Sunday, October 18, 2009

Witches Night Out!


Recipe for Witches Night
Add:
1 cool night (do not chill)
hundreds of assorted witches (all sizes, shapes, and ages)

stir in:
Hot cheese and potato soup in bread bowls
energetic music
festive lights
lots of pumpkins
caramel apples

Mix together until well done.
Awesome!


There is a great Halloween cooking link on 320 Sycamore.
(Thanks, Melissa for sharing the link!)

Our Best Bites
click here

(Thanks to the girls at Our Best Bites who put this together!)
It has some fun spooky treat recipes and
I plan to make some of them for our Halloween party this year.

Do you have any fun ideas?


JoAnn

P.S. Witches Night Out pictures coming soon......

(I won a gift basket at Witches Night Out, but since we had already left I have to pick it up tomorrow. Fun!)




Thursday, October 15, 2009

Oh, brother.....look what's new!


I just got an early birthday present!

Yeah!

(It's a Brother brand)
Look at all the stitching options on the front.

I'm hoping to do some of the following things soon:


Be creative (by sewing up a little curtain for my kitchen)
Be useful (maybe I'll make some humanitarian school bags)
Be domestic (I'll leave it where people will see it and they might THINK I use it a LOT.)
Be thrifty (doing some mending?)
Be clever: (I'm thinking.....)

Bet you didn't know a machine could make you so talented!
(At least it sounds good on paper!)

Thank you to my family!


Monday, October 12, 2009

Do I know you from somewhere?

Ever hear the words, "I feel like we should know each other?"
A coworker of mine (she is new at our school this year) said those very words to me recently.
Nope, we couldn't make any connections.
I figured it must be one of those "you just remind me of someone else" situations.
BUT...

A few days ago she happened to mention the word "Franklin".
My ears pricked right up. Did she mean the town of Franklin -in Idaho?

Well, to make a long story short-
we were both in the SAME second grade class.
We lived about five country miles apart.
(Her family moved away the next year and we lost touch.)

Doesn't it just make you wonder who else you might be connected to- but just don't realize!

P.S. Is it a good or bad thing to be recognized from memories when you were
a seven year old?


JoAnn




Sunday, October 11, 2009

Pulling Out The Fall Decorations...and Witches' Night Out

It's official....fall has finally arrived at our house!
This weekend we pulled out our fall/Halloween decorations.

Spooky!

(O.K., not really, but we do enjoy the atmosphere.)



This little witch is trying on my new hat for Witches' Night Out!

If you want to participate in Witches' Night Out at Gardner Village, keep Friday or Saturday evening open (the 16th or 17th), pull out your best little black dress, don your most fancy black hat, spruce up your best broom, and plan on mingling with the most assorted bunch of witches you might ever come across.
It is so fun to join with so many other witches!

Maybe we will see you there!

JoAnn

Friday, October 9, 2009

Autumn's beauty and a little fun at a pumpkin patch...

I wish I could say I took these three pictures,
but
I "borrowed" them from Google clip art. (You might have seen them before.)

I wish I had taken the pictures because I think that the photographers did a great job
capturing the splendor of fall.

(I really wish I'd taken them JUST TO HAVE BEEN THERE!)



Wow!


I wish I'd taken these next two pictures, too.

Good job to the photographer (Lacey),

I WISH I HAD BEEN THERE, TOO!

(I "double borrowed" these pictures from Liz, who borrowed them from Lacey!)

Thanks!

I hope you are enjoying fall as much as I am!

JoAnn


Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Fall tradition.....homemade doughnuts

One of our favorite fall traditions
is to make a batch of Doughnuts (Spud nuts).
They are a bit of work, but they turn out so yummy and they are as light as air.

Last year we enjoyed them at our Halloween party.


Here is the recipe:

Easy Doughnuts (Spud nuts)

1 3/4 cups milk, scalded (or hot water will do)
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons yeast, dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup shortening, melted in the warm milk or hot water
1/2 cup mashed potatoes or prepared instant
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix well, being careful not to put yeast in the milk until it has cooled off.

Add:
6 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons salt

Mix well and knead lightly. Cover and let raise (about an hour?). Roll out about 1/2 inch thick on floured surface. Cut in doughnut shape (we always use a large cup and a tiny lid to a salt shaker, but you can use real doughnut cutters if you have them.) and let raise until double.
Deep fat fry. (We just put a few inches of oil in a large skillet or electric frying pan and cook one side and then flip over to cook the other side.)
Dip in glaze while warm.

Glaze:
1/2 package powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Add enough hot water to make a rather thick glaze. Dip doughnuts while still warm. Use wooden spoon through the hole to let the glaze drip off.

Now we need to plan another Halloween party.
Last year we had a great one!
Who is ready to party?



JoAnn