When life gives you lemons, make applesauce.

I've been looking for a creative outlet for a while, so I figured I'd try the whole blogging thing and see how it goes. I used to write a lot in college. I worked for the newspaper, wrote poetry and (tried to write) short stories. But after I graduated, life just took over and it's been hard to get into the right mood to write. So hopefully this whole blogging thing will cure my writer's block (or bloq) and re-kindle my desire to write poetry.

Life gets busy. Since college, I've been working as a Preschool Teacher. So totally not what I ever envisioned myself doing for a career, but those are the doors that opened in the wake of the 2008 economy (and thus job-market) crash. And you know what, I really enjoy it. At first I thought it would just be a job, something to hold me over until other doors began opening, but now I'm actually thinking of it as a career. Possibly even an avenue for me to go back to grad-school (and get it paid for by the state!).

The kids are great. I come home with some hilarious story at least once a week, and I'm sure some of them will make it onto the blog. But even more than being funny, the kids really love life. And it's something I'm kind of jealous of. They have this excitement and are usually so unconcerned with how the rest of the world sees them. And they love so freely and completely. I feel lucky to be around them so often.

In other, less philosophical, news, Paul and I went to Larry Land Farms on Wednesday and picked 28 pounds of apples! No, we're not on some crazy apple-only diet, we wanted to make applesauce. AND we preserved it! Paul's grandparents used to do a lot of preserving, so they showed us the ropes, and it is surprisingly easy. Not to mention cost effective. I don't know why more people don't do it. It's a fun activity and makes really good homemade gifts!

In case you're wondering, 28 pounds of apples makes 3 quarts and 14 pints of sauce! And I did half with cinnamon and half without. We did it all for about $30. Can't beat that! Paul's grandparents were kind enough to give us all the mason jars and rims we needed. We just needed to buy another box of lids (since you can't reuse those), but they're super cheap.

Now, I may be a little bias, but it's probably the best apple sauce I've ever had. First of all when you do it yourself, you control the amount of sugar and cinnamon that's added. Second, because we picked the apples ourselves they were as fresh as you can get. From tree to jar in just a few hours! One little trick is to use more than one type of apple. We used 3 (empire, matsu & golden delicious) because those were the types open for picking at Larry Land.

Not only was it a fun adventure that lasted all day, it was great to learn something new. This will definitely become a tradition; I'm anxious to see what else I can preserve in a jar!