Glint With Everything You've Got

I never tire of carving pumpkins. They are just a fun thing to do! This year was extra interesting, made spooky with a bit thunder and lightning. That, has never happened here! First time ever pumpkin carving with thunder and lightning. Awesome!

Alissa is going to visit with her Mom today. A new Parent Aide will pick her up. This process is slow! The caseworker told me Alissa may be going home around Thanksgiving. Bittersweet I tell ya! 

Today we have Zoe's cardiologist appointment. I'm really hoping that we get piece of mind today. She has been feeling fine! She is tired of wearing the heart monitor and I'm sure she would like to get back to being an active kid again! My stress level will go way down when she gets clearance to be done with this health scare. I have new empathy when I hear the sirens of an ambulance...I have now been on the inside so to speak. 

I'm ready to move on and look forward to the holidays! Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I intend to make this one extra special! Maybe a potluck with my big kids and their families.

 Everybody bringing sides or pie...The weather will be cooler, the kids can play outside on the tire swing!

For now, Halloween is tomorrow. Plenty to enjoy yet of this holiday. I get to take Alissa trick or treating! The weather should be fantastic for that. 

You Know Like I Know 

One more thing... 

Don't let anyone or anything dissuade you from your brilliance - Glint with everything you've got!

Homemade Caramel Corn This Gram Has A Few Tricks Up Her Sleeve

Tonight we will be carving our pumpkins along with many of you! I wanted to make a little homemade treat for the G-Kids to fill up a treat bag. Rather than more candy, I found a nice Caramel Corn Recipe. I added some butter toffee peanuts for extra richness. God help me if any kid that has a peanut allergy comes around here! I guess I should feel very luck that none of my G-Kids has a peanut allergy issue! 

I found a recipe that I believe came from the Karo Syrup bottle! I will let you find your own recipe. I will just show you the craft portion of my treatbag.

I baked the popcorn recipe for 45 min in a glass dish coated with cooking spray, @ 250 degrees. Stiring and turning the popcorn every 17 min or so. This ensures an even coating and no burning of the caramel.

Then you turn out the baked popcorn onto foil that also has been sprayed lightly with cooking spray. Cool for about a half hour...

I searched the internet to find a free printable tag for my treatbags. I thought this one was so cute!

A sheet makes four tags to cut out and fold in half. I also used a hole punch so I can string the tag onto my bows for the treatbags. 

I also adorned my treatbags with a Dollar Tree Halloween lollipop. 

Finished and ready for G-Kids! 

And maybe for a few others...

I had a helper every step of the way... I hope that she always has a memory of us doing this together!

She is my little shadow and is always eager to be a part of whatever this Gram does. Bless her heart!

It's An Acquired Taste

Coco Rose is a sweetheart! I have been really enjoying this great dog! I gave her a bath and blow dryed her fur yesterday. She just follows me around the house...I assume she is missing her Mom.

I have been doing domestic chores all week. Today I will be spending some time working on a Christmas song or two. For whatever reason, I do okay with seasonal music. Last year, I posted  my cover of So This Is Christmas to my SoundCloud channel and it got a ton of  hits! It was so fun to see that happen! 

The ultimate would be to write my own Christmas Song. How about a Thanksgiving song lol... Maybe I will go into writing mode and see if I can come up with something. It has been a while since I wrote anything. People don't listen to originals unfortunately! I guess the market is full of original 

material and people don't take the time to listen to new stuff? My originals go seemingly unnoticed. I 

would be offended if I thought they weren't liked but they aren't listened to enough to be unliked! I 

recall when All Of Me, came out. I had never seen so much promotion for a song. They played it 

constantly! He was everywhere! They spent so much time and money on promoting it. You really didn't stand a chance of disliking it as they crammed it down your throat! I remember I wasn't sure if I like it at first. I heard it so many times, it grew on me. It takes listening to things a few times to decide if you like it! Unless, it's quirky or repeatively catchy... You invest yourself in the music that you enjoy listening to. 

