Halloween

Well, tomorrow is Halloween, one of my most favorite holidays...too bad this year I was too tired and too busy to really go all out, didn't even decorate at work - sigh. Will be walking around town with the nephew tonight, dressed as always, there will be a pic or two later, and then will wear the same thing to work tomorrow. Ought to be fun. Have you noticed that each year fewer and fewer people get into the spirit, the fun of Halloween? It's too much trouble I guess. I miss that involvement. It is a holiday that should be simply FUN, no other word describes it for me. Gotta go to work, will write more later tonight, after the TRAIL OF TERROR oopps, I mean Trail of Treaters lol

Later


Whew, we just got home...it's 9:30 and I am whooped! You have to know how exhausting it is following an 11 year old around with his friends. Totally enjoyed myself!!! I LOVE Halloween!! I can be anybody I want and it's OK. I was supposed to be an Evil Jester, but the Evil part didn't pan out, not a lot of fun, so I took a page out of the Riddler's book and jumped around and made people laugh. There was some misheviousness in there, but no evil. Took about 2 hours to wear me out, so I think I got my exercise for the year lol. (gotta figure out how to get a picture on there..I think you'll like the costume). Trav figured out the picture part for me, so here goes - The pic I'm attaching has me winning over the dead guy, he had a really hard time not laughing at me, well truth be told he DID laugh, but quit in time for the photo op.














I think there might be one with the nephew too, yep, there it is...
















and then some kid I found who's little brother and his friend named him "Road kill" lol.

















Come to think of it, I think the nephew might have enjoyed himself too, would be nice I guess lol. Oh well, time to wind down so I can sleep, gotta go to work in the morning and play the part all over again! Happy happy joy joy!!! Good night all!

Baked Pumpkin

I was on another site this morning and realized that I could put the infamous Baked Pumpkin recipe here for all to share...hadn't even thought of it before now... so here it is.

BEEF STUFFED PUMPKIN
Yield: 8 servings - total points: 67 points per serving: 8.5
• 1 (5-6 pounds) pumpkin or (2-3 pounds) pumpkins
• 2 teaspoons salt, divided use
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 pound ground beef (you could do 1/2 sausage & 1/2 beef, really good - or turkey?)
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons crushed dried sage
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 2 cups cooked rice, preferably a mixture of white & wild rice
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut top from pumpkin and remove seeds and strings. Wash outside of pumpkin (since you are going to eat it too). Prick cavity with fork and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Heat pot or large skillet.
2. Add oil to pot or skillet. When hot, add garlic and onion and sauté until onion is transparent. Add beef and continue sautéing until browned. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients.
3. Stuff pumpkin with mixture. Place 1/2- inch water in bottom of a shallow baking pan large enough to hold the pumpkin.
4. Put pumpkin in the pan and bake 1 to 1- 1/2 hours. Cut pumpkin into wedges (or if small pumpkins used, into halves) and serve, giving each person both pumpkin and stuffing.


Be sure to buy your pumpkin early (I use the pie pumpkins, taste great) as they are usually really hard to find by Thanksgiving, which is when we like to have it. Good luck and let me know how it turns out!!






Been a few days

Sorry bout that...I want to make sure everyone knows that we have some really great pictures on our website, many from our recent trip to upstate NY. Click on the AgoraPhoto link to view them. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of them...we are always up for improvement. Thanks a bunch.

I think I can expand

on that last craft, you don't have to use material if you don't want to. You can use pressed flowers or leaves, or photocopies of same. Because they won't bend and form to the plates the same way that the material does, I would suggest cutting out the shapes from paper and arranging them on the plate to see how you want them, then parking the Front of the plate with a china marker to remind you where you want them. Then brush some ModPodge on the front of each, and place on the Back of the plate. Continue until all of your shapes/items are glued on. Let dry. Add two more thin coats of ModPodge letting them dry in between. Then use whatever color of spray paint you like - after lightly masking the edges - to spray the back of the plate. Two light coats should do it. and there ya go, another masterpiece!!! I would Love to see photos of your finished projects.

Have fun!

Very First Visit to My Garden

Welcome to My Garden, where I will be trying to share some creative ideas and projects. If you have any you would like to see, please let me know.

I think I will kick off Yelowflower’s Garden blog with a little tutorial on a craft that I am just starting to do again…Fabric Backed Glass Plates…just thought folks might be interested.

This seems to work best on clear plates, but with the right fabric it looks pretty good on the tinted ones as well. It is a personal choice, as is the size of the plates; I have found 3 sizes and prefer the middle one myself.

1. Clean the plate
2. Choose fabric (these two steps can be reversed)
3. Cut fabric a little larger than size of plate
4. Paint a thin coat of ModPodge on the back of the plate
5. Drape fabric over glue and press from center out, eliminating bubbles as much as possible
6. Let dry
7. Trim edges close to glass
8. Apply coat of latex or acrylic paint over back of fabric to prevent glue from dissolving when getting wet for cleaning

I made a couple of these for a friend last week and they came out pretty good, if I do say so myself.