Today and some blogging shifts

Today was a really good day! It all started with my coffee when I realized (to my embarrassment) that all of the coffee mugs were dirty. Actually, most of our dishes were dirty... I was really afraid that this was a bad start, but it actually turned out to be the perfect start. While the water got hot (our kitchen water takes forever) I cleared enough space to organize my dishes. My sister-in-law laughs at me every time, but that's just how I learned to do it. I start by sorting them by type (glasses get lined up, silver ware gets put in the biggest dirty bowl/dish, plates get stacked etc.) then I set them up in order that they will be washed; glasses first, then silverware, followed by big plates, little plates, cereal bowls etc. etc. etc. I got all of the glasses and mugs washed by the time the coffee had brewed, so I poured myself a cup and called Heather to give her the lasagna recipe she wanted. I walked over to the table, and tried to move my chair back. Hmmm, have to move the bags of apples first...okay, move the....Gross!!! :-S The bottom two layers of apples had gone bad in one of the bags and leaked all over the floor...you know, that nasty sticky stuff? So while trying to remember the lasagna recipe and thinking about my ever cooling cup of coffee, I sorted apples and mopped up the mess. I realized that apples would be the project for the day, since without that bag, I had a half bushel of apples stacked on my counter. I also noticed that my floors have not been properly vacuumed and mopped in about forever, and that one really clean spot really Really stood out. So floors too. After today I am very in love with my new pairing knife. It pealed the apples so beautifully, and she and I really did peal allot of apples today! I filled my roasting pan for applesauce, and then my crock pot for apple butter. At this pint, Jenny was asking me what "these" were, which reminded me that I needed to cook up all of those butternut squash. There were allot of them!-7 or 8

this one's insides looked just like a tree :)

While I was working, the kids were busy with their own project in t

he other room...tent building:

This is the sweet face that greeted me when I knocked :)

And this is what they did when I asked t see what they were doing...you see, you sleep in tents ;)

Here is the fruit of today's labor (minus the shiny floors!)...

3qts. of applesauce, 10 cups of squash, and the apple butter cooking away!
This is the shelf in our freezer where I keep things I have made; this morning it had two containers f my homemade meat sauce (I started with the whole tomatoes and everything!), 1lb pre-cooked hamburger and onion, and 1qt of applesauce I made last week. (Darker than today's because of the brown sugar and more cinnamon.)

Here it is at the end of the day! Full already, and I still have 1.5 bushels of apples to be processed into sauce, butter and pie filling. :)

And here is a peak at my current knitting project...a hat for my sister:

As for the blogging shifts, I just wanted you all to know that I am trying to figure out the best way to work this... I like having the other blog, but juggling the two isn't going as well as I had hoped. I should get everything figured out in the next few days though!