Boo!

Have a Spooky-Ooky Halloween!!!

Book Review

The first book review has been posted over at the book club!!! If you are a member, go check it out and see our next selection! You'll be thrilled!

Precious!

Look at these ca-yute little water bottles that my friend Karen over at Paperdoll Designs made for my cheerleaders! This is their "parting gift" after competition this year. We try to do a parting gift on the off chance that they don't place at competition, at least they don't go home empty handed! This year they will be sassy and cute with their little personalized water bottles. I heart Karen!

The Halloweenie Roast was so fun! It was perfect weather with just a little chill in the air and lots of spooky-ooky fun! We had a great time roasting our Halloweenies and making s'mores and bobbing for apples. I can't believe this is 7th year we have had this party. We started when Molly was 3 and it has just become a tradition in our family that we can't possibly give up. It wouldn't feel like Fall without our Halloweenie Roast! We are so fortunate to have so many fun friends to share it with us!

Speaking of friends will you look at what my sassy friend, Jodi gave me at the Halloweenie Roast???!!!

Jodi, I didn't get to open it while you were still at the party because I was so consumed with all the hot weiners, but Ashley will tell you that I made a sufficient fuss over it! He is darling and I'm totally leaving him out past Halloween! He needs to stand on my piano for a few weeks! I love him. And you, you doll face!

It is early evening here, only about 7:00, but both my kids are already in bed asleep. Molly's been there for about thirty minutes now. She's thrashed from all the festivities this weekend. After the Halloweenie Roast, she had a few friends sleep over and Jacy had her BFF, Anna stay, but they crashed as soon as their heads hit the pillow after all the fun. Molly and her bud's stayed up and giggled for a good long while. And then, social butterfly that she is, after two football games to cheer at yesterday, she went over to another friend's house for a slumber party. When I picked up a glassy-eyed little blonde this afternoon, the mother told me she went in at 4 a.m. to tell them to go to sleep or they'd fall asleep in the movie today. She took them to see High School Musical 3 this afternoon. 4 a.m.??? Are you kidding me? I made her come home, take a shower, eat dinner and go to bed. And she did so with no complaints.

We are still getting late tomatoes here. They are so yummy and tender and full of autumn flavor. The weater man is predicting a frost here this week and I will be sad to lose them. Jason picked as many as he could today and a huge handful of my huge basil plants and I rewarded him with homemade bruschetta.

He loves bruschetta. It is, for him, like candy corn and peanuts is for me. Thanks, Keri, for turning me on to that horrible addiction. I start shaking if I don't get it.


For homemade bruschetta that takes almost as delish as Ti Amo's, take some ha-yuge flavorful tomatoes. Cut the tops off, squeeze gently to remove juice and seeds and chop.

Use a TON of garlic. Mince it. I like it a little chunky. You can never have too much garlic if you ask me. (She says as yellow fumes exit her mouth.)

Get a handful of basil. I mean a lot. Chop it. Add it to the pot with a pinch of salt and ground pepper. Drizzle some good Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the top and let it stew for a while. The longer the flavors meld the better. Mmmm....

Toast some French Bread or a baguette or whatever you have on hand.

Pile it high and devour! So good!

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. Poor dentist.

Don't forget the giveaway! Sign up now-you only have until Friday! And join the book club, too! We'll have fun, I promise!

Read this.

You must read this beautiful post from my buddy, Alison. It is perhaps the most eloquent post on the struggles of motherhood I have read in a long time.

First Book Club Selection

OMG, I feel like Oprah or something with my Book Club Selections. Except that my selections will not be at the cusp of technological, idealogical, philosophical current events. Mine will be more about stuff I like. Like this awesome new selection that I can't wait to talk about on the Book Blog!!!! Run out and grab your copy of "Garden Spells" by Sarah Addison Allen and head on over to the Book Blog for our discussion on it next week! Not a member, yet? Don't worry-just stroll on over and sign up!

And speaking of signing up...don't forget to sign up for the awesome blog makeover giveaway that's currently going on! You only have until Friday, so hurry over to the website and sign up today!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, it's actually my Blog Birthday! Or Blog-iversary. However you prefer to call it! It has officially been two years since I started this blog! Yay for me! Have a pink cupcake to celebrate it with me!

