Decorating for Halloween and Thriller!

My daughter and I decided to dress up the place a little last week. She did most of the work. She was really into it. We added little touches here and there and lots of candles. I love the smell of pumpkin and apple spices in the fall.

I recycled most of my decorations from last year. You might remember my creepy skeleton face. I found it over at the Graphic Fairy. I also found this hand too. I already had a couple of frames, so all I had to do was get the black spray paint out.

This cute little sparkle tree is from Micheal's in the scrap booking department. All I did for this was place it on scrap book paper.

I placed the Heebie Jeebies in the down stairs bathroom.

I thought that was apropo. Ha ha! I don't go all out for Halloween decorations. Just a few touches here and there. Just enough to get in to the spirit of the season. This is a great time of year! I really love this cooler weather. You can't have Halloween without the classic thriller!

Have a great Halloween!

Crochet hats I have been working quite a bit on my crochet lately. There's been a baby boon in my school so I'm making some gifts. I was trying to think of something that I could make. I personally love homemade gifts. I've found several patterns on line that are very easy. Alli crafts have some very cute patterns and they are free! You can find her patterns here. This pattern works up real fast. The entire hat is made using double crochet. The striped hat also uses single crochet. So easy even a cave man can do it! Ha ha! I've made 5 hats so far. My daughter was a little jealous so I'm making one for her too. Oh yes, I won't be forgetting my boys and my daughter-in-law. Now that the weather is slowly cooling off we can wear hats and scarves soon, I hope anyway. If you check out my Pinterest, you can see more crochet ideas. Theses are made from alpaca and is very soft. I've also made some pink ones but forgot to take a picture before I gave them away. Oops! Thanks for stopping by. Have a supper weekend!

Carmel Fruit Dip

This is the best fruit dip I have tried in a while.

At our school the little kiddo's have been studying all about apples. For example:

• The life cycle of apples,
• Johnny Apple Seed
• Counting seeds
• Apple poems
• Different colors of apples
• Apple pies
• Apple sauce
• Apple tasting

The list goes on and on.

Well all this talk of apples was making me hungry for... APPLES!

And since it's fall, I'm all about some Carmel. Right!

Here's an easy, fast and yummy recipe for Carmel Fruit Dip:

6 oz pkg cream cheese

1 small jar Marshmallow Fluff

2 heaping tablespoon Carmel sauce (for ice cream)

Mix and enjoy!

All you need now is a spoon and maybe an apple.

I'll leave you with a little poem from our class:

Two Little Apples

Two little apples hanging in a tree.

Two little apples smiling at me

I shook that tree as hard as I could

Down came the apples Mmmm they were good!

Vanilla cake with Butter Cream Frosting Kicked up a Notch

A couple of days ago I was asked to make a cake to bring to school. A co-worker was leaving her job and we were having a farewell lunch for her. Making a vanilla cake sounded dull to me, but that is what I was told to make.

So this is what I decided to do:

First I bought 2 French Vanilla Duncan Hines cake boxes. Then I came home and put my thinking cap on.

I have found a blog from a talented young lady from Your Cup of Cake. She has some very tasty cup cakes and frosting's. I looked around her blog and then in blog land and came up with my own creation. Ha ha!

When I mixed the 2 cake mixes I substituted half of the oil for apple sauce. Then I poured both mixes into one 9x13 inch pan. The pan was lined with aluminum foil and extended a couple of inches over the sides. That was so when it baked it could rise up to the very top of the pan.

When It came out of the oven I placed a cutting board on the top and smashed it down. I let it cool that way.

This will make the cake more dense.

When it was cooled I frosted it with my own creation.

I wasn't sure the frosting would be any good so I asked my daughter to try it. I got a definitely yes from her. Yeah!

Butter Cream Frosting

1 stick of softened butter

2 Tablespoon milk

½ teaspoon vanilla

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1/3 cup Sweetened Condensed milk

2 cups powdered sugar

Doesn't this have a nice color.

I remember reading PW blog and her commenting, sweetened condensed milk was so good. That's where I got my idea to add it to the frosting.

Sorry I didn't take a picture of the finished cake. My decorating leaves something to be desired. My daughter laughed and said it looked like something an old lady would make. I was crushed! Not really.

When I took it to school I received tons of compliments. I felt so good inside.

Ha ha! Everyone thinks I'm a good cook. What they don't know won't hurt them. :) At the end of the day there was only one small piece left.

It may be ugly but damn it was good! Ha ha!

Say, anyone got an idea what I should name the frosting?

Thanks for stopping by.

The Pumpkin Patch

We've had some really beautiful weather the past few days. The temperature was in the 60's today. Wow! That is so awesome! I love it when the

weather is cooler! So my son and I decided to go out and enjoy the sights of fall.

There is a local church in my neighborhood that has an annual fundraiser. The youth sell pumpkins to raise money for their summer camps. Well, each year is has gotten bigger and bigger. Earlier this week they received there truck full of beautiful pumpkins.

They now have a pile of straw for the kiddo to play in and lots of little red wagons to be pulled around in. Today the kids were having a blast in the piles of straw.

I noticed they have also added fresh popped corn for sale. There are a couple of places to take a picture here and there. How much fun.

I could have stayed longer but my son was wanting to move on. This one is mine. I just love the texture. It's so ugly I didn't think anyone else would take it home.

Look at this lovely. Isn't the color cool. I could have spent a bundle of money but I held out and bought only three. I always purchase in three's because I have three children. I know, how cool am I. Ha ha!

Well, time to go. Wishing you all a beautiful fall week.