Simple Woman's Daybook, the Last Week of October

I am thinking... "Holy Cow, it's almost All Saints' Day and I haven't even gotten my brain around its being October yet!"

I am hearing...  nothing but the tapping of my fingers.  The children, whom I sent to bed a half hour ago, got to stay up a little late watching a movie and promised me to "go to bed with no shenanigans," and blessed be if (so far, at least) I truly haven't heard a peep out of them.  Will miracles never cease?

Outside my window.... it's pitch black, except for the occasional headlights of a car going by in the distance.  The darkness, though, points out the gold and orange autumn leaf "clings" we have stuck all over our big, picture windows.

I am wearing...  a light blue long-sleeved tee and an ankle length crazy quilt granny skirt.  I wore this skirt with a black sweater to the grocery store the other day, and I got some funny looks.  I guess I might have looked a little like a hippy witch or something...  But, why be normal, right?

I am planning... to clean my kitchen pantry tomorrow.  To my horror, not only have we got a raging case of pantry moths, but I found mouse "tracks" in the top shelf yesterday!  EWWWW!  I'm afraid I'm going to have to throw away a lot of food.  (Or give it to the chickens.)  =sigh=

I am reading...  just found an old copy of Fulton J. Sheen's Lift Up Your Heart.  I'm needing my heart lifted, so I'm digging into it as soon as I'm finished here.

I am hoping...  all my traveling boys arrive safely at their destinations in the next few days.  Dan just got into Denver this evening, so one safe trip down -- until he drives back over the mountains later in the week.  But, my worries aren't over for today yet, anyway, since fourth son, Jon, is driving back to Denver from Omaha to start a job tomorrow morning (Monday).  (Talk about cutting it close, son!  Sheesh!)  And our second son, Kevin, is on the second leg of his journey back to Colorado from Minnesota starting tomorrow.  I'll be glad to have everyone parked for a while!  St. Christopher protect them; Our Lady of the Highway, be with them on their ways!

We are creating...  fun things with our faces. (Mlah!)   In art class last week, partly in recognition of getting our school pictures, partly to learn about symmetry and the form of the human face, and partly because it was just fun -- the children did this:

 The kindergarteners' finished faces were wonderful, too -- in a whole different, serendipitous (is that a word?) way, I have to tell ya.  I wish I had one to show you, but, I didn't get a hold of any of those, including my own kindergartener's (Gabe's) because, no sooner had they left my art class, than their teacher had displayed them on the bulletin board in the hallway outside her classroom! ( They were precious.  And hilarious.)

For this coming Friday's art classes, I'm pulling this old trick out of my bag and we'll have some more fun making faces.

From the kitchen:

Harvest Muffins

These are easy to make and freeze to pull out at a moment's notice. And Yummy! Here's our recipe for 3 dozen:


4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 cups white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
6 eggs
1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 1/2 cup raisins (optional)


DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C).

Grease three 12 cup muffin pans, or line with paper muffin liners. Soak raisins in hot water for ten minutes to plump, then drain.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ground cloves.

In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, pumpkin, and applesauce, until smooth. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir thoroughly to make a smooth batter. Stir the raisins and walnuts into the batter. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

A picture I'd like to share...
(while I'm on the subject of food)

Colors of an Autumn Breakfast

One of our favorite dishes, a frittata is easier than an omelet, uses lots of our back-logged eggs, and is wonderfully versatile, producing tasty results when combined with just about anything I have hanging around in the fridge.  This version from last Sunday included fresh spinach, bacon, cheddar cheese, the end of the year's harvest of cherry tomatoes, and the end of a jar of roasted red peppers I happened to have. But, we've used all different kinds of cheese, sausage, ham, even seafood, in other frittatas, and seasoned with anything from oregano to curry.  It's hard to get it wrong. You can just have fun with these and add what you like.  (But, if you aren't an experimental cook, there are a lot of really good recipes here.)

 Next to the frittata is the "latte" portion of pumpkin spice lattes being warmed to add to coffee.  Yum!  One of my favorite splurges of the season.  We'll make up a batch of these about once a week until the Christmas season, then move onto peppermint lattes.