Trick or Treat Sunday!

Myspace Graphics, Halloween Graphics at WishAFriend.com Happy Sunday! Its Trick or Treating here today. I bought tons of candy so hopefully lots of ghosts and goblins will be stopping by, if not--baldyman and i are gonna have a problem with all the leftover candy. I hope everyone is having a relaxing weekend doing something that you love!

Goodies!

Here are some of the goodies I bought from our little shopping trip 2 weekends ago! This is a little dove dish that i love! I bought these cute little soaps to put in it that smell awesome and a rock that says Inspire. I cant get enough of those rocks that have words on them. I dont see them very often.


This pillow I actually bought at Target, so that dosnt count as being from a little cutsey shop does it? Its in their Shabby Chic area...I love that collection.
This light hangs in my living room above a chair. We got this from Ikea. That store rocks. Very affordable and lots of things for the home that are different. I like different things--things you wont see in everyone's home.
This little tea-light lamp gives off the prettiest glow at night. I bought this from a little store that specialized in dishes. Everything in that store was a "dont touch" price. I actually was afraid to look at this price expecting it to be in the hundreds like everything else. Surprisingly, this was only 25.00. Its going to be one of my favorite pieces this winter---a soft glowing light in the dining room. I picked up a small glass pitcher for cream or milk--and it was well over 200.00. So, not sure why this wasnt high priced--but thats ok--at least I could afford it and IF it were to ever break, I wont sob over the fact that it cost hundreds of dollars!

I've been Tagged!

Here is the link of the person that tagged me...http://home-is-where-the-heart-is-2.blogspot.com/!

Now, I normally stink at doing this but since I know why we do this--to learn more about each other PLUS hopefully in the process meet new freinds so we can support each others blogs!!! (HINT---please come back and support mine!)

Ok rules--link to the person that tagged you.

List 7 random/wierd facts about yourself

Tag 7 folks and leave their links on your page--and let them know they been tagged!

Okkkk about me!

I remarried my husband twice!

I am addicted (seriously to M'M's) I started eating them when i was pregnant with my 2nd child who is now 29!

I'm a loner.

I'm shy-not many know that, they assume I'm not friendly!

I love MEAT!!! cant get enough of it!

I love the Chiller Channel--cant get enough of that either!

I LOVE Las Vegas! cant get enough of that either!

Ok--here's who I"m tagging!

http://blog-diggidy.blogspot.com/

http://lifeatcedarhill.blogspot.com/

http://savvysinglechristian.blogspot.com/

http://carolbsdesignstudio.blogspot.com/

http://thesilentpodium.blogspot.com/

http://travelwithronda.blogspot.com/

http://adventureswithtassie.blogspot.com/

Now i hope I did this all right and everyone joins in! Lets support each other's blog and have fun learning alittle bit about each other!

Thinking Girl Tuesday!

She's back! She's just so darn cute, I'm thinking of using her every Tuesday and do a What ya thinking, tuesday?????

What I'm thinking:

I'm thinking I wish I didnt have to go work, I like being at home.....

I'm also thinking, but if i didnt work, I wouldnt have the choices I have which enable me to help my family and also do some of what I like to do!

I'm thinking, I wish i were driving to Las Vegas, I absolutely LOVE that drive!

I'm thinking, I want to make a new cookie recipe tonight and I hope I have the energy to actually do it--AND if i do, I will post another recipe and a picture.

I'm also thinking, I hope my haircut turned out alright--I get scared trying new hairdressers.

I'm thinking,, I want to see the Bee Movie--but when???????

I'm thinking.....I wish Genie would get off the bed so I could finish making it AND why dosnt she have to work????? remind me again why SHE gets to lay around all day?????

Pumpkin Bars!

While I realize this picture isnt the greatest,,,I should have added a nice cold glass of milk, and a nice napkin and maybe even a bigger piece! BUT...it tasted real good! In fact, it was quite addictive. This makes alot of bars so either plan on having company or loading up a bunch and delivering some to those you care about!

