10/17/09

First of all....

Today was chilly and when I awoke, I came into the den to find that Steve had built our first fire in the wood stove. Ahhhhh..... pure, wonderful bliss. The cats were beside themselves with joy along with their mother.

Today was the day for the fair.

It is always a long day but we just love being at the fair!

Here are our results:

Steve - fourth place on his squash!!! :)

Mikayla - second place on her brownies
third place on her blueberry bread
HONORABLE MENTION on her divinity!! (I think they understood the weather
couldn't be helped or either they felt sorry for her. lol They did say they tasted
great!)

Wesley - bless my little guys heart... his entries did not place that we saw. He took it OK.

Kellie - photograph - nothing.... I still don't know what those judges look for in a photograph. lol
scrapbook pages - Pets (Ashes) 2nd place, Kids - Fourth place
Blueberry Muffins - Honorable Mention!! YAHOOO~
Coconut/Cashew Brittle - nothing
Blueberry Jam - nothing
Apple Preserves - Third!!!!
Spicy Plum Butter - Third!!!
Cran-Strawberry Jam - Second!!!
Apple Conserve -

Well, OK, there is a story with the Apple Conserve. lol

Kevin, Daddy and I kept wandering around that area trying to find all of our entries. Kevin and I were looking for the last two we hadn't found when Daddy comes around the corner with this look on his face.... a look of "OH. MY. WORD.".... HMMM.... I thought he found something or someone I needed to see. lol

Well, yes he did find SOMETHING I needed to see.

It seems my Apple Conserve not only won First Place....

It also won BEST OF SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mine????

Little 'Ole Me who has been poked and prodded by my wonderful brother all of my life to cook/bake... WON BEST OF SHOW? haahhahhahaha!

I was in such disbelief that apparently I was standing there with mouth gaped open going OH. MY. WORD. ME????? After pictures were taken and my excitement was shown to many stranger who walked up at that moment, Wesley informs me... "Mom, you embarrassed me back there when you did all of that." I told him he would just have to get over that. ha!!

They opened up the display case for me to hold it. WOW. This was something that had to sink in... and it took a while.

I must say that I felt so badly in the fact that I won this and Kevin has worked so hard all of these years. I kept apologizing to him. lol :) Here this was my first time really doing the jam/conserve/preserve making that it seemed strange for me to win this high honor. (He wasn't bothered by it, but I told him that would be like him entering a photograph for the first time and winning Best of Show... he understood my point. LOL) I would never rub it in to him that I won this and I hope he will always remember how much I appreciate his "poking and prodding" to get me in the kitchen. He shares this honor with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wanna see????? hee hee


I wonder if they'll let me keep my sign with my name on it after the fair is over? :)

10/15/09

More bright mums on this cold, rainy fall day.



Not much for you today.... gotta clean the house and get ready for the weekend. Lot's going on around here!

(Maybe we'll have a fire tonight.... it just didn't happen last night with church. lol)

10/14/09

Mums.... they are so pretty. I just hate that they die so quickly when frost hits!


It has rained all day. It is also quite cold for October here in the south. I am seeing coffee in my future. I would tell Steve to fire up that wood stove but he has no wood brought to the house and he'd probably just laugh at me. :)

Off to grade some papers and hope not to "nod" as I did yesterday while doing the same thing. hee hee

10/13/09

We are tired.... very, very tired. ha!!

I fell asleep during the first grade dress rehearsal performance this afternoon at school. That is NOT good. hee hee

I took some leftovers of our entries to school today and they were consumed happily by those around me. I think Mikayla's dark chocolate brownies were a hit. I couldn't stop eating my brittle. I will have to make more soon because I have just a few pieces left!

Tonight we are doing nothing... nada... Zip. Once I grade papers and we go over some Vocabulary with the kiddos we are chilling.

It was in the 70's today. I think tomorrow around here it is supposed to be in the 40's. I'm all about cooler weather, but I am not sure I am ready for winter yet. lol I'm glad it is supposed to be cold for the fair, though. That will make those yummy foods we eat non-stop even more delectable.

Well... off to crash. Thanks for all of the comments on what we have entered. I'll let you know as soon as I know! :)

10/12/09

So... here is a "play by play", picture by picture, of getting baked goods ready for the fair. lol

Last night and tonight we have been preparing. We'll start with yesterday. (Remember, you can click on any photo to get a better view...)

