Walking Away

 Sometimes I just have to know when to walk away from a project for the night.  I dropped a stitch on my fade shawl tonight and it took off running.  I know we have all been there.  I personally find when I drop a stitch close to bed time it’s best to try to fix it right the first time.  If I can’t fix it right the first time, I wait until the next day to fix it.  Preferably at a table.  I find that if I continue to try to fix it, I tend to make more of a mess of things.  

I am using the pattern Grandma’s Summer Shawl on my Ravelry pattern. I am using a fade set from Lanier Aimee yarn out of Paris France. I purchased this yarn sometime ago and I find it a delightful knit. You can find la Bien Aimee yarn at the link.  Right now they are having a sale and the prices look decent.  If you are in the United States they are currently using UPS for shipping and UPS will collect the tariffs. I really do wish they were using Federal Express for shipping because they have the tariff thing down pretty good. Fortunately, for my husband, all the 4 color fade set in the colors that I like are sold out. 

More things are leaving the house

Today’s to-do list was simple enough. First get my doctors and hospital to send paperwork to another provider. That seems like a simple enough task. It took me over 30 minutes to figure out how to do it because it was deeply hidden in the application. Then I had to email them with a complete list of what I needed and where it needed to be sent. I thought it was all done so I thought I’d do a bonus chore of going through books and deciding on which ones I didn’t want to keep. My goal was five books.

At book number three out of the five I get an email back saying that I needed to fill out another form. They sent a PDF so I couldn’t fill it out online. So that was printed out, fill it out and then I had to take a picture of it. Then in the reply email, I added the picture as an attachment and send it back. Back to picking out more books to leave The house. 

The first bag I picked was a bag that would hold the five books. I got that bag filled very quickly. Then I got another larger bag and added more books. By dinner time I had 15 books that were ready to go to Bookmans. After dinner and TV time I decided to try to get pick out five more books to make it an even 20. I figured even with a basket 20 was all the books I could carry in without tiring myself out. 

In the 20 books, there were books that I picked up because everybody said you had to read it. After the books have been on the shelf for more than eight years, it was time for them to go. I obviously wasn’t interested in the have to read book from eight years ago. I also took out books of things that I would no longer knit and other crafts. 

After all was said and done, I forgot to do my 46 minutes of exercise. I guess it was a squirrel kind of a day. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be more organized. I don’t think I should get that optimistic this late at night.

So I am still counting this day as a win because I finished 2 out of 3 things on my task list.  With a bonus of 20 out of a goal of 5 books leaving the house. 

Some Time at my Hansen Mini E-spinner Pro

 Now that my knitting room is becoming more useful and organized I found it was time to finally finish some lingering projects. Please note that I did not say fully finished. I spun up the second roving of a 2 roving set, it is now resting for a few days before plying.  

Now that I am talking about plying, I have a shawl that I started over 2 years ago.  The yarn is a combination of 2 lace weight yarns, with the first being 100% wool.  The second is a combination of 50% mohair and 50% silk, it has that yummy feel. This will leave me with a finished yarn of 50% wool and 25% each of mohair and silk.  I found that trying to knit with 2 lace weight yarns held together was very difficult for me.  I had lots of dropped stitches where I would not catch both strands with my knitting needles.  It was not the look that I was going for.  So my solution was to ply the yarns together as if they were single strands. I decided to use my Hansen e-spinner for this task. I have a lot more control over the twist. I have 2 bobbins filled and 3 1/4 bobbins to go.  After that I will give them a hot water bath to set the twist.  Only then will I resume knitting the shawl.  Currently on the e-spinner is the beginning of bobbin number 3.  I am not quite sure if it will still be a lace weight after plying and the hot water bath. Sometimes yarn blooms in quirky ways after the hot water bath. 

A Refresher Course

 Every once in a while, I find it educational to have a refresher course. Today I took a refresher course for me, which was a first level class in Tunisian crochet by Lori from Aklori Designs at Bird House Yarns in Tucson, Arizona. Within the first 30 minutes I found out why my Tunisian crochet never looked like the pattern pictures.  I learned that you only do the chain one stitch at the beginning of the return row pass. Not on both ends as I have been taught. Now my rippling on the right side is gone.  I learned a few new to me stitches too.  Now I am ready to tackle the shawl.  It seems less scary now. Also I will rip out a work in progress and start it correctly.  Knowing all the stitches makes it seem less intimidating. I would like to mention that Lori’s books are available at Bird House Yarns, and yes they will mail copies out.

