A Visit with Lassie

I always wanted to meet Lassie and now it looks like I have! :)

Thanks to a friend, I have a new profile image with a famous star! BTW, that's Lassie #3. There have been a bunch.

I'm on the left. :)

Woof!

(Thanks Eric!)

My New T-Shirt Should Read, "I Survived Black Friday Shopping!"

My 12-year-old daughter and I went out shopping this morning! We are not completely crazed. We didn't get to Target until a bit after 6 AM. Early enough for me!

We were immediately amused because there was a LIMO pulled up in front of the store. Okaaaaay. Now, how exactly are you saving money on Black Friday deals if you are RENTING A LIMO? Hmmmmm...

So, we made our wild dash to the toy aisles. We knew better than to get a cart because I know from past years that they just bog you down in "traffic." Our mission: FIND LEGO STAR WARS IMPERIAL STAR DESTROYER. None were on the shelf and there was a big blank spot where they had been. Too late!!! Well, it was a long shot. Too bad because I had my light saber at the ready to fend off prospective buyers should there have been one lone box available. Ah well.

Next stop, electronics. New printer, CHECK. New camera... oh-oh! LOOK AT THAT LINE! But wait! Yes, they are BRINGING OUT MORE CAMERAS! Score! :) Camera, CHECK. :)

Dash over to movies. Find two at ridiculously low prices. CHECK!

Stand in line at the electronics counter to find out if they have any memory cards left from the sale. Look at the person next to me. NOTE THE LEGO STAR WARS IMPERIAL STAR DESTROYER in her arms! "Where did you get that?" I ask. She pointed to an end cap far from the Lego aisle. I take off (as fast as you can take off with 100 people between you and your destination).

I pass by one empty end cap. I look ahead. I see a big box... I near the last end cap and THERE THEY ARE! So, LEGO STAR WARS IMPERIAL STAR DESTROYER, CHECK! :)

I send Sarah off to find a cart while I guard our loot (which we can no longer carry). She snags the LAST CART in the store and zooms back to me. That's my girl! :)

So, we head around the perimeter of the store to get to the registers. THE LINE IS BACKED UP TO FROZEN FOODS at the far end of the store! OH NO!

We browse through clothing and end up near the cash registers again and this time NO LINE. Well! That was great!

I am THRILLED to hand over my 10% off EVERYTHING card to the cashier. "PLEASE don't forget to scan this," I say. And, of course, she forgets. Sigh. SOOOO, we are told to go to customer service where there is a HUGE LINE. Doesn't that just figure? But, while standing in line over there, I realized that I'd been overcharged $9 for one of the DVD's I bought, so it worked out.

We went a couple of other places and ended up at Russell Stover's for a chocolate fix. They had NOT ONE good sale. NOT ONE. I could have gotten some of their chocolate cheaper at Target with my 10% off. It was disappointing on one hand, but my waist was grateful. :)

We are back home and happy to have survived. I am PLEASED to report that we came across NO CRAZIES. Everyone was quite pleasant and cheerful even to the point of not arguing over who was in line first! It was nice to be out and about and seeing SMILES instead of grumblings.

WE SURVIVED! :)

Thanks Giving

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Monday of this week I was feeling quite the grinch. One of our cars failed state inspection and since it's a 1991, we had to retire it. So, the days of no car payments are over for some time to come. Sigh. Puts a bit of damper on the fun of Christmas shopping, that is for sure. To say nothing of the absolute joy (ahem) of just having one car for awhile.

So, I was still feeling a bit grumbly yesterday as we went to the grocery store to pick up dog food. The dogs were a trifle upset that I forgot about them when I did grocery shopping on Friday.

We were driving down the street to get to the main road when we come across an elderly lady STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. Odd, to say the least. So, we stopped to see if she needed help. It ended up that she needed a ride to the bank and was doing her version of hitchhiking. Now, I've seen her around the neighborhood quite often. I was never quite sure what to make of her since she walks around in winter coats in the middle of summer.

Bottom line, when I'm 90 years old (or so), I sure hope someone is around to help me get to the bank so that I don't have to stand in the middle of the road (in freezing temperatures) and flag someone down. So, we took her over to the bank and brought her back home.

It made me very sad seeing someone so in need of such simple assistance. And that made me think about how grateful I should be to even have ONE car, let alone two. A car that I CAN DRIVE and that gives me freedom to do things like go to the bank and the grocery.

I'm feeling somewhat embarrassed about my "bah humbug" attitude, let me tell you!

