Happy Halloween!!

I'm happy and sad that today is Halloween. Sad because it flew by so quick and I had so many things I wanted to do and just didn't have time to do. Haunted houses, baking, carving pumpkins, trunk or treat, crafts and the list goes on. Everything about Halloween makes me smile. Adults have fun, kids have fun and kids who think they are to old to have fun...let that teen stubbornness go and still have fun! Do I care that a few 16 year old kids showed up at my door...absolutely not. I'd rather them be begging for candy then be out doing BAD things.

I did manage to put this hat together one night. I borrowed an old hat from my friend who was a witch a couple years ago. I tore off the purple lace that came with it, added some of orange tulle, made a bow from my dollar store ribbon and last, but not least I added a bird from the dollar store. Needless to say, this piece was pretty inexpensive and turned out rather Spooktacular I thought. Maybe next year, I'll make a full costume to go with it. 

Halloween will soon be behind us and my favorite part of the year begins... Stay tuned!

Halloween...OLD SCHOOL!

These videos all bring back a lot of memories. 

Love me some Mc Hammer and Fresh Prince!

I also loved the Munster  and Addams Family growing up as a kid. I remember having lunch at my grandmas and making sure I was on that couch at the same time every day. I couldn't forget them.

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

I went online to see what Sears had for Christmas blow ups, I immediately fell in love with this Hippo. Who doesn't love the song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". I love blow ups for Halloween, but they can be a pain at Christmas because you never know when they are going to be snowed in and unusable. But this one is a must have!

Here are some fun "Hippo" Christmas videos for those of you that love the song as much as my daughter and I do. 

If you want to sing along, here's a video for you too!

Walking In A Winter Wonderland...

Today is a perfect day to share this beautiful new "Snowfall" paper line by Bo Bunny. It's absolutely beautiful and I'm sure seeing it in person will be even better with the glitter accents. 

Do you have your Candy?

In Honor of our 1st Snow This Year....

I thought I'd share some new Christmas music that will be sure to please two of my favorite girls. Do you know who you are???

Some Halloween Videos to Make you Smile!!

1st I have to start with this Ellen video. When she posted it last week, I was laughing hysterically. Can you imagine how you would handle having a "crazy" teacher like this? 




This light show video is making the rounds today, but if you've not seen it yet, take the time to check it out. It's a Christmas light show, gone Halloween.



Here's some scary Halloween music...RUNNNN!!!



I don't know how they do this, but this is my favorite. Very cool.

13 Nights of Halloween

Do you feel the chill running down your spine? That can only mean one thing, it is time to grab your broom stick and caldron because Halloween is right around the corner. There is nothing like making your T.V. watching festive, and a fun activity for this special time of year. ABC Family returned last night with its 13 Nights of Halloween . Here is the complete line up of movies so you are sure to not miss your favorites!

Wednesday, October 19

Pretty Little Liars Marathon at 11a/10c - 8/7c

Pretty Little Liars Halloween Special at 8/7c

  

Thursday, October 20

The Goonies 630/530c

Hocus Pocus at 9/8c

Friday, October 21

Beetlejuice at 9/8c

  

Saturday, October 22

The Addams Family at 8/7c

 Sunday, October 23

Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride 6/7c

Coraline Network Television Premiere at 8/7c

Monday, October 24

Melissa & Joey Halloween episode at 6/5c

Bewitched ABC Family Premiere at 6:30/5:30c

Tuesday, October 25

The Haunted Mansion at 7/6c

  

Wednesday, October 26

Disney/Pixar's Monsters Inc at 7/6c

Thursday, October 27

Scooby-Doo at 9/8c

  

Friday, October 28

The Addams Family at 7/6c

  

Saturday, October 29

Matilda 6/5c

Sunday, October 30

Van Helsing at 8/7c

  

Monday, October 31

Casper at 7/6c

Pumpkin Marshmallow Pops

I have to admit, I'm a sucker for Marshmallows. My favorite's are Russel Stovers chocolate covered Easter Eggs. Now I've explained this before, but let me tell you about the science of these fine candies. During the year they have chocolate covered Santas...those are to thin and break apart easily. During Halloween they have chocolate covered pumpkins. These are definitely better then the Santas, because they have some thinkness to them, but still I dream of that perfect bite! Now when Easter comes, I can't wait to run to the store to find those perfectly shaped chocolate covered Easter Egg Marshmallows. The marshmallows are thick and the chocolate is thin. It's like a bite of heaven. I'm so vocal about this, my husband and my friends are known to deliver Russel Stovers to me on a regular basis. Tammy's been known to hunt down a dozen eggs for me and deliver them to my office and my husband knows to fill my stocking accordingly. 

BEWARE: Those eggs go quickly, so be sure to shop early.

In between Easter and Halloween I usually take care of my fix in the summer with Smores or an occasional chocolate covered marshmallow from Rocky Mnt Candy. Last year I was shocked to see GIANT marshmallows at the grocery store. I immediately thought about the smores possibilities with these. And now, they have made these GIANT marshmallows into pumpkins. Yes PUMPKINS! I immediately bought the bag, not knowing exactly what I was going to do with them. After some pondering, I came up with these Pumpkin Pops.

I think they are pretty full proof, if you follow the instructions for melting your chocolate, have all your supplies in order and have a little patience.


