Apples take over

We are blessed with an abundance of fruit growing freely in our backyard. Three apple trees, a plum tree, a peach tree, and grapes that travel over our fence line from our next door neighbor's yard. There is also a grapefruit tree growing in the abandoned yard directly behind our house, where I like to take the kids and liberate the tart little orbs.

This year our apple trees are producing like I've never seen, so I needed to find something to do with the plethora of green fruits. 

Thus, my first attempt at applesauce.

picked fresh today!

I poked around on Pinterest for a recipe, and found (of course) dozens of crock pot applesauce pins. I decided to Frankenstein a couple recipes together to come up with my own.

Step one:

Peel, core & dice 6-8 apples (depending on size.)

after this, I just gave them a really rough chop. not too small.

Step two: Stir together 1/2 Cup water, 1/4 Cup brown sugar, 1 1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Step three: Add cut apples to crock pot, then pour liquid mixture evenly over apples. 

omg yum.

Step four: Set crock pot to "Low." They cook for about 4 hours total, but halfway through, I gave them a stir. (Ok, maybe I just wanted to get a really good whiff up close, cuz man oh man, did this smell amazing!)

Step five: turn crock pot off and mash apples with potato masher. Let cool & refrigerate. Or serve warm! Whatever you want! 

I'm thinking about making some pie dough & making dumplings with the mixture. Or topping my waffles with it. Or my ice cream, or stirring some into my oatmeal.....

The possibilities are endless :)

$10 and a tank of gas....

We are always just moving about our days, blindly fumbling through all of the necessary activities without any time to sit and think, or to enjoy what is around us. It doesn't seem like there is ever enough time or money.

But we have discovered the excitement of a surprise picnic in the rain, and all of the happiness that something as unassuming as $10 and a tank of gas can bring you..........

picnic tacos on the beach

tiny girl under a big tree

Heaven on Earth

Never let a lack of money rob you of joy, and never, ever, allow yourself to say "there just isn't enough time" for the making of memories. Or, you might find that time has gotten away from you and you have nothing but "stuff" to show for it.

Flashback Friday: 9 years & so many yet to be

Jude & I: 02/02/2002

This year marks our 9th wedding anniversary. 

Nine years filled with chaos and dreams. 

I can honestly say that neither one of us are the same people we were when we met, and I'm glad of that. Jude has grown and matured through sobriety into the husband and father that I hoped he would be. 

I have gone from a 20yr old mess of a girl to a 31yr old woman finally learning to stand on her own two feet.

We've created an amazing family together and are living the life we were meant to live, this much I know.

So, here's to celebrating these last 9yrs and every day after.

5 of my favorite things right this moment

Last week I caught some kind of hellacious stomach bug and spent a good 2 1/2 days miserable, so I wasn't exactly up to blogging. Now that I'm feeling better, I thought I'd share with you 5 things that are currently rockin' my world:

1- The (new & old) Crocker Art Museum
I know, it's pretty lame that I'd never been to the Crocker before, considering the enormous amount of art history knowledge I carry around inside my head.
Jude wonders how I acquired this information, seeing as I am not exactly college educated.  I answer the same as when he asks me how I know anything: If it can be Googled, I have done it. I don't need your fancy degree, I am a graduate of the school of internetting.  For the record, I do not like your Modern art, and I do not like Impressionism.  I am amazed by photo-realism and surrealism, but am a huge Hater when it comes to digital art. "Isn't that design?", I always ask, and Jude just shakes his head at me.

2- Mumford & Sons
They should probably just have a picture of my face on that "Stuff White People Like" site.  My musical tastes  now consist of almost nothing but Neo Folk music.  But I don't know how anybody could not love this.

3- All things Fall
Pumpkins, spooky decorations, falling leaves in brilliant colors.  Taking the kids Trick or Treating, watching all the documentaries about the Salem Witch Trials.  Cooking a giant meal for Thanksgiving, eating too much, wearing long sleeves again. Cooler temperatures and shorter days.  The Harvest moon.  Snuggling by the fireplace with a cup of hot apple cider.  Not dying from the late California Summer that waited till the last minute to hit us with 100+ degrees.
I like it all.

