Happy Halloween!

 It's a cold and gloomy day here in Louisville. The weather people are saying that it might even snow tonight. Poor Trick-or-Treaters. Seriously, I don't know about you, but I'm sure not ready for snow. I will tell you that the radio station that I listen to in the car has already started playing non-stop Christmas music. Now that's crazy. I had to just turn in off yesterday. I'm not finished with pumpkins yet. Have you seen or tried this Chai? I picked it up at Target the other day and I'm sipping on a mug of it right now. I love the  regular Tazo Chai, because I think it's spicier than that other brand you can buy. This is from Archer Farms the Target label. I wish I had picked up a couple more cause it's that good. It's especially good with a slice of pumpkin chocolate chip bread. See, I told you  I'm not done with pumpkins yet. The bread is just a box mix from Trader Joe's that I added some mini chocolate chips too. Nothing fancy at all. I hope you are having a Pumpkin filled Halloween . Stay warm where ever you are.
Sally

A Little Fall Fate

Don't you just love it when things end up working out for the best? I am seeing two sweet friends today and wanted to take them a little something special. Last week at Kroger I found these nifty autumn looking paper baking pans. I decided to try them out yesterday to make sure that they were as awesome as they seemed. I'm so glad that I did, because I was so not impressed. I made two loaves of pumpkin chocolate chip bread and as you can see from the first picture there was no way that they were going to "pop" out of the pans. Definitely not a giftable outcome. Thank goodness for plan B. I  made some of my Great Aunt Mary's Granola over the weekend. Personally I think it's the best batch I've ever made, but Alan wouldn't eat it because of all the nuts and David wouldn't eat it because I added dried cranberries. I love granola, but there was no way I would be able to eat it all myself. So, I dug around in my supply cabinet and happened to find two leaf covered cellophane  bags and two already stamped tags leftover from a previous project. All I had to do was scoop in the granola and tie a bow. Perfect! Even more perfect, I get to eat the bread :)
Sally

Fun Fall Weekend

What a beautiful weekend. I hope it's not the last before winter sets in and it's too cold to leave the house. Alan ran his 1/2 marathon on Saturday morning while David and I walked at the zoo. I'm not sure who had the most fun. Alan earned a medal and beat his previous time, but David and I got to see all the Halloween decorations including the new pirate exhibit and the snowy owls at the zoo. We watched a lot of football. The Kentucky Wildcats almost beat Mississippi State and the LSU tigers totally beat Old Miss. T-I-G-E-R-S fight! fight! fight!. I'd sing the fight song for you if you were here. Today is David's last day in Louisville. We got up early and had breakfast at Wild Eggs and then walked across the Big 4 bridge. Don't you just love the sign above? It's good to know that Dates and Romance are allowed. I'm making granola and I guess we will probably watch some more football and maybe take a nap. Hope you are having a fun, fall weekend too.
Sally
PS

Here's a little video Alan took of the new baby Bongo that we saw at the zoo last weekend. Watching him jump around just puts a smile on your face.

Friday Again...

Here it is Friday already and I never got around to telling you about last weekend. Par for the course these days... Last Saturday Alan and I drove over the bridge to the Southern Indiana Fiber Festival. I know, so exciting. It is a tiny little fiber event and the gloomy weather we were having probably kept venders and shoppers at home. I went to buy some spinning fiber and pet the adorable alpacas. I seem to be on a teal kick lately. Even my new handbag is mostly teal. My favorite purchase was the felted pumpkin. I saw it when we first walked in and knew it would be coming home with me. I know that I have mentioned these apple/pumpkin muffins before. I even posted the recipe last year I think? I didn't put it under the I love the taste of ... tab and so when I went to look for it last week I really had to search. Who has time for that. I'm going to add it to that section of the blog so that you can find it and make some. Sorry about the fuzzy picture of me and my finished cowl. I just can't figure out how to do the whole selfie thing. The cowl is the last of my Camp Loopy projects for 2014. I'm going to put a recap of them all under the projects tab. See how organized I'm trying to be? Hope you have fun plans for this weekend.
Sally

Pumpkins

Turns out my crazy runaway squash plant wasn't even a squash plant. Well, I guess a pumpkin is a squash, but not the kind that I thought it was. I'm very glad that the mystery is solved. Apparently late last fall when fall turned into winter before we were ready "we" took the pumpkins off the front porch and threw them into the garden so that we could put up Christmas decorations. Fast forward to spring and it seems that one of those pumpkins must have rotted away and .self planted a little seed. When Alan and I were cleaning out the garden last week we found two cute but still very green little pumpkins. They were hidden so well even the squirrels couldn't find them. I've finally gotten to the bottom of my bushel of apples. the bowl above is all that's left. That $7.00 bushel made 3 quarts of applesauce, 12 jars of apple butter, 12 apple turnovers, 20 pumpkin/apple muffins and 3 quart size bags of sliced apples waiting in the freezer ready  to be turned into crisps or pies. I'd say I got my monies worth wouldn't you? Feels like fall here in Kentucky and I'm loving it.
Sally

Apples

While I was visiting with my Dad in NC, we took a trip to the Greensboro Farmers Market. We had breakfast at the Moose Cafe and then walked through the produce barn. I bought a bushel of apples for $7.00. I was going to just get a couple of pounds but it was actually cheaper to buy a huge box.  The apples that I got are not the prettiest but they made some delicious apple sauce and today I am making a bunch of apple butter to can. We have been running low on homemade jam and that always makes me nervous, plus cooking it makes the house smell so good.
Sally

Where Do I Start?

Since I last posted, so much has happened and so few pictures have been taken. What can I say? I'll do my best to catch you up, just know that there are going to be gaps. Alan completed his Bike Ride to Beat Cancer. He didn't really ride 100 miles like the sign says, He did the 70 mile ride, but I'm sure with all of the hills and the wind it felt like 100. Don't you love his fancy shirt? He's getting ready to run a half marathon next weekend. Who knew I was married to such an athlete? I'm doing my best to keep my Fit Bit happy by trying to walk 10,000 steps a day, and let me tell you that is challenge enough for me.

On September 24th my sweet Dad had some what was supposed to be minor back surgery. I got to spend a week in Greensboro taking care of him. The surgery was called an X-Stop and it was to release some nerve compression in his spine which was causing him significant pain and weakness in his legs. The surgery went well and he is pain free now. He did experience some complications which are on going and will hopefully be resolved soon. As a result of the complications I got to spend another weekend in North Carolina. That 8 hour drive is very long, but this time of year driving through the mountains was absolutely beautiful. I'd make that drive for my Dad any day.

David has been with us here in Louisville since the end of September. He is really enjoying his away rotation at the U of L hospital emergency room. He's here for one more week and then he heads to Lexington KY for another rotation at the University there. He's gearing up for the start of residency interviews. We bought him a new suit yesterday and let me just say, it makes him look very spiffy.

Grace continues to love almost everything about her Cambodian adventure. She's still in her acclimation phase where she is supposed to be integrating herself into the community. She is teaching a couple of informal English classes and will begin her "real" work in November.
That pretty well catches you up on all of our goings on.
I hope you all have been enjoying Autumn and making happy memories.
Sally