The entire time this sweet old lady was thanking us profusely for helping her out, I just kept thinking, "No, thank YOU."

Thanksgiving Food Coma

I am still in a food coma from yesterday. :) We had our family Thanksgiving. We are going to my parents' house tomorrow for yet more Thanksgiving fare, but we like leftovers, so we had dinner here first. And boy, do we have leftovers! :)

I love to cook, so I overdid it, per usual. :) I tried a new recipe for green bean casserole (recipe here) and it was as good as the website promised! :) That was a relief because I am not necessarily a GOOD cook. :)

The kids did say that my Thanksgiving was better than the school's. Oh WOW! (heavy sarcasm)

Then they thought about it and decided to actually rank the meals. I felt better when the school got a 0 and I got a 10 (later revised to 100). :)

Plates were practically licked clean (can't actually guarantee that some were not since we had homemade applesauce and Matt likes to be a little caveman). We ended with a burping contest.

I'm (unfortunately) very serious. LOTS of giggling. LONG lecture from ME on HOW TO BE CLASSY (ie, NO BURPING at the table, or on a first date, or, well, you get the picture). :)

I think we have lived too long in WV. But, hey, it was a fun meal. :) Happy kids are a good thing.

I'm also thinking it was a good thing to have a trial run Thanksgiving at our house before getting to my parents' house tomorrow. They really ARE classy. We scare them sometimes, I think. :) They don't like loud voices. Or burping. Definitely not burping. :)



Here's what we had:

Turkey (with a defective pop-up timer, thank goodness for meat thermometers!)
Broccoli Casserole
Green Bean Casserole
Corn Pudding
Homemade Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls (didn't read quantity and had SEVEN rolls per person - think that was enough? :))
Homemade Applesauce
Stuffing
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes

I managed to add sugar to all the fruit and cheese, and cream cheese, heavy cream, sour cream, or fried onions to all the vegetables (kind of a cream theme). :) I think that's how the kids rated it a 100. :)

I hope everyone has a marvelous Thanksgiving!

I'm a Grinch Today

Bah Humbug!

We had to get my husband's Toyota ForeRunner inspected today and it FAILED. In a big way. Well, it is a 1991. But, it only has around 80,000 miles on it, so we were hoping for a couple more years. I know. That sounds funny to say about a 1991! :)

So, now, in the midst of holiday cheer, we have to figure out what to do about a second vehicle. Who wants to buy a new car in this economy? Do you lease instead and hope for cars with better fuel economy in a few years?

This has me feeling a little LESS than cheerful, shall we say.

So, I'll be back tomorrow with a post I've been working on about our visit with santa. That should restore my holiday spirit!

Brrrrr!

Brrrr! It's verrrrry cold today! I think this calls for some hot chocolate! :)

With her CLOTHES ON

So, I was chatting with Rob and he mentioned that he had just seen our daughter's swim instructor.

And that reminded me of the last time I had seen her (outside of the pool where lessons are given).

I was at a yard sale and I noticed the owner looked familiar. I finally got close enough through the crowd to say, "Hi!" and then I realized who she was.

In a moment of high brilliance, I said, "Oh! I didn't recognize you WITH YOUR CLOTHES ON!"

Let me just assure you that I got some VERY STRANGE LOOKS! :) I had to quickly explain my comment, which, let's face it, just made the whole thing worse. Funny, but still worse. :)

Swimsuits for the Ages

Today I went to the gym. I meet my husband and we do water exercises for 30 minutes or so. It's part of his rehab after his knee surgery and it's also just plain 'ole fun. One-on-one time without little munchkins listening in? Oh yes. Fun.

So, I was running late and I dashed into the dressing area... just in time to see a MUCH OLDER woman wearing MY SWIMSUIT! She must have been 80. EIGHTY!

Of course, it was really not my suit. That was in my gym bag. But it was JUST LIKE IT.

And I thought, OH NO! I've done it again! I HAVE A FRUMPY SWIMSUIT! I've always had rather frumpy tendencies, but really, I thought my swimsuit was okay. And yes, it covers me QUITE WELL, but that is necessary since when I bought it Matt was only two and I was constantly bending and stretching and racing around after him in it. I didn't want to scare off the neighbors when I was out in our wading pool. You get the idea. Really. I was just being considerate.

But, it gets worse. Because even though I hastily averted my eyes, picked up my jaw, and went to a locker so I could change, I couldn't get the reality out of my head that...