I am also trying to start a new habit. They say it takes 30 days to start a habit. John moved my Cubii to a more accessible location under my sewing table in the sewing room. I started with 40 minutes with 3 additional minutes for warm up and cool down.  That is the same amount of time I am spending on the equipment at cardiac rehabilitation.  If they increase my time before I finish, I will up my time at home to.  I would also like to say I am not up to walking up hill yet, so walking in around the block in my neighborhood is not an option yet. It is either the mall or the Cubii for now. Today I managed to close 2 out of 3 rings.  I missed on my stand to walk goal because of my nap after breakfast and class today.  I got 10 out of 12 for the stand and walk.  

Car Maintenance

 Well it was time to bring my 5 year old car in for service today.  It had a whopping 17,000 miles on it. It was still under warranty so the charges were not bad.  Everything on the list was green.  It might even be a few years more before I need new breaks.  At this point I would just like to say I would like to say that I drive less than the little old lady from Pasadena, hands down.  With just an average of 3,400 miles a year or 284 miles a month or 9.3 miles a day, this car should last me well into retirement. My biggest expense was 3 new windshield wipers, 2 In the front and one in the rear. The computer updates were covered under the warranty. 

The only thing that left me perplexed was the complete car wash that came with the yearly maintenance.  They washed 3/4 of the cars outside. They completely ignored the back panel, including the back windshield. I was under the impression that the back of the car was still part of the car. They did wash the interior windows also. But did not vacuum the car. So is this the post Covid version of a complete car wash? I usually just do the quick exterior car wash which just happens to lean the back of the car too. I only vacuum only when necessary.  John does the interior windows only when needed, because I am too short and not agile enough to reach the front windshield.  The doors and back windows are easy enough, but they never get dirty.  Perhaps because the seats are rarely used. 

Then it was on to paperwork. About a third of the work got finished.  There is always tomorrow to finish up.  After all nap time is more important than paperwork right now. 

When it rains in Tucson

 Time was not on my side today.  I blame a very rare rainy day in Tucson.  I can’t make up the things stupid drivers did in the rain.  

As I was leaving for class today there was a driver trying to make a 3 point turn by trying to drive up a stone embankment. Thankfully his guardian angel was with him because he did not flip his car as I was expecting. If the driver had just gone 50 feet further, he could have made an easy turn at an intersection. Although he did scratch up his paint. In less than a quarter mile the next driver did not stop at the stop sign and just made a left hand turn with traffic coming from both directions.  It was the street right next to the middle school during morning drop off.  All I can say is the angel’s were busy this morning.  Not to be out done a semi was making an U-turn on an 2 lane road , blocking traffic oil both directions. After that I just tried to keep as much distance between me and every car on the road.  I even left on the automated wiper system on my car so I had one less thing to worry about.  

Then as we were starting to put dinner together the power went out. Again, not unusual for Tucson. Thank goodness we did not get far in the meal preparations. We did not was to open the refrigerator because we did not know how long the power would be out. By the way we were the very last block to get power back in an amazing 1 1/2 hours.  This was incredibly fast.  

So we went through the pantry in semi darkness. Picking out things that did not need anything from the fridge.  Our first course was a salad of canned green beans and olives, surprisingly, it was very good. The next course was peanut butter, we had to open a fresh jar. We had a choice of bananas or crackers to spread the peanut butter on. We skipped dessert because all the fruit except the bananas were in the fridge. Luckily, I had filled my cup with ice and water before the power went out, and John had a bottle of water from our reserves.

I even spent some time knitting in the dark. I only dropped one stitch in seven rows. Not too bad I hope tomorrow is better..

