Halloween

So I don't have a baby yet, but I did dress up for Halloween on Saturday.

Can you guess what I am??

(The cat who ate the fishbowl!)

Beautiful Flowers

I love flowers. They make me go "ahhh". So relaxing.

Homegrown roses
Steve thought it would be more cost effective to buy rose bushes and cut roses from them rather than buying roses from the store.

Donated flower arrangement from The Wild Rose in Fresno
My sister-in-law is doing an internship at The Wild Rose and when the lady heard that my sister-in-law was throwing a baby shower for me and she offered to donate flowers. Very beautiful.

I've requested flowers from Steve when I deliver my baby.

Rockie Road Brownies*

I usually can get enough of a dessert. I can usually say "no". Not with this dessert though! Luckily I have Steve to help me eat it.

And yes, those are marshmallows on top of homemade brownies topped with a homemade chocolate drizzle.

To make this dessert you need:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk (sour milk is 1 tbsp lemon juice added to 1 cup milk, which sits for 5 min before you use it)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups dry-roasted peanuts**
3 cups tiny marshmallows
1 recipe Chocolate drizzle

1) Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan with foil, leaving about 1 inch of foil extending over the ends of pan. Grease foil; set aside. In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt, set aside.

2) In a 2-quart saucepan combine butter, 1 cup water, and the cocoa. Bring to boiling, stirring constantly. Add to flour mixture, beat with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat for 1 minute. Stir in 1 cup of the peanuts. Pour into prepared pan.

3) Bake in preheated oven about 40 minutes (I cook about 35 min) or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup peanuts and the marshmallows over hot brownies. Top with Chocolate Drizzle (below). Cool in pan on wire rack. Remove brownies from pan, using the overlapping foil to lift brownies. Place on cutting board, cut into bars. Makes 32 brownies.


Chocolate Drizzle: In a medium saucepan combine 1 cup semisweet chocolate pieces, 1/4 cup whipping cream (I used 1% milk, which worked just fine) and 2 tablespoons butter. Heat and sir over medium-low heat until smooth.

Per brownie: 237 cal 13 g total fat (6 g sat. fat), 22 mg chol., 119 mg sodium, 27g carbo, 2 g fiber, 3 g protein.

*From "Anyone Can Cook", a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, page 445.

**I didn't put in the peanuts.

The Battle of Bull Run Reenactment (Oct 22)

The men prepped the cannons for battle
The war began with a BANG!
The Confederate soldiers joined the battle
The men fought heroically
The horses joined the fray
The wounded retreated
The dying were left as the battle moved on

The Confederacy Won The Battle!

The Union army marched away in defeat
You could pay to stay in a Confederate "boarding house"
And in case you wanted to use the shower...
...these were the prices

Hiding out

Our dog is approximately 28 inches high (to the shoulder), 47 inches long (to the rump) and 64 inches long (to the tip of the tail). (He kept wiggling so these are approximate.) He likes to fit into enclosed spaces. I am amazed at where he can fit his body. This is one of my favorites.

At least he doesn't try to jump up into our laps!

Fresno County Fair

So when I was growing up, my family went to the fair every summer. We went to the same spots and ate the same food. It was predictable, but still good.

Well, when Steve and I were dating (or were we married?) we went to the Utah State Fair. They had a rodeo! Other than that, I was disappointed with what they had. Steve told me about how awesome the Fresno County Fair was. So last Saturday we went. And it was a lot of fun!

Steve had a really big rock collection when he was growing up and every year he would get new rocks at the Gem & Mineral Room. So we went. It was so cool!! I saw a display that showed what different rocks go into - one rock type is found in garlic! (I don't remember what it is called though...)

My two musts with the fair this year were to eat a cinnamon roll and watch a horse race. We did those two things right away. The cinnamon rolls at the Sonoma County Fair are better. And sadly, my horse didn't win.

I found a big pumpkin and since I sometimes feel like I weigh as much as this 330 pound pumpkin, I thought I'd take a "look alike" picture. I think I do a good impression, don't you??

Steve was a good sport and let me take a picture of him by the honey stand. Yummy honey samples.But my most favorite thing by far was the Alaskan Pig Races! Those pigs were so cute and well trained. I thought that the show was well done. I admit that I was tempted to get my own "professional photo with an Alaskan racing pig". And that was mostly because the photo would have a bunch of hams in it. Hehehe

The Last Rag Rug

So this is the last rag rug - my best yet! I have to say when I embarked on the rag rug projects I didn't realize how much time they would take - but then again, I had nothing but time! I was going to do four, but I think I'll stop at three. I want to work on other projects and truth be told I don't love crocheting rugs. Maybe braiding is easier?

So you can see the size