Spicy Pumpkin Bread

#2, the Tiddlywampus loves pumpkin bread, this recipe is her favorite...in fact she's eating a big hunk of it right now. Here's the recipe:

Streusel Topping
3/4 cup finely pecans
3/4 cup light brown or white sugar
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons melted butter or margarine


Pumpkin Bread
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3/4 cup canola oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups chopped apples

For the topping, put pecans, sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter into a small bowl and mix. Set topping aside. For the pumpkin bread, preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 8 1/2-inch x 4 1/2-inch loaf pans. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, and sugar until well combined. Sift flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves together in a large bowl, then stir into pumpkin mixture. Fold in apples. Pour batter into prepared pans. Divide streusel topping and sprinkle evenly in both pans. Bake about 50 minutes or until a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Wonderful warm, freezes well.

Shiny Boogers

The Animal puts everything into her mouth. Rocks, grass, anything she finds hidden in the couch cushions, Barbie shoes, her own shoes, her sisters shoes.

"Hey, Daisy. What do you have in your mouth?"

No matter what it is she's chewing away on, she'll answer:

"Ceweal."

(That's Cereal for you non mom folk)

But the dawning of her second birthday brought a new pastime into her life. Her oldest sister wasn't home, so she decided to snoop in her jewelry box and examine her earings. Without warning the little Animal pushed a cheap metal stud into her right nostril.

"Daisy!"

She then took her little pointy finger and pushed the earing up further into her head. Smiling, Eyes watering.

I called my Husband and various family members to watch the other offspring while we trucked The Animal to the Emergency Room. Her 4th trip.

The Doctor, apparently very experienced in removing such things as beans & beans from noses & ears, easily extracted the earing in 5 seconds.

I picked up my panic stricken spawn to console her, only to almost pass out at the sight of yet another earing sliding out of her nose. Yes. She had not one, but TWO earings in her nose, and they did not match. One was a cheap metal stud passed down from my sister,

the other a $30 gold ball.

What a birthday. What an Animal.

Help. There's a Peacock Wearing Fishnets in my

Refrigerator.

Technically, it's my maneatin' sister.

She's lucky I love her so much.

This was taken last year, she was on her way out and got hungry.