Useful

I am lonely.

And bored, a lot of the time. Which is my own fault, really. Sure, I write, I read, I knit, I cook and clean and launder. Plenty to keep myself busy and distracted, right?

Wrong, apparently.

I spend a lot of time alone, which is ok, I guess. But sort of weird considering I live in a house full of people. T is at work, constantly. When he's not at work, all he wants to do is sleep--and I make him. He needs that rest, he needs the down time, to be able to just sleep and sleep and sleep and then have a good meal and sleep some more, before he goes off to work 9 12 hour shifts without a day off.

I was re-offered the volunteer position from a few months ago, and I think I am going to take it. If only to get me out of the house and to bolster my blog fodder.

I think that was my main motivation for starting school again....something to distract myself from feeling worthless and lonely all the time. I suppose my motivation doesn't matter so long as I get my degree.

Well, I have dishes to do.

Forced Deliciousness

Ok, since my other recipe options were met with such accord, (haha) I am forcing this one on you because...

1)It's really, really easy.
2)It's really, really delicious
3)I just made it and I need to share the wealth.

Ok.

Dutch Babies

(Don't let the title fool you.)(They're like a cross between a crepe and a popover, cooked in the oven. Intrigued yet?)

PER PERSON:

1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup flour

That's it.

However...

Preheat oven to 475. Place cast iron skillet (ten inch if you have one) in oven while it preheats. (IMPORTANT!!)

Let the eggs and milk come to room temperature. (Not vital, but works better if you do it this way. Do this before you turn on the oven.)

In blender, mix eggs, milk, and flour. Throw in a dash of salt and sugar too, if you remember. (I always make enough for 4 when I'm cooking for 2. But T and I are pigs when it comes to this dish. Oh, and if you are cooking for 8 or more you want to make 2 batches--they're too thick otherwise.)

Open your screaming hot oven, and place a tablespoon of butter in your screaming hot skillet. Close oven. Count to ten, or any other number you're obsessed with, assuming it's less than, say, 20.(Helps if the butter is soft, but again, not vital.)

Open oven again. Smile at melted butter. Swish around skillet to coat bottom of pan. Pour in the batter and shut the oven door. Turn oven down to 450. Walk away for about 12 minutes.

You know those puppies are done when they are puffed up (They will climb the sides of the pan! Don't fret!) and firm-ish in the middle when you poke them. Also, golden on edges.

Decant to cutting board (should slide out easily enough, if you loosen the edges.) or cut into wedges in the pan, depending on how lazy you are.

Serve hot with lemon juice and powdered sugar. (Or jam, or maple syrup, or whatever makes your heart beat quickly. I'm a fan of the lemon juice/sugar mix myself.)

Try desperately to keep yourselves from openly weeping or rubbing on your body. These are that good.

Now, these are served as breakfast 'round my house, but that hasn't stopped me from making them for dinner a time or twelve. Everyone LOVES them and begs me to make them all the time....So of course I indulge them.

Make them and tell me what you think. Thanks.

Fail!

I really meant to get up early today, and get things organized and neat and clean and finish the laundry and get the crock pot out and start dinner....so T and I could spend the ENTIRE day together, since he has two days off before going back for eight more...(and repeat until the end of the month).

Instead, I stayed up until three am watching the food network and slept till noon.

I suppose T doesn't care, as he is still sleeping (and didn't get home until 5:45am, and I have a sinking suspicion that he had to walk home in the rain) and won't be gracing us with his visage for at least an hour.

But still, I feel like a dork. I can't believe I stayed up that late...Without even thinking about it! Hurmph.

I watched the VP debate last night, which was just what the doctor ordered. You see, I have been rather calm as of late, it was nice to feel rage again.

I am thinking seriously about getting rid of the iPhone. I love the pictures and the internet and the iPod and all that, but as a phone, it sucks. I don't get calls, I don't get text messages until hours/days later if at all, voicemail comes in about 4 hours late....

The nice man told me I had 'tower' issues, because we live in the middle of nowhere. My other phones didn't have tower issues! Ugh.

Boring, Boring Hobbies

I finished my sock this morning.

And then took pictures. My life is a never ending thrill ride, I tell you.

Barbie Goes Tanning Sock:

(pardon my pajama clad legs and, as usual, disregard the carpet. And any other general disarray....Sigh.)



Preparing to graft the toe! Which is a real pain in the ass, by the way. Like my knitting detritus in the back ground? Sigh.




My hooker nails and I grafting the toe. Why did I decide to take photos in the one corner of my house that doesn't have some semblance of organization? I'm human.




I CREATE! Anyway, there she is, in all her glory. Now I have to just make another one so I can have a matched set of hideousness. Maybe I will send them to my mom.

Is there anything else I can share on here......Hrm.....Something not terrible boring and knitting related.

T has like, no days off this month, which makes me not just sad but somewhat isolated. I mean, I suppose that's not so bad, because I can get a lot of writing done, get caught up on laundry, cooking, organizing the bed room (There is a place I will not be taking photos for a while....oooph.) and fretting about budgets and what have you.

The only good thing that comes from T working so much is that we will have enough budget surplus for a few months if things get tight. Or I will be able to pay my car insurance, get a DJ for the wedding, photographer, or buy my wedding dress. (Oh, how I love it.)

I have started making my own bread, from scratch, several days a week. I actually really like baking bread. I make donuts too, which I can't seem to keep in the house. I suppose that means they are good.

Food is so expensive! I took stock of the freezer, and we're ok there, but I'm not buying a damn thing I don't have to. I can make multiple loaves of bread for the price of one at the store--savings. I can and will cut corners anywhere I can...even if it means I have to work a little harder.

So there!

Oh, and I pushed my entrance exam back to the 21st so I have more time to study. :)

Blog-er-ific

It's October.

It's C's birthday today.

It is also Blogtoberfest.

I am going to do my damndest to post every day this month. Maybe that will be a good start to Nano next month....I wonder if I can pull that off.

Anyway, here's one day out of 31.

Ugh.

I am totally freaking out about the economy and the 'bailout'. I am a worst case scenario preparer (you will never be disappointed!), so I am imagining the worst and praying for the best.

And I am totally stressed about the election. It's what I do.

To counter the effects, I am going to do laundry and mop my kitchen floor.

The counter the effects on the blog, I will post random pictures from my iPhone. Enjoy the mindless/pointless entertainment. I hope you are all well.



T in his work clothes. Aaaah.



My buddy E's mom is growing some of our wedding flowers for us....and here's a sample.



T and E sitting in front of the 'bonfire' we had a few weeks ago.



View from the condo balcony a few weeks ago.









At the park.

And....that's enough for now, I suppose. Bored yet?

Apples to Apples

When we bought the house, we noticed (to T's glee) that there is a mature apple tree in the back yard. It has beautiful flowers on it for about a month (which rain down on the lawn and make mowing a celebratory affair) and every fall.....

Apples.

Tons of them. It's borderline insane.

Last year, we ignored the apples and the deer went nuts. And the bees. And the lawn was pitted with soft, decaying fruit for most of the winter.

This is not something we want to repeat, so while T is at work today....I'm picking apples. Then I am making apple sauce. Then apple butter. Then apple pie. Then.....chutney? I don't know. I can't can anything, as I don't have the appropriate stuff for it, so T's family is about to inherit a giant box of apples and apple accessories.

Maybe I'll freeze some. Apple bread, that might work. Get some dried cherries or something....

Anyway, I'm blathering.

I'm off to the harvest.

Edited to add:

The applesauce ROCKS. Rocks....I'm patting myself on the back.