Yummy Scrapplesauce…

When we moved into our current home almost two years ago, we inherited an old apple tree that had been neglected and pruned improperly. Last summer, the apples were bug bitten, but after a lot of cutting out the bad parts, the good pieces made a sweet applesauce.

This year, I pruned back the interior of the tree, fertilized it once, and removed about half of the apples mid summer in hopes to get some better sized fruit and release some pressure on the bowing branches. I checked the fruit a couple weeks ago, but it wasn’t ready. On Sunday, I checked again, and they were ready. Crisp and juicy, although still smaller (but larger than last year) and bug bitten.

When I say the apples are ripe, I mean they ALL are ripe. I have been making 1-2 batches of scrapplesauce each day. I use a simple recipe: 1 cup water, 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, 1 cinnamon stick and fill a large pan with apple pieces. Boil until mushy, then blend. I leave the skins on for higher nutritional value, and I add one honeycrisp apple to the batch to ensure sweetness.

My first four quarts are in the freeze dryer tonight, two more quarts are already in the freezer, and a hot batch is cooling on the kitchen counter. I was able to bless a couple elderly neighbors with containers of scrapplesauce, and I will be giving some to our son and daughter in law in exchange for fresh blackberries, which I will use to make blackberry cobbler for breakfasts.

I am thankful for Gods provision for the winter, even though it means extra work for the next couple weeks. Wish I could share the sweetness with you all!

Share a photo of your pet and tell us one thing that makes them uniquely them.

Statler

This is Statler, as in Statler Hilton, the hotel magnet. But that’s not who he was named after. He and his brother were named after the two little old men in the Muppet movies who heckled the muppets from the balcony. Yes, they have names.

What makes this 18 pound boy special is his sweet temperament. He is a cuddler through and through. When his brother comes onto the bed in the middle of the night and says “hey. Give me that spot next to mom”, his response is “can’t we just cuddle together and share her?” He usually gives in and gives his brother the spot. He likes to jump up next to me on the couch and cuddle. He reads the morning paper in my arms, making it very difficult to eat anything.

Waldo

Now Waldo (think Waldorf Astoria) he’s a different story. He’s 25 pounds of pure muscle with the temperament of a toddler. Each morning he steps on me to wake me up. Then follows me around saying “Mom! Mom! Play with me!!!”

We love our boys. They love us and entertain us. Wouldn’t change them for the world!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Don’t lend money to family or friends. Just give it if you have it. When you lend, it creates a barrier in the relationship. If the person can’t pay you back, there may be friction in the relationship, or the person may stop being your friend due to being embarrassed. You will have to battle possibly being angry with that person. Best to give it with no expectation of return if you value the relationship.

Fun memories…

LEGOs strewn across the living room carpet

Two boys constantly singing nonsense songs. While playing dominos, while building LEGOs, while riding in the car, while taking walks, and more.

Teaching the kids how to play dominos, and learning the oldest is very competitive, the middle grandson plays to have fun.

Picky eating, and great eaters.

Playing foosball and building a fort made of large boxes I collected.

Creative sandcastles built in the sandbox, complete with water filled moats.

Cousins connecting over pizza and water slides. Me connecting with my grown son and grands on that same water slide!

Our daughter cooking for us!!

A gold mine tour and searching bags of dirt for gemstones. panning for gold and shopping in the gift store for pretty rocks.

Watching The Magic School Bus and Paw Patrol on the couch.

The ten year old cooking his own fried eggs. Yikes! They grow up so quickly!

Happy screeches and angry yells.

Grandpa teaching silly songs to the tune of “La Cucaracha”. That’s “the cockroach” for those of you not familiar with Spanish. Imagine a potty training three year old singing, “I got poopies! I got poopies!”

Great grandpa (my father) getting the news that great grandchild numbers 15 and 16 are due early 2027. One grand is mine, one is my sister’s.

Full heart…

It’s been 15 months since I’ve seen our daughter and her three children. It’s been 2 1/2 years since my honey has seen them. Yesterday they arrived, and my heart is full.

Preparing a special bunk room for them, placing books within reach, collecting stuffed animals for playing. These filled my heart. Making themed money envelopes (coffee and eating out, fun money) to bless our daughter (complete with USD) filled my heart. Finding the LEGO set of our oldest grandson’s dreams: filled my heart.

