THE NIGHT BEFORE HALLOWEEN

'Twas the night before Halloween and before the computer I sat.
Not a creature was stirring, just this one ol' bat.

The shredded, ripped gauze was hung on the shower rod with care
In hopes that it would dry and not fall apart leaving a costume nightmare.
This is destined to be part of Shabree's costume tomorrow night. She wants to be a 'pink, fluffy troll', so I dyed this and am thinking it will make a pretty good short 'fluffy' skirt, over her striped tights. It didn't turn out as bright or dark as I had hoped, but bunched up it will be pinker looking than it is in the photo. Plus, she will have a hot pink wig, boa, lighted necklaces and face paint, etc. Hopefully, it will turn out okay.
Here she is being silly with one of the fake jack-o-lanterns I bought last week.
And here she is in front of the pumpkin display in front of HEB last Saturday. On our way to the store, we happened upon a yard sale sign, and since I was stopped at a red light anyway, I decided to go see. It had been ages since I went to a yard sale. She put up a mighty protest, but since I was driving...
As it turned out it was a good one. I got some little vintage die-cuts of babies in bonnets(.75) and she got a large Bushnell telescope on a tripod ($10!) and a sturdy wooden Pleasant Company fold out doll case with a bed and closet ($18).
At the supermarket we ran into Amy, Zach and Mat. I had Zach pose with Count Chocula. Mathieu declined.
These next three photos I took around the rectory last Sunday morning - An oleander and two roses.

BY POPULAR DEMAND...

...Okay, TWO people asked... here is a photo of my new glasses and the haircut I got um..a month? or so ago. It's grown out some, but you can see it is really short and all cut straight across, the better to grow it long enough to cut and mail off again. Although it will be a long time until I have a 10-12 inch ponytail to cut.

I really love my glasses! I can SEE! Not perfectly, but soooo much better than with my old pair. I selected cheap $18 frames, thinking I'd really get off easy, but *choke* the lenses made up for it.

A LITTLE CATCHING UP

The new Super Walmart opened in Beeville just last week. WOW! I may not be so adverse to shopping any more. At least for a while. This one is bigger than any in our part of Texas, even in the large cities, so I've read. And being new, it absolutely glows with cleanliness and neatness. Of course that is sort of made up for by the fact that the employees - at least the ones in the eyeglasses department can't manage to work any of the equiptment - not only the specialized prescription ones, but the register either.
Anyway, since it opened on Amy's regular grocery day, she wanted to go break it in, and asked me to go too. So, although I NEVER go to anything like that, this time I did - a major store on opening day. My glasses had broken a couple of days previously, and rather than just get the frames fixed, I opted to get an eye exam too, because my prescription hadn't been right in a long time. I had to make an appointment, then come back that afternoon for my exam.
Leaving the store, we ran into Poppin' Fresh, the Pillsberry Doughboy. So I took Amy's picture with him.
Shabree loves cooking - especially cakes. Here she is with her latest one - a bundt cake with colored 'sparkles' inside. It's from a mix, but I was impressed.
Cakes and tuna salad are her two specialties.
I have another obsession. Still with the online games, but this new one involves stuffed animals, too. You buy a Webkinz pet, (very cute and inexpensive) and it comes with a code in the little packet attached to it. Using the code, you get onto the Webkinz World site, where the animal you bought is represented and comes with welcome gifts. You build it a house, furnish it, dress your pet if you so wish, earn money and shop in the stores for it's food and all that, keeping it health, happiness and hunger stats filled. I searched online and found that there was one store in Beeville and one store in Sinton that carried the Webkinz pets. So Shabree and I bought one each. I got a little Cocker Spaniel and named her Buttercup. She got a little black bear and named her Bree. You can see them above looking at Buttercup's backyard in WebkinzWorld.
And you can add additional pets to have another room in your house, and come with even more new adoption gifts! So I had to add another pet - an elephant that I named Flora. Here she is posing with one of the artificial Jack-o-lanterns that I got at Walmart.And...um....while I was at it, I got a few more pets which will be added in to the WebkinzWorld game when I can manage it. One,the cow, is for Mathieu and one is an additional one for Shabree, and the rest are...uh... MINE. ;) I'm going to get Zach one too, but it needs to be the horse, and for that I will have to go to Corpus Christi, since there are none in our area... Although the Sinton store took my requests and will have them at some point.
Coconut is very interested in them. When we brought our first two into the house, she just KNEW they were for her. So the next time I went to town, I got her a small cheap stuffed animal at the Goodwill Store - a little blue cow, which is her favorite at the moment.
Anyway, that's it for now. Just thought I'd catch up a little with my blog. There have been requests for my photo with my new haircut and glasses, and I will do that soon.

PROOF!

...That sometimes I actually cook something that turns out delicious! Cooking is not my thing. At least not anymore. Why, I have no idea. I used to cook and enjoy it. Now it's nearly always an unpleasant chore. And more often than not, things don't turn out too well. BUT! Today I made a peach cobbler to take to the casual lunch that we have every First Friday, right after the 11:30 prayer for families in our parish. I was worried when I found out I didn't have enough sugar when it came time to add it to the recipe...so I substituted powdered sugar. Then, I didn't have milk, so I substituted some left over undiluted canned milk. Anyway, it was really, really good. And my friends were relieved...and probably surprised. Ha! They mugged for the camera so I could have proof that I really did make something delicious.
Then in talking with my cousin later in the afternoon, she told me that this peach cobbler recipe was the same one that our grandmother always made. I didn't know that. It is the same kind my mother made too, so I guess she and Big Mama (my grandmother) had the same recipe.
Here is Shabree right after I did the whole hairdresser thing from start to finish this week - 17 braids. She is at the homecoming football game with Chuck and Zachary tonight. Actually, the game is over. We lost for the first time this season. Bummer.

COOKBOOK AND CAKE

On Cookbook Junkie's blog she asked where everyone keeps their cookbooks. I think I showed a photo of my cookbook shelves (two short ones) before, but I don't think I showed my 'homemade' cookbook. This binder holds recipes cut from magazines, recipes given to me, recipes that I have handwritten from other sources or printed out, our usual holiday menus and more. It has notes about the recipes, about the days I used them, and about the friends they came from. I started it about 20 years ago. The kids always called it "The OH NO! Mom's Cooking" cookbook, after the blown up copy of the Mary Englebreit sticker I put in the cover.
Inside, the pages are protected by plastic page sleeves. Some pages are nice and neat, and some are a huge jumble. Some are done scrapbook style and some are totally utilitarian. This shows a page from my Halloween section with not only recipes, but one of my favorite jack-o-lantern cut-out patterns, too. On the other side is an old 'cookbooklet' of Mother's. I loved the pictures of peanut elves when I was little.
Shabree has really been into making cake mix cakes lately. She does very well with them, with only a tiny bit of supervision from me. She loves cooking. Tuna salad is her other specialty.