Song of the day

Today Pandora is the DJ while I clean the house, cough, cough. Okay I am not killing myself but I did mop the floors. I think maybe I want to play more than one song for you today. I can offer you a cup of tea, a glass of wine, or whatever you have on hand that you really like. We will listen to music together and have a lovely chat. Ready or not.

There is a little game we like to play called worst case scenario (I have a feeling that most military family's play this game at one time or another.) It is not a fun game. What happens if my husband gets deployed for a year, and then gets hit with a short tour to Korea. It would be two years of separation from my favorite person. I say don't worry we own this house. We have friends. We will be okay. It would be the hardest two years ever but we will make it to the other side. He looks at me with those beautiful eyes and my heart hurts a little at the idea but I try not to show it. Because as hard as it is for me to be left waiting I know it is harder for him to be the one who leaves. Although we don't play this game very often it does come up from time to time. It is a way for both of us to reassure each other that we are okay through thick and thin. It the way it is in this life.

 

Frankly sometimes Pandora plays all the right songs sometimes  she cuts like a knife. Have I told you that I love Bon Jovi? Oh I do.  I do. I'll be there for you these five words I swear to you.

 

Tom Petty is here too. Sing along, I know you know the words. Now I am free, free fallin.

 

You see Pandora knows when she has gone too far. Then she plays me The Planets, Suite for Large Orchestra, Op. 32: IV. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity. I love this song. More wine, tea, coffee, anything? So how are you doing? I am already feeling the Jollity.

I think this is a wonderful song. It is starting to lighten up the mood. See we are laughing already. Maybe we we talk about the craziest thing we ever did. For me it was getting married. You see I never really wanted to be married until I did and a month later I was. Then you know I moved across land and sea to be with him.

Now I have to warn you not only am I singing this song because I know it by heart I am dancing. So come one on your feet dance with me friend.

We dancing now! Can you mash potato. Tell me, tell me! I wanna Know.

Well now that I am all out of breath. Thanks for stopping by and visiting with me. I feel so much better.

 

 

I hope you day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well friends.

Poetry Thursday

Today is the last day of Emily Dickinson.. Thank you for following along with me. Today's poem is I'm Nobody! Who are You?

I'm Nobody! Who are you? (260)
by Emily Dickinson
I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there's a pair of us! Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell one's name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog!

I hope that your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Recipe Tuesday Squash

Today I am feeling a little under the weather today so I am going to do an easy recipe. Sauteed squash.

Yellow squash (I used 6 but I feed four people and everyone loves squash around here.)
Butter about 2-3 tablespoons or a two inch chuck out of a stick.
3 cloves of garlic (more or less to taste)
Onions are good too
salt and pepper

Slice the squash and onions. Mean while melt the butter in a pan. When the butter is melted throw all of the ingredients into the butter. Cook the squash to desired tenderness. 5-15 minutes. This makes a great side dish for chicken or if you are a vegetarian you can toss the squash with your favorite pasta and Parmesan cheese. It makes a great meal.


So I forgot to take a picture of my squash. So I borrowed this one from here. Also it has a recipe for sauteed squash minus garlic. Google any recipe and you are bound to find a million of mostly the same recipes. I have spent lots of time comparing recipes before I decide on which one to use. Even the squash I have never used a recipe for sauteed squash but still there it is waiting to be found. I hope you try the squash because it is wonderful.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Poetry Thursday

Alright I normally like to mix up the poetry but it looks like this month is all Emily Dickinson. I hope you don't mind. This video starts by telling the viewer a little about Emily Dickinson. I swear to you the more I discover about the Poet the more I wonder how I got my previous assumption. This just proves that I need to be more open to things and not judge so quickly.  Today's poem is I Started Early, Took My Dog by Emily Dickinson.

