Halloween fun

Trick or treat...smell my feet...just kidding...that's gross!

Halloween is officially over in the George house. It's 10:23 and everyone is sleeping. We had a carnival put on by the youth of our ward. I made a big pot of chili and 2 dozen cornbread muffins to share. There were so many adorable kids dressed up in costumes. It was fun to see. After that party I let the younger boys go trick or treating on the 5 streets that are right here by us, while I stayed home to pass out candy. I think they only did 4 of the streets. They came back exhausted, showered and went to bed.Kyle's age group was in charge of the haunted alley. I didn't go in it, but I heard some screaming so I guess they did their job.

Mark and I were a biker and a biker chick (of course) I had stuff for that. I even wore my leather chaps..ha! I actually like this picture of us, so it will go in the keep pile. :o)
Brek, Brittany and baby Mark got there after dark. All the pictures of them turned out blurry, so I'm going to re-do them and pretend it was on halloween. He was a cute little sweet pea.
Cody was a "chick magnet" who is only holding up his shirt to cover his chest that he happened to glue a bloody bullet hole to...and no I don't know why he did that. Cole got to wear his costume in his class party at school. His teacher loved it so much she sent him up to the principal office to show it to her. Pretty funny!

I hope you all had a fun halloween. I am so darn tired and it took blogger a good 2 dozen times to decide to load any pictures at all. I guess I can't complain...it's free! :o)

Heidi Swapp and Cole's costume

He she is...the adorable Miss Heidi Swapp!

Mark had called me to meet him for breakfast and all I had time to do is dry my hair and start my make up. After breakfast is when I went to scrapbooks etc. In my mind I was thinking...it's Saturday...I won't run into anyone I know..."Yah right!" (this was what my Grandma always said) Heidi was there finishing up a clock class she was teaching. What I lack in mascara and flat hair, Heidi made up for in her cute fake pink lashes. :o) Emily took the picture of us. I even got to play with sweet little Capri. She was smiling so much. I just love babies! She is a month older than baby Mark. Then sweet Tena Sprenger comes up and gives me a big hug and said hello while I was talking to Teresa, the Saturday manager. Then Eva Flake comes in to start setting up for her class. Eva has lost a lot of weight and looks great. It was fun to see all these fun and talented ladies.

Here is Cole in his costume. Yep! He's a tube of toothpaste! I had him try it on so that I could see if it fit. The only thing I'll have to do is cut and sew a slit in the back so he can take bigger steps. I made it from a flat sheet and a garbage can that I found at Ikea, then penciled on the words and painted it. I made Brek this costume when he was 3 years old out of a pillowcase. That was 17 years ago. He had more laughs that year. It was fun. Cole asked me to make a bigger one for him, so I did. I think he looks so CUTE!

I'm glad you're all liking the recipe's. I do cook a lot of fattening foods. I don't weigh 300 pounds, BUT I do weigh 75 pounds heavier now than when I got married...sigh...I need to exercise...and still eat yummy food! :o) Life is too short to not enjoy food!

I see that Yuma girl has a name! Hi NOEL! :o)

Church Adult BBQ

Tonight we had our wards annual BBQ. They smoked up so much meat. We had ribs, brisket, pulled pork and sausages. The ward members all signed up to bring different things...assorted salads, potato dishes, rolls, homemade ice-cream and dutch oven cobbler, etc. Yummm...It was delicious! I brought a huge crock pot of homemade creamed corn. It's always a hit and goes fast. We had the best time laughing and visiting with our friends and neighbors. I love activities like this. The weather was perfect which only made the evening more enjoyable.

Here's the creamed corn recipe

(a smaller batch than I made tonight)

1 - 32 ounce bag of frozen kernel corn

1 quart of heavy whipping cream

1 cup of milk

3 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2-4 Tbsp. Melted butter

2-4 Tbsp. flour

Combine all ingredients except for the last 2. Bring to a boil. Mix together the melted butter and the flour into a paste and add to cream corn. Mix in well and allow it to thicken. Remove from heat and serve. Serve in a bowl with a spoon so you can enjoy every creamy drop.

I went up to the scrapbook store this morning and ran into not 1...not 2...but 3 famous scrappers! I had my picture taken with one of them. :o) I didn't look so good, but that's another story. Plus I finished Cole's costume today as well...CUTE! You'll have to wait till my next post to see...hee...hee...How about you guess which scrappers they were and I'll tell you who's right. :o)

It's been a great day!

