If Fifth Grade accepted 41 year olds, I'd fit right it.

I love Fall.  It's a beautiful time of year.  The weather is ideal.  Temperatures are nice, the grass doesn't grow as fast so there is less mowing.  The snow hasn't started to fly yet so there's no shoveling.  The leaves are just changing and haven't begun to drop from the trees so there is no raking.  Perhaps I love Fall because I'm lazy.

I think NOT.

I've been working on getting the family to try new things.  Fall brought the opportunity for us to go apple picking.  My inner-farmer was ALL over this.  We could go and pick apples in the changing Fall sunlight.  Sunlight that makes us all look prettier.  The wind could whisper through the trees while the honeybees buzzed sweet songs of encouragement in our ears.  I could wear a bonnet and an apron and carry a bushel basket I had woven earlier in the summer.  We should TOTALLY go apple picking!

The apple picking was great.  It poured down rain.  There was lightning flashing all around us while we wielded picking sticks high into the trees.  In all honesty, the rain added an extra level of "adventure."    The trees are 130 year old heirloom apple trees.  Not sure what kind of apples they are but we figured we needed 5 bags of them.  5 bags.

So we picked and picked and picked.

We came home with a shitload of apples.


Well, it's been 5 days since we picked apples I decided it was time to do something with them before they all began to rot on my counter.

So I made applesauce.  How clever.

This is 2 bags worth of apples.  First I peeled the apples.

I peeled and peeled and peeled.  Now my inner-homesteader was totally excited about the outcome of my peeling.  My fictious chickens are going to love this special apple peel treat.  I am sure they will all scurry into the coop and lay dozens upon dozens of eggs for me.  As a thank you for my generous offering of heirloom apple peels.  They really do love me so.

Step 3 requires quartering and coring.  And quartering and coring.  And quartering and coring.  Again, Henney, Penney, Lenney, Jenney, Benney, and Zenney (my fictitious chickens)  will love the results of Step 3.  But oh girls, you won't get all of the cores for some must go into my compost pile.  Not fictitious by the way.

Finally, some sugar.  A little more sugar.  A pinch of salt.  Some water.  How about just a tad more sugar?  And several "glug glugs" of Applejack and we are off.  Apples boiling, breaking down, making the house smell nice.

I DID IT!  I made applesauce.  It looks pretty.  It smells great.  The kids are going to LOVE it.

Well, it turns out Ladycakes is "kind of picky about applesauce.  You know it's not bad but it's not the best applesauce I've ever had."  WTF?  Q and Elvis have decided they are "too full" after 2 pieces of cinnamon toast to even try it.  I thought kids were supposed to be STARVING after school?

Well, there is a happy ending.  A silver lining.  A reason for spending  2 1/2 hours of our day working on a task.  A reward.

Look what I found while I was peeling the apples.

An apple bottom!  I am in love with it.  As you can imagine I sang Flo Rida's" Low".  THE.  ENTIRE. TIME. I made applesauce.  Me, alone in my kitchen, singing about Shawty and her boots with the fur.  God, I love making applesauce.





Add Flo Rida's "Low" to my Lifesoundtrack.  Careful, there are some explicit lyrics here.  So use your best judgement if you are sharing with kiddos.  Just sayin'.

Get on that pig and hold on tight.

For Mr. T.  A man who inspires 11 to 12 year olds.  God love him.

Add this to my Life Soundtrack because in a matter of 15 minutes I have heard it 330 times.  Baby monkey, Baby monkey....I'll tell you, it's catchy.

It's weird, like I am totally forgetting something. Should I be worried?

Hi kids.  Sorry I've been "post-lacking" or "pslacking" as they are calling it.  Just kidding, I made that up!  And, I have registered it.  Totally mine now.  Right.  So anyhoo.....

I have a ton to do because I am heading off on a little adventure with my Mother tomorrow.  Heading to North Carolina for a felt-making class.  This is where we will be introduced to the felt loom that will be arriving in Utah in May.  SO EXCITED.

