Halloweenie Time

Happy Halloween.  'Tis the time of year that should be placing some fear amongst thee.  I feel like I have been a bit of a ghost here in my little cyberworld.  Just eloquently hiding amongst the dark shadows awaiting the appropriate time to lurch forward and make myself known.  I have been draped in a cloak of sickness this week.  I silently hope the little ghosts and goblins shall scare away that which haunts me this week.

What my Halloween shall bring me this year if it shall ever be so inclined....

 A little scary movie time

with Some Pizza and Wine

And some trick or treat time with my little hood rats

Of course we must reflect that this morning our little Wisconsin decided to give us a little trick thinking it 'twas winter

  And with that quick little hello world insight, May everyone have a Happy Halloween.

The weekend that was...

Hello Monday.  How you have came way to soon this week.   If I could have been graced with another day this weekend it would have been fantastic.

Friday evening was a whole mess of getting ready for the cross county meet aka attempting to make brownies while realizing I was not prepared for the task at all.  Seriously those 8x8 pan brownie mixes should be outlawed.   Why, would you want to only make an 8x8. Poo.

Saturday was crazy.   It was sectionals day for our cross country team. 

 Those boys are amazing and pretty funny to say the least.

 

They had an absolutely beautiful day for running  A little windy but overall it was gorgeous.

 

My Forest pushing it to the finish line.

And then there was a few determinations like he can run, but when is he going to figure out how to put his shorts on right.

And that clearly our boys did not run hard enough since they had so much energy to mess around.  The girls had a fantastic showing at sectionals also.  Their distance has been changed to a 5k.  We have one glorious young lady who will be going to state.  She is an amazing person overall and could not be more grateful it is her.

 

In the afternoon, we took a little family field trip.  More to come on this later if all works out.  For now please just cross your fingers.

 

Then later in the evening we had a little mini celebration for the Steppie's birthday.  Presents and cake today since Sunday was Olive Garden day and there would be no way anyone would have room for cake after that.

 

 Photobombed by Chuck, of course

 

 

Her very own sleeping bag...and an Austin Mahone calendar so she can just stare at him for the next 365 plus days.

 

 

Later in the evening it was time for the Halloween Pub Crawl.  We opted to go for the 80's this year.

Now the only thing that I know is that it is crazy how much time it takes for big hair.  The fact that I did this for a portion of my teen years, just amazes me.  And the amount of hair spray it takes.   The bathroom floor was a sticky mess and I am grateful no one flicked a lighter within 5 feet of me. 

 

 The hubbie also had some shutter shades, but those were being borrowed for a scavenger hunt.  Speaking of the hunt, you think being dressed as a hunter his team would have won the scavenger hunt.

 

You can't see it, but he also has a little dog tucked into his vest.  This year we didn't hit all bars.  Only three and opted to not take the bus.  Sad, slightly since there were no crazy bus stories, but I do like being able to not have to wait for a bus to take me somewhere.

 

Sunday was suppose to be the normal with the a special birthday dinner at Olive Garden.  For me though, it was spent in bed sick. Boo. Hubbie, steppie and little bro hit the Olive Garden.  While I managed to sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, and watch two episodes of Dexter.

 

Back at it today though.  Seriously looking forward to getting caught up with all my stuff this week.

 

 

Birthday time...again

Today's Friday five goes to the "daughter"  I never expected to have in my world, my steppie.  Here are my five of my favorite moments/things from the last year:

 

1. The mass amount of joy and excitement from being able to hold some little baby bunnies, who just wanted to climb up the sleeve of her jacket for some warmth.

 

2. Lack of girl fears...like related to various slimy creatures.  This girl will step up and catch frogs with the boys, find excitement in toads, and is just curious about other creatures we stumble upon.  No fear.

 

 

 

3. Softball.  Her last year in rec ball.  Now time to see how she fairs in the big leagues of high school.

 

 

4. and 5.  Sense of adventure.  This girl has an amazing sense of adventure.  If there is a crazy idea that relates to the outdoors she is in the majority of the time.

 

She has reached new heights.

 

Will toss on a 25lb pack and hike miles and love it or at least come back for more

 

Of course finding little discoveries like this make it worth it...

 

Gladly charts undiscovered waters

No Matter how crazy the adventure was

 

or how many cobwebs we went thru

And even managed to save the day on that day

 

 

Steppie you are my crazy adventure girl. Cheers to another crazy year filled with some fun adventures and creating some awesome stories.

