Sunday Happy

I woke up this morning from a dream that I was in process of making those gummy toy things, Creepy Crawlers, but instead of them being made of rubber, I was making then out of cake. And in the dream the theme song for the commercial was playing while I was making these little insect cakes and now I have this weird dream feeling and have the stupid, but catchy theme song stuck in my head. What does this mean? Am I suppose to make a bunch of tiny little insect cakes? Or is it a cry from my child self craving bugs? I don't know, but what I do know is that they should start selling those machines again. Bring back the creepy crawlers!

Feels like the past week was one long day. The mr and I spent a good amount of time outside doing all the outside work that needed to be done. More tree cutting, raking, picking up trash, getting rid of everything. Over the course of doing all this, I cut the shit out of my hands. All my fingers and my palms have cuts and scrapes and gashes and fuck do my hands hurt. Even worse is that after doing and getting all that, we started tiling that bathroom (!!!!) and tiling with cuts all over your hands sucks ass. The mortar just eats away at your skin. Plus I sliced my finger open on a razor while tiling so my hands are garbage and swollen and I will stop bitching now. But back to tile, the bathroom is so close to done. This time next week I will be able to pee downstairs again. It's going to be fantastic. 

Other then work all week, we have had the littles a lot again. Speaking of having songs stuck in my head, I have been letting the kids listen to whatever they want when they are here which is all the newest coolest music(and it's driving me crazy). All week I have been haunted by the new Taylor Swift song. If I hear it for even a second, I get it stuck in my brain and there is will repeat over and over, especially while I am trying to sleep or relax. It has made me slightly crazy. I have now banned the listening of that song in my presence because it is just to much for me to a handle. But other then driving me crazy with crappy music, we have had some pretty good times. We saw a rainbow, talked about what to hand out to trick or treaters (there was talk of ketchup packets, back hair, and painted rocks) and the mr built  death swing in the tree. When we are not busy, they sure do keep us busy. After having them over so much over the past few weeks, I found myself fantasizing about having a Rumba vacuum, which is crazy because I really do not want one. But maybe I do? I don't know.(don't tell the mr because he thinks he wants one)  What I do know is that those kids are messy as shit and that every weekend my cleaning time has gotten a little longer because of the trail of Emerson drool and dirty feet has gotten worse. Maybe I should just wrap the baby in mop heads and have him crawl/clean. But wait, that won't work either because just this past week we got that little gorilla to walk! 10 steps all on his very own, going after an Oreo cookie like a champ.

And then the farm.  This past farm share was the last summer farm share pick up of the year. We got so much good goodies (sweet potatoes that are as big as my head and so much spinach) and I also realized that wearing my overalls down to the farm that people will mistake me as one of the framers (not the first time people mistake me as a farmer... these are life goals) But now the summer share is done and I am a little sad, but not really cause winter share starts in two weeks and I will be munching away on squash, roots, and greens for the months to come. 

Then on Friday we had our pumpkin carving party.. The mr, Megan, Barb, Miley, Sophia, and Judah all carving away. I pre gutted by pumpkin make a cinnamon sugar seed snack and had it all nice and ready to carve. I got a single cut into it when I had to  abandoned it to help all the littles carve theirs. Now the mr has his all nicely carved pumpkin on the porch and mine is just  siting there, waiting to be carved. But carve I did. Then we made pizza, did cartwheels around the block at night, and watched Hocus Pocus while eating/ getting popcorn ALL OVER the house. (Rumba would have been great here) 

I am excited for today. There is no way that I can bare tiling any more today (my hands hurt so much right now) so we are going to wait and finish tomorrow. No, today I am going to plant the trees we bought this week in the front yard. Two little eastern redbuds and then I am going to sit back and watch them grow.  That and maybe repot some house plants. I think I just want to play in dirt all day. And finally carve my pumpkin. Sounds like a good plan to me. 

Internet I looked at this week.

