Good Old Fashion Flyers

Saturday while watching poor Auburn get their little hineys spanked, a sweet little puppy wandered in the yard. Well, actually I saw her playing with the neighbor, but then the neighbor went inside and left her. I knew that was strange since she has two other big dogs who stay inside.  That told me puppy didn't belong to her.  I went outside, and she came running over to me.  After a few minutes of begging Stephen to come out he obliged and came out to see.  We knew she belonged to someone because she had a nice collar on, but who? I kept checking on her, and sure enough she stayed around. So, we put her in the backyard and named her Puppy. She was so fun and sweet; I loved having a puppy again! But, we had to find the owners. I made a few homemade signs to hang, three to be exact. We asked a few other neighbors if they knew her...nope.  Of course it couldn't be that easy.  Stephen made up some professional flyers, too.  She stayed over night in Stephen's kitchen, and she was so well behaved.  I think he had to get up with her a few times, but she was housebroken so that was nice! Moving to the happy ending, the owners called us Sunday around 5:00! I was so excited! They saw my homemade sign! I love that the homemade sign worked, not the Facebook shout-outs, not the trip to the humane society, not the professional flyers, nope, my homemade sign that looked as if a third grader had made it! That was luck, and I know that all the before mentioned attempts helped as well, but I was just so excited to have her return home. They were so thankful; the mother had tears in her eyes. Their three sons were so happy to see Ethel (we later found out), and we were told Lucy (their other dog) would be happy to see her as well.  How sweet...Lucy and Ethel! It brought warmth to my heart! It was so nice to be able to do something good for someone, even though we may have been put out of our comfort zone for a minute, it was definitely worth it!

Sweet Ethel :)

Bred Into Me

I'm not a big nut gal.  I don't care for them in my cakes, cookies, or brownies. But, this year my pecan tree has produced beautiful pecans! This is the first time since I've lived here that it has, and I am so excited.  Growing up, we always picked up pecans from our trees, and froze them for future use. I never asked why; it was just what we did. Now, I can't help but to pick up and save them. I've even been able to fill up my cute basket I got for picking blueberries... Now, I just need a nut cracker, so I can get them in the freezer for "future use"!

Fall Fail

Halloween morning I got up to get the house ready for Trick-or-Treat night. I decided I need to rake some leaves; however, I have never done this before, so I thought it was a good idea. I raked and raked and was so proud of myself. It was so fun and so fall, until the next morning. I couldn't move, and you couldn't tell I had raked. Fail.

Halloween night was so much fun; it gets better every year. We invited my parents, Granddad, Sister, and her boyfriend over for dinner. I made an assortment of ghoulish treats, but I didn't manage to take one picture! :( It was so busy once everyone started getting there and the trick-or-treaters started knocking on the door.  Anyway, I made mummy dogs, monster mash dip, and deviled egg eyeballs. They were so good and simple! Mummy dogs are hot dogs wrapped in strips of crescent rolls, monster mash dip is a sort of taco dip I created, and deviled egg eyeballs are deviled eggs with a black M&M  in the center. Yum!

excuse my cheesy grin, i was excited!

 We had approximately 200 kiddos, and they were so cute and sweet. I was even known as the "Popcorn Lady"! They get so excited about miniature bags of popcorn; it's so sweet. I look forward to this night every year, and this year I even dressed the part with a witches hat. It was great. Next year will be even better, and I'll remember to take more pictures, so it'll look like more people were there besides me!

Monster Mash Dip
2 cans re-fried beans
1 can Rotel
Colby Jack cheese
sour cream
1 package taco seasoning
-Fill the bottom of a baking dish with the two cans of beans, next add the Rotel (drain mostly), then add a thick layer of cheese.
-Mix up about a cup of sour cream and about half the package of taco seasoning
-Bake the beans, tomatoes, and cheese mixture about 15 minutes on about 350 degrees, then remove from oven and add the layer of sour cream mixture and top with a little more cheese, then return to oven for about 5-7 minutes.
-Enjoy with Tortilla chips! :)