So in honor of me turning 2, I'm spreading the love and to say thank you to YOU and hosting my first giveaway in a looooooong time! Yay for you! I'm giving away a blog makeover! You can have a custom blog design to spruce up your bloggie for the holidays! Head on over to my website and sign up!! Deadline is Spooky-Ooky Friday, October 31st!!!

I'm also updating the Freebies page a little more regularly! I know I missed the October desktop deadline, but new freebies will be added on a more regular basis. Fun elements like printables and digital graphics for you to use whenever you feel like it all with my lovely permission of course! All for the low low price of coming to my place to visit me and spreading the word about how Shabbee-licious I am! Download your free Thanksgiving place cards and get a head start on your holiday festivities.


Yesterday was a beautiful, cold, rainy day! I loved it. It rained buckets all morning and by the end of the day, the clouds moved off and the sun was out! A perfect bath for a fall morning! It was cold yesterday evening that Jason lit our furnace. Yes, we live in a 75 year old farmhouse and we still have floor furnaces!! I used to hate it, but I have come to appreciate the loveliness and timelessness of it. On cold mornings, Jason stands over it with his cup of coffee and I always warm the girls p.j.'s on it before they get out of the bath on a cold evening! Also last year when the dreaded Ice Storm hit us and our friends and neighbors were without electricity for 10 days, we were never without heat.

I went to coffee with two of my favorite people in the world yesterday morning and then went home and started baking! It was great! I popped the iPod into the old iHome and slapped on the frilly iApron and got busy! I made four loaves of pumpkin bread, homemade cinnamon rolls to bribe Ashley (another of my favorite people in the world) to come over for coffee with Miss C. today but she is off sugar, so I was forced to eat hers for her when she left. See what you did, Ash? And I also stewed a chicken and made homemade chicken and noodles with real hand-rolled noodles. It was great! Jason came home early yesterday, about 3 p.m. and caught me in my apron listening to Itzhak Perlman and rolling out dough and he laughed and said it was like walking into a little tea house. So in order to punish him, I made him sit down and have a cup of tea and hot pumpkin bread with me. He immediately stopped laughing. He makes fun, but secretly loves it. Old poop.

Speaking of the old poop, do you know what he did for me? He arranged all my magazines in order by title and month. So now, when I walk out to the garage and I want to sit down and peruse the October Mary Engelbreit Home Companions, I just go to the correct section and pull them down. Isn't he wonderful?

As you know, I have a terrible magazine fetish. I have all the Martha Stewarts dating back to 1996 and all the Mary Engelbreits since 1998. I was devatasted when I heard ME was no longer publishing after December. It's my all-time, hands-down favorite magazine. Look I'm getting depressed right now just thinking about a world without it. Boo hoo hoo hoo.

Yesterday I got 15, no I'm not exaggerating, 15 catalogs in the mail. I think it is because they all know "Hey, this woman is a ridiculous online shopping fanatic. Send her something!" This was one that made the top of the list. I want all their artwork for my kids' room. This was another one. Love it. I ordered a ton of Tasha Tudor books from them. Love Tasha Tudor.

Another new addition to The Shabbee Chick Blog is The Shabbee Book Club! Inspired by my friend Keri, who asked me for a good read recently, to talk more about my love of books, I have decided to start a book club! I'm always reading something and I want to talk about it with someone, so if you want to hear about what I'm reading lately, join the book club and visit with me! Look for the first book discussion to post soon!




P.S. Are you looking for a great Christmas gift for your kids? I highly recommend this. As a parent who sacrifices to provide music lessons as a necessary part of my childrens' education (they are non-negotiable extracurricular activities in my house as long as they live in it!), I think every child should be introduced to the art and value of music appreciation. Something very very very overlooked in our public school system today, but thats a soapbox for another day! I advocate all forms of music expression and if you won't buy this, buy Guitar Hero or Rock Band or at least spend some time with your kids here or here or here.

Our Halloweenie Roast is tomorrow night! It is going to be a perfect fall evening-cold and crisp with a high of 55 degrees outside! Can't beat that. Look for pictures soon!

A Prayer for a Little House

God send us a little home;

To come back to when we roam.

One picture on each wall;

not many things at all.

Wooden floors and fluted tiles;

wide windows, a view for miles.

God send us a little ground;

Tall trees stand 'round.