SHE LOOKED MUCH MUCH BETTER THAN ME IN THE SAME SUIT!

Come spring, I am DEFINITELY buying a new swimsuit! And it better be hip and trendy... or at least not fit for the AARP crowd!

First Snow

Our first snow has arrived! It's BEAUTIFUL snow! Not enough to make you afraid to drive on the roads, yet enough to cover up all the ugly brown that we have this time of year. Everything looks clean and fresh!

Now, if ONLY it would snow inside my HOUSE! :)

I made my first snowball... which actually turned into an iceball because it was such good packing snow. I sent it to a friend via email who didn't appreciate it at all! Imagine that! :)

Now our whole family is eying the weather and hoping for enough snow for snowman making and sledding! We have the BEST hills around here for sledding! It's completely invigorating.

So, if you don't have snow, I'm happy to share some! But not too much. We need it for our snowman! Enjoy the pics! :)

The snow begins:



The wind picks up!



First snowball!




This beautiful view is 3 miles from our house. I drove up into the hills as the snow was starting to melt. The clouds had broken up and the sky was amazing! Views like this just sort of put things into perspective for me and bring a sense of calm.



I hope the next snow lasts a bit longer! It keeps snowing and melting. We want sledding snow and DRIFTS! :) Is there anything more fun than tunneling through a snow drift? :)

Sometimes you just need a little encouragement.

If you've read my blog before, you know all about my newish gym membership. It's great. I love it. I go 5 days a week.

But, as much as I recognize that I need to go so that I can be healthy again and lose weight, my mom just told me a couple of days ago that she doesn't think I'll continue to go. I'll get bored and quit.

And you know what? That little discouragement made me think that maybe that's what would happen. And it's not as if I have a history of quitting easily either. I'm generally a rather optimistic, never give up sort of a person.

Sometimes our thoughtless words strike someone a lot harder than we mean.

I was trying to work through this. I'm used to it. I get comments like this all the time from my parents. I think many people do. You learn to deal.

But, then, today at church, another member of the gym came up to me with the obvious intent to ENCOURAGE me. She was so impressed with how well I've been doing at the gym and how I just go to town on the treadmill and bike and told me so. We often meet at the gym just by chance since we both like to watch the same TV show while we walk. (Yes, the exercise equipment has TV capability!)

And suddenly, I lost that bleak outlook on my commitment to exercising. I'm sure she had no idea the effect of her words. Sometimes the most minor comment we make can change someone's day so much for the better. You just never know.

Rice is Nice

I am completely hopeless with making rice! It's been proven again!

This time I was just making Minute Rice. Now, WHO messes up Minute Rice? Really. I want to know.

Evidently, ME.

It was a simple mistake, really. I was in a hurry because I was in the midst of making a yummy Greek dish with chickpeas (which Rob only agreed to eat after I assured him they were really the more manly garbanzo beans :). I decided it might taste good over rice. So, in order to get the rice done in time, I grabbed what I thought was Minute Rice. Now, most of my food is generic and this was rice in a large glass canning jar. Hey, it looked right to my "I need bifocals" eyes! :)

Rob, knowing me and my history with rice, calmly got out my new rice cooker, read the directions, and started some real rice.

Bless him.

Because I did NOT start cooking Minute Rice. I started cooking regular rice in the Minute Rice fashion. OOOPS! :) Let's just say it is still cooking. Rob's rice is fluffy and beautiful.

I am never going to hear the end of it! :)

Ten Marvelous Things

Today Rob (my husband) has again amazed me with...

1) Letting me sleep in on his day off.
2) Taking the boys to school on his day off.
3) Taking care of all the pets this morning.
3) Making up his own list of chores to do on his day off.
4) Emptying my pail of dirty water from mopping the floor (because I hate to do it and he saw it sitting on the floor).
5) Offering to take me SHOPPING in PITTSBURGH for a pair of BOOTS just because I mentioned that I didn't want to drive home tonight in the dark.
6) Putting my waffle iron back together because he knows it flummoxes me.
7) Changing all the lightbulbs in the whole house that needed changing (because I can't reach without a ladder).
8) Practically ordering me to get out and DO something this morning with my mom... just because he knows I want to.
9) Bringing up the clean laundry from the basement (because it is heavy!).
10) Not even once complaining about his obviously sluggish beyond belief wife whose only job is to take care of our children. :)

I think he's a keeper. :) Because he's not like this just today. He's ALWAYS like this. And cheerful about it too! WOW! :)

Hamster Talk

Oh, the joys of hamsters!

