The Colonel and her Chicken

Let me start with the disclaimer that NO CHICKENS were harmed during the course of the weekend's events.

SO...for all of you friends and relatives that live outside of our Trick-or-Treating radius...
...here are the pictures that you have been inquiring about.
I would like to PROUDLY INTRODUCE TO YOU:
A as Colonel Sanders (if you ask her, she says she was "MRS. Colonel Sanders"-I'll explain in a minute)
and her trusty sidekick,
Had as the cutest chicken EVER...(hands down).

Are you dying right now?
I have to admit that this is the most fun that I have had coming up with my girls costumes.
And it was a riot to see the feedback that A got in her costume...mostly from adults (as her friends had not a clue as to who she was).
After dressing up and seeing herself in full costume for the first time, A was none too excited to be dressed as as 'old man.' Especially, when she saw all of her friends dressed as princesses, faeries, cheerleaders,etc.
So I told her that she could be MRS. Colonel Sanders instead
(I don't think she realized that what was on her chin and lip was a beard and mustache, but if she wasn't asking, I wasn't sharing).

Here I am with my adorable chicken, Had, at A's school carnival.
I was so thrilled that her school had one...as other schools in the district did not.
I have many fond memories of Halloween/Harvest Carnivals from my elementary days and I am so excited that A will be able to store this night in her 'memory bank' as well.
We caught up with our dear friend and neighbor, Vampiress 'Z' at the carnival as well.
Aren't they cute...
Here they are participating in the 'Cake Walk.'
Now I was under the impression that EVERYONE knew what a cake walk is...but a few nights prior to the carnival, I was reminiscing with Jas about the memories I have from carnivals, cake walk included and he looked at me like I had just sprouted horns (maybe because it's hunting season and deer and elk consume 98% of his thoughts). I proceeded to explain the concept hoping = it would spark his recollection...but nope...nothing!
Do you know what a 'Cake Walk' is?
Here are my lovlies Trick-or-Treating downtown at some of the local businesses on Saturday evening. This has the potential to be a great event (if the weather would cooperate).
In fact, the weather was so gross that I wasn't planning on going...
UNTIL...
my friend, Margee, called and invited us to join her family and go.
She has shared that there was a costume contest at one of the businesses called Dog Daze, and that I should for sure enter the girls.
So quick into costumes and out the door we went...judging ended at 4pm and we breezed through the doors at approximately 3:58p.
I was so eager for the girls to participate...cause I thought if there is a category for 'Most Original (not extra crispy)' they would be a sure win.
So I got them all entered and couldn't figure out the funny looks I was getting.
Must be because they think my girls look so cute...they did look cute, afterall.
OH...what's that?
What did you say?
OH!!! ITS A COSTUME CONTEST FOR PETS...
Well them it's the Colonel and his pet, Chicken.
I could've died!!!
Instead the judges were so gracious and gave each of my girls some candy and we were on our way.
I can hardly wait for the day that A throws it in my face that I entered my children in a 'Doggie Costume Contest.'
I'll start saving for therapy now.
Here the Colonel is eagerly awaiting her chicken to wake up on Sunday, so that we could start our Trick-or-Treating adventures.
Shortly after this picture was taken, we began our Trick-or-Treating and managed to accomplish the following:
-interrupted an old man shaving (he answered the door in shaving cream)
-be someone's VERY first Trick-or-Treaters EVER
-visit with a dear friend of mine
-see grandparents (both biological and 'adopted')
-peak through a friend's mail slot who had shut out their lights
-CREATE MEMORIES TO LAST A VERY LONG TIME
..and one last photo opp for them.

Jas and I had so much fun with our kiddos...
that I am already looking forward to next year.
My pledge to A...I will NEVER make her dress up like an 'old man' again.
I PROMISE...

...we'll make Had do it instead.

As Promised...

...here it is Saturday night...
Jas is hunting...
Had's sleeping...
A's coloring a turkey for her homework...
and I decided that I would do some quick blogging.

I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to do a quick blog post on the

D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S

caramel apples that I made on Tuesday for our 'Neighbor' Party.