Red firelight & deep chairs;

Small white beds upstairs.

Homely flowers in fertile sod;

Overhead, thy stars, O God.

Great talk in little nooks;

soft colors, rows of books.

God bless thee when winds blow;

Our home & all we know.

-Florence Bone

Since We're All so Political These Days....

Not that I'm saying I don't like her, but I'm not sure if America knows this...

Sarah Palin is not running for president.

I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that.

In case you didn't, watch this. It's damned funny.

Camping

The camping trip was a huge success as camping trips go. It was, quite possibly, our best family camping trip yet!!!

Of course each trip tops the next in the girls opinion. Here they are in front of their tiny little tent of their very own. They insist on sleeping in their own tent! We have a huge 3 room, family-sized tent that you can stand up and walk around in, but they just love having a little bit of freedom. This year Daddy bought them tiny binoculars and hand held, two-way radios. They thought that was the best thing ever and talked to each other on them even when they were standing right next to each other.

They also used their binoculars constantly.

Hmmm...what is that tiny brown thing on that little pink leash, Jacy? Why, it's the best camping dog in the world, that's who!!!

I can't even tell you how beautiful it was there!

Absolutely perfect fall weather! Changing leaves, glistening water! Stunning!

As much work as it is to get ready for camping, once you get there, I must admit it is quite relaxing! I got a stack of magazines read, two cookbooks and one fantatic book...more on that later! We did a lot of this:

The campground we have used the past two years is awesome for kids. They have a ton of children this time of year and plan accordingly with hayrides, hikes, crafts and fun activities. They have paved roads that run around the campground and the girls really rode the wheels off their scooters and bikes!

See all the "neighbor" kids in the background? They played an endless game of flag football the whole 3 days we were there! The girls thought it was so fun to "spy" on them with their binoculars!

We eat really well when we are camping! No hot dogs and sandwiches for us (although I do like hot dogs over a campfire!). Jason is obsessed with cooking over an open fire so, even though we pack the fancy Colman Stove and portable grill, we usually only use it for coffee and eggs and cook everything else over the open flame!

At night we played gruelling rounds of Uno, Go Fish, Crazy 8's and Old Maid. One game of Uno went on for almost 2 hours. We finally gave up and declared Jacy the winner and went to bed!

No Archer camping trip is complete without copious amounts of fishing. Well, they fish. I read and bait the hooks.

Eeewww.

We love to go out on the boat early in the morning while the fog is still heavy on the water. Look at that smile.

Look at all those smiles!

Here is Molly and her fish Friendly Finny Phineaus. We let him go so he could grow some more and make someone else a nice dinner!







And here is the happiest camper of them all, who, when it was time to go said "Awwwwwww!"

Now, I'm off to do a pile of laundry!

Superstitions

I started writing this post last Sunday and never finished it. It seems to be my new life pattern the past few weeks. Run to this activity. Run to the next. I called my friend Christy in the middle of the day yesterday and she was drinking hot cocoa and watching a movie in the middle of the day and I almost cried with jealousy. I have over-commited myself and am paying the price. I know this. Sigh. I think after the next week or so, things will slow down and I can get my act together and pay some attention to some projects that I'm excited to start and this poor neglected blog.

So, in the next few weeks, stay tuned for some fun giveaways and more regular posts. Thanks for hanging in there with me while life picks me up by the back pockets and scoots me along...

I recently downloaded Darla Shine's Work at Home Goal Sheet. I like Darla. She's a little too "elitest" for my tastes, but she's damned organized and has some great tips. Plus I'm all about people who reaffirm my position as a stay at home mommy. Not many people do that in this day and age. I just wish she weren't so pushy about it. I don't think staying at home with our children is for everyone, it just happened to work for our family. But it doesn't work for others. I am not of the opinion that my way is the only way and sometimes Darla is. But I love her anyway. That Sassy Chick. I am acutally using her Work at Home Goal Sheet a lot. It's amazing how once you put into words what you are stressed or frustrated with, and write down an action plan, it is much easier to follow through. I'm a list kinda gal. I love all her printables. Especially the Cleaning Schedule and the Master Cleaning List. I'm the list Queen!

