Halloween Night

I was excited to be planning my blog tonight.  I had a spectacular Halloween dinner planned.  It's tradition for me to make a nutritious yet "scary" dinner on Halloween night.  Even though I now have a long commute, I had everything purchased and partially prepared for tonight's dinner.  I wanted my family to know that even though I now had a regular full time job, that some things would stay the same......like our Halloween dinner traditions.

Traffic was horrific on my way home.  There were accidents everywhere.  My husband, who gets home at 3:30pm (on a good day I get home around 5:15pm), was listening to the traffic report as I was headed home and also heard about the multiple accidents.  Knowing that our daughter had a date to go trick-or-treating with our neighbors, my husband made everyone supper BEFORE I got home.  A REGULAR supper.  Imagine my face when I walked through the door 20 minutes late.  I was devastated but how could I be angry.  My husband was only trying to help and it was kind of nice to come home and not have to rush into preparing dinner.  That said, my children we disappointed though.....even my grumpy 14 year old.  So I made them the special drink I had planned.....Sprite with eyeball ice cubes and I gave them dessert......pretzel rods made to look like witches' fingers with melted green chocolate and colorful sprinkles.

I'm sitting here now, trying to let the "mom guilt" go - I wasn't here to make the Halloween dinner that I have made for the last 17 years.  Wow!  Seeing it in writing almost makes it worse.  We're all adjusting and I worried about my children making the transition to me being gone during the day.  I think it's me that is having the hardest time adjusting.  Sure, my children were a little disappointed that I didn't have our special dinner ready but I was here tonight to help with Halloween costumes and rides to a friend's house.  I was here to do their laundry and bake chocolate chip bars.  I'll be here to make sure they're all in bed tonight and will tell them "I love you and I'll see you in the morning".  I guess maybe that is more important than an orange carved as a pumpkin with a chopped fruit salad inside!

"The only love that I really believe in is a mother's love for her children."  -Karl Lagerfeld

Cute Serving Dish Idea

I found a great website tonight while looking for some ideas for serving dishes.  I am having my book club over (hopefully) in a few weeks for a holiday gathering and even before I send out the invitations, I have started planning the menu and the table decorations!

The website is called Garden Whimsies by Mary.  Here is the link  www.gardenwhimsiesbymary.com  This is a picture from her website.

She makes these as beautiful garden decorations but I think they would be great as cupcake or appetizer plates, especially colorful ones like this.  I see a new craft project in my future!  I'll keep you posted!

"The essential part of creativity is not being afraid to fail."  -Edwin H. Land

Halloween Preparations

Tonight was a "preparation for Halloween" night.  My daughter carved her pumpkin.  In our house, we never just use a knife to make our jack-o-lanterns.  We usually use power tools to create funky faces.

Tonight, my daughter drew the face design she wanted on her pumpkin with a washable marker.  After cutting a hole in the top and then cleaning it out, her dad helped her cut the face - no power tools this time!

Next, armed with a skewer, craft glue and glitter, my daughter went to work creating a very special pumpkin.

Another added touch was a sparkle bow in purple, my daughter's favorite color.

Here is her "glamorous" creation!

Carving a pumpkin wasn't our only preparation for Halloween tonight.  We also made witches' fingers.  I used a Wilton mold I got on clearance at Michael's for 50 cents, some green candy melt, sprinkles and pretzel sticks.

My daughter made Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Bars using the very elusive Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows from Aldi.  My neighbor gave me two bags of the marshmallows.  She went to an Aldi that had just gotten a shipment in so she bought the whole bunch and gave them out to neighbors and friends who wanted them and couldn't find them.

Lastly, we made roasted pumpkin seeds.  After about 20 minutes in a 300 degree oven, clean pumpkin seeds with a little bit of butter, cayenne pepper, seasoned salt, garlic powder made a salty/spicy treat.

It's was a wonderful night to be at home creating things!

"When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers 'tis near Halloween."  -Unknown

Special Belated Birthday Gift

I got a surprise belated birthday gift yesterday from my neighbor and dear friend Keri.  This is how it came wrapped.....so simple, so sweet.

This is what was inside.

Again, simply wrapped with a piece of lace and ribbon and the item inside was wrapped with an old piece of sewing pattern paper.  It looked so delicate and elegant!

This was the gift inside.