Today I went and met a group of friends at Sweetcakes for lunch on Main street in downtown Mesa. Six of us showed up. It was fun to eat and visit with them. While I was there I just happened to visit Mystic Paper and RJ Peddler antique store. Both are such fun stores!
I got this very cool trunk for Brek's belated birthday present. He has been wanting an old trunk for a long time. This one dates back to 1918-1920. He LOVES it! I'm so glad!
Isn't this the cutest little scrapbook store. It has so much warmth and charm. They were on the morning news the other day. It was fun to see them on TV. The girls that run it are very sweet women. If you haven't been there, you need to go. Tell them I sent you. Can you see the old pictures way up high on the wall? They are pictures from their families that they had enlarged and put up there. They were also lacquered to protect them. I absolutely love that they included family history as part of the decor...not to mention the fact that I love their old creaky wood floors....just beautiful!

Guess what??? Today is a happy day!!! Chatterbox holiday paper is finally available on their website today. These are the two pattern papers I chose to make this years Christmas cards with. They are gingerbread flowers and gingerbread stripes. Love love love these papers! The base of the cards will be made with Bazzill cardstock in clover green. I will also be using Bazzill Applesauce cardstock. So now I need to clean my scraproom AGAIN so I have room to work on them when the paper comes in. In the mean time I need to make Cole's Halloween costume. Brace yourself...I'm going to sew....on...FABRIC! Besides paper, costumes are the only thing I really sew. I also have some painting to do on it...another reason for needing the clean room.

Mark has been home sick today...apparently Cole gave it to him. He never gets sick, so he's not having the good day that I've had. I was driving down my street today and I had a huge smile on my face as I drove past all the houses that have their winter grass up...seriously...green grass makes me beyond happy. Most of my neighbors planted at least a week before we did, so ours is not up yet. I can hardly wait to see it sprout. I'm so easily amused!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

More organization

This morning I met one of my blog readers, Cee (Cicely) at Scrapbooks Etc. She was taking a class there so I dropped by just before it started. She is totally sweet and adorable. I'm so glad I got to meet her....cute cute girl! I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture with her. After I left there I went out to run errands. My bathroom closet has really been bugging me because it's a joke to find anything in there, so I went Ikea and bought some baskets to organize my mess....which by the way, Ikea is where you get the cute jars I put vinyl stickers on. Then I went to Target to get a new hair dryer because mine croaked. Brittany has been letting me use hers for the past week, but I really need to get my own. Cole was home sick yesterday, so I didn't get much done then. He was throwing up. (gross, I know) I did go get him some gingerale. That made him happy. Today I got a call from the school nurse, so I had to leave Target to go pick him up. He says he's feeling better tonight. We'll see how he is in the morning.I know...scary, huh?! We have way too much crap!It took some work, but I got it done. Lots better! All the baskets are full and I threw a bunch of really old stuff away. Feels good to de-clutter. They are all sorted by products...this one holds lotions and good smelly stuff...sprays, etc.
Here is a close up of one of the tags I made, so that we know what's in each basket. I can't help but include pictures of baby Mark. I have taken so many pictures of him. I think he should be getting use to it by now. This boy loves to get baths!

Isn't he so sweet looking up at his mommy...I love him!

Awwww....sleeping peacefully after his bath. Don't you just want to kiss him???

As for the popcorn, I got that big of bag because my friend wanted it to can for her food storage. We only used a little bit of it. Here is the sticky popcorn recipe. We always make it during the fall.

Sticky popcorn

3/4 cup unpopped popcorn

2 sticks butter

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp.vanilla

3 cups mini marshmallows

2 cups cashews

1 cup reeses pieces

Pop corn in an air popper. It only holds about half at a time. Remove any up popped kernels. Those are no fun to bite into. You could break a tooth. You'll need a very large bowl to mix in. Pour nuts and marshmallows on top of popcorn. In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, melt butter, sugar, salt, and corn syrup. Stirring constantly. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add vanilla and stir well. Pour over the top of the popcorn, nuts and marshmallows. Stir and fold in until marshmallows have melted. Add reeses pieces...stir again and store in an air tight container....so good...I'm honest!

Completely off topic, but on my mind since I'm sitting here itching like crazy, but have any of you noticed an unusually high number of mosquitoes lately? I am COVERED in bites! I hate those little pesky buggers!

I'm off to catch up on my blog reading....and thanks for the birthday wishes to Mark I cooked him a great dinner. He was a happy man.

