Thought of the Day #277 - Halloween

Getting ready for our annual Halloween party today. Initially, I was
going to host a baby shower in the afternoon, and the Halloween fiesta
in the evening. With my step-daughter's pregnancy moving along quickly,
her doctor asked that she not travel more than an hour outside of her
city. Sooo... party has been postponed until after the baby is born.
I'm trying not to go too crazy with the party preps. Typically, I expend
too much energy up front, that by the time the guests arrive, I want to
just run and hide. This year, guests are encouraged to bring something
to gnosh, and I've bought several things from etsy for sweet treats.
(Unfortunately, one of the cookie selections smell and taste a bit like
dish detergent. Disappointed in that, but the others are fabulous!)

Off I go. Gotta get some zzzzzz before tomorrow gets crazy. Happy
Halloween!!

A Halloween Want

I've been surfing and bidding on eBay tonight, specifically hunting down some vintage Halloween decorations from my youth. While looking around for detailed information about Beistle decorations, I found something on the 'net that I can't find anywhere on ebay or off...and I WANT! It's a skeletal Beistle cat. Too fun! I like the good old days of genuinely creepy die cuts.

A Halloween Treat - Oreo Truffle Eyeballs.

I don't have any pictures of these goodies from last year's Halloween party, but trust me they were a hit. Tasty, creepy and sooo NOT good for you! The basic recipe is here. Take a peek and then come back...ok... That's right...a package of Oreos and cream cheese. Not really a health food.

To accomplish the eyeballs, make the truffles as directed, up to the point where you dip them in semi-sweet chocolate. Instead, dip them in white chocolate. Let them cool in the fridge. Then, apply the iris of the eye using colored white chocolate. In addition, apply a pupil to the center of the iris with dark chocolate. Oh, you're not done there...no sirreeee, you need to apply some blood-shot eye veins using red colored white chocolate. When it sufficiently looks creepy and somewhat like eyeballs, chill in the fridge again. Then, enjoy!

Crippy Crafts and Holiday Greetings

Sorry for the extended holiday silence. I've been working on Crippy Craft gifties, with which I'm a good two weeks behind. I'll show more of these when they're all done:

 

and just enjoying the views of the holidays.:

 

I love the warm glow of the tree. It's so blasted hard to get a good photo of it, though.

I hope you're all having a lovely holiday season!

A Homemade Gift Idea

A co-worker of mine came up with a brilliant, thoughtful gift idea for a friend and also a relative -- home cooked meals. She's going to make a selection of frozen family size meals with little cards that have super simple accompaniment recipes. What a great gift idea for someone who doesn't know how to cook or just never has time. Save them from yet another boring fast food meal! Or several! It's an awesome way to buck the corporate machine yet again.

I Hab a Code

 

The purely sucky part of the holidays -- getting together with sickly relatives and friends, and taking a bit of phlegm/goo/bug/spit home with you. Yeah, no bueno. I started the cold on Saturday and it's just progressed ever so nicely to today where now I'm just a jiggling pile of goo. I know that it will be over soon, and I really was due. Ivan had two colds this year that I was able to avoid, so yeah, it was time.

The Crippy Craft item shown above was done by my step-daughter. I thought it was clever and cute, and oh so fall-ish! Here's what you'll need -- 1 fake leaf, a wooden heart, an orange pipecleaner, a walnut (unshelled), a filbert (I think that's what it is), a triangle of orange felt, a throat wattle made of red felt and two beady eyes, hot glue. Assemble these to look like a turkey. Voila! Crippy Crafts at their best!

Thanksgiving Recipe Round Up

I hosted Thanksgiving this year and, for the most part, everything turned out great! I borrowed the oven next door to get it all cooked, but aside from a few over cooked bottoms the dual oven trick worked out pretty well.
To recap the full menu:

• 17 lb Turkey (I made an additional breast, too, 'cuz most everyone enjoys white meat 'round here.) Simple seasonings like onion and sage.
• Stuffing -- made from dried out bread, onions, celery, broth and a boatload of poultry seasoning.
• Mashed potatoes
• Gravy -- Ivan made this -- he's a whiz at gravy!
• Carrots
• Spinach and Cheese Puff -- recipe here at Martha Stewart. The Gruyere cheese was a bit tricky to find and quite expensive. I think that substituting Swiss would work out quite well.
• Corn Casserole -- Recipe Here at Foodnetwork.com. My first introduction to this was with my boss's creation at a work potluck several years ago. Soooo easy and sooo good!
• Sweet Potatoes (someone brought these, so I didn't haffta cook 'em!
• Cranberry Apple Jell-o Salad. Recipe here. at KraftFoods.com. I added about a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, too.
• Pumpkin Pie -- followed the recipe on the Libby's can, but as my mum always did -- double all of the spices to get a better flavor. Yum!
• French Silk Pie -- Never made this before, but it turned out to be a hit. I used this recipe, also from Martha Stewart. Very similar to the French Silk pie I loved as a kid. Now that I know what's actually in the pie, I passed on seconds!
• Cranberries with Ginger -- I can't find the recipe I used. Basically, one bag of cranberries, a cup of sugar, a teaspoon of water, one tablespoon of grated fresh ginger.-- Very good. The fresh ginger is strong, but it's a good match for the cranberries.
• Fresh Cranberry Sauce -- easy and it doesn't have the can-rings on it. Just follow the recipe on the back of the cranberries.
• Candied Almonds - Can't find this recipe either. Basically -- egg whites, cinnamon, sugar, almonds, salt. Bake until crispy.
• We also had a banana cream pie, and a pecan pie that were brought to the table by family and friends.
• Finally, a selection of pickles and olives at each table. I didn't make those, either. :-)

Even after having 13 people over, we have LOTS of leftovers. If you're looking for a good meal, c'mon over!

Old Halloween Decos

My sister found these online after I asked her a question about the Halloween decorations we used to have up as a kid.
The first...a true testament to how decorations today pale in the scary factor. You can't find evil like this anymore unless you make it yourself.

This is the face that only a mother could love.

I don't think this was ever my favorite, but the image is burned in my brain. When my sister sent me the link to it, it was unmistakably THE scary witch I remembered.  It's a fun combination of a classic devil face with a crazy, hell raised witch.
According to the site (click here for more), it originates in the 40s. Well, in the 70s she was still lookin' good and still freakishly scary.

The next two I remember distinctly, too. They were funny, hipster, 70's jointed beings. A little bit scary (well, in the case of the witch), but by and large just goofy.

We often hung them on the front of our garage with the arms pointing the way to the front of the house. There was always a giant skeleton out there to help guide the trick-or-treaters.

 

     

Invites of Halloween Past

As mentioned in the post below, here are invites from the past few years. I'm especially fond of the 2003 pop-up invite. It's still, by far, my favorite. I always browse online for Halloween inspiration, so I'm hoping maybe, just maybe, this may inspire someone else. Gotta give back, ya know!

2003	2004
2005	2006

I don't have a "final" copy of last year's invite, so I recreated it with the beta copy in addition, I pasted in a graphic that initially was placed on the inside door. Pretty close to how it actually looked, methinks.

Feelin' Spooky

Here's the cover to my annual Halloween Party invite. I tried to go with a creepier, spoookier feel than previous years. For instance, last year's was constructed of construction paper, velum and a sweet lookin' Frankenstein holding a bowl of candy. Dang...I should show some previous year's invites on here. Sometimes they turn out pretty cool...sometimes lame. Each year it's a little bit different depending upon my mood and the amount of time I have available. This year, not so much time, but plenty of creep running through my veins.

The photos used to make this composite include a VERY spooky abandoned house from central Minnesota. The others were from istockphoto.com (click here to see my stock portfolio there, and to sign up!) The majority of the layered photos were the freebie photos that they give away each week to members...if you were a member, you could get freebies too! Don't ya love the sweet peer-pressure soft-sell?? I use istock for work all the time. Cheap prices and a usually a myriad of choices for each project. They aren't very profitable for people who sell photos on there -- typically you get only 20 cents for each 640x280 size photo you sell, but it does add up. I've made 220 bucks over the last two years and really haven't uploaded anything new in a year or so...so yeah, definitely meager passive income. But, ehy, the majority of our pix are just from traveling around taking snapshots... I'm sure those who use models, studio space, and whatnot are earning quite a bit more.

Creepy yet Fun...perfect for Halloween

  I found this article browsing around online today. The look on the pumpkin is especially creepy, but hey, so is the chick's painted on eyebrows. It's a cool idea, too. I remember having molds for cucumbers years ago, but never had one big enough to mold a pumpkin. How festive!

Mom's Day

I've gotten off pretty easy these last 18 or so Mother's Days. I haven't had to hunt down flowers on a Sunday afternoon, fight off the crowds at the restaurants, or find some kitschy little diddledoo to give her as a token of my appreciation. Pretty dang easy! I thought, however, that I'd give a little list of credits for my mum this year.