I started Early – Took my Dog – (656)

By Emily Dickinson 1830–1886 Emily Dickinson

I started Early Took my Dog

And visited the Sea

The Mermaids in the BasementBasement i.e., the bottom of the ocean

Came out to look at me 

And FrigatesFrigates fast and highly maneuverable warships of the 18th and 19th centuries, used to escort other larger ships, or to patrol the coast and blockade harbors  in the Upper Floor

Extended Hempen HandsHempen Hands strong, thick ropes made of hemp, used on ships 

Presuming Me to be a Mouse

Aground oponopon upon the Sands

But no Man moved Me till the Tide

Went past my simple Shoe

And past my Apron and my Belt

And past my BoddiceBoddice bodice; an upper part of a woman’s dress, or a rigid, laced corset worn underneath clothing, covering the upper part of a woman’s body too

And made as He would eat me up

As wholly as a Dew

Opon a Dandelion's Sleeve

And then  I started  too   

 I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Recipe Tuesday Spaghetti Sauce take one

As promised today is the first spaghetti sauce post. Why say the first you ask? Good question because I want to give you more than one way to make sauce to help prove how easy it is to make and to encourage you to make up your sauce as you go. If you search google for spaghetti sauce recipes there are bond to be a billion different ways to do it. Maybe there are better ways than my way but we like it around here. In my opinion the only two things you need for spaghetti sauce are tomatoes and wine and even the wine is debatable. This is how I made the sauce tonight.


Trisha's (You name should go here) not so world famous spaghetti sauce.

Ingredients

Olive oil (but any vegetable oil works)
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 small onion
3-5 cloves of garlic
3 small carrots
Herbs (oregano, thyme, basil, or that Italian herb mix you can get at the store)
mushrooms (I don't know. Erin maybe 8 - or a package of sliced how much do you like mushrooms?)
Red wine (I like Cabernet Sauvignon but I used Pinot, sometimes I use Merlot tonight. So any red you have on hand will do)
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp sugar

Water
Pasta
Are you new to wine? I like Barefoot wines $5, Simply Naked $8, Cupcake $8, confession I also like Trader Joe's $3 wine.  The trick is to use wine that you enjoy drinking. It really does add something extra to it

Directions

If you are in a hurry you can put your water on to boil. Give yourself a little window and turn the heat on to medium heat. Pour some olive oil into your pan and turn on the heat to about medium. Dice your onion, mince your garlic, and roughly chop your carrot and throw it in your pan.

While your vegetables are cooking now is a good time to chop up your mushrooms. If you have slice mushrooms get them ready to go into the pot.

I got these mushrooms from a local farm yum! Okay so I went to the Farmers Market and bought 2 pounds. It still counts.

Get ready to open your cans. Okay so I was going to use sauce but changed my mind. Do what I say not what I take pictures of. 1 can crushed tomatoes and 2 cans diced.

This is what your sauce will look like.

Now is a good time to add your herbs.

Today I used oregano, and thyme. Also add your salt and pepper and your red pepper flakes just a shake or two. and your sugar. Stir it all up.

Now comes the wine. One for the sauce and one for you.

This is how the sauce looks after the wine.  By now your water should be boiling so you can either cook your pasta now or let the sauce cook down a little for ten or so minutes. You will know the thickness you like. But if you cook the noodles now dinner will be ready when they are. The sauce might be a touch runny but no big deal it will still be thicker than store bought sauce. If you don't like chunky sauce run it through the blender. This means spaghetti sauce is a great way to hide vegetables such as eggplant, and squash. You can also brown some grass fed beef before you through in the onions if you like meat in your sauce. I like it with out the meat.

 

Here is my finished sauce

So I had a hard time getting a picture with out steam in it. But I kind of like the steam in this one.

 

 I recommend you put cheese on top of your spaghetti and sing while you eat. I prefer cheddar or Parmesan but use the kind you have to shred yourself. Or your favorite kind.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Poetry Thursday

As promised today's poem is also an Emily Dickinson poem. This video is not the one I set out looking for but I kept coming back to it. The woman reading the poem I'll tell you how the sun rose helps to bring it to life. So here is today's poem  I'll Tell You How The Sun Rose by Emily Dickinson.

