Hello Fall!

Its that time of year again... my favorite time, when the season starts to drift from fry eggs on the sidewalk hot, to knee socks & hot chocolate. I get so excited over the date on the calendar that tells us Fall is officially here, whether it truly feels like Fall yet or not, I know its coming! This is like the beginning of an awesome movie with badass sequels following shortly behind. Coming up, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, then a whole new year to start it all over!

For now I am giddy over the cold weather fashions being set out in stores, the changeover of candle smells to Fall-ish flavors (cinnamons, pumpkins, apple blossoms, etc.), the aisles of candy and costumes to choose from... the smell that reminds me of the bottom of a trick or treat bag with all of its mixed candies and the scary fun from going door to door yelling "trick or treat"!

Speaking of Halloween... two guesses at what my 3 are going as this year?

Yeah, that's right, this momma is already on it. ;-)

As we kick it into holiday planning mode, we will continue doing our chores,

 feeding and scrubbing messy babies,

and we will continue to have fun while cruising through & enjoying the upcoming holidays!

Rapuntzel, Rapuntzel, let down your hair... lol.

Oh, and last minute impromptu silly picnics... because Fall is good for those too!

* Oh, and completely off topic, but have to add... after an ambulance ride to the hospital this week because I thought I was having a heart attack (no joke ), there is a lesson to be had. Even more so during the soon to be hub-bub of the holidays. My advice (that I dont seem to listen too, but I am going to try to more)...take time to  relax some and dont get so stressed if the baseboards in the house are dirty, or the laundry rivals Mount Everest, or you run out of time to make sure your hair and makeup are perfect, or your desk has so much paper on it you could open your own pinata' making factory. No one cares if things are perfect and if they do, they are not around for the right reasons anyway. So there. Relax. Deep breaths and enjoy the day you are given.

Take care of yourself. You are the only you there is.
~ This public service announcement brought to you by the department of Public Happiness and center for Living a Stress Free Life.

P.S. - We actually had a wee bit of desperately needed rain! Break out the rainboots and pray for more rain!

Fried Carnival

Come one, come all, to the freaky fried food carnival...   

Welcome to our Saturday family hangout! Yes, games, colorful decorations, carnival foods and sugary treats await!


Throw in a few colorful balloons...

Of course the candy coated pretzels... an event staple. (An anytime staple... delicious!)

Abbie & Josh helped decorate with their specially crafted princess & cowboy wood people.

Hot dogs, nachos & cotton candy.... oh my!

Our biggest Little's boyfriend mentioned he wanted to try a fried twinkie like at the state fair. So, after a trip to collect the ingredients and a quick recipe search on the net... we were frying frozen twinkies in no time.

The fried twinkie is delicious. After eating it, you can actually hear your arteries clog and your cholesterol rise.

We fried twinkies, a chili pepper (?), some pickles, a shrimp... then Cassidy (big Little) decided she was going to fry a batter dipped strawberry. Looked good enough, until she cut into it. That ripe red gorgeous berry somehow turned into a pale tasteless glob of goop.

That good eh?

Fun, laughs, full tummys and one went home sick from all the garbage junk food eaten (sorry Carson)!

Carnival day was good.

Fall is coming...  ;-)

A treasure indeed!

Because sometimes you just have to craft a lil' something... it's good for the soul. Gives a sense of accomplishment, a glowing proudness, a feeling of greatness, a .... ah, just have a look at the brilliant piece of art/functional masterpiece I created today! (Disclaimer:  "I" didnt necessarily come up with this idea, rather, I kind of used my crafting genious to tweak an idea... oh forget it, yeah, I totally stole the idea from pictures on the internet.)

I stalk thrift stores/resale shops for old picture frames and glassware. You never know what kind of potential treasure awaits! Found this old oval shaped frame that yelled at me to buy it one day. It was hideous. I brought it home and tucked it away... until now.

A fresh coat of white satin spray paint, a bit of distressing with a metal nail file, some chicken wire screwed onto the back and voila'! Who knew chicken wire could be so pretty! My new hair trinket holder!  (For the master bathroom I am getting ready to redo and girly fru-fru up... thats a whole other story.)



Speaking of redoing the master bathroom... found a huge floor length mirror framed in cherry wood at same said thrift store the oval frame was found. (Actually my biggest Little spied it for me.) Ready for this? Price tag was one thousand two hundred fifty cents! Okay it ws $12.50, I only said it like that to make it sound more expensive. Can you believe it? $12.50?!!  I could NOT pass it up. (Mirrors of the same size/quality go for a pretty penny... see... crazy to pass it up!)



Could not back up enough to get the entire mirror in a picture.



Now, me and my oldest daughter trying to wedge this huge mirror in the car will never be forgotten. (Yes, a car, I didnt exactly think this thing through. Look, I was blinded by the bargain I had just scored.)  After being proud of my treasure and getting home and the mirror getting STUCK in the car trying to remove it, and the serious panic that set in.... well, that made the mirror priceless.  A treasure indeed. ;-)

The Wickle

My biggest Little: "I have to introduce you to a friend of mine. its called the wickle..."

Me (Mom): "What? A wickle?! Wicki wicki wickle.....check, check out my melody....(sorry carried away rapping) Hmmmmm, interesting! What in the world is it?!"

Behold, the Wickle. A new BFF. A tasty little morsel of sweet, hot and just right seasoning. I am in love.  (Apparently so is my daughter, as she has gone through several jars in a week.)

After tasting a jar, it was a must... a MUST, that we went to the store right away and bought some more jars. Then an idea; what if we made our very own?! A few minutes of internet research and we were off on a hunt for ingredients.

Of course we had to purchase a few more jars of Wickles for taste testing purposes.

Ingredients used:

whole dill pickles sliced thick

organic sugar
organic garlic

whole dried red chili peppers

a large jar of jalepenos

...then we just kind of poured, taste tested and eyeballed the recipe (then let them sit for 7 days).

Big Little my mad kitchen scientist.



Voila'. I present, the "Hickle" (the homemade Wickle).

Not quite as tasty as the original Wickle, but pretty damn good.

After a long day of shopping and standing in a store line for 2 hours (we are determined), we created delicious sub sandwiches that of course included, the Wickle.

Sighhhh, in love with a pickle.

Purchase Wickles online here: www.simsfoods.com (and a few other tasty goodies)