HALLOWEEN STUFF/JUNK AND A SPIDER

Happy Halloween

That's about as creative as I'm getting this year. We (okay, it's 95% Phil) has been cleaning out the spare bedroom and that is scary enough! We have, I'm guessing, several thousand books and a whole lot of other "stuff," which my nephew, Cameron, says is "good stuff" if it's yours. If it is viewed by someone who doesn't have a emotional attachment to it, it's "junk."

So Happy Halloween, and I hope your scary day is not accompanied by a room full of scary stuff/junk, like mine is.

Here's my Pinterest Halloween board.

GERANIUMS, TIME TO BRING THEM IN

The end of summer, and the end of my flowers until next spring.

These are the geraniums that wintered over in my basement last year, with no water, no light, no nothin' until late February. I watered them then, and Phil rigged up a couple of lights for them.

They have done really well all summer, but they aren't in yet, and we are having freezing weather here. I hope they are hang on until we have time to trim them and lug them downstairs. I'm hoping to get some good grandchildren-help with that project.

I WISH YOU ENOUGH

This blog post is dedicated to Terri, whose mother died this week.

This came in an email today. I'm sorry I can't give credit to the originator. Here it is:

Recently I overheard a Father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.

Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the Father said, 'I love you, and I wish you enough.'

The daughter replied, 'Dad, our life together has been more than enough.. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Dad.'

They kissed and the daughter left. The Father walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'

'Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'.

'I am old, and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' he said.

'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?'

He began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone...' He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and he smiled even more.. 'When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them..' Then turning toward me, he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

PS FOR PEELING GARLIC

In yesterday's post I showed how to peel any number of garlic cloves in ten seconds. What I neglected to say was this method is noisy. Warn the family to cover their ears when you are "peeling."

Love,
No More Garlic Smelling Fingers Lynne

SHABBY CHIC NAILS

I have a French nail manicure. Kinda. The tips, usually painted white, are just devoid of polish. But I'm calling it Shabby Chic French Nails. Do you think it will catch on?

PEEL GARLIC IN TEN SECONDS

This is the niftiest kitchen tip I have ever seen. Simply put as many garlic cloves as you need in a pan. (See, they all still have that little papery skin that is so annoying to peel. )
Put another pan on top.
Shake like crazy for ten seconds and...
...there you have it, naked garlic.

Here is the original site with a video showing this nifty trick.

You love me don't you, for bringing this hint into your lives? I aim to please.

ROADKILL GRANDDAUGHTERS

Lisa was dragged behind a car. Well, not quite, she still needs a bit of work.
One more pass and she was wounded a bit more

Poor little things.

Kate's eye is a little messy. What's a grandmother to do?
The process. Taylor paints the tire with black paint.

Phil backs up.

Well, girls, is this all right?

Happy Halloween

DO YOU LIKE THE SMELL OF GRAPE KOOL-AID?

Do you like the smell of Grape Kool-Aid?

Me too.

Do you like your head to smell like Grape Kool-Aid?

Me neither.

Well, if someone did buy this and then went to church, and people around her went, "sniff, sniff."

And then they said, "Humm. What's that smell? It smells good. Like grape Kool-Aid."

And then they smelled her, and well, I'm just sayin', if you don't want to be smelled a lot and have people roll their eyes and snicker behind your back, well, don't buy this.

MOM OBVIOUSLY TALKED IN CODE

All of my growing up years we bottled food. Green beans, corn, peaches, pears, cherries, etc. We had a little room on the far end of the house that seemed to always be cold. It was lined with shelves and the shelves were filled with home canned food, and store bought food that we couldn't can, like tuna. Mother was never "out" of anything and she had enough for a couple of years worth of most things.

This room was called the "fruit room." It was built as a storage room. It had one tiny window with no glass, just screen. A down pillow, just that size, was in the recess of that tiny window and it was moved to the side of the window, a little bit or a lot, depending on how much outside air mom wanted in the fruit room. In the winter that room was cold enough that she kept the Thanksgiving leftover turkey in there. (I know, I shudder at the thought, but we never got sick from food poisoning, not one time.)

I once asked her why she canned and bought so much food.

"It's for the Californians," she said. "There will be trouble in California and they will come here for refuge and we will feed them."

I was young. What did I know.

Then today I got an email from a dear friend (Hi Kim!). This was in it:

Mother obviously knew this. She knew everything. And now I know. Zombies, not Californians, were coming. (Although I lived in California for four plus years. I should have known.)

And now you know. You've been warned.

BUTTERMILK MUFFINS

This recipe was on All RECIPES here.

See the cook's notes at the end. I'm going to try it with cheddar cheese and cooked bacon. I couldn't tell that there was any bacon in it but one family member could and said it added a little something.

BASIC BUTTERMILK MUFFINS
"This is a great basic muffin batter that can be adapted to almost anything."

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup butter, melted (I was out of butter so I used 3 Tbs. olive oil and one Tbs. water and the muffins tasted fine)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla.
3. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and stir just until mixed (the batter will not be smooth). Gently stir in fruit, if desired (see Cook's Note).
4. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins; fill the cups almost to the top. Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 18 minutes.

Cook's Note

You can add 1 cup of almost any fruit, nut, or baking chips to this recipe by folding in at the end, and adding spices to match (blueberries and lemon zest, for example, or peeled chopped apples and cinnamon).

I WONDER WHY

I have a new time wasting passion. Pinterest. I have 12 boards there. Twelve. They all have things pinned to them except the organizing one. Humm. I wonder why.

PIE

Taylor made a chocolate, peanut butter pie today. There were only three of us at home. There is one piece left and that is only because we put it away, out of sight, and promised Phil he could have it for tomorrow's lunch. We're practicing restraint.

PS Taylor was just down here and whispered, "I'll make another one tomorrow."

PPS At this rate I'll weigh 300 pounds by Thursday.
I know this is blurry but if I go out to the garage and open the freezer and take another photo, Phil will not have pie for lunch.