Happy Halloween!

"Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere.  He's gotta pick this one.  He's got to.  I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one.  You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy.  Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see. "  -  Linus van Pelt

Easy Halloween Costume

Halloween is tomorrow!  Do you have your costume yet?  

Well, you know I have your back when it comes to last minute Halloween costumes.  I'm all for the quick and easy costumes.  This post is for those of you who like to procrastinate  live on the edge  forgot it was Halloween.

I have four easy costumes ideas that you can make with items that you probably have around the house.   If you don't have some of these items, you can make a quick trip to the store to pick up what you need so you will be ready for trick or treating tomorrow.

This year I thought I would be a Target employee for Halloween.  I have the red shirt, khaki pants and gym shoes.  This costume is pretty easy to throw together.

Supplies needed:

Red shirt

khaki pants

gym shoes

white label (square or oval)

red and black markers

scissors 

pencil

face mask*

*this is for a 2020 Target employee

Target name badges are oval in shape.  If your blank white label is square, use your pencil to draw an oval.  Within the oval, draw a black line across to divide the oval in half.  Write your name in black marker above the line.  The line itself should also be black.  Below the line, draw the Target logo (a bulls eye) and write Target in red block letters.  Attach the label to your shirt (left chest).  Don't forget to put on your mask!

And, you are ready for  work  Halloween!

I put this on and Bella said I really look like a Target employee!

Need some other last minute costume ideas?

Check out:  emoji , pumpkin pie and eye candy.

Happy Halloween!

Fun National Days in November

 Looks like it's going to be a fun month of National Days to celebrate!  

November 1

World Vegan Day

A day for those vegan curious to give veganism a try.  Try it for a day and see how you like it!  

It's also

National Vinegar Day

The perfect day for me to celebrate.  I use white vinegar for everything!  Just ask my family!

November 5

National Men Make Dinner Day

I don't think an explanation is needed for this day.   I expect dinner to be on the table at a decent time, honey.  Oh, and it has to be vegetarian/vegan friendly.  Thanks.

November 6

National Nachos Day

I didn't know there was a day for nachos.  I know what we will be having for dinner tonight.

November 8

National Harvey Wallbanger Day

My personal favorite day to celebrate.

Recipe for the perfect Harvey Wallbanger:

1.5 oz Vodka

4oz Orange Juice

.5 oz Galliano

cherry or orange slice for garnish

Mix vodka and orange juice.
Pour Galliano on top over a spoon (Don't mix!). 

Garnish with cherry or orange slice.

Cheers!

Oh, If Harvey Wallbangers aren't your thing, how about celebrating

National Cappuccino Day

Perfect drink for a cool, crisp morning.   Enjoy a cup today.  Or four, if you are RT.  

November 13

National World Kindness Day

Started back in 1988, it is a day dedicated to large and small acts of kindness.  Did you know that people who are constantly kind produce less cortisol (the stress hormone) and age slower than the rest of the population?  That got your attention!  How to celebrate?  Do three random acts of kindness today.  Smile at someone, pay for someone's coffee, give out compliments.  Search kindness on my blog and you will find many more suggestions for the day.   I think you get the idea.

 November 15

National Bundt Cake Day

What to do today?  Well, if you need a good laugh for the day you can watch the Bundt Cake scene  from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  Or, you can try your hand at making a bundt cake.  Check out these recipes from Mix and Match Mama.

It's also

National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day

I think this should be done more than once a year.  This day is to encourage people to clean out their refrigerator to prepare for the holidays.  Get out the soap, hot water and scrub brush (and the white vinegar!) and clean out that refrigerator!  Hopefully you don't find any science projects during the cleaning process.  (I still think this should be done weekly, if not monthly!)

and, it's also

National America Recycles Day

This day encourages recycling and the purchase of recycled products.  Reduce waste by repurposing/reusing old items.  You can even shop secondhand stores.  Saves these items from being placed in a landfill.

November 19

National Play Monopoly Day

I loved playing Monopoly when I was a kid.  As a grown up, not so much.  I always dreaded hearing my kids ask, "Can we play Monopoly?"  (or as RT calls it, Monotonous)  I guess I can survive one game of Monopoly a year.  I'll be the shoe!

