Pirate Pumpkin

Arrrrggg, me heartys! Shiver me timbers, it is our Mr. Potato Head Pirate Pumpkin, Pirate Pete. Pete is guarding our front porch from scallywags who might be thinking mutiny.

Isn't this guy adorable? I got this kit this year at Target in the Halloween section. I love these kits like these because they are so much easier to let a preschooler safely decorate a pumpkin. The hardest part was getting the holes in the pumpkin. I think I picked out the world's toughest pumpkin. Once the holes were in place, the rest was a piece of cake. Or should I say pumpkin. LOL

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

We've fired up the lights

Happy Tuesday everyone! Well, I have reached that magical mark of 37 weeks. I am so excited. My ob didn't think I'd make it this far, so we feel so blessed. Such an answer to many prayers. We will actually have a full term baby. Such a long journey.

Tonight when dh came home he got out our Halloween decoration box and strung some pumpkin lights on the rails of our front porch. We also have these circle kind of lights that hang in two of our windows. One is a witch and the other a black cat. I bought these at the Dollar General a few years ago. This is the first Halloween that our little boy has paid any attention to this kind of thing, so it was neat to see him looking at the lights once everything was turned on.

I have to say I love seeing lights for winter holidays. Yes, we are becoming the Griswold's, especially at Christmas. We especially LOVE seeing Christmas lights and drive around many nights. I think the reason I like them so much is that with it getting dark earlier and earlier, seeing lights at my house and at others is so cheerful. It is nice to see that cheery glow in the distance.

So, do you put up Halloween lights? If so, what kind do you have?

She's Got Legs..

Ok, I guess the bed rest is addling my brain because I was trying to think up a catchy title for this post and that ZZ Top song came in my mind. LOL

I got this project sent to me in an email I got from Better Homes and Gardens. Their recent emails have had such cute ideas and when I saw this I knew I had to share it. I just love this different idea for decorating a pumpkin, especially one that is tall because they seem to be harder to come up with ways to decorate. What especially drew me to this project was the cute use of the grosgrain ribbon. If you go to BH&G website, they have a template you can download that will help you with painting on this design.

I know Halloween is two weeks away, but I think it is fun to start looking at ways to decorate, including picking out stencils. We have a number of the Pumpkin Master kits that we've bought after Halloween in years past, so I always like using those. We usually try to do our carving no more than two days before, especially if the weather is warm. I usually like to carve them on the 30th of October. I like my pumpkins looking as fresh as they can on Halloween.

I was doing some searching and found this website which has some cute free stencils.

http://www.jack-o-lantern.com/

If you've already started thinking about decorating your pumpkin(s) or have one that is already decorated, I'd love to hear or see what you've done. I hope this gets your creative juices flowing.

Fabulous Favorite Friday

Happy Friday everyone. It's back to the lab this morning to try and get the right glucose test. I'll be glad when that is all finished. I hate having to get shots and get stuck with needles, so doing this test really stinks.

It is hard to believe that stores are already putting out Halloween and fall stuff, but I've been to a few places already that have things out. I always like looking at the fall decorations, but I start to get a little sad that summer will be over. Even though it is so hot, summer and spring are my favorite times of the year.

Two of the Fabulous Favorite Friday picks today are two new candles I saw at Bath & Body Works. One of this is called Leaves and the other is a Pumpkin candle. I tried to post a picture, but their website wouldn't let me save it right. The candles come in cute little glass holders that have leaves and pumkins on the sides. I thought that the Leaves one was a weird idea, but when I smelled it, it smelled nice. So, if you are looking for some pretty candles with a good scent you might want to check them out.

My other Fabulous Favorite Friday pick is a dish that I made earlier this week. It is called Tabouli salad. I LOVE this stuff. It is super easy to make and is a healthy salad. It is especially good in the summer because it has tomatoes in it. It has a very clean, light taste to it. You add lemon juice to it and it is the type of salad that is best made ahead. The longer the flavors have to marinate the better.

I usually do a lot of shopping at Wal Mart, but they don't carry this there. I have found it at other grocery stores and it is usually in the section near the couscous and rice. This is one
brand of tabouli and a company called Far East sells it too.

So, if you are looking for an interesting new dish to try, I'd recommend this. When we went on vacation with dh's family back in April, I made this salad along with a lemon chicken shish kabob recipe and it got rave reviews.

I hope you all have a great weekend. Do something fun. Summer is quickly passing us by.