Fall Crafting

Do y'all know it's fall? I don't think Mother Nature does. Today it was 79 degrees. Mondays forecast is a high of 39 with a chance of snow. What the heck?

All the leaves here sure are changing though, which gave me a kick in the butt to finally make my fall wreath. I didn't take pictures of the process (I usually never take pictures), but I so have a final product pic!

1. Travel to your local craft store looking for a wreath form. Decide the styrofoam one isn't big enough and buy the much bigger straw one. While there, pick up VT inspired maroon yarn, white polka dot ribbon, and orange polka dot ribbon.

2. Have your husband choose a show you care nothing about. (For me, I believe it was Gold Rush and whatever that show is about the people who live in Alaska as homesteaders.)

3. Start wrapping your wreath with ribbon. If you are OCD, this will take days. For me, it took about 2 hrs.

4. Figure out how to use the ribbon to make a loop for hanging. This involves a lot of knots and glue, especially if you don't want to cut more yarn. (What can I say, I am a lazy crafter.)

5. Wrap the thin ribbon around the wreath in a circle, glue to the back of the wreath. Then use the thicker wire ribbon to wrap around and make a bow.

6. Display proudly, supporting your fave college football team, also serving as a daily reminder that you are a grad student behind on class.

Have fun in the fall!

Pinterest Let Down :(

Today, I was let down by Pinterest. TWICE. I am so shocked.

My first Pinterest attempt was a pumpkin carved to look like a minion from Despicable Me. It looked super cute, and the caption said that when the candle was lit, it would glow like the lovable little evil lair factory workers. This happens to be one of our favorite movies, so I thought it was perfect!

This. Is. Not. Perfect.

In fact, the pumpkin is so thick that the only light you see is in the tiny mouth. I attached a picture of it, notably not glowing. In fact, I used the flash so you would see more than the little sliver of a mouth.

D thinks that if I shave off some more of the inside, making the wall thinner, and hopefully making it glow.

We'll see.

So on to disappointment number 2. I discovered a quick and easy kielbasa and potatoes recipe, which somehow I had all the ingredients for.

SCORE. Not.

While the food was wonderful, and we will be keeping this one for cold weather days (It was 80 degrees today, y'all. It's Late October!)

So, where does the let down come from? I ruined a pan. Like, as soon as I took it out of the oven, I knew the pan was a goner. Somehow, I feel like whoever originally pinned it should have said, "Hey, make sure you line the pan, or you will lose it." I will be editing my comment for that one!

Oh well, live and learn, right?

What Pinterest ideas have you implemented that have disappointed you?

Crust-less Apple Pie

You know how everyone wishes Pinterest had a "Did This" button?  I think I even saw an ecard about it once.  Well, I accomplished this pin, and here's how:

Sunday night was dinner date night with our good newlywed friends B & H.  (You may remember my post about their wedding a few weeks ago, you can find that here.)

H makes a fabulous lasagna, that my husband adores, and apparently had asked for last week (when they had just returned from their honeymoon).  (Note: when I make lasagna, it comes from a box.)  She also makes a wonderful bread, which left me with salad and dessert.

Since I love apples and cooking in the crockpot, I thought these apples were just the ticket.  The link above is to the original source, but  I altered it slightly so here's my recipe:

What you'll need

6 Gala Apples

1/2 cup Apple Juice

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Apple Pie Spice 

2 T. margarine

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1. Set crockpot to high.

2. Core your apples.  I bought an apple corer today at Wal-Mart.  It's fantastic, and you can find them in the utensils section or on random aisles in groceries.

3. In medium bowl, mix together brown sugar, spice, margarine, and nuts.  I had to mash up the margarine with my spoon first, then stir it together.

So far you'll have this

4. Put the apples in the crock pot, then fill them with sugar mixture.  I started filling lightly, to make sure I had enough for all the apples.  Then I packed it down with my finger (you might want to use something else, but this worked great for me), and added more.

5. Pour apple juice in bottom.

Looks good huh?

6. My favorite step: Cover and cook for 2.5 hours.  (I used this time to catch up on football, clean the sofa & chair, do the dishes, work on schoolwork, and the first half of this blog.)  The original pinner said to cook for 3 hours, or until the apples started to collapse on themselves.  My apples were falling apart when checked in at 2.5, so I flipped it to keep warm.  I didn't take a picture when they were finished, because we were eating them.  Sorry!