On my list today, make a card for the daughter of a friend who has been diagnosed with an extremely rare auto-immune disease (Behcet's disease)  She's young and sweet and should not have to deal with this and a card is nothing but it's what I can do for her.  She's lovely and I hope my little card will make her smile.

Oh yea, fairy and umbrella and little bird.  It's quite cute and totally for her and I hope she knows that we are thinking about her.   But weird, there's something hanging over me.  It's heavy and on my mind.

I should be doing real chores, not spending WAY too much time on handmade cards.   But I love making things for people I care about and really, what matters more? Not ironing, God Lord, not ironing.  It's so low on my list it's ridiculous.  However, there is something.  Nagging.  Itchy-like.  Ugh, what could it be?

I've decided what I am taking wardrobe-wise to N. Carolina.  It's hot there, I've got to dig out my "hot" clothes and I am not talking my little black dress.  Work clothes and work shoes.  But in the meantime, I had to fry (sorry cute organic friends who follow an awesome diet that some day I might join in on) some eggrolls for Ladycake's World Language Class.  They are studying Mandarin Chinese ( uh huh!) and this is her joint project.   But still, that crazy feeling that there is a deadline.  A looming deadline, that I may have missed.

But in the meantime, I am wasting tons of time blogging about all of it.  As if you care.  But I know you can help me.  


What am I missing?  Honestly, it's driving me nuts!  It's there, I feel it right there in the background.  It's teasing me.  What the hell, should I have done something today?   I just can't get my head around it!


Hope today wasn't too taxing for any of you.  I'm off to North Carolina.  I'm gonna learn how to make some felt ladies and gentleman.  Watch out, here I come!

Tired of waiting? Well wait no more!

The big reveal.  I made you wait a full 24 hours.  I can't believe I had the self-control to wait.  I have been coveting my swap item.  So here you go.... check this out!

Isn't he AMAZING!  He is a Cloud Seeder tree from this Meomi inspiration.  The craftsmanship is remarkable.  Not only is he super cute but he is quite mischievous.  Look where he's been in the last 24 hours.

Here, he is reading an Octonauts book.  He was thrilled to see we have them in our collection.

Studying the globe.  Turns out he's a geography nut.  Who knew?!

Climbing out of my purse.  He had been going through my wallet looking for some spending money.  Fool!

I found him in the refrigerator this afternoon.  He was hoping for an afternoon, caffeine pick me up but he doesn't drink "diet."  He claims the Nutra-sweet leaves a funny taste in his mouth.

He decided to check the pantry.  I think he might have eaten a whole box of Chicken in a Biscuits!

He feels very at home here.  And, The Cat said she doesn't mind giving him a ride every once in awhile.  I think they are going to be good friends.

In all seriousness, I love this.  Karen, you rocked it.  He will live a long and happy life Here at the Hive. Where he will reside is yet to be determined.  Maybe my studio, maybe on the mantel above the fireplace.  Maybe on our bookshelf.  Or maybe all over the place.

I love him!

Crafts, Bikes and Carrot Legs

So I am wrapping up my craft swap project.  Initially it was to be framed in a black shadowbox frame but I just wasn't feelin' the black.  Too harsh for those sweet little Octonauts.  It was a nice day today so Elvis and I broke out his bike and my spray paint and this girl got busy.

I also got started on a couple of lamps I found at the thrift store.  I failed to take "before" pictures but they were ugly and will look better.  I'll show them when they are complete.  But check the frame.  Nice, no?  It will be SO much better.

Elvis rode his bike. Yes we still have snow.  Quite a bit.  But today gave us a glimpse of Spring, I can't wait.

Now onto a totally unrelated but "happened today so I will mention it" subject.  This is why I like helping with dinner.  Mr. Handsome is the chef in this house but I occasionally offer up some suggestions. Tonight we went with a Tikki Masala Curry.  My suggestion and I thought adding some veggies was a good idea.  Being the sous-chef at the Hive I am in charge of chopping etc.

Look what I came across!

