Oooo! Who’s at the door?! Quick-get the candy!

That was the extent of our conversation last night when we finally heard the first knock on our door around 7:30-ish. Was it the cute little trick-or-treaters I’d been anticipating?

No. It was our neighbor stopping by to say hello and warn us that we probably wouldn’t be getting many visitors. They didn’t even bother getting any candy this year because things have slowed down so much! Apparently we live on one of the deader streets in Jacksonville for Halloween. How unfortunate! Especially since I’d gotten like three pounds of candy. Needless to say, the neighbors left with a couple handfuls themselves.

Aside from one visit from  little ladybug and bumble-bee, the only other trick-or-treaters were some of our friends and their little ones. But they were all cute enough to count as a group of cute kids each, so we were okay with that. Here’s a look:

Our Jack-o-Lanterns in action out front

Owen the Pirate--arrrgh!

Kate--cheering for the winning team!

laughing at our surprise spider that drops down with flashing eyes when someone makes a loud sound

"go gators!"

Princess Leia and her cousins. I'm pretty sure the real Princess Leia made this face a couple times too. Or maybe Lucy just wasn't impressed with our candy selection. Her brother, Luke Skywalker, had already had enough excitement for the evening so we didn't get to include him in the pic! Maybe next year, Jack!

Happy Halloween!!

I’ve been getting ready for tomorrow by painting pumpkins, carving pumpkins and buying candy. In fact, I just bought another round of candy last night…hopefully this time it’ll last long enough to hand it out to the kids tomorrow night!

My first round of pumpkin decorating was with my pal, Shirley. She came over, dressed up like a fairy princess, and helped me paint faces on a couple of pumpkins. Not surprisingly, her pumpkin had a huge smile on it’s face. I’ve never met anyone who’s happiness is as contagious as Shirley’s. I love getting to hang out with her. Here are some pictures from that adventure:

my pal, Shirley

dressed like a fairy princess

our pumpkins. mine was not happy that his nose was poking him in the eye. shirley's was, of course, very happy!

Unfortunately, a day or two after I put the pumpkins out front, it rained. I came home to find the pumpkins looking like they were starting to melt, paint running down their chins.

So, on Wed. night, our friends Jason, Ann, and their super-cute, goofy yellow lab, Dexter, came over. Although Dex headed home early after getting a little energy out playing in the back yard with JuneBug (one of the good things about living around the corner!), Jason and Ann stuck around to do some fancy pumpkin carving…

Jason and Ann getting creative

JuneBug taking it all in and trying to figure out what happened to her pal, Dexter!

finished products!

Ann's spooky pumpkin tree

Jason's scary pumpkin face

my spooky pumpkin house

Robbie's scary pumpkin tree

The tree and house were templates from a site that I found online. These were free but there were a bunch of great patterns available for a small fee as well. You can find them at: http://www.pumpkinlady.com/pattern.htm

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We decided to try and tackle the sailboat over the weekend. It was a mess…since it hasn’t been covered, there was plenty of opportunity for leaves, dirt, water, etc. to find a home there. We broke out the wet/dry vac and went to work. That alone was enough to wear me out and also make me realize just how little we really know about this boat and  how to improve, use, or even properly clean it. We decided to get the vacuuming done and get the tarp over it before deciding on the next step. Here are a couple of pics from the weekend adventure…

The boat from the back porch

looking into the cabin--full of yucky water

pre-vacuuming

pre-vacuuming II

Robbie dumping out some of the water and debris that I'd vacuumed up--amazing how heavy that thing could get!

post-vacuuming

post vacuuming II...at least we got all the water out...

and then we dressed it up like a ghost for halloween!

a ginormous flutterby that joined us outside for a little while

This really was the biggest butterfly I think I've ever seen

An action shot with the action setting on the camera!

Robbie calls this one a "trapper keeper cover"--for those of you kickin' it old-school!

