All Hallow's Eve

Without a doubt THE cutest skeleton and Tigger at the carnival and Trunk R' Treat tonight!

Oatmeal Scones

I realized this morning that's its been quite a long while since I posted a recipe. And since I've had to make these multiple times this week for friend's birthdays and they really are so easy and yummy, I thought I'd better share.

Oatmeal Scones with Fruit

from the Joy of Cooking

Preheat oven to 450 and have rack in the center position. Have ready a large, ungreased baking sheet. (I always put parchment down...makes clean up soooo much easier. 

Whisk together thoroughly in a large bowl:

11/2 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Stir in:

11/4 cup oatmeal (regular rolled oats)

1/2 raisins or other dried fruit (I usually use dried cranberries if I have them)

Whisk together and add all at once:

1 large egg

10 tablespoons warm melted unsalted butter

1/3 cup milk

Mix with rubber spatula or wooden spoon just till dry ingredients are moist. The dough will be quite sticky. Turn out onto a lightly floured counter. With floured fingers pat the dough into an 8-inch round, about 3/4 inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges. If the dough is too sticky to move the wedges intact, wait a few minutes before moving. Using a spatula, place the wedges on the baking sheet, about 1/2 inch apart. Bake until lightly browned, 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm with hot cocoa!

-I usually sprinkle some turbinado sugar (also called sugar in the raw) on the scones before baking. These come together so quite and are a perfect breakfast. They aren't very sweet at all, but the kids love them as much as Rob and I do. 

I wish I had pictures, but the scones disappeared too fast!

The Center of the Universe

Overheard this morning-

Rob:  Sam, where are you?

Grace: I'm right here... but my name's not Sam!

Is it a bad sign that using the garbage disposal makes the entire sink and attached counter top shake like they are having their own personal earthquake?

Turning point

So it probably is no secret that I haven't been jumping for joy about this pregnancy. Not that I didn't want to get pregnant; I mean, we did plan on this happening, but I've been feeling so lousy that its been hard to feel the motherly joy. I mean a few weeks ago I was kicking myself because I didn't think of getting a puppy or kitten to fulfill that maternal instinct and just went strait for the human. But last night I was at a Stake Primary meeting when out of the silence there came the sweetest sounds to a mother's ears. Those soft, cooing noises that only a baby that is a few weeks old can make. I looked across the room and saw the most adorable little bundle of childhood, and my heart made a little jump and I thought, 'oh! I want one of those!' And joy of joys, I realized that I HAVE one of those on the way. So I'm pleased to announce that I am no longer looking towards spring with indifference, but with anticipation; and though the great health and energy that is supposed to come with the second trimester continues to elude me, I think I can bare it now with more equanimity. 

I was reading over old posts from this time last year. I think I was a more interesting person back then. That's a shame. Maybe pregnancy saps my personality. It certainly has sapped my social life. I really can't remember the last time I did something with non family members. Oh well. 

I'm loving autumn and loving that I'm no longer nauseous every waking moment. I think fall and winter cuisine is the most comforting and pleasurable food genre for me to work with. Sadly I have no pictures to show off, but we've been enjoying apple cake, apple pie, soups, stews, homemade bread, biscuits, pumpkin cookies, and much more. Rob got a soups and stews cookbook for his birthday and man o man, if you have never had homemade chicken noodle soup made with homemade stock, you haven't really ever had chicken noodle soup. We've also had my dearly loved Lentil Beef soup and Rob made a beef stew on Sunday that was very delicious, though heavy on the meat so we'll have to tweak that recipe. As for my apple pie; long time readers might remember that I was all about making my pie crust with vodka last year. Vodka doesn't develop the gluten in the flour which gluten leads to tough and chewy pie crusts, so you can use more liquid, which makes for easier-to-handle dough. And the vodka vaporizes in the oven so you don't have to worry about getting tipsy. Anyway, my vodka ran out and I just can't bring myself to go the liquor store again. So I went back to the on-the-wagon version and while it was a bit tricky, it still worked. I did take a picture, but it was on my phone and I don't have the necessary cord to transfer to the computer. So if you want to see it and have access to me, I can show. 

In non-food related news, the Primary Program is this weekend and my mother-in-law is coming to visit. As regarding the first event, I have resigned myself to the fact that I can't really do anything about it anymore. Time has run out to make changes and so I'll just have to let it play how it will. It is an awesome burden to be the sole person in charge of the Program, though that really isn't true since my incredibly capable fellow presidency members have taken a lot of the bother off my shoulders. Still, since I wrote and planed the whole thing, I still feel a great amount of responsibility. That is, if it tanks. If it is successful, I know it wont be because of my doing. 

Having my mother-in-law come this weekend should, culturally, be the greater stress of the two. But I have been blessed with a sweet, loving, kind, and fun MIL and one who is predisposed to think the best of me regardless of how many times I might not live up to expectations. So while I will be spending the rest of today and tomorrow in a frenzy of cleaning to make up for the past 3 months when I played my sick pregnant woman card to get out of housework, I know having her here will make for a great weekend for all concerned. She is bringing all the material to make a kite, which is her and Rob's new obsession since we went to the kite festival. It should be pretty cool. 

Well, this is getting pretty wordy, and I was supposed to be doing something else for the past half hour. So I'll sign off now and leave you with a few pictures of Grace at the pumpkin patch. 

This would be funny, but...

This is the sight that met me after naps a few days ago in the study/sewing room. Thousands of sequins and, though you can't see them, tiny clear beads. They're all from an advent applique kit that I bought a few months ago. Grace decided not to nap like she's supposed to and snuck into the study to wreck havoc. Like the title of the post says, it would have been funny, except that I cleaned up the EXACT SAME MESS LAST WEEK!!!!! Last week she again decided not to nap and crept into the study, found the kit, which admittedly I left out in plain sight, got into the 6 different colors of sequins and threw them with reckless abandon around the room. It took me 3 straight hours to clean them all up and sort them back into their bags. I wasn't mad then. I mean, I was upset she got out of bed and she got in trouble for that, but what three year old could have resisted the temptation of thousands of shiny little things just begging to be tossed in the air?  So I wasn't mad, but I did make sure to put the kit away so she wouldn't find it again. So you can imagine my anger when I walked in the room on Wednesday and was greeted with the exact same mess. This time I was mad because she would have had to deliberately go looking for the kit to be able to find it. She MEANT to make then mess and she sure did get in trouble for it! This time I just scooped up all the beads and sequins and left them jumbled together in a little container. There's no way I'm going to be working on this project this year, so I'll deal with sorting later. Much later. Like when the sight of them wont make me irked at my daughter anymore. 

7 Years, 3 months.... and no more!

In the last 2 weeks, three of the appliances that we received as wedding presents, as if in collusion, suddenly just stopped working. The vacuum, the microwave, and the waffle iron. Unfortunately, we use these three appliances more then any other we own! Which probably explains why they are broken and not the others. It's odd though, that they should all three break down so suddenly and one right after another. A sign, perchance? Luckily, the vacuum was a quick fix and is back in commission. The microwave has been useless and taking up much needed counter space since I haven't yet gotten around to seeing if the local repair shop can take care of the problem. And, sadly, I think the waffle iron will just have to be replaced. Maybe now we can get a bigger one with all the bells and whistles. Really! There's a waffle iron with a whistle! Though we probably wont be shelling out 200 clams for this bad boy.