One Reason I Love Fall

I love Pomegranates , but I have never found a recipe for them that sounds good.

Plus they it's hard to get the seeds out.

They are beautiful though....and tasty. :))

All Hallow's Eve

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. Basically, I love to dress up! I try to make sure my kids have a great costume, whether store bought or hand made.....but mostly hand made, at least a little.

For several years I have tried to get my son to be Harry Potter, but he was always interested in something else. This year it was his idea. Since HP isn't as big this year, we had to make the costume. No biggie, I already had a pattern for a cape left over from Star Wars a few Halloweens ago. I also found a plain maroon tie at the thrift store on which I painted gold stripes. We bought the glasses and wand, but he lost the wand about a week later, so I ended up having to make it anyway. Oh well....I love him. :)

My husband never has dressed up with us. Mostly it's because he works late and barely makes it to go Trick or Treating with us. I think it's also because he's a wimp.....which I can't understand since he's a theater guy. This year I came up with the perfect idea....it would tug at his heart-strings and he wouldn't have a choice in the matter. He would dress as Clifford the Big Red Dog and my daughter would dress as Emily Elizabeth, Clifford's owner. He agreed.... they were sooooo cute.

I had originally chosen a fairy costume for my Daughter, but every time I put it on her she cried and begged me to take it off. The costume she ended up with is regular clothing, so she was more comfortable.....and cute.

Here's my son and I. I was originally going to be a Beatnik...easy with all the black clothes I have and with the addition of a black beret. My son however had a rough day at school the day before. They were having their school Halloween party and one kid in his class, who knows how to push his buttons, made fun of his costume. He called him "Harry Plopper" real original, but it still bothered him. Really I think he's make fun of whatever my boy was, he's just like that, but my boy was pretty upset, so I told him I'd dress as a Hogwarts professor. It worked brilliantly, and my man cheered up.

We had bought him a wand at the costume store, but he lost it a few days later. So....I searched the web for a way to make a cool wand easily. I found it here. These turned out great. I made another one for my daughter, since I knew she'd be jealous, but I didn't post the pic here. These are easy and really cool when done. My son was pleased....which is what matters most.

The first pic is of me and my boy in 2005 or so....the hat I am wearing I bought at Walmart for about $10. I have worn this several time for Halloween, but I felt it was time for a makeover, so I decided, at the last minute, to re-do it. Here you can see the result. I love how it turned out. What do you think?

And here is another shot of my Clifford and Emily Elizabeth.......I can't get enough of this. She has him wrapped around her little finger.....as it should be.

Hope you had a great Halloween! On to Christmas! oh no.........!!!!

My best ever soup

Here is the best chicken soup I have ever made, if I might say so myself. :))

What looks like "Honeycomb" cereal is Fiori. I'm sure some of you know that, but I have never bought it until now.

If you'd like to know what's in the soup, or if you'd like to tell me your "best soup ever" recipe, please leave a comment.

xo Danna

Fall, really?

Is it really almost November and soon to be December?! It snuck up on me for sure. The weather here has certainly felt like Fall. Today was blustery, grey and misty. That always reminds me of "Winnie the Pooh".

The leaves have been beautiful, but they are already starting to turn from red, gold and yellow to brown.

We have a large Tulip tree in the front yard. In the Spring it has beautiful blooms than the bees love. In Summer it the best kind of shade tree, with it's broad leaves.

The other day I went outside and the beautiful green leaves of the Tulip tree were bright gold, over night it seems.

Maybe I just didn't notice. My mind been very preoccupied with life lately.

We just don't have the time or money to do a lot of extra things right now and it stresses me out so I tend not to notice the little things.

A few weeks ago we did spend the extra gas money to drive to a lovely nature center. The kids loved looking at the bee hive they had and we quickly found the queen. I was chasing my daughter around so I missed getting a picture of it. :( They looked a taxidermy birds, skunks, raccoons, deer, and snakes. They were fascinating, but they gross me out. I didn't let on though. I don't want the kids to pick up on my neuroses. :)

Next we walked on the paved wilderness paths. We all enjoyed it very much. The weather was perfect. Sunny, but with a cool breeze.

My poor Hubby enjoyed it as much as he could...he has had two knee replacements and it's hard for him to hike much, especially on a hilly trail. This trail was VERY steep. He also didn't let on....he even carried his tired little girl up some of the slopes.

I was on the hunt for mushrooms to photograph, but I didn't get really any. They just weren't there....well, at least not by the trail. I did get one picture of a dinner plate size fungus, but it was really high up on a tree. I thought they would be lower....shows what I know.

Can you see it?

We also saw a Buck, which was so amazing.....and a bit frightening. I thought for sure we'd get too close and it would attack us. It didn't...... :)

This is the only descent picture I got of the deer. There were too many people and he got scared away.

All in all we had a fun, relaxing and tiring day. It's good to let go sometimes. Now, back to reality..........

