Thank you for hot showers, Lord! A hot shower has to be one of the all time great inventions. How can you contemplate facing the day without a hot shower to help you make the transition from horizontal to vertical, from dead to the world to up and running?
Just to head off the comments, a hot shower to me is probably a lukewarm shower for most of the rest of you, but it serves the same purpose, and I can always increase the temperature for those mornings when muscles need more help.
I was in the shower on Thursday morning thinking about a blog entry I had made that mourned the fact that great blogging ideas always come when you can’t write them down. It struck a chord with Bogie, and she blogged about it.
I had six ideas I was juggling, and I hurried to dry off and get to my tape recorder. I wasn’t going to let them get away from me this time, no sir! I clicked on the record button, and it wouldn’t go down. I tried again. No luck. I opened the recorder, thinking that the tape was hung up in the works, and discovered the problem. NO TAPE!
I just laughed. What else was there to do??
See? A hot shower can even help you through the first snag of the day!
Daily Archives: November 12, 2005
Cinnamon Dough
I did a quick search to see if I’d given this recipe in the past, but I don’t find anything. I love the smell of cinnamon when the house is closed up. I associate it with Thanksgiving and Christmas. When I can’t bake using cinnamon, I have candles scented with vanilla and cinnamon or pumpkin and cinnamon.
A number of years ago a friend shared the recipe for a simple dough made of applesauce and cinnamon for Christmas ornaments. I made several batches and we cut out angels, and gingerbread men, and rocking horses. Let me share it with you.
Compromising
I’ve talked about it before. I dislike seeing the promotion of Christmas prior to Thanksgiving. For those of you who may read this blog who are not from the USA, Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November, which is the 24th, this year.
I know that a lot of people are so heavily into Christmas as a decorating/cooking/gift giving/party season that they need more time to prepare than I do, but it bothers me to see us commercialize Christmas. With that in mind, I refrain from decorating or starting my shopping until after Thanksgiving.
Usually.
Cleaning
When Spring comes, I’m so busy getting gardens ready for the blooming season that I frequently don’t have the chance to get all the heavy cleaning done. So, rather than fight it, I do my Spring cleaning in November. In the 16 years we have been in this house, we’ve hosted my family’s Thanksgiving dinner 12 or 13 times. Before they come, the entire house is cleaned. We wash windows and carpets, curtains, and the linens for the tables. We wash all the china and crystal, and clean all the decorations in the house. Everything is dusted, and the lampshades are vacuumed. We wash the quilts (or at least those which aren’t antiques.) Furniture is moved, and closets and drawers are cleaned and reorganized. We even change the wreaths, so that the appropriate season is represented.
A Bit More on Apple Butter
The apple butter is done. I had some on toast this morning. Have I told you I’m addicted to cinnamon?? This was sweet and thick and full of cinnamon.
I have a few more thoughts to share with you about apple butter before we move on to other subjects. When my links are up, you’ll find “Simply Recipes” listed among them. Elise has a recipe that is almost identical to the one I gave for apple butter, with one exception. Her recipe calls for apple cider vinegar. I thought that maybe it was an error, but according to Elise it’s just a variant on the recipe. I prefer my apple butter sweet and spicy, so I use apple cider instead.