Butter is our Fiend, I mean FRIEND.

Been baking for the holiday season. Started yesterday with more pumpkin apple raisin mini loaves since it was a hit with Hubby and son. Girlie pants wouldn't touch it, but then I called it cake and then all of a sudden it became okay. So, I said to husband that he now has more competition. We are down to 6 loaves from 8. I am hoping some make it to the neighbors before it is gone. Just now finished a triple batch of shortbread. Oh baby, over a pound of butter later.... Tomorrow, if I don't get totally sugar high, next on the agenda is sugar cookies and then after that rice crispies treats. Gee, I can tell already what one of my new year resolutions is going to be.

Pumpkin Mania

What does one do with pumpkin? Well, lots of things. My wonderful sister in law gave me fresh pre baked and mashed pumpkin puree in convenient little baggies. I already made a batch of pumpkin ice cream and tonight found a lovely pumpkin apple raisin bread recipe (If I had them, I would had added pecans). So, since hubby was out for the evening, I got to baking. The recipe called for one cup of pumpkin puree, no sweat, except, the baggie had 2 cups worth in it. I could either get messy and try to separate out 1 cup, or just double the batch. *Grimace* I doubled the batch. What DOES one do with EIGHT mini (although they really ain't that mini) loaves?!!!! Thankfully, my son likes it. Girlie pants will take some convincing to try anything that isn't a chocolate chip cookie or an oreo. It's really good warm, I am looking forward to eating it with coffee. 2 pumpkin baggies down.... uhhh.... at least 3 more to go. =)

Harvest Party!

So, we did a Harvest Party at our Church yesterday. My son went Army Ranger (he refused for me to paint his face) and my girl went as a butterfly princess as she liked to call herself (*mutters she still wore it today too) It's all indoors with tons of games and tons of prizes and candies. There was also pizza, corndogs, popcorn, soda and chips for cheap so that weary parents and grandparents didn't have to concern themselves too much with dinner. Considering it gets pretty cold and rainy this time of year, I way prefer trick or treating this way. Here are me and the kiddies. Oddly enough, while walking around waiting for kids to be done with the inflatable slides, had about 3 little kids come up randomly and ask me to "meow" for them. 0_o

Autumn

Last week went with a group of ladies from my Church to go visit an orchard in Cashmere, Washington. My sweet sister-in-law thought that in recent happenings of stress in my life I needed a bit of a girlie get away so she signed me up. Had a tour of a pear orchard, hay ride, apple tasting, and an outdoor lunch underneath beautiful turning leaves with the smell of ripe fruit dancing in the air. Lunch consisting of apple salad, apple chicken spread, apple pie and apple cider was served buffet style. After that we had a one hour jaunt in the next town of Leavenworth which is Bavarian themed. Fun times. Here are a few tiny pears in the hand of one of the owners. And here is a picture of me and my sister-in-law on the hay ride. We may share the same last name, but appearance wise we are pretty gosh darn different.

Guam Visit

Went to Guam for about 8 days for my Nanay's, Grandma's funeral. It was a sad time, but she lived a pretty long and full life. That was why I flew back. It was pretty amazing seeing all the relatives there that either have been there or flew back specifically for this occasion. When I think about it, I left the island over 12 years ago. Some things haven't changed, like the weather. Man, it was hot and humid and rainy. But, that is what sustains plants like these orchids that practically grow by themselves. These (which is just one of several varieties) for example were in my Uncle's yard. His wife was the one who raised them but she passed away years ago and they still flourish without any care other than the occasional pruning of dead leaves. It was the rainy season too. Funny, everyone kept telling me not to get wet and to take a shower after getting wet in the rain 0_o. I kept saying, "It's WARM rain for goodness sakes, not cold like where I live now, it really won't hurt me." The flea market hasn't changed either. The place where it is held has been moved, but still the same atmosphere of vegetables, fresh seafood (you know the fish and shrimp is fresh if it is still twitching in the boxes)various clothing, food stalls and people. Plus, the bonus of having to get up at 5:30am to be at the beginning of it.

For all that things have not changed, a lot has changed. For example, some waterfalls that we had to hack through with a machete to get to are now all paved with amusement parks and tourist stalls. What was once free to just walk or hike to now costs money to pass through the gates. *shakes head* My relatives have changed too. Those who teased and tormented me and my cousins growing up now have families of their own and we are the ones doing the teasing to their kids. Regretful that it had to be a funeral to get the majority of us to fly in from various parts of the world, but I am glad I got to spend time with my family. Especially my mom who was the one who took care of "Nanay". Although she is already making plans to visit my sister in Hawaii this December and next year plans to spend weeks visiting me and her "apos" (grandkids) here in Washington as well as visiting some other relatives in California. Looking forward to seeing her soon.