-Currently reading Nomadland and in it one of the woman talks about building her own Earthship. I started looking them up after that because I feel like I should be building one too. 

-To Complain Is to Truly Be Alive. I know so very alive people!

-I don't think it's gonna happen in this house, but someday I want to have cool ass wall paper wall.  DUTCH MASTERS WALLPAPERS

-Is This the Best Way to Wash an Apple? 

-We are shopping for toilets again (How many times in my life am I going to have to say that). What do you think of a black toilet? Definitely not happening in my house, but just thought it was interesting that there are so many choices.

- I bet they listen to more rock and roll too.Frequent Pot Smokers Also Have More Sex, Says Extremely Chill Study

-Wake Up, Sleepy Ikea Shoppers! But I thought that Ikea WANTED people to take naps on the beds. Huh. 

-I initially was ll, this is awesome and I want it, but after thinking about it fora little while, I don't think I would feel comfortable sleeping on it. But it's still cool. This Floating Tent Turns Bodies of Water Into a Campground

-Rooffee,’ the First Coffee for Dogs, Raises Plenty of Questions. My question  is WHY THE FUCK?

-Burn, Mummify, Compost—Different Ways to Treat the Dead. The mr and I just head an interview with the author on NPR and found it very interesting. Now I am trying to figure out what I want to happen to my dead body..... 

Pictures from the week.

Have a great week.

Spicy Maple Candied Walnuts

My oven is fixed!! The part came in yesterday afternoon, right before we were about to leave for dinner at my sisters. The mr ripped the package open, popped the stove out and within 5 minutes I had a brand new, working ovens! (not really brand new, but it is much cleaner now after taking it apart and seeing how nasty it was)

But before this happened, I was working with no oven. And all I wanted to do ( all I wanted to do all weekend) was bake something.  So yesterday, instead of just waiting around moping, I decided to make something with the part of the oven that still worked. And being that it's the week before Halloween, I have got candy on my mind, plus  a hugmongo bag of walnuts. Hmm, the possibilities. 

No oven, big bag of nuts, candy thoughts = Spicy maple candied walnuts A perfectly sweet and spicy treat that packs lots of flavor, protein, and healthy stuff and not a bunch  of shit. Made on the stove top with no fancy equipment., takes about 5 minutes to make and tastes like Woo hoo! A (kinda )candy to feel good about eating.

Ask the mr. I think he ate them all last night. And I am ok with that cause it's way better then him eating that shit candy and also, he fixed my oven. Thanks love! 

Now to the nuts!

The stuff. Whole walnuts, real pure Vermont maple syrup, cayenne pepper and salt. 

Stick the walnuts into a dry skillet and place on the stove on medium high heat to give the nuts a little pre toast and to preheat the skillet.

While the walnuts are slightly toasting, dump the maple syrup in a bowl with cayenne and give it a little stir.

Once the skillet has heated and the walnuts are slightly toasted and starting to smell all nutty ,dump the syrup into the skillet while string until the nuts until all are coated.

And for the next few minutes, continue to stir the nuts until the maple syrup starts to caramelize and  there is no longer any liquid left in the pan.(like 3-5 minutes)

Now dump the nuts onto a lined baking sheet and spinkle with a pinch or two of salt, and if you like spice, a pinch more of cayenne pepper (you can make them as salty and spicy as you like!)

Note. As soon as you dump the nuts, stick your skillet in the sink and fill with water to avoid a crappy stuck on sugar mess.

Walnuts a plenty cooling off. 

Oh man.. dez nuts! (I am sorry, I couldn't resists)

Snack on these, it will make you happy.

Enjoy your Tuesday! 

