Sunday Morning

Been up for 3 hours, since about 6 am. Got up with the alarm so that hubby could get into work on time. Once again, this 3-2-2 shift SUCKS.

From where I'm sitting right now, I can look out our dining room (well, really it's not a "room" but more of a designated area) windows and see several deer picking their way through the snowy woods. It's pretty cool. I can also see some grass of our lawn, as we've had a warm few days and the snow is melting. I can also see our really, really muddy driveway.

And I can hear Sponge Bob on the TV. My 10-year-old son likes it. I cannot stand that show. I can hardly stand to listen to it. I've just told him to turn the TV down for about the 5th time in 4 minutes. I guess I'm hoping he'll get the volume down so far that I won't be able to hear it. I'm torn. On the one hand, he should be able to enjoy some TV that he wants to watch while he leisurely enjoys his Cinnamon Toast Crunch... on the other hand, it's making me so cranky he won't enjoy much soon.... ugh!

I have 4 loaves of pumpkin bread in the oven, and it smells so good. I found the recipe in a magazine article about a day in the life of the Amish or some such thing; I think it was a country woman's magazine or the like. Back in the late 80's when I was in my Rodale book club, back to nature and grow your own food phase. It is the best pumpkin bread EVER. The recipe makes 4 loaves and has 7 cups of flour and 6 cups of sugar. Gotta love that ratio. It's more like a spicy pumpkin cake. And this morning I realized that I hadn't made any in about 3 years. Hubby loves it, so it'll be something nice for him to come home to (other than the Super Bowl, 'course).

I'm timing the baking of the bread/cake with a small Sunbeam digital timer. And you know what? It's the very same timer I used when I baked the very first loaves of this recipe! I've had that timer for about 20 years. And not to jinx anything, but I've never even replaced the batteries in it. And I use it almost daily. Daily! That's one great timer.

I also have this Bulova quartz travel clock that I got the same time as my timer. The timer and the clock were both part of an award thingy from my employer. I take that clock with me on nearly every trip anywhere -- vacation, business, camping even. It'll sit for months in a drawer, and I'll pull it out and it's still on right on time. It, like the timer, works perfectly. And... I've never replaced the batteries in it, either.

Now I must go take the bread out of the oven. Right after I destroy the TV.