Hump Day!!!

Here we are again.....where do the days go?!!?

The past few days have been busy and hectic with some fun thrown in.  Halloween weather here was AWFUL, but somehow we still obtained 2 pillowcases full of candy.  Plus some leftovers since our last trick-or-treater was around 6:15 p.m. 

(I did my normal "let's have one piece, ok maybe two, oh, let's just eat 14 pieces to sample them all and eat like a 16 year-old boy who moonlights as a trucker" candy eating routine on Sunday.   Hopefully, I got that out of my system and can start baking brownies and cookies with candy in them and then give away to GET IT OUT OF THE HOUSE in time for all the Thanksgiving and Christmas baking and eating that starts in about 2 weeks ;))

On Saturday, I met up with one of my sister-in-law's for our annual shopping weekend.  We ate and laughed and shopped and fell asleep by 10:30 p.m. (pre-time change.)  Such a great time!  I even got a little Christmas shopping done :)

Monday and Tuesday were full of errands and cleaning and laundry and volunteering at school and baking for the upcoming teacher conference dinners and voting. 

Can I get an "AMEN" that political commercials are over!??!? 

I made two different pans of brownies after I saw a recipe I wanted to try.  I've got to be honest, as much as I love looking at Pinterest, it's about a 50% rate of good recipes, at least the ones I've tried. (if that)   I was thinking that maybe after the holidays I would try a month of all new Pinterest foods, recipes, ideas to see if I could better the odds.  Otherwise, I need to clean off some of those boards!! 

I also made a gooey butter cake (cut into bars) using the Caramel Apple Cake Mix from Pillsbury - they are really yummy!  Here is the recipe if you want to try.  Any flavor of cake mix can be used.  I've made vanilla and chocolate before, so it was fun to mix it up (pun intended!) a bit.  Disclosure:  I rushed through reading the recipe and added THREE eggs to the base instead of one!  It still turned out fine, maybe just a little more cakey.  But I love cake, so it really wasn't a problem, ha!

Now it's off to work (and treat drop off!) for the remainder of the week - have a great week, friends!!

"It's all about the candy corn" Week!

You all know my favorite part of Halloween is the candy.....and not much else :)

And candy corn is just so happy - cute, colorful, fun.

So - why not dedicate a week to candy corn recipes?  Oh yes, let's.

 I made these bars a few weeks ago during the height of "Fall Ball" season.  The weather was still somewhat summery feeling, but the girls gobbled up these blondie-type treats.

Here is where I make an honest and somewhat embarrassing confession.  I can't remember what recipe I used.  This is what happens when you rely on your brain to categorically call to memory what top five items are needed from the store, who goes where to what birthday party over the weekend, which child does or does not like chocolate covered raisins and still try to recall when the ceiling fans were last dusted.

I vaguely remember reading a blog and, after attempting to measure ingredients while reading from my laptop scribbling the recipe down while fixing breakfast, switching laundry, and refereeing some small number of children.

Okay, now I don't feel so terrible about my memory.

A conundrum indeed.  I feel I am almost at that point where I should be walking around with a tape recorder (do they still make those?!?) so I can navigate daily life.

We can make this work......

First, start off with a bag of Candy Corn Oreos - available only at Target, I believe,  But really, since when is THAT a problem??  If you aren't near a Target, you have my most heartfelt condolences and you can go ahead and use Golden Oreos.

Let's mix up this recipe: (but leave out the chocolate chips and marshmallows)

Spread about 1/2 to 2/3 of batter in pan.  Blondie batter is thick, you may need to spray your hands with non-stick spray and work the batter to the edges.  Place Oreos side by side, plop on the rest of the batter, and use some yellow and orange sprinkles.

Then, generously sprinkle candy corn over the top.

Bake, then remember the most important part:

TAKE A PICTURE OF THEM WHEN THEY ARE ALL DONE!  Because I'd love to have a photo of that ;)  But really, after that story, are you really surprised I forgot??

Happy Baking!

A first,,,,,

That's right....we have a carved pumpkin on our deck and it's only October 10th.

Back to blogging in a few days!

Of Jeans and Halloween....

Know what Halloween and shopping for jeans have in common????

Both are very SPOOOOKY!!!!

Here's another one:
What's crazier than trying to blog, bake cupcakes, do a puzzle with 2 children, clean bathrooms and make sure everyone gets to school on time?

I'm still trying to figure that out myself. I'll get back to you.

A few points I'd like to make after typing the above:
- I don't like Halloween.
- No matter what size I wear and what store I frequent, they will always either be out of that number or down to just 1 pair.
- Blogging, as much fun as it is, takes WAAAAY more time that I usually have. It's funny, because in my head the post takes 2 minutes to write, but at the computer it's alot of spell checking, re-reading for accuracy and puncuation and taking time to upload and post pictures. Don't even get me started on the pictures.....I usually have to delete and add them again at least once per post because of some error I've made along the way. And when uploading, it has to be done in the reverse of how you want the pictures to actually appear. This gets me every.single.time.

By this point I should just dedicate the hour or so it takes (at least) but instead I just try to fit it in bit by bit. (hence the laundry, baking, cleaning, etc. while blogging.)

Anyhoo, back to the Halloween thing. I just don't like the goriness of the whole thing. Here you have this beautiful, perfect weather season with the trees ablaze in color against a gorgeous blue sky, the humidity has dropped and the temperatures are perfect for either running outside or playing with the kids at the pumpkin patch. There are haystacks, apples, pumpkin bars and hot cocoa with marshmallows. Do you have a wonderful, homey mental image in your mind??

I thought so.....now allow me to plop a moth-eaten Mummy and a mask with one missing eye right into your lap.

And that is why I do not care for Halloween.

So, I try to find the good and fun stuff around this time of year. Here is how I cope.....

I LOVE candy corn and candy pumpkins....almost as much as cupcakes. I am mentally kicking myself just a little right now for not naming this blog "Cupcakes and Candy Corn." Although, if I threw in my love of kittens and sparkly things, it would be an eight-year old girls blog. So I suppose I should just be glad I didn't name it that. But I digress......(frequently.)

Here is another favorite fall thing....


And for a fun little twist on an old favorite, when making Rice Krispie treats, use Cocoa Krispies and throw some butterscotch chips in.....the chocolate flavor and butterscotch together taste so rich and it looks very autumn-like.

You'll never go wrong with a sandwich cookie!


Now onto the somewhat painful jeans discussion. I only add this because I know most of my readers are women and I KNOW I'm not the only one with the whole jeans shopping hang-ups. (Can I get an amen from the crowd??) Here is what I came home with:

Yes, you read that correctly. Skinny jeans...sigh.
This raised three questions in my mind as I stood at the rack and pondered the 1 pair of jeans (jean?)

- Am I out of my age bracket here?
- Where/how/what will I wear (with)these?
- How badly do I want to revisit 1985?

But Gloria knows what she is doing because one try-on later and I am HOOKED! Believe it or not, they were the most comfortable pair I tried on.
I also came home with the old familiar boot-cut. Because there is comfort in the same old thing. And I will be sold on anything with the word "slender" on it. Really, it's like selling ice to the Eskimos.

In case you're wondering what the random papers are on the lower right hand corner of the picture, they are hats made for small stuffed animal pigs. Yes, that's right. No, it wasn't my handiwork, I was too busy cleaning the bathrooms.

But if you need one more thing to cheer you what with all the coffins and Draculas out there, here you go......

And if that doesn't work, go eat a chocolate-dipped caramel apple! Have a wonderful day.