Scrubbing 101

 My kitchen floor gets cleaned once or twice a week. In many different fashions. On Fridays we schmop it properly, but mid-week it may need a quick wipe down or even just a schmop swipe with water in the kitchen sink. Sometimes it's paper towels to the rescue. Every other week or so i get down on my hands and knees with a bucket and rag. Possibly a Norwex rag, or maybe a 'real' rag with soapy water.  My point is for you to know that we do not have bi-monthly cleanings here, we are regular. And even extra. But.....

 ...recently i've had a hunch that my tiles need a real serious scrub down! Today was the day. I got a bucket of soapy water with a scrubbing brush, a rag, and a Norwex scrubby. I also got a rinse bucket with only hot water and a Norwex rag. This was going to be a 5 or 6 step process! Firstly i scrubbed.

  Then i swooped up the dirty water with the rag.

 3rd step: Scrubbed some more with this little pad.

 Cleaned up all that water.

 Lastly ( and twice) i wiped the floor with my rinse water and Norwex rag. As i was moving along i realized that my rinse water was  appearing to be as dirty as my soapy water!! That's when i decided to blog about this otherwise-never-mind cleaning job. I find it truly fascinating that after all those dirty scrubbing steps, and with no more water laying on the floor, my Norwex still managed to clean up that unseen tough stuff still out there where the naked eye cannot see!

 Josiah came home from school just now and i had him document me doing the job. I also checked on the granola as i was passing by. I also yelled "No shoes in the kitchen!" ........."for weeks!"

 So here are the two buckets of dirty water. Almost embarrassing because i am telling the hand-on-the-courtroom-Bible truth about how often i clean my floor. This does bear reflection on how thoroughly tho! And notice how dirty the rinse water on the right is! Unbelievable.

And here we're all done! It looks fabulous. And i've made it clear that i'd like to keep it that way. Dave was slightly annoyed when he came home this afternoon (as i was blogging this!)with his wet work boots on and i stopped him short of going into the kitchen ( he'd already come thru the laundry and across the hardwood hallway!). He just doesn't understand why i had to 'clean the floor AGAIN' in his words. He thinks by mid-week he should be allowed free reign until Friday rolls around. He feels tortured on the weekend because his (small) conscience tells him he really 'should not wear shoes in the house just after she cleaned'.

Poor chap. So he just lay down for a snooze.

He has NEVER stepped on the carpet with his shoes on. He's a smart man.

Back to my point: Norwex rags are the greatest! They clean deeper than you expected. Go get yourself some, if you are lacking!

Happy Love Day!

If there's an occasion to make a theme food, let's do it!! I love making little sweet treat for the kid's school classes and that's where these cupcakes went last week. 2 dozen for Brooke and 2 more the next morning for Josiah. Of course one can only have red velvet once a year, so that makes these extra fun and special. And i haven't made a red velvet cake for years, really.

 The kids and I had fun decorating them. We drew chocolate heart onto waxed paper and after a short time of cooling outside, they were easily transferred to the icing.

 Dave loved on me with roses, so they had to be a part of the photo shoot.

 One can get super creative with chocolate!

I was told they were delicious! I only tasted a mini muffin size made with leftover batter, and i concur!

I Love Football and #41!

 Today a few boys were absent, so Josiah was moved in as running back. He carried the ball more today than all year put together! He loved it! He misses the feel of pigskin. He's been busy blocking this year and showing lots of fake hand-offs. You don't touch the ball in fake hand-offs.

 Here we are at first and goal. And yes, we scored. Again and again. We kept recovering our own kick-off, so we dominated possession.

 Josiah ran it in for a 45 yrd TD.

 TOUCHDOWN!

 

 We only had one kid on the sidelines today! Here Josiah gets a breather after a long run.

 Time out and water break. It was a gorgeous Fall Sunday afternoon.

 Final score. Obviously a mismatch today, but we had fun running the ball all over the field!

This tree is in all it's glory this week. I love how it contrasts so vividly to the still green ones across the drive. Remember last year it snowed when the trees were in this stage! Oh, how i love Autumn! (and i don't mean the dog!)

Applesauce,Pigs, and a Cat

 {Brittany, This post and more will be written especially for you as i attempt to honor Dad's request that i blog more frequently for you while you are away from home.The rest of my readers just have to wade thru this blog and realize some things might make sense only to us.} So here goes;


I chose today to make applesauce because Meg loves to make it and the girls do not have school today.

Dad bought 3 bags of Apples at AB Orchard this morning. They were 2nd's, but big and beautiful and it took Meg and I only minutes to cut them all into quarters. The cooking took much longer.

Brooke was helping, too. While Meg and i cut apples she collected jars and lids, washed and assembled them and then also helped turn the strainer. We all love turning those hot apples into the delicious sauce!

Between batches of hot apples Brooke made these 'piggy cookies' for the snack stand that will be at Josiah's ball tournament tonight at Paradise Park.

Aren't they just the cutest thing ever! After the icicng was dried we carefully slid them into cellophane bags.

(Brit, I'm enjoying these little succulents that you planted this summer)

There's alot going on here on our kitchen island. Meg is working on homework when there's no apples to turn. And Brooke's working on those pigs!

I was going to wait to jar any sauce until it was all done, but the basin got full so i had to take some out. I also cooked a kettle of 'mailbox apples' to mix with all those golden delicious.

I kept out 10 cups of sauce and made some apple butter,too. I took advantage of my lower oven as i was also making peanut butter brownies for the tournament. I only use that lower oven a few times a year, but it sure is nice to have when you need it!
 Yeah, these killer brownies. They're still here cuz the ballgames got cancelled because of the storm damage at Paradise Park.

 Next day: The jars are all sealed, and cleaned and ready for storage. The apple butter is awesome and as you can image we had egg sandwiches for breakfast and your dad was 'humming' thru every bite. I'm so thankful this project is complete! A few weeks ago i feared it might not happen, this applesauce making.


Warning! next picture is just gross, but it's a 'Brooke Special'.

Seriously! Dad told her there's a dead cat in the open shed and then she had to photograph it to show me because i would not go look at it! No one will ever know the story behind this cat's poor demise! 

Ball Season

 Brooke's first school softball game was played this week against Ephrata Mennonite. Brooke did a great job in catching and even made 2 plays at home, getting the lead runner out each time!

 She also got a few nice hits and Linville won their season opener. Brooke is also playing for PV this year on the 14U team. Their first game is this week.

 Josiah is playing Little League again and his games started this past week.I took this picture because i thought it was cute how close the boys are sitting to one another. When Josiah saw the picture he said he did ask Ty to move over because "I was at the very edge of the bench!" They are best buds and on the same team because their dad's are coaching them.

 He got a nice hit tonight.

 Stole second base safely!

 Coach Dave and Parker. I love this picture! Speaking of baseball.........

 We planned a quick surprise trip to Spring training in FL to celebrate Josiah's 10th birthday. This was on March 16 and 17. E-man, Marcy, and Tyrell joined us for the great adventure.

 The Phillies and Cliff Lee played the Pirates.

 It was a gorgeous day in Bradenton!

 We 6 made the most of our 2-day trip. The men and boys also went to an Orioles game in Sarasota and of course the boys had to play on the beach.

Happy 10th birthday to our son! ( my baby....... shh-h, don't tell him that's what he'll always be to me!)

I am a fool for baseball and softball. I don't really care if it's a school team, little league, Spring Training, or the Phillies on TV. Just let me watch! Actually, i'd love to play, but still no one started  35+ team for ladies. Pretty soon i'll be on the 40+ team........