and I plan to have a good time too. Last night she got to watch all the princess movies she wanted!!

After work tonight I will go pick up Lady Bug from school and we are planning a trip to the craft store to get a few things. Then we will go home, start the fire, eat some dinner and craft our little hearts out! I can't wait!

Friday recipe - Pumpkin Pinwheels

This is a favorite in our house this time of year. I think this year I might make some as gifts for neighbors. They are pretty and yummy to boot!!!

Pumpkin Pinwheels
INGREDIENTS:
3/4 c flour
1 c white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 c pumpkin puree
3 eggs
1 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbls powdered sugar

FILLING:
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/4 c butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch jelly roll pan or cookie sheet.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice. Stir in pumpkin puree, eggs and lemon juice. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Spread mixture evenly.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Lay a damp linen towel on counter, sprinkle with confectioners sugar and turn cake onto the towel. Carefully roll up the towel (lengthwise) with cake in it. Place cake-in-towel on a cooling rack and let it cool 20 minutes.

Make the filling: Blend cream cheese, butter, vanilla and sugar with a wooden spoon or electric mixer.

When cake has cooled 20 minutes, unroll it and spread filling onto it. Immediately re-roll (not in the towel this time) and wrap with plastic wrap. Keep cake in the refrigerator (or freeze for up to 2 weeks in aluminum foil). Cut the cake in slices just before serving.

My little author

Our oldest, Spirit, who is 8 years old is not the greatest artist. The things that come home from art class are sad little critters, but of course that doesn't stop him from trying.

He is, however, quite creative in many other areas. For instance, some of his favorite things to do are crocheting, he loves to build with Legos and Knex, and his most recent passion is writing. I was reading some short stories he is writing and they are really put together well. His thoughts are well organized and the story flows. Now keep in mind he is only 8 so the stories are very near and dear to an 8 year old boy's heart and not necessarily to that of a 36 year old mom.

Here is one of his short stories:

Jeff the Turtle
Once there was a turtle named Jeff. One day he was walking on the shore when somebody called him weird, slow and stupid. He went in the sea to cry. When he came out of the sea the same person was there and it was a baby. He knocked over the baby because he was raging mad. The baby's dad got so mad he shot the turtle. And that is how turtles got endangered. The End.

And another short story:

Larry the Lizard
Once there was a lizard named Larry. He was a very lazy lizard so his price was only 1 cent. He always laid down in his log and sometimes under his lamp. He was always grumpy too so nobody bought him. Since nobody bought him he started biting now this is a sad story. Because he bit, nobody fed him, so a few days later he died of starvation.

Right now Spirit is working on a "chapter book". The story is about a family whose house gets struck by lightening, but they survive.

Re-purposing a stained t-shirt

I'm sure my kids are the only ones that stain their shirts.... yes? no?

So, whether or not you have a stained shirt to work with or not, here is a cute, fun way that I have found to "hide" the stains so the child can still wear the shirt. However, this only works on little girls, I have yet to figure out what design would work for a boy. Any ideas??

First I took the shirt, you can see in this first picture some blue ink stains I couldn't get out.



Then I penciled in a circle in the middle to create the middle of the flower. I then penciled in some petals for the flower (sorry for the bad picture, I am not good at picture taking anyway, but pencil marks on a pink shirt were hard to capture!) Then I cut out the petals (and also cut out the ink stains!).


I have her wear the shirt with a long sleeve underneath. When I first made these my husband said he was afraid I wouldn't be able to wash them. I can assure you I have washed them and they come out just fine. I haven't had them ravel or anything.


The white shirt has 3 smaller flowers (that don't have a circle in the center) and then I put an "L" in the center (for Lady Bug). The pink shirt just has one big flower. With the white one I have had her wear a white shirt underneath, a black one, a purple one, so it really mixes up the outfit a bit. I love it!

I am pleased with these because she is still able to wear the shirt and the stains are gone (or almost anyway!)


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**UPDATE**

I am working on downloading some pictures, so while I do that I thought I would post a quick update on the bank deposit situation...

After numerous calls yesterday I finally called the banker that we opened our account with 4 or 5 years ago. I explained the situation and my concerns to him that the bank was being so nonchalant about my missing deposit. I explained I had a daycare payment due yesterday that now I would incur a $20 late fee, I explained our cell phone bill being due, and a car payment. So he got into our account and he said it looked like 3 supervisors were in my account at that moment. He asked if he could call me back, he was going to call one of those supervisors. He called me back about an hour later and told me that the supervisor was going to give me a "provisional credit" in my account so I could pay bills while they researched this. I asked if they knew what happened and he all he would say was "yes, they do." when I asked if they lost it he said no and when I asked if it went into someone else's account he choked on his words but wouldn't really say yes or no. Which I figured is my answer! This morning however, the bank called me to say they have credited the deposit to my account. I plan to submit my late fees to them and see if they will reimburse me those amounts. I am still upset over the situation, but at least now (4 days later) I have my money!

For those inquiring minds... the bank rhymes with FACE. :-)