4 eggs
2 Cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 can pumpkin
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves----Add raisins if desired, which I desired ALOT OF!

Heat oven to 350. Lightly grease bottom and sides of 15x10x1 pan with shortning. In large bowl beat eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin. Stir in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, ginger and cloves. Stir in Raisins, spread in pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until light brown. Cool

Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting which is the bomb!

1 pkg 3 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth, gradually beat in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. spread over bars!

Store in refridgerator! I'm going to be honest here, for some odd reason, I didnt store these in the fridge....so i ended up having to toss half the pan. Thank God i got to eat half of them! These were very moist, very good, the frosting was great. Baldyman and I enjoyed these with cold glasses of milk.

Rainy Day Monday

Its not good to start off the work week like this,,,,raining. It seems to me lately most Mondays are raining...I'm now carrying my umbrella open and ready to go in my car. This picture is deceiving,,,it almost looks like the sun is breaking thru on the deck, well folks ITS NOT. Somehow that shadow of light found its way thru but believe me its dark and dreary here.
I begin my work week, working outside of the home. I would like to be here, but like alot of you, we need the income AND insurance. I was telling baldyman this morning I want to be like our dog genie and spend the day roaming from bed to bed. She starts off in our bed, when she tires of that--she heads to the guest room. When she's tired of that, she heads to the sofa where I have jazz music playing all day for her to. When she's tired of that--there is a chaise lounge in the office that is soft fleece and lord knows if she makes it that far--we dont see her for awhile because once you curl up in that chair--you do not want to get up. Theres something very wrong about us out there working all day long while our Dogs enjoy the house. Wouldnt it be nice to switch????? Maybe thats a movie idea!

I hope for the rest of you your day isnt beginning like this--I hope you have sunshine. I'll be posting my pumpkin bar recipe later today hopefully. I also will soon take some picture of my home..not that its anything most would want to see. I surely wont win any awards, but hey its my castle! Maybe some of you once you see it--can throw me some decorating ideas!

Fall Walk

These are my finds from this mornings Fall Walk. We walked thru our cemetary called Oak Hill Cemetary. Its a beautiful peaceful place, small, full of squirrels passing thru gathering up these nuts to hide for the winter. I couldnt find to many, most of them have been eaten, or the tops removed, some you can tell have already been partially buried. They are to tiny to do much with, I guess you could paint them as I've seen in another blog. I'm thinking I'm going to just place them with my fall candle for awhile and then toss them in the yard so the squirrels can eat them. I'm such an animal lover I cant take this away from them! Its near 60 today here in Wisconsin and sunny, the perfect day to get outside and enjoy the last of the colors and the warm breezes. I hope wherever you are, your able to get outside and enjoy lifes natures.

Sugar Cookies-Halloween

I have been in the mood for sugar cookies decorated for Fall. I had a vision of Pumpkin, Ghosts,ummmmmm!!!! I pictured myself sitting down with either a cold glass of milk or a cup of Flavored Tea. So far, all I've done is snitch one here and there, you know all us cooks have to test our recipes! These turned out pretty well, I normally have used a sugar cookie recipe that I've had for nearly 30 years, I decided to try out something different. I'm pretty happy with these--very easy to roll out and work with. I"m not sure yet about the frosting, depends if it hardens up or not. It tastes fine, but it hasnt hardened yet. Perhaps I will eat them all before it does! Here's the recipe, Enjoy! Oh and please come back--I'm redoing my blog and hopefully soon it will be up.

Sugar Cookies:
1-1/2 cups butter-make sure its soft and I used unsalted--(always) 5 cups flour
3 Cups white sugar 2 Tsp baking powder
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Cream together butter and sugar until smooth. I'll be honest here, it didnt get that smooth for me! So I went right to the eggs and vanilla. After that is smooth, stir in flour, baking powder.

