Halloween=Candy

I'm not sure just how much Halloween is celebrated where all of you live, but here there is plenty to do for young and old alike. For instance, haunted houses. Scary Acres is one such example. Haunted Hollow is another. I could list several more but you get the idea. I've experienced Scary Acres and it's great! If you don't mind a few chills running up and down your spine then that's the place for you! But this year I never got to any of them. Now, if you don't feel like venturing out of your own home, that's OK too. All you have to do is make a trip to a store that sells candy and load up! Take it home and eat like there's no tomorrow. There seems to be so much to choose from it's just about too overwhelming to look at all the choices without having a "Why bother?" feeling rush over you.
But I gave in and took home 7 big bags of candy. I'm talking about the industrial size bags of candy! You know, the ones that weigh almost the same as a small bag of apples. And guess what.....I gave away 4 bags of the sweet stuff to trick-or-treaters! I think roughly 40-45 kids came by. Even some of the parents were dressed up!
They were showing up here until roughly 8:45PM! They began arriving about 6PM and kept coming. At first I was trying to make sure the candy I did have would last without it all being gone early in the evening. But soon I realized it was more than I needed. So I started telling the kids to take as much as they wanted. Handful after handful of candy began to disappear! I was glad to see it dwindle.
Unfortunately I had more left than I knew I could eat----or for that matter, more than I would want to eat! So I put the bag I knew I could eat without any problems, Butterfinger candy bars, into the freezer. The next day I took a mixed bag of chewy candy to work where I knew the vultures would swoop down upon it and leave little to identify! (I was right too!) That leaves one bag of tootsie roll lollipops. I'll drag that one to work as well.
I think that there is SOME kind of candy for EVERY holiday anymore! And it all starts to appear on the store shelves 1-2 months ahead of the actual holiday that it's intended for! Yikes! I saw Christmas candy out already......maybe this post should have been titled, Holiday=Candy!

Halloween Spirit.....No Pun Intended!

Today I managed to put a few of my many Halloween decorations about the house and yard. I have quite a bit after the party that was held here at my house last year. I wanted to have my front yard in the spirit for any trick-or-treaters that stop by. Last year on Halloween, I wasn't home. So this is the first year in this house I'll be here to hand out candy. It's always fun to see what the imaginations of children and parents alike come up with for the youngsters to dress up in.

I waited until this week only because last week we had rain for literally 2 1/2 days straight! Anything from a list misting to a torrential downpour! Yesterday the wind was howling more than any coyote ever would so that was one more day down the tubes for decorating outside.

My perfect spider web complete with purple spider!

Big black spider creeping his way towards any visitors!

Lights lay inside this fragile, human-size string of bones. The camera does no justice!

My pumpkin lights the yard for the spooky nights ahead.

But alas, not to worry.....it did get done! I'm all for decorations. I love Halloween almost as much as Christmas. Now the inside of the house has a combination of Fall/Autumn decor along with the actual Halloween items. I have a sting of pumpkin lights on the railing of my deck and a cloth covered jack-o'-lantern with lights inside sits inside one of the upstairs bedroom windows as well.

And lest you forget my two cats, I always have to think ahead of the one named Trouble. My planning of decoration placement has to be in such a fashion that he can't get at them with too much ease. Especially the very fragile pieces. Believe me, he will try to be nose-to-item until he either triumphs and ends up playing with them or they are just too boring to bother anymore.

So there you have it......not as many things were put out this year. Last year I went all out due to the fact that I had a Halloween party here with all my friends in attendance. But I still had fun with the things that I did take out! Here's to a fun-filled holiday for your ticksters and treaters alike! Have a safe Halloween!

Big Birthday Weekend!

Aside from the craft fair I took part in, there were two birthday parties this weekend as well! And they were for 3 kids all under the age of 5!

Saturday we celebrated the 2ND birthday of Madison Studer. She's a little fire cracker! Her fuse is quite short when she's tired. But she is such a cutie pie! Her birthday is actually today but we all gathered over the weekend because the Studer's had out-of-town family members visiting. Scott BBQ'd hamburgers and they also had hot dogs in a slow cooker for the main course.

