in an attempt at literary redemption

It seems that the only time I blog about literature lately is when I talk about my latest Regency-era romance read. :) So in an effort to redeem myself, I want to mention two of my favorite recent reads (that are more "substantial" than Jane Austen!)

I found this book on our bookshelf and when I pulled it off and decided to read it, I realized that it belongs to our pastor...oops! Apparently, he must have loaned it to my husband awhile back and I didn't realize it and shelved it. And there it sat. Anyhow, it's going to get returned, just as soon as my pastor and his dear family return from Africa. (We miss them!)

With the exception of the Word of God, this book has had more impact on me than any other book I have read in the last year, at least. The title is The Peacemaker and the topic is Biblical conflict resolution. And while I'm not embroiled in any sort of horrible conflict, the topic intrigued me (being a natural lover of peace and loather of conflict). The more I read, the more I realized how valuable these Biblical truths were to so many areas of life...relationships, parenting...there is conflict all around us, even if things are going smoothly. This book pointed out several powerful truths from God's Word regarding true humility and forgiveness.

Here's another good one. My sister loaned me this one, and I have fallen in love with it! Mainly because it makes me fall in love with my son all over again! A great read for moms of boys. Love it!

So what are some of your favorite recent reads?

a few projects by my Man

A few weeks ago, my Man took a vacation day as a "Help Abbi" day. Which of course sang my music. :) He did a few things around the house that he didn't have time for in the previous weeks, due to his crazy deadline schedule.


He painted the kids' portrait frames. They looked OK hung in our dining room, but unifying them all to black really made the grouping tie into the dining room. Plus the room looks so much better when the table isn't covered with our homeschool junk. :) Which is the way it looks about 90% off the time! (Krylon Fusion spraypaint is awesome, by the way!)





In our living room, we have a whitewashed curio cabinet, and my computer armoire and lateral file (functioning as an end table) are both painted whitewash. So this oak end table, which we have had since we got married, just didn't fit.

He primed it (with spray paint) and then painted it (with spray paint). I picked up a new pull (on clearance) at Lowe's which he put on for me.

And for a few dollars, it's a newer table!

Excuse the fall decorations plunked on top of it, and the basket of readers sitting nearby. The "new" table matches nicely in the living room, thanks to my Man. :)

the caramel apple

The "big" kids and I made caramel apples one afternoon while Gracie was away. It was a sweet and tender way to embrace fall. :)






Joey used his muscles (muscle demonstration must always be included when males are cooking)...



...to crush peanuts, which he did so vigorously.

They're goofballs.

They might not have been the prettiest caramel apples out there....

But we surely had fun making them! And then we used them as favors at the little party we threw a few days later.

homemade Carvel-like ice cream cake

"Anonymous" asked for the recipe for the to-die-for homemade Carvel-like ice cream cake that my sister made for a family birthday party recently. I can't find the exact recipe she used (although if you spent more than 2 seconds trying to find it, you might!), but here is how I remember her describing the process:

Line a 9x13 pan with foil. Soften a carton of vanilla ice cream on the counter for a few minutes. Press the ice cream into the bottom of the pan, so it covers it in a nice even layer. Throw it into the freezer, while you crush some oreos (can't remember how many). Once they are fairly well crushed, pour some Magic Shell topping into them while stirring them around to coat and form the all-important "crunchies" layer of the ice cream cake!

Pull the pan out of the freezer, and press these onto the vanilla layer to form another equal layer. Pop it back into the freezer.

Soften a carton of chocolate ice cream and repeat the process. Allow it to chill in the freezer overnight, or at least for several hours. Then pull it out and invert it onto your serving dish and ice the whole thing with Cool Whip. Throw it back in the freezer. You can put some Cool Whip into a bag and pipe it to create borders etc. Use gel icing to "write" on the cake quickly so that it won't defrost while trying to ice it with traditional icing.

Just prior to serving, allow it to sit on the counter for a minute or two.

Voila! Ice cream cake that really tastes a lot like Carvel, but for much less $$!

It works-for-me!

orchard day

A few weeks ago, we decided to do some apple picking with some friends.

The fun started with some of these…

…which put a smile on this guy’s face, of course. :)

The kids LOVED the open “bus” ride out to the orchard! I couldn’t believe how fast he drove that thing!