We had the chance to head up to Charleston a couple of weeks ago to celebrate our godson’s first birthday! Can’t believe he’s over a year old already!

We had a great time visiting with old and new friends

Zion’s First B-Day

The party took place on the incredibly beautiful grounds of the home of some of Robert and Lindsay’s neighbors in Wadmalaw, SC

birthday boy

the goods

keeper of the gate

it’s a party on the lawn!

Fire and police came to the rescue when this little guy was accidently locked in the car when they got to the party!

Two of the three beautiful McFarland kids. Their newborn little brother stayed home with mom!

Smith and Seth Podris

male bonding

the kids all played so well together!

swans on the premesis

yep-it’s a baby food jar. they looked so cute hanging from the trees near the gate

birthday boy enjoying some food with mom

watch out for this one!!

such a beautiful family!

Zion with grandpa

so excited about the candle lighting!

oops…forgot to give this one a spin. Just cock your head to the left…

half cake/ half pillow

half cake/ half pillow II

don’t forget the whipped cream–you need something to get all over your face and hands, right?!

the “sandbox” area

The area reminded me of “the secret garden” meets “alice in wonderland”. It had all kinds of “hidden rooms” and paths. This one had a larger than normal chess set. They didn’t come to life and start talking though…

Mikayla and Freddy square off

dueling pieces

Kevin McFarland and his crew watching the chess match

looking out from one “room” into another

making use of the chess pieces

MacLeod vs. Podris: The Next Generation

MacLeod vs. Podris: The Next Generation II

opening a couple of gifts

Ride that Rhino!! (the fuzziness is part of the hazards of humidity here in the south!)

future Rhino wrangler

…lizard tails. Sport has been bringing his food into the house recently to play with it a bit before eating what is apparently the only part of the lizard worth finishing off…the back half. As my mom put it the “cat version of lobster tail.”…

Just thought I'd Share....

It may be the end of summer, but ice cream never goes out of style! You may remember the batch of blueberry ice cream that Robbie and I made with his parents over the fourth of July weekend. Well, they generously offered to leave the ice cream maker with us and, as ice cream is near the top of Robbie’s “my favorite things” list, we gladly took them up on the offer. And we finally decided to try our hand at making our own again last weekend. We decided on chocolate chocolate chunk. The recipe called for one type of chocolate to be used for the base as well as the chunks but we decided on using regular semi-sweet Nestle chocolate chips for the base and chopped up Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao) for the chuncks.

YUMMY chocolate chocolate chunk homemade ice cream

Was it yummy? Do I really need to answer that for you? Robbie described is as tasting like a Wendy’s frosty on crack. Am I eating left over Ghirardelli chocolate chips as I type this? I probably don’t need to answer that one either. Mmm-Mmm.

For those of you interested in making your own, I’ll start posting the recipes-

Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

1 (12 oz.) package semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided OR 8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (we used Nestle) and 4-6 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips (we used Ghirardelli).

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

4 cups half-and-half

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Heat 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in large, heavy-duty saucepan over medium-low heat until melted. Turn heat to low and gradually stir in half-and-half and vanilla extract. Remove from heat. Pour into icecream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. Coarsely chop bittersweet morsels and add halfway through freezing. Makes about 2 quarts. If you don’t have an icecream maker, you can try the freezer method: pour prepared ice cream mixture into a 13×9-inch baking pan. Freeze for 2 hours or until almost firm. Spoon into large  bowl; beat until smooth but still frozen. Stir in chopped morsels. Return to pan; cover tightly and freeze for 6 hours or overnight until firm.

