Applesauce

If you walk in my front door, you will be greeted by the smell of apples cooking.  Yummy.  We are canning applesauce.  In the past it has been a family project, except for the younger girls.  But, with Ashley and Briana swamped with classes and exams, they haven't been able to help out this year.  College isn't like homeschooling.  You don't get to skip a day or two and say it's life experience!  Actually, so far, I haven't been a lot of help either.  Since James is off of work this week, he has come to my rescue.  He usually does just as much slicing, coring, and cooking as me, but so far he has had almost all of it this time.  He's good, and I'm thankful.  This year Marissa is old enough to use the knife a little.  She has helped him out the last 2 mornings, slicing the apples into quarters.  We used to make the applesauce with the old fashioned hand mill.  Oh, me.  That takes FOREVER and is literally a pain...in the arm, elbow, and even back after a while.  Last time we invested in an electric mill that hooks to my Kitchen Aid mixer.  Wow!  Not only is it fast and easy, but you also get SO much more applesauce from the apples.  It squeezes every little drop.  It is amazing how much less waste there is now.   I will be doing the actual canning, even if this crazy week doesn't let me pick up a knife.  It's not an easy thing to can, but my family likes the taste of homemade better, and I make it with cinnamon, but without any added sugar, so it's healthier. 
We've had a fun week around here.  It started last Tuesday with the college tour I talked about last entry; Thursday Briana, Marissa, Daniella, and I went to the Aquarium with our homeschool group; Friday James, Marissa, Daniella, and I went to Dollywood (oh, my goodness, it was packed!); Sunday the whole family went to our church's fall festival; Monday I went to watch Marissa and Daniella play baseball with our homeschool group---James is their pitcher; and, yesterday the whole family went back to Dollywood.   Dollywood was great yesterday.  The weather was perfect and it was so empty it was unreal.  We got there about 1:30, and there was no waiting in line anywhere.  By 5:00, I bet there were only 25 people in the whole Country Fair area.  We rode several rides that we were the only ones on.  You felt like you had a private party at the amusement park.  There was another family there enjoying the relaxed pace of the afternoon. 
I just found out yesterday that I'm going away for the weekend.  This should be something I'm looking forward to, but actually it has me quite stressed.  I hope when I get there it will be relaxing.   Ashley and Briana were supposed to go with one of their friends to spend a relaxing weekend with my parents on the lake.  My parents got called out of town, so I am taking them over and spending the weekend with them.  There's a long, complicated reason, but if they don't go this weekend, they don't get to go.  There's also a story behind why going is so important to them, but that's also too long for now.   You'll just have to be in suspense! 
We are leaving tomorrow afternoon, it's a 2 hour drive, and I hope once I get there it will be a restful day on Sat.  I'm taking my scrapbook stuff with me, and hope to spend the day on it.  I'm sure I'll go out on the paddle boat with them once, and, if it's not too cool, sit out on the dock.  They are all great young women, and it will be a joy to spend quiet time with them.  Just pray I won't be so stressed between now and then.  There are a lot of "urgent" things I need to be taking care of around here. 
Okay, I hate to end on a stressed note.  I'm going to go smell some applesauce, then read to my little girls! 

Letitia