A Good Laugh for HALLOWEEN!

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Happy holiday to you all!  Indulge in a truck load of candy, I know I will!

I'm Jealous.....

of these beautiful home offices.

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I've got some serious planning to do.  Painting the office is the next on my to-do list. It may be there a while......

It's raining....

So, I'm putting on my boots and heading out to play with the kids.  Happy day to you all!

Image via Country Living's Green Home

Glazed Pumpkin Cookies and Pumpkin Cobbler, Oh My!

Yesterday, the mom and I made some glazed pumpkin cookies.  Really, I should just say that she baked and mixed and I ate and licked.  Although, this is what the cookies looked like....

They tasted phenomenal with these....

and these....

I know it sounds weird with sprinkles and candy corn, but trust this chica, it is heaven!  The cookie is light and fluffy with the sweetest frosting.  For recipe click here.  Well, usually I get a food assignment every Sunday from my Mom.  This Sunday I was assigned dessert.  Because I love pumpkin so much, I'm going to make a pumpkin cobbler.  If you haven't had it, it is literally like pumpkin pie with streusel instead of a crust.  It's deeevine!

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I chose to go with this recipe and split the sugar half and half with Splenda and the Brown Sugar, just to keep it less sweet.

PUMPKIN COBBLER 

1 lg. can pumpkin
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1 lg. can evaporated milk (Pet or Carnation)
3 eggs
1 tsp. ginger or 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and 1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1 yellow cake mix (Pillsbury pudding in the mix)
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 c. nuts

Mix together pumpkin, brown sugar, evaporated milk, eggs, ginger, and salt. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Then sprinkle cake mix over pumpkin. Melt butter. Drizzle this over cake mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Last 10 minutes, sprinkle nuts over it.

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Instead of putting nuts over the top, I'm doing chocolate chips!  YUM! For different varieties of Pumpkin Cobbler go here.

Enjoy your weekend, Everyone!

Halloween Costume Ideas!

The costume decisions every year for Halloween is an annoyance to me.  Every year my daughter wants to be a princess.  No difficulty there because, I already had a Mulan costume for her. 

My mother gave me a darling frog costume for my 1 year old so, once again I'm off the hook....but, the hubs and I are struggling.  

We have a neighborhood trunk-or-treat party with chili for dinner, a carnival, and costumes with prizes.  This is the first year we're going to the party because, usually my parents have their party at the same time!  

Three years ago the hubs and I were Garth and Wayne from Wayne's World.  I'm thinking of resurrecting these costumes because they're so dang funny.  The hubs, on the other hand, thinks we should keep with the Princess and the Frog theme or be Shrek and Fiona.  Sigh.....this is why I get annoyed over costume parties.  Why are we even trying to win?!!! Granted, we usually do win! 

Any ideas for other costumes for two adults?!

Beautiful Leaf Garlands....How I Love Thee.

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My mom is pretty crafty.  She's the kind of woman to go find sticks in her backyard, dry her own flowers, and create a gorgeous wreath out of her findings.  My mom also makes beautiful garland decorations.  Her Christmas decor is fabulous, her stairways are always holiday appropriate, the mantel is loving-leaves during the fall, and her front porch is a festive fete all-year round!  In an attempt to find a house project for myself, I thought of making a garland of leaves like THE MOM.  I found white paper leaves, burlap leaf garlands, copper leaves, newspaper leaves, the list goes on.  Needless to say, I'm inspired.  Are you?!

 Hop on over to Freckles Chick for a sweet giveaway including leaves!

P.S.  The roast I made last Friday that cooked for 8 hours in the crock pot was delicious!  I mean falling apart it was so tender!

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.

My husband's family is coming over tomorrow night for dinner.  In a hasty and frazzled attempt to run to the grocery store in between gym time and visits to my mother's house, I got a great deal on a pot roast!  Walking to my car, I quickly thought about spitting my dissolving gum out on the road, but quickly thought, "Wow that's rude of me," and "I wouldn't want someone to step in it."  After gathering my children and stepping into my car I noticed the gum (not mine).  It was stuck to the carpet of my car.  Yep, my good deed was punished by an inconsiderate idiot!  Sigh. Lucky me, I found this great recipe for Barbeque Beef Sandwiches from My Recipes.  I'm hoping this will be a no-fail recipe.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Ingredients

• 1  (3 1/2-pound) eye-of-round roast, cut in half vertically
• 2  teaspoons  salt, divided
• 2  garlic cloves, pressed
• 1  (10-ounce) can condensed beef broth
• 1  cup  ketchup
• 1/2  cup  firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2  cup  lemon juice
• 3  tablespoons  steak sauce
• 1  teaspoon  coarse ground pepper
• 1  teaspoon  Worcestershire sauce
• 12  Kaiser rolls or sandwich buns
• Dill pickle slices

Preparation

Sprinkle beef evenly with 1 teaspoon salt.
Stir together remaining 1 teaspoon salt, garlic, and next 7 ingredients. Pour half of mixture into a 5 1/2-quart slow cooker. Place beef in slow cooker, and pour remaining mixture over beef.
Cover and cook on HIGH 7 hours.
Shred beef in slow cooker with two forks. Serve in rolls or buns with dill pickle slices.

My son's room

I painted my son's room a beautiful  bluish gray color.  Oyster Bay is actually the official name but, the image doesn't do it justice at all!  

 I have a darling white dresser that looks almost identical to this one:

 But, I'm thinking of painting it a fire engine red or even deep ruby red.  I also want to stencil some navy and white sailboat patterns on the doors.

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Some family members are telling me to leave the dresser white saying the red will conflict with the Oyster Bay.  I put it together against the paint chip and I think it would look kind of like this:

Personally, I love it! Any ideas?!  Help is always needed!  Stop me if I'm going to make a big mistake!!!!