Fun Fall Things

Rachel got me thinking about Fall with her post the other day about her pumpkin muffins. They looked so good and they also inspired me to start brainstorming (that might be a bit strong) for ideas. That being said, I love to scour magazines, books and the Internet for ideas for all kinds of things. Being a teacher, I do almost nothing original. I prefer to say that I borrow the idea and make it my own. Here are a few things I've been thinking of cabbaging on to.

The Wack-O-Lantern (Just the name makes me love it!)

Use a mallet to pound golf tees into the pumpkin at random. (Won't THE Princess love this? I even think it looks kind of Martha-ish!) Remove and reuse the tees as you go. When you're done with poking fun, cut an opening around the stem with the carving knife (a job for an adult), remove the lid, and clean out the goop from inside. Place a candle inside the pumpkin and get your glow on.

Pumpkin Snowman

The pumpkin version of a snowman! Stack three pumpkins in graduated sizes, drilling holes through the pumpkins and inserting a large stick to secure. Add stick arms and a face using a black marker.

The Pumpkin Vase (An oldy but a goodie from Martha!)

Select as round a pumpkin as you can find. Cut off the top, and scoop out the inside pulp and seeds. Inside the pumpkin, place a plastic paint bucket or any plastic container that fits easily. Place a cube of Oasis floral foam inside the container, thinning it to fit. Press the foam down to make it level, and drench it with water (enough so that a small pool collects at the bottom of the container). Arrange seasonal flowers, dried leaves, and berries as desired.

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds (Not at all original, I know.)

I always save the seeds from any pumpkins that we carve or that I cook with and make roasted pumpkin seeds. They are easy to make. Separate the seeds from the pumpkin pulp, rinse them in a colander and pat them dry with a paper towel. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with Pam. Put in the oven at 300 F for 8 minutes. Stir and leave for another 8 minutes. I have flavored them with the traditional salt, and then tried other flavors. We have really liked paprika, cinnamon sugar, and red pepper. It makes them "designer" pumpkin seeds, don't you think?

Pumpkin Butter

I have to confess, I do this about every other year. I make and can pumpkin butter (similar to apple butter) to give as gifts. I'll get some pumpkins on the cheap right after Halloween, cook them down, and make pumpkin butter. Mmmmm...I hope I can wait that long!

What Fall ideas do you have? What are you working on?

The Thrill of the Hunt

As mentioned in previous posts, my hubby and I have been married for 20+ years and dated for three years before that (beginning in high school). Over the years one of his hobbies that ultimately became his obsession is hunting. He begins in the summer months with the "scouting" process -- hiking the woods where he will hunt, beginning in September, to find traces of his quarry in order to have his stand (see pic) in the "right" spot.

Summers also means going through the mounds of gear to see what is needed -- does the camouflage clothing still fit, do we have scent-free toiletries (I kid you not), how much ammo is left from last year, do the various calls that mimic animal sounds all still work (love those when I'm having a migraine), etc. Then the only type of shopping he does, beyond the Christmas eve mad dash for my gift, is to buy whatever gear is needed. Actually, now that I think about it, I could even say that shopping begins in the spring as he lovingly browses the mountain of catalogs he receives touting the gear he will decide he cannot live without the next season.

His final step of preparation is honing his skills on the weapons that go along with each season. When we were newly married he only hunted what is called general gun, the last season that doesn't begin until November if memory serves. Now he's added on archery (aka bow and arrow) the earliest season and muzzle loading (aka black powder -- picture revolutionary war style gun with powder and ball and long stick that shoves it all into the barrel) which comes before general gun but after archery. In other words, season officially opens in September and ends in January. However, he has also added spring turkey to his repertoire which adds in the month of March.

Through all of this over the years, my enthusiasm and support have waxed and waned with the seasons of life I had been going through. For example, while I was in college full-time and working full-time, I was relieved to have him out of the house while I concentrated on homework. But one thing I have never understood is what the typical outdoorsman refers to as the "thrill of the hunt" -- that is until now.

Some fellow moms have introduced me to the wonderful world of garage saling. Now I too know the thrill of the hunt. A caravan of us went to Celebration, Florida Saturday for their semi-annual community-wide garage/yard sale. I went with several items on my wish list, some of which I found, and other treasures I would have never dreamed of owning.

One treasure we went home with was this bouncing toy, called a Rody Pony, that I personally found tacky-looking but my toddler fell in love with at first sight. She cried, not the annoying I didn't get my way tears of frustration (which I got later over a juice box), but true heart-breaking tears for this toy not understanding that I had purchased it for her but was going to walk her in her stroller with our other purchases back to the car and drive back to retrieve the pony and a wished for table.

It turns out that what to me looked like a funny-looking, even somewhat ugly plastic inflatable toy retails for $50 (my more experienced friends recognized the treasure for what it was), and I paid $5 for it. Same went for the wood table I had been dreaming of so my toddler would have a place of her own to color and do other artsy projects. Most sets of tables with two chairs have run at least $50 retail, and I will have spent $10 for the same set up gently used.

Now I am totally hooked. Though I began my bargain-shopping, frugal mom life using Craig's List, which has netted us some good deals, I have found the ultimate hunting thrill -- a local garage sale.

Just another day...