4- Foursquare
Originally I thought this was a site that made it way too convenient for stalkers to kidnap you, but I have been schooled in the ways of Foursquare now and so I have busied myself with checking in to every place I go.  I am currently the Mayor of the laundromat.  I'm not sure I like what that says about me, but I hear that there are a ton of local places that offer deals for Mayorships, etc, like free passes to the zoo for example. I've yet to get any coupons or good deals but a lot of people leave cool tips after they've checked in somewhere that can be really helpful, like what times a business is slowest and which location has better service. I'm gonna keep checking in because I am pretty sure I'm on my way to becoming Supreme Queen of the ghetto laundry and that has to have some kind of perks.  Free fluffing, perhaps?

5- These crazy people

This group is pretty much always on my list of favorites, even though they try their best to drive me to the very edge of sanity.  I still like them better than anyone else.

Pepper Fluffykins McCheese.

After that last post, I thought I'd blog about something a little less deep, and really what is more fluffy than a kitten?

The Croxford house was not full enough, so we decided to add a baby girl to the mix. Ladies & gentlemen, let me introduce little Miss Pepper Fluffykins McCheese, or just Pepper for short.

She's a sweet little Pixie-bob kitten given to Shrinky for her birthday by her grandma & papa. We let the kids help name her, which should explain why she has 57 names.
(side-note: Shrinky calls her "Pepé Cheese" since she can't pronounce the  "R" sound very well. So cute. Squeeee!) 



Did you know that Pixie-bobs don't really meow? They make these weird little chirp sounds.  It's completely adorable.

Jude was totally against getting a cat but he'll pretty much do whatever Shrinky wants & I told him she really wanted a kitten, so you know- what his baby wants, his baby gets. The funny thing is that Pepper LOVES Jude and follows him around like a little shadow. Last night they were even having a cuddle in his chair together & she crawled up onto his shoulder & nuzzled into his neck. I thought I was going to DIE of cuteness.
Welcome to your forever family, little Pepper. We love you <3

Eat, Pray, Love

My good friend and fellow Hipmama, Amnesty, gave me this book eons ago. Somehow it was lost for over a year, only to be discovered under my daughter's dresser earlier this week.
With kids, things end up in the oddest places.

Thinking about how well Amnesty knows me, I figured I'd like this book, but I didn't count on it being so......inspiring.  I realize how cheesy that sounds, but it really is inspiring.  I'm not very far into it and I already want to enroll in foreign language classes just in case sometime in the future, I decide to take a year off and live somewhere that I currently can't even locate on a map.

Maybe I haven't written about this before but I have what my Grandma lovingly refers to as "Itchy feet". Meaning, I get restless when I'm in one place too long. Amazingly, that doesn't seem to have caused any problems in my marriage, but I do get a wild hair every couple of years and decide I would like to just pick up and move. It really doesn't even matter where. And if you know me at all, you know this about me.
I mean, I didn't pick up and move 900 miles away at the age of 17 because I likes sitting still.  I may not be adventurous when it comes to roller coasters or jumping off the high dive, but when it comes to travelling & discovering new places, I only need about an hour's notice to collect my belongings and then I'd happily be on the road to who-knows-where.
Just ask my sister in law. We once drove 36 hours to Wyoming at the drop of a hat, just because we could, with my brother and 5 children in tow, two of which were 7 week old babies, only to end up visiting 7 States in a matter of one week.

But, that's not the only feelings this book has been bringing up.
Notice the middle word in the title: "Pray".
I'm not a religious person and have thought myself an Atheist since I was a teenager, but I don't think that's an accurate description of the way I really feel.
I am not really a "believer" but my husband was just teasing me last night about being a superstitious person, and it's true, I really am, and how can you be superstitious without believing that there are forces at work that are greater than yourself? Something that you cannot see, cannot touch, cannot name, but you can feel it all the same?  I personally call this thing "The Universe" or sometimes "Mother Nature" because that's what feels most accurate to me.
I really don't know if I just like the idea of there being something guiding me or if I truly believe there is.

Whichever it is, I have to say that "Eat, Pray, Love" is so far an amazing read, and I highly recommend it.
Any book that can evoke strong feelings like attachment, or longing, or that makes you question yourself, is good for your soul.
These are the ways in which we grow.