boo

A few days ago I got a package in the mail.  !!!  My ghostie arrived.  Isn't it so cute?!  I have been admiring Skunkboy Creatures for a while now, and I am so happy I decided to buy one!  The ghost looks even cuter in person.  I'm always so pleased with my Etsy purchases.  I feel so good supporting independent artists.  I don't remember where I saw this goal, but somewhere out there in the blogging world I saw that someone had a goal to support handmade buy buying at least one item per month.  I think that is such an awesome idea.  Most of us can afford to buy ourselves a little something every month (think about all the Starbucks!), ....why not buy that yummy fall scented candle from Etsy instead of Target?!  Christmas is coming up too.  Personally, I am making all of my Christmas gifts, but I would much rather buy something handmade with love than some mass produced crap at the mall.  I am so excited to stay at home and make my gifts!!  I will save tons of cash, and feel good about what I am giving.  I will be at home snuggly in my pajamas instead of buzzing around all those swarms of angry holiday shoppers.  It stresses me out even thinking about holiday shopping.  In fact, I may have to stock up on baking and food staples so that I don't have to go out to the grocery store as much in December.  Crowds give me such anxiety.  Well, now that I have Christmas on the brain, I'm off to look up recipes for bath goods.  Happy Haunting, and Happy Shopping everyone!

apple picking!

I have been wanting to go apple picking for a long time now, and we finally went!  Last Sunday we went to an apple and alpaca u-pick farm in Mexico, MO.  We got off to a rocky start because the trip wasn't really planned out all that well (thank god for GPS).  The weather was so pretty.....the drive up there was actually really beautiful ( I kept seeing all these pretty mustard yellow wildflowers along the roadside).  Once we finally found the place, we knew we were going to have a great time.  The people who ran the place were so nice and friendly there.  They offered us hot popcorn, blueberry muffins, and beverages, gave the girls each a charming handmade alpaca necklace, handed us a bucket, and off we went!  The place was so cute!!  I was amazed at how gorgeous something like fallen rotting apples could look.  It was hard to tell which apples were good enough to pick (most of them had these ugly brown spots on their skin), but we managed to find a whole bucket full.  I wasn't sure about the ugly apples at first, but once Daisy decided to sample a little apple in the orchard, I saw that the flesh was actually bright, clear, and fresh.  We all took a bite, and let me tell you.....it was so so sweet and juicy (a fuji).....orchard apples are delicious!  When we got back to the shop to pay for the apples, we had a little look around the store.  They had a honeycomb display with live bees in it!  We looked at handmade alpaca goods, and I bought some yarn and some tea tree soap.  Then we had to go check out the alpacas of course!!  They are funny little things.  They had a new black baby that was so cute!  I finished my pumpkin spice latte (that I was trying for the first time) on the ride home.  We left with happy hearts, and planned our next adventures on the way home.

chili.

There is finally a chill in the air......time for chili.  Here is my recipe.  I hope you enjoy!

easy V-8 chili

1 big bottle of v-8

3 cans of beans ( i like black beans and kidney beans for chili)

cholula hot sauce

1 can of diced green chilis

chili powder

1 can diced tomatoes

Get a big stock pot and put it on the stove.  Turn the burner on to a medium high heat.  This soup cooks up quick, which is how I like it.  Open all your cans and dump ingredients in.  Do not drain anything.  Add all the juices from your cans.  You want this chili to be easy.  I'm sort of lazy when it comes to cooking and most of the time I want my meals to be quick and easy.   Next, pour in your v-8.  v-8 is amazing in soups!  (It is so good in taco soup and tomato soup.)  Then add your spices as the soup comes to a boil. Taste test periodically to taste if you got it spicy enough.  Remember, the flavors will merge as the chili cooks.  You probably won't need to add much spice, unless you're like me and like it good and hot.  Once you've got it perfect, serve it up with a little shredded Mexican cheese on top, and maybe a sprinkling of goldfish crackers.  I like to set out raw baby carrots to eat on the side (they are cold and feel good on the tongue if your chili is too hot).  We like to have root beer with chili, and if we're really hungry, we'll cook up some hot dogs (hebrew national is the only way to go).  The best thing about chili, besides the fact that it tastes great and is super healthy, is that you can throw in whatever and it somehow still always turns out fantastic.  You really can't screw up chili.(Sometimes I add meat to my chili - ground turkey or extra lean ground beef -.  If I do want meat in it, I will brown the meat in the stock pot first, and season it with chili powder.  I also like to add extra fresh or canned veggies sometimes too.  Mushrooms, onions, zucchini, squash, corn....whatever you have on hand.  Sometimes I'll throw in a can of tomato paste or a can of rotel.)

Send me a link to your chili recipes!!  I'd love to know how you make yours! Fall food is just the best.  I can't wait to try out some of the fall recipes I have been seeing pop up in my I Heart Fall class....they look so yummy.  I'm going to try some new ones I've been wanting to also, like roasted pecans!  What are you making this fall?

things to do...

I am very excited to go out and do things this fall.  There is a lot I want to make sure I don't miss out on!  Here is a peek at what I'll be up to (scroll over them for links):
* apple picking
* corn maze
* fear fest
* pumpkin fest
* octoberfest
* hiking
* necropolis
  What will you be doing this fall?

i heart fall

The paint is dry on my first few i heart fall journal pages!  So here they are!!  (I used a regular sized binder for this, because I wanted to have enough room to record my favorite season in.  Plus I hear we will be sharing recipes in this class and from my personal experience, it is nice to have a lot of room for recipe writing.  I am especially proud of the deer I painted....so cute!)  I have some really pretty fall papers (already 3 hole punched) that I can't wait to show off....there will be much more of this project to come!

i'm falling for...

* rain

* yummy candles

* everyday learning

* journaling

* coffee with fat free french vanilla coffee mate coffee creamer

* new leather boots 

* fall colored tights 

skunkboy creatures

 * making my own fall decorations