I'll Tell You How the Sun Rose
By Emily Dickinson

 I’ll tell you how the sun rose,
A ribbon at a time.
The steeples swam in amethyst,
The news like squirrels ran.

The hills untied their bonnets,
The bobolinks begun.
Then I said softly to myself,
"That must have been the sun!"

But how he set, I know not.
There seemed a purple stile.
Which little yellow boys and girls
Were climbing all the while

Till when they reached the other side,
A dominie in gray
Put gently up the evening bars,
And led the flock away.      


I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Recipe Tueday Caramel Apple Jelly

Did you try to make the apple butter? Sorry I made you wait so long for the Caramel Apple Jelly recipe, but it is worth the wait. For this I used this recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/caramel-apple-jam.

Caramel Apple Jelly

Ingredients

• 6 cups diced peeled apples (just roughly chop them. Also I used a four pound bag of apples and then four more apples.)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon butter
• 1 package (1-3/4 ounces) powdered fruit pectin
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I ran out of nutmeg so I used a little allspice and a dash of cloves. Can I call them a secret ingredients? No, but you can.)

 

Directions

• In a Dutch oven, combine the apples, water and butter. Cook and stir
• over low heat until apples are tender. Stir in pectin and bring to a
• rolling boil, stirring constantly. Add the sugars, cinnamon and
• nutmeg and return to a rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring
• constantly.  If you like super smooth jelly you can run it though a blender, or potato masher or any other contraption that will make it smooth. I used a blender. I still left some lovely apple bits because rustic is cool.
•   

 

• Remove from the heat; skim off foam. Carefully ladle hot mixture into
• hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4-in. headspace. Remove air bubbles(The truth is I do not know what this means. So I have never removed bubbles);
• wipe rims and adjust lids. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling-water
• canner.

This jelly is insane and wonderful. Just as a reminder you do not have to can this jelly just put it in the refrigerator.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Poetry Thursday

A friend of mine was telling me about this poem a couple of weeks ago so I could not wait to find it for you. I have a confession when I was younger I was turned off by Emily Dickinson's sonnets and I never gave her poetry a fair chance. I am sorry now after finding her shorter poems. I can now see that I was very wrong. I am going to post a few of her poems this month because I am discovering her with new eyes and ears. I sincerely hope that you will enjoy her poetry with me. Today's poem is Hope is the thing with feathers.

 

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - (314)

By Emily Dickinson 1830–1886 Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -

And on the strangest Sea -

Yet - never - in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of me.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Recipe Tuesday Apple Butter

Hello friends, this last weekend I was so lucky to have one of my oldest friends S over for a few days. She was telling me how much she just wanted some apple butter so I made some for her and some caramel apple jelly for the road. I sent a dozen jars of jelly home with her. Today I am going to share the recipes with you. So can jar them if you want too, or you can just put it in the refrigerator for safe keeping. I will post the recipes and the directions for canning them. I recommend you check your extension service website to find out your elevation for me I am 699 feet above sea level which means that I would do a water bath for 10 minutes, but if you are over 6000 feet you would need to do a water bath for 35 minutes. So please check. Here is a general website http://www.simplycanning.com/altitude-adjustments.html. This website will only tell you how much time to add to your water bath. Jelly is one of the easiest things to start canning. So there is nothing to be afraid of. I just want to give you the best information that I can. The times that I put on here are for my elevation.

Okay now for the fun part! Recipes!

For both of these recipes I used Granny Smith apples, mostly because I like the tart taste. But if you do not like them for some reason feel free to use a different kind of apple. Also I bought 3 four pound bags of apples and split them between these recipes.