I urge you to listen to a song that I have written, listen to it half a dozen times. I bet you might like it. I know that the more I play my own originals, the more I like them and, they become more a part of me. This is my latest original  song, Who Controls The Stars

Click here on the link➡️ Who Controls The Stars

You can't say that you don't like a song if you only hear it once.Your brain h to become familiar with 

sounds. Almost as if anticipating them!

Kind of like food...You have to try things several times before you can decide that you really don't like it. Sometimes, things just grow on you!

It's an aquired taste! 

Something More Than Nothing 

I have come to understand Liberace with his rings and flamboyance. Elton John with his glasses and Lady Gaga with her meat suit! Something has to get your attention! They have to get you to look at and notice them! Ordinary housewives from Phoenix can't seem to grab you!

My Latest In The Sea Of YouTube Covers

I Put A Spell On You written by Jay Hawkins.

Here s the YouTube video for this, my latest cover song.

My contribution to the sea of covers for this this on YouTube!

If tou like it, please share it!

Ready For The Ween Trick Or Treat

Please click here on the link➡️ I Put A Spell On You

It's that time of year again...Halloween! We decorated outside this weekend. along with a major cleanup in the backyard and reseeding the lawn.

Lots of raking and sweeping...

With all of the stress in life of late, it felt good to do some really physical work! 

It has been too hot for months for the dogs to use this doggy compund. It's all cleaned out and ready for them! 

The temps are slowing coming down here in Phoenix! The weather should be just perfect for trick or treating on Saturday. 

I'm looking forward to making it through the cardiology appointment Zoe has on Friday. It was just a week ago today that we were in the hospital with that SVT episode she had. I hope we can put it behind us. Zoe has been wearing a heart monitor and has not noticed any symptoms at all since! 

Saturday In The Park

It was a nice but rather short, family get together in the park Saturday. Kadee was thrilled to celebrating her special day! Here she is with her Dad.

My daughter Delcee had to go to work  so it was a rather short party.  

She really loves Howard. They have a mutual appreciation and understanding.

The cake was a hit with all! I enjoy making these little  figurine cakes so much!

The weather was a bit warm but it was nice to get out and enjoy some fresh air.

Yesterday was cooler and we finally cleaned up the yard and patio! It was alot of work, took all day but was worth it! The monsoon season had left all of the yard in shambles. Patio furniture had to be cleaned. Leaves, dust and dirt were everywhere. Lots of yard debris. It's nice to have the yard back!

Frozen In Time Celebrating Kadee Lynn

,

Kadee Lynn is 4! 

We are having a family get together for her today at the park. I made another Frozen cake, this time for her. She wasn't at Lizzie's party so she has never seen one! I love making figurine cakes! I wish I could make and sell them! Not cost effective though because I couldn't charge enough to make it profitable. The figurines are expensive in themselves. These are different figurines from the previous cake I made. I initally was disapointed in these figurines. Now that the cake is made, I love them!

Each side of the cake tells a bit of the story! 

Olaf side of the cake!

Olaf makes a Frozen cake. What an adorable snowman! 

I love making these! I need to come up with a good cake mold to make an appealing figurine cake for boys too! 

I can't wait to see the look on her face when she sees her cake. The figurines are so fun! 

I love being a Gram!

This little gal is so sweet and kind. Her spirit just makes me smile! Out of all of my kids and grandkids, she looks the most like me. Our baby pics are so similar! 

Have a great Saturday everyone.

To The Boiling Point Or Maybe It's Just A Hot Flash

                               It's here! My beautiful new Red Floral Lace Temp-tations bakeware!
It came on the day from hell. It was waiting at my doorstep when we returned from the hospital. I didn't even want to open it till the day after all of that weirdness. This stoneware is so solid and so slick! Easy clean up! I used cooking spray but I bet I didn't need to for easy clean-up.
I made one of my favorite casseroles, Hamburger Corn Pie. It's a Tex-Mex dish with a cornmeal and cheese topping so it is rather tamale like.