I started with my Marshmallows, Dark Chocolate Chips from the candy section and Popsicle Sticks. One bag of candy chips, will cover approximately 12-14 marshmallows.

 When inserting the sticks, make sure to put them in the middle the best you can and push them up as far as possible without puncturing the top of the pumpkin.

Melt chocolate according to directions and then use a large spoon to cover the pumpkins with chocolate. Don't forget to check out the sides and bottom. After covering the entire pumpkin I went back and tried to smooth it out on top and thin it down a bit if needed. You don't want to be to aggressive, but just enough to not make them so chunky. When done, lay them flat on parchment paper.

While my chocolate was cooling, I spooned some premade, orange frosting in my piping bag. (Here's a side tip: When filling a pastry or frosting bag, use a cup to hold the bag open..I do it all the time!)

Once the Pumpkins were cooled, I used the piping tip to draw silly faces. I started with the smallest tip, but had to move up to a larger size. No much larger, but the first size was just to small for filling in the open areas and was killing my hand. Play around. Some will turn out better then others and that's okay.

I then uses a small portion of Green candy chips, melted them down, placed them in a second past pastry bag and used the smallest tip to place a small area of green on the stem of the pumpkin. It's a little extra work, but makes them a bit more defined.

Here are three of my final pumpkins. When I started I wasn't sure how they marshmallows would hold up on the stick, but they seem to be fine. I guess the girls taste testing them at Mutual tonight will tell me how well they stay on the stick!

There is a Dark Side to Disney Princess's.... Who Knew??

It's not that I like these Evil Disney Princess, but I have to admit I definitely took a few minutes to look at them. They are very creative in a scary, morbid kind of way. Who knew someone could take such an "innocent" thing and create this. But that's exactly what Jeffrey Thompson has done. Here are a some of his pieces, but for the entire collection you can find them on his website. Considering Halloween is upon us, I couldn't resist.

 

 

A Little Halloween Spirit...The Hallmark Channel Way!

In the spirit of Halloween, the Hallmark Channel is releasing two "Spirited" movies in October. The first one is The Good Witch's Family. This is the 4th movie in the Good Witch series. I really enjoy Cassie Nightingale in this series. They are going to show all 4 movies in order, so don't forget to set your DVR.

The second movie is called Oliver's Ghost and is about an eleven-year-old boy, Oliver (Nicholas Stargel), who has a unique ability to see "full-bodied apparitions," otherwise known as ghosts. When his family moves from the bustling city to an older home in the suburbs, only Oliver is able to see the spirit of Clive Rutledge (Martin Mull), the previous owner.  Clive causes every manner of destruction to force Oliver and his family to leave.  But perhaps Oliver's special talent, along with the help of a kind neighbor (Rhea Perlman), will show Clive how to release his earthly regrets so he can leave the house and the family in peace. 

  

If you missed Growing the Big One last year, with Shannon Dougherty, it will be replaying on the morning of October 29th. 

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats

I've been working on a few things and have several things to share, I just happen to be running behind on actually posting them. For today, I'm going to share my Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats. When I came across these...

I knew I had to try the recipe on the back for a tastier and seasonal Rice Krispie Treat. In case you are like me and have no idea what the actual recipe is for the "Original Treat", here is the recipe as it reads on the package. I simply substituted 1 bag or regular marshmallows for one bag of Pumpkin SpiceMallows. So far, I 've only been able to find the marshmallows at Wal-Mart.  That doesn't mean they won't show up still, but so I haven't had much luck.

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• 3 tablespoons   butter or margarine
• 1 package (10 oz., about 40)   regular marshmallows
• - OR -
• 4 cups   miniature marshmallows
• 6 cups   Rice Krispies®
• Why use Kellogg's® Rice Krispies®?

1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Add KELLOGG'S RICE KRISPIES cereal. Stir until well coated.

3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.

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Once I spread the mixture, I quickly added some Indian Corn to the top. Be sure to press them firmly into the mixture before the entire pan sets. The package suggested 1/2 cup of candy corn, but I would put them on according to taste. Half of my taste testers liked them and the other half preferred them without. I just happened to think "LESS IS MORE". My final batch looked like this......

I took them to my Youth Group meeting and came back with NOTHING left in the pan. The girls all came back for seconds and thirds!  They were definitely a hit with the girls. 

Where's Waldo???

It's homecoming week in my daughters school and that means she gets to play dress up. Monday was twin day and today was Where's Waldo day. Her first suggestion was to buy a shirt, but mom tossed that out the window. Then she wanted pink and white stripes...that didn't happen. Then we searched for a long sleep red shirt and couldn't and remembered we donated it recently to the goodwill. At that point, she gave up and decided she'd not dress up.  Well this mom's brain never shuts off, so as I was hanging up the last load of clothes for the night, a light bulb when off when I got to her red dress.  With a red dress, a white shirt and some white duct tape...I might be able to make this work. Sure enough, the outfit turned out great. Not your typical Waldo, but what I called at "Ciarafied Waldo". I even pulled out some white pom poms and red felt to make her a matching hair clip. Funny thing is, they picked out Where's Waldo day, but they still couldn't wear hats. Hmmm?????  It was a very "ABSTRACT" hat, that many thought looked like sushi, but she thought it was fun. I love it when those last minute ideas just work.  Tomorrow is mustache day, so I'm off to find the sticky stuff to keep that little culprit on.