I think I may have been one of those moms on Friday (you know, the kind that other people watch and while shaking their heads). I needed to take care of some long-distance errands, and at the end of the day I was in a time crunch but still needed to "run" into Sephora (like that's possible even without kids) to buy some new make-up. My two-year-old was with me, of course, and it was pointless to try to strap him into a stroller, so we walked hand-in-hand into the store for my "quick" bit of shopping.

If you're not familiar with Sephora, it's this shimmering store full of little bottles of potions to make you beautiful, and everything is sitting on open shelves with open compacts and tubes right there to use as testers. It's quite handy to have all of that available to test at will. I used to meander through the aisles there and explore the new trends for hours it seemed...but I digress. Back to my story.

I'm not great at remembering the colors I use, and my tan comes and goes this time of year anyway, so as my son ran from strange pointy tools to stranger psychedelic eye shadows, I explained to the salesperson what I thought I needed. My little guy was being quite polite and just touching things "with one finger" as we always insist, but I was pretty distracted. The dear salesperson, we'll call her Mary, listened to my broken discourse on skin types and colors and tolerated my abrupt interjections of "Stop that!" and "Come here!" (Neither worked, by the way.) She would ask questions and wait patiently while I ran around displays to find my little escapee. I held him tightly on my lap as he squirmed while Mary tried different colors to find the perfect shade. (I mean seriously, am I insane?) I asked her if she had children. Mary said no, but she had been around plenty in her lifetime. Right.

I finally headed to the register to pay for my purchase and began digging through Hot Wheels cars, raisins, and Kleenex to find my wallet while my little guy walked in circles around me. Mary asked, would I like a perfume sample? (Dear Mary, still sticking to protocol!) After ridiculous deliberation (How important is it really? I don't even wear perfume anymore, free or not!) I made my choice, Mary filled the little tube, and I finished my purchase.

Things were quiet. Too quiet. Mary and a fellow salesperson were stifling giggles. I peeked over my shoulder, then slowly turned to see my darling son standing next to the metal-colored eye shadows. He had black, gray, and blue lines streaked on his cheeks and a tube of fire-engine-red lipstick in his hands. He just grinned at me as he pursed his lips and drew crimson circles around his mouth just like Mommy does in the morning.

Have a Phenoneum Day

"Mommy, I'm gonna try with all my heart and all my muscles

to be a good boy and have a phenoneum day."

Me, too, buddy. Me, too.

Speaking of Spilling Coffee...

I did a bad thing the other day. To be fair, it was early. I had been up since 5:20. My baby son (He heretofore shall be dubbed "O-Line," because he is big enough to be the entire offensive line for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Roll Tide! Woo-hoo!) had been screaming for the last 30 minutes/35 miles and we had just completed the first 60 miles of what was to be a 450+ mile trip, 9 hours according to Brenda, the lady who lives in our navigation system, although I'm not sure how accurate Brenda's timing is because I don't think she normally travels with 2 small children. Anyway, we stopped for a break at the Okahumpka Travel Plaza on the Turnpike. My oldest, whom I'll call "Calvin 'n Hobbes" because he is blonde and carries around a battered stuffed orange cat, was able to run off some energy and pretend to play video games. I fed O-Line some mangoes, we changed everyone's diapers and then it was time for my DH and me to get our breakfast. Have you been to this travel plaza? There's a Starbucks and a Dunkin' Donuts. Genius! We opted for DD and my DH took care of the ordering while I chased Calvin 'n Hobbes to the video games and held O-Line. DH came to get us, telling me, "We have to make our own coffee." What? What kind of a ghetto DD has you make your own iced coffee drink? I dragged Calvin 'n Hobbes away from the video game while my arm cramped from holding O-Line. DH handed me a large cup with a brown syrupy substance in the bottom. "That's your flavoring." Ugh. I proceeded to fill the cup halfway with cold coffee, then thought, "Crap! I should've put the ice in first!" I couldn't hold O-Line, hold my cup, and pull the ice lever all at the same time, so I balanced my cup under the ice dispenser and pulled the lever. As soon as the ice hit the cup, the cup flew off the shelf and coffee spilled EVERYWHERE. And what did I do? I left it. I didn't even look back to see how bad the damage was. I just calmly walked to the car, wiped down O-Line, buckled him in his car seat, and got into my own seat. My shirt, shorts, socks, shoes, underwear were soaked. At least it smelled good, unlike gas, which is what I usually spill on myself on long trips. DH and Calvin 'n Hobbes followed a few minutes later, bearing the gift of a coffee cooler from Starbucks. If I'm not banned for life from the Okahumpka Service Plaza on Florida's Turnpike, I think I'll choose Starbucks the next time I stop.

Practical or Pathetic?

Coffee spilled down the front of my shorts first thing this morning.

It's lunchtime now, and I fully intend to wear these shorts for the rest of the day.

Less washing, less waste...saving the planet the lazy way.

Things I Live For...

Moments with my kids and hubby, laughing.
Talking with my girlfriends about girl things.
Really yummy pizza. The kind with stringy cheese.
Swimming at the beach, preferably on Anna Maria Island.
Hearing my girls playing pretend together.
Sitting quietly and asking God a question and actually getting an answer.
Holding my hubby's hand as we marvel at 17 years of marriage.
The promise of heaven in the future.
Visiting my family and making memories with my hubby's family.
Sharing with someone how Jesus has completely changed me for the better.
Old friends.
New friends.
Hearing my girls tell me they love me.

What do you live for?