Portland Nursery Apple Festival

Every year, in the fall, Portland Nursery has an apple festival. The sign to look for is the giant apple bobbing around in the wind over the skies of Portland. We always go to taste the apples, buy some cider and bring home a bag of apples--or two. We used to go to get the kids' faces painted, let them paint a pumpkin and to eat some popcorn, caramel apples and ice cream.

This year was no different...except...it was pretty darn windy. I'd never seen them have to take the apple out of the sky--not until this year.

They had to reign in the red, ripe beauty. And do you know what I thought of...?

 Yep, Curious George...I could picture him floating away on the rope attached to that red beauty.

How 'bout you...what does this make you picture in your head?

Roasted Pumpkin...Seeds

See the photo of the pumpkin seeds down in the right hand corner...? Whenever I carve pumpkins, I save the seeds. Then I separate out the gunk and rinse them in a strainer. After that, I put the seeds on a paper towel on a cookie sheet and I let them dry off a bit. Then I pull out the paper towel, spray the seeds with olive oil and sprinkle a little kosher salt over the top. I roast them on 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes, (it depends on how big the seeds are, how many seeds there are, and how long I can wait!) I like my seeds a golden brown.

Pumpkin seeds are loaded with numerous health benefiting minerals, vitamins and anti-oxidants.

In fact, some say they can even help prevent cancer. If you want to read 10 health benefits of pumpkin seeds just pop over here and check it out.

Now, I admit that when I was growing up, in a house with nine kids and grandma living with us, Mom used whatever she could to fill our stomachs. Nothing went into the garbage and Mom was sustainable before anyone else even used that word. But...pumpkin seeds are delicious.

I thought everyone ate them. But...my son was talking to a friend and that friend had never had pumpkin seeds so I thought . . . "What?!" I have to share my Mom's legacy to me, my kids and now you.

So, all you readers out there, do you roast pumpkin seeds? Do you do anything differently...maybe add some spices or sugar or ...?

Run Like Hell Portland - 2012

Run Like Hell is a Halloween themed run that benefits The ALS Association of Oregon. My hubby and I signed up for the 10k (or 6.2 mile run) my sis and a friend signed up for the 5k. It is one of the funnest runs because people come out dressed in full Halloween garb. These year it was a Super Heroes theme. There were a ton of Bat Mans, plenty of Wonder Women and I saw quite a few Incredibles. But there were lots of other great costumes...including Santa Claus - now, that's a true Super Hero to kids.

This run isn't so much a race. Everyone is in a good mood--not so competitive as some runs. We all start snapping photos of each other and it's easy to make friends. I met another Poison Ivy - and we chatted about how we made our costumes ('cuz I'm too cheap to go buy one ;)

She had a great wig! No way could I run with a wig on. But then some people ran in full Big Bird costumes and kudos to them. It's not easy to run . . . let alone run with a furry-feather suit on.

Sonic and Tales made an appearance- true super heroes to gaming guys and gals. Just take a peek at some of these fun get-ups Portland had going on - in the streets of downtown Portland.

So, I hope y'all get a chance to Run Like Hell!

Cinderella's Pumpkin

My Cinderella Pumpkin

I wanted to try to paint my pumpkin with silver and gold - so I did. 

First I bought a white pumpkin (or Moon Pumpkin) then I wrapped an old piece of lace (I had in the house-cuz I'm super cheap) around the pumpkin and pinned it in place with straight pins. 

 

Then I just started spraying. First I did a layer of gold then I added a little silver over the top..

I let it dry outside for a little while. Then I peeled off the lace and brought the pretty pumpkin inside for a centerpiece.  

 It reminded me of Cinderella :D

Running...and Pooh

Sorry, if I've brought you here and you were looking for that big cuddle loveable lug of a bear, I'm not talking about Winnie. And, this post has nothing to do with the Disney Store.
Nope, this one is all about running...long distances. Because I've learned a few things over the last year and a half. I used to only run short distances. It took me a long time to get past the two mile mark. It was like that middle of the week hump, or my miserable Monday morning feeling...it was something I just couldn't seem to put behind me. But then finally I had a break through and in June I ran my first ever marathon...a true milestone for this Old Fat Mom. Of course I had to drop 30 pounds first to do it. Thanks to Weight Watchers... :D (Which by the way is running a Free Promotion until Saturday).

