Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!!!! The kids were thrilled to wake up this morning and put on their long awaited wearing of their Halloween clothing...

Here they are:

I found this shirt, it's very fitting for me!
Little P's costume is done! And it was actually a lot of fun to make.
Here is the tail and a close up of the fin...
Here is the top, before the addition of the nude bodysuit top.
We went to get pumpkins last night, I know, talk about the 11th hour! But there hasn't been good weather lately, lots of rain and gross days and yesterday was perfect so we went, talk about slim pickin's.....
Boots managed to find a little pumpkin just perfect for him!
They painted their faces on this year, too cute! Boots wanted his to look just like the cookie jar I bought here.....
Close enough I guess, and Little P loves cats so it was no surprise when hers was a black cat face in honor of the day!

Then we went to Little P's school for her party and parade. Here she is in all of her shimmery glory! As you can see there is a nude colored shirt that the bodice is sewn to, it's warm and it's appropriate for a young lady.
Here's hoping you all have a great Halloween too!

More Hours Needed!

Hi there! I'm up to my eyeballs in sequins and mermaid tails. I will take pics and write more when I have a two seconds to think.....

For now, here is another pic I took recently
I sent it to Mr. Fantastic at work, hopefully it made his day....

Boots on Trial

I bought these spiders years ago, and they have managed to survive many Halloweens up to this point. When I came into the kitchen last week and saw this :
I had a few questions in regards to be beheading. I asked the obvious suspects.
Wanna guess who I think is guilty?
I will have to let you all know how the trial goes...

We have added a Light Up Boo lantern garland since I first posted out Halloween pics. Isn't is cute?

Rainy Days and Retail Therapy

Things have been really nuts around here this weekend. My parents in-law came in from CA on Friday morning for a whirl-wind wedding trip. Mr. Fantastics cousin got married on Sat. The reception was a ball! The bride and groom are some of the most real people you will ever meet, so it was a blast. The in-laws headed back to CA very early this morning, in the cold, wet, rain. So we decided today would be more low key day. We did make a quick run to Target to get a few things we needed and ended up getting more than we intended, but retail therapy is a good thing some days!

I found this for $4.00!
Couldn't pass it up, and see this time I took a pic when I WASN'T wearing it!

I loved this,
It's a cookie jar and it's too cute. It didn't have a scar though, what kind of Frankenstein doesn't have a scar?.... And for me Sharpies are kind of like duck-tape they fix almost anything, I colored in a scar myself, much better!

The kids found these cool magnets, that they both loved....
After leaving target we decided to head to Barnes and Noble to check out a book Mr. Fantastic had been wanting. We found some Halloween books for the kids,the book for Mr. Fantastic and this for me....
I can't wait to try it out, the pics are beautiful and there are a million cupcake recipes, and anyone that knows me at all knows how much I love cupcakes, they are the perfect dessert..... they are... and that is the end of it.

Oh, and Little P went to a birthday party this weekend for her friend Jessica. She had a cooking birthday party, all of the girls were given their own aprons, chefs hat and they had a blast making their own pizza's and decorating brownie hearts. When they left, instead of giving the girls bags of candy and plastic toys that never even last the ride home, each girl was given this:
It is a small oven mitt, with a matching pot holder, a whisk, a set of measuring spoons, a little packet of blank recipe cards one candy necklace, a little thing of bubbles and a small bowl scraper. I thought this was such a great idea, and so much more original than the standard goodie bags. Little P can't wait to whisk up some eggs in the morning!

Silly Putty, Silly Dog

So last night we are eating dinner and Mr. Fantastic looks down at our pomeranian Brody and makes the weirdest face. Miss Bliss, he said, what has your dog gotten into? Now of course, he is MY dog when he has done something wrong, he is OUR dog when he is the perfect angel that he normally is. See the logic here folks?

So I call him over to me and see that his wonderfully soft and normally beautiful mane is all green and in one large clump. Upon closer inspection we figure out that he ate silly putty. What he hell he saw in silly putty that tasted good is beyond me. However, he must have only actually ingested a tiny bit and the rest was a gooey, sticky mess in his fur. After having a rather stern talk with Boots about silly putty never leaving the kitchen table, we proceeded to try to solve the problem. So after Mr. Fantastic held him in a towel while I used vegetable oil to get it all out he was in desperate need of a bath.

Doesn't he look traumatized???
Good, maybe next he will think twice before eating something that takes the print off of news paper.

On to happier news, while I was on a run to Target yesterday I found this:
It was a mere $10. That's right only $10, I loved it! Little P is the warmest little girl I have ever met in my life, so until it is the dead of winter this is about all she will need. She got new gloves, a scarf and a ear warmer to go with it. And it's pink velvet, I am certain for her, it just doesn't get any better!
She is happier than she looks, ....... honest.

