Logan's Favorite Things at 1

I'm only 4 months late in sharing this - better late than never!

Charlie Brown lives with us

It was inevitable. A love like that couldn't last forever. The fact that I was knee deep in a project (you know the type - pbj for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, still wearing pajamas at 5pm, and paint from my fingertips to my elbows) didn't change the words that blurted out of Superman's mouth, "Hey, it looks like Charlie Brown threw up!" as he admired my handiwork.

And, just like that, it was gone. My long time love affair with chevron patterned anything. Almost every room in our house has some form of chevron or a plan for it to make a grand entrance. Those little zigs and zags were drool worthy and doggonit they made me happy.

Due to Superman's lousy timing at humor, I had these pillowcases sewn and stuffed already. I'm enjoying them even though every time I see a chevron print now I think of Charlie Brown and simultaneously start dancing and thinking of lines..... Wa Wa Wa Wa Wa? And then that baldy, white head and obnoxious orange and black chevron shirt are all that I can picture. Nuts.

 Our living areas are a work in progress. I'm happy with the progress but I see how they still have a long way to go. Specifically in the area of throw pillows. I got tired of looking at my plain white forms, so I whipped up a few cases using some leftover drop-cloths and paint I had laying around. I think they're kinda cute... even if they are just temporary!

Maybe I'll try ikat instead? Or houndstooth? Or plaid?

How bout them apples?

It's fall. And to me, fall means applesauce and pumpkin roll can finally get.in.my.belly. Unfortunately, there was a bad freeze earlier in the year and most of the local orchards were either out of apples or charged more than a tank of gas for a bushel of apples. After weeping and mourning in sackcloth and ashes, I decided I would just have to live without apple pie this year. Then my mother in law tracked down an orchard that had some apples to pick. Happy day! I ditched the black veil and we trekked out to the Anderson orchard with Grandma and Grandpa Harmer and Aunt Lori so that we could pick our beloved apples! Logan loved it, of course, because he was outside, dirty, and he got to throw every apple he could find. What more could a kid want?!

I found one! We can go home now!

Logan loves tasting the apples thanks to Grandma

He would throw an apple, go pick it up, and throw it again.
 I like to think he was starting the applesauce process to save me time...

Daddy was glad to climb every tree in sight.
 According to him, only the apples at the tippy top of the tree are worth picking.
 I think he just wanted an excuse to climb more

He ran up and down each row

Aunt Lori... check out that bling bling!

He loved riding in the wagon

Helping Grandpa find some good apples

Faster, daddy!

Logan was so amused by the pumpkins and tried to push them over.
 He wasn't very happy to be 'contained' for a picture, but at least
he isn't screaming and wiggling out of their arms! Win!

Once again, with style

Anyone who has followed my multiple blogs in the past knows I am horrible at consistency. And here's the truth: I don't do well when I have a blogging agenda to maintain. Of course those agendas only exist because I create them. I constantly get swallowed up by grand ideas of having a theme, a schedule, a target audience. But the truth is, that kind of blogging just isn't working for me. I have seen lots of other people succeed with having blog structure... Not me. So I continually 'quit' blogs. And then I miss blogging, so I come back with a vengeance and try to whirlwind all these thematic posts that might generate comments and followers, then I burn out or real life gets in the way so I quit, yada yada, the cycle continues. No more! I have decided that from now on I am just going to blog about what I want to blog about, however boring or mundane, because that's why I blog. I want to look back on my 40th birthday and have some kind of written down record of what life was like, pajama days, crunchy Cheerios in the carpet, and all. And so I blog...

Tasty Tuesday: Blueberry Crumble Muffins

When I was little, I started a revolt against blueberries. They were gross, horrible, icky, and DEFINITELY had no business being in my breakfast. Thankfully I matured. Like 2 years ago. And decided blueberries were amazing - Especially in muffins! Enter these bad boys. Please, oh please, make these blueberry muffins for breakfast this weekend. They really shouldn't be classified as a breakfast food. I'm pretty sure they fall more in the dessert category. But, I won't tell if you won't...

Blueberry Crumble Muffins

Ingredients:
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking powder
1/3 C Vegetable oil
1 Egg
1/3 C Milk
1 C Blueberries
Crumble:
1/2 C sugar
1/3 C flour
1/4 C butter
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 400. Grease 12 regular muffin cups or line with muffin liners. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

To make Crumb Topping, mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix together and sprinkle over muffins before baking. Bake for 20 minutes.

(Fresh blueberries are always better, but if you want to use frozen, toss the bag into the fridge the night before. To use them, rinse the thawed (but cold!) blueberries in a colander and spread on paper towels to dry.)