Apples

So I made some harvest-y type pillow slipcovers for my sofa this past weekend. They turned out so cute! The nice thing is they are removable and I will make some Christmas ones next (not to mention they can be washed when they get slimed by some kids I know of).

Making slipcover pillow cases couldn't be simpler, but I thought I'd share the how-to anyway. First you cut the front out full size of the cover you need (use your pillow to measure). The back you cut into 2 pieces to overlap one another. In my case I made the front piece 24"x 14". So the back pieces were 15" x 14". Then you hem one side of each of the short pieces. Once hemmed you lay down your front piece and then your back pieces on top, right sides together. In the above pic I have only one side laid down.
Here it is pinned to be sewn.Here you can barely see how the two pieces overlap above the green pin. Then you sew completely around. Trim the corners and reverse through the envelope hole you have left between the 2 pieces.
Here's what it looks like in the back completed and pillow put in. Now it can be taken on and off as needed. It's a nice way to accent your home for holidays without buying new pillows and easy to stash away for the next year.

Something else we tried this weekend. Caramel apple bites. They so did not come out very well at all. I got the idea from one of my magazines (can't remember which one at the moment). It suggested using a melon baller to make little apple balls...that part came out great! Then you poke popscicle sticks in the top and dip. The article suggested dipping in peanut butter then rolling in chocolate chips I believe. But I thought oh that would be great in caramel and chocolate like the full size versions, but easier for the kids to eat. So we tried it. Let me just tell you as sticky as caramel is, it doesn't stick to the wet part of a cut apple. And even if you force the issue and try to proceed with the choc dipping part, it gets even messier and eventually binds up the melted chocolate because there is too much juice on the apple/now caramel apple goo. And even if you get as far as getting them with some amount of caramel and choc lumped onto each bite (because you are super stubborn person and that craving for apple caramel choc is too strong) they aren't that good when you eat them. Inside the chocolate is gooey slimey apple caramel gush and though the taste is ok (kids are eating them), if you are sensitive to texture, these are NOT for you! So do like I did and buy a pre-made caramel apple at the supermarket for a quick craving fix. ;)
And last few pictures of our morning at our local train museum/depot. We took hubby there Sat morning as he's never been and the kids had been asking to go. It's a historic site with museum, old train cars to go in, trolley that takes you in a big circle and of course a playroom. The above is in the playroom. Boys hung out at the train table and the girls had tea the whole time.

Here they are in a very old timey car. There were several of them and they all had to test drive them all. :) Not sure why Kalla had that look on her face. It all goes back to the whole trying to get them all to look your way and not appear to be crying picture thing I talked about previously. :)