November 20

National Absurdity Day

This day intrigued me.  Weird, or absurd, things happen.  When the postal service opened in 1913, parents took advantage of the weight limits and mailed their children to their grandparents (why didn't I think of this!?).  So, this day is dedicated to the off the wall and ridiculous.   How to celebrate?  Use this day as your excuse to do things that make no sense at all.  It's OK because you are celebrating this National Day!  (I think this might be my weird dog's Pippen's holiday)

November 23

National Espresso Day

We can't have Cappuccino Day and not celebrate Espresso Day!  Go ahead and have a couple today!

November 25

National Parfait Day

"You know what everybody else likes?  Parfaits.  Have you ever met a person, you say, "Let's go get some parfait."  They say, "Heck no, I don't like no parfait."  Parfaits are delicious!"   Donkey, in  "Shrek"

November 27

National Flossing Day

Good way to promote healthy teeth.  Also a great way to use up all of my (lifetime supply) of dental floss that I have accumulated (and inherited).  

Delicious Crusty Bread

 I know I have mentioned more than once about my family being bread snobs.  I believe they were heavily influenced by their grandfather.  My Dad used to bring crusty French Bread to our house.  My children devoured the bread within hours.   My Dad frequented a local bakery, so when we visited their house for lunch, he always had the best sliced bread.  My children would make a sandwich and have a slice of bread on the side.  

I found this recipe here and thought I would give it a try.  Any bread I make has to be approved by the board (my family).  This bread passed with flying colors with it's crunchy crust.  I will definitely be making this bread again.

Here's the recipe:

Delicious Crusty Bread

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water*

2 tsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

3 cups flour (plus extra for dusting)

1 tsp salt

directions:

In bowl, combine water, sugar and yeast.  Allow to proof.

Add flour and salt and knead for 5 minutes.  Dough should be slightly sticky (not wet).  If dough is wet, add 1-2 TBSP flour and knead.

Roll dough into ball.  Dust with flour (you want the dough to be well covered).  Place in bowl and cover with damp tea towel.  Let rise for 1 hour (or until doubled in size).

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place dutch oven with lid into the oven to preheat.

When dough has doubled, turn out onto floured surface.  Fold edges into the center of dough and place into floured bowl, seam side down.  Dust with more flour and cover with teal towel.  Let rise for 30 minutes.

Carefully move dough to dutch oven, dust with a little flour and cover with lid.  

Bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove lid and bake for another 10-15 minutes until bread is golden brown.

Remove bread from oven and let cool on wire rack for 20-30 minutes before slicing and serving.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*water should be warm to the touch, not scalding hot.

*This bread lasted less than a day in our house.

*Store in a paper bag to keep the crust crunchy.

Enjoy!

Date Night

 The kids are finally all out of the house.

We didn't have to secure a baby sitter.

We didn't have to set up a play date for a child or children.

We are now able to go out to dinner together and enjoy a nice meal in peace.  Relax, unwind and have fun.

Our governor has put a ban on indoor dining services at restaurants.

(This is where you hear the record scratch)

I guess there is always take out.

Purse

 As I was trying to wrangle the dogs into their jail cell  the side yard, I snagged my purse on one of fence wires.  My beloved purse is starting to show signs of wear.  I think it might be time to start the search for a new purse.  

If you need a little background about my relationship with purses, click here, here, here, here.   

I have a feeling this search is going to take awhile.  Your prayers are much needed and appreciated during this difficult and emotional time.

The Great Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Pumpkins

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Cookies

Pumpkin Spice and everything nice

Have you tried making your own pumpkin puree?  I use the crockpot method.  It's pretty simple and there is nothing like fresh pumpkin puree in your recipes. 

I had a taste for pumpkin recipes and thought I would give these a try.  I made these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins and they disappeared quickly.  Luckily I was able to try a muffin.  I will be making a second batch soon and hope I am able to grab a muffin or two before they disappear.  Wish me luck! 

Here's the recipe:

The Great Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

ingredients:

1 2/3 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/3 cup water

directions:

Oven 350F and grease muffin pan.

In bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.  Set aside.

In separate large bowl, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time.  Add pumpkin.

Alternately add dry ingredients and water to bowl, ending with dry ingredients.  Blend well.

Stir in chocolate chips.  Fill muffin cups.  Cook for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  

Let muffins cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  * * * * *

I used my pumpkin puree and the muffins were quite tasty.

I also used less sugar (I used about 2/3 cup of sugar) and they were delicious.

If you try making these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins, let me know what you think in the comments below. 

Enjoy!

