Happy Halloween with Creep Cakes

A cross between a Cyclops and a creep = creepcakes


I did a little baking this weekend and thought I'd share the creepcakes I made with you

I used green sugar sheets and white fondant then I used twizzlers for the mouth and jelly belly beans for the yetllow eyes


I hope you all have a Happy Halloween that's yummilicious

Rin Tin Tin

I went to the Hollywood Theater (Portland's Historic Nonprofit Theater) on Thursday night to listen to Susan Orlean speak about the Life and Legend of the Heroic Dog Rin Tin Tin.

I didn't remember much about him but I found out things that made me respect this animal actor even more than I did before. He was an amazing dog. No wonder Dogs are woMans best friend. Rin Tin Tin was found in France right after WWI in a bombed out dog kennel. An American solider was clearing the area when he found Rin Tin Tin in a pile with his mom and brothers and sisters. The soldier, Lee Duncan, adopted RTT and one of his sisters. He parceled out the other puppies to his soldier buddies and his captain.

I haven't read the book yet but I'll be working on that this weekend. After I finish, I'll do another post about my impressions.

If you're a dog lover or an animal activist, this might be just the book for you. It talks about the love and loyalty of animals and the legend of this one awe....mazing animal.

Halloween Cupcake Ideas

Here are some fun ideas just in case you want to do some baking this weekend to have a wickedly fun Halloween.

Movie Review - The Ides of March

The Ides of March was the movie of my weekend. I went with a gfriend and was hoping for a little bit of political humor or something caustically witty. This wasn't.

It was a very cynical (perhaps true to life) portrayal of the political arena and the people caught up in the game. I was left feeling . . . disappointed. I prefer to look for the good in people and this movie shatters that hope--at least while you're sitting in the theater watching everyone behave badly.

I don't mind horror - just not true-to-life horror stories.

Unfortunately, I've seen George Clooney in three movies I wish I'd never watched: From Dusk Until Dawn, Up in the Air, and now...The Ides of March.

This might be a perfect Halloween horror story, if you want to walk away depressed. I'd prefer to watch the New Underworld movie when it comes out, at least in that movie I expect people to suck.

A Ride in the Columbia River Gorge

Remodel Has begun

The boys wanted to raise the roof - literally so they started ripping the old one down and Lars nearly lost his head over the project ;)

This is going to be a big project and it's going to take a couple weeks - at least - I know, I'm being hopeful. So, I'm sure you'll be seeing some blogs, photos and videos about this project. I hope you enjoy watching the boys work together.

Luke told me to go away or come and help - so I went away ;)

Then I came back to take a quick picture...the camera was on moviemaker setting - so it wasn't so quick as my husband stood and waited for me to snap the photo (he's such a good sport) - this project could take quite a while at this rate.

Run Like Hell

My lil sis and I ran in the Run Like Hell fundraiser to help fight ALS . It was a lot of zombified fun and it helped raise money for a good cause while helping us get heart healthy - what better way than to spend the Halloween season?

It must have been running with all those scary zombies that made me Run Like Hell. I don't know . . . but I do know my time was better and there were no downhill portions in this race. I cut my time from my last run, which was the Pints to Pasta run in August. I shaved 31 seconds off each mile.

31 seconds...I know it doesn't sound like much, but I'm working to get my time down and my endurance up - not an easy task for an old lady who runs in her "spare" time-like there is such a thing.

Anyway, I was happy bettering my personal best. And at my age, that's all I'm hoping for :)

Happy Halloween

Turn the sound down and listen ...

ZOMBIES ARE THE HOTTEST

Zombies are hot right now. So for a green Halloween, why not go as a zombie? It's super simple to gear up for the apocalyptic aftermath and Halloween is the perfect time to get ready.

So, how do you zombify yourself?

Just add a couple spiders to your clothes, hair, and head. Use a little white face makeup and some black eyeliner for dark shadows (okay anyone who's as old as me knows about Dark Shadows and Barnabus Collins--I guess BC was my first fanpire love ;) but I digress)... So, some black eyeliner, white pancake makeup and some spiders.