  Oh yes, those are carrot legs ladies and gentlemen. Gorgeous, crazy carrot gams.  That carrot is one "tall, drink of water."  They didn't make it into the curry, I am saving them.  Hoping that some vegetable swap might show up sometime soon and I can construct a body for those legs.  Rutabaga breasts.  Radish cheeks.  She will be the hottest vegetable in town.  This is why you should eat your vegetables!

Va, Va, Voom for Veggies!  It's a whole new campaign.

Equine sightings

Mr. Handsome and I got the little bees out of the hive today. It was a blue-bird, absolutely gorgeous, honey of a day. If you've been reading along you will understand that first I alphabetized the pantry and then put all of our DVDs in numerical/alphabetical order before we headed out. But, if you've been reading along, you also know, I'm a pain in the ass.

Look at this, this where we live. This is practically our backyard. Seriously? It's amazing. And look at Mr. Handsome, how cute is he? Totally dealing with Elvis. His patience lasted about 5 minutes, Mr. Handsome's that is, but at least I was able to document it.

Here I am with all the bees. It's fun to be able to do things together, despite the age difference. You know, I'm old and they are young. Just kidding. Elvis wants to keep up with Ladycakes and Q and sometimes it's hard. This is a fun activity.

We saw all sorts of creatures today. Like this one, the four-handed, caped shadow rectangle. Look at the way it displays it's jazz hands. That's totally a defense mechanism that occurs when it feels threatened. We chose not to disturb it further.

Look at this fellow. Quite handsome. Loving the day as much as we were. He laid down and rolled in the snow right after I snapped this.

This was his friend, he watched me for quite some time. I think he felt bad for me. He was like, "Are you those kids Sherpa? Because dude, you are carrying 3 coats, 2 pairs of gloves, poles that clearly aren't yours and you keep handing out Lifesavers. Your life kinda sucks." I winked at him and in my mind was so pleased that even though that horse was judging me....he felt my pain for a moment. We bonded.
So it was a fun day. We got out, got some fresh air. Enjoyed being together. Hopped in the car and headed home. As we got off the highway, here's what we came upon. Mr. Handsome couldn't stop the car fast enough. I did a suicide dive out of the front seat while yelling, "I've got to get a picture of this....STOP. STOP."

Okay so this was actually yesterday. I can't lie. I'm not wearing my ski gear. But I'm not shitting you. This is what we came across. Look at me, I'm giddy. You would think Mr. Handsome just told me he got a million dollar raise. All it takes is some equine excitement to make me smile like a school girl. Seriously, a zebra. A zebra? In Utah? And I'm hugging it like it's my own child. I smelled like zebra for the rest of the night.

I swear that zebra is saying "Save me!"

WARNING: These images are not flattering!

Mr. Handsome and I are always up for some cheap thrills. We aren't, generally, ones to pay for entertainment. We figure we can create our own. This is what we do when the little bees have been tucked in here at the hive.

I lay down on the floor with my camera in hand. This is not sexy despite that sentence, in fact as the title suggests, it's VERY unflattering. And Mr. Handsome busts out the beef jerky. Again, it may sound provocative but in that sentence "beef jerky" really means beef jerky.

He places the beef jerky on my forehead. Wow, this is sounding really bad.

That Naughty Dog and his Accomplice begin to swarm. I am trying to keep the camera at the right angle.

The Accomplice makes the first move. Who would have thought That Naughty Dog is a bit intimidated by the flash.

She goes in, jowls and all. And takes the prize. It's beef jerky for heaven's sake.

Clearly, I have no pride here. But it's hilarious. I laugh, Mr. Handsome laughs. The Accomplice lays down by me hoping that more beef jerky will magically appear on my face. Mr. Handsome is threatening to put some right on my lips....you can see his hand there, moving in.

The dogs are psyched. Turns out they like cheap thrills too.

We need to get a life!

See what happens when you learn to edit Html....scary.

I can't stop laughing! Seriously, I CANNOT stop laughing.