Sunny Days

My son is really into Trans formers. I mean, very very very into it. So into it that he studies the info and stat sheets that come with the toys. Daddy, who also liked them as a child, feeds this interest. I have learned not to even touch them. Not because my son would get upset, but then he would start to get the idea that Mommy will transform them as well. Yeahhhh I say no. I'll read to you, play games with you, teach you, but don't ask me to mess with the Transformers, you got Daddy for that. Both uncles have also gotten you Transformers, so you don't need Mommy for this part of your interests. Really, you don't. :)


Today, it is pouring. I was actually trying to prune some of my garden and it started to dump. This picture was taken just two days ago. My kids wanted to fill small vases with flowers....like Mommy, so I got them to pull up the dandelions. Too bad they wilted so quick. Hopefully, it stops raining long enough to gather all the clippings together for pickup tomorrow. Soggy leaves, oh joy.

Yes, MORE Lavender

I still have more lavender. I suppose when one clips it one stalk at a time (pretty tedious but worth it) it encourages new growth. I decided to try my hand at lavender wands. The problem is the variety I have in my yard is more culinary than decorative, hence it seems that the stalks are not that long and the flowers are spread out farther down. So, when I am done weaving (which is taking longer than I thought it would) there is twice as much head length as the supposed "handle" portion. At least this usage of my lavender won't go to my waist.

Of course, got to stick in a recent photo of the kids for all the family and friends who read this. I suppose this replaces mailing everyone individual photos, right?

Family Times

Here are all of our nephews. We had family come to visit, and the one on the left is from Guam, he came with Grandma. To celebrate Grandpa's birthday (he flew in the opposite direction from business in Oklahoma) we went to a local Chinese restaurant for dinner. The three boys thought it would be fun to treat the shanghai rolls as cigars for this photo. It was a very busy dinner. There were 13 of us around the table. Noisy affair with all of us talking over each other and trying to get the younger ones to do what we want. Still, it was delicious.


Also, during the family visits, my brother-in-law had a retirement party and it was pot-luck. I was so excited, I haven't had to cook such a big portion since we left the island. I decided to make "pancit bihon". I made so much that even before the party I gave some away to neighbors. There was so much food and our father and mother-in-law got into providing some islander food as well with "red rice" and "tanak tak" *forgive me if the spelling is off* and coconut cream pie. I kept eating and eating and eating. I really hurt after everything was said and done, but it really tasted good.

Uncle (second oldest on the left) also flew in from New York. Here he is with my kids and my hubby (who is the third oldest). The kids had a blast with him and was asking about him for a week after he had already left. I think my sister-in-law and I influenced him to perhaps get an ice cream maker. We made everything from lavender lemon and rhubarb sorbet. Share the calories, I mean, share the love. :)

Summer

Ahhhh, summer. Well, it hasn't been as hot as it was last summer. Last summer, the inflatable pool came in more handy than not. This time around sprinklers suffice for the hotter days. My girlie pants got a bikini this year. Too funny, she hates to get it wet, so she just played in the fringes of the sprinklers. In other news, my sister and brother in law got me an ice cream maker for my birthday. Maybe because we got them one for Christmas and they wanted to share the goodness of adding 10 more minutes to a personal work out routine? Just a guess. :) Been using it a lot. Let's see here are some examples, made coffee flavored, raspberry/blueberry, and lavendar/lemon twice (the lavendar was even from my garden).

Summer fun! Once it starts to cool down, going to have to start knitting again. REALLY suffering from "start-itis". I start a project then get distracted. I have 2 right now that are just lounging in bags started MONTHS ago. I NEED to finish those before starting on other things floating in my head.

Big Changes

A few months ago I got the idea to donate my hair to Locks of Love. Of course, when I researched this I had to have it at least 10 inches, no damage... blah blah blah. Finally long enough to cut off. This is me right before my haircut. I mean, literally just 30 minutes before. My sister in law took the picture as I went out the door. Why my sister in law? Because she graciously responded to my last minute request to watch the munchkins since I made a last minute arrangement to cut off my hair. I tend to get an idea in my head and then chomp at the bit to get it done ASAP. Does this make me a tad bit obsessive? Anyway, being like this at times does have it's adavantages, like, no time for regret. Besides okay, it will only take 5 years to grow again, right?











I get home and little man runs down the stairs saying, "Cool hair, Mom." Girlie pants points to my head and says, "Where's my hair?" She gets her possesives mixed up still. Here is what it looks like now. Huge change, right? Thankfully, Hubby approves. I feel a bit light headed, haha.