Handshake

 A handshake is used throughout the world as a greeting or parting where two people grab one another's right hand and shake it up and down a couple of times.  Handshakes originated as a friendly greeting.  Extending your right hand to show you aren't holding a weapon.  The up and down motion was to shake out any weapons you might be hiding up your sleeve.  Hand shakes are sometimes used in business deals.  You hear about people doing business over a handshake.  Sometimes there is a spit into the palm before the handshake.  The spit handshake is a sacred agreement between two individuals that is being done with clean hands.

Enter COVID and the thought of touching another person's hand put a stop to the conventional handshake.  I have seen fist bumps and elbow bumps take the place of the handshake greeting. 

I was never fond of the handshake.  I remember shaking hands with vendors' slimy, sweaty hands and wanting to immediately run and wash my hands before sitting down to our meeting.  Why are you shaking my hands if you know that yours are sweaty and slimy?  Wipe them off or refuse to shake my hand!  In order to avoid shaking hands, I learned to say, "I have a cold."  It worked almost every time.

COVID has stepped in and no one shakes hands.  I'm happy that I don't have to shake someone else's sweaty hand.  I wonder how this will affect professionals and business deals?  Fist bumps?  Elbow taps?  A wave of your right hand?

How do you feel about handshakes?

Tea Hiatus

 I have mentioned the tea drinking that goes on in our house, with Bella and I as the main tea drinkers.  I have to admit, my tea drinking has slowed down quite a bit.

While my tea drinking has slowed down, Bella's has picked up.  Bella has been enjoying several cups of tea per day until one day, she realized that she had become the equivalent to an old lady  grandmother who sips tea all day long.  (I will probably find her in a rocking chair, wearing a sweater and surrounded by a bunch of cats).

An intervention was needed.

Bella decided that she would stop drinking tea.  This tea hiatus lasted about a day with Bella having an iced tea with lunch.  This hiatus attempt went on for several days  weeks, each day resulting in some type of tea being sipped.  After every slip up, she would say that it was her last tea.  

When school started back up, Bella decided that she needed her tea so she could start the early morning sessions with a little caffeine boost.

Recently, I mentioned the tea hiatus to Bella and asked her if she planned on trying to give up tea.  

The answer was no.

Silver Award Ceremony - Girl Scout Cadettes

Our girls have successfully earned their Girl Scout Silver Award.  They wanted to help and serve Seniors.  We worked on our award over the three years as Cadette Scouts.

Earning your Silver Award is a big deal in Girl Scouting and we wanted to mark it with a ceremony.  We have six girls in our Girl Scout Troop.  We held the ceremony in a park.  Due to COVID and Girl Scout rules, all meetings have to be outside and masks must be worn.  We asked each of the girls to say what they learned or enjoyed by earning this award.  

Here is our script for the ceremony:

Silver Award Ceremony

Flag

Promise 

Law

Leader:  Today, we are honoring (names of girls) for earning the highest award in Cadette Girl Scouting, the Girl Scout Silver Award.  The girls chose to help and serve Seniors for their project.  Each girl has achieved the high ideals and goals expressed by Juliette Gordon Lowe, who founded the Girl Scout movement in 1912.

Leader: (Girl's names) have served their country, community and God with their hard work and skills.  Here are some of the projects we have worked on during Cadette Scouts.

For our Girl Scout Silver Award, we made Made Valentine cards for Seniors.

For our Girl Scout Silver Award, we

.....

....

(Girls tell what they learned/enjoyed while earning this award)

Leader:  We are very proud of our girls and all of the hard work that they put into achieving this award.  Please join us in congratulating each girl as we present their award.

(Award Presentation)

Leader:  An award is a symbol of achievement.  It means that you have learned something and provided service to others.  With each new award, a Girl Scout takes on new responsibilities.  More is expected at home, in Girl Scouting and in your community.  Strive to be worthy of the symbols you wear and wear them with pride.  Best wishes to each of you!

Leader:  Each girl has decided to continue in scouting.  May we present to you the newest Girl Scout Seniors! 

(friendship squeeze)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A few notes:

We broke down the section of what we did to earn our award and gave each of the girls a portion to read aloud.  

We also asked the girls to write down (beforehand), on index cards, what they learned and or enjoyed while earning their Silver Award and had them read it aloud to their parents and families.

*due to COVID, we were unable to do the friendship squeeze

Song Playlist Inspired by my Job

 If you have been around here for awhile, you know that I changed jobs one year ago.   You can read about all the fun times I had at the toy store in previous posts (you can probably search toy store on the blog).  There are also some posts about the music that is played at my current job (Check out: Country Music and Da' Ya Think I'm Sexy).