Anyway, back to my story about pooh...

There's a direct link to running and your digestive tract. I know, we don't want to talk about such things. But it's your body and we all have to, you know, pooh...

So, it's best to be prepared.

When I go out for a long run, I try to have everything I need: water, Shot Bloks, maybe a little Gu. But I never thought about the other part...well, except for maybe needing to pee--you know, I'm a woman and we women have bladders the size of a small pea. Anyway, I never really had a problem with the other side of the digestive tract...until I started trying to speed up. . . and cut down my time by running intervals... Now, I'm not a doctor and I don't know but I'm just saying, when I started running faster, I had to GO. So, I started reading up on the issue.

When you run, more blood gets to your vital organs and speeds things up and (apparently) flushes them out. So if you're going for a long run, remember, don't eat a lot of high fiber the night before. Avoid roughage. And when you do your first marathon, don't - let me repeat myself DO NOT do something out of the ordinary for you. People kept telling me to carb up, carb load, and eat my fill of pasta. Hey, that's not normal for me. That might be okay for super skinny runners. But, like I said, I'm an Old Fat Mom, and I usually run on nothing, 'cuz I have plenty stored up in reserves. Anyway, the sad fact was I carb loaded and felt horrible the entire way of the run. On the bright side, I finished and heck I was 50! So I'm not complaining...much. I'm just passing on a few words of wisdom to all my running friends, especially any Old Fat Moms out there. You don't want to feel sick on your very first marathon...right? So take heed ladies, don't eat a lot of fiber the night before, and don't carb load if you don't normally.

Another Birthday

It was Luke's birthday and all he wanted for his special day was . . . food. Yep, to go out to breakfast and dinner. And, heck I'm a card carrying Weight Watchers member (and by the way you can join for free until Saturday-just saying) so no one has to twist my arm...at least not very hard - to get me to a restaurant. So, off we went. First to Petite Provence on Division. Yep, those chocolate croissants for breakfast are always delish! And while we were there, the owner brought Luke a full cinnamon loaf with a candle in it. Of course the family had to sing and then a sweet young couple sent pastries over to the table (sort of like ordering a drink for someone on their 21st birthday--only we didn't know these people at all). So having had more than enough to eat, we rolled out of the restaurant. (btw: I forgot to get any pictures of the breakfast - bad Mom - so the picture above is the free dessert - a pile of ice cream, I think, from the dinner dessert.) But back to my story...

Then a few short hours later, or so it seemed, we were off to dinner.

So more food and more free desserts and I'd say we all had a very Happy Birthday for Luke! How 'bout you readers out there, do you like gifts or food with family for your birthday?. . . or maybe both...or something else...?

Wordstock

Here in the Pacific Northwest we writerly folks have a local tradition, it's called: Wordstock. It's a writer's workshop/festival filled with fun information for readers and writers.

One of the things I love about Wordstock is the price. It is so affordable that there is no reason not to go. Here is a list of the 2012 prices: 1 day-$7, 2 days-$10, groups of 10 or more: $5,  kids ages 0-13-free (but a ticket is still required).

That's the reason I always try to volunteer. And, it's a wonderful way to get to know other writers/readers and people with like-minded interests.

I've volunteered a couple of years and highly encourage others to do the same. Plus, there are all sorts of events associated with the festival that take place ahead of the BIG event, one example is a poetry slam.

And there are so many wonderful, friendly people to get to know. Like Kelsey. She volunteers a ton of her time to the cause.

She sat with me at the Registration Table but she was doing way more than me because she was a black shirt - I was a red shirt. Shirt colors are the way to quickly distinguish the worker bees from the real honey bees (or the ones who really know what's going on behind the scenes.)

And Kelsey bought a couple of the cutest books ever, at the festival: Baby Mouse by Matt Holm and illustrated by Jennifer Holm.

So, if your budget is tight but you want to get into the wonderful writerly world, take note! Write this one word down: WORDSTOCK.  And put it on your calendar for next year. You won't want to miss it! Guaranteed.