Cover and chill for at least 2 hours. Pre-heat oven to 400. Roll dough out onto floured surface and use shapes for cut outs that you want to use! Place on ungreased sheets. Once the cookies show signs of browning I removed them. Its only about 5 minutes or so.

Here is the icing recipe i used this time:

4 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup shortening
5 TB milk
1 Tsp vanilla

I cut this in half and I had plenty left over. I also played with the milk and vanilla until it had the consistency and taste I liked!

General thoughts

No picture today, I need to take a few more because I have some things to share, just havent had the time to do it! I'm in the process of doing a makeover, I have learned alittle more about what I want and dont want and so hopefully the change will be exactly what I need. I think it takes awhile to learn how to make your blog more "you".

I"m wondering as many other bloggers do, why so many pass thru, but leave no comments...please if you pass on thru--leave a thought....I will do the same. Its important to me to not just have my blog grow and be interesting but also to support others who want their blog to do the same. Many of us newer bloggers dont have alot of support yet,,,so lets get each other going!

I'm excited for the weekend, I get to stay home, cook, clean, decorate,,,all the homey stuff I like to do! I bought some lavendar sheet wash last weekend and last night for the first time I washed my sheets only in it. I'm putting them on this morning and I fully expect to crawl into heaven tonight!

I also made pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting that ROCK! I will be posting that recipe and a picture later. I'm tellin ya--they are GOOD! I'm in the mood for a baked chicken and vegetable recipe which I hope to find and try this weekend. I also plan on seeing that doggy movie!

Fall Waterfall

Baldyman took this picture of me this weekend in St. Charles, Illinois. The waterfall and Fox River were beautiful. There is a boardwalk where we were walking and all along they had craft vendors. Of course, I didnt take many pictures. I still have a few to post. I want to take some pictures of the goodies I found which I will do sometime this week or weekend. I loved that part of Illinois,,very scenic, hilly, colorful. Normally whenever I"ve travelled thru Illinois all I see is the flat dryer part of it. We are at our Peak color for Fall right now and many trees are already bare. The maples are so beautiful, I want to go collect a basket full and dry them. You've made it to Wednesday fellow bloggers,,,2 more days until the weekend! I have plans to hit an estate sale, do some cooking and baking. Tonight its going to be Cream Cheese Frosted Pumpkin Bars! Make sure you come back for the recipe!

Fall is really here

I got up this morning, opened the curtains on the patio door and this is what I saw. Last night when we went to bed, there werent many leaves at all on the deck. It was windy last night and very warm. Thruout the night the temps dropped and the winds were howling. I saw this and to me its now official--Fall has made her entrance. Tonight we put away most of this on the deck,,,and let the colder seasons take over.
YOu can see there are hardly any leaves left on these trees. I didnt realize how bare it got outside. It still seemed summery to me until this morning. We may see temps close to 30 this week....brrrrrr. I am kinda looking forward to the first snowfall..because its really beautiful. Either way, tonight--I'm going to have a nice fire going in the fireplace after work!

Baby Come Back!

I'm sure you've seen this commercial, well here's Dawnies version. I wish I could play the music to enhance the picture. We had a great weekend,, something I needed for a long time! No schedules, no phone, no kids, no work,,,we just did whatever we wanted to do. Alot of shopping, checking out little shops. Didnt really find a whole ton of stuff, but lots of little goodies. I'll get some pictures this week and post em. I hope everyone had a great weekend. The weather here in Wisconsin and Illinois was awesome. Temps near 80, not a cloud in the sky and for sleeping it was in the 50-60's which is perfect for sleeping with the windows open. I wish our winters could be exactly like this!

Lets Go Shopping!

I'm outta here in the morning folks! I'm going to visit here and I'm hoping to find all kinds of goodies this weekend. I want to visit new shops, new restaurants, do alot of walking and sightseeing! The weather promises to be great...70's and sunny. You just cant get any better than that can ya? I will remember to take along the camera for pictures of our visit and whatever goodies we find. Have a great weekend!

