by Sharon | Nov 4, 2016
Snack recipes are always welcome for Thanksgiving . . . Or between Halloween and Thanksgiving.
Here are my suggestions for making this delicious snack for your family and friends.
Harvest Chex Mix
Ingredients:
- 1 box Rice Chex Cereal
- 1 bag Bugles
- 4 cups Pretzels
- 1 cup Candy Corn
- 1 cyo Candy Corn Pumpkins
- 1 bag Reese’s Pieces
- Feel free to add pieces of your favorite left-over Halloween candy
Sauce Ingredients:
Yes, there is a buttery brown sugar sauce that goes over the mixture before popping it in the oven.
- 3/4 cup melted Butter
- 3/4 cup packed Brown Sugar
- 2 tablespoons Vanilla Extract
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 275°F
- Melt the butter in the microwave
- Add the brown sugar and vanilla extract to the melted butter and whisk until combined and dissolved
- In a large bowl, add the Chex, bugles and pretzels
- Pour the sauce over this mixture and toss gently until evenly coated
- Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper
- Divide the mixture on the two baking sheets, spreading in an even layer on each baking sheet
- Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes
- Remove from oven and allow to cool.
- Put the cooled mixture into a large bowl
- Add the candy
- Toss to combine evenly
- Store any left-overs in an air-tight container
Well, there you go! It’s a great treat that will give you a fun Fall taste.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Nov 1, 2016
One of the best parts of Thanksgiving is having an extra piece of pumpkin pie to take home.
For many of you, you may be getting a head-start on Black Friday . . . 
I do hope you made up some of these boxes for your guests to take home a piece of pumpkin pie.
Click the picture on the right to be taken to the PDF for downloading and printing.
I like to do as much as possible a day ahead. Then while the turkey is roasting in the oven, I go out and rake up leaves. There is something invigorating about this little bit of physical labor in the fresh outdoor fall air.
It’s amazing how quickly these leaves get raked up and put in the yard waste barrel.
I then relax on the front porch with a hot cup of coffee admiring my yard before cleaning up and working on the vegetables for my Thanksgiving dinner.
I like having a relaxing day . . . no major rushing around before my family and friends arrive. I do like to have everything ready so I can relax a bit.
Jigsaw puzzles and Thanksgiving seem to go together. It’s a time to get a bit nostalgic.
I hope your Thanksgiving Day, however you celebrate it is blissful.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Oct 2, 2016
The moose population in Alaska is doing quite well.
Since my brother moved to Alaska I get regular weather and moose updates.
It seems my brother’s house is a favorite place for the moose to come and graze. His neighbor took some pictures last month and shared them with me, so I thought I’d share them here.
They seem to have their favorite grazing spots . . . and it looks like they decided to stay for awhile. They don’t seem at all bashful . . . To be honest with you, I wouldn’t like to open my front door and be greeted by this trio.
I would imagine, if they could, they’d go right on in. Last year my brother found some smudges on his window where a moose was looking in . . . the young ones seem quite inquisitive.
There’s no snow yet, but it was a rainy summer and fall in my brother’s neighborhood. Hummmm, I’m wondering if these youngsters are thinking of trick-or-treating . . . That last one seems headed for the front door . . .
They are interesting critters . . . My brother had one big moose that was in the yard earlier this summer . . . and took it in his/her head to attack the gizmo where they put the paper . . . Maybe it was just scratching it’s head . . . It did a bit of a number on the contraption, but it’s still intact and holds the newspaper just fine.
Oops!! The neighbor was spotted taking pictures . . . are they posing for the camera?
Two seem to be alert, while one is busy eating . . . maybe it did find some good treats.
I’m not well versed in the goings-on with the moose population and their migration patterns, but I do know the residence in my brother’s neighborhood do like seeing the moose come around with their young. Such moose sightings are a cause of delightful celebration by bring out the Iphone to snap some pictures.
I am quite grateful for the quick thinking and generous nature of my brother’s neighbor in taking the time from her busy schedule to capture these pictures and share them with me.
I do enjoy seeing nature . . . not necessarily up close and personal . . . but I guess in order to get the good pictures, you have to be right out there.
For now, I’ll be content by taking pictures of my beautiful Yorkshire Terrier and her toy moose.
Yes, I know the vase of flowers behind her appears to be growing out of her head . . . I assure you, ears are the only things protruding from her noggin. She does look a bit worried . . . I think she was just tired of posing for pictures. She should be happy I removed the bow from her top-knot.
Well, be it Alaska Moose or spoiled California Yorkshire Terriers . . . all is well this fine fall Southern California day. It’s now 61° F and will reach a high of 81° F. Tomorrow’s forecast is 76° F with it getting a bit warmer as the week progresses. I am looking forward to fall . . . but summer wants to hang on a bit longer.
Again, I’d like to thank my brother’s neighbors in Alaska for sharing their moose pictures with me . . . so I could share them here with you.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Oct 1, 2016
A-Manda is giving away a whole collection of Halloween Printables!!!
There are cupcake wrappers, candy wrappers, juice box wrappers, gift boxes and so very much more.
This is truly a whole party ready to happen!
Just click the picture to the right and you’ll be taken to A-Manda’s PDF page to check out, print out and create.
This is truly excellent to have everything so coordinated for your Halloween bash. Wow! I’m truly impressed . . . And It’s FREE!!!
This would work for school parties, too. There are goodie bag toppers and cupcake toppers you can easily print out, cut out and use. Choose what you want and save other things for later . . . and give yourself some time to view the PDF to decide what you want to use. You may be pleasantly surprised with all the ideas to get.
