Suppose I'd Better Get Used to It

Life has changed for me in the past year.  I keep trying to pin down what it is that keeps my head spinning as I struggle to keep all the necessary balls in the air, but I can't seem to do the pinning.  Big kids getting bigger, little kids staying little, homeschooling, canning, mothering, wife-ing, daughter-ing.  I don't know.  I do know I miss having time to write.

To that end, Matt bought me a desk at a thrift store this past weekend. You know how changing one piece of furniture in your house can set off a chain reaction?  That's what happened.  In order to make room for the desk, we had to shift a couple of kids to different rooms (and all of their furniture/stuff).  Then we got rid of the love seat in our bedroom (my sister-in-law took it) and put a recliner from the family room (which traded places with a chair from our bedroom) and the new desk in the love seat's place.  Ta dah!  A new writing space for Melissa.

So far, I've had about fifteen free minutes to utilize it.  This is it.  Right here, right now.

It's been my mission this week to get the four huge boxes of apples that have been sitting in the basement for a month turned into applesauce.  Three boxes down, one to go.

The apples were leftover from apple strudel making.  The apple strudel is prepared every year by the folks of my aunt and uncle's church for their small town's German festival.  Grace, Liz and Lydia helped with the strudel making for a few days at the beginning of September.  A large number of Golden Delicious apples were left over after the 550 strudel for this year's Fest were made. Grace called me and asked if I wanted any.  I groaned.  I literally was elbow deep in canning peaches at the time.  "They're selling them for a great price," she said.  And of course, Golden Delicious apples are my favorite for making apple sauce since they need so little sugar.

"Yes,"  I said.  "I'll take four boxes."  In my mind I was thinking four fruit boxes, but  Grace came home with the equivalent of six or seven fruit boxes.  Turns out my money was no good with the buyer of the apples--a gift which couldn't have come at a better time.

Since I let the apples sit for so long, they've become nice and yellow.  I haven't needed to add any sugar to the sauce, so I'm very pleased.  I'm also pleased because when things around me seem to be spinning out of control, I can make a huge mess of the kitchen, drop some jars in the canner and produce something that my family needs.   Isaac keeps pointing to the jars on the table and asking, "Mom, are these for the winter?"  Yes, son, they are.

As an added bonus, I've been using my very own Kitchen Aid apple sieve this year instead of borrowing my mother-in-law's.  She and Dad have been scouring Ebay for several years for the Kitchen Aid mixer attachment that is no longer made.  They found success this year and purchased a sieve for me.  I think this little gadget is the best thing I've ever seen for making applesauce because it's a hands free device.  While the mixer is doing the work, I can be getting other things done around the kitchen (and so can my little helpers).

So I suppose I'd better get used to this new season of life.  At least we'll have applesauce to enjoy with it.