Treat Night

My favorite part of Halloween, other than when it's over, is when the kids all leave with Robert to go trick or treating and I stay home to hand out candy. That's what I'm doing right now and so far it's a very slow night. That gives me the perfect opportunity to blog a bit.

We bought Ethan's costume today, last minute, at Party City. He really wanted Bleeding Face Zombie or Blood Splattered Zombie Doctor, or Recently Unearthed Skeletal Remains Zombie, but I insisted on a costume that wasn't bloody and didn't have a gory mask covering his whole face. I think the Ninja costume was a nice compromise. Ethan feels a little dangerous and scary, and he's not pretending to have an open chest wound.

It's 17 minutes into Trick or Treating 2008 and Ethan has returned home to dump his full bag of candy to make room for more.

Jonah returned to say it was hard to see through his costume, took it off, and tried to go back out dressed in his regular clothes.

I'm currently holding back the Smarties until the last possible minutes of the night. Maybe I'll turn the porch lights off with a few Smarties left for me. Next year I'm buying only bad candy that I won't be tempted to eat...like Dum Dum lollipops.

It Made a Big Mess

Hey! Look at my attempt at a festive Halloween display. Whatever you do, don't compare it to this one, or this one, and most definitely not this one.

I probably would not have let my kids attempt these haunted candy houses were it not for my creative neighbor I-Shüan and her great ideas. In fact, the title of this post came from my kids who asked me to take pictures of their haunted houses for my blog and told me to make sure I mentioned that "it made a big mess."

Done.

Death by Smarties

The number one rule for buying Halloween candy is this: Do not buy candy you like to eat.

By following this rule, a 5 pound bag of candy becomes much, much less tempting and the chance of gorging oneself, almost non-existent.

This year I broke the number one rule for buying Halloween candy. Maybe my title "Death by Smarties" is a little bit of an exaggeration, but "Sugar-Induced Headache by Smarties" just isn't very catchy.

I Love Fall

I finally put a camera in my car so I could stop and snap a few pictures as I drove around town. The fall colors are stunning. And I'm not using the word "stunning" lightly. I literally am stunned while driving and have to quickly snap out of it and veer back into my lane to avoid going off the road, or worse.
I'm so lucky to live on the edge of the urban growth boundary, and minutes away from beautiful winding roads and incredible scenery. My little camera does not do justice to the beauty.
And in this picture, you can see that Arbor Custom Homes is having some kind of event that requires balloons. Beyond that, the evergreen hills, dotted with yellow and orange just take my breath away.

I drove down Thompson road to see some stunning orange trees with trunks so dark brown the seemed almost black. (These were the trees that almost sent me off the road on Saturday.) Unfortunately, our wind storm last night blew off most of the leaves and they were too branchy to be pretty any more.

Build a Better Mac and Cheese

I can't stand looking at my blog with that spider picture staring me in the face, so I thought I'd share the best mac and cheese recipe I've tried. Ever. Five different cheeses melted slowly in a double boiler make this macaroni and cheese great, but the six slices of thick cut bacon make it amazing.

I got the recipe from I-Shüan and she got it from a magazine. I believe I could eat this macaroni and cheese every day for a week for lunch AND dinner and be perfectly happy.

Carbs? Bring it!

Ann's Macaroni and Cheese (with bacon, of course)
Serves 8

10 ounces, sharp cheddar cheese, grated
4 ounces Monterrey Jack, grated
4 ounces Velveeta, cubed
4 ounces cream cheese
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1 tsp Dijon mustard
6 slices thick cut bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
salt and pepper to taste
12 ounces elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
2 ounces Parmesan, grated

Heat oven to 350. Put cheeses (except Parmesan) in the top of a double boiler and melt over simmering water, stirring frequently. Gradually add evaporated milk, whisking until completely smooth. Whisk in mustard, bacon, salt and pepper. Pour into a 9 x 9 inch baking dish, add macaroni, and toss to coat.

