Time For Pumpkins and Seafood!

We had a busy night and it is still not over. Hubs and the Little Man are in the garage putting the finishing touches on a costume for tomorrow.
After someone arrived home from school, we went right to work to create our pumpkin masterpieces!

We had some supervision for the process.


May we present our Minecraft and Demon pumpkins!


For supper tonight we had seafood pasta.
Have I ever mentioned how I do this? I can't remember.
Things we need:
Stick of butter
2 or 3 garlic bulbs
pinch of pepper
package of frozen seafood medley (mine of choice usually includes: shrimp, scallops, octopus, calamari, cuttlefish and sometimes crab meat)
pasta of choice
spring peas
mushrooms
cup and a half of grated Parmesan cheese
heavy cream (35% cooking cream)
dry white wine to cut through all the heavy ingredients

Start the water boiling for the pasta
melt a tbs of butter in a fry pan
sautee the chopped garlic in that pan
turn up the heat a bit
add your seafood

Quite the mix eh?

At this point, I take the rest of the stick of butter and start melting it in a sauce pan
When my seafood is no longer frozen together, I start cooking the pasta and pour the cream into the saucepan with the melted butter
I also toss in my peas and sliced mushrooms

This is the healthy portion of the meal. ;)

Toss a bit of pepper on top of the veggies and seafood and remember to keep it all moving or it gets this weird grey colouring.

When the pasta is a few minutes away from being cooked, I gradually start to add the cheese to the butter and turn up the heat on the saucepan. By this time, I will turn the heat down to low on the seafood and veggies.
The sauce will look like this:

Almost looks like I'm conjuring a demon.

When everything is cooked and melted and drained, I toss it all into a pot and serve.


Stay safe everyone!
Cheers. :D

A Few More Nights

When I was a child, the couple of nights we had to wait for Halloween to arrive was the longest. I think I found it more excruciating than Christmas. Actually, I still the wait difficult. It is my favourite holiday. I believe Halloween is the only holiday that is actually geared towards children. Christmas is more of a family, stressed induced panic. You have these head games going on. So and so gave me this last year, I must find something of equal or greater value. We must invite Aunt B and Uncle F. The rest of family will think horrible thoughts if we fail to do so. Those thoughts are probably why I have no problem working during the Christmas season.
Halloween is a whole other bag of tricks. Children dress up as whoever or whatever they desire. You get be someone else for a night and no one will question you and suggest you need therapy. You can let all your creative juices flow. You can be THAT house on the block and it is perfectly acceptable. There are still one-upmanship. I have a couple of houses on my street that try to outdo each other every year, but the children actually benefit.
I love getting dressed up and scary the little ones that come to the door. My husband takes it to another level and tries to scary them before they even get to the driveway. It gives the kids stories to tell the next day as they sway their candy. Tonight we will watch scary movies, carve up our carefully selected pumpkins and put the finishing touches on our costumes. the excitement is getting pretty high. Even the dog is wondering what is happening. This year Little Man actually asked if I could make his costume. He saw how much his father and I had last year and wanted in on the preparation for this year. What is even more awesome, he is having a costume contest at school. This would the first year for this event. A new principal, a new set of ideas. I'm happy about these changes. I believe it promotes the idea of an open mind.

When I am not heavy into prep work, I'M just tooling around the estate. I have been working on a sweater for me.

It has been a very long time since I knit anything with black yarn.

I cleaned up the last of the peppers for the season:


With all the leaves falling and the colours and smells changing,

Jackie has been having a field day.

So much so, she has had quite a few baths lately.

I don't even want to know what she rolled in the last time.

I'm off to veg in front of a horror movie with my partner in crime.
I hope you all have a great day!

Prep Work Underway

With Halloween quickly approaching, I've been sewing like a mad fiend.
We also found the perfect pumpkins!

Just a few finishing touches and we will be ready!
More pictures will follow!

Hockey season has also began. I've been knitting happily along to my Leafs trying to establish a decent win record.
I finished Hubs' slippers.

He has actually been wearing them as you can see in the photo!

I also completed a shawl for my Mother in Law.It is called Sun in Cold Water.

When she saw the shawl, the first thing she said was, she will show it to her girlfriends at her next breakfast get together.

Why is it worth the trouble to actually make something by hand?
The recipient who actually enjoys wearing and showing them off to other people.
You cannot buy that feeling.
If you are an artist, you constantly hear things like: but, I can buy that for a few bucks; they are not the same; is it supposed to be like that?
For me, an artist can be anyone who creates something. Everyone from a baker, painter, knitter, designer, chef and so forth.
The list of people that you would actually give something that poured your heart and soul into, is usually a short one.
The mere idea that someone who is a recipient of something you created, totally appreciates the efforts, is actually not very common.
There is not really a specific way for me to express the feelings I experience when I see someone wear or hang something that I created.
They understand how much time is involved. They realize that each stitch or brush stroke cannot be totally replicated.
That does my heart proud.

Last in my long list of works in progress is a pair of socks I am making for me.
Socks on a Plane.


We cannot always be working hard in the creative field. We need to get outside and explore.
Here is something Jackie and I found on our walk the other morning:

It had gotten quite cold over the night. The poor thing had frozen. So Jackie and I decided to bring the butterfly home to show everyone.
Unfortunately, someone got hungry during the day and ate it.