In no particular order:

• She taught me to be level-headed yet fiesty when I need to be.
• She taught me that anything is possible with a sewing machine.
• She taught me to burn the midnight oil to meet deadlines. A certain "I can do it" attitude that shows at the very last minute before a deadline. Oh, and procrastination was a good thing.
• Mom taught me to rely upon her for validation of my creative endeavors. No, not a good thing really, especially since she's been gone for 18 years, but I rely upon friends/family and especially the internet community to do that now. See, this whole website? Yeah, it's all about validation. Well, not *all* about it, but I think deep down it really is part of it. :-)
• She taught me that being honest was essential.
• Mom loved reading and it took away attention from me. Consequently, I'm not really fond of reading fiction. Yeah, another bad thing, but it makes me part of who I am.
• Mom showed me how to be creative.
• While she wasn't much of an adventurous cook (just how many things can one make with hamburger?), she did teach me quite a few things that has helped me out through the years.
• She told me that the kids who made fun of me were the ones with the problem. That they were trying to drag me down to their level. This is KEY. A key *a-ha* type thing. This is probably THE thing that has helped me maintain my sanity and level-headedness over the years.

So, on that note, Thanks mom!

Celebrate Easter with Hannibunny

Do your Easter lack that classic Silence of the Lambs feel? If so, then get yourself a Hannibal Bunny! Perfect for scaring the kids and making chocolates!

007 - A James Bond Kind of Year

Will it be full of hot babes and fancy cars? Or car/boat crashes and close calls? Whatever it ends up being, make the most of it! Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

I hope you each have had a good start to the holiday season.

I believe all of my crippy craft, hand-made, super-secret-surprise gifties have been delivered, so it's time for the reveal!

As you can see at the left, my super-secret-surprise gift was the oven mitt. Hopefully, the fact that they don't match the decor is a good thing! I believe it to be that way. Who needs matching crap anyway? Do you remember the cornflower blue goose/duck phase from the 80s? Where seemingly everyone had matching towels, wallpaper, kitschy salt and pepper shakers, etc all with blue geese or ducks with yellow neck bandanas?? If you do, you know we need to break free and celebrate diversity in the kitchen. Or something like that.

The best part about oven mitts is that they're often stored out of sight, so even if you do believe in matchy-matchy, you can make an insanely bright mitt and have it BAM come out BAM once in a while BAM for a shot of BAM color.

I've set up a page with instructions on how to make these (CLICK HERE), if you're so inclined. It really doesn't take long to make and it actually became a bit fun coming up with the prints and colors. You may find it that way...or you may just hate me for getting you involved in such an inane project. In any event, Happy Holidays!

Been Crafty

I worked on my super secret holiday giftie sewing blitz this past weekend. I'm planning on doing a full documentation of the project to make a full "how to" page. I always appreciate the craft bloggers who show, step-by-step, details how to make a particular item. Aside from beating your head against a wall, having particularly gifted crafty friends/family, or reading overpriced crafty books are you supposed to know? Stay tuned!

By the way...

I went shopping today just to one store which I thought would be pretty quiet as typically it's a veritable ghost town. Not so much today. I drove around and around the parking lot looking for a space...completely full! Took about 4 rounds to finally nab a space. All I wanted was a few pairs of socks for Ivan. They were half off, and he has a pretty great need for some new ones. So, yeah, it was as busy as heck. Remind me next year not to go near a store on the day after Thanksgiving. Aaaaaaaaack.

Shhh...don't tell anyone...

But last night I figured out what to give my friends and family for Christmas this year. It's going to be fabulous! Last yearI decided that rather than solely buying crap, I would hand make gifties in addition to the homemade jams/cookies I typically send. (I'm sure it's a scary proposition for some...) I ended up making pillow cases out of fun, funky fabrics. This confused some and delighted others. "So, why did you send me pillow cases?" A definite hit/miss depending upon your point of view. This year...it's brilliant! Something that pretty much everyone needs/uses and it won't clash with current bedding ensembles. It's...it's.... well...you'll have to wait and see.

We're well into Chocolate Season

For those of you who have survived the chocolate rush of Halloween, I’ve found a new treat that’s sure to please lovers of the Cadbury Mini Eggs. You know, the solid chocolate eggs in the crispy shell? Well, now, they have the same chocolate and the same crispy shell in holiday colors! I’ve been googling around trying to find ‘em online, but no luck. You’re going to have to hunt ‘em down at your local store. And you *know* you will. Yum!

What's the scariest thing at this time of year?

Going shopping for Halloween do-dads at Target's boo bazaar and rounding the corner of the aisle only to have blinking Santa yard art staring back at ya. Very scary for October 18th!