It pretty much goes without saying that there are a lot of differing opinions floating around the country right now. A lot of opinions… and even more lies, half-truths and overreactions to base the opinions on. Our country feels so divided at times, that it’s almost as if we are speaking different languages. So in order to get my point across here, let me use a language I’m pretty sure we can all understand: food. And not just any food: dessert…

My friend, Mary-Butler, decided to celebrate her birthday over the weekend with some cherry pie and invited Robbie and I to enjoy the pie with her. At least– we all hoped we would enjoy the pie. See, when MB and her husband, Matt, went to the Fresh Market to get the pie, they ended up getting some interesting reactions to their choice. They picked up the “no sugar added” cherry pie. However, they quickly learned from the three women behind the counter, that it was probably not the best choice. At least, in their opinion. Afterall, THEY certainly wouldn’t eat it! Now mind you, they did bake the pie, but none of them had actually tried it themselves. The strong reaction they felt was based on the fact that A) it wasn’t exactly like the kind they would make at home and B) it had already been the subject of one woman’s complaint. She’d apparently returned her pie to the store, complaining loudly that it was too sour and disgusting. And thus the poor pie was labeled so in the minds of these bakers. But it didn’t stop there. The same complaint story was told to Matt and MB again by the boy who checked them out. He, too, hadn’t actually tried the pie himself, but based on the woman’s reaction and subsequent reaction of the bakers, he assured Matt and MB that they could get a full refund if they brought even one piece back because it was so bad.

Well, you can imagine that they were a little bit nervous about trying the pie, what with all the negative publicity that it was getting. None-the-less, they took the pie home and served it up to celebrate a birthday. And I’m here to tell you that it was one DAMN GOOD PIE. I wouldn’t have changed a thing about it. Not only is it a healthier version than the sugary, canned filling that many cherry pies are made of, but it really tasted great!

What does this have to do with opinions in the country, etc., etc.? Well, in case the metaphor wasn’t as obvious as I’d hoped, my point is this: there are a lot of opinions out there, most of which are not based on fact, but merely on the views expressed by someone with an agenda. I’m not asking anyone reading this to agree with me on the debatable issues, such as healthcare,  that are on the table at the moment. All I’m asking is that, as a nation, we stop getting wrapped up in the hype and other people’s opinions and start checking facts for ourselves before jumping the gun on something. Don’t pass along an email that you can’t verify for sure came from the original source, or was actually stated by the source that the email claims it was stated by. Did you hear it yourself? Did you look at the bill, etc., in question yourself and read through it to find out if the claims people are making are true? We all know how dangerous it can be to spread water-cooler gossip. Stop to ask yourself what is really important to you and what you feel is important for your fellow man, and THEN go to the sources for yourself. If you’re going to take a stand, know what you’re standing on. AND– know what it is you think you’re standing against. Make sure the two really do line up like you think they do.

And maybe what you find yourself really standing on isn’t going to be the same platform that is seems like everyone around you is crowded on to. But if you still think that’s where you should go, just be sure to take a poll of how many of them have actually taken the time to taste the pie for themselves before you try to squeeze onto the stand with them.

Or better yet,  don’t take their word for it. Don’t take my word for it. Try an honest bite of the truth for yourself and see what you think. Here are some places to start:

www.factcheck.org

 http://wordpress.asc.upenn.edu/2009/08/twenty-six-lies-about-hr-3200/

http://change.gov/content/home

I’ve decided to share our Jiffy Foot Adventure via a new page on the blog. I’m not going to post everything at once, so it’ll be a running (no pun intended) page that’ll I’ll continue to add to until all the pictures are posted from the trip (the ones that I’m sharing, anyway!). It’ll run from the bottom up like the random page posts so that when you check back, the most recent will be right there. If you want to start at the beginning, however, you’ll have to scroll down. I’ve posted pics from the 13th and part of the 14th so far. We ended up with literally hundreds of pictures from the trip. Obviously I’m not planning on posting them all, but there are still a lot to go through and we got some truly amazing shots of wildlife, like bald eagles and humpback whales. Well worth taking a look at!  But you can see why I’m going with the plan to share them in little spurts. I’m excited to share a peek at our adventure with you and I’m hoping to continue the idea into future adventures as well.

I hope you enjoy taking a walk in my shoes for a bit! Just click on the link to the right or above!