                             I tell ya, I don't know what's going on here,but life keeps hitting us where we live. My husband is the sole provider here and now his job is in jeopardy. He has worked at this company for the past 11 years. For the past 5 of those, every holiday season they lay people off! Without fail, in November I get a call from my panicked husband telling me that they are walking people out right and left. He has been able to avoid the cut the past five years. This year, they are asking people in his dept. to voluntarily quit. Offering various severance packages to the people who volunteer. OMG! He forwarded the email to me yesterday. This company drives me nuts! He's pretty sure that he will be one of the many to be let go as he is one of the higher paid people in his division. Due to his seniority there. Ugh! He's looking at me as if I should be the answer...God knows I would want to be! Now would be a good time to Sh*t a career. If I could, I would! I would love to be able to save us from financial ruin!

He just started school again this week to get his Master's Degree. Ugh! I'm kicking myself that I don't have a viable career. I have made homemaking my career. I wonder how much money I can make working at the Dollar Store... lol. I'm pretty sure that won't save us...I am feeling helpless and hopeless! I keep thinking that he will be spared but I really don't think so this time.

We will know in a couple of weeks! The stress of this week has just makes my blood boil or is it just a hot flash? I need to turn the tides here with some good luck! When I said I was excited to sing the blues, I didn't mean that I wanted to live them!

Click on the arrow, it will take you to this song on YouTube.

A Visit From The Supernatural Or Just A Horrific Day...

                                                R.I.P Dear Trudy... she is on the far right here.

I was in the middle of recording my latest YouTube video when I got the call... It was the school nurse informing me that my 13 year old daughter was in the office complaining of feeling lightheaded and a racing heart. Being a Mom, my heart dropped when I hear the concern in the voice of this nurse. She tells me that they have my daughter lying down with a pillow under her legs. I'm running through the events of the morning before I sent her off to school and I come up with no explanation for what it could be. The child I sent out the door four hours previously, seemed fine! I no sooner got my purse and Alissa together to go out to the car and, the nurse was calling again! This time to inform me that they had called the paramedics and not to be concerned when I hear the sirens as I'm driving to the school. My head was spinning...could it be that serious? My God!

I got to the school and I could hear the sirens behind me as I pulled into the parking lot. I ran in to find my daughter and several office staffers standing by to oversee how she was doing. Her pulse rate was extremely high! Again, I ran through a mental checklist trying to come up with causation. I even brought a bottle of water thinking maybe she had forgotten to drink and was dehydrated. After the paramedics assessed her vitals, they told me she needed to be transported to the hospital. They started an IV and did an EKG.  Full sirens and lights, as we drove what seemed to be a long ambulance ride to Cardon's Children's hospital in Mesa. I had to sit up front in the ambulance and had no idea what was happening with my daughter in the back. The experience was so surreal and such a shock! I couldn't believe I was racing down the freeway in an ambulance with my healthy kid in peril.

When we arrived, the paramedics informed me that they had to give her medication in the ambulance to slow her heart rate as it was in the high 190's! They explained this medication as something that resets the heart rhythm. It worked well and she felt better. They ran test and sent us home with a heart monitor for my daughter. They had no real explanation as to why this happened other than they see this frequently in puberty with kids...They gave it a name, it's called SVT...Supraventricular tachycardia. She has an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist in about a week for an ultrasound of her heart. They gave us a heart monitor that she has to wear almost constantly for the next 28 days. Although this scared all of us, she really appears to be fine! This kid has been healthy beyond healthy her whole 13 years! Never a health issue beyond a cold and maybe the flu.  This was such a shock! They told us it could be an isolated incident as well with no real explanation! This experience was terrifying for all of us!