I do like the colors and the images. It works well for all age groups.
Have some fun with this bundle of Halloween bliss!!
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Sep 30, 2016
Halloween Is Such A Fun Time Of Year!
The imagination can truly run wild when you find a nice picture of a witch and a boiling cauldron.
The book could be a normal recipe book . . . not some book of spells to bewitch the neighborhood . . . They could be making a nice stew with fresh herbs and spices for a cold fall evening meal.
Maybe it is more fun to imagine something magical or mysterious. A love potion . . . a prosperity spell . . . or some recipe for disaster . . . Honestly, would someone truly want disaster? I would hope not . . . life is full of good times and difficult times . . . and we get through them all . . . wanting much more good in our lives.
I think witches have been given a bad reputation . . . there are good witches . . . and those who don’t seem to do good things . . . just as there are people who make wrong choices . . .
I choose to think more positively and my imagination goes toward these women brewing something good . . . yet, given the look of the liquid in the cauldron . . . something interesting is brewing . . .
It does look like an old book . . . and what is in the pitcher? The expression on the witch’s face has me a bit concerned . . .
I do wonder what has been placed inside the cauldron . . . and what is the woman with the pitcher saying? Is it some magic spell?
Quite some time ago, I was at a local antique mall where people sell their family treasures . . . or estate sale finds.
I’ve bought quite a few antiques over the years . . . but nothing like what the woman I met there told me . . . I’ll call her Myrtle . . . she looked like a friend of my mother’s with that name. She found this old cookbook. She was looking for old family recipes. Well, she had one collection of them . . . but there was another book of them she was desperate to find.
It seems her daughter was in the attic and decided to clean things out and sell them to pay her rent. She had recently lost her job and was working at the local diner. She needed a better paying job, but by selling some of her grandmother’s old stuff, she was making ends meet.
Myrtle was furious . . . “If that book gets in the wrong hands . . .”
This did put a new slant on it . . . Myrtle was looking for special recipes . . . with special ingredients . . . that made things happen . . .
I wanted to hear Myrtle’s story . . . but I wasn’t sure she would tell me what I needed to know . . . I was willing to help her find the book . . . as a matter of fact I think I had the book she was seeking.
I loved the old binding of the book and thought it would look good on my book shelf along with my Halloween paper crafts. The pages were cross referenced without any real recipes inside. The old calligraphy was beautiful and I thought it was interesting.
Evidently, alone each book didn’t have “the power” or information necessary to make anything happen.
The more Myrtle spoke, the more determined I was to keep the two books separate. There are just some things that should be hidden away in an attic . . . or separated . . . never to be joined together again.
I knew my intentions for the old book, but I didn’t know Myrtle’s.
This is one of those moral dilemmas we don’t like facing . . . but I faced mine and decided that there was a reason Myrtle’s mother kept the books separate for all these years . . . and a reason Myrtle never thought to put them together . . . until now . . . And she wasn’t going to tell me about it.
I think things happen for a reason. I believe those two books were separated on purpose and should remain separated . . . and there’s always the possibility that Myrtle’s book and mine are not the pair she’s seeking.
I don’t know . . . What do you think?
This time of year I do think about Myrtle and her daughter . . . and the book . . . I do wonder if Myrtle ever found it . . . or if I have it . . .
It looks very similar to Ray O’Bannon’s book safe. This is a fun free printable you can make, display on your bookshelf or coffee table or give as gifts filled with fun fall treats. Or keep your family secret recipes . . . They are easy to make and fun for all ages.
Click the link above to go to my earlier post with the links to RavensBlight’s book safes. They come in two styles for your crafting pleasure.
I have one filled with odds and ends of ephemera I’ll use sometime in one of my mini-albums. It’s a nice place for old photographs, too. Or even, antique mall finds you want to keep safe.
I do hope you enjoyed my story . . . and will make some book safes for your friends and family . . . You can add a title to your book . . . maybe even change the cover to give it a more personal look and feel for your fall favor box.
I would hope people would save these boxes and keep them for their own keepsakes or treasures after the goodies I put inside are gone.
Have fun and Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Sep 29, 2016
Uncle Harold just wants to have fun!
You’ve already met his sister, Aunt Ruth . . . and made that image into a Card In A Box. Now you can do the same with Uncle Harold.
Click the link above to meet Aunt Ruth if you haven’t already . . . and learn how to make a Card In A Box.
You can download Uncle Harold by clicking the picture to the right. I have a PDF for you. You may have to print out more than one copy so you’ll have plenty of pieces to cut out and put in your Card In A Box. Also feel free to add other elements.
I do like the vintage feel of this picture . . . and the one of Aunt Ruth, too.
They remind me of Halloween trick-or-treating when I was a kid. It was truly magical . . . running around the neighborhood getting candy from each house . . . and knowing I was safe because Dad was waiting on the sidewalk talking with other fathers while they waited for us to get some candy in out bags.
My neighborhood is the same . . . I do like seeing the kids and saying hello to their parents, too. It is a nice family friendly night.
It’s after all the trick-or-treaters go home . . . and the neighborhood is quiet is when I go for a brief walk . . . I see dropped candy on the sidewalk . . . I can hear my footsteps as they echo up the street . . . It is eerrily calm . . . almost too calm . . . and my imagination goes into high gear . . .
It is just the right setting to get me in the mood to read my favorite Halloween story . . . The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. Every year I read of Sleepy Hollow and the schoolmaster Ichabod Crane and his misadventure that Halloween Night.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
