Comparing Apples to Apples

I saw some pins on Pinterest about how to keep an apple from browning.  I actually compared two of them. 

One was for apples soaked in salt water and the other was a sliced apple put back together and held by a rubber band. 

I used about 1 tsp sea salt to 1 cup water and placed the apples in the solution for about 5 minutes. The other apple was sliced and immediately put back together and held in place with a rubber band. Then to keep all things even, I placed them each in a zipper plastic bag, left them out on the counter and waited for 5 hours.

The result:

The apple held together by the rubber band is on the left and the salt water apples are on the right. Both browned a little, but the it is clear that the salt water apple browned less.

The rubber band apple had also turned significantly softer while the salt water apple still retained a bit of crunch.

The rubber band apple tasted like a browned apple (yuck) and the salt water apple did have a salty flavor (which I don't mind at all!).

The clear winner for our house is the salt water soaked apple!

Public School Day Two: The Morning of

Day 2 started off pretty well, although the boys were pretty sleepy as they sat down to breakfast:

Will (5th grade): I didn't get enough rest. I might fall asleep in class again.
Me: Then we need try getting in bed earlier tonight.
Will: 7:30 sounds good to me.

I soaked my waffle batter last night, stirred it up this morning, and fried some waffles for them. Jeff and I had eggs with leftover sausage (although we both ate out of the pan because I didn't have time to plate our food. LOL! Plus, we are having our dining room tiled this week and we don't have a table to sit at anyway).

Clothes were picked out (and ironed! Go Mom!) last night.  Nathan picked out a collared polo and some khaki pants. He said he wanted to look handsome.  (Glad he's giving today another try with a good attitude)

The boys made their lunches last night so they were ready to go this morning. I prepared their snacks this morning (apples and a little bottle of water).

The boys had time to unload the dishwasher and pick up their clothes in their bedroom. Two out of three boys cleared their breakfast places, too!

We were at school on time and I walked Witt in for the last time.  Then I quickly ran upstairs to make sure Nathan made it to his class (he has a bad habit of wondering, but he was there pulling out his binder).

Now I am home, with the tile guys, drinking my coffee, making records of this life-changing event called public school.