How much simpler could a costume be? Plus, it will be a Green Theme Halloween costume ;)

I'll post some zombie photos this weekend to hell...p inspire you to new zombie heights, after I Run Like Hell - as a zombified old lady in the 10k Halloween Themed run here in Portland, Oregon.

Thursday Humor

Cupcake Wars

I love Cupcake Wars maybe because I love sugary treats so much. At least that's one of the reasons why I'm making my own cupcakes and challenging myself -- I want to be bake and make them better.

This edible glitter is such a treat. It's so pretty and of course it's tasty too. Of course these little devilish morsels aren't so good for my diet because I'm weak when it comes to holidays and homey food. I'm just going to have a run a little bit more or maybe a lot more.




These ones were banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and I used some sugar sheets and fondant to make my decorations...well, that and the edible glitter.

Writer's Retreat Weekend

I love retreats but they're expensive. So, the girls in my critique group decided to make our own. We all went to Roz's house early in the morning. We spent hours writing, eating and chatting. And it was all free.

Of course we didn't have any guest speakers so you might call it more of a workshop than a retreat. But when Mom's get away for a few hours and don't have to cook or clean or . . . do anything they don't want to do, I'd call that a retreat. How 'bout you?

Beautiful Food

We went to Sinju in the Pearl of Portland for dinner on Saturday night and it was yummy but more than that, it was beautiful.

Check out this artwork where food is just the medium. It was great Shashimi.

Birthday Season

We've been having one party after another. First it was Kara and Jacob's birthday then it was my and my husband's birthday, this weekend it was my mil's and bil's bday and then it was Fatina's bday.

One right after the other.

So, I've been eating a bit too much. Time to get back on track.

Cupcakes Galore

It's time for caramel corn, candy apples and. . .cupcakes

Golden Ghosts
Wise Old Owls
Cats

And even Spiders

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Making Up Words

Do you ever make up words? I do and I have since I was a little kid. I think I learned it from my brother--Todd.

Todd was the best storyteller ever. He could make up stories on the fly. Always trying to get out of one scrap after another. And, he didn't just make up the stories, he made up the words to go along with it. He was a true Brofessional.

So, if you don't know what Brofessional is, I didn't even make that one up, check it out here if you don't believe me.

But I can tell you, according to Urban Dictionary it means "This is a person who excels in party related activity with a professional style. They are good at all things party: i.e. drinking, smoking, dancing, talking to the opposite sex, getting out of situations, etc."

Halloween House - it's BOOtiful

I love holidays - all of them. In fact, if I could think of a good way to decorate for Ground Hog's Day, I probably would. And, I still decorate for the holidays even though the kids have long since lost their interest in coming home to ghosts hanging around the house--but I've still got witches dangling on a string and mice running amok.

Wreaths are easy to make - just twine some old branches together with some wire and glue on some silk flowers and ornamental fruit, you can buy super cheap at any craft store, then add a ribbon and it's a festive decoration


It's easy to put out some flowers, hang up some masks and add a couple of creepy critters to the tables and stairs and the kids will think it's cool.



I throw some plastic bugs on the tables, some paper mice and put out a lot of orange candles and flowers.


And hang up giant spiders on the porch




Or, if you don't want to have scarey things hanging around just use colored corn and squash with some homemade potpourri.

Here are a few of my tricks for easy inexpensive decorations.
I put some hats out and add some fun fabric to tables and WAH-LAH creepy Halloween House


With paper mice peeking around, and a pumpkin sitting on top of the table - the house can look really bootiful!








How 'bout you? Any decorations hangingaround?

Mad Hattress

I love parties. And, any reason will do. So, I decided to throw a Mad Hattress Party!

We got together to make our own hats. With Halloween just around the corner some of us worked on hats suitable for the occasion.
Others weren't so into the season. Not everyone wanted to make hats so some made special scarfs (almost magical since it was a gryffindor scarf)

and others worked on needlework.
But we had tea and scones and a great time.