Sunshine and muffins and pets...oh my!

Every year at this time the boys and I purposefully stop and pay tribute to the sun. We live tucked up close to a mountain and while we love the view this affords us all through the year we also find that we miss the sun very much when it disappears behind the mountain each winter. Last week (just as we returned from our sunny holiday) the sun returned. (hmmm, imagine that...almost like someone planned their holiday return time around this event or something);-)

Needless to say we were very happy. We took the time to sit right down in the sunbeams and while we basked in the sun we listened to Here Comes the Sun as is our tradition now.

I'm sorry to say that Sunshine On My Shoulders didn't make the cut this year as the CD was out in the car. But just in case you really want to hear it (and I know that you do) here it is...just for you. :-)



Soon enough all the animals joined us to get their dose of sunshine too.

This well-fed kitty decided to sit up on our coffee table in the sun. Having had free range with the kitty kibble for a month meant that there was a whole lot of her to perch up on that table...

a whoooole lot. Enough to drape over the edge, in fact. Oh my! Must do something about that.
This also tends to be the time of year that my thoughts turn to spring cleaning. I whir through the house seeing what I can get rid of; wiping walls down to get rid of fingerprints, Hotwheel tracks and other assorted messes; vacuuming in places I never normally get to and *gasp* even cleaning the windows. I know that in another month it will be Gardening Time (said with much reverence) and that I won't give a hoot for cleaning cleaning will seem pointless because dirt from the garden will be tracked in Endlessly!Yes, endlessly! we will be spending so much time having fun in the garden that I will be very pleased that I got the spring cleaning done early.

I also like to get moving on using up some of the fruit and veg. in the freezers that I tucked in their at harvest time. Having four large freezers plugged in all the time plays havoc with my conscious. Funnily enough when you cook up massive pumpkins and freeze all the pumpkin puree you then need to Do Something with the hundreds of pounds of pumpkin in the freezers.

Thankfully we all love pumpkin muffins and I can see the need for many, many batches of muffins to see us through all our cleaning efforts and then all our gardening work.

Edited to include recipe for muffins.

My third grade teacher's pumpkin muffin recipe (only slightly altered...no, really!)

3/4 cup oil (I use grapeseed) (originally called for 1 cup)

1 cup sugar (originally called for 1 1/2 cups - use your own tastes as a guide)

3 eggs

2 cups frozen pumpkin puree

3/4 raisins ( I do half with and half without because I always double the recipe)

2 1/4 cup flour (I use whole wheat)

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix wet ingredients in bowl. Mix dry ingredients together in another bowl. Combine and blend. Fold in raisins. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 - 25 minutes (depending on size of muffins). Enjoy! :-)