It's Art...well, ok, actually Crippy Crafts

I'm sure my friend Kimmy will be proud! I'm fully immersed in creating some "crippy crafts"! See above! I was inspired by the "primitives" that I recently encountered while doing a search on Ebay. Basically they're sewn figurals made kind of creepy 'cuz they're dirty (actually stained with tea, coffee or cinnamon). The intention is to make 'em look old/antiqued. That's what the stained ghost on the top-left is all about. The top-right one is, again, based upon the primitive idea. It's sewn, quilted, and painted with acrylics. It turned out better (and bigger! About 24 inches across) than I had anticipated. I just whipped up my patterns on craft paper, not really sure how big to make 'em....and voila! Finally, on the bottom is representative of a dozen or so "quilty note cards" that are basically snippets of fabric sewn onto blank cards. Crippy crafts at its best!

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas eve. What did we do today? A family Christmas breakfast at my sister-in-law's house. (An awesome idea when there's so many other parties typically going on...oh and great food!) Followed by little last minute grocery shopping and gift shopping. Nothing *too* unusual yet, right? Well, after shopping, we planted daffodil bulbs. Yes, it is spring here! Well, at least we have spring like temperatures. It was near 60 today. It's soooo odd. In my experience Christmas is usually pretty dang cold... -10 or -20 degrees Fahrenheit isn't uncommon in Minnesota on Christmas. So, today in Utah we were out playing in the dirt and thinkin' spring. It kind of puts the kibosh on making snowy holiday memories, but I'm not gonna lie to ya...warm holiday days ROCK.

I hope you all have a peaceful holiday weekend no matter what temperature you find yourself!

A homespun holiday

I'm *nearly* done with all of my giftie preparations. For the most part, I stuck with my plan of making most of my gifties for my family and friends. Most of the packages are in the mail, so I'm starting to feel the stress leaving. Yay! I did end up doing some online clothing shopping for Ivan's kids. You know, I didn't want to have to learn how to knit sweaters and whatnot in the limited time available. Maybe next year. Ha! Maybe not.

Holiday Offense

For all of you out there who are offended by someone or corporations using "Merry Christmas", "Happy Hanukkah", or even the neutral "Happy Holidays." GET OVER YOURSELF.

I like this snippet from from Dr. Wayne Dyer. (By the way, if the word "god" offends you, feel free to put in "higher power" or even exchange "good" for "god". Don't get lost in the easily offensive details without reading the entire thing...and then THINK about it.) : "1. Stop being offended. The behavior of others isn’t a reason to be immobilized. That which offends you only weakens you. If you’re looking for occasions to be offended, you’ll find them at every turn. This is your ego at work convincing you that the world shouldn't be the way it is. By all means, act to eradicate the horrors of the world, which emanate from massive ego identification, but stay in peace. As A Course in Miracles reminds us: Peace is of God, you who are part of God are not at home except in his peace. Being is of God, you who are part of God are not at home except in his peace. Being offended creates the same destructive energy that offended you in the first place and leads to attack, counterattack, and war. "

I think the important thing to remember, especially when dealing with the seasons greetings you may come across this time of year, is that the intent of the sender. When an individual says, "Merry Christmas" they are wishing you the spirit of joy that they experience this time of year, regardless of your religious beliefs. They're not trying to be a missionary out to convert you to Christianity. If you hear someone say, "Happy Holidays"...they really DO want you to be happy. They're not trying to neuter your religious or non-religious convictions, so don't attempt to perceive it that way.

It's Holiday Hooligans Time Again!

I've been a bit too quiet over the past couple of years about this, but I still feel just as passionate about it. Holiday Hooligans! Give it a shot. You never know who's life you will touch!
I Googled holiday hooligans and found a couple of people who posted online after being "hooliganized" by someone. One's here. I like that it inspired him to send another gift...and the feeling of "love for humanity". Gotta love that!

What's the worst thing about Thanksgiving??

Picking the left over turkey meat off the carcass. Icky!! I survived doing it tonight and I have a lovely odor of sage and turkey grease. OH, to add insult to injury, the bird was the fattiest bird I've ever had. Sure, it was a Butterball and by the name of it, it ought to be somewhat rotund, but this was ridiculous. They talk about the "obesity epidemic" in the US. Turns out they were talking about the turkeys getting too fat! Gafigure!

Thanksgiving

There are so many things for which I am thankful -- my family, my friends, my health, my life, a roof over my head, a turkey in my tummy (well, soon to be), my job and coworkers, relatively clean air to breathe, clean running water to keep myself hydrated and clean, etc, etc. I have so much when so many have so few. At times it's so easy to forget the things I DO have and only think about the things I don't have. With the huge natural disasters that have hit so much of the world the past 12 months, I'm so very thankful that I'm still here and able to babble in this blog about the simple things that make life grand. I hope you each of a wonderful Thanksgiving. Count your blessings and hold your loved ones near.