The garage sale went swimmingly. Thanks for asking. I hate garage sales. Hate them. It will probably be another 5 years before I have another one. But the girls thought it was wonderful. We made an enormous jug of lemonade and 6 dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies and they sold all but 5 cookies! That's a hella cookies, there people. It's because they are so darned cute. Who could pass their little stand without buying a cookie and some lemonade. And 25 Cents! Can't beat that!

We sold almost everything, thankthelord. The worst part of a garage sale is after it's over and you have to put the stuff you sold back up in the attic.

Last Sunday we headed out on our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

It's the same pumpkin patch I went to as a little girl, although it is way fancier and has lots more fun stuff now! It's a little girl's Halloween paradise!

The pumpkin patch that we go to is in my hometown about 40 minutes away. It is very important that we go to "Mommy's Pumpkin Patch" out of a sense of tradition and because it's a darn good patch. They have the big colorful tents and grass and baskets full of gourds and cute animals you can feed and pony rides and a huge hay maze.

They have hay rides and apple cider and barbecue and preserves and pecans and I could go on and on. I love this place. It's small town. That's why. So we always so look forward to going and we all pile in the car and drive and drive.

And the kids kick the back of the seats as they see it and run out through the parking lot to grab a wheelbarrow and jump in!

Here is Molly petting the goats. She could do this at home, but Molly has a strong belief that she must never leave an area without petting each animal for an equal amount of time. This means that we spend inordinate amounts of time at petting zoos and farms and some animals, who do not crave such attention, get chased around their pen until they get patted!

This year, in addition to the pony rides, they had the ca-yutest camel to ride. I named him Percy because I thought he looked like a Percy.

I didn't know a camel could be cute, but this one was definitely cute. He was even cuter with two blonde girls sitting on his back.

We are headed out this morning (it is actually Thursday now, not Sunday when I started this post) on our annual camping trip. Anyone who has read this blog for any amount of time knows that I detest our annual camping trip. I'm not a camping kinda gal unless it is in a heated RV with a little Welcome mat and a shower and heater kinda camping trip. Or a cabin camping trip. I do like cabins. But every year I suck it up and sleep in a tent for two nights and the kids and Jason loooooooooovvvvve it! They love the tent experience and the campfire experience and the fishing/hiking/biking/boating experience and I. Hate. It. It's soooooo much work. I have to go grocery shopping for all the food, pre-cook, slice and pack each item and godforbid I forget something important like I did last year (pillows) because I have never heard the end of that. The kids grab their iPods and their animals and jump in the car and Jason grabs some clean underwear and jumps in the car and I'm slaving away for days before hand making lists on top of my lists and packing and cooking and sigh....then when I get home there is laundry and trash and more laundry and I'm exhausted. But we're making memories. And the great part is once we get there, I just set up my lawn chair and my little table and read and knit and Jason does all the work. That part is nice.

So think of me this weekend. It's the perfect camping weather here and an awesome time to get in the fall mood!!!

Oh! By the way! If you are in my area, the ca-yutest little Teacher Supply Store opened yesterday! You must go by and see it and tell one of my sweetest and dearest friends how awesome it is and that she needs to start her own blog. And then tell her how awesome her logo and sign is and how ca-yute the schoolhouse that a hunky and talented man I know built for her. And then buy a whole buncha stuff!

Prepare yourself for a barage of camping pictures next week! And while I'm gone make yourself some hot apple cider and sit on the couch with a magazine for me, willya????

I leave you with some fun seasonal superstitions...

• A hollowed out turnip lit with a live coal is the best talisman to ward off evil spirits.


• You can always tell a good witch by her red shoes and a bad witch by her forked tongue. (I think I know some people like this! What?)




• Onion skin, very thin, mild winter coming in. Onion skin, thick and tough, coming winter, very rough!


• If a cat rubs against you in October, you will be very lucky!!!


• While raking leaves, keep the prongs of the rake pointed down at all times unless you want it to rain hard the next day!


• Wild Turkeys in the garden are a good omen!
  
  
  
  
  
  

Shabbee Tip of the Week

Freshen up!

Put a dryer sheet in the bottom of all your bureau drawers. Stick one in your suitcases when you pack. Fold one underneath the carseats, hidden away. Put one on gym bags, cheer bags, softball bags to help out yucky odors. Put one in your pillow case to smell sweet all night long. Tuck one between the fitted sheet and mattress pad. Place them in the boxes you use to store away your summer clothes. Put them in the pockets of your winter coats. Tuck one between the towels in the linen closet!