Upon arriving home my husband found our 12 year old dog on the side yard in grave condition...No telling how long she had been there as I had been gone for the day at the hospital...We scooped her up and ran her to the vet. They ran test to find that she had cancer throughout and was in grave condition. We had to make the tough decision to put her down... This was Zoe's first puppy. She grew up with this dog, they were very close. I have never seen Zoe cry so hard...with regret, we had to say goodbye to our precious Trudy...

The events of the day with Zoe having a heart issue and Trudy falling ill made us all wonder if somehow the two incidents were related... After all, losing Trudy made us all heartsick! Could Zoe have had a supernatural connection to our dog? Kind of like E.T.?

For what it's worth, I haven't slept much  these horrible events of loss and the stress  have consumed me. I will always remember the day from hell, October 20, 2015. 

Here is the finished video I was working on...

I Put A Spell On You written by Jay Hawkins

I Put A Spell On You TaDa Your'e Mine...

 I pulled this together today and decided to post it on SoundCloud today! Click here on the link ➡️  🎹  I Put A Spell On You written by Jay Hawkins 
Here it is... My first blues song! I had so much fun with this today. This was a real challenge. I would love to be able just to sing it sometime without having to play it at the same time lol.
I will tighten it up a little more before I attempt making the YouTube cover for this. It was an entertaining morning! I long to be good enough to make money doing this... Don't know if I'll ever get there but I set personal goals for myself that I do accomplish. So I suppose, I am accomplishing my dreams even if they are never to be realized by society. In my head, I have achieved!

Can't Wait To Sing The Blues

This creation will be flying in the wind just outside my front door. We still have some fine tuning to do. His eyes will light up red. I think his presence in the house is ominous. I can't wait to see the finished display. We bought some red spotlight type of lights for the front of the house as well.

I knew my husband would enjoy the holiday more if he had a part in the decorating. He spent a few hours on putting this thing together yesterday. 

Meanwhile, I took Zoe shopping at Goodwill so that she could find items to create her costume. She was happy with her creation. We found a pretty little Elsa coustume for Alissa to wear at Costco. 

This week I plan to finish up my "I Put A Spell On You", cover. I will post it here when I think it's ready. Hopefully by the end of the week! I have had a lot of fun. It's a real challange to play and sing it (the way I want it to be), at the same time. The music is one thing but you try to perfect blues vocals while playing and you have 

your brain going in different directions. It takes a lots of concentration to play and sing at the same time! Coordination issues! Try it sometime and you'll see...I'm excited to get it done. It is dfferent from any cover of the song that I have ever heard. I love arranging for myself. Last year I arranged two Christmas songs that I am darned proud of! 

I'll Be Home For Christmas

My Favorite Halloween Haunt

Oh boy this is yummy. I look forward to my morning coffee! Nice way to wake up and get going! To me, this is the perfect cup of coffee!

This is another nice way to wake up! Twinkle Darling may look ferocious but this Halloween cat is the sweetest gal on the planet. I love her fiercely! I couldn't be happier with my feline companions!

I was looking at my photos and I found some of Halloween past. I really had some fun baking and decorating! This year I am trying to engage my husband into being part of the fun. I have left the scary big skulled figure for him to create this year. He bought cheesecloth and we have new red spooky lights to incorporate into our front yard display. Lol... mostly homemade fun lol. He has yet to be inspired I guess. I didn't help that the recent storm has blown my things down and all over the yard lol. Who wants to decorate in that! Freak occurrence I tell you, for October here in Phoenix!

Here are a few pics of Halloween past...

This is my pathetic attempt at creating scary! I know that Howard could and would do a much better job at creating a bone chilling decoration. If only he could get into the "spirit" of it all. He is very creative and a perfectionist so if he is up for the challenge, it will be worth the wait.

                        This is more my dept. Always lots of treats for the little ghosts and goblins in my world...