Wesley made his chocolate pound cake. Mom helped him with it while I was cutting my cashews into pieces for my brittle. Anything with Wesley is interesting because you have to focus for him and you. lol Mom helped him make sure he had everything in his recipe and when we poured it into two loaf pans (per the directions) I looked up beside the stove to see the two sticks of butter that were supposed to already be in the cake. lol We had to start he whole process over!! (I felt better knowing my Mom, who is an excellent cook/baker, also had issues with forgetting ingredients at times. lol)

Next, I helped Mikayla with her blueberry bread. She was so goofy.

We stopped for a bit to go get Kevin from the airport. He had been in Mexico for 10 days. When we got back to our house we began the process of making Mikayla's divinity... her choice for candies for the fair. I told Kevin I wasn't touching it... I knew it would be difficult.

Hmm.... something isn't right....

Eek.... the humidity last night was too much for the divinity. Talk about sticky!!!

Mikayla said "I didn't know divinity would be THIS hard!" Uh, yeah... that is why we tried to talk you out of it. lol

Can you tell she isn't really thrilled with the goo?

Even after 24 hours this is what we got. We still plated it... not that it looks like separate pieces on the plate. It actually looks like one huge blob. The important thing is that she is sending it in and she did her best. We had no control over the weather. The last two days haven't been the greatest for baking. In fact, we told Mikayla tonight that her divinity wouldn't win anything and to not be disappointed in that. (Kind of like my brittle a couple of years ago...)

Tonight we made her dark chocolate brownies... and they are yummy. We licked the bowl afterwards. Can you tell????

My coconut cashew brittle is OH. MY. GOODNESS. I think I hit the nail on the head with this batch... finally. Y'all just don't know the issues I have had. The best part... I did it ALL BY MYSELF without Kevin's help. hee hee.... yeah, I'm grinnin'. (Oh, and talk about multi-tasking when I was making my brittle.... I was coloring my hair, eating a McDonald's cheeseburger and making this candy all at once. It is called do what you can when you can because the night is crazy. So much for a nutritional night!)

My blueberry muffins. They turned out quite nicely!

Wesley's honey muffins... the third try at the fair. I think this one is a winner... YUMMY.

Wesley's pitiful chocolate pound cake. Well... the recipe said two loaf pans, but we aren't sure what they were thinking. It made mini loaves and they are more pitiful than a Sara Lee pound cake. lol We'll see... haven't tasted this one yet, but maybe the taste will win the judges over. lol

Mikayla's brownies.... not officially cut up, but they were still too warm.

Mikayla's blueberry bread.... MUCH better looking than last years. lol

I entered two scrapbook pages that I didn't photograph. Sorry... one is of our late kitty Ashes... a tribute page to her, and then a double page spread of the kids last summer. We'll see how it goes.

I also entered these jams/conserves/preserves. This is my first year doing any of that. Kevin made me do them. lol I am actually excited that I have entered them. We'll see if the judges like any of them.


And... finally... my photograph. We'll see what the judges think about this one, too. :)


Steve is entering his squash. He wouldn't go out and pick it tonight so I could photograph it. I just don't understand that. :)

As we have talked it over with the kids... this process we have gone through is not about winning, but about the memories made and the joy of a job well done (even if your divinity looks nothing as it should).

I must admit... it would tickle us senseless if we got a little something. Hee hee..... BUT.. if we don't we will be alright, too.

We'll find out our "results" Saturday when we go! If you are going to the NC State Fair see if you can find our stuff!

10/11/09

Picking out pumpkins last weekend! We went to the Farmer's Market.

Here's the one Mikayla picked!

Wesley's carrying his.... tough guy.

Surrounded by the pumpkins.. they were huge! This was at one of my student's parents farm booth.

This past Thursday we decorated the pumpkins. They did a great job. :)

You may need to click on this to see the faces better.

All painted!

Wesley painted a mustache on his guy. lol

The whole family on the front porch with our fall pizzazz.... that is about as pizzazzy as we seem to get nowadays.

10/09/09

The early morning sun was on these pumpkins!


Today Steve came to visit me a few minutes at school in between some things he had to do. When he left, my students were in the hallway patiently waiting for me as I was saying goodbye before we walked down to lunch. I gave Steve a quick kiss when seeing him off and as I walked up to my students to go downstairs to lunch, one of the girls said "Awwww... that is so sweet!" and then one of my little boys said quietly "That just makes me warm all over!" I didn't think I understood him well at first and asked him again to be sure. He said it again and I asked him what made him warm all over... his reply "When you kiss." lol Knowing that child like I do, that was the sweetest and most heartfelt thing. It is evident he sees that love displayed at home and it makes his heart warm when he sees it with others. We just never know where our example of the life we live shows up in the hearts of others.