Who me??? Golly Gee!!!

I used to scratch my head in wonder at this funny "blog popularity contest" that runs rampant across Internet Land? Some of these self-affirmed "Top Mommy Bloggers" who wax eloquently about their social status in the land of Blog Her and Twitter and all fun blog lists (who makes these lists anyway?) that rank the rantings of the suburban mommy-blogger leave me smiling indulgently at them. How cute! They like themselves and other people like them and they are on a list. Awwww...

But alas, now, in the words of Sally Field "You like me! You really like me!!!" I, myself must thank the academy, erm, the big black void of the Internet, erm, all ya'll out there... and blow you kisses with both hands! You have ranked me a "Top Momma!" Silly ya'll!!!

You don't know what Top Momma is, you say? Well, frankly, I didn't either until I was so kindly given the link!!! It's a silly popularity contest of sorts, listing awesome mommy blogs of which I log onto on a regular basis, because it really does weed out the good, the bad and the ugly. Once you are nominated and your blog reaches the top of the list, you see how long you can stay there!!!

Here's where you come in! You simply must go up and click my Top Momma button at the beginning of this post (or in the sidebar if you're so inclined) and tell everyone that you're my friend so I can be popular too! I get to sit by the head cheerleader in the cafeteria if you do!!!

So click away. Go on, I'll wait until you come back....

Oh, thanks, ya'll!

On another note, I'm making myself crazy this week adding yet another event to my already full schedule. After years (I'm not kidding, years) of nagging Jason has finally talked me into having a garage sale. We haven't had one since we moved to this house when Jacy was 2 years old and we scaled down our living arrangements by about 1,500 square feet and I had to sell everything that I couldn't cram into this humble abode.

Now, you know that I can't just have a garage sale, set it on a table with some 25 Cent stickers on it, donchooo? I have to have a shabbe-ca-yute garage sale. I don't plunk down boxes of dirty items and unwashed children's clothes. I want my garage sale to be one that mommies come to and know they just need to spritz the toys they just purchased, not disinfect them with a radiation treatment like some of the toys Jason has bought at garage sales in the past.

The girls are actually selling some of their fun toys, too. They are saving up to buy a pink electric scooter. We told them if they would save half, we would pay for the other half and they are determined to get it! They have kissed goodbye some of their outgrown toys like all their Fisher Price Little People lands and games and felt boards and puzzles and old baby-ish board games. Lots of stuffed animals with a sign that says "50 Cents each to Good Homes Only" on the box. Old scooters and tons of outgrown clothes. And I have good toys. I don't lose the pieces to toys or break them or leave globs of peanut butter on them. Our family cherishes and takes care of all our toys, so I'm probably going to turn right around and put all I make off my part of the garage sale into a pink electric scooter.

They've also decided to have a lemonade stand and sell chocolate chip cookies. 25 Cents each. A bargain if I've ever seen one. They are hard at work on their marketing strategy. They are making a poster out of foam board and they are going to stand out at the end of the driveway and hold it like a sandwich board. Taking turns, of course. I'd stop for that ca-yuteness, wouldchoo???

Needless to say, on top of all our regular activities, a handful of design deadlines and a good friend's store opening next week, I'm tag tag tagging away. With those ca-yute tie on tags which Jason says are a gigantic waste of time but look so much more shabbee than pre-printed stickers.

Our annual Halloweenie Roast is coming up soon and I'm handing out invites (designed by moi!) this week!

This is our 7th Year to have it. It gets easier every year and is such a great way to get to know the kids' friends' mommies and daddies. Standing around a campfire roasting halloweenies is a great way to say "So...are you normal or what?" which is pretty much what I do. They have no idea it is all a ploy to lure them into an interrogation! Bwahahahahahaha!

Look at my morning glories on my garden gate!! Aren't they sweet? I love morning glories. I wish my house was covered in them.

Can you believe we are still getting fall tomatoes? They come trickling in and along with a big slice of one of those late beauties with my homemade pesto from the basil in my herb garden it is the perfect rainy day here for one of my all-time favorite sandwiches.

Here is LullaBelle for your viewing pleasure. Yes, her ears always stick straight out like that.