-C

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Spicy Maple Candied Walnuts

• 1 1/2 cups raw, whole walnuts
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon cayanne powder (more if you like really spicy)
• a couple pinches of salt 

Place walnuts into a large dry skillet  and stick on stove on medium heat. In a little bowl, mix the maple and the cayenne pepper together. When the skillet has preheated and the walnuts are slightly toasted ash giving off a nutty smell, pour mixture onto walnuts, string to evenly coat each nut. COntinue to cook and stir for another 3-4 minutes or until the syrup has caramelized ash dried. Once done, dump the mixture onto a lined baking sheet  and sprinkle with salt and maybe more cayenne pepper if yu want. Let cool, then eat…

These suckers make a great snack,  tossed into salads, or added to some apple strudel. Eat them whatever way floats your boat. 

Flying Bats Garland

I never can really tell how I honestly feel about halloween. I love fall, I love pumpkins and cider, but thats fall ,not halloween.  I love to see all the happy little littles running around being super cute. all jacked up on way to much sugar.  And  I know when I was a kid I was all about it. I mean, what kid doesn't get jazzed to run around, dressed up (I was alway a black cat), with a pillowcase full of candy all night long? That is just magic. But as an adult, I haven't really done too much. Sure I help wit the costumes of the littles and sometime I hand out candy, but where we live now, it's not possible to give out candy. And the littles, they go do stuff with there friends, not there old lady aunt. And I guess me and the mr could dress up and go to a party or something, but  honestly, we are not really party people…. So yeah, don't know. I think when I finally have my own kids It will be more fun. But whatever, at least I can do a little decorating.

For as long as I have been as adult with my own living place, I have really gotten into holiday decoataing. But here is the thing. I like my decor to be minimalistic, not to over the top, or super cheesy. (although I really do like when other people go super overboard and cheesy) But no, you won't find a 20 foot blow up of a witch or severed hands in my front lawn.(maybe a few dead mice, but thats the cat, not me) And I like to make my decorations. I even like to get some littles in one it, cause hand made kiddo decorations are the best. 

These bats are the perfect bit of halloween decoration. I made a ton of them a few years back and lost them, so I just whipped up a new strand. Fast and easy to make, are not overly crazy or gory, and can be hung anywhere. An yeah, making them with a few littles is fun, but you don't need them. I made them all on my lonesome…. Oh me..

Anyway, to the bat mobile (garland)!

The bat stuff

• 2-3 pieces of Black card stock (construction paper  is fine, but will the color will fade over time)
• scissors
• pencil
• needle and thread*
• clear tape or tacks (not shown.. to hang bats)

Note. You can use embroidery floss instead of thread, but the thread is much more visible and you are going to need a tapestry needle. 

Take a piece of paper and fold in half, either length or width wise.( If you do lenght wise, you can cut out a few more bats per piece of a paper, width wise, the bats wings are longer.. up to you, do it both ways if you want) 

Outline a bat.

Bats are all jagged  lines.. nothing too complicated so I figured a stencil is not needed. If you really need a stencil, I can email you one...

Cut out bat and open up.

See, easy. And now you have a bat. If you do not like the exact way it looks, fold in again and cut a little more, but don't get to picky, you have many more to cut.

Now make yourself a  bat army. As many or as few as you like. I think 12 is a good number. If you want, take the first bat that you cut out and use that as a stencil. Me, actually just free form cut the guys, so none of them look the same.

Bats are ready, now thread you needle.  Don't cut the end loose or tie the two ends together.

Fold bats back flat and thread them through the upper portion of the wings.  Do that to all your bats.. and make sure that you are threading them on all the dame direction (if you care)

Once all the bats are threaded on. remove needle and tape the end of the thread. Space the bats out evenly or however you like, and hoe ever far apart you like, and cut thread of spool. Tape that end off too.

And hang them…. Most of my bats stay where I placed them, but a couple wanted to slide around on the thread, so I just stuck a tiny piece of tape on the inside of the wing over the thread to stop that.

They can fly threw the air….

Or drape on the wall. 

Any way, these bats are freaking bad ass and the coolest!

Happy Holiday Decorating! 

-C