Well junior high football season is officially over. It’s been a hard season with flu hitting half of the players including my little man. The team won only two games but they became a group of boys that found out they can overcome sickness, fear, and disappointment and become better boys or shall I say young men not because of winning but because they ended the season fighting for the win. I’m proud of them all but I’m really proud of my son he showed all of us that he’s willing to push himself for what he believes in and he did just that this season. Isn’t he just so very handsome?

Please visit http://conversationswithmoms.com/ to add your wordless wednesday!

PB&J Banana Rollup
2 (10-inch) flour tortillas
4 tbs peanut butter
2 tbs jelly
2 peeled bananas
Spread peanut butter on each tortilla, then add jelly. Put peeled banana on right edge of each tortilla, roll up and serve.

Source

1. A burning a candle inside a jack-o-lantern on Halloween keeps evil spirits and demons at bay.
2. If a candle suddenly goes out by itself on Halloween, as though by breath or wind, it is believed that a ghost has come to call. 
3. Always burn new candles on Halloween to ensure the best of luck. It is not a good idea to burn Halloween candles at any other time of the year. It may bring bad luck or strange things will happen to you, over which you will have no control.
4. Gazing into a flame of a candle on Halloween night will enable you to peer into the future.
5. Girls who carry a lamp to a spring of water on this night can see their future husband in the reflection. 
6. It is believed that if a person lights a new orange colored candle at midnight on Halloween and lets it burn until sunrise, he or she will be the recipient of good luck. 
7. If you hear footsteps trailing close behind you on Halloween night, do not to turn around to see who it is, for it may be Death himself! To look Death in the eye, according to ancient folklore, is a sure way to hasten your own demise.
8. To cast a headless shadow or no shadow at all is still believed by many folks in the United States and Europe to be an omen of death in the course of the next year.
9. The old Celtic custom was to light great bonfires on Halloween, and after these had burned out to make a circle of the ashes of each fire. Within this circle, and near the circumference, each member of the various families that had helped to make a fire would place a pebble. If, on the next day, any stone was displaced, or had been damaged, it was considered to be an indication that the one to whom the stone belonged would die within twelve months. 
10. According to an old English folk belief, you will invite bad luck into your home if you allow a fire to burnout on Halloween. To remedy the situation, the fire must be rekindled by a lighted sod brought from the home of a priest.
11. If a bat flies around a house three times, it is considered to be a death omen.
12. A person born on Halloween can both see and talk to spirits.
13. Knocking on wood keeps bad luck away.
14. If you see a spider on Halloween, it could be the spirit of a dead loved one who is watching you.
15. Put your clothes on inside out and walk backwards on Halloween night to meet a witch. 
16. You should walk around your home three times backwards and counterclockwise before sunset on Halloween to ward off evil spirits.
17. In Britian, people believed that the Devil was a nut-gatherer. At Halloween, nuts were used as magic charms.

http://www.theholidayspot.com/halloween/superstitions.htm

Instructions

1. Use a craft knife (parents only) to cut off the spout of the milk jug, then completely cover the jug with black duct tape.
2. To create the 8 legs, tape the center of each of the 4 pipe insulation tubes across the handle side of the jug.
3. Tape the tubes to the sides of the jug as well, to keep them bent.
4. With scissors, cut and remove a 1-inch-deep notch from the middle of each leg, then bend the insulation at the notches and tape the bent joints in place.
5. For eyes, stick black tape pupils on the 2 broader ends of a pair of plastic eggs. Tape the eyes in place on the jug. Finally, decorate the top of the spider body with green duct tape, and your oversize arachnid is ready to tape or tie in place on a front porch or door.

The Witch and Her Cauldron

Materials

• Red or white Christmas lights
• A few logs
• Large tub
• Loosely crumpled aluminum foil
• Green or white Christmas lights
• Green cellophane
• Bubble Wrap
• Duct tape

• 3-foot wooden dowels
• 12- by 5-foot piece of black cloth
• Stepladder
• Witch mask, wig, glove, and hat
• Newspaper
• Long cardboard gift wrap tube
• Red or orange cellophane

Instructions

1. Create a faux fire by wrapping a string of red or white Christmas lights around a few logs. Set a large tub on top and fill the bottom with loosely crumpled aluminum foil. Lay a strand of green or white Christmas lights on top of the foil (leave the end of the cord out of the cauldron so you can plug it in later). Add a layer of green cellophane, then fill the rest of the cauldron with Bubble Wrap.
2. Make a frame for the witch by duct-taping two 3-foot wooden dowels or sticks to a stepladder, one at the back in a vertical position, the other on one side at an angle.
3. Tie one end of a 12- by 5-foot piece of black cloth around the top of the vertical dowel. Then drape the cloth over the angled dowel and tie it in place about 8 inches from the end. Pin the front of the cape closed to hide the ladder.
4. Stuff a witch mask with newspaper and set it on top of the vertical dowel. Tape on a wig and a hat, and fit a glove on the end of the angled dowel. Set the witch in front of her cauldron and tape a long cardboard gift wrap tube or stick in her glove for a stirrer. Stuff crumpled red or orange cellophane between the cauldron and the logs and plug in both strands of lights to complete the spooky scene.

