Pumpkin update

(FYI--this was one of Shiloh's first pictures! I got the "Emily's mom lets her take pictures" and caved.)

So our "pumpkin" yielded 8 c. of stuff, enough for 2 pies, 2 loaves of bread, and 12 muffins. The white flesh + pumpkin pie spices yielded sort of a dingy brownish-grey result. I filled the muffin tins and one of the loaf pans too full and have yuckies all over the bottom of my oven. And I still have pots and pans all over the kitchen because I was too tired and lazy to finish cleaning up last night. But everything tasted decent.

Now I have some cleaning up to do before Babysitter Ashley gets here to let me go find someplace quiet (and hopefully warm!) and do nothing for 3 hours.

Pumpkin pie...mmmmm....

Every year we go to the pumpkin patch.

And every year we make pie. Yeah, it's a lot of trouble (and goo) to get something we could buy for $5 in the frozen food section at Top Foods. But one of my quirks is that I need them to know that pumpkin pie doesn't come from the store, that zebras don't live in the zoo, that Christmas trees don't come from the parking lot, and that wood doesn't come from Home Depot. Of course I could just wait until they're older and tell them. But it's so much more fun to show them. :)

Anyway, the lady at the pumpkin patch told us that the white "pumpkin" (I think they call it a Ghost Pumpkin) makes great pie "because of the dark orange flesh". I cut it open....and the flesh
was as white as the pumpkin. Hmmm....I'm sure with enough cinnamon and nutmeg and sugar it'll taste fine, regardless of the color.

So I think with the pumpkin pie making and the leaves changing and the sub-freezing temperatures (well, 29 degrees, anyway) and our church's Harvest Carnival, I'm declaring this Harvest Week at our house. Which means a few fall-themed projects and maybe we'll even get bundled up and go for a walk one of these afternoons.

Have a great day!

Thought I'd post this before I head off to bed.

Which means I'm a liar, since I had my second cup many hours ago.

On the other hand, I forgot to order decaf at Starbucks this evening, so I may be up for a while anyway. Dang it.

Anyway, I love the Autumn Leaves blogs! This is inspired by a challenge on the Designing with Color blog:



Happy Friday!

Getting back on track with the old blogeroo

As some of you may have noticed (well, probably only Mimi, and maybe Cat), I've been a bit inconsistent in my blogging of late. I think I was getting to the point where I was just blogging for the sake of blogging, something most busy moms just don't have time for. Lately, however, I've been appreciating how useful blogs are for sharing, connecting, getting to know someone's thoughts that they might not share elsewhere. Because lets face it--blogging is talking about yourself/myself. When else do we have an unlimited amount of time/space to talk about whatever's in our minds? Dan's eyes would roll back into his head permanently if I tried to do that to him (which is probably why he rarely reads my blog....)

Anyway.

On the agenda for the rest of the week is the Great Clothing/Shoes Swap of 2006, part 2. For most parents who have more than one child of the same sex and/or friends with older kids, and who don't have an unlimited clothing budget, hand-me-downs are a fact of life. We are blessed to get PILES of clothes from a co-worker of Dan's every month, perfect condition Gap and Old Navy outfits that are only a couple years old, boy and girl, enough for about 5 kids. As well as clothes from my mom, and her neighbor, and a few other people. And of course we keep everything that Shiloh grows out of for Mariah, and then for Esther. Because things get ripped or stained or are the wrong season whatever.

HOWEVER, swapping them out every time we need to move up a size is right up there with getting my toenails slowly ripped out, one by one. Unloading the entire storage area to get to the boxes I need, sorting clothes into piles of "outgrown Shiloh", "new Mariah", "outgrown Mariah", "new Esther", "Goodwill", "wash, then Goodwill", "next summer-Mariah", "next summer-Esther", and on. And then the kids come and get into one of the piles the second I walk away to get the phone or whatever. And Dan's less-than-thrilled disposition when he comes home to the aforementioned piles (I won't list them again). Seriously, my house looks like the Goodwill kids section threw up in it for about a week every time I do the Swap.

So this week I have a plan that will hopefully minimize the kid clothes barf...we'll see if it helps. For perspective/sympathy, I've posted the closet in the girls' room, just so you all can see what three girls sharing a closet in a small house looks like on a good day.

And with that, I'm off. :)