I served these tasty treats with vanilla ice cream, because, let's be honest, nothing beats Apple Pie a'la Mode.  We also drizzled warmed up caramel on them, which was awesome.

Some notes:
1. These don't look very appealing when you cook them.  The turn super dark (almost like rotten apples), and I picked them up with a spoon.
2. Omit the nuts.  Really, you could just add more brown sugar & butter.  I like nuts and so does H, but B & D didn't care for them, and they were kind of distracting.

Have you completed something you are proud of on Pinterest?  If so, what?

Currently: October

Currently
Listening	To an airplane flying overhead, and the chimes made by my Bahamian windchime I picked up on our honeymoon
Loving	The ability to blog from outside on my front porch.  Granted, I’m in a sweater and a jacket, and in the sun, but, hey, a Southern Summer lover has to soak up every last Indian Summer day she can get!
Thinking	It’s been so nice having the hubby at home, even if he’s “recovering” from surgery.
Wanting	Starbucks, of any iced variety.
Needing	To finish off my grad school work that I’m about 2 weeks behind on thanks to a lack of motivation with the hub home.
Favorite Things	1.      Summer-like fall days 2.     The loads of laundry drying on my back porch 3.     The sight of my husband playing with the dog in the yard this morning, it was pretty unsuccessful since the dog just kept taking the ball to the shade & lying down 4.  Candy Corn & Peanuts - Thanks Nana!

Medical Education

So my wonderful husband recently had surgery.  Thankfully, he's doing well, so, naturally, I decided now is the time to enlighten you all on my recently acquired medical knowledge.

D had a urachal cyst removed.  Here's the steps we have taken so far:

1. Over the last several years, and in my knowledge at least 2, D would experience a pain just below his belly button, which would, for lack of a better description, pop like a zit.  It occurred infrequently at first, but became nearly a monthly occurrence.

2. In the spring, shortly after moving into our home, D drove himself to the emergency room after nearly passing out at work.  Doctors decided that (a) he was dehydrated, hence the feeling that he was passing out and (b) the weird thing on his stomach was an abscess, to be treated with antibiotics.

3. Weird abscess returns the next month, but he decides to just let it run its course.  Threats emanate from me that it "better not come back when we are getting married."  I know, I know, that's not exactly sympathy, but he should have gone back to the doctor.

4. Late July the "abscess" returns again, so he decides to return to the doctor.  Doctor prescribes antibiotics again, and refers him to a surgeon.

5. Early September, the thing has returned, in time for the appointment with the surgeon.  One pregnant-lady style ultrasound and several gross Google Image searches later, the surgeon tells us that my husband has a cyst that generally manifests in infants.  Cause: the connection between his bladder and his umbilical cord should have closed back in July 1985, but it apparently didn't close all the way.

6. Last week, the surgeon went in & removed the infection, and I have been caring for a stir-crazy husband with 11 staples up his stomach for a week.  Today, he spent the morning watching TV, and is now doing who-knows-what  downstairs because he feels too healthy to lay around, but isn't healthy enough to even sit in a car with his seat belt on.

Such is our life...

It's a Small World

Tonight, while my husband was cutting his hair and showering, I spent some quality time on Pinterest. (Translation: I spent some time avoiding finishing my grad school assignment my pacing said I needed to finish a week ago.)

While perusing this wonderful site, I stumbled along a super cute wreath that was captioned that it had funny directions. Of course, I had to know what the funny directions were, so I investigated.

The blogger was in some of her pictures, and I thought, "Huh, that looks a lot like that girl I went to college with."

Then, I saw under her comments that not one, but TWO other girls I went l college with had made comments on her page. Again thinking to myself, because the dog really just doesn't care, "Wow, what are the odds that I would stumble upon her blog on Pinterest???"

So obviously, I follow her blog now. And it's awesome, so you should too. It's www.peonyandgray.com.

And on a side note: not such a small world-the pin I followed was posted by the classmate who created the blog.

I have also added a pic here of my own creativity from this summer: he wreath I made. It looks absolutely nothing like the one I was investigating today, but I need to make a new one, decked out in Hokie Maroon and Orange, cleverly disguised with fall decor so my hubby doesn't want to take it down.

How is your fall decorating going?