We Made It!

Well, we made it to Harrisburg. We made it out of the house at about 5:20am and arrived to our hotel pretty much right on the dot 12 hours later.

Sean made it safe from the airport and chilled out with Uncle Skip and Aunt Pam while we fought through Harrisburg rush hour traffic.

Once we dropped off our things at the hotel we headed to Maren and Ed's house (they're the ones getting married and hence our trip to Pennsylvania). They have a really cute house. Very nice.

Maren and Aunt Pam made us hot Italian sausages - apparently something my grandpa always need when they were in Pennsylvania. It was pretty good. The spicy ones were definitely better than what we can find in Michigan.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving with Aunt Sandy, Joe and Grandma. Friday is helping prep for the wedding and probably a trip to Gettysburg and Hershey. Saturday is the wedding and Sunday is the trip home. I'm glad I don't work on Mondays...

Vermicomposting.

I think I'm going to do it.

I have a birthday coming up... It would be a random thing to ask for on a birthday, but...

It's cost effective, good for the planet, doesn't smell bad and will give me fertilizer for my plants.

I'm not sure if my parents are all that on board though. And it's their house.

But I did get a book from the library today, so maybe that will help convince them that it's okay. Heck, these pets would do a lot less damage than their dogs do...

Almost Done.

We've been slowly moving out of our apartment for the past month. And we're almost out! Chris' parents drove down with the trailer yesterday and we hauled our dining room table and chairs and a few other large objects up to their place to store in the basement. It was great to have a place to put all that while we don't need it.

Just a few more things left at the apartment. We're still trying to sell our TV (Chris hasn't gotten around to putting it on Craig's List yet...maybe once we're back from our Thanksgiving trip), the truck and hoping to find a good home for my old iMac. The iMac comes with a scanner and is great for a family or church who wants to be able to edit their own videos. I'll make a good deal for you if you're interested. Just let me know. I'd love to put it in a good home.

The basement that we're moving into is a current mess. Boxes and drawers and stuff everywhere. I think after Thanksgiving we'll be working on putting all of that stuff away. Fun fun.

I've got to get ready for church now...

Menu Engineering

This is an idea of part of what we do at my office:

Menu Engineering

Tea Time

What a day. Very full.

This morning Chris and I met up with our friends Daniel and Kristin. Daniel is raising support for his upcoming ministry at U of M through GCM, at New Life Church and the East Quad, so we went out for breakfast to hang out with them and talk about his ministry and how to support him.


We decided to meet at Sundance for breakfast, but once we got there we saw that they didn't open until 9am. It was 8am at the time.

Daniel and Kristin, living nearby, had ridden their bikes, so Daniel rode his back to their apartment and Kristin hopped in the car with us to show us the way. Once at their place we all piled into a car and moved on to Wolfgang's for breakfast. It was good.

Then we stopped at their apartment to borrow some books and ended up hanging out and having some tea. At 10:30am we had to take off because I had a Bridal Tea Party to attend at noon.

So from there we stopped in Hudsonville, picked up a few clothes from our apartment, then headed to Zeeland where I dropped off Chris and picked up my friend Jen. Then the two of us headed to the tea party.


The party was pretty fun. They had it very nicely decorated with all sorts of tea sets from Kimberly's (the bride) relatives. So tea and prizes were enjoyed by all.

That wrapped up around 3pm, so once I dropped off Jen, Chris and I met back up in Zeeland, had some dinner and then headed back to the apartment to take another load of stuff to our new basement living quarters.

And now I'm home. Ready to relax. Maybe with a cup of tea.

Power Line Media

I finally updated my website. I need to add more to my portfolio, but that will come after the big move.

www.powerline-media.com

The portfolio is a flash download that I found and put my work into.

Applesauce

Chris and I headed up north to do some canning this weekend.

We had lots of leftover apples from the Pumpkin Patch, so we wanted to put some to good use. We rifled through my mom and grandma's mason jars, found two dozen and were on our way.

First we had to cut up the apples and remove the seeds. We kept the peels on – adds a few nutrients and makes the applesauce a pretty pink.


This is me and Chris' parents working on those apples.


Then came the cooking. We put them in big pots with just enough water so they didn't burn to the bottom of the pan. Stirred them around until they got fairly mushy.


Chris is good at stirring.


Once they were mushy enough, we cranked the apples through the food mill. This pulled off the apple peels and made the sauce nice and smooth.


Finally, we put the sauce into the jars and ran them through the pressure cooker.

I never realized apple sauce was so easy to make. Well, the process is easy, but it definitely can take some time to do so many. We filled 19 jars. 19 quarts of apple sauce. Wow! We'll be all set for a few months.

Moving...

Well, I made good progress on moving today.

I called the gas and electric companies and told them to stop services at the end of the month. Then I hauled a bunch of stuff to our new diggs. Then my mom and I drove back to the apartment, packed more stuff, hauled more stuff and then did it one more time for kicks and giggles (and to get more stuff out).

Our office is getting closer to being emptied. The living room has been pared down a little.

Tomorrow we'll make a trip up north, partly to haul a few things to store up there, mostly to make apple sauce, and partly to clear a space to store our stuff in the basement.

Now if we could just get some stuff sold... People on Craigslist have been kind of frustrating. Most don't show up and none have returned any phone calls when I try to figure out if their coming and why they haven't shown up. This is craziness.

I'm going to try and pack a little more yet tonight! We're getting there!

Harry

Here's my second pumpkin carving for this year. I did it last week. Rather, I did a lot of it, but due to a long day with horrid customers, my patience was thin and Chris generously stepped in and finished the minute details for me.

Actually, he became rather obsessive about it. I think he'll join me next year in carving...

Bleu Cheese Fondue

This was pretty popular at this year's Pumpkin Stew. It's a great fondue - very easy to make and delicious with a crusty bread or fresh broccoli.

Ingredients:
• 4 oz. crumbled bleu cheese
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 8 oz. cream cheese, cubed (I use neufchatel cheese - 1/3 less fat)
• 8 oz. monterey jack cheese, cubed
• 1 Tbsp. kirsch (I use blackberry brandy)

Heat the wine and cream cheese, stirring until the cheese melts.
Add the monterey jack cheese a little at a time, stirring constantly.
Blend in the bleu cheese.
When it's smooth, add the kirsch.

Serve with French bread, fruit or veggies.