{ The cake my grandfather used to make }

It's a little after 6pm.  I've set the house to bed, dishes have been loaded and the swooshing of the machine reverberates through the kitchen.

I turned on a lamp in the den area because the days are starting to get shorter and darker, earlier in the day.

I've had my shower, used my favorite Cath Kidston Bath Wash and have slid into bed, squeaky clean, bangs clipped back, laptop comfortably propped on my lap, and a crime documentary playing on the TV.

A big sigh emanates from within and as it exhales so does the weariness of a busy homemaking day.

My day started around 4:12am.  I woke up to go to the bathroom and then sleep decided that I had enough.  I tossed and turned, all the while keeping my eye on the clock as I knew that the alarm would be going on at 6.



I must have drifted off to sleep, finally, around 5:45.  Isn't it always like that?

I started my morning with breakfast, getting the kitchen clean and dishes done and then got my pile of ironing done.

Even though I feel like I'm constantly doing laundry, I would rather do some every day than let it all pile in a corner for the weekend.  So today,  I got a couple of comforters done, washed all the shower curtains and my lace curtains as well, put up a recipe for the Bread Lasagna we had for dinner last night, and before I could blink it was time to get dinner going.

My days tend to just run at a turbo speed, sometimes not giving me a chance to even sit for 5 minutes.

Yesterday I began by moving things around.  As I had previously mentioned, when Fall and Winter start coming around, I switch my dining room and sitting area around.  Mainly because we like having dinner by the fireplace, but also because it means that big family gatherings are upon us and since my house is the biggest, we gather here.

That of course means extending the table to sit 10 people and adding more seating and buffet areas, and it's much easier to turn the table sideways, filling up the whole room than trying to fit everyone in one little corner.

Of course this all means that I have two huge heavy recliner couches, plus a small chair and a big oak dining table to move around.  It takes me a few hours because I usually take the opportunity to give everything a good clean, toss things, reorganize, purge, carpet clean, wash the paneled walls and so on.

But once it is done, I always and I mean always, sit back and smile.   Please excuse the above chair pads, they are super old and need to be replaced, I'm going to be doing that very soon.  Honestly can't wait to toss those as they don't really do anything anymore.

I'm also going to be making some pillow covers for the recliner couches above.  I want something Fall related but I'm thinking I may actually do a red plaid, but not completely sure on that yet.

The plant in the back is a palm tree that we rescued from Lowes, it was part of their distressed plants and it's been slowly coming back to life, but I have to keep shifting it around from room to room and corner to corner because it hasn't like some of the areas I've tried it in.  Hopefully this time I've actually got it right?

I finished all my sweater pumpkins, and ladies, I love them so much, they completely exceeded my expectations.  They are the perfect color.  I wanted muted pumpkins, I'm not so much into the bright orange and would prefer to keep it a little more subdued.

I placed some on the fireplace mantle as well, but didn't take pictures of those yet because I'm still pottering around with the decorations on there.  I'll take pictures when it's all exactly how I want it.

I also pulled out my fall poutporri that Jasmine gave me a few weeks ago.  It smells so good, oh my word, makes me really wish that Fall was upon us.

And that is what I did yesterday, so wanted to show you a little of what things are looking like around here.

As I was making dinner tonight, I started having a craving for a simple vanilla cake.  Not just any cake, but the one my grandfather used to make when we were kids.

He was the best grandfather ever, often going into the kitchen at midnight to make us a cake, just because we asked for one.  By the way, the midnight thing was on the weekends when we would sit up as a family and watch movies.

But as the cake was baking and the sweet aroma of vanilla started filling the air, I quickly flashed back to my childhood and those times with my grandfather.  At the time we didn't think much of it, you know you're sitting there eating cake and just thinking that you're so happy because it's delicious.  You're in no way thinking that 30 odd years down the line, you will be standing at your kitchen sink working on dinner for your family, and just one sniff, one bite of that soft yummy cake, will transport you back to that old kitchen table.

We take life for granted, we take moments for granted, not ever thinking of the important of everything that we do or everything we experience.

I would give anything to have my grandfather sitting across from me, big smile on his face, taking huge bites of the cake he has just made.  And while unfortunately my children will never be able to have that experience, meet their great grandfather or enjoy one of his cakes, I try to let that memory live on through my own hands, in the shape of a vanilla cake and in the stories of their great grandfather Julio.



I already have a similar recipe up on the blog, you can check it out here, but I'll share this one tomorrow if any of you are interested.

While you're over at Full Bellies, Happy Kids, check out the recipe for the Bread Lasagna.



And that my friends, is my Tuesday over and done with.

Oh I almost forgot to show you something.....

One of the pecan trees is already starting to dump a ton of pecans onto the ground.  I am starting to collect the ones I can find and really looking forward to full harvest season, come October.

Feel so blessed to have 6 huge pecan trees on our property.