It was made by my friend Keri's cousin.  It is a flattened spoon with a chain clasp and dangles.  Her cousin Mallory makes very creative and vintage looking jewelry.  Mallory has a Facebook page and Etsy site.  Here is the link to her Etsy site.  www.etsy.com/shop/MalloryMiscellaneous 

Besides, having items on Etsy for sale, Mallory makes custom jewelry items.  Keri knows I LOVE spiders and she also knows that I try to find something that brings me joy everyday.  Having it made with a spider charm and JOY stamped in it made it very personal and special to me!  Thanks again Keri!  

"Remember, the greatest gift is not found in a store nor under a tree, but in the hearts of true friends."  -Unknown

Fun Girls' Overnight

I apologize to those of you how read my blog every day and have seen nothing new for the past two days.  Friday, I was on a girls' overnight in Taylor's Falls, MN.  I had planned on writing a blog Friday night but the cabin's internet was down.  Then last night when I got home, I still couldn't blog because our home internet was down.  BUT tonight I'm back up and running and wanted to share what fun things we did on Friday and Saturday.

One of my friends found a cabin on line through VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner).  It was located on the St. Croix River in downtown Taylor's Falls.

It could sleep up to 12 people.  There were only 6 of us so we all had plenty of room.  Here's the room I slept in.

The cabin had a fully equipped kitchen had we been inclined to do any cooking.

 I love to cook - it's the clean up I don't like.  The friends I was staying with don't like to cook or to clean up!  Had we made any meals, we had a table large enough to accommodate all of us.

There were two family rooms.  We spent most of our time in this one - it DID NOT have a TV.

Friday night we walked across the street to Romayne's for dinner.

We ate in the sports bar in the lower level.  I expected typical bar food but what we got was delightfully good.  Three of us shared deep fried green beans, rueben poppers and a loaded chicken salad.  NOthing was greasy or heavy.  Everything was fresh and flavorful.  As you can see from the picture, I didn't get my camera out fast enough to get a picture when the food first arrived!!!

After dinner, we returned to the cabin and had a roaring bonfire.  We toasted our friendship with my new favorite wine.  It's called Hot To Trot by 14 Hands.  It's a red wine blend that is really smooth and not too sweet.

It was early to bed because we had plans to walk to Interstate State Park in the morning.  Our cabin was only about 4 blocks away from the park.

The special attraction at Interstate State Park are the "potholes".

The park also has some beautiful landscape.  We were there in time to catch the last of the beautiful fall color.  Here's a link to the Interstate State Park website for more information about the park.    www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/interstate/index.html

After our 5 mile hike through the park and a quick shower, we drove to The St. Croix Vineyard for a tour of the winery.  

It was really interesting to hear about their grape growing and wine production.  Of course, we had to take a break to taste the wine as well.  Love the seating in the winery's main room!

After the vineyard visit, my friend Lisa and I headed for home.  It was a quick trip but we had so much fun!  Love girl time!

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."  -Marcel Proust

Pie Pop Thank You

I made what I thought, was a HUGE mistake at work today.  Somehow I moved or deleted a shared folder in our Electronic Enrollment mailbox.  I was mortified!!!!!  I immediately sent my husband an email - he's a techie guy so I thought maybe he could help.  Then I went in the bathroom and cried a bit.  When I came out, every of my teammates reassured me that what I had done, "was no big deal" and there were "lots of other ways to get the information".

While I appreciated their good wishes, I thought there must be some way to recover the information.  Thankfully I work with some brilliant IS&T people who were able to get back all that was lost.  I was so appreciative that when I got home, I thought I should do or make something special for all those people who helped and encouraged me today.

I had purchased a Wilton Pie Pop Maker a few weeks ago and I decided that this would be the perfect thank you gift.  Here's what the Pie Pop Maker looks like.

 With just regular pie dough, I cut out little circular shapes.  The bottom of the Pie Pop Maker makes perfect size circles.

Next I placed a dough circle in the inside of the Pie Pop Maker and laid a lollipop stick on top.

I added a dollop of my favorite apple pie filling and then placed a second piece of dough on top.

Then I pressed the Pie Pop Maker closed and when I opened it, I had a sealed pie pop.

I placed the pie pop on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, brushed it with melted butter and sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar.

Into a 350 degree oven they went and after about 15 minutes, I took them out to cool on a wire rack.

Once they were cool, I wrapped one to give my helpful IS&T guy and added a tag saying "thank you".

I then decided to give one to each of my teammates.

Everyone was so great - I wanted to give them all a treat!

"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough."  -Meister Eckhart