Halloween BGR Style

As old people...haha...we have decided that a great way to celebrate Halloween, is to have all of the "trick-or-treaters" show up on one trailer- you pass out candy for about 5 minutes- and then you are done. :) That is exactly what happened yesterday. BGR organized a Halloween hayride for the kids. There were 14 kids, plus some adults and probably about 14 houses (maybe more) that participated. Mom and I sat out on the front porch waiting for them to show up. (I didn't know exactly what time they would arrive.) I set up some of my cute Halloween stuff and made some little bags of candy.

Back Porch Tile

Our little project for last week was putting tile on the back porch floor. We actually have two back porches, one upstairs and one downstairs. When we had the house built we put a tile floor on the upstairs porch, but the downstairs was just the cement floor. A few weeks ago I decided that I really would like the same tile on the bottom porch as the upper porch. I went to Lowes to see if I could still order the same tile. I was afraid that since we originally ordered the tile more than 2 years ago, that it might not still be in stock- but it was. So 3 or 4 weeks ago, Ron told me that I could order the tile. I told him that we didn't need to install it right away, but I wanted to get the tile before it went out of stock. When Ron mentioned to our builder, that we had the tile, he sent the "tile guys" over last Wednesday. It only took them two days to finish. It looks great- much better than the cement. (Go ahead...guess what color it is- lol.) I love it, and just in time for some cooler weather, so that we can actually enjoy being out there.

Deer Food

Oh...that looks tasty... bird seed and flowers.

Nothing to Blog About ;)

Now that summer is over and all of our visitors have gone back home...there is not much to blog about now. I guess...I could tell you about the morning when I got up, looked out at the pool, and saw a rat sitting on my floatie. Or maybe I could tell you about the giant 4 inch spider that was crawling across the drive way, one evening. Or maybe I could tell you about the mouse "food storage" piles that I found in the attic. Or maybe I should explain why we keep a fly swatter near the table in the kitchen- it's for the red wasps. Or maybe I could tell you the story about the snake on the front porch.
Have I mentioned that we live in the middle of the Texas Hill Country, with all of the critters? lol
Instead of telling you about those things...I'll just post pictures of my Halloween decorations- hehe.
Last year, after we had moms birthday party and we did all sorts of decorations for that, I guess I was "decorated out". I managed a few Christmas decorations, but never touched any decorations for Halloween, Valentines, St. Patricks Day, Fourth of July, etc. I forget that I have some really cute stuff- lol. So this year, as I was cleaning out the attic, and organizing our food storage, I found all of my Halloween stuff. So we are in the "Spirit of Halloween" here.

Just a Pic

Okay...maybe not "just" a pic...but a beautiful temple photo. Micah and Alison gave us this. Al wanted to get a mat and frame while she was here, but the logistics of where we live (away from convenient places, like Michaels and Hobby Lobby) made that impossible. We found a frame that I had in the attic, that needed a new piece of glass in it. I bought a mat in a craft store in Kerrville- from the "scrap bin"- cheap. Then bought a piece of glass at Michaels. I thought Al might like to see how it turned out. Here is the finished product- beautiful :)

  

Triathlon Cooking Day

Last Saturday, while Mike and Carrie were doing a real triathlon in CA- I was doing a "triathlon" cooking day. I didn't expect it to take me all day in the kitchen, but it did. Maybe it was more of a "cooking marathon". By the time I was done, I had...a chicken/cauliflower/macncheese casserole, stuffed zucchini boats, a pecan pie, a three layer birthday cake, 5 jars of applesauce, and a roast ready to go in the crock pot for Sunday. Not only did I have that food prepared, but every small appliance in my kitchen was used. My mixer, my big food processor, my small food chopper, two pots, a frying pan, several baking dishes, two pie plates, and my crock pot. Not to mention mixing bowls, cake pans, cutting boards, rolling pin, pastry mat, and measuring cups. Almost more cleaning up than cooking. We had the pasta casserole, stuffed zucchini, and pecan pie for dinner, for moms birthday. (That's what she ordered :) We had roast, potatoes, gravy, carrots, rolls, green beans, and fruit for Sunday dinner. The elders and the Andersons were here. For a second birthday dessert we had strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate cake...with strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate ice cream. I didn't remember to take any pictures until it was almost too late :) The only complaint was that the layers on the cake weren't in the same order as the layers on the ice cream- lol.

Look at that Face

We spend quite a bit of time looking out the front windows. We often have breakfast on the front porch. We almost always have lunch in the dining room, where we can see out the front window. Here is what is looking back at us.