Oh! By the way, some people are commenting to me that they cannot see the background of my blog!!! Can you see it? Please let me know if you can't!

This afternoon

You may recall my obsession with pies. I admit it is still going strong. When Ruthann started her fab-oo little blog, I stopped ranting about it for fear of the whole copycat label. Not that anyone could copycat Ruthann and get away with it. She's a one of a kind peach! But the obsession is still there. I confess, I love to make pies. Sadly, I love even more to eat them. However, I'm still going strong with the pie making. Today I found myself at home with no hubby and two kids content to entertain themselves, so what did I do? Made an apple pie. With delicious apples picked from our very own backyard apple tree!



Here's the recipe:



Buy an apple seedling at a local garden store and plant it in the ground in early spring or late fall. Water and wait 3-5 years. Harvest the apples in the late summer or early fall. Leave them in a big basket in the mud room for days until your husband gets sick of looking at them and finally washes and peels them so you can slice them and put them in freezer bags to freeze for pie making!


Build a tent out of the kitchen chairs and an old sheet for your kids to play in. Pile in books, pillows, dollies and pop in a movie they haven't watched in years.





Make a pie crust from your grandma's recipe that always tastes delicious but never quite the same as Shuggie's. Roll it out, tear it, wad it up in a dough ball and roll it out again.



Cook the apples in a big pot from a set of fancy pots and pans your husband bought you for Christmas years ago. Stir and stir it. Add way too much sugar and then balance it by adding way too much cinnamon. Taste and decide it is not too much, but exactly right!

Pour into your pie crust, dot with butter.

Make a pretty top.

Bake.


Wait for your darling hubby to come home from his hard day so he can build a fire in the outdoor fireplace and have a slice with you after the kids go to bed.

Jason is "on call" this weekend for work. It never fails that if we plan something when he is on call then he gets called out. And, you guessed it, we had something planned for today, so naturally he has been working since 9:00 this morning with no sign of being finished any time soon. Oh, but think of the overtime. Now, I can buy that mink coat I've been wanting. Or at least bribe our stockbroker to come out from under his desk.

Have you noticed how everyone is talking politics on their blogs these days? It's rather annoying. I don't want to hear about your strange political views, I want to hear about the color of your boudoir and the state of your kitchen cabinets not the state of the union. Yucky. That's not shabbee and delicious at all. The truth is, I'm a little worried about election day. As it looms nearer, I get more worried. I'm undecided. It's like someone saying to me, "Amber, would you like these brussel sprouts or this bag of black licorice?" Um, none thanks. Yikes.

So on to more shabbee delcious subjects, have you seen Jen's Cottage of the Month for October yet? You haven't, well shame on you! Go visit right now and steal some of her ideas about putting white pumpkins and fall leaves out for display. The world needs more white pumpkins in it. Last year I planted some and they were fantastic, but they all ripened in August and were completely useless to me come Halloween. I meant to plant some in June this year so they'd be on time, but June was a tough month this summer and it didn't happen. So enjoy Cheryl's white pumpkins and then go to the pumpkin patch and get some of your own!

And while you're browsing the web, check out this awesome new blog I just found with some delicious homemaking tidbits. Love it. And visit Angelina's new shabbee website design, all spruced up for fall by moi! So fun and shabbee ca-yute! She has her Christmas tags out and calling for presents to adorn! It's never too late to start your Christmas box as Alison would say!

OOOHHHh Emmmm GEeeee!

That is what my kids say all the time. OMG. I don't even know if they know what it stands for.

But, OMG I just had to tell you something in the two minutes before my kids get off the bus to have Halloween cookies with me....

Cindy is on "Rate My Space" tomorrow on HGTV, so screw the presidential debates, set your DVR's and watch Cindy's fab-oo house on TV!!!! How exciting!

Also, I just worked with the nicest lady ever with the most shabbee, creative genes in her little body. Angelina makes beautiful cards-so retro vintage shabbee. Love. Her. Go visit and say HI and check out her new background designed by moi! I'm excited to begin some new projects with her and her fantastic whimiscal card business soon!

Aaaaaandddd! I got my very first issue of the Vintage Housekeeper's Digest from Alison today and it's every bit as scrumptious as she said it would be. Go on over and sign up today!