Happy Birthday, Paul!!!

Quote for the Day:

"Son, you outgrew my lap, but never my heart." 

 ~Author Unknown

Today my son, Paul, caught up with me in age.  Today he turns 29 years old!

My firstborn child...and only son...

Sept. 4, 1984 

6 pounds, 15 ounces

Being rocked by my mom so I could make supper... 

Enjoying the paper with Andy...

Some things just defy explanation...

He will forever by my little boy in the blue fleece, footed sleeper.  When I think of him as a child, that's how I picture him...

He ADORED baseball...the only sport he ever truly enjoyed...

 ...and made the cutest little Cub Scout you ever did see.

First time he ever caught a fish...age 13...

He was always clowning around and trying to make people laugh...

In 2005, he married Trinity...

In 2007, he graduated college...

and is now the father of two beautiful boys...

Andrew...

...and Alex.

He is so smart and witty, and I am proud of the man that he has become!   

But he'll always be my little boy in the blue, footed sleeper!  :)

Happy 29th Birthday, Paul! 

Love, 

Mom 

Let me also wish TRINITY a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY as it is HER BIRTHDAY, too! 

Yep...that's right.  She's exactly one year younger than Paul!   Makes it easy for me to remember her birthday!  LOL

Loretta

Homemade Applesauce...

Quote for the Day:

"If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end,

 it would probably be Labor Day Weekend."

~Doug Larson 

Hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day holiday...which is basically your last day off till Thanksgiving!  Unless you are a government employee...which means you will have a half-dozen more holidays between now and Thanksgiving.  Or a nurse...which means you are probably working TODAY and are scheduled for Thanksgiving, too!  :(  

I'm lucky that even though I'm an RN, I work in a department that is Monday through Friday, with weekend call 3 times a year and a holiday call every other year.  :)  Since Labor Day is neither a "work day" nor a "call day" for me, I'm off today!  YAY!

I put the last of the pears and apples into the crock pot yesterday afternoon with one 3" cinnamon stick and about 3 tablespoons of white sugar.  I cooked it on "low" for a few hours and then turned it to "warm" overnight.  

This morning they looked like this...

Had I not have left the peels on the apples and pears, I would have just taken a potato masher and mashed them up a little.  (I kinda like a few chunks in my applesauce.)  However, because I didn't want the peeling just floating around, I went ahead and used my immersion blender and blended them a LITTLE bit.  (Yes, the $2.00 thrifted Braun immersion blender!!!)  

There are still a few chunks, but I tried to blend up the peelings as best as I could.  I got 3.5 pints out of this batch and water-bathed canned the 3 full pints.  

I didn't have any lemon juice to add to the apples/pears to keep them from turning brown, so before putting them in the crock pot, I soaked them in ginger ale soda, which contains citric acid...the ingredient in lemon juice that helps keep fruit from browning.  It kinda worked, but they still turned a little bit brown.  Oh well, I can tell you that it TASTES DELICIOUS!!!   I had some with my lunch today while the sauce was still a little warm!   Mmmmmm!  :)

I'm heading into my sewing room to work some more on the Blue Ridge Beauty quilt.  I'm very close to being done with it!!!

There is a feeling that comes over you when you can see the end in sight!  It's a feeling of satisfaction but also anticipation as you look forward to the NEXT quilt to go into the frame!!!

Loretta

Kitchen Organization...

Those of you who use Pinterest will understand that!  :)

A long while ago, I purchased some items to help organize and make the best use of the limited cabinet space in my smallish kitchen.  One of the items was a pot lid rack made to be mounted inside of a cabinet door.

When I went to attach it to the door, I noted two things:  1)  the screws to attach the rack were too long and would go all the way through even the thickest part of the door;  and 2)  the inside of my cabinet doors are NOT flat, so finding an area to attach it so it was flat and all screws went through the thickest part of the door was not possible.

Because of these two unfortunate turn of events, the rack has sat unused...mocking me.  Well...let it be known I will NOT be beaten by a simple lid rack after I saw something similar on Pinterest and pinned it.  

Ta-da!!!  3M Command Hooks!!!  

No holes in the door, the rack can be mounted on even the thinnest part of the door, and they are easily removable if I decide to move it!!!  (Yes, Erin, I know that some of the Command Hooks are not straight, but my OCD can live with it!  Take a deep breath...)    :)

I just noticed from the pictures that it looks like the second and third lids are not in order of size.  Now THAT will have to be corrected!  LOL  


And now...for the Grandma section of the blog...
Two new pictures of my grandsons, Andrew & Alex!!  

Andrew is an EXCELLENT big brother...very loving with Alex.  Loves to give him kisses and hold him!  :)

Alex has learned to smile!!! 


I put the last of the apples and pears in the crock pot to make pear-apple sauce!  I'll let you know how it turns out!

Loretta