Happy birthday Mark......plus the pumpkin patch

First, I want to wish my dear sweet husband Mark a very happy birthday. Wednesday, October 25th he turns 39. I love him so much and I hope his day is special. I plan to spend the day with him and cook him a nice dinner. I got him a flat screen monitor for his computer. His desk isn't very big so it was very cramped with the huge one on there. I can't believe I'm envious of a gift I got for him, since I too have a huge boxy monitor, but I know he is going to love it, so that makes me happy. I still need to set him up his blog, but haven't had any time. I WILL do it though.

Today me and my sisters went to a pumpkin patch...not the good one out at Schnepf Farms. This one was not so great. We took Kaden and Preston, a boy Coleen takes care of. The kids were both "off" a little bit, so it made for an interesting morning. Julie leaves bright and early in the morning so we wanted to do one last thing together.

I brought the tripod so we could get some sister pictures. That part was fun.
I love pumpkins...actually I love anything to do with the fall season. They had a hay ride from hell (excuse my potty mouth) but it was just terrible! It was SOOO bumpy that my bail of hay was sliding closer and closer to the edge of the trailer. I was scared to death. I quickly jumped over to Julies bail of hay thinking that the weight of two of us would keep in in place. On one of the bumpy turns one of the bails fell right off. We were bouncing all over the place and there really wasn't anything to hold on to, so we were so glad to finally get off that thing...horrible experience...but we couldn't help but laugh about it.
After lunch me and Rene' went to Sam's Club because I had to pick up some popcorn and reeses pieces for sticky popcorn that me and my friend Paula made 8 batches today for the teachers and staff at the elementary school. I had to take this picture of Rene' because she is not even 100 pounds, but she was able to sling that 50 pound bag of popcorn over her shoulder...just too funny! Heck! That thing is over half her body weight. She may be little, but she's strong!

Hey! Where is everyone??? There were 34 of you that responded to the fun little survey and I know that wasn't all of you, then you dissapeared again....come back...I miss you girls! Don't tease me....talk to me. :o)

Girls night...in...

Girls night...left to right, top to bottom... Me, my sister Coleen, my mom, my niece Candice, my sister Rene', and my sister Julie. We all had a fun time together. We met at Coleen's house. I brought over my kitchen aid mixer and made cookies, we had pizza and watched a movie.
Coleen and her son Kaden playing in his room. Her little 2.5 pound dog Ginger was attacking them. She is a funny little dog who pretends that she is much bigger and braver than she really is.
Before I left, I helped Coleen finish hanging the train wallpaper border in Kaden's room. He loves trains! Coleen is having someone from foster care come out to her house tomorrow, so I thought we really should finish it. They are going to be trying to take in a foster child in the near future. She will be such a positive and nurturing influence on a child. I need to help her put together a couple of albums to give to children so that they can get an idea of what the home life is like that they will be placed in. Coleen is a great mom, but they tried for 10 years before she got pregnant with Kaden, so foster care is a good option for her family.
Kaden is very close to Julie. When she leaves on Wednesday morning it's going to be very hard on him. He cried when she moved away in April. I'm taking Julie to lunch and I'm going to surprise her and take her to get a pedicure. She hasn't had one and has always wanted to do it. I think it will be fun to do together.

We has our primary program in church. Before I was a primary teacher I would always get a kick out of the 3 year olds, but now that I'm suppose to have some sort of control over them I see it in a whole new light. I sat with my class on the front row during all the older kids speaking parts. Everytime there was a song my class would stand up on step stools in the very front to sing with the rest of the primary children. For those that don't know, primary age children are ages 3 to 12 so I have the youngest group...mine are all boys and they are HARD! Picture this...a group of boys standing on stools...they are suppose to be singing songs, but instead they are leaping off the stools, twirling around, playing with the kids behind them, throwing their scriptures at the bench I was sitting on. tying their ties in knots, un buttoning their shirts, repeatedly licking their hands and slicking their hair back with their wet hands. Jumping up and down, fighting over which stool to stand on...it was pure chaos. I'm sure the congregation got a good chuckle out of it, but holy crud was it crazy for me! Once that was over we went to class. One of the little boys offered the prayer. It was a cute typical little prayer consistent of I'm thankful for this day, I'm thankful for primary and the scriptures and I love my mom and dad and my sister. Then before he ends it he adds "oh yah...please bless that there will be milk in my fridge when I get home, Amen" We giggled a little bit and he shrugged his shoulders and said "well......we're out of milk!" ROFLOL!!! Kids are so darn funny! :o)

