What we've been up to

Just a little update. Since the last time I blogged we lost the main computer and now the back up computer is going. So hubby and I decided it was probably time to get a new one. So we did. A nice, new laptop. We are enjoying it completely. I haven 't loaded my photo software yet so I don't have pictures to share this time. We've been busy though and I hope to share what we've been up to after Christmas. Christmas Eve with Neil's family is at our house and leftovers are at our house on Christmas day.
We hope everyone has a great Christmas and happy New Year.

Fresh Apple Cake Recipe

This is a great recipe for using up old apples and it's really easy. Enjoy!
4 cups peeled, sliced apples and 2 cups sugar: stir together in a large bowl. Stir in 2 cups flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, 2 teaspoons cinnamon and 1 teaspoon salt.

2 eggs beaten, 3/4 cup oil, 2 teaspoons vanilla: mix together in small bowl. Stir egg mixture into apple mixture blending until thoroughly moistened. You can add 1 cup chopped nuts if you like at this point.

Pour into a greased 9x13 and bake @ 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Slice and enjoy. Yummy!!!

Fresh Apple Cake

4 cups peeled, sliced apples

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1 1/2 t. baking soda

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. salt

2 eggs

3/4 c. oil

2 t. vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350. In large bowl stir together apples and sugar. Add dry ingredients, stir well. In separate bowl beat eggs, oil and vanilla. Stir egg mixture into apple mixture, blending until thoroughly moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake 50 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly pressed.

A Regular Post... Gasp...Shock...

Well posting regularly is certainly not one of my accomplishments. Life just gets too busy if we allow it. My full time hours at work will be coming to a close pretty soon, so hopefully that will open up more time as I move back to just my regular afternoon hours. Of course if I didn't get so busy reading everyone else's blogs and worked more on my own then I'd probably be a regular poster too. I've got so many things I want to share with everyone, so where to start?

I've been tweaking the front room. We turned our living room into the dining room. It was much larger than our dining room and turned our old, small dining room off the kitchen into a sitting room. We have a family room so we really didn't need a room with just couches in it. We were hardly using it. So I'd like to share pictures of that. I've also recently gotten a new table and buffet for the front room. So here goes

Before. You can't see the chandelier in the other pictures but I did get shades for the bulbs. It looks really cute. I got the kind that can be covered with your own fabric. My bestfriend and I spent an hour or so covering them one Saturday.

New buffet and other improvements to the wall that has bugged me for 8 years. I've never known what to do with this large blank wall. I think it's coming together nicely now. I purchased a crocheted runner at last weekend's open air market that I went to.

Just a different angle.

new table and chairs.

There are several pieces in here that I hope to paint and antique so that I have a more cohesive look. Hope everyone is doing well and I'll add some more posts this week. I've got a couple of great recipes to share. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

I'm back!!

My wonderful computer guy was able to resurrect my computer. He was able to save all my pictures, that I the fool had neglected to back up to disc and my document files. I'll post more later, but we are all okay. Bye!!

Computer burn out

The bad news is our main family computer crashed. We're hoping to save the pertinent information on the hard drive. There went all my school files, home files and pictures. I'm so hoping that it can be saved, especially the pictures. So we're presently bumming Seth's computer and I'll hopefully get him to share some of his very gorgeous Ireland pictures. Take care.

Just another Manic Morning ... Not!!

Our progressive dinner was great!! A good time was had by all and the food was terrific at every house, if I do say so myself.
We started the evening at the Singleton's lovely home with a huge variety of appetizers. YumOO!!
A wonderful course of green salad, fruit salad, and terrific garlic sourdough bread was had by all at the Harlanders house.

Of course I was too busy at my own home to get decent pictures. But we had a great menu of pulled beef, new potatoes and chili. Of course I didn't get any pictures of the dessert house, nor of the play Twelfth Night. It was a great evening though. One I'd do again soon.
This is how Saturday morning started. A great cup of cocoa and a great read, Romantic Country of course. It's nice and quiet here. Much needed after yesterday's terribly busy day getting ready for the progressive dinner. I think we swept enough dirt off the patio/driveway to form our own small country. We don't use the patio much during the summer because it faces west and where we live that means it's really hot!!
This is the picture of my morning here. Finally!!! Thank you Lord it's cool!!! Yes, a first cloudy, fall day. What shall I do today?? You'll have to wait to see. Have a glorious weekend!!

House Cleaning

I know I've been silent for far too long. I've been so busy at work and getting the kids school stuff done. I promise to be back soon. This working full time thing takes some getting used to. We've finally gotten below 100 degrees here in the valley and it feels great. Even managed to squeak in some time in the garden. Which was looking really bad after the month + of 100 degree days. We'll kick off the entertaining season this next Friday with a progressive dinner. We've been busy getting the patio ready which means removing the layers of dust. I need to get busy and do some sprucing up here on the blog too. Hope everyone is having a great start to the fall season.

This was a picture I took last year of our neighbor's front yard. Their trees were just gorgeous. Of course this was December rather than fall. Gotta run. Take care everyone.