General Bone E. Part

 

Materials

• PVC PIPES AND FITTINGS:
• 2 (10-foot) lengths of 3/4-inch pipe
• 4 (3/4-inch) crosses (slip style)
• 8 (3/4-inch) 90-degree elbow fittings (slip style)
• 1 (3/4-inch) tee connection (slip style)
• 6 (3/4-inch) caps (slip style)
• 2 (3/4-inch) 90-degree elbows (one end slip style and the other FPT/threaded)
• 2 (3/4-inch) female adapters (straight, with one end slip style and the other FPT/threaded)
• 4 (3/4-inch) clean-out plugs

• OTHER MATERIALS:
• Sheet of 320-grit wet/dry sandpaper
• 1 PVC saw or hacksaw
• 4 white milk jugs
• Washable marker
• Craft knife
• 1 (200-ounce) white plastic detergent jug
• White Con-Tact paper
• Black adhesive craft foam
• White duct tape

Instructions

1. Lightly sand off any print on the PVC pipes with wet/dry sandpaper and some water. Then dry the pipes and cut them as shown in the template.
2. Fit the torso, arm, and leg pieces together as shown in the template.
3. For each of the skeleton’s hands, have a family member place her hand on the flat side of one of the milk jugs with her wrist resting just above the spout. Trace around the fingers, elongating them and adding bulges around the knuckles. Cut out the tracing, including the spout. Wash off the marker lines. Use the same method to create a pair of feet.
4. Attach each hand by inserting a clean-out plug into the spout and then screwing it into the adapter at the end of the arm. Likewise, connect the feet, screwing the plugs into the elbows at the ends of the legs.
5. For the head, cover the printing on the detergent jug with Con-Tact paper (it may take 2 layers). Then cut out eye sockets and a nose from the adhesive craft foam and attach them to the handle side of the jug. Slide the head onto the neck and secure it with white duct tape.

Salt Dough Ghosts

 

Materials

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup salt
• 1/2 cup water

• Bowl
• Wooden spoon
• Fine-point permanent black marker

Instructions

1. Combine the flour, salt, and water in a bowl. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until smooth.
2. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and shape each into a ghost, flattening the base so it will stand up.
3. Microwave the ghosts on a plate one or two at a time for 20- to 30-second intervals until the dough is fairly firm (about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes in total). Let the ghosts cool (they can get quite hot).
4. Use a fine-point permanent black marker to draw on eyes and a mouth.

Spirit Jugs

 

Materials

• Clean plastic gallon milk jugs
• Black permanent marker

• Craft knife
• String of 50 clear low-wattage holiday lights

Instructions

1. Draw ghost eyes and mouths on the jugs. Tip: Leave the caps on while you do this, so the jugs don’t dent.
2. Use the craft knife to cut a half-dollar-size hole in the back of each jug (a parent’s job).
3. Arrange the ghosts near each other and string the lights between them, stuffing several bulbs into each of the jug.

 Pictures and crafts provided by http://familyfun.go.com

It wouldn’t be Meal time Monday without a Halloween edition this week so enjoy these cute Halloween treats from http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-recipes/  and I really suggest visiting the site to find more creative treats!

Edible Eyeball Treats

• 3.4-ounce box vanilla pudding mix
• Jelly beans
• LifeSavers Gummies

• Plastic eggs
• 2 empty egg cartons

1. Prepare the pudding according to the package directions. For each eye, fit a jelly bean into the center of a LifeSavers Gummies candy and place it in a plastic egg half.
2. Fill the egg cup with the pudding, then place the egg halves in an egg carton in the freezer until they’re firm (about 3 hours).
3. Remove the egg halves from the freezer and let them sit at room temperature for about 3 to 5 minutes.
4. With the back of a fork, gently press down on the edge of the pudding, rolling the frozen ball out of the egg cup. If you’re not serving them right away, place the eyes in a freezer-safe dish in the freezer until you’re ready

Hairy Daddy Longlegs Cupcakes

• Chocolate cupcake (body)
• Canned chocolate icing
• Chocolate sprinkles (hair)
• 2 pieces of eye-type candy (we used Bassett’s Liquorice Allsorts)

• Clean scissors
• Ruler
• 1 package of black string lace licorice (legs)

Instructions

1. Frost the cupcake with chocolate icing and cover with sprinkles.
2. Press the eyes into place.
3. Use scissors to cut eight 4-inch pieces of licorice for the legs. Holding all of the legs together in a bunch, bend them in half and crease. Push the end of each leg into the cupcake as shown

Cheese-Finger Food

• Mozzarella string cheese
• Green bell pepper

• Cream cheese

Instructions

1. Wearing plastic gloves or sandwich bags over your hands to keep the cheese as smudge-free as possible, use a paring knife (parents only) to cut each string in half and then carve a shallow area for a fingernail just below the rounded end of each half.
2. Mark the joint right below the nail as well as the knuckle joint by carving out tiny horizontal wedges of cheese, as pictured.
3. For the fingernails, slice a green bell pepper into 3/8-inch-wide strips. Set the strips skin side down on your work surface and trim the pulp so that it’s about half as thick. Then cut the strips into ragged-topped nail shapes and stick them in place at the ends of the fingers with dabs of cream cheese

Pizza Mummies

 

 

• English muffins
• Pizza sauce
• Black olives

• Scallions
• Red or green pepper
• Cheese sticks or slices

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 350º F. For each mummy, spread a tablespoon of pizza sauce onto half of an English muffin (toast it first, if you like).
2. Set olive slices in place for eyes and add round slices of green onion or bits of red or green pepper for pupils.
3. Lay strips of cheese (we used a pulled-apart cheese stick) across the muffin for the mummy?s wrappings.
4. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the muffin is tastey.

Swamp Juice

 

 

• FOR 8 SERVINGS:
• 1/2 cup small tapioca pearls (found in the baking aisle of most grocery stores)
• Food coloring
• 4 tablespoons sugar

• 8 gummy fish
• Seltzer water
• Lemonade
• 8 gummy worms

Instructions

1. MAKE THE EGGS: Bring 6 cups of water to a boil and add the tapioca pearls. Reduce the heat slightly and boil the pearls, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes.
2. COLOR THE EGGS: Divide the pearls, with the remaining water, between two bowls. Add 4 drops of food