4 Cubic Feet

On Sunday I reclaimed 4 cubic feet of space in my knitting room.  That was enough space to place 4 large yarn baskets and fill in the remaining space with smaller project bags.  To get to that place I went through a few boxes of very old paperwork. Even a box filled with old paperwork from Eric.I filled the paper shredder once and sent one full bag to recycling. Other things were condensed and organized.  I even found one box of missing jewelry put away for safe keeping when we did a remodeling project years ago.  Yes, I  found the charm bracelet my dad started for me in the 1960’s when he brought me charms from business trips.  

John also relocated my small elliptical machine to a place I could use it more.  It also has a Convenient plug for charging nearby. So I guess I’ll have to my exercise game a little bit. That space also gave me room to organize some smaller boxes. So the room is getting very usable.

The very bad Picture is from the space I reclaimed on the shelves. There is just not enough light in that corner of the room. Although there are less baskets on the floor now. Almost enough to let the robotic vacuum in. 

Knowing My Limitations

 I think I have finally figured out how much time I can currently knit in a single day.  The answer is 2 hours.  At knit group today I spent 2 hours doing a left handed charity scarf in the round.  My reasoning was if I knit for a couple of hours left handed I could then spend a couple of hours right handed knitting tonight. My hypothesis was absolutely 100% wrong.  

Apparently it does not matter if I knit right or left handed, I have a finite number of hours to knit in a single day without destroying my hands.

No, I did not think about drop spinning or Tunisian Crochet either.  Even though they use different muscles groups, in different configurations for my hands. I was not willing to give up the possibility of no fiber arts for a week or more. Also I have not warped a loom in months.  I am not sure that I have the spoons to do a direct warp right now.  I would love someone to do the walking back and forth.  Anyone who has been around me during enforced no knitting or spinning time can tell you that I am not fit to be around. I am just that cranky and more.  

Just as a footnote, I am now much faster knitting left handed then when I taught myself 18 months ago.  Almost as fast as right handed knitting.  

Happy 2026

As we enter the new year there are things we have to remember. The year 2025 was not a normal year for the country. There are very for lack of better words broken, cruel and greedy politicians in our nation’s capital. They spew hate like they did not learn the rules of society in kindergarten.  They lack the mindset of “ if you help and raise a person up you make a better world “. They lack the ability to understand that if you treat the planet with contempt we all will experience the consequences of climate change.  

Now on to what we can and must do to help each other.  First let’s start with the things that don’t cost a penny but can make an impact in people’s lives. Smile at each other. Say hello to people. Complement someone even if you do not know them, such as they look nice today. Open doors for people. Thank people for opening doors for you and wish them a good day. Be extremely nice to the helpers in our community like food service workers, store cashiers, please don’t yell at them if you are having a bad day.  If you are on line and you like an artist work but you can’t afford it, share their work with your friends and followers. If money is tight and you have a favorite small business just say you like their store and give the address and what you like about the store.  

If you are a creator make a few things that can be used by others in your community.  I personally make scarfs and hats to give to a children’s clothing bank. See if your place of worship has community outreach programs. Save your spare change in a jar, when it is full give it to a charity that benefits people in your community like the food bank, after school programs, programs benefiting veterans, the homeless, sick children.  Volunteer your time.  The list is endless.  

We don’t need Washington, to make our community and country a better place.  

We don’t have the ability to fix the entire world alone. We do however have the ability to fix one thing at a time. Please try to be the change that heals our community and make it better with on act of kindness at a time. 

May everyone have a healthy, happy and prosperous new year. 

A New Project

 Since last week when I distributed 8 cubic feet of yarn to my friends, John did not mind me starting a new shawl instead of grabbing and finishing a UFO.  I was at three different combinations of yarn and John chose the colors he liked.  I spent the evening winding 4 new cakes of yarn. The first skein was knotty. When the forth skein when the yarn started getting wonky, I used my right knee to keep the yarn on the squirrel cage. I am going to knit my pattern Grandmas Summer Shawl, this time in a DK weight since the pattern knit up so well with a worsted weight and U.S. size 10.5 by 50 inch circular knitting needles.  I am thinking about a U.S. size 7 for the new shawl.  

I know that I said I would not start a new project until all the UFO’s were finished.  However all I have are summer weather shawls in progress.  It is now frequently getting below 70° and I need some warmer shawls that fit me. I distributed all the shawls that were too big so now I only have one winter shawl.  I will need at least 2.  Hence the new project.  

