yummy sticky goodness (on a stick), and gratitude day 2

(Can you see me in the reflection?  I'm not wearing any pants.  Just kidding.)

You must think, the way I feature food on this blog, that all we do is make and eat treats. 

Well, yes.

I love food, and even though I'm an eternal dieter, I still love to make and bake and shake things up in the kitchen.  Even while dieting - - it's strangely therapeutic for me.

Anyway, we for-goed for-gone for-went did without pumpkin carving this year due to lots of reasons:

a)  I hate pumpkins, the smell, the mess, the taste, the feel, etc.

b)  We really ran out of time this season

c) The poor things wilt within about 36 hours in this AZ heat, so to do them justice on Halloween one really must carve them on the 30th or so--and our Saturday was BUSY, so that just wasn't happening

d)  We hadn't done carmeled apples in a while and I really wanted to!

So last Saturday, we did.

Here's our process and some of the happy sticky 'after' faces.

 

Started by enlisting the aid of some helpers.

 

Payment made in carmels of course.

I chopped up some peanuts for a topping on a select few, as per some of Lorie's suggestions on her blog.

Washed and cleaned some giant apples--I thought these were gala, but now that I look at them, I think they were fuji.  Anyone?

The actual process is a bit messy and sticky, and I didn't trust anyone with my brand new 24-hr old camera, so you only get the before and after, not so much the 'during'. 

I think the peanut ones look super yummy, but again, on Lorie's blog, she mentions using pretzels, peanut butter, chocolate, and all sorts of other wonderful combos for carmel apples we'll have to keep in mind for another year.

 

These apples were so big, it actually took the boys 2 days to get through them.

Just looking at these pictures makes me want to wash my hands and face and I didn't eat any!  That carmel really gets everywhere!

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For our Gratitude day 2 project we pulled out:

 

I keep our closets in pretty good shape, but the kids' toy boxes can always use overhauling, so that's what we did. 

 

We dumped 'em out, made Keep, Toss, and Donate piles, and set to work.

 

Productive night, got things a bit tidier around here, and reminded ourselves that we are thankful for our possessions, toys, home, bed, clothes, and everything that we've been blessed with!

What's your favorite room in your house?  Since Christy helped me redesign and decorate my bedroom, I love it so much.  But I also love my kitchen cuz that's where good treats get created!  And I love my living room because that's where my piano and sheet music are!  I'm grateful for my house!  :)