 

Apple Butter
from Ball Blue Book guide to preserving

4 pounds of apples or about 16 medium (again I used one 4 pound bag of apples plus four additional apples to make it extra thick.)
2 cups water
4 cups of sugar (I used half white sugar and half brown sugar)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves

To prepare pulp: wash and dry apples. Core, peel, and quarter apples. Combine apples and two cups of water in a large sauce pan. Simmer until the apples are soft. Puree using a food processor (or an old fashioned potato masher which is what I used. I like to have chunky bits. It is rustic. Rustic is cool) or food mill, being careful not to liquefy.

To make butter: Combine apple pulp, sugar, and spices in the same large pot you used to cook the apples in. Cook slowly until thick enough to round up on a spoon. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Ladle hot butter into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space (really there is no need to measure if you are using a canning funnel do not fill past the bottom of the funnel and you will be fine.) If you are not canning feel free to use any kind of container that has a lid and put in into the refrigerator. It will thicken up more as it cools off. If you are canning Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Finished apple butter

Apple butter on a spoon.

Hello Apple butter.

Apple butter by it self on a cracker is delicious.  If you want to try a little piece of heaven cream cheese and apple butter. You are welcome!

 

I will do another post for Caramel apple jelly so that they are easier to find.

 

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Birthday confessions

It is nap time at my house and it is my birthday so what is a girl going to do?

YouTube Supernatural panels. Friends I am a fangirl (cooler name for a girl geek which I am). Between you and me if Doctor Who did more panels I would watch those too.

An afternoon snack, homemade cream cheese and apple butter. Yum!

I am having a really lovely Birthday. Believe or not this is perfect. I am happy. And Calories don't count today. They don't count for you either. It is my gift to you. One day only. Be happy and have a wonderful day.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Fourth Granny Square

It's April! How are you doing so far? If you are a little behind don't worry there is still time to catch up. Besides it is not a race to the finish. Take your time all of these posts will be here when you are ready to move on to the next square. As you may already know my Birthday is in April. I decided that I wanted flowers. This is my favorite square so far. I love how it looks in one solid color and in multi-colors. I hope you like it as much as I do. It is easier than it looks. I promise.

You can find the written pattern here

http://rosehip.typepad.com/rose_hip_blog/2008/11/index.html

Sometimes I find it helpful just to read the pattern after I have made a couple of these squares with the video.

 

My squares look a little wonky this month. I am not worried. If your squares look a little wonky from time to time just go with it. Everything will work out in the end.

 

The lady who makes this video is very soft spoken so be prepared to turn up the volume. Also she tells you the instructions as she is doing it so you may want to watch the video all the way through first. I am going to type out the instructions so that it might help follow along.

 

1. Start with a magic ring

 (here is a video if you're not quite sure how to do a magic loop)

5 single crochets into the magic ring close the ring with a slip stitch.

2. Chain 1. two single crochets in every stitch. slip stitch to first single crochet 

3.Chain 1, two single crochets in every stitch then slip stitch to first single crochet

4.You can change color here or stay with a single color. Chain 1, *single crochet in 3, two single crochets in the next stitch* repeat *-* Slip stitch to first single crochet

5. In the next stitch half double crochet, double crochet, triple crochet chain two in next single crochet triple crochet, double crochet, half double crochet (your first ear). skip next stitch, Single crochet in next four stitches skip a stitch. half double crochet, double crochet, triple crochet, chain two and in next stitch triple crochet, double crochet, half double crochet (The second ear!)slip stitch into next stitch. The lady says you can stop here or finish the round with single crochets until you reach the first ear then end with a slip stitch.. That is what I did.

 

6. Now for the eyes. Start with a magic ring than three single crochets into the ring, slip stitch into first single crochet.

7. two single crochets into every stitch slip stitch to finish

8. Repeat rows 6 and seven to make two eyes

For the record I find it hard to work with dark colors like black and brown. For some reason the stitches are hard to see so I recommend using a light color for the eyes. If you struggle making the eyes you can always sew on little buttons instead.

For the beak I chained three and then one single crochet in the middle and then chained one.

Also I used a G/4mm hook. Use a bigger hook to make it easier.

Good luck!

I think it looks better when you change the color. That is up to you.

 

 

 I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.