a wee Meenit: October 2011

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds {6 Wicked Days of Halloween}

If you are here from the 6 Wicked Days of Halloween,

Welcome!

I am day 3 of the 6 day crawl, I dont have anything gory or creepy, but thought

I would share a recipe for toasted pumpkin seeds, ANOTHER thing to love about this holiday!

I know alot of people just throw the seeds away with the 'guts', but

I highly recommend giving one of these quick and easy recipes a try!

First you need to retrieve the seeds,

this year my kids came up with their own designs. With no help from us.

Shocking that Wyatt was willing to get his hands all slimy.

Morgan however had no issues with the pulp.

Ok, on to the recipes.

I am going to share 2 different seasonings you can choose, salty or sweet.

Rinse the seeds and remove as much of the pulp as possible.

NEVER place cleaned seeds on a paper towel, they will stick. I found out the hard way one year.

You will need spray oil (I use Olive oil), sea salt (or kosher salt),

I find that the larger grannuals stick better), and brown sugar.

I have always baked my seeds, but I thought I would try it and see if I had another

option that ~~didn't set off the smoke alarm~~ was quicker. So I toasted them. Spray the seeds with the oil and toast in frying pan until browned. Usually takes about 20-30 min on medium/low to toast them. Then sprinkle them with the Sea Salt, stirring constantly. When they pop a little in the pan, they should be done. Taste one when cool and if they are crunchy-ENJOY.

The sweet recipe is the same except the last few minutes of cooking, add a few tablespoons

of brown sugar. Stir constantly until the sugar melts & let cool.

I have enjoyed them since I was a kid, hope you and your family enjoy them too!

Now get scoopin and toastin!!

Here are my kids spooky Jack-O-Lanterns, I love how they are so not perfect, but perfect for them!!

and don't forget to check in on our Creepy Crawl here:

25th - Marilyn @ The Artsy Girl Connection

26th - Jessica @ Hill Country Homebody

27th - Bonnie @ a wee Meenit

28th - Rachel @ The Crinkled home

29th - Laura @ Ms Smarty Pants
30th- Project PINK!!

31st - Jenna @ 2027

Linking to:

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

My weekend finds!

So this past weekend I did all the hair for an off site bridal party. It's my day job. And I love it. I will do a post soon of some hair stuff! But on my way home I saw an Estate sale.

So, yeah, I aimed my car right there!

The women who's Estate was being sold apparently loved dolls. and birds. She had 6 HUGE bird cages, no birds though. Wonder where THEY went. I am not a doll collector, but I can appreciate her collection.
I did not arrive until after 2, so I imagine that the best dolls were already snatched up.

I did buy a rubber mallet, and this old sewing box. I have never seen a 'box' for sewing, just baskets. Not sure of the wood, but the box is old and in great shape.

It was filled with all kinds of neat stuff.

I love old wooden spools. And I have never seen this pink thing before. It is wooden, but too small to

be a sock darner. Then it hit me, a glove darner. 2 different size ends. kinda cool.

At first I thought it was a book of matches, but upon further inspection,

They are clothing labels. Not sure the material, but this Miss Smith apparently didn't use them

much, because the booklet was full.

I am not positive, but I think these are old collar stays. But if I am wrong, please let me
know exactly what they are. One of them looks like bone. I don't think it is celluloid, it is pretty solid.

There was a cute little book of needles.

And pack upon packs of needles. I will never run out of them!

Some were so elaborate. All nice and neatly folded up with gold lettering and pictures on the inside. This said it was registered in 1868 & 1878. Did they mean the wrapper or the needles??

I guess these are notions. These were my favorite. The colors, the script, and the slogans.
BRASS Rust? Never!!
It's in the TRIANGLE

There was one small piece of embroidery, on a corner of what I assume was a pillow case.
But the rest was cut off. Some young girl probably had a crush on Carl.

\\I love my little sewing box. Some I will use and some I will never touch. I am sure when it is my time and there is an Estate sale for all my 'stuff' someone will look at this sewing box and wonder 'how old was this woman?' LOL

I did pick up this old picnic basket. Not sure what I will use it for, but I will find something.
Storage for towels, toys, who knows. I

But my most unusual find was one wooden shoe. It was dark wood, I have only ever seen light wood.

(sorry for the poor lighting)

At first I thought it was an inlay, but it is actually painted on.

By hand. Winter scenes of sledding, skiing and playing in the snow. It reminds me of the story of

Hans Brinker or the silver skates, a story that takes place in Holland. I used to listen to that story

on the record player.