Halloween Fun!

My big Brother and I at Halloween 1980something.

When I was little my big brother and I decided one Halloween to have a costume party. We planned for weeks how to decorate, what food to have and especially what costumes we would wear.

I believe I decided to be an Egyptian princess. ( I'm not wearing the mask in the picture) Jason was a vampire. Very scary.

My Mother and Father encouraged us to plan the party, but they came up with a recipe for a drink that was the perfect addition to our party must haves; home made Root Beer.

Here's the recipe for party size amount..... :)

5 lbs sugar

5 gallons water

5 lbs food grade dry ice

2oz Root Beer flavor (extract)

Combine the water, sugar, and extract. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the dry ice in medium size pieces just before guests arrive.

The liquid will bubble and fog will form for the best Halloween party effect.

You must be very careful handling the dry ice! Wear work gloves and use an ice pick to chop it into manageable amounts. Make sure when you serve the Root Beer that you do not put the ice into the cups. Dry ice can cause frost bite very quickly so please be careful!

This sounds difficult, but with knowledge about the ice it is easy and is a great effect for a party also it's so yummy to drink.

BTW this is not a carbonated drink, just very tasty.

Enjoy!!

Tropical Oatmeal Muffins

Amended 10-03-2009

This time I added 1Cup of packed Brown Sugar and only used 1/4 cup of white sugar.

It was just the added flavor they needed!

1 1/2 C All purpose flour

1/2 C Quick Oats

1 C packed brown sugar

1/4 C white sugar

2t Baking Soda

1T Cinnamon

1/2t Salt

3 over ripe Bananas

1/2 C Sweetened Flake Coconut

3 Eggs

3/4 C veg oil

1T Vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line muffin tin with papers.

Mash Bananas in a bowl add the eggs, oil and vanilla and brown sugar. Stir until combined.

In another bowl mix flour, white sugar, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon, stirring until combined.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir until combined.

Stir in coconut.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and bake until set, I think about 10-15 minutes.

Cool on a rack and enjoy!

I think this would also be good with Macadamia nuts and maybe some brown sugar thrown in too.

This is not a "golden brown" muffin. It has a rich caramelized color to it.

OH so good....... :)

Collecting

When I was little, my Grandmother Sue owned an antique shop in historic downtown Hot Springs Arkansas. You might say that antiques and collecting is in my blood. Later, when I was in high school, and when I didn't have dance class, I would go flea marketing on Saturdays with my parents.

I loved digging through the piles of junk to find that one treasure. My favorite things to look for were vintage handbags, hats, jewelry and clothing. I also collected anything that had stars on it.

Those Saturdays are one of my fondest memories of childhood. Spending the weekend with Mom and Dad was actually very enjoyable for me and we had fun discussing over burgers, all the goodies we had picked up.

A few years ago I went through all the old stuff I had packed away and decided to sell most of the treasures I had found from those Saturdays. I sold the handbag collection to a friend of my mother's, whom I knew would appreciate them. The hats, clothing, and some of the jewelry also went the way of the garage sale.

I was sad to see them go, but I just couldn't keep everything. I think it was a sort of purge that I needed at that time in my life.

Every time I went flea marketing I would think of my Grandmother and the summers I spent in her antique shop. I rarely go anymore, but when I do she is on my mind. I sort of feel that she is guiding me to the good stuff. (haha)

Several years ago I read an article in Country Living magazine about an old pottery company called Bauer Pottery. Without telling their whole history, they were basically the company who started the look of mismatched dinnerware, long before Fiesta.

I loved the look of it so I decided I would try to find some. The first piece (the medium size pot pictured above) I found in Indiana. It was perfect until my cat knocked it over onto the brick fireplace. I was sick when that happened, but I still loved the piece, and the cat. :)

The next pot ( the large one) I found totally by accident. I was actually looking at a large photo of downtown Hot Springs Ark. taken in the 30's. It was so neat and It reminded me of my Grandmother. I went back several times before I decided that, yes I could spend $60 on an old picture.

The day I went back to get it, I was heartbroken to discover it was gone. As I walked around the booth, hoping they had just moved it, my foot tapped something big on the floor. I looked down and there it was, the Bauer pot I had been hoping to find someday. It was on sale, and the perfect color too. I just couldn't pass it up. To this day I do feel a bit like Granny Sue lead me to it.

The smaller pot I found on Ebay and paid way too much for it, but I just had to complete the set. I love these pots, as much as you can love an inanimate object.

I think sticking to the garden pots and also sticking with one colorway makes my collection, all be it tiny, very special. Of course that won't stop me from looking for more.

I don't get to go flea marketing very often anymore since two year olds don't make good shopping companions in a store full of antiques and collectibles. I will go again soon though, and maybe Granny Sue will find something great for me. ;)

My post was inspired by this post. Thanks!!