a taste of FALL?

it's not cool enuf here to feel like fall yet,
but here is a yummy recipe-
that helps to set the mood.

SUPER EASY BEAN SOUP
you need a big crock pot and a can opener!

5 cans of beans...
i usually use, ranch style, great white northern , normal cut green beans,& kidney. bush baked bean, pork & beans etc- depends whats on sale when i get ready to make this.

tomato sauce or a bottle of ketchup
brown sugar
brown, crumbled bacon. go ahead and burn it. so it crumbles good.

and / or browned ground meat...ie. hamburger approx 1 lb.

salt and pepper and some liquid smoke.

you can do sauteed onions{ my Hubby lourves his onions}

drain the water off the plain beans. keep the good sauces!
put then into the crock pot. add the ketchup and sugar. give it a good stir, and walk away.
now cook the hamburger or bacon. let it cool
( or do this in advance - just leave the crock pot alone for about 2 hours)
now add the meat and onions and liquid smoke if you want.
let it mix all together and cook till its all warm and gooey. say 2 more hours
( as long as nobody lifts the lid )
then you are ready to EAT.
serve with corn bread or whatever and again,
IF you are married to my Hubby more onion on top.

and this is wonderful the 2nd day as well. Enjoy...

Especially for my Daughter!

http://blogthings.com/couldyoubeavampirequiz/


You Could Be a Vampire... If You Had To
Like most people, the thought of being a vampire has crossed your mind.
But you're not sure if you'd do it, even if you could.
Living forever doesn't sound half bad, if
you could live forever with the people you love the most.
But do vampires even love? And would the vampire version of you even be you?
It's all too much to contemplate.
Luckily, the chances of you ever becoming a vampire are astronomically low.
What you would like best about being a vampire:
Living forever
What you would like least about being a vampire: Blood stained teeth

Not quite like TWILIGHT... just for fun...

fun game from Cake Spy.com...

1) Copy this list into your site, including the instructions!
2) Bold all of the sweets you've eaten!
3) Cross out any of them that you'd never ever eat.
4) Consider anything that is not bold or crossed out your "To Do" List.
5) Optional: Post a comment here linking to your results--or just post a comment letting us know how many you've tried, or what you're going to try next!

Red Velvet Cake ~ w/ cream cheese frosting, delish!
Princess Torte
Whoopie Pie ~ Whoope!
Apple Pie either topped or baked with sharp cheddar
Beignet
Baklava
Black and white cookie
Seven Layer Bar (also known as the Magic Bar or Hello Dolly bars)
Fried Fruit pie (sometimes called hand pies)
Kringle
Just-fried (still hot) doughnut ~ thank you krispy kreme, please come back.
Scone with clotted cream
Betty, Grunt, Slump, Buckle or Pandowdy
Halvah
Macarons
Banana pudding with nilla wafers ~ mmmmm
Bubble tea (with tapioca "pearls")
Dixie Cup
Rice Krispie treats ~ basically wonderful ( have you tried it w/ other cereals?)
Alfajores
Blondies ~i need a good recipe! please..
Croquembouche
Girl Scout cookies ~ THIN MINTS
Moon cake
Candy Apple~ almost time, yeah!
Baked Alaska
Brooklyn Egg Cream
Nanaimo bar
Baba au rhum
King Cake
Sachertorte
Pavlova
Tres Leches Cake ~ thank YOU Kenia!!
Trifle
Shoofly Pie
Key Lime Pie (made with real key lime)
Panna Cotta
New York Cheesecake
Napoleon / mille-fueille
Russian Tea Cake / Mexican Wedding Cake
Anzac biscuits
Pizzelle
Kolache
Buckeyes
Malasadas
Moon Pie
Dutch baby
Boston Cream Pie
Homemade chocolate chip cookies ~ who could live w/out these?
Pralines ~ sooo rich
Gooey butter cake
Rusks
Daifuku
Green tea cake or cookies
Cupcakes from a cupcake shop
Crème brûlée
Some sort of deep fried fair food (twinkie, candy bar, cupcake)
Yellow cake with chocolate frosting ~ not a fav, kinda boring
Jelly Roll
Pop Tarts ~ which one is YOUR fav?
Charlotte Russe
An "upside down" dessert (Pineapple upside down cake or Tarte Tatin)
Hummingbird Cake
Jell-O from a mold ~ again, not a fan
Black forest cake
Mock Apple Pie (Ritz Cracker Pie)
Kulfi
Linzer torte
Churro ~ YUMMY
Stollen
Angel Food Cake
Mincemeat pie
Concha
Opera Cake
Sfogliatelle / Lobster tail
Pain au chocolat
A piece of Gingerbread House
Cassata
Cannoli
Rainbow cookies
Religieuse
Petits fours
Chocolate Souffle
Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
Rugelach
Hamenstashen
Homemade marshmallows
Rigo Janci
Pie or cake made with candy bar flavors (Snickers pie, Reeses pie, etc)
Divinity
Coke or Cola cake
Gateau Basque
S'mores ~ My hubby does not like these, SHOCK! GASP!
Figgy Pudding
Bananas foster or other flaming dessert
Joe Froggers
Sables
Millionaire's Shortbread
Animal crackers
Basbousa

sorry about that..

i am getting an error message so i wanted to make sure i saved what i had typed...