No matter how old you are carving a pumpkin while watching the "Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown", never gets old. I love carving pumpkins. I bet that my husband would enjoy it more if I bought him a

dremel set lol. Just think of the masterpieces he could create with that! I just may do that this year. He is like a lot of guys, he loves a new tool.

I like atmosphere. I would light a thousand tealight candles all over the yard if I could...

You can never have too many ghosts...just sayin...

Plenty of ghosts....

My favorite fall cake that I have made to date!

I love her and, I can relate. It takes one to know one lol...

Clarice likes to photo bomb my seasonal pics.

                             I even tried my hand at a money spell... Still waiting for this one to kick in!  (This was a year ago darn it!) It was worth a try...
Yet my favorite image that really conjures up the spirit of Halloween for me is this one, from the tree in my own backyard!

Enjoy the season and all that this spooky fun holiday has to offer!

Hostess With The Mostess Gotta Boastess Temp-tations Are Coming!

Kadee and brother Korbin came to visit for a few hours this week. These G-Kids I don't get to see 

much! My daughter Delcee has a lot on her plate of late. I love little person chalk drawings! Precious!

Kadee will be turning four next week and I have been told that she would also enjoy a " Frozen" cake. She didn't see the cake that I made for Lizzie, I think she will be surprised!

We have nothing much going on this weekend.  Maybe yard clean up! Waiting for it to cool off here in Phoenix! Yesterday we had a storm from California that brought temps down to the low 70's ! Chilly! No kidding, it felt chilly to us. The extreme heat that we live in here changes your blood and when it does cool way down, you really feel chilled. I lived on the  central coast of CA. for many years. I remember running around in shorts when it was foggy and barely noticing feeling cold. When the temps drop here, it really feels cold!

Looks like Alissa will be with me for Halloween so I will be taking her trick or treating. My friend 

Melanie and I will be taking a group of big and little kids out. Howard doesn't like Halloween. He will be home passing out candy. I love Halloween! Fall is my favorite season! I enjoy all of the fall holidays! 

I was fortunate to be able to buy a  20 piece set of Temp-tations bakeware! They were on sale at QVC and with the holidays coming up Howard thought we should get some. I'm excited to be getting these next week. I chose the red floral lace pattern. I  had been drooling over these every time I would see them for the past year or so!

Can't wait to use these!

Song of the day, ( my cover ) Click here on the link ➡️ Nous Vivons Ensemble written by Gordon Lightfoot

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Learn about the latest bakeware set and get ready for holiday entertaining.

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Bake, serve, and store in this 20-piece Temp-tations bakeware set that has a look you'll adore--and becomes part of your decor! The Floral Lace pattern is already a customer favorite, and this set offers a fresh look on the beloved design. The versatility is still the same--take each ceramic piece from the fridge or freezer to the oven or microwave and then straight to the table for easy entertaining. Clean up is a breeze with the dishwasher-safe design--giving you more time out of the kitchen. Holiday get-togethers are more joyful with beautiful bakeware that sets the table in style. From Temp-tations(R) Ovenware.

• Includes 13x9 4-qt ceramic baker with Lid-It and wire rack, 11x7 2-1/2-qt ceramic baker with Lid-It and wire rack, two 1-3/4-qt ceramic loaf pans, one 3-qt bowl, one 2-qt bowl, one 1-qt bowl, 1-cup measuring cup, 1/2-cup measuring cup, 1/3-cup measuring cup, 1/4-cup measuring cup, four measuring spoons, a set of 10 recipe cards, and seven plastic storage covers
• Ceramic construction
• Ceramics are dishwasher-, microwave-, refrigerator-, freezer-safe; oven-safe to 500F
• 3-year Limited Manufacturer's Warranty
• Imported

Tune in to QVC for Temp-tations(R) Presentable Kitchen 
Sunday, October 25, 2015 from 1 – 3 a.m., 7 – 8 p.m. ET and  Wednesday, November 11, 2015 from 10 a.m. – Noon ET

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