...and it would be a great way for me to share this incredible recipe with all of you, as well.

Ready???

Here we go...

and you're gonna want to turn up the 'smell-o-vision' on your computer because this is an aroma that you're gonna L.O.V.E!!!

So start with:

3/4 cup of white sugar

1/4 cup of water

6 Tablespoons of light corn syrup

...simmer these together in a heavy saucepan until the sugar is dissolved.

Let the mixture come to a low boil (I kept my heat in between low and medium).

...now comes the most important part!

Notice how your sauce has no color...this is the step where that all changes.

As your mixture continues a low boil...

...it will gradually begin to turn a tan color.

(Be warned this process took me a good 15-20 minutes before it got to my desired color).

But also keep a close watch because it can go from tan to burnt quickly.

During this low boil process measure

1/2 cup of heavy cream

and 1/2 teaspoon of REAL (not imitation) vanilla

and keep it nearby to pour in the sauce in a bit.

My advice to you is to take it off the stove about 10 seconds before it's reached the color you want because it WILL continue to cook a little once you've removed it from the stove.

Here it is 2 seconds before I removed it...Mmmmm.... SLOWLY pour in the heavy cream and vanilla...
When I did this...the sauce bubbled pretty aggressively for a second...so don't be alarmed if this happens to you, too.

And this is what you are left with!!!
Ta-Da! You're very own homemade,
creamy,
dreamy,
ooey,
gooey,
DELICIOUS
caramel sauce!
It's really that easy.
BUT SHHH....please don't tell anyone, ok?

The second most important part of making amazing caramel apples is:
having the perfect apples.
My personal and seasonal favorite are
HONEYCRISPS!
They are the perfect balance of sweet and tart
and if you get a good one...
which is very easy to do...
they have the BEST CRISP!
...the only drawback is that they can be a little spendy...
so be sure and shop around for them.

Here we have our assortment of toppings:
Chocolate Chips
Shmooshed Up Graham Crackers
Yummy Caramel Sauce
and last but not least
White Chocolate Chips

Notice the adorable and colorful Pyrex dishes being served in.
I found them this summer at a sale and I managed to negotiate the seller down to less than half than what she was asking...
AND I LOVE THEM!!!

Pure HEAVEN!!! Now if you are asking yourself...
"Why don't these look like your typical caramel apple?"
It's because as much as I LOVE the taste of caramel apples,
I don't necessarily love the messy experience...
so I made the decision to cut the apples up and serve the dessert in more of a buffet-ice cream sundae style.
STILL DELICIOUS!!!
But not nearly the mess.
I know...where's my sense of adventure, huh?
Hey what we lacked in caramel apple mess...
we made up for in pumpkin carving mess (see previous post).

Oh and in case you want to fore go the healthy aspect of this dessert...
THE APPLE?!?...
...you can do what Had did and make yourself some "Caramel Apple Fingers."
(anyone but me remember that episode of Friends where Joey makes himself some Peanut Butter Fingers?) ...the good news is that it was one less bowl that I had to wash.

OH...and here is a quick teaser into my girls' Halloween costumes!
DO YOU LOVE THEM?
The 'Colonel' and his Chicken.

Notice the KFC buckets doubling as candy buckets! I have to admit that I am feeling a little clever for having come up with this pairing. We got LOTS of great compliments on A's costume...
...even had a guy roll his window down at the stop light and give A the thumbs up, followed by a 'You look awesome!'
Made her smile...
...made her momma smile, too.

We went downtown tonight and 'Trick-or-Treated' at some of the local businesses.

I'll be sure to have LOTS more pictures posted after REALLY 'Trick-or-Treating' tomorrow night.

...well, throughout the course of typing this blog, I've put A to sleep,
so I think I'll take advantage of this opportunity and head upstairs and get some sewing done.
I'm participating in an upcoming Holiday Boutique and at a Church Bazaar...so I'd better finish up a few of my many projects!
I'll be sure and share some of my new pillows with you soon!
P.S. Kristal...you're gonna love them!!

Reason # 2,436,931...

