So far I have his hat and backpack complete. We had to pick up fabric for Jake last night so I'll be working on him during the upcoming week. (I'll be sharing some tutorials for the costume elements in the next couple of weeks.)
But that's not all we'll be working on next week...we're also getting ready to start assembling our yard decorations. We went out today and spent our set aside "pumpkin cash" in preparation for the event. I still have to go pick up the needed mini-pumpkins, but today we got our twenty, yup...twenty regular sized pumpkins. It's going to be magnificent. I'd tell you the plan, but that would wreck the reveal. I'll share some pics during the week as things move forward. There is a LOT of carving to do. Tonight I will be wrestling with wire hangers, needle nosed pliers and crepe paper...I'll share those results tomorrow. And don't worry...those pumpkins won't go to waste. I will be keeping the seeds for roasting and the uncarved pumpkins will be broken down for future pies, cookies and bread.
Here's what else I've been doing this week :
Recipes I Used: Tonight's meal is my jambalaya - one of my absolute favorites. I'll be sharing it as it's own post for you tomorrow. This week I was fairly lazy and we did a lot of leftovers and lazy meals (like the makeshift nachos I made a couple of days ago). On Tuesday we continued to break down the leftovers in order to return my stew pots to rotation. I finished off our Peanut Sesame Noodles, a really easy delicious recipe that can be eaten cold or hot. (I found this one on Spark Recipes about six months ago.)
Ingredients :
2 cups cooked spaghetti
1 tbsp. sesame oil
3 tbsp. smooth peanut butter
1 tbsp. fresh ginger (I use 1 tsp. ground ginger)
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
3 tbsp. hot water
1 garlic clove, chopped (I use 1 tsp. garlic powder)
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. In a separate bowl, combine all remaining ingredients - except sesame seeds. Mix until peanut butter is fully dissolved. Blend spaghetti and sauce until noodles are coated. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
I more or less tripled this recipe when I made it last week. That used up a full box of noodles so that I didn't have open ones hanging around. It also provided us with two dinners and two lunches.
Books I Finished: I finished reading Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. It was fantastic! I read it really quickly and it should do well in the brackets. Speaking of which...the next round will be up this week. I started reading Mercy by Jodi Picoult - so far also good.
Projects I Finished: We completed couponing in preparation for November. Our local store was having their "anniversary sale" so there were some really low cost items that made me go out for groceries a couple of weeks early. Collin was busy working so Darian helped me. We did really great and ended up with about a 35% savings margin.
I finished sewing Darian's hat and backpack for his Halloween costume.We also picked up some other craft supplies for five other projects that are on the burner. I am proud to say that I did manage to save 50% on everything purchased thanks to my sale/coupon shopping savvy. In the end, Darian's costume will end up costing me less than $15. Each of the other crafts will work out to about $5 each.
Posts I Posted: We completed two phases of Frugal Meal Planning, including how I lazily clip my coupons. I showed you how Bailey prefers to spend his evenings and I told a tale of home auto repair by Crazy Neighbor only to discover that you all apparently only enjoy Crazy Neighbor when he has the potential to kill someone in the process of his neuroses. (You're all demented and very sick puppies...I respect your dedication to high expectations.)
Favorite Post of the Week: A post from my favorite blogger of all, The Bloggess involving this :
(Tell me you haven't already laughed.)
The Best Thing I Found on the Interwebs: Thanks to my brother Tyler I was introduced to Chuck Testa.
You're welcome.
My goodness you are going to make me feel bad for not doing a single thing for Halloween...until I think about all the work ;)
ReplyDeleteThe recipe looks good except for the ginger. I cannot stand ginger as it makes me think of old woman perfume and I don't like my food to taste like I have licked an old lady's neck. That might just be me though...
The web video was hilarious! Thanks for sharing!!
I typically feel the same way about ginger. It doesn't come through too heavy in this recipe though so it works out okay around here. And you're welcome for the video. My brother has a knack for finding interesting things on the internet.
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