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?

Homebound: What is It that You Do?

As some of you may know, I have recently begun teaching homebound for a local school district. I do field a lot of questions about it though, so I thought I would spend my break explaining my new position.

Homebound teachers provide one on one instruction to students who are unable to attend traditional school for a variety of reasons. Some students have physical or mental conditions that require time at home for the entire year. Some kids just have to be out a few weeks and need to stay up to date on their classes (surgeries, etc).

It is my responsibility to coordinate the instruction with the high school teachers. My students are assigned k classes within the school, and that teacher sends the work to me. The student and I go through the work, I grade assignments as much as possible, and the teacher enters grades into their gradebook.

Here's an example of my day today:

8:55 arrive at scheduled meeting 9-12 with student one. Knock on door, no answer. Call mom, mom calls student, student doesn't answer. I lose 3 hrs of work. Leave to go to library to work on grad school. Schedule meeting at 10:15 with supervisor.

9:10-10:10 drive to library, work on grad school. Download English assignments for student 2.

10:10-11:00 drive to alternative Ed center, meet with supervisor. Pick up textbooks for student 2. Print off English work for student 2. Drive to high school. Get introduced to attendance officers and people on guidance.

11:00-12:00 drive to McDonalds to eat and catch up on email (and Facebook, Twitter, and now the blog). Also helped stranger retrieve a pic someone texted to his iPhone.

12:00-3:00 drive to student 2's house to work on new English and math assignments.

3:00-5:50 leave student 2 and drive to coaching job. Plan and run practice.

5:50-8:30 Leave coaching job, eat packed lunch for supper since I went McDonalds. Drive to local high school to do recruiting for coaching job.

8:30-? Drive home, do laundry, finish grad school unit and attempt to spend time with husband before bed.

And that's just a Tuesday.

Here Comes the Bride

I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate our good friends B & H!

They had an absolutely beautiful wedding at H's parents' home. The weather was perfect, and the ceremony overlooked a perfect view of the mountains.

We were both so very excited to be members of the bridal party (even if it meant D had to wear a tie AND his good shoes.)

We are also so very happy to share this newlywed period in our lives with an amazing couple.

When I get a moment, I'll add in some pics of the weekend, but I leave you with this wonderful shot of the top of H's dress, and the hanger her sister in law ordered for her.

Love y'all!

Brand New Life

In 2012, a lot has changed for D and I.

We got engaged.
I resigned my job because of his being in another state.
His job brought him back to the town we live in.
We bought a wonderful house.
We got married.
I found a part time coaching position at the local community college.

And now: I have started teaching homebound for the school district D graduated from. My first morning was today, and it went great!

I can't wait to see what the rest of 2012 has in store for us!