In order to celebrate my one year anniversary at this job, I thought it was time to create a song list so everyone can enjoy the music that I listen to every single day.  I have created a Spotify playlist with all of these songs.  I don't have all of the songs that are played at the store, but, here are some of the highlights:

Da' Ya Think I'm Sexy -  Rod Stewart & DNCE

Top of the World - Tim McGraw

You Look Like I need a Drink - Justin Moore

Honey I'm Good - Andy Grammer

Home - Phillip Phillips

Sucker - Jonas Brothers

Friday Night - Eric Paslay

Memories - Maroon 5

It Ain't My Fault - Brothers Osborne

Dirt on My Boots - John Pardi

Feel It Still - Portugal. The Man

Sunshine & Whiskey - Frankie Ballard

Sangria - Blake Shelton

Make Me Like You - Gwen Stefani

Southbound - Carrie Underwood

I've Got No Roots - Alice Merton

Last Shot - Kip Moore

Already Gone - Brent Dennen

Lash Out - Alice Merton

Used to Be - Matt Nathanson

I'll Name the Dogs - Blake Shelton

It Ain't My Fault - Brothers Osborne

This is not a list of all of the songs that are played, just the highlights.  I'll try to add more songs to the list.  I just have to remember to write them down while I am at work.

Give the songs a listen and let me know what you think.

Social Distancing

 I talked about my problem with the saying, "Stay Safe," in a previous blog post.  "Stay safe"  became popular at the beginning of the pandemic and was a tag line everyone used during quarantine.  You can read the post here.  People still use this tag line.  In fact, I hear it a lot when I am at work from customers.

My next pet peeve is the term (or saying), "social distancing."  Especially when they start with the word practice.   "Please practice social distancing while shopping in our store."

I would think the term personal space would be more appropriate.  How often do you get that close to strangers?  If these are people that you know, friends or relatives, how about using your better judgement on when you are getting too close to another person?  

Now, add in the word, "practice."  Let's practice social distancing.  Is that similar to practicing your part in a play?  Or, practicing the piano?  You practice for 30 minutes and then go back to what you were doing?  Do you have to run up to a stranger, measure out 6 feet and stand there for a few minutes?  When you are done practicing, can you proceed normally about your day?

Also, why do we need reminders from our parents  the government about where to stand?  Can't we figure this out on our own?  Do we really need arrows on the floor of stores telling us which way we should walk and that we should keep 6 feet apart from other customers?  Do we need someone telling us over the loudspeaker in every store that we should stand 6 feet apart and practice social distancing in their store?  Does anyone normally shop within a foot of another customer?

What are your thoughts on social distancing?  Is it something that you "practice?"

Fall is Here!

 "Fall is here!  Fall is here!

It's my favorite time of year
Football games and falling leaves
I'll take mine with turkey please"

It's that time of year set aside to think about falling leaves and all things pumpkin!  Pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice, pumpkin spiced latte, pumpkin potpourri, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies and just plain pumpkins.

Are you a pumpkin person?  A football person?  How about a Halloween person?

Well, it's time to get your craft on this fall and get into the Fall spirit!  I thought I would put  links to some of the Fall Halloween crafts and Costumes that I've blogged about in the past.  Some of these are great ideas to do with little kids and some are great to do with your Girl Scout Troop!


Halloween Crafts

Bat Pencil Cup  uses an empty can and construction paper

Extra Crafts - using construction paper, make owls, witch, ghosts and foam monsters

Mosaic Pumpkin - using paint chips

Mosaic Pumpkin - using construction paper

Owl - using construction paper

Pony Tail Craft - using ribbon (great for a Girl Scout Troop!)

Pumpkin and Ghost - using Popsicle sticks and paint

Pumpkin Magnet - using foam

Spider - using pipe cleaners and google eyes

SPIDER  using construction paper

Spider (under $1 craft)  using an egg carton, black paint and google eyes

Witche's Hat  uses foam and glitter glue

Pumpkin Soap


Have a party to go to and need a quick, easy Halloween costume?  Look no further! 

Costumes
Easy Halloween Costumes
Eye Candy Costume

It's also time to grab that apron and whip up some fall goodies!  Everybody loves pumpkin!  (well, at least I do!)

How about some Fall food ideas:

Vegetarian Chili
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pumpkin Pie (from a Pumpkin)

Halloween Candy Dessert 

Hope this inspires you to get into the fall spirit!  I think I'll go make some pumpkin cookies.

Enjoy!