Door Bell Treats

We received a visit from the Phantom Ghost last night. Poor Boots, he was walking up the stairs to go to bed when the door bell rang. Anyone with dogs or even a dog will tell you that is the trigger for massive barking. So there he was, minding his own little buisness heading for his bedroom when the door bell went and the dogs were barking and running for the door, the poor kid jumped three feet in the air and high tailed it for his room, I happened to be coming out of his room to get the door when he saw me in the hall, I guess he figured that he wasn't going to waste time going around me, so he drove for the floor and at lightening speed crawled through my legs to to the safety of his room promptly slamming the door behind him. By the time I got to the door I was laughing so hard I was crying!

When I opened the door there was no one there, but I found this:
It had a note with it, that said it was a Phantom Ghost spreading the Halloween cheer, and for me to do the same to two other houses that needed some extra fun. After some coaxing, Boots decided to come out and see the surprise on the table. He was so excited at the idea of doing a special Halloween surprise for someone else. I thought for sure he would be stoked at the idea of a big basket full of candy sitting in front of him. Don't get me wrong, he loved every last bite of the chocolate covered marshmallow pumpkin ! But I have to be honest, all of that took a backseat the excitement of doing something fun like this for someone else. I have to say, I am one proud momma. Little P was asleep at this point, long day at school, so she kind of missed out on the initial excitement of it, but she was thrilled when she woke up this morning to a smiling pumpkin face packed with goodies to investigate!

According to the instructions, you have one day to leave your treat for some other wonderful recipients to find, so off to the store we went. We found all of this Halloween Goodness!
Some details of pic are:

Some black Jack-O-Lantern votive holders with tea lights and some cute stickers...
Who doesn't need a new orange back scrubber for Halloween??? Maybe then, they would feel like making cookies!....
I've been waiting all of my life for some Skull straws and Mummy torch light, haven't you?...
Glow in the dark vampire teeth and Spooky M&M's, you never know when you might have to bite someone and then offer them a treat to apologize....
I love what you can find for a dollar... I would wear this everywhere, just because I could.
Maybe not these, it might depend on the day.
I did decide to put a little note in with each basket, because a few of the things are wrapped in tissue and tucked into the baskets. Here are the notes:
We are suppose to deliver the bags by the dark of night and here lately, that is anytime after 7 pm! So the kids and I will be delivering them tonight!
Here they are ready to go....
While we were out secret Halloween shopping Boots spotted these:
He loves bugs, his eyes lit up so much you would have thought it was Christmas...He has been playing with them all afternoon, and having a fair time trying to scare the pants off of his sister...

Mermaids and Nerds

Someone is going to be a mermaid for Halloween this year. It took FOREVER for her to decide on fabric that she liked and the style that she is interested in, but finally we have come to a decision. Yeah!!!!
We are making the tail of course , but not the little halter top thing, number one, it's October in New York, and number two, Little P is a lovely almost eight years old. Nope, not on your life. So she will be in a body suit with large purple seashells sewn to it with lots of shell necklaces and a lovely shell crown. It also needs to be easy to put on for school, so this will fit the bill nicely.

And I got a few new shirts for work a couple of days ago, I LOVE this one.
It is a lovely life, when I can consider tee shirts and gauchos work attire!

Let it Snow!

This morning we woke this morning to dusting of snow all over every thing.
Most of it was melted by mid day and it was actually nice this afternoon.
We live about an hour away from Buffalo that is apparently in a state of emergency. So much so that the airport and the thru way going to and coming from there were closed. There are tons of people without power and it is projected that the power will not be restored for several days. Crazy what an hour will do!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

If you are in New York today, specifically western New York state, I'm sorry.
It's cold and wet and definitely not go out side and play weather. So we decided that it was time for the apple cooking to begin. So first we made apple sauce. I make it in the crock pot. It's easier, I don't have to watch it every second and it makes the whole house smell fantastic for hours!

We selected,just which of our gorgeous, handpicked, home grown apples we were going to sacrafice to the cause.
And cut up about three pounds of these huge 20 ouces ones.
We then sprinkled on 1 cup of sugar,
Lots of Cinnamon,
And nutmeg, I am a big fan of nutmeg, so if I am going to use it in something, I am going to do it right. Get your self one of these,
They are easy to find, and the difference is incredible. And it takes forever to go through even a few actual nutmeg nuts.

Turn the heat on low and in about 4 hours it will be done. At that point you take a potato masher or even a sturdy whisk and mash up the apples to what consistency you like your apple sauce to be. It will keep for a week or so in the fridge and about 6 months in the freezer.

We also decided that today was the kind of day that homemade chicken soup was invented for. So that is simmering on the stove now.
Full of veggies and white wine and lots of spices and of course chicken, it smells good in my house today! Come on over, we will save you a bowl!

By the way, is anyone interested in an adorable dog, he doesn't eat much, only three or four foam stickers...
And some shoe laces !!!!!!!
He has no idea how lucky he is that he is sooooooo cute!