...as to why I L.O.V.E. my neighbors...

because I can call each of them up on a Monday and put together a

'Pizza Eating/Caramel Apple Making/Pumpkin Carving' Party for Tuesday night.

Honestly one of the more fun nights that we have had in a while.

(we laugh so hard with this group of friends...and we are brutal {but in a fun way})

{But seriously, nothing is off limits.}

I'll get to the Caramel Apple Making in another blog post...cause it was an even all in itself...and I'll have a recipe to share as to making your very own caramel sauce.

Let's just say it's sinful and oh so DELICIOUS!

And I think that I'll go ahead and skip over the pizza eating part because let's face it...

once you've seen one starving adult devouring a slice of ooey gooey pizza...

you've seen 'em all.

{...you're welcome.}

OK...so on to the pumpkin carving.

Here is the before picture...

...no faces yet,

...no creativity yet,

...just a bunch of adults trying desperately to cut the tops of their pumpkins off.

The least fun part of the process...{in my opinion}.

In fact Had got so bored with this 'step' that she decided to take a phone break.

"Thanks Lacie for being such a trooper and letting her use yours."

Had hasn't gotten her own phone just yet...but I'm sure that in the blink of an eye, she'll have one soon enough.

A decided that she was not a fan of the smell of her pumpkin's insides.

I had not meant to look so evil in this picture...in fact in the first picture, I had hid my weapon, but Bri (the photog of this picture) thought it was much funnier with it.
Have I ever mentioned that this kid cracks me like no other!!
Here she is smiling like a...'pirate? Popeye?
Actually, I'm not really sure what she was doing...
...must've just been being Had.

Oh and yes, that is a knife in my 2 1/2 years olds hand.
And her she is eagerly showing it to you.
The joys of being 2nd born...less restrictions.
...you should see her with her shot-gun!?!
JUST KIDDING!!
that'll be her 3rd birthday present.
(I don't know why my friend won't let me babysit?!?)

A proudly displaying her collection of pumpkin seeds.

She is such a first born...

that most of her effort of the night went into collecting as many seeds as possible.
{OMGoodness...what happened to her hair?}

UH OH...LOOK OUT...

BRI HAS POWER TOOLS!!!

A drill...really?

What is she be doing?

Our beloved neighbors, Teheresa and her daughter, Z.

They were so smart that Teheresa cleaned out her pumpkin before she came over.

Back to Bri and her drill...

Isn't that cute?

Just a pumpkin full of polka-dots!

Sure to be adorable on their front porch greeting 'Trick-Or-Treaters' on Sunday.

A-Bert doing a meticulous job of cutting off the perfect top...

and in the background, Phil going back for another piece of pizza.

Hey man...knock yourself out!

The more you eat tonight...

...the less I'll eat tomorrow once everyone else is at work.

Had helping me to sh-coop out some of our pumpkin guts...

and with 'Had-itude!'

...see what I just did there?

{I just made that up...but it's so fitting for this child-o-mine!}

A anxiously waiting for Jas to finish socializing and 'gutting' hers so that she could draw the face on.

{Insert Overly-Caffeinated Mom}

OH...JUST LOOK AT OUR BEAUTIFUL NEIGHBORS!!

"Hey A-Bert...is that an official-approved UPS hat? And what color are your socks, Mister?"

Had feeling left out that she didn't make it in the prior picture.

My honey and his little lady!

Here she goes again...

...showing me some 'Had-itude.'

Silly little clown!
...well, I have always called her my 'little-pumpkin-head.'
Jas and Phil being overly ambitious and trying to create a masterpiece.

(They were feeling a little insecure with their previous pumpkin creations as soon as they saw

A-Bert and Lacie's 'Work-of-Arts.'

Presenting A's one-of-a-kind masterpiece's.

{...it's a little like those pictures at the mall that you stand back to look at in order to find the hidden picture-

I'm not a very nice mom, am I?}
But on a positive note,

I think it's beautiful and I can see it's face.

Sweet little girl even gave her dimples.

Yep, it's a girl...I just asked her.

These are Teheresa and Z's pumpkins.

They're good aren't they?

...and A-Bert's and Lacie's incredible creations.

They really made us step up our game.