New Bibs

 I rarely make bibs anymore, even though I really love them.  Health issues have zapped my energy.  I can’t even figure out how much energy I will have from one hour to the next. Take to day for instance.  I finished sewing the last bib. Then packed the box. Folded one load of laundry and I am now exhausted.  I will mail them out tomorrow.  

Below is a picture of the bibs.  I am afraid it is not one of my best pictures.  

Low on Spoons Today

 Today started off with the beginnings of a migraine at 4 am.So I started a load of non fussy laundry.  Brewed a small pot of tea. While the tea was brewing I managed to empty most of the dishwasher.  Then the tea was ready.  With some tea and oatmeal, I was able to catch the migraine before it got too bad. The thing I have learned about migraines is they need to be stopped before the light show kicks in.  I had enough caffeine in me to allow me to sleep until 10 am after breakfast.  By the time I woke up John took care of the things I did not finish left on sticky notes. 

The rest of the day was spent doing tasks in 5 to 10 minute increments.  I am absolutely floored by the amount of cleaning that I can get done in 5 to ten minutes.  

John surprised me with lunch out and a trip to Chico’s to pick up some new tops.  Not all were on sale but the majority were.  This lead to picking out an equal number of shirts leaving the house.  I usually go by the one in, one out rule unless I quickly lose a lot of weight and inches. Then it is all the too big stuff out and get what I can to have at least 7 or 8 complete outfits.  This might take a couple of trips.  I have not had one of those since March 2024 when I got sick. So I am actually wearing out clothes.  

John and I made a fresh batch of homemade stew.  John cleaned and chopped the vegetables.  I cooked and seasoned.  The recipe for my stew is on the blog. Just look up the keywords beef and stew. Although I have made it with chicken too. Basically you can choose any meat your family likes or is within your budget. Conversely you can use all the vegetables and add beans or barley to make a vegan soup. 

Now that I have cooled down, it’s time to give sleep a try.  

Recovery Mode Again

 The beginning of the week was very busy for me. Between holiday parties and appointments. I think I overdid myself. Today my body decided it was time for recovery mode. Really my body did not give me a chance to do otherwise.  I slept in till after 8 o’clock this morning and had two naps today. I also managed to do a pressure point release and massage to get my neck feeling better. My right arm is not as sore as Tuesday.  

As I get ready for bed, I can tell you that I feel so much better than I did when I woke up. This does not mean I will have a busy day tomorrow. Even though I have a ton of year end work to do. I still have all the paperwork that was supposed to do today and a little house straightening. I also have less than 100 yards of yarn left on a new shawl that I would like to finish before the end of the year. I really want to start a new shawl after that, but I have at least three shawls that need to be finished before I can start another new shawl. I also have a very large pile of finished projects that need to be photographed and logged into my Ravelry account before the 31st.  At least I can do much of that sitting down.  

I am really getting very tired with this recovery mode, it seems like all the time.  

If I don’t write a new post before the end of 2025. I would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2026.  

The Perfect Treat

 Now that the holiday season of 2025 is almost over, we are all giving a huge sigh of relief.  Now it time to take a few moments of personal time. It’s also the time to get yourself a special treat that you can use all year long.  After years of searching I have finally found my perfect slippers.  I kid you not.  Somewhere around the mid 1980’s a lot of slipper brands switched from natural fibers for slipper liners to polyester.  Since I am allergic to polyester this made decent slippers hard to find.  I was using candles for years as slippers. 

I have been wearing Haflinger clogs for quite of few years for my winter shoes.  They are nice and comfortable.  It takes at least 4 or 5 winters to wear out.  They are also stylish.  I wear the clogs with both dresses and pants.  The Haflinger Clogs are my go to travel shoes too.  This is how I found my love for the brand. 

Fast forward to October 2025. I left my black traveling shoes at my daughter’s house, because I was also using my red clogs as slippers.  I just told my daughter that I would pick up the shoes on my next visit. I also said that I would come up with a slipper solution.  