Card making

Mark is riding tonight so I played with my favorite paper and made a card...chatterbox of course! I just can't get enough of their paper. I have one whole cropper hopper thing full of it. Problem is it's too full so I have to start using it faster or buying it slower. They keep coming out with more beautiful stuff, so the odds of not buying it are slim to none. Please excuse my washed out tired looking face. It's 11:00 at night and I really start to go down hill mid afternoon.
Here is a close up of the card. I really like it. I sewed a simple straight stitch around the top pattern paper. Ya'll know I have a sewing on paper obsession, right?! :o)
look who took a little nap in my scraproom today. Isn't he just the sweetest little thing?!

Just stuff...

***Nothing smells better than a baby right after a bath!

***The AC is off and the windows are open...so nice and long over due!!!

***Went bra shopping finally...got to buy a full C instead of a nearly A...very cool!

***Planting winter grass this weekend...I can hardly wait!

***Need to get some pumpkins...the boys are so excited to carve them!

***Primary program in church this Sunday. I'm over the 3 year olds. Wish me luck!

***Going to meet my blog reader, Cee on Monday at Scrapbooks Etc.

***Wish I knew when I could get my hands on the Chatterbox Christmas paper so I can start on my cards...sigh...

***How many of you felt like beauty pagent contestants on the little survey??? " Hi my name is Jolene and I'm from Mesa Arizona and all I want is world peace" Picture me wearing a sash and doing the proper cupped hand wave. LOL! Okay I am way too tired..sorry! I really do love knowing more about all of you. Thanks for participating!

***Off to bed before I fall on my face...night all and happy Friday!

Thank you!...and some crafty things

I am deeply touched by the out pouring of caring and thoughtfulness to me and my family. It brought tears to my eyes to read all of your comments...both in regards to losing Cinnamon and the compliments to me regarding my blog and why you read it. It filled my heart with joy to know that people really care about me and all the crazy stuff I seem to have in my life all the time. I guess I never thought anyone would be interested in my day to day life that I'm sure some people would find quite boring or un-interesting. I don't consider it eavesdropping to read my blog...although I talk about personal things, it is a public blog and I love to hear from all of you. I'm just a girl...no frills...real life stuff.

I've been having lots of headaches I got to thinking that perhaps they are stress induced. It made me think back to recent events such as my breast biopsy scare, augmentation surgery, missing the birth of my grandson, sleeping in a dumb chair for a month, the baby being in the NICU for 6 long weeks, worrying about Chad in boot camp on the other side of the country, the financial stress of running our own business, the day to day work of keeping a large family going, losing my Grandma, then losing Cinnamon...it's no stinkin' wonder my head, neck and shoulders are killing me all the time. Mark felt sorry for me and gave me a massage with this stinky oil that gets hot. I got it from my chiropractor. I'm feeling a bit better and smell minty fresh to boot. :o)

Today we had a craft day at my church. Brittany and I did these cute jars. The big one says "hand over the chocolate and no one gets hurt" I'm a girl who loves to have a teeny bit of chocolate everyday. Not too much...just enough to get my little fix. The small ones I will fill for Christmas gifts. Still gotta tie ribbon on the lids. I also made 2 wood plaque signs, but they're not finished yet. The lady who did the vinyl accidentally put our established year as 1992 instead of 1986, so she is re-doing it for me. I will take pictures when I'm done...they're real cute! It was nice to get my mind off things for a few hours and do something fun.

Before I sign off I want to wish my sister Coleen a big happy birthday! Love you girl!!!

Our Sweet Cinnamon

First of all...VERY COOL! I want to thank all of you for your comments on my previous post. I KNEW there was a bunch of you out there that have been reading my blog, since my site meter count is so high. You really made me happy to see so many comments...honest! It made me feel good....especially today. I hope that you all become regulars...no pressure though, but I would enjoy it. Thanks again...and if there are more of you, please feel free to post. :0)