so onto the cutting mats... did you know...
that you are supposed to season it before you use it??? I had NO IDEA!
( i took notes) wink wink!
so peeloff the clear plastic protector, and play "patty cake" on you mat... touch all sticky surfaces... SHOCKING, I KNOW! the oil in your hands helps it work better.
and here all this time we were told the oil on our hands is NOT "acid free"
and therefore BAD for this hobby of ours.
not so in this case.
place a piece of card stock on the mat and press it lightly down. now, peel it off.
if you hear something similar to what the rice crispies commercial sounds like -
you need to touch your mat some more... keep doing this till your mat is mostly quiet.
then go ahead and cut. make sure you place the clear piece of plastic back on your mat
and play patty cake EVERYTIME you use it. again WHO KNEW??
( maybe the 5 people who read the directions, kudos to ya'll!!)
there is also a way to Refurbish your old yucky mats, ask me if you want to know.
if you are using the wonderful BAZZILL card stock. set the machine on HIGH and 5. yup, just like we teach our kids to give us a HI5! and if you are going to cut out a piece with alot of flourishes or curves.... S L O W D O W N the speed! to medium or 3.
i also learned how to change the blade and i learned that there will be a new blade coming soon, that allows you to cut chipboard. sooo much fun! and the software has some nifty tricks on it as well. and a way to check for updates and preview new cartridges to see if you want to buy it or not. i also learned that i reallllly want to get the paper doll cardtrige. so do YOU. there is over 3000 images on there. they are layered. try going to features, or accesories 3.
i got all my info from Cricut Dan... he seemed to be very knowledgeable and also somewhat tired of answering the same questions over and over and over..... poor guy.
i wish i had had even just a 1/2 hour to pick his brain. oh well...
so thats my helpful, handy dandy, tip for the day. hope it helps you as well.
have a great day!

about convention

So we had a BLAST! as always its yucky food... ( pack a sack lunch, cuz you reallly dont want to leave the grounds & lose a good parking spot- lol!)
and there were none of the SKINNY COW ICE CREAM GIRLS...
i really wanted my MIL to see them and have a treat as well. they are the youngest, cutest, SKINNY-est, college age girls... with FABULOUS hair and makeup- made even the prettiest scrapper ladies look like hags. NOT that we are and i would never think this out loud, but i'm just saying... a better ad for DIET TYPE TREATS would be a NORMAL GIRL, who was slightly overweight or even just CURVEY.... who could honestly say she had been on a diet and that these treats are good and they helped to satisfy her cravings for chocolate etc...
Does that make any sense??!?! i sure hope so. cuz i am not out to hurt any feelings.

so anyways the make and takes have gone up in price! $ 10 bucks for a couple. granted they were awesome make & takes... but... we are in a hurry here... and we want a BARGAIN! don't have time to schedule an appt. to make a clear mini acrylic album. thats why they have CLASSES! sigh...... there is some really cute new product as always, and we were just 'lucky' enuf to run into the CRICUT BOOTH.
i gotta say i learned ALOT, like there is a cute Tinkerbelle cartridge coming soon. and that we have NOT BEEN USING OUR CUTTING MATS CORRECTLY.

Do you have a favorite "FALL" candy?

I sure do... its the candy pumpkins! oh yeah!
i like candy corn too, and of course i LOVE chocolate.
But there is something so special about these sweet pumpkins.
i just found out that "spymommy" over at My tiny speck of a Life, loves them too.

BUZZARDS, BATS, & BUMBLEBEES

VERY THOUGHT PROVOKING....

THE BUZZARD: If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.
THE BAT: The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placedon the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.
THE BUMBLEBEE:A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.
PEOPLE: In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up!

Sorrow looks back, and worry looks around, but faith looks up!
Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly and trust in our Creator who loves us.

scrapbooks!

WOOO! HOOO!
ck scrapbook convention is in town! and its so much fun!
they have classes and LOADS of shopping. e even if you are not a crafty person a chance to go with your girlfriends and visit is worth it! i am going with my MIL. - S. ( yup, and her intials are the same as mine, tee hee)
i don't know what i would do with out her!!!
~ We love her to pieces!!! ~ and, wow can this woman cook!,paint, sew, do hair, craft, garden, etc... she has so many talents and i so love how her home is decorated!
i have pictures just for inspiration!!!
i'll be sure to let you know how much fun we had!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

What's Your Flavor??

Take this silly quiz and see what flavor ice cream you are... i can be Rocky Road or Vanilla.
kinda funny- but I love to eat Mint Choclate Chip and vanilla with LOTS of Hot Fudge!

http://www.the-n.com/quizzes/quiz_main.php?id=3243

make sure you let me know what Flava' you are. pretty please.

WHAT?!

OH MY GOSH!
this morning my sweet neighbor is sick, and asked my to bring out her recycle garbage. no biggie, so i do. ( good thing she called so i could take mine out too! ) so while i am outside before 7 am {shock, gasp, dont let my hubby read this, he might get ideas, lol!} i hear DUCKS QUACKING. rememeber i live in the desert SW, on a normal residential street, i dont think anybody on this part of the street even has a POOL! ( weird i know) and i HEAR DUCKS!?!?! WhATs UP WItH tHaT!?!?! so when its time to leave with the kids, i drive super slow so i can be Nosy Nelly and lOOk. guess what, there ARE ducks in the FRONT YARD - 3 house down and they have strings around their necks.... so either they have dinner plans or new pets. i was sooo relieved it wasnt my hearing going bad. ;)

useless trivia....

Did you know that Today in 1959, NYC, BANNED the song "Mack the Knife"???? ( sung by Bobby Darrin) evidently there was a rise is stabbings... W H O K N E W?!?!!?

How odd and useless is that.?