I was lamenting our hamster population to a friend the other day and she shared a couple of her own hamster stories.

First, I have always been afraid that one of our cats would get to one of our hamsters. Tigger has almost succeeded, twice. Once, he completely demolished the cage by knocking it off of Sarah's desk! I found the hamster huddled in the wreckage while Tigger looked on hungrily.

Well, my friend had also always feared this. And, alas, one day one of her family's hamsters came to a dire end. Unfortunately, she didn't know this. And also unfortunately, she had to get up in the middle of the night for something and... SQUISH. Yes, she found the hamster all right, in the dark. She told me that she immediately thought of the trauma this would cause her 5-year-old son and she hoped...

"Oh my gosh, I sure hope we have MICE!"

Now, that is LOVE.

Fortunately, her son didn't realize that his hamster was gone right away. Yep, she kept up the pretense of a living hamster for a YEAR by keeping lots of extra bedding in the cage. He was older by then and better able to cope with the loss. What a mom!

Then she told me about the plight of their other hamster. It escaped. That's an old story with hamsters, of course. They are all escape artists. They hunted all over the bedroom and throughout the second floor where it escaped, no hamster. Two cats. Poor poor hamster.

BUT, lo and behold, she was doing laundry in the basement (yes, TWO FLOORS DOWN) and picked up a sock... and found a HAMSTER. Imagine that! Now, I would have SHRIEKED and probably lost the hamster again (or killed it from the sheer terror it would have felt from the volume of my yell), but she protected it and got it safely back in the cage.

She is some woman. And some mom.

It's all in the Eye of the Beholder

The kids are off school today due to Veteran's Day. Matt has been bouncing off of the walls since yesterday when he found out he had a PLAY DATE with a new friend from school.

Kelly (Isaac's mom) called yesterday to invite Matt over. She was really happy that our two sons have finally decided to be friends. She even mentioned how glad she was that her son had made friends with the "good boys" at school. I'm not sure why she was concerned because she has a wonderful family. But, it did make me feel proud of Matt that someone else thinks so highly of him.

So, Matt was to be picked up at 11 AM.

6:30 AM Everyone is sleeping in because it is a day off school... EXCEPT MATT.
7:20 AM I finally give in and drag myself out of bed. I was so looking forward to a good snooze til 8:00 AM, but it was not to be.
7:30 AM Dogs are THRILLED to see me up at my usual time.
8:00 AM Matt: "Mom, when am I leaving?" Yes, this is the first of the billions of times he asked this same question between 8-9 AM.

9:00 AM Begin cleaning regime with unwilling children. Funnel Matt's antsiness into cleaning! Hey! It worked!!! For the next two hours he only asked about 12 times. :)

11:00 AM Wave goodbye to Matt.

1:00 PM Receive phone call from Kelly.

Kelly: "Hi Chris. Just wanted to tell you that the boys are having a great time."
Me: "Oh, that is wonderful! I knew they would."

Kelly: "There has been a slight injury. We have a spinny toy and Matt got hit by one of the spinners. I have a cold compress on his eye. He's fine. You can barely see where he got hit."
Me: (with hand still on phone book ready to call eye dr.) "I'm sure he's fine. Thanks for taking care of him!' (remove hand from phone book, breathe, breathe, breathe, continue conversation calmly...)

Kelly: "Oh! Hi Matt! Matt's here. Just a sec." (voice becomes muffled) "Let me see, Matt. Oh! Hey! Your eye is hardly bloodshot at all now!"

AAAAAAAAGH!!!

I decided she had to be teasing me. (stop hyperventilating, put down paper bag)

Then she comments on how she has never heard a child giggle as much as Matt does. Yup. He's a happy kid.

So, now I am waiting for my little darling to arrive home. I do hope he has both eyes intact!!!

UPDATE: Matt's fine and has been invited back. :)

More Heckling... Because I CAN :) (Sorry Dear!)

Hey, it's my blog. My dear husband can read it and hope to not be blog fodder, but it's a vain hope today. Mwa haha! :)

So, yesterday we were doing laps around the track at the gym. It's a nice track. He was making me walk on the outside so I would have to walk farther (because I always take the inside track and he says I'm not getting the workout that I should... sure, that's the reason we'll go with...) Did I just hear some whining? :)

Well, we are on our second lap and passing the windows that look down on the pool.