Today at 4:40 p.m. we had to put our dog Cinnamon down. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. We have had her for over 11 years....longer than we've had Cole. She has been a huge part of our family and the only pet we've had for so long. She really was the best dog, with no bad habits. She was very protective of our family. Whenever I would go run errands I would tell her that she was in charge and to watch the house while I was gone...she always did. About a week ago we noticed that she stopped eating...not even treats. She would drink a little water, but then threw it up. Then she lost all of her muscle tone and couldn't walk or stand anymore. Then her stomach started to bloat. Seriously...a week ago she was fine. It all happened so fast. It was so painful to watch her suffer, but I didn't want to let her go. I had a battle going on inside of me not wanting her in pain, but also not wanting to be the one who decides when it's her time to go. You know what I mean??? So I decided to call a friend who is a vet for large breed animals (cows, horses, etc.) He came over and put her down and he helped Mark bury her in our back yard. He said her stomach had filled with fluid and that he could feel a huge tumor the size of a baseball in her tummy. He said it was the right time to put her down, which made me feel better the decision to do it. I'm so grateful to him. We waited until after school got out to give all the boys a chance to say good-bye...except for Chad. I did write him a letter yesterday to tell him we were planning to do it. These boys really love that dog. I have cried so much these past few days. I sat out in the yard with her last night and said my good-byes. I was bawling. While she was staring at me, I told her how much I love her and I thanked her for protecting my family and our home all of these years and that we would never forget her....and we NEVER will!!! She is in our hearts forever.

Recipe and a fun little survey

Here is the fry bread recipe Valerie requested. You can click on it to see it bigger. Okay I lied...sorry! It really doesn't get much bigger than that, so I hope your eyes are good or you best be getting out the magnifying glass. :o) It really shouldn't be called "Indian" fry bread since it's not a traditional Indian recipe, but that's okay. I had 2 Indian sister live with me while we were teenagers and they would make the traditional fry bread complete with the fancy hand tossing that I can't do. It was very yummy too. I was too tired to type the whole thing so I scanned this from a recipe swap I was in several years back. (no teasing...it was a few years ago) The only thing I would change is that I use more like 9+cups of flour and it's still very sticky dough, but if you roll it out on a floured surface it's easy to work with.

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On a different note I got to thinking about this whole cool blogging world and wanted to do a little survey just for fun. I want you all to post a comment and tell me how exactly you found my blog and where you are from. I'm just curious...nothing sick or morbid....honest! I just think it's neat that I've got all these new friends and lurkers out there. Anyone game??? Come on...you know you want to. :o)

basketball and birthday dinner

Cole had a basketball game Saturday afternoon. This is one of his best friends named Taylor. She is a doll...very much a tom boy, but still as cute as can be.Cole handles the ball more than anyone on his team. He is good at stealing the ball, and he's really good at getting it down court. If it's open then he shoots, if not he is always sure to pass instead of being a ball hog so that his team mates get lots of chances to play. I like that he's a team player.
He got shoved to the ground then he was mauled by all the kids right after I took this picture. He was able to pass it off and keep the ball in play. They won...can't remember the score though.
I went into B&B room this morning and took the baby to the kitchen to hang out with me while I made Brek's cake and got things ready for his birthday dinner. I took tons of pictures of him. I was laughing because I couldn't believe how different each picture was even though they were all taken one right after the other. I can't wait to scrap some pages of him. He is such a sweet baby and we love having him home.
Mommy and daddy feeling pretty tired trying to adjust to their new feeding schedule. Apparently baby Mark doesn't like going right to sleep after he eats. It's going to take some getting use to. My room is just far enough away that I never hear him cry.
We invited my side and Brittany's side of the family over for dinner to celebrate Brek's birthday Sunday night. Brek requested fry bread with all the fixins...beans, hamburger, sour cream, avocado, onion, olives, homemade salsa, cheese etc. Plus I made a huge pudding cake. I was able to feed 23 people with one batch of dough. It makes a ton. As soon as Julie got here I put her to work frying them up while I was rolling them out.
A bunch of them were playing cards while they were waiting for dinner. I wasn't able to get very many pictures because I was too busy. By the end of the evening, everyone was happy and full....sure sign of a good dinner. I'm exhausted! Off to bed!

***Edited*** Some of you asked what fry bread is.... Fry bread is a dough that is fried in oil. It originated from the Indians from a simple flour, salt, water dough. mine is more of a scone dough with buttermilk, yeast, sugar, eggs, oil, soda, and baking powder added to it. You put taco fixins on it...always starting with refried beans to be the "glue" that holds the other stuff on. After you eat the dinner ones, you put butter, honey and powdered sugar on them for dessert...so good... honest!

P.S. I'm not wonder woman...feeding large groups come very easy to me....even 50-100 people is a piece of cake...and I love to do it...I know..I'm weird!