The kids had fun picking apples…

…and eating them…

…and running around…

…and feeding the animals, and sliding down the giant slide and all of the other fun things they had there. Praise the Lord for nature and good friends!

dull of hearing

A few months ago, my youngest daughter and I were spending some rare, one-on-one quality time together on a warm, sunny spring day, when I noticed that she wasn’t listening to me. I realize that this sounds like typical three-year old behavior, but as the afternoon wore on, I began noticing it more and more: she simply could not hear normal sounds. Naturally, I was slightly alarmed... ...read more here...

applesauce by the numbers

So the Great Applesauce Day 2009 has come and gone. I wasn't in a picture-taking mood, but it looked much like last year's adventure.

My kids were SUCH a huge help, I couldn't have done it without them! They all took turns milling the sauce and they washed all of the apples, loading and unloading the the sink, shuffling around jars, dumping the peels etc. Lily helped fill the pots with apples and generally was my right-hand-girl the whole day. I'm so thankful for my kids! So rather than show pictures of the same old process, I thought I would post the stats:

• 170+ lbs of apples (8 baskets or 4 bushels)
• Number of apple varieties used: 4 (Winesap, Empire, Blushing Gold, Golden Delicious)
• 1 mother, 3 helpers
• Time started: after 10:00am, much later than I preferred
• Number of Apple Farming for Kids viewings: 2
• Number of quarts yielded: 65+
• Number of times that I cracked a jar while it was in the canner: 1 (ugh!)
• Number of jars canned: 50
• Number of quarts frozen: 14 (the rest was eaten!)
• Price per quart: less than $0.80
• Time that the last jar came out of the canner: 10:00pm

burlap bunting

I followed the little tutorial found here, and made this burlap bunting for the party that I threw for my friend's birthday. Instead of buying a stencil, I printed out letters on cardstock (making them the size that I wanted) and cut them out to form a stencil.





It was quick and easy. I'm thinking that maybe Lily and I will make one that says "Give Thanks" or something like that, for Thanksgiving.

surprise, surprise

A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of hosting a surprise birthday party for a sweet friend! Sarah's husband called my husband and asked if we could help him plan something to surprise his wife.

We had so much fun packing our house full of friends and we totally surprised her!

Sarah and her Grace (who is one of my Grace's best friends!)

Fun times!

hello y'all

I'm still here and kicking! Life has been busy and I guess I'm continuing the same blogging pattern that I have been in since the beginning of school. That is: pre-blog a whole bunch of stuff, sprinkle in a few current things along the way, and then weeks later, repeat. :) I've missed you all, by the way!

We've been busy with school, which, praise the Lord, is continuing on consistently. The kids have all had a touch of the flu (?) this week. It's been rather mild and characterized by a low-grade fever, and that's about it. So hopefully if this is "it" we're over "it" and can move onto the holidays without worry of contracting "it." :)

We've enjoyed several fall-ish activities and projects, that hopefully I will share on here...still trying to "embrace fall" which has been rather beautiful in Pennsylvania this year!

We got some fresh cow for the freezer, again. I don't know why, but I like to call it "cow" rather than "beef." And this time, the girls went to the farm with me to pick it up so they could see where their food comes from. I asked the farmer's wife and she said they don't name the cows, which I was grateful to learn. :) And when all was paid up, I realized that all of our hard work at this year's yardsale paid off, and I earned all but $18 needed to buy our cow! Yay!

We're gearing up for the holidays...as of this afternoon, I have the second Thanksgiving sidedish put in the freezer. I have my menu made and hopefully hosting this year will be as much fun as it was last year!

Our great Applesauce Day 2009 is coming up shortly! The apples are making my garage smell lovely!

I did a little Christmas shopping yesterday which was oodles of fun! The stores are already packed and I scored some good bargains. (and somehow a pair of shoes and a pair of boots, both in MY size came home with me! Not sure how that happened?!) My sister and I are scouring the Black Friday ads in anticipation of our early-morning shopping adventure!

Some progress has been made in the home-front decorating department...more on that later.

All-in-all it's been a great autumn! And with the chill in the air, I find myself *almost* anticipating winter! :)

So how have you all been doing?