Rob: "I wonder if many people are in the pool?"
Me: "Let's check!"

I'm glancing down at the pool when I hear it. THUNK! Really loud! The man in walking in front of us turned to look in astonishment! What WAS that noise!

ROB'S HEAD hitting the glass. THAT'S what it was. LOUDLY! I thought the man walking in front of us was going to fall over. He certainly teetered over into Rob's track lane, grinning all the time! :)

Because, I KNOW what he was thinking... "Just WHAT did that guy SEE in the POOL to make him BONK his head so hard on the glass window?"

Let me just assure you that on the NEXT lap around the track, I CHECKED! Not that I don't trust him, but I figured there was a good chance for heckling. (And he SO loves that!) :)

All I saw were a few white-haired people swimming laps. Really. Nothing to make him look so hard that he would BONK his head like that.

So, unfortunately, we conferred on this as we rounded the track yet again... and he came to the conclusion that he is just clutzy. So sorry, dear! :) You know that I most certainly do not think you are clumsy! :)

A Bit of Friendly Heckling

I have a standing 2 PM date at the gym. Probably one of the reasons I enjoy it.

However, today I almost wanted to exchange my date for someone else. Someone perhaps, nicer. More thoughtful and considerate. Ahem.

So, I was biking and Rob was biking next to me.

I commented that I had already biked an extra 2 miles today because I got there a bit early and was waiting for him to finish up so we could do a few laps around the track. I mentioned that I'd been there a long time.

"Oh," he said, completely unimpressed. "How long have you been whining?"

Now, on the wall over the track, there is CLEARLY posted, a wooden sign that says, "NO WHINING."

Whine? Moi? At the gym? Now really.

About a mile into his bike ride he stopped and said he was leaving. Why? His favorite bike was unavailable. Doesn't that sound like whining? :) Oh, I think it does.

(Sorry sweetie... I had to use you for blog fodder today... and tomorrow will be the story of your -um- injury.) hehe

Sprung!

Look who we sprung from the local animal shelter today! He'd only been there 2 days, but he was so happy to leave! The shelter director said that he wouldn't eat while he was there. Well, 10 minutes at our house and he was eating like a little horse. I think he knows he found a good thing by coming here. Dogs don't get much time at our local shelter and they were overfull. I think we all know what that means.

So, we have a new foster dog! This one is a big sheltie. Just look at that face! He's smiling! :) He's a real sweetheart. I bet we don't have him long before he's matched up with a permanent family.

Earlier today, my collie Harley was trying to get on my lap. Well, he's 85#, so I was adamantly opposed to the idea! I was trying to push him down when I saw the new foster put his paws up on my chair too. I wasn't too concerned. He's a little guy. WELL! I should have paid more attention because all of a sudden, WHAM! I had a big sheltie on my lap. He FLEW THROUGH THE AIR like he had SPRINGS in his legs. Hmmmm...

I am used to my slug collies. I think we are in for a little excitement! :)

That Thomas!

Today Thomas (age 10) was asked if the mail had come yet. It's delivered through a mail slot to the side of the front door.

Dad: "Thomas, is the mail here, yet."
Thomas: "No."
Dad: "Are you sure because it sounded like the mail was dropped through the slot just now."
Thomas: "No, Dad, it's not here."
Dad: "Are there still envelopes in the slot ready to get picked up by the mailman?"
Thomas: "No."

Okay. Clearly at this point Thomas is just enjoying saying the word, "No." Rob's no fool, so he had his next question ready.

Dad: "Thomas, is there mail on the floor under the mail slot?"
Thomas: "OH! Yes, there IS!"

Rob rolled his eyes so hard I was afraid they were going to stick that way!

Focus on the Terrific

Saturday. At last. It's been a long week.

I'm sad to see it get all gray and gloomy outside, but I do enjoy the cozy atmosphere inside. A lot.

Some terrific things have happened today.

- I finally figured out what is wrong with my scale and my weight actually IS going down. Whew!
- Hubby told me I was wearing the BAGGIEST JEANS HE'D EVER SEEN (and these are -were- my favorite jeans!)!!
- This means that I CAN still lose weight AND eat chocolate too! WOO HOOOO!
- I can see the END OF LAUNDRY today. A miracle, for sure!
- All three kids are HOME and playing TOGETHER with no arguing. Another miracle!!!
- Hubby can actually take the day off, for once!!!
- I RESISTED the EVIL DQ Blizzard that was brought in the house this afternoon. BACK Evil Blizzard! BACK! (It's been safely imprisoned in the freezer).