The birthday theme was "Elmo" from Sesame Street. The cake was made by our good friend Halli. She works at Sam's Club in the bakery. It was a huge round cake and very tall and very red! The frosting was actually applied with a special decorating tip that made it look like the long stringy fur that Elmo is noted for. I'm only sorry that I didn't have my camera there to get some pictures. In order for you to know how talented Halli is, you may recall her work with this.

After taking pictures of Madison with her cake and watching her get all red from the frosting, we cut into it. It was served with chocolate chip ice cream. Very good!

She had already torn into the gifts from everyone and was delighted with each and every one. She would say "Mine?" after her Mom Lisa would tell her whom it was from. And she wanted to play with each toy the minute the paper came off. But she quickly forgot about them as soon as she saw that she had another gift to open. Too cute! It never gets old watching little ones with presents. There is so much excitement that you can't help but smile with them.

Happy Birthday Madison!

Two Birthday Parties in One!

My friend Halli that makes cakes, and her husband JB have a busy week along with their two girls. Liberti, turned four this past Friday and her sister, Glori, will turn two this weekend. (Notice the patriotic theme with their names? JB is in the armed services; thus the appropriate names!) So they held a combination party for them. It was going to be in a park to give all the little tots some space to run around and play. But even though the day turned out to be so nice and sunny, the wind decided to wreak havoc and blow very strongly. We couldn't keep anything on the tables. One of my other friends, Trisa, lives near by so we moved the party to her house. A very wise decision!

Halli, obviously, made the cakes for her girls. Again, no camera. Instead of making actual cakes, she made a lot of cup cakes. She grouped several of them together and frosted them as if they were one cake and made a smaller version of the Elmo cake that she made for Madison. The other group of cup cakes was frosted to look like a guitar....from Hannah Montana.
They both love Hannah Montana. They wear shirts with her picture on them often!

Here is a picture I took of the two girls in September at my friends' Chris and Dee's wedding. Are they cute or what?

Liberti and Glori

Very polite little darlings. They see me and come running ....they love me! Then it's hugs and kisses all around! So sweet!

After eating pigs-in-a-blanket, chips and dips (that I had made for the craft fair), fluffy salad and of course the cakes, the girls opened their gifts. They had so much fun! Everyone got thank you hugs from them and they were off and playing with the other kids.

A very busy weekend filled with so much joy and very happy girls with new toys to play with! Happy Birthday Liberti and Glori!

"Craft Fair" Season

Today I participated in my first craft fair as a consultant for Tastefully Simple. It was just a small event that lasted only 4 hours. But it was enough to give me an idea of how it will go in the future for other craft fairs should I decide to participate.

It was held at The Waterford Assisted Living facility. I had made beer bread, chocolate pound cake, 6 different dips and 2 cheese balls. I also had twisty grahams and blue Aztec chips (both TS products) along with store bought items for dipping; pretzel sticks, tortilla chips and vanilla wafers. But because I was unsure of what to expect in regards to numbers of people that could show up to shop, I ultimately had made more food than needed. But at least I didn't run out! I set up my table with actual products for display to give customers an idea of what the items look like. I actually had 3 people place orders and one person made a booking for a home taste testing party. Not bad for only 4 hours of work! And it only cost me $10 to reserve a table so it was definitely worth the effort.

One of my friends came by so I had her snap a couple of pictures as a memento of my first craft fair!

I had ordered the banner and the shirt I'm wearing only 1 week prior and received them just in time for the craft fair.

I will be one busy person in the month of November. Aside from another craft fair on the 8TH, I have roughly 8 home parties scheduled, an open house along with 3 other vendors and a cooking show as well. It's great fun and everyone loves to eat! Make sure to check out my web site. www.tastefullysimple.com/web/smccloud .

So Far, TS is a Success

I have to say that I've been having a great time since I started my business as an independent consultant for Tastefully Simple. I love meeting people and getting together. And what better reason to get together than to eat? A lot of folks have never even heard of this company let alone try any of the products they have to offer.