(I actually mixed the macaroni and cheese in the pot I'd cooked the macaroni in. I drained the macaroni and returned it to the pan, then added my cheese sauce. I would NOT have had room to mix it in the 9 x 9.)

In a small bowl combine bread crumbs and Parmesan; sprinkle over the top. Bake until crumbs are browned and cheese is bubbling, 25 to 30 minutes.

Disclaimer #1: The photo above is a random mac and cheese photo from google images. I didn't happen to take a picture of the mac and cheese I made because we all dug into it so fast and now it's gone. But the picture is actually a pretty close representation.

Disclaimer #2: If you are too good to use Velveeta, just ignore this recipe. I'm sure you would have hated it anyway.

Disclaimer #3: This macaroni and cheese is not part of any weight loss plan. Translation: It's awesome!

Identify That Arachnid!

Warning: The following picture is super disgusting and gross. Unless you like fat spiders with hairy legs. What? You don't see the hairy legs. Just double click on the picture, but don't say I didn't warn you. (Super disgusting and gross!)

I was standing in the kitchen and saw this thing creeping across the patio today. It was struggling to haul it's giant BE-hind and kinda slow. Robert was able to catch it in one of my good canning jars (and I had to use a good lid too, which will have to be burned after this) so the neighborhood boys could gawk at it.

Unless this is a magic spider that grants wishes and eats moles and gophers in one bite, my guess is that this spider will be in "spider heaven" before the day is out. Sorry if that offends any animal lovers out there.

**Update**
I'm pretty sure this is a regular "garden spider" and that it looks different because it's bottom is about ready to blow. Must be egg laying season.

Pushing Uncrustables

Several years ago I signed up at bzzagent.com to receive products to test and share. The idea is to create a buzz and share information by word of mouth. All of this sharing is done above board. I tell people I get items to try and that I'm supposed to tell people about products I love--it's all on the up and up.

I won't try to impress you with some of the fun products I've been able to try but I will tell you my current "Bzz Product" is Smucker's Uncrustable peanut butter and jam sandwiches.

I have no problem feeding my kids peanut butter sandwiches I buy from the grocery's freezer section, other than the price. A four-pack usually goes for over $3. When I consider the price per sandwich, and that I could make the same sandwich for pennies (I have a Pampered Chef Cut-n-Seal) Smucker's Uncrustables fall into the luxury category.

Every once in a while, if I see a sale, I will pick up a box or two and enjoy a couple days of easy school lunches. Other than that, I make my own PB&J.

When I joined the Smucker's Uncrsutables Bzz Campaign, I received a book of coupons. One was for a free box of Uncrustables (for me) and the rest were 75 cents-off coupons. Believe me, I wanted to use every single one of those coupons myself, but realized that as Bzz agent, part of my job is to "share," so I formulated my plan.

Yesterday morning I saw my kids off at the bus stop, then asked the other moms if they'd like to try Smucker's Uncrustables with a 75 cents-off coupon. Fred Meyer currently has Uncrustables selling at $2.50 a box, which would make one box of Uncrustables $1.75. That's a pretty darn good deal.

Well.

You would have thought I was pushing crack with some of the responses I got. Several moms shook their heads and walked away quickly. One said she didn't let her kids have high fructose corn syrup. Another said she didn't let her kids eat white bread. I explained that Smuckers has a Peanut Butter and HONEY sandwich on brown bread, but she didn't seem impressed.

Several moms did actually take coupons, but I think they thought I was weird.

I felt like I needed to explain. I grind my own wheat and can home made applesauce! I feed my kids fresh fruit and vegetables at every meal (except pizza night) and we don't drink any juice with high fructose corn syrup. It's just nice to have a little convenience item that makes my life a tiny bit easier every once in a while. Is that so wrong?

I took my remaining coupons to Fred Meyer and bought 4 boxes of Uncrustables. Maybe the other mom's kids have healthier lunches, but I bet those kids totally covet my kid's lunches.