While I was looking for a replacement pair of black clogs I saw that they also carried slippers.  In my size too. There were just so many styles to choose from.  I picked out the navy slippers with colorful butterflies.  They are a felted pure new wool top and shoe insert.  They also have a rubber sole, so they do not slip and slide across the tile floors.  I ordered my usual size and the slippers fit perfectly, there is even room for warm socks or a foot brace.  

After a couple of weeks wearing the slippers, I ordered a pair to keep at my daughter’s house.  You can find the complete line at Halfinger. There is also a very limited selection on Amazon or a number of independent shoe stores. If you like to support local businesses in your area check out the shoe stores in your area.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own. I have paid for all of my Halfinger shoes and slippers. I have not been paid by the Halfinger company to write this blog post.  I will earn a very small commission if you click on the link on this page.  

The Yarn Left the House

 Today my friends and I gathered together to celebrate and share mostly homemade gifts.  I say mostly because most of the 8 cubic feet of yarn was not hand spun my me.  Some of it was lace weight, which my hands can no longer work with.  Other yarn the colors were not right for me anymore.  Everyone was very happy with their yarn. 

I also put together a random bag of small gifts for the staff. They are so kind to us during the year, that it only seems appropriate. 

I will say that I really did over do it in the cleaning out of the yarn room. I can say redistributing the yarn made me feel a lot lighter.  Although hit me today like a brick wall.  I could do nothing but rest for 3 hours.  I was even too tired to pick up knitting needles.  

After an early shopping trip to pick up dinner and some essentials.  I plan on resting most of the day.  

Mentors

 I love the idea of mentoring.  My dad was a very good mentor. My daughter followed in his footsteps.  Mentors must be chosen with care.  A recommendation from a trusted friend or teacher is a good place to start.  I personally don’t recommend that everyone should be a mentor or teacher.  A bad mentor can leave you cleaning up the mess that they taught you was absolutely necessary for years.  If a mentor pushes more is better in terms of supplies turn and run away as fast as you can.  Don’t get me wrong, especially in the arts you need a certain amount of resources also known as supplies. 

More is not better. Let me explain why. Do you have so many supplies that you spend more time searching for the supplies to start your project than it takes to make your artwork?  Do you find it’s faster to rebuy what you need to use rather than take the time to look for them? How many rooms are filled with supplies for the art projects? Do you have extra supplies stored in the garage or basement up to the ceiling? Do the amount of supplies you have, cause you anxiety? Do you spend too much money on your supplies?  Could you survive an epidemic or the Zombie apocalypse with no problem?  If you answered yes to one or more of these questions you picked the wrong mentor. The great part about the solution is that you don’t need a mentor to fix the problem.

All you need is a few good friends willing to help you out. Take my friend Louise for example. Louise on more occasions than I can count has willingly come to my house and filled her car up with yarn.  Her family lives in an area with no local yarn or craft stores. Over 2 hours from a Walmart. So she has brought a lot of my for no better word for it is a horde of yarn home with her. Her family is enjoying the bounty. 

I have donated to my local knitting guild. In fact I filled up the back of a Ford F150 pickup truck with yarn and still had too much. I have donated odds and ends with leftover yarn for camp projects. Had more friends pick out yarn for their next project and still had too much yarn. I have mailed yarn to random people who could not afford yarn. 

What I am politely trying to say is this will take time.  Each time you give away more of your yarn or other art stash it will hurt. You will berate yourself for spending so much money. You will berate yourself for not completing the projects you planned. You will feel like you let yourself and your family down. You will have second thoughts about giving all those supplies away. This is all perfectly normal.  You will also find more supplies that you totally forgot about. This is normal too. 

In the end after more than a few years of going through this process please know that your family will be very appreciative of your efforts. I have helped clean out enough family members homes to know that this is true.  

I brought this up because in talking with my taller half we talked about my former mentor. How it took 3 Goodwill trucks to haul away her stash of yarn. It took them months of selling random 66 gallon trash bags stuffed to the brim with yarn at $5 a bag to get rid of it all. My goal is not to be that person. To get my yarn supplies into one room   Then leave the multi purpose room to its original design. To be a sewing, jewelry making and guest room rolled into one neat and tidy space. 

