The Simple Woman's Day Book . . .

FOR TODAY, OCTOBER 20, 2008 ...

Outside My Window...
The wind is just a howling. It started yesterday. This will really bring the leaves off of the trees now. They will be looking quite bare after this I expect. We really have had a fairly nice autumn, much nicer weather wise than the summer was.

I am thinking...
About my friend Margaret. She is leaving to go on a trip to Egypt today. I hope that she has a lovely and a safe time. I think she's very brave. I have long wanted to go there and to the Holy Land. It must be exciting to see the Pyramids and walk on the Sahara Desert and see and do all those things I've only ever seen pictures of in books. I can't wait to hear about everything she saw and did when she gets back!

I am thankful for...
I truly am thankful for my Todd. I was thinking about that in church yesterday. Most women, when they work full time like I do, still have to come home and clean their houses and have a whole host of other chores waiting for them. I come home and I can put my feet up because my Todd has done all the dusting, the hoovering, the ironing . . . you name it, he does it. He even does windows! I know I'm very lucky. The only thing he really doesn't do is cook, and I don't mind doing that at all.

From the kitchen...
There is a delicious apple crisp sitting on the counter that I made for Todd yesterday. He loves apples and apple pie very much. I don't always feel like going to all the trouble to bake a pie though and so this is my compromise for him. He enjoys it and I expect he dreams of apple pie when he's eating it!

I am wearing...
Once again here, no surprise, pajamas! I could wear them 24/7. I wonder what they'd think if I turned up to work in them? I have decided that my crocs are making my foot problem worse. I need to get a pair of slippers. I have a pair of trainers I wear to work all the time and most of the time when I am not at work, but on Saturday I wore my crocs all day and by Saturday evening my problem foot was just as sore as can be. I hadn't even been on it all day like I normally am. It has to be the crocs . . . I guess they just aren't good for my feet!

I am creating...
I wish I could show you all the stacks of pencil sketches I have waiting to turn into pictures. I always have a picture rolling around in my head, or a verse. I dream in colour too. Do you?

I am going...
Nothing in my plans this week except for work, Seminary, Young Women's Mutual Activity and then we have our bi-annual Stake Conference for the church this Saturday and Sunday coming up. I love Stake Conference. We have some really awesome leaders in this stake and I really love listening to them speak. They have asked us to ponder on the Atonement of the Saviour during this week leading up to the conference. Thinking of the atonement always touches me to the core. It is the greatest gift we were ever given and I am so very grateful for it.

I am reading...
I started a book the other night that I have read umpteen times before. It's called Emmeline by Judith Rossner. It's my all time favourite book and is a true story about a young girl named Emmeline who is from a very poor Maine family back in the early 1800's. She gets sent to the cotton mills in Massachusetts to help support her family when she is 13. It's the story of that experience and what happens after, and it's a true story. She's a very pretty and innocent girl and I won't tell you the whole story as I don't want to spoil it for you in case you would like to read it yourself. I highly recommend it though. It must be good if I can read it over and over again . . .

I am hoping...
That I have a good week this week and don't eat too many of the things I shouldn't eat. I have good days and bad days. I try to eat healthily and then I am tempted, and while I can withstand it most of the time, I have my weak moments where I cave and I eat things I know are bad for me, and fattening. Then I feel guilty afterwards. It doesn't seem fair that some people can eat seemingly anything they want to eat and never gain an ounce and then the rest of us . . . well, it seems sometimes we only have to sniff it. (I know, I do more than sniff!!!)

I am hearing...
The music from my play list is softly playing and the rose bushes are scratching against the glass of my kitchen window. The wind is blowing through the trees and Jess is snoring next to my feet. All is right with the world, with my world . . .

Around the house...
Todd is sleeping, all tucked up in our bed upstairs and the heating registers are starting to creak as they warm up the house after having been off all night. I can hear the water trickling through them. We have not had to use a lot of heat during the day so far this autumn, or even in the evenings, but we do have it on first thing in the morning just to take the night's chill off. I can remember as a child when we would turn the furnace on for the first time each autumn when the days got colder and the smell that would accompany it. Kind of like heat and dust, musty. On cold winter days, we three children would sit around the heating vent in the kitchen in the morning and warm our toes in the hot air blasting out. It always felt so nice . . .

One of my favorite things...
is coming home from church on Sunday and smelling dinner cooking in the crock pot. Yesterday morning I popped a little round pot roast into it, just big enough for two, and some carrots, swede and onion. Then I sprinkled it with some herbs and poured some apple juice around. It smelled so good when we came in. All I had to do was cook a few potatoes and dinner was ready. It was delicious!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...
I have scriptures to study and a lesson to prepare for Seminary. I just love getting closer to the Saviour. Tomorrow night we are having the missionaries over for supper. I love having the missionaries over and feeding them. I like to spoil them if I can. I really appreciate all that they do, and how much they give, and I just love to be able to give them something back. They are a praying mother's sons and I just can't do enough for them. In another life, maybe my sons would have gone on missions, and I like to think that they would be treated with kindness and caring. Even if you don't want to hear the message they are sharing, a few kind words would never go amiss . . .

Here is picture thought I am sharing...



Yes, that's Todd's apple crisp there. It is called a lot of things I suppose, apple crumble, apple candy pie . . . although it's not a pie at all. When I was a girl I loved it when my mother made this for dessert. Served up warm from the oven with some vanilla ice cream melting on top it truly was heaven on earth . . .

*Mom's Apple Crisp*
Serves 4-6

This is so simple, but oh so very tasty. I have always loved the contrast between the crunchy buttery crumbs on top and the soft delicious apples underneath. Ice cream is the perfect accompaniment and maybe a slice of good cheddar, although these days we are more likely to have custard with it as that is the British way with any good dessert . . . served up warm and with lashings of custard.

4 large granny smith apples, peel, core and slice
3/4 cup packed soft light brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats (not quick oats!)
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter, softened

Pre-heat the oven to 190*C/375*F. Place the sliced apples into a shallow baking dish, about 8 or 9 inches square.

combine the sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a bowl. Mix all together well. Rub the butter in with your fingertips until the mixture is all crumbly. Sprinkle this evenly over the apples.

Bake in the heated oven for about 35 minutes until the apples are soft and bubbling and the crumbs are nicely browned. Let cool for a bit before serving. Serve warm and spooned out into individual bowls with your preferred accompaniment.



PSSST!! Don't forget to hop on over to The Simple Woman to see all the other day book entries for today!