Spending spare time over the last month baking blueberry pancakes, cinnamon roll bread, oatmeal breakfast cake and more: filled my heart.

But there’s nothing like that moment, when you see them, and they see you when you’re picking them up at the airport. The happy tears flow as long hugs are shared. The car ride home becomes cacophonous with the sounds of a singing three year old and two wrassling boys with a full days worth of pent up energy. The happy noise doesn’t bother me. My heart is full.

I will spend the next three weeks sucking in every juicy moment, every happy screech, every tickle giggle. I will cherish every moment of talking to our daughter, and the moments the cousins will get to spend with each other. Every silly song Grandpa teaches them will echo in my brain for weeks after they leave.

May you also find joy in whatever your life holds today, and tomorrow, and every day that follows.

Little waste…

It’s amazing how much waste here is in this world. And with prices as high as they are for everything these days, I hate to waste anything.

This past year, I tried something interesting. Not sure why I thought of it, I like to think that God brought it to mind to help our budget in little ways, but the thought was there. My favorite body lotion, (from an independent company called Shaklee) and really, the only skincare item I own comes in a squeeze tube. When it gets low and starts spurting, my honey gives me his tube because he knows I can get more out of it. I pound and shake until I can’t get more squeezed out. But, about a year ago, I cut the end of the tube off to see if there was any left in the tube. I saw some around the edges. Thinking it might be enough for one after shower use, I grabbed the skinny spatula I own (Pampered Chef of course, because I love their products), and began to scrape the sides. Then I cut another hunk of tube off, scraped more, u til I was left with only tree inches of tube left near the cap. I ended up with another two weeks left of daily use left in the tube!!!

For a cap, I place a little snack baggie (reused until it can’t be used anymore) or small reusable plastic container over the top and keep it on the sink counter. It took five minutes of my time and was probably worth $3.

Now, I see if I can salvage everything that comes in a package like that! I want to get every last drop of dish soap, or liquid hand soap. Every little bit helps these days. Try it! Happy salvaging!!

So confused…

Apologies spoken without emotion. Did she mean it? Was it just to keep the relationship from disappearing? Why? She didn’t say anything when I shared the pain in my heart she had caused. But when I said I wouldn’t have a fake relationship with her, she was quick with the “Grammi, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about what I did.” But she never said, “I’m so sorry I hurt you.” The hurt is more important than the action in my book. On the one hand, she didn’t have to say anything. On the other hand, she chose to, even though I doubt the sincerity. So many questions I want to ask, but I don’t know what I can believe and what I can’t. There are things she doesn’t tell me, important things. I find out from her dad, whom she has also cut out of her life. What to believe? I feel grief for my loss, sadness for the situation she finds herself in, anger at three parties, pity for their lost, broken souls. I am so confused.

Passover revelation…

During Passover, believers are instructed to remove leaven from their homes. In the New Testament, leaven is often equated with sin (disobedience of God’s laws, see 1 John 3:4) I’m usually real good at removing leaven from the house. I remove all leavening agents (baking yeast, baking powder and soda, nutritional yeast, and foods that have these ingredients in them). Packaged goods go to the local food bank, baked goods start getting eaten and not replenished a month before. Each year I have fewer processed foods to get rid of, since I have tried to replace them with non yeasty similar items. I also spend the time before Passover asking God to reveal the sin in my heart. It has become a beautiful season in my life of retrospection and cleansing, as he is always faithful to reveal something in my heart that needs to be changed/cleansed.

But, I have never done a “deep clean” of the kitchen for crumbs. Moving stuff from the pantry floor and vacuuming corners. Wiping out the inside of the refrigerator, moving appliances, etc. This year I have been wanting to start doing that, but am feeling overwhelmed wondering if it is even possible to get every last crumb from every last nook and cranny. Then I realized, I can’t do that in my life (or my kitchen) by myself. That is why I need the Holy Spirit to illuminate the nooks and crannies filled with tiny pieces of leaven. I can’t remove my sin by myself. I also can’t do it in one spring cleaning (again, in the kitchen or my heart). That was a revelation for me. But I won’t stop trying, and I will continue to be thankful for the Light of the World Jesus/Yeshua who illuminates those corners of leaven crumbs for me, one at a time.

I hope God is speaking what you need to hear in these days leading up to His spring holy days.

I wrote this a couple months ago, but forgot to post it.