I've been quite busy with taste testing parties in other people's homes. I've done an open house and this coming weekend I'll be participating in a craft fair with my samples for anyone to try. I'm hoping that I can get others to book a party in their homes as well. It's like a domino game. Once one new customer has a party and invites friends that have never had it, they in turn will occasionally have a party and invite their friends...etc.

If you don't know what the home taste testing parties are all about, I'll give you a brief run down. Let's say you decide to host a party in your home. I give you a food kit. It includes samples of 10 or 11 products. What is needed from you as a host is to provide 1 -2 more ingredients to prepare the products which I've given you. Usually sour cream and real mayonnaise. The desserts are slightly different. These products in the food kits may include but aren't limited too: beer bread, 3 or 4 dips that can be eaten with pretzels, crackers or beer bread, a soup mix, a dessert mix and a beverage. I myself being the consultant provide other samples of more dips, fruit spreads, and chips. I also provide the serving containers and utensils and plates. The dips take maybe 20 minutes to prepare and the beer bread takes one ingredient plus bake time and the dessert is 1 or 2 ingredients plus bake time. My hostesses have all agreed on just how simple it is to get ready to host a party. That's what these products are all about; the ease and simplicity of having snacks or meals in a busy household without needing much time to prepare them.

Tastefully Simple was started my a woman named Jill Blashack Strahan in Alexandria, MN back in 1995. She started out selling gift baskets. As the demand for gourmet food increased she decided to start offering taste testing so people could sample what she had. It has grown through the years and is slowly moving its way through other states other than just the Midwest region.

In the last two weeks I've had 4 home parties, one book party (I'll explain that soon), and an open house. This weekend is my first craft fair. November is looking to be a good month as well as I've already got several parties lined up along with a craft fair and another open house. It's financially beneficial to me to help me pay some bills off quicker. But it's more than that. I have gotten to meet several new people because of these home parties. Once one person hosts a party, I may meet someone new that wants to host a party and there I meet more people. Like I said, the domino effect. It's my business to run the way I like too. I can give products away as prizes or even as incentives to get people to book parties and help the hostesses earn more products at the same time. It's awesome!

I have my own web site for this business-- www.tastefullysimple.com/web/smccloud . I will be in ND in the middle of November so if you would like to host a taste testing party in your home, let me know. I'll have my supplies with me. It would be a great opportunity to earn yourself some free products and just have a fun time getting together with friends!

Here's a sampling of what I have to offer!

May My Tree Rest In Peace

As you all know, I've had quite the summer! And fall has arrived all too soon! My summer was mostly a time of disbelief to start, followed by repairs soon after! You should remember this, I assume.

Well, after a brief absence, I've returned with more pictures of another small project that was taken care of yesterday. With all the activity going on at my house because of repairs being done, this time the work took place in my front yard! My big, beautiful Linden tree was destroyed by the tornado and I was left with, well, a sort of stump but yet it wasn't really that either. If you stood and looked straight down at the bark....there was a hole down into the ground and root system. It's like the tornado just sucked it up out of the ground. So is that still considered a stump? Hmm....you decide. Anyway, the roots were still intact into the ground along with the, er, um, stump!

Upon arriving home from work yesterday, I noticed that someone had been driving in my grass! Needless to say, I initially wondered who in the world would need to drive in my yard? (I was instantly chapped!) Then I looked right into the area where my tree once stood and realized what had been going on. "The guys" had been here to remove the "stump". I was unaware that it would be done today. But hey, no time like the present! It had been ground down and then recycled to fill in the hole that was left by the tree. I guess now I can put some grass seed down and hope that it fills in the area nicely! Take a look below at the before and after photos. Click the photos to see them a little bit closer.

This was taken exactly one week before the tornado hit my area. See my nice tree?

Here is what was left of my tree after the tornado.....

After having someone come and remove the stump and roots, this is what the same spot looks like now after the job was done.

The spot where the tree used to stand.....

A different view of my front yard without said tree.

Next spring I will get another tree planted out in the front yard. I sure did miss the shade during the hot summer months. I've been trying to go green....have you?