Candy Making

This is baking week in our family. And by baking, I mean candy making. Pounds and pounds of butter and sugar are used during the week as mass amounts of English toffee, peanut brittle and caramels fill the house, taking up the majority of the many sheet pans we own.

Today, Jane and I made caramels. Two half sheet pans full. 6 pounds of butter... It was going well, no scorching or burns like previous days. We have been having trouble with our brand new candy thermometers, mostly, I believe, because of the amount of candy we're making and the large pots we have to use. Anyway, I was going off of the candy thermometer and the ice water test. Well, turns out one of the batches was cooked a little too long despite the careful tests. I was pretty upset. It was three pounds of butter, which is a lot. It also took a good two hours to make....

So tomorrow, I've got another batch of caramels to knock out... The good news? It just tastes like Worther candies, so it'll still get eaten, just not gifted.

The Things I Learn- Number 3

So I'm home. It is a little more overwhelming of a transition than I anticipated. The house is smaller than I remembered.

The other night, we had eight people over in addition to my family of eight. I felt weird all evening and finally figured out it was because there were an overwhelming amount of conversations going on at the same time and I wasn't used to it.

The next morning, I had no voice. That gave me perspective on just how quiet it was in Tennessee.

Home

Welp, the time has come, I'll be traveling back to Washington tomorrow. The busiest travel day of the year. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited to go home. I've missed my family for ages and so much as happened since I left. I can't wait to catch up with everyone. But like every time I leave this place, I realize how much of my heart is here.

I pulled my suitcase out of the closet last week and started collecting the random things that I wouldn't need and while doing so, Elsa asked
"What are you doing?"
I looked up at her, she had been playing happily
"I'm packing to go home."
She got really sad as she climbed down from the bed and came over.
"But... You are home..."
It nearly made me cry, but I gave her a hug instead. For someone so young, she understands a lot.

Today, I spent a good deal of the morning catching up on some miles I was behind from the weekend. Then we Skyped home for probably the last time this visit and talked with Anna at West Point as well as the family back home.

I made her macaroni and cheese for lunch and tucked her in for her nap. Our morning had been filled with songs, laughter and fun. This afternoon while she naps, I did laundry to get ready to pack and made salted caramel pretzel bark (seriously addicting) while listening to Pandora.

Oh, and I got a sweet package in the mail today from a friend. She's a favorite. :-) and not just because she sent fall cookies.

So my next post shall be from Washington where I will be diving into Thanksgiving, family, friends and holiday baking.

Thankfulness

So I was cutting vegetable for dinner the other night and the knife slipped cause it was (is) dull, cutting my finger. Last time I cut myself while cooking was seriously like two years ago. I don't do it often, so I was frustrated and missing my knives. My good, sharp knives back at home. Then I thought how lucky I am to have a good knife set, which got me thinking about thankfulness.

This is Thanksgiving week and it's not just for turkey and pumpkin pie, but about gratitude. So I decided to do a super small list of things I'm thankful for.

1. My family. It's been almost two months since I left, but I still get to talk to them. Which leads me to...

2. Skype and all the other wonderful ways of communicating. Since I've been gone, I've used Skype, Facetime, Google Hangout, Messenger, email, Facebook, text, phone calls and even some snail mail. Getting mail is always fun, but I am soooo incredibly thankful for all the other ways I can communicate that are instantaneous, where I can see faces, send pictures and ask for advice "in person"

3. Friends. In the last few months especially, I have realized what a unique group of friends I have. The ones who keep me laughing, the ones (all of you) who put up with the overload of niece pictures, the ones who stay up way too late writing text stories and having sticker battles, the ones who pray for me... Just to name a few.

4. My little family here. They're awesome and kind. We play a lot of games after dinner, eat a lot of chocolate, cook, shop and do house projects. It's a lot of fun!

5. My bed back home. I am so excited for my trailer bedroom, the thin foam mattress and the multitude of blankets to keep warm (cause it's freezing in the winter).

6. Noise. Being away has made me realize how much I miss the chaos of more than one conversation happening at once, music playing in the background, people cooking, typing, singing... The quiet has been nice in its own way, but I've found I play music or have cooking shows playing in the background quite frequently.

I could go on forever with things I'm thankful for. Like chocolate, taste buds, Hobby Lobby coupons, dishwashers, cheese... But I'll stop here and wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Moments #1

Elsa, walking up to me dragging a quilt behind her. I'm sitting on the couch on my computer and she hands me the blanket 

"Can we snuggle?" she asked 

I looked over at her, her hair up in a cute little messy bun type hairdo with not one hair bow, but two. 

"Uh, of course we can snuggle." 

Sure it was only a twenty-five second or so snuggle, but I'd never turn down this baby's snuggles! 

A Happy Quest for Fall

The "cabin fever" set in this week. For the past month, I have only gone out twice or so times a week. Compared to the somewhat crazy schedule at home where I usually go out at least once a day and often times will be out for hours running errands, chauffeuring kids and such. The first couple weeks were lovely, with no pressure, no demand to get ready for the day first thing each morning. All I did was wash dishes, watch Elsa, workout and clean. My batteries are finally recharged.

Today was lovely, I had a leisurely morning tidying up my room, bathroom and the upstairs bonus room where Elsa and I spend the majority of our time together. It's cozy up there with a giant air mattress and a super comfortable couch, plus the the surplus of books on one wall and the projector making it into a in-home theater. 

In the afternoon, I headed out. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do. I wanted to drive and see fall, drink something warm and then pick up the few items I needed before heading back. Getsome Coffee has the best raspberry white chocolate mocha, so I got one of those on my way out. I first went to Miss Lucille's, a sweet warehouse filled with booths of antiques and knick-knacks. It's a fun place to browse. 

After that, clueless of how far away it was, and without a GPS to help me if I got lost (I rarely do), I decided to venture to Port Royal State Park. It turned out to be a lovely drive down a windy highway and about twenty minutes off of the main highway. 

The view from the parking lot of the Red Fork river. I met a nice lady who was waiting for her client to arrive. She was a photographer and we talked for a few minutes and she told me about several places to check out at the park. 

And so I found fall!! It was fun to see all the deciduous trees and the crunching leaves on the ground.

I loved the vibrant greens against the dulling orange leaves. It once again proved that fall is my favorite time of year.

This field was technically not on the park property and thus I trespassed, which made me think of my best friend and how much I've changed... This field made me happy! I didn't stay for long, but the red barn in the distance and all the beautifully colored trees with the bright blue sky was just what I needed to see. 

My adventure felt like it ended way too fast as I picked up a couple things from Hobby Lobby and a few ingredients to make pretzel bites and cheese sauce this week.... 

All in all, today was a happy day and I am thankful for where I'm at.