So, it's a very nice day. :) I needed a nice day. Somehow this week, I managed to offend a dear friend. It's been bothering me for days. There is nothing I can do except apologize, but I wish I could do more. And I wish that was enough. Apparently, it's not. At least not yet. Time heals. But it still hurts because I really love this person and knowing they are upset with me makes me feel somewhat numb inside.

Focusing on the positive stuff on my blog helps. So does this enormous hunk of chocolate that I'm gnawing on instead of eating a normal lunch. Know what? Maybe I better stop that now. :)

A Day at the Natural History Museum

My son Thomas (age 10) said the Natural History Museum was like a "dead zoo."

At one point we were standing in front of a large bird exhibit and arguing over which birds looked the most dead. I know, I know. We are an odd family. But, boys will be boys. And some of the birds were really very old stuffed examples and just looked more moth-eaten than others. Plus, most birds were upright in natural-looking positions, but others were laying flat on their backs... and those looked rather more gruesome. More dead, somehow.

Not everyone would understand our conversation about the dead birds. Most certainly another patron did not. He walked by and we heard a most acerbic voice say, "They are all EQUALLY DEAD."

We got a good laugh over it, although I am sure that was not the intent of that grumpy speaker! :)

How Men Think

Last night I learned a secret about how MEN think.

I was at Tiger Cub Scouts (very young men in training, after all...first graders).

We were playing a game of "Telephone." You know the one. The first person in line makes up a sentence and whispers it to the next person, and on, until it reaches the end of the line and is usually a completely different version of the original sentence.

This provided much hilarity. Especially for the adults. Make that, especially for the MOMS.

The first sentence ended up as, "I marry you."

Everyone looked questioningly at the initiator of the sentence. He was bewildered as well. Because he had said...

"I love you."

Now, CLEARLY men learn at a VERY YOUNG age to hear, "I MARRY YOU" (and look bewildered and possibly run in fear) when someone simply tells them, "I LOVE YOU." Doesn't this explain a LOT? :)

I am amused. :)

GO STEELERS!

I took down my Halloween flag today. I couldn't wait to put out my STEELERS FLAG!!!!

They have a really big game tonight and have a really good shot at winning. I'll even be home from Tiger Scouts in time for opening kickoff!

Snacks are prepared. Steeler shirt is washed.

WOOOO HOOOOO!!!

I CAN'T WAIT!

Apple Cake Recipe

I made this last night and my family LOVED it. My husband thinks it is the best apple cake ever! I believe him.

Why?

Because he ate the first piece I gave him (and it was substantial!) faster than light. Then he disappeared and returned with another piece of it and after inhaling that piece declared he was about to go into a food coma (since this was on top of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, etc.).

Sarah was too full from dinner, so she nibbled the top off of her piece and made dents all around it. You know how kids are with food sometimes. I sat it on the counter and forgot about it. Later, I was doing dishes and couldn't find the piece of nibbled cake to throw it away. Rob came into the kitchen behind me.

So, I asked him, "Dear, have you seen that bit of mangled cake that Sarah left on her plate?"
There was an embarrassed silence.
"Well, yeah, I ate it."
(If you are counting, that makes THREE!... and he is on a DIET... and is quite dedicated to it... to the point of losing nearly 40 pounds in recent months!)

Okaaaay. There WAS more in the pan, btw. He just couldn't stand for a bit of it to be disposed of...and not into an appreciative stomach! I guess he likes it! :)

So, thanks, Marilyn, for the recipe (should you happen to be reading!!) ;)

I also have to note that although the recipe calls for 1/2 c. of raisins, I thought it said TWO cups on my handwritten recipe, so that's how I made it. I simmered the raisins a bit to soften/plump them up. If you like raisins, go for two cups! :) Hey, with 6 cups of fruit, it HAS to be healthy, right? :) (We'll ignore that 2 cups of sugar!) :)

Apple Cake:

4 c. apples (chopped)
2 c. sugar
2/3 c. oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 c. nuts (optional)
1/2 raisins (I used 2 cups).

Add sugar to chopped apples and let sit while assembling other ingredients (stirring once).

Combine oil, eggs, and vanilla.
Sift dry ingredients.
Add oil mixture to apples.
Add nuts and raisins to flour and stir well.
Add apple mixture to flour mixture.

Pour into greased 9"x13" pan.
Bake in 350' oven for 40-45 minutes (or til done).