Halloween 2009

Gary and I on Halloween aka Popeye & Olive Oyl

Anita, Halloween '09                             My frightful almond finger cookies....

Finally someone called the "Life On Record"

I have been a bit disapointed that no one called in to leave a birthday message yet.  I know it's still 6 months away, I'm just eager to see the messages coming in.  I wish I knew who Carmen Lopez is, so I could thank her, she's the first message and what a wonderful message it is.  Thank's Carmen..............

I TOOK A BREAK!

It's getting close to Halloween and all my Halloween goodies are in the rafters in the garage.  I cant get up there and Gary is still working with one arm so I can't ask him for help.  All's good, while at  a Garage Sale with Hailey this morning I purchased fabric for $2.00, a steal I tell ya, and here's what I created with it.....................

I LOVE VISTA PRINT!

Vista Print http://www.vistaprint.com/ it's the place where I was able to design the invitations, labels for the jams, banners and signs are through the internet. 

NAPKINS AND NAPKIN RINGS !

     Its true that I'm obsessed with making every little detail be just perfect and the napkins and napkin rings are no exception.  Can you believe it's October and I already have a full basket of 50 napkins & rings complete with red and blue plastic ware ready to go.  I will do some dusting prior to the event. 
     I made another trip to the dollar store, where I found gingham dishtowels that I was able to cut in quarters to be the perfect size for a napkin. 

     At JoAnns fabric store I purchased both red and blue gingham thin ribbon spools and Stiffy.  Stiffy is a starch and now comes the fun part.  I used some pvc pipe to tie the ribbon around and make a bow.  I then pour the Stiffy in a bowl, using a small paint brush I saturate the bows.  After they throughly dry I pull them off the piping, their stiff and perfect for the napkins.

CORN HOLE GAME!

While investigating games they played at picnics during the 30's, I learned about corn-hole.  We mentioned to Brent, Gary's son that along with croquet and badmitten we want to find a cornhole game..............you can amagine how shocked I was when he said he had one.  He purchased it several years ago and will be happy to loan it to us for his grandmothers birthday. 

I CANNED!

I thought the perfect gift to give our guests would be jam or jelly. The only trouble is I've never made jam or jelly before.  It has to be home-made, to stay true to the theme of the party. I spent several day's on line looking for the best site to learn how to make jams.  I found this site  http://www.pickyourown.org/applebutter.htm.  They have all types of jams, I decided that apple butter would be the best for my first attempt.  I've spent the last two day's making Apple-Butter, and I have such an appreciation for our grand-mothers and great-grandmothers for all the work they went through.   I was so excited to share my accomplishments, first I called Gary, he seemed happy for me, but I believe he was just happy to hear the excitment in my voice.  I called Blu, he appeared to be impressed,  however he did ask if I used good apples? (thanks Blu), Kevin was the funniest though, I called and said "I CANNED", KEVIN: "What are you doing that for?, ME: "because I need to for Anita's Birthday" KEVIN: That's not until April, do you know how bad that is?................. He thought I said I TANNED..... So cute!  I found out my mom doesn't like Apple Butter, so next week I will try a new fruit to can.  By April I should be a canning Queen.  Here is a picture of my first canning....I will give these away at Thanksgiving.