Awesome Apple Butter Cake

Good Tuesday morning!

NOTE TO ROBIN - Thank you for coming back to the blog. Very much appreciated. Warning noted about stitches at the Splash Pad. (If you go, definitely wear shoes.) I have a couple of easy lemon pie recipes, too. Every now and again, I get a wild hair and want to try something totally "Food Channel worthy"... and usually I end up with a mess. (And now I'm just mad because cornstarch beat me again. Now it's revenge time.)

The Gallery Pics today are from Roxie's first day of volleyball practice. Three hours every morning until school starts... but she loved it! She's on a team with some really sweet girls. It's going to be a busy eight weeks, but a lot of fun. We've decided to look at it as an ADVENTURE!

I also added a picture of the park. I found out yesterday the Splash Pad is CLOSED on Mondays, so I'm going to take pictures of the Pad while the water is running today. It doesn't look much fun dry. (Also, the Splash Pad is open through October from 10:00 a.m. until dusk.)

Austin's college countdown is now down to three days... four if you count the day we move him in. It is so surreal. Right now, we're planning on going down Sunday and attending First Baptist Jacksonville with him... unless he meets some other kids planning on going Sunday morning. We're playing it by ear... Which is another way to say "spontaneous" or "go-with-the-flow" or "flexible." All of which are terms we all know do NOT apply to me!

Sunday night, after we went to see Night at the Museum 2, I was reminded why I liked the movie so much the first time Roxie and I saw it. I loved Amelia Earhart's attitude (played by Amy Adams... who I also love to watch). Everything was an adventure to her!

I know. I know. It's just a movie. But what would life be like if we woke up every Monday morning wondering what wonderful, exciting adventure was waiting around the corner. Wouldn't that be great? Would we be more likely to look for the excitement the day had to offer... or we would be disappointed at the end of the day when we realized it was pretty much a Monday like any other Monday (laundry, dusting, errands, meals to prepare, meals to clean up after, kids to drop off, kids to pick up, etc., etc., etc.).

Austin and I had a nice talk today, and I had to admit to him and myself, he's a little more like me than I had hoped. We're both very apprehensive about this new (and exciting) chapter of his life. We're both considering worst case scenarios all day long. And that's just plain wrong.

When Austin was 2 1/2 years-old, we lived in Cullman. His favorite thing to do at that age was to walk to a wooded lot at the end of our street. I would carry his favorite big stick and once we arrived at the lot, he would take his big stick and "whomp" the living daylights out of all the trees in that lot. He was a warrior! He was fearless! I would sit a safe distance away, and I let him "whomp" away. He would "whomp" until he could "whomp" no more, and then he would come to me smiling, hand me his big stick and we would walk down the street to our house to play with puzzles.

Was he slaying dragons or being a lumberjack or slashing his way through the underbrush looking for dinosaurs? Who knows. He never said, and I don't remember if I ever asked him. But it was exciting... It was an adventure. You could see it in his little boy face.

That's what I want to see in his face again very soon. The excitement. The anticipation of the unknown... not the dread.

"The Lord is my light and my salvation: Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?" Psalm 27:1. Good question. And wait. There's an even better answer.

"Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a level path, because of my foes. Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence. I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:11-14.

I think Austin's going to be okay... And maybe, just maybe, I will be, too.

Awesome Apple Butter Cake

Ahhh! A really, really easy recipe. My favorite kind.

You'll need:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose baking mix (Bisquick)
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
4 tablespoons melted butter (divided)
2 cups apple butter
1/3 cup each sweetened flaked coconut, chopped pecans and sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease an 8" x 8" baking dish.

3. In a mixing bowl, stir together the baking mix, milk, sugar, egg and 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Pour 2/3 of the batter into the baking dish.

4. Cover with apple butter.

5. Drop remaining batter by spoonfuls onto apple butter layer.

6. Combine the coconut, pecans and sugar with remaining melted butter and sprinkle on top.

7. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes.

It's a "twofer." Delicious and it makes the house smell good, too. (Never underestimate the power of good-smelling house. It covers up a multitude of household "sins." Like not dusting, unfolded laundry, etc.)

Have a terrific Tuesday. Tomorrow we'll have a back-to-school Seasonal Tradition to enjoy sometime during this week or weekend. Busy, busy week... on the blog AND in real life.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.