{Left to Right} Bri's, A's and Phil and Jas' (although, I'm pretty sure Jas simply provided moral support for Phil, while Phil did all the work.

...and one last shot to round off the night of festivities.

<>

...There you have it...

...A night of wonderful friends, delicious food, more laughs than my abs could handle, and more memories for me to bank in my mind for later.

...and reason #2,436, as to why I love my neighborhood.

I'm already looking forward to next year's party.

P.S. I'll blog caramel apples soon...I promise!

Junk Salvation...

This blog post has been a long time in the making.

At least 5 months...since the last Funky Junk Sisters show that we, the 4th Avenue Gals, participated in.

And before I go ANY FURTHER...I want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to Bri and Margee for being such incredible friends, neighbors and business partners.

We are a great trio and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with you throughout this adventure.

...OK...Back to the Show!!

We had so much fun, met such great people and compiled such an incredible amount of treasures over the summer that it went without question that us three gals would be vendors again at the Funky Junk Sisters Fall Show, Junk Salvation.

We are getting a little more serious about our business...

INTRODUCING our business card.

Do you love it??? Cause I definitely do. It really sums us up as a trio. Every component that is a part of this card, is there for a specific reason. And we had so much fun creating the design. You should have seen my driveway when we were done!

So flash-forward to October 15-16...we loaded up a borrowed snowmobile trailer (the for sure way to go) and the back of our pick-ups and made our way to the Competitive Edge building for two days worth of Junk Salvation.

Here are a few glimpses into what our booth looked like. I hope you enjoy them. Oh and did I mention that we had such success at the May FJS Show that we decided that we needed to expand our space and rent TWO booth spaces. What a great idea...it felt good to spread out our treasures a bit and have some more room.

This was our Fall/Harvest section. You can almost smell cider, nutmeg and cloves...just by looking at this picture.

Here is an antique pew that I stripped and refinished for the show. It was the perfect addition to our space and a great backdrop for me to display the pillows that I made for the show. Sorry...it sold Friday night.

Here is the backside of our Harvest Section...we incorporated some great garden treasures into the space as well.

Another picture of the pew, pillows and an overall glimpse into our booth...complete with customer.

Our enamel-haven. This seemed to be a spot that most customers found something to take home with them.
Let's be honest...enamel goes with just about ANY decor...traditional, eclectic, country, retro, modern.

Oh and you notice the lockers in the background...
They sold before we had even finished setting up our space. Another vendor spotted them and snatched them up in the blink of an eye.

...quick funny sidenote regarding the lockers:
I was at my kitchen sink doing dishes when I noticed a scrap metal truck drive by.
I seriously, dropped what I was doing and ran out onto the sidewalk to see where he was going.
About this time Bri was pulling out of her driveway and had noticed them too. She pulled in front and asked if I had seen what she had just seen?
Needless to say, I hopped into her car (she stayed with my girls) and I 'hunted' him down and returned home with 5 lockers being delivered to my yard.

A grocery cart full of seasonal pumpkins...that went quick as well.

The line of eager shoppers on Friday evening (6pm) waiting patiently to get in and get their 'shop-on.'
My dear friend, Pam, was in that line.
I can spot her...she was too cute and I am so glad that she had such a fun night with her daughters (who caught up with her later).

I am PLEASED to share (as is Jason) that I didn't buy one thing at the show...
...that's right...NOT ONE THING!
I used some serious self-control and managed to take home every dollar I earned.
But I have been kicking myself that I didn't purchase this little beauty.
Isn't it adorable?
I love the contrast between tough (burlap) and feminine (flower).

If it's at the next show...IT'S MINE!!!
NO APOLOGIES!

Thanks again to all of our family and friends who have provided us with such love and support.

And of course, my husband, Jason...whom without I would NOT be able to participate in these 'junk shows.'
He knows how much I love the 'hunt' for treasures and the people that I have met are such a great bonus.
Jason...thanks for your support, love and encouragement.
I {heart} you.

P.S. Be on the lookout for an upcoming Halloween Post.

I am giddy to post my girls in their costumes.

TOO CUTE!!!