The next day I also pickup up this 3'x4' mirror. Like 3 FEET by 4 FEET! HUGE!

It is not wood though. Plastic. But I love it anyway.

I got it from a women who buys the leftovers from estate sales. $25. Another great score for moi!

The patina is so perfect. Except I am gonna spray it. It will be a Christmas gift for someone special, so hopefully she is not reading this!! I am looking for a Turquoise spray paint. I went to a K-Mart since the Lowe's, Home Depot OR Walmart do not sell Krylon around here. They have a soft color called 'Ocean Breeze' but I want some in your face Turquoise and then a really shiny gloss over it. Any one have any recommendations? But I did score because they are discontinuing the Krylon at K-Mart (the one near me anyway). They had about 14 cans left and I got 9 cans of paint, for $9!! SWEET!

I know, right?!! 9 bucks!

I got some colors I love and some I have never even heard of, but for $1, who cares!

Lastly I got this desk. I was drawn to the large rope detailing around the top.

I have never see that detail before. This is some THICK rope. It is old and

in great shape, no missing hardware. Not sure what I am gonna paint it.

Something fun. Or manly. Or Nautical. Gonna sit on it a while.

Overall, great stuff, thanks for letting me share it with you!

Don't forget the blog crawl going on right now!

I will be doing a post on Thursday, but be sure to check out today's post @

Jessica @ Hill Country Homebody

and here's the lowdown on the rest of the bloggers...

28th - Rachel @ The Crinkled home

29th - Laura @ Ms Smarty Pants
30th- Project PINK!!

31st - Jenna @ 2027

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

our haunted graveyard & 6 wicked days of Halloween

today is day one of a 6 day blog crawl.

Go check out the creator of this crawl, Marilyn of the Artsy Girl Connection as she shares the first post with her Creepy Critter Potion. What a great way to get some vitamins into your kids and have fun doing it! Check back tomorrow for the next name on the list!

I finished up the outside decorations, but never got around to posting them, so here they are...

Like the sign says, enter if you dare.

This guy hangs from our flag pole. Last year my son would not go NEAR it!!

My husband works on a conservation area here in Missouri, and has access to alot of great outdoor stuff. Like corn stalks! He lined our walk with them by sticking them in the ground a little and tying them to a hidden post. He also gathered individual stalks and tied them together and they are freestanding in the yard. The pumpkins he carved years ago with a dremmel tool and has them over our landscape lights. They are all different. Pretty cool I must say.

Here is our graveyard with Styrofoam tombstones. We usually get one or two after the season on clearance. I am sure they are easy to make, but we only buy if they are CHEAP!

I love my little hippo mouth that I put bird seed in poking out on the bottom right, so not relevant!

Or is it...

The corn was green a few weeks ago, until it was 'replanted' here. Sometimes we tie a bunch to our columns but wanted to try something different this year.

The witch is our standard 'scarecrow' mount. It changes every year too. Last year it was a great Jack Skelton! Her head is actually a big plastic ORANGE pumpkin. Know what I painted her face with?? Yep. Annie Sloan's Antibes green. Perfect for that witchy green complexion. I go out every day, waiting for it to slide off the plastic or chip due to the elements, but it looks like I just did it yesterday.

This guy does creep me out a bit.

Alas, I can not have a very pretty front porch until after Halloween, as it usually

hides the urns and pumpkins.

I do have a little bit of 'cute' stuff peaking out.

This guy is pretty creepy too. If my husband could turn our yard into a real Haunted graveyard, he would so do it!! I sometimes have to curb his 'enthusiasm'and remind him, the trick-or treaters are usually little kids.

I love how adding just a bit of Spanish moss finishes off this pumpkin urn.

I love how the tombstones age over time, like the real thing.

This is again, my husband. The bones usually are in the ground, looking like they are coming up from the grave, but this year he did a 'bone mobile'. Just drilled a hole and strung them up!

We also do a fog machine, creepy music and black lights on Halloween. Like I said, it's kinda borderline!

Hope you enjoyed our yard, I know we do!!

linking to:

Monday, October 24, 2011

6 Wicked days of Halloween

Marilyn of The Artsy Girl asked me if I was interested in a 6 day party that starts tomorrow !!

So follow along these great blogs for 6 days of Halloween madness!! On Halloween, there will be a last chance to post anything Halloween related on The Artsy Girl blog.