Happy Halloween!

Halloween 2008 in three bullet points:

• Here are a couple of Halloween pictures for Grandma. The kids were in a hurry to start Trick or Treating so, believe it or not, the top picture was the best one I could get of everyone!
• Richard wins the good husband award tonight. Matthew only came home with one sock. These are socks I just finished knitting for him a couple of days ago. Richard retraced the Trick or Treating route and found the missing sock. (Thankfully, it was not far from our house.) The man understands what it takes to be married to a knitter!
• Emmett was very sweet and shared his candy with us when he got home. I even got to have a coveted peanut butter cup.
  

Mmmmmm Aliens.......

So, this morning I was checking out Pioneer Woman's Food blog and came across her recipe for cake balls. I thought they looked so cool, but didn't really have an excuse to try them.

Fast forward about an hour. I am sitting in a conference room at Emmett's school in a meeting with his therapy team. His teacher leans over to me and asks if I can bring a sweet treat to the Halloween party tomorrow instead of crackers and cheese, as I had planned. Yay!!! I get to make Alien Cake Balls!!!!!

I ran out to the Giant Craft Store and bought the essential supplies. I baked a gruesome looking Red Velvet Cake and then set to work. Grandma Jean helped with the decorating. I hope they go over well with Emmett's classmates!

Thank you Kitten!

Kitten has bestowed upon me this thoughtful award. She is a sweet person with a heart of gold. I am flattered and touched.

This blog invests and believes, in ‘proximity’ [meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' - being close through proxy] "They are all charming blogs, and the majority of them aim to show the marvels of friendship; there are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize, and then they help to cut these bows; do we want that they are cut, or that they propagate?" Then let’s try to give more attention to them!

So with this prize we must deliver it to eight bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this text.”


A lot of blogs I read have already received this award. I don't know who to pass it on to!

Ok, here is one worth noting:

Sandy

Menu Plan Monday

I try to plan menus every week to maximize our grocery spending and minimize food waste. This is the first time I will be participating in Menu Plan Monday hosted over at I'm an Organizing Junkie.
If you are visiting from that site, then Hello! Nice to meet you! I hope you like what you see. If you are a regular visitor over here, then Hello! Nice to see you again!

A few notes about menu planning, Knitwit style:

• Monday's are busy here with dance class dangerously close to dinner time. You will usually find a casserole that I can make at lunchtime or something bubbling in my crock pot on that day. (Um, except for this week, it seems.)
  
• I usually only plan to cook five meals in a week as we get respite care one evening a week so I don't cook that day. (Well, does reheating chicken nuggets in the oven count as cooking?) I also plan to eat leftovers at least one night a week.
• If you want a recipe that I don't provide a link for, let me know and I can email you.
• Grocery shopping was done on Sunday, so Menu Plan Monday actually started a day early here!
• Emmett and Charlotte visit with my Mother in Law most Fridays so you usually find a meal that the kids normally wouldn't eat on that day.
  

Sunday: Hot Pizza Dip with pita chips. Baked rice pudding for dessert.
Edited to add--if you try the rice pudding grease your pan very, very well or use a silicone liner. I think I may have to soak my dish overnight to loosen the baked on sugary milk bonded to the sides of it.

Monday: Creamy carrot soup, Tuna Melts, carrot sticks and hummus or ranch dressing to dip.

Tuesday: Crock pot roasted chicken, steamed frozen vegetables.

Wednesday: Chicken salad panini.

Thursday: Respite night.

Friday: Shrimp pomodoro pasta.

Saturday: Lasagna. (I haven't decided if this will be lazy skillet style, crock pot, or traditional.)

Last Days of Fall.

The wind is a lot colder. There is snow in the forecast. Every time we go to the park we wonder if it will be the last time there will be sand to dig in.

One Saturday Afternoon.

Memememememe

Kidlet's mum wins! What? I don't know. But for those of you who are curious, the title from my previous post is a line from The Simpsons.

It is Thanksgiving weekend in my neck of the woods. My delicious No-Knead bread is minding it's own business on the counter, waiting to be baked and devoured at dinner tomorrow. My brother's hat is looking more hat-shaped, and my grey hair is now a lovely shade of magenta. I don't have much else to report, so I am leaving you with a fun meme. Please feel free to spread it around. If you comment on my blog and take it, let me know and I will be sure to comment at yours.


If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now,(even if we don't speak often or ever) please post a comment with a completely made up and fictional memory of you and me.

It can be anything you want - good or bad - but it has to be fake.

When you're finished, post this little paragraph in your blog(if the spirit moves you) and see what your friends come up with.

Egghead likes her booky book.

I love to read. I have loved books as long as I can remember. I love sharing books with my kids. When I had Emmett I could hardly wait to share with him a book I remember from my own childhood:

The Monster at the End of This Book. I remember my Dad reading this to me and how much fun we had together. The kids love reading it and turning the pages as Grover gets more and more agitated. Some of my other favourites are:

Cunnigham's Rooster. This is a gorgeous story about a musician Cat who has lost his inspiration to write. His creativity is renewed upon meeting a Rooster who inspires him to write his magnum opus. Unfortunately, it is now out of print. I took my copy from my Mom's house and keep it in a safe place. I read it to the kids, but it is not on the shelf of books that Matthew can reach!

Someone is Eating the Sun. I was a wee sprog during a solar eclipse (I think it was Feb 26, 1979 according to a NASA website) My parents read this book to my brother and me to help explain why the living room got suddenly dark in the middle of the day. The illustrations are different in this edition, but the story is still the same. I need to track one down for our collection.

When I was in Grade 1 my teacher kept a log of the books her student's read. Once you read 100 books, you got a book to keep. My 100th story book was Cinderella. Of course I still have it!

When I got older and could read on my own I started a longtime love affair with EB White and Laura Ingalls Wilder that lives on to this day. I guess I even named my daughter after a spider!


I could go on for days about my favourite books. I even had library cards in two towns when I was little (One at home and one in my Grandparent's town)

What are your favourite children's books?

*You get bonus points if you know where I got the title of this post.

Who made this rule?

Background information: Some nights Richard will spend the night on the couch after staying up too late playing computer games or watching TV. Last night was one of those nights.

As I am laying in bed this morning I notice three things: 1. I am alone. 2. The sun is all the way up so that means I got to sleep in. 3. Emmett is up. I snuggle under the covers and listen as he goes downstairs and then comes back up and goes into his room. I then hear him tell Charlotte that they can't go downstairs because Daddy is asleep on the couch. So, what do they do? The come into my bed and jump on me. (But not before Emmett tells Char to whisper and tiptoe because Daddy is asleep.)

Does this sound fair to you??

I am NOT going to ignore the kids and house and read this all afternoon......

.....Emmett and Charlotte are going out with Grandma.

Click on the link and you will find the whole book. Free. Before you settle in, at least load the dishwasher and put on a pot of coffee, OK?