"The cat. It was the cat", says Jackie.

I suspect you are correct Jackie.
Reno does seem particularly hyper this morning.


"That's not true! I've been here the whole time!!!", says Reno.

Now I'm off for new adventures. I hope you all have a fantastic Sunday!

Happy Thanksgiving.

To all my Canadian friends, Happy Thanksgiving.
Sometimes it may not feel like there is a lot to be thankful. All you have to do is read the paper, watch the news and listen to your town gossips. All those images that bombard us with fear and anger. People killing each other over who and they think we can love. Our environment eroding because of our selfishness. Some of our archaic ways being lost from one generation to the next because we simply do not have the time to show and teach appreciation.
We have to work a little harder. There is good out there. There are people that go that extra mile to help and show they care. Holding open the door for the next person. Saying please and thank you. Picking up things someone has dropped. Smiling at children. Sharing meals with friends and family. Just simply listening.
I am thankful. I have a roof over my head. I am surrounded by people that care and love me. I am able to go to work. At the end of the day, I know that I have done the best I can. I can even maintain my sense of humour. I have worked hard and now I can say, that I do have a good life.
Thank you.

Too Much Adventure

Well, this would be the second morning in a row that I have provided the neighbours with entertainment. Thank you Jackie.
She is a sneaky little creature. Nothing like a brisk morning jog in your bathrobe to get the heart pumping.
She leads you to believe she has to go outside for a personal moment. Then lulls you into a false sense security.
Jackie starts making her way towards to the back veranda doors. Then, BAM, takes off after the collection truck.
There is absolutely no convincing this pup that refuse collector is allowed to take our bins at the end of the driveway.
She ignores your lines of reasons and continues to follow the truck in all her barking glory which is amplified by the cone of the shame.
I guess all that morning calisthenics has tuckered her out.

I haven't even bothered to take the leaves out before ushering her inside.

Adjusting

We are all a little sleep deprived. Jackie was spayed last week. The new accessory is driving us all a little crazy.

It is like outfitting her with her own personal megaphone. Not to mention the itchies. You will be sound asleep and all of a sudden BANG, SCRATCH, SCRATCH, SCRATCH....so on and so forth, usually at 0300.
It also makes for a challenging cuddle time session. I have so many bruises, people are starting to wonder what I do in my off time.
One more week and we will be free.

I have been working on Hub's slippers.
I was not happy with the first finished product.

They just look awkward to me. I need to make them a bit shorter in the length and higher on the sides.

Here is my second attempt:

I feel more confident with this version.

At this point, there really isn't too much happening. We are all just working hard to keep the puppy calm while she heals. Not an easy task at all! There are all these interesting Autumn colours and smells that Jackie is trying hard to investigate. One more week has been our home's mantra.

I'm off to catch up on Project Runway. I hope you are all keeping well. Until next time. :)

It Has Been a Great Day!

I always try to treat my day off as a mini vacation.
We start by exploring the estate to see if there are any new developments.
We were not disappointed.
The pumpkin may not grow any larger, but it is turning a lovely shade of orange.


The last of my Begonias seem to be hanging on.

I am so proud of these flowers. I started them from seeds in a pot. I never dreamed they would look so lovely and last such a long time.

My Butterfly plant actually attracted a Monarch.

I knew if I sat outside long enough, she would make an appearance.

At least I kept myself occupied.
I made some serious progress on my socks.

I love how Noro yarn stripes. It never ceases to amaze me how I start knitting with purple and end up going through and entire rainbow of colour that I would never have thought to join together.

Speaking of knitting projects....
Hub's slippers:


....and I completed my tunic sweater!

I used seven skeins of Malabrigo merino worsted, kettle dyed semi solid in Marine.

To attached the shoulder seams, I did a chain crochet pattern that I made up on the fly.


Looking at these photos new, I need to invest in a pair of leggings or something. The cargo pants are making the garment look quite lumpy.

Since Jackie and I were outside most of the morning, we decided to come indoors and bake some cookies.
Not just any cookies, Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies. I found the recipe on Julie's Album.
The only alteration I made was to beat very ripe bananas with the butter and cream cheese.

They are amazing!!

Next little adventure is to head to Gramma's house.
Jackie was very disappointed that Gramma was not there to play.

What do you mean Gramma isn't here?!?

Hubs was telling me about how the chickens had processed tomato seeds. You see my mother in law feeds her chickens a mixture of chicken feed with table scraps. They are also free range birds in every sense of the word. They had managed to feast on the tomato plants. The seeds of the tomatoes worked their way through the chicken's bodies. Now mom in law has some very impressive tomato plants.


Even the leaves on these plants are out of this world.

They are thicker than photo paper and velvety to the touch.

I'm thinking, maybe chickens are in our future. We are allowed to have four in town.....


After quality time with the chickens, Jackie and I decided it was time to wander around and see what is to be seen.
We came across a covered bridge.


Jackie did not enjoy the idea of waiting for our turn to cross.


We also saw deer!


Since we had such a productive day, we are calling it a night and catching up on Project Runway.

Have a good day everyone!