As I am writing this, I have filled up bags of yarn to the tune of 6 cubic feet.  Then I found 2 more boxes that I had forgotten about to go through. Well after I finish this post, you know what I will be doing. 

All this while resisting the urge to buy more yarn.  

Finishing Unfinished Objects

 It’s been a very rough week physically for me.  Even with all that going on I managed to finish one project, a Tunisian Crochet Scarf for me.  After trying it on, I decided that it was not right for me so it will be leaving the house. I also will not be writing a pattern for it like I planned.  I will not be writing a pattern for every bespoke project.  I have also gone back to the 5 of cleaning.  The five of cleaning is always one of 2 things.  Putting 5 things away or cleaning for 5 minutes.  I know it’s a little Squirrelly in cleaning methods, but it works for me.  

Also when I finished the scarf I actually did not start another project.  My goal is to finish a few more projects before I start another project.  The exception will be charity work.  I know I have at least 6 scarfs in various stages of completion. When I get down the last short scarf or no long scarves

, you know to 6’2” scarf, I will start a new scarf.  So far so good.  It’s hard to pick up a project to finish that has repair work midway or something that I got bored with.  Perhaps the season changed and if I finish it now I can’t wear it for 6 months.  So boring.  So not me.  I have however determined that this will be the only way to avoid the clutter of a massive pile of UFO’s.  This will allegedly lead to less clutter. I will believe it when I see the results or lack of less clutter. 

I also did get some stitch markers finished.  I still have a box full to finish.  I am also working on my sewing repair pile.  I am doing the easy stuff first. This also means for right now the little loom will not be weaving new straps for a few shopping bag repairs.  This also  means that I am also working on my multi purpose room.  My multi purpose room house the guest room, the sewing room and the jewelry making room.   

All of this sounds quite exhausting.   

My Latest Sewing Project

 If you need a really good bandanna for your next sewing project or just a nice soft bandanna against your skin, I would highly recommend The Peacock Crew bandanna’s. The fabric quality is really excellent. I would even consider piecing a shirt or skirt together with these bandannas. The bandannas sew up very nicely. 

The bandannas are the perfect size to piece together a quilt. Even soft enough for a baby quilt. I just ordered a few more for another project.

                                                        . 

A New to Me Cleaner

 I found a new cleaner that I really like. It’s great for small jobs. It cleans and sanitizes. Best of all it scrubs off the grime. I needed some new cleaning wipes and this one had a couple bonuses. First, it was on sale at Safeway. Secondly it had a 50 Cent off coupon from the manufacturer. The savings for me added up to $1.50. Enough of a discount to give something to try.

So far, I have tried the Lysol dual action sanitizing wipes on a number of surfaces. The first surface I tried was the floor. There was a spill that needed to be wiped up.  The wipe not only cleaned up the floor, but left that spot on the floor cleaner then the person who comes in monthly to help us clean has gotten it. I know this means I will now have to get the steam cleaner out, to get the rest of the floor clean.  I certainly wasn’t expecting that from a hand wipe. Now I need to buy more distilled water. 

The second time I used, it was on my sink. I had noticed my sink getting a little dinger over time. With some spots, never getting quite clean. The first time I used the Lysol dual action Sanitizing wipes on the sink even the old hard spots came out without much scrubbing on my part. I find this amazing, because I didn’t have to use a lot of spoons up to clean the sink. The sink looks better than it has in a long time.  The sink came close to looking brand new again.

I would like to personally take the time to thank the chemical engineers and the product development team for coming up with such a great product. It now has a permanent place in my cleaning supplies for the house. 

As I had said before, I bought the Lysol dual action sanitizing wipes on sale at my local Safeway. I will be adding these wipes to my regular shopping list on my phone.  This is my personal experience with the product. I have not been paid for this endorsement. The opinion is my own. If you decide to click on the link in the blog, I will get credit towards payment. I would like to say also that have been writing this blog since 2009 and have not received any payment for writing the blog as of the date of this blog.

Almost Sugar Fee Apple Pie

Almost Sugar Free Apple Pie Recipe 

1 quart thinly sliced Cosmic Crisp Apples. I do not peel my apples.