Another Last Blast of Colors!

These are so beautiful now. I planted this by seed in May and it took forever to grow. Finally in late September and now--I have these gorgeous flowers.
I didnt realize it would take all this time to grow or I probably wouldnt have planted it. I would have liked this radiant showing all summer long. Still, you can't ignore the beauty of it, some mornings its showstopping. I played with the upper picture alittle bit and put my blog title on it--thinking I may use it at some point for a banner.

Ahhh, Cake!

The ultimate comfort food in my book! I ADORE cake, love it, cant get enough of it....did I say I like cake???? This is my sons wedding cake and we have been lucky to get some leftovers.
Its been a long dreary rainy day here in Wisconsin. Hubby didnt cook dinner and it was his turn. So we went out to eat...came back home and now I'm eating some of this delicious cake.

Gonna head to the hot tub soon, and then relax and see whatever might be worth watching on the TV. These are I"m afraid true signs winter is coming.

Our Sons Wedding

Here are a few photos from our sons wedding this weekend. I'm not that pleased with my knowledge of the camera yet and I really havent taken much time to learn how to best use it. She was a beautiful bride and it was a beautiful day. They are very happy with how it all went. The ceremony was very touching to me, makes you go back to your wedding day and rethink how your marriage is now. Enjoy!

The Big "30"

Happy Birthday! My firstborn child and oldest son turns 30 today!!!!! A milestone birthday. Tomorrow he gets married....Happy Birthday Jason.

Giveaway!

If you like giveaways heres one for ya! Head over to Scary Mommy and check out her giveaway!

Pumpkin Bread

Ok here's another keeper for ya! Now I have a cousin and I wont name names cause her Mama comes here....she knows who she is....she told me last week she dosnt know how to make pumpkin bread....COME ON!!!! who dosnt know how to make pumpkin bread?????? No more excuses Beachy--heres the recipe AND a picture of a slice after I pulled it out of the oven and put it on a Halloween plate with a Halloween cup! Now tell me--dosnt this make you want to go bake a couple loaves????

Ingrediants:
3-1/4 cup flour 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg 3 cups white sugar
2 cups pumpkin 2/3 cup water
1 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs

Grease and flour 2 bread pans. Preheat to 350
Put flour, sugar, baking soda, and spices into large bowl. Mix this. Add pumpkin, water, oil, eggs and nuts. Beat until well mixed. Pour into prepared pans. Bake about an hour.

Now this recipe called for 3 bread pans but I used 2. If you do have some mixture left over--use a mini bread pan. I made sure the batter was about half way up in the pan. This was the best pumpkin bread I've made so far. Make sure you have pretty fall or halloween plates and cups to serve it with! Enjoy!!!! Ohh Poopy, I added Raisins! I gots to have Raisins!

Stuffed Shells

Ok here ya go, another of my favorite recipes!

This is my own put together recipe but I always get compliments so why change a good thing?

Fry up 1lb of ground beef-add some pork if you like, add onion, minced garlic. I fry mine up in Olive Oil.

Boil a 1Lb box of Shells until almost done, NOT soft., there should be a slight firmness to them

Mix up a small cottage cheese, (16 0zs) with a small Ricotta Cheese, 1 egg and some fresh parsley.

Spray the bottom of a 9x13 pan with Pam w/olive oil or pour a thin coating of Ragu Spaghetti Sauce. Stuff your shells with the cheese mixture., you can add some meat to a few if you would like. Once your done stuffing them, I pour the meat mixture over the shells. Pour a jar of Ragu Sauce over this. Add a package of Mozzerela Cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake at 350 until the shells are bubbling... approx 45 minutes. You can also add seasonings that you like to the meat mixture. Feel free to make your own sauce or use another that you like. This is always a great recipe for company and easy to make. Enjoy!