Maybe winning the lottery isn't such a good idea

 Weekends are so wonderful. After a tough work week, there's nothing like settling into two days so very different in complexion from the work week routine. By Saturday at noon I had:
1) gotten groceries
2) made a dessert, crab cakes, the fixings for a caesar salad, and an artichoke and parmesan dip for my parents coming to dinner that evening
3) gotten a Feast project completed
4) listened to 5 Christmas CDs (one 3x — Andrea Bocelli's "My Christmas." Who knew that "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" could wind up becoming a favorite of mine!?!? I've yet to tire of listening to it. His duets with Mary J. Blige, Natalie Cole, The Muppets, Reba McEntire, and Katherine Jenkins. . . one is better than the next. And his "The Lords Prayer" with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is touching beyond words.
5) and was ready to run errands, go to the gym, and, of course, listen to more Christmas music.

For dessert Saturday evening, I really wanted to have something fruity that I could pair with vanilla ice cream, so I went to my recipe file and found a recipe from, believe it or not, a file of good eats I had compiled from when my Pap Pap passed away. My Nana's house had been overflowing with food when he left us, every dish delivered from a friend stopping by with condolences in the form of hugs and casseroles — food never ceases to make a heart feel warm.  There was everything from a delectable chopped ham spread, to dips, to this apple "pie" (at least that's what it was titled) that is really more of an Apple Betty.  Easy to make and, in typical fashion of anything worth baking or cooking from scratch, better the second day. Here's the recipe.

6 cups of peeled, cored and sliced apples
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup Bisquick
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. butter — melted
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 325. Grease pie plate (I used a quiche dish and think it works better than a pie plate). Mix apples and spices, turn into plate. Beat remaining ingredients until smooth. Pout into plate. Sprinkle with streusel. Bake 50-60 minutes. [I made the whole shebang the night before and just put the streusel topping aside and put on right before baking.]

Streusel Topping

Mix 1 cup of Bisquick, 1/2 cup chopped nuts ( I used pecans which I think were way better a match to the apples and spices than if I'd have used walnuts). 1/3 cup brown suger, 3 Tbsp firm butter cut into small pieces.

P.S. And as much as I'd love to win the lottery, would weekends still be such a treat if every day were a weekend day? Perhaps reason enough to stick with the day job and be content with those two little gems in the week that shine with creativity, family, nesting and Chateau Gahan. Besides, where else but on the weekend can you afford to make typos? On a cozy Saturday morning, "continuous" can be spelled any way you dang feel like it (especially if it's on a fridge dry erase board).

And the etsy shell crosses are coming along. I so don't want to do this etsy thing half-arsed. They are done, photographed (but not to my exact standard of how I want to them to be portrayed), and the backs need my signature (a branding element) along with a scripture that fits each cross. The bottom line . .  . I need another weekend. 5 days and counting.