Love you, steppie. 

 

Yummie Simple Magical Bars

Pretty sure that these things have some other "official" name, but in my book they are simple and yummie.  So they will now be named.

 

Yummie Simple Magic Bars

 

Ingredients

1/2 c. Butter

1 1/2c. Graham Crackers crumbs

Coconut Flakes

Can of Sweetened Condensed milk

Chocolate Chips

Peanut Butter or/and Butterscotch Chips

Nuts (optional)

 

This is how we do it....

1.  Fire up that oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Melt butter

3.   Mix Butter and graham cracker crumbs together.  To save yourself some time buy the crushed graham crackers like above.



 

4.  Press the graham cracker crumb mixture into a 9x13 pan

 

5. Crack open that can of sweetened condensed milk and drizzle over crust.  Only use about 1/2 of the can save the rest for a little later.  Don't forget to dip your finger in the can and savor in the delectable goodness of sweetened condensed milk.

 

6. Sprinkle with chocolate chips, butterscotch/peanut butter chips, coconut, and whatever other topping you may have decided that you needed.  Hey even m&m's could go on this sweetness.

7. Now drizzle with the rest of the sweetened condensed milk. 

 

8.  Pop that right into the oven.  Bake for about 25 minutes until the edges are a nice golden brown.

and then finally, after cooling of course, indulge in the simple delectable, sweet goodness.

Enjoy

 



The Weekend that was....

Then there was the moment of reflecting back on the weekend to determine what I actually got accomplished because it truly felt like a whole lot of nothing.  

 

Friday found my bum planted in front of the tv binge watching the final episodes of American Horror Story season 3.  The fact that I actually sat there and watched tv for more then an hour is a miracle.  American Horror Story is the bomb though.  Those writers are seriously a little messed in the head.  Now to get caught up with season 4.

 

Saturday morning was breakfast with my mommie, daddie and the littles prior to my parents' departure to warmer weather.  And I really wanted them to try the restaurant in the natural food store that I love.  Think it was a little too much for them, but I still had an amazing breakfast.

 

The rest of Saturday was spent shopping, like for the majority of the day shopping.  Goodness it was a long one. 

 

Then we celebrated my fluff-a-muffins 9th birthday on Saturday night.

 

Super special diner.  The hubbie loves this picture with Bullet's eyes super wide.  He was so excited because he had super special from the can dog food.

 

And finally one of his birthday presents...a sock monkey, which he proceeded to carry everywhere he went including outside to the bathroom until he eviscerated it, of course.

 

Sunday morning was spent running.  It was in a city that is relatively close to home. 

 

It has been such a long time that I explored around this town.  Quite a bit has a changed and getting to see three miles of it just made me want to come back another day for some more exploring.

 

Quick snapshot from a part of the run.  Yes, it was so pretty I just had to stop especially since I passed up two other picture perfect points earlier in the race.  Hello, I was racing this time.  Which meant I had a hope.  Turned out to only be a hope though and did not make the time I was hoping for.  And I was not stopped long enough to make a difference.    This race though gave me a good idea where I was at base wise and what I need to do to go forward.  Over the last year I have had a marathon brain only, just looking to make the long runs.  In the next year after my miles are back at a comfortable level, I will be focusing one day specifically on getting faster.  If I would have hit my hope, I would have grabbed 2nd in my age group. 

 

 L also joined me at this run.  We will just say she PR'd for this season since she can shave a few seconds off of her time for her attempting to be an over achiever and taking the longer way around one of the bends. 

 

With the base now laid, it is time to crack down and get back to training hard.  Work Hard, Play Hard.

 

Sunday evening was spent with the littles.   We went thru the fleet farm toy catalog to determine what they "needed" for Christmas.  You know this is important since it is October.  Yep, toyland is open and it is October.  Pretty soon they will be pushing Christmas in August.  Santa better have a pretty big wallet this year.

 

 

Then to not hamper their schedules too much, Auntie slept at their house. Structure/consistency is very important in our family.  All of us kind of thrive on it.   Now what happens when auntie sleeps over...

 

We put up a tent to sleep in; in the living room.  Because really what fun is it just going to sleep in your bed when we can camp out in the living room. Oh and leave it for a surprise when your dad gets home....to only have seen his face.

 

Even with feeling like I got nothing accomplished, it was a glorious weekend filled with so many of my favorite things.