Pie day

Yesterday, January 24th, was National Pie Day, not to be confused with Pi Day.

So I pulled out Pie, by Ken Haedrich, for inspiration.  

I discovered this encyclopedia of pies through Aunt Snow's Pie a Week Series.

Right as I was flipping through the book, 

it magically pointed me to 

Pennsylvania-Dutch Sour Cream Apple Pie.  

It was an excellent choice.

I could hardly wait!  

But I had to, until it cooled and 

Ernest got home from piano lessons.

It was divine.  I might have posted on Facebook that it was the best pie I ever made.

Here's the recipe.  I made 2 small changes.  

Because the notes said the apples would stay firm, 

I precooked them 8-10 minutes in the microwave.  

And I substituted oatmeal for the walnut in the topping 

because Frank is not fond of nuts.

And here's my breakfast!

The Refrigerator Saga Continues

In the ongoing saga of my refrigerator, in which first the ice was melting, and second water was collecting under the vegetable drawer...

The water continued to collect, so Handy took things apart and found a drain pan with a rusty hole in it. The water was going through the hole instead of through the tube to wherever it was supposed to go. He replaced the drain pan.

Then the fan area started freezing up. We would end up with frozen lettuce while the rest of the refrigerator got hotter.

So we called in a different Mr. Appliance Man.  He hadn't ever seen this problem before. And our refrigerator somehow isn't built like other refrigerators. He was a good guy, though. He went off and did some research and contacted GE and other repair people, then came back to say, "It might be this $20 sensor."  He replaced it and it's been working fine for a month! We think we'll stick with this guy instead of the other one!

Felix Rears her Fussy Head Again

In 24 hours, I have:

• Picked up a pile of wet paper towels from the women's room counter at a fancy theater. Apparently, some women can't manage to put them into the trash receptacle holes that are only 3 inches away.
• Picked up the pile of trash a woman threw into the bargain basket outside the supermarket. She couldn't be bothered to deposit the trash into the receptacle that was 3 feet away, which she passed as she went in the doorway.
• Picked up the clip-on sunglasses of an elderly woman as I entered the store, and ran after her calling "Ma'am' Ma'am, are these yours?" (For one horrible instant I thought I'd made a mistake and she was a Sir, because when I got up close she was wearing a men's-look cardigan. It's hard to tell from the back when the hair is short and gray.) She was grateful, at least.
• Picked up the giant potato that was rolling in the aisle of the produce section.
• I feel like there were more incidents, but they escape me now.

Not picking up after oneself is such a pet peeve of mine. When I worked at the school, it was a constant battle to help the children remember to pick up after themselves. Or to be kind and pick up something someone else had dropped. Imagine a hoodie, fallen off its hook and kicked around in the hallway. They would march right over it. I would say, "You know you're stepping on it. Why don't you pick it up and hang it on the hook? Wouldn't you like it if someone did that for your hoodie?"

I wrote a college psychology class paper on The Development of Altruism in Children, but it seems like it developed faster back then.

And the trash. "It's not MY trash," they would whine, as I asked them to pick it up. Here I got a little mean. "I don't care. It's not my trash, either, but I still pick it up ALL DAY LONG because you guys drop it and ignore it.  Please pick it up and make the world a better place."

Sigh.  Felix's rant over for now.

Update:  The Washcloth collector is showering in his own bath now (because he's too tall for our showerhead) and seems to be reusing his washcloth.

Outtakes

Needing a picture for the yearbook by March 1, we decided to take Ernest's senior pictures ourselves. This saves us a rather expensive "sitting fee" and also allows us to squeeze in a photo session or two at Ernest's convenience.

We only had 30 minutes for this session, due to his oversleeping two hours.

The tree below was featured in so many of the senior pictures in my high school yearbook, so these shots are for the sake of nostalgia.

Ernest likes to bend the rules.

I have some serious shots too. There's got to be something useable in the batch, and hopefully we'll be able to get another session in before the deadline.

Auditions

Jen mentioned I might have a Lori Anderson necklace 

to wear with my new dress.  

Why yes I do.  The problem is, which one?

Can you help me decide?

This may be the one Jen is thinking of.  

"Better than Prozac, Pastel Edition."  

I love the mod pop of the spring green.

The colors are more subtle in this beauty.  

I love the heart.

This is not a Lori piece, but I found it on Etsy thanks to her.  

It's by Starseedjewelry 

(but there isn't anything currently listed in their Etsy shop right now).  

I love the chunky stones and the asymmetry.

Back to Lori again.  

I wear this floral darling often with another purple dress.  

(It's on a little crooked here due to my twisting around 

to get the best of the bad bathroom light.) 

The only thing wrong with this beauty 

is that I wore it to the previous graduation!  

Very elegant.  

This is the most casual of my choices.  

It coordinates with one of my favorite bracelets.

Well, here they all are.  

From the left, let's call them Prozac, Heart, Chunky, Floral, Elegant and Casual.

What's your vote? 

Dog Tired

Ernest came home from a rock climbing trip and was dog tired.
 But not too tired to pet the Handy Grandpa's dog.

Planning Ahead

"I don't have anything to wear!"  "Does this make me look fat?"

This wasn't me, it was my husband getting dressed for his company's Christmas party.  I didn't have a problem.  I was wearing some dressy yet comfortable black slacks and a festive top.

But then I started worrying.

I don't have many dressy events in my life but a big one is coming up, Ernest's high school graduation on June 1st. Really?  It seems like just yesterday this was happening...

And all of a sudden it's almost 4 years later.

I suppose I could wear the same dress but who wants to do that?  So I poked around on the internet and found this, on sale for $35 at Coldwater Creek!

The next graduation ceremony will be outdoors at 1:00, on the grass under a canopy next to an oak tree. So I have sensible shoes, too.

I'm all set.  Now what are we going to do about my husband?

Looking Up And The Daily Drive: Circus Windmill

A termite-tented windmill is one of the odder sights I have seen around here. 

My Homer

My Homer was exceptionally handsome today. He sat on my lap twice, begged for pizza (the sausage and Canadian bacon part), and stole my chair when I had to get up to answer the phone. It would have been a perfect day for him except that it got cloudy and his patch of sunshine disappeared. 

Refurbishment

When Ernest put the Christmas hat on Ferd, we noticed he was looking a bit weatherbeaten.  That's flaking paint on top of his wing, not feathers.

So he came down for a little touch-up.

He needs to look his best as he has a new friend in the front yard.  Now I know that technically this would be a male peacock, but look at those eyelashes!  Either it's Nestor Carbonell or I'm going to give it a girl's name.  I like Freya myself.

"Ferd and Freya" sounds like something out of a Norse fairy tale.  Anyway, Ferd's looking pretty spiffy now.

Handy is refurbishing the truck a little, too.  He didn't want to try the toothpaste trick, so he got new headlight covers (one installed on the left below). Has anyone tried polishing them with toothpaste? I'm curious to know if it would have worked.

A Little Detour

Ernest had to have a new jacket altered at Men's Wearhouse so yesterday I invited myself along to pick it up.

As we were driving around, Ernest asked "Where's Gibraltar Road?"  I sort of explained how to get there:  You go past the mission somewhere, then you go up.  Then I asked, do you want to go find it?

The queen of the missions was getting a facelift.

Then we went up, all right.

I love our detours.  See one here, and another here.