Yesterday I picked more apples. I was correct in my previous estimation as to how few apples were left on the tree with the red apples. I underestimated how many were left on the tree with the green apples. I picked quite a few more off that one, and there are still quite a few left on that tree. Yesterday I tried another apple crisp recipe. I liked it better than the first one I tried mainly because I like oats in my apple crisp. I am planning to make this second recipe again next week when we have company. I bought a apple peeler/slicer/ corer on eBay last week, but it hasn't come yet; so today I asked our neighbors if I could borrow theirs. It does a great job of slicing and coring - if you don't mind thin slices that are connected in such a way that it closely resembles a slinky. As for the peeling, it depends on the apple. This device was made for fairly round apples. I had read somewhere that someone said they could do a bushel in an hour with this device. Not me. I am not exactly sure how many apples are in a bushel, but it still took me quite awhile to make another large batch of applesauce tonight. I also went through the apples and threw away a bunch of them. I decided to be pickier about the ones I kept in part because I wanted to make sure I didn't feel like I had to keep cooking all of them ASAP, and I know if there's a bad apple in there, it could spoil many of them. So between cooking and throwing apples out, I am down to one box (I'd guess about 40 lbs worth). Hopefully when I taste this applesauce I'll be motivated to make some more over the next two weeks. I definitely want the apples out of the house (given away or cooked) by August 29. I am enjoying the apple butter on my English muffins. It has a slightly different flavor than usual since most of the apples I'm using are Granny Smith apples. I don't have any desire to make more apple butter this summer though. Time, energy, and freezer space are all too valuable to me.
Nadia had a reprieve for a few days as far as eating carrots or green beans because we had pizza and then corn on the cob. She liked the corn on the cob and salsa (that was for the enchiladas but she also put some on her corn, lol). Yesterday I served her 3 green beans, and she refused to eat them so she didn't get dinner even though she really wanted the pierogies we were having with cranberry chicken. I also only let her drink water since she loves milk. This morning she refused at first, but after she had been up about an hour she came to me and said "eat beans." I was thrilled that she ate her beans and could have breakfast and LOTS of milk before heading to church. Unfortunately we experienced deja vu this evening over 3 small carrots. I let her pick carrots or green beans, and she picked carrots but didn't eat or drink anything at dinner. Hopefully in the near future she'll figure out it's better to eat them for dinner rather than for breakfast the next day. She can be pretty stubborn, but I can be even more stubborn if need be!
It amazes me every day how much longer her sentences keep getting as well as the words she knows that I didn't know she knew - such as "manatee." I love that her favorite song to sing is "Jesus Loves Me." Of course her second favorite is the VeggieTale theme song. I wish her love of watching veggies would spill over into a love of eating them, ha ha! Although sometimes she says things I wish she wouldn't say (like a really defiant "no I won't"), she also says some REALLY endearing things like "I love you." I love it when she says that of her own initiative!!! I also love it when she asks for a hug. She even asks for hugs from some of the ladies at church. They love it too. I love how she is so encouraging. When Paul was blowing up the new swimming pool, she said "Good job, Daddy. You made the pool!" This morning when I came down after I had gotten dressed for church, she told me "you look so pretty, Mommy." That made my day! I was wearing a dress for the first time in over a year. It hit me that since I am not nursing many times a day, I could wear a dress to church again. I've been sticking with skirts in light of nursing (and I didn't have any maternity dresses either). She can be a sweetheart! :-)
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