1/4 cup Spelt flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 pre made pie crust. I used the Pillsbury pie crust 

Cinnamon Sugar to sprinkle on top for decoration 

Bake at 325f for 45 minutes or until golden brown 

1 Pie pan or 9 inch square cake pan

The first thing that I always do is cut the apples in half. Then I remove the seeds and stems. Slice the apples very thin. You may cut the apples in chunks if you wish. I then place the sliced apples into a quart sized bowl. When the bowl is full I know that I have enough apples for the pie filling. Add the Spelt flour and cinnamon, then fold in the flour and cinnamon. 

Place your pie pan on a cookie sheet lined with foil. This serves 2 purposes.  The first is to keep you cookie sheet clean. The second is to cover and leftover pie once the pie is cut. Please refrigerate any leftover pie. Place the bottom crust in the pie pan. Add the apple filling. If it seems you have too much filling just build a small mountain with the filling. Dampen the pie edge with water. Place the top crust on top. Gently roll the bottom edge over the top.  Pinch and crimp the edges together. We are not going for perfection, we are going for a good seal. Dampen the top with water and sprinkle with your cinnamon sugar. I use a glass pie dish so I bake mine at 325f for about 45 minutes. 

Please note that this pie will be on the dryer side than your typical sugar laden pie. I know the sugar creates a very sweet syrupy filling. Also remember that just 1/4 of a cup of sugar contains 4 tablespoons or 12 teaspoons of sugar which is approximately 120 extra calories. Most pies contain over 1 cup of sugar which adds 480 extra calories per cup per pie.  If you use just one cup of sugar you add 80 non nutritional calories per slice if you cut your pie into 6 slices. For those same 80 calories you can have a plate full of  vegetables or a piece of fruit. 

If you would like to lighten the carbohydrate load just skip the pie crust and bake in a well greased 9 inch square baking pan or small casserole dish. 

This will make 6 to 8 servings.  Top the pie however you like. Just remember that whipped cream, cheese or ice cream will all add extra calories.  

I forgot to take a picture of the whole pie. This is my after dinner dessert  slice which was 1/6 of the pie. 

Drip, drip goes the kitchen faucet

There are somethings that break and the day just goes on as normal.  The vacuum breaks and the floor just not get vacuumed for a week or so.  The washing machine breaks, just go to the laundromat.  The strap breaks on your purse, just swap out purses then head to Goodwill or a clearance sale to replace the purse.  No big deal.  

Then there is other stuff that just blows up the day and then some like the air conditioning unit going out in the middle of summer.  There is the driver who has decided that you should be turning right instead of going straight and  totals your car.  The refrigerator dies for no reason the day after you go shopping for the week. The water line to the house breaks. A roof that leaks.  These are the expensive ones.  We have had a few too many of those this year. 

For us this time, it is the kitchen faucet that starts leaking just out of warranty. The faucet is only 2 years old. The kind of leak where everything needs to be emptied from underneath the sink so that the area can dry out. We don’t want a mold problem.  The faucet has a structural problem that can not be fixed  

SO tomorrow we get to go pick out a new kitchen faucet.  We are definitely not buying the same brand.  I am so not excited about this. I plan to change the knitting project in my purse so that I can knit as we shop. Just a plain garter stitch pattern. 

For me that meant that I don’t get to work on my cooking experiment on a sugar free apple pie with no artificial sweeteners either.  I think I will get up early tomorrow to try to get it into the oven.  I still have the laundry sink that I can do hand washing of the dishes in. 

While I was busy writing this blogpost, my taller half was busy picking out a new faucet. Yes, he picked a different brand.  He is having it delivered.  Later in the week.  Thank goodness.  These things stress me out.  To my taller half it’s just another problem to solve.  To be fair I was thinking how to work around a kitchen with no dishwasher or sink, my solution was the laundry sink.  I still have not figured out cooking or eating out.  On the very bright side, I am prepared for stress eating.  I just filled up the refrigerator with fruit.  I can eat more fruit than sweets with a lower impact on my health.  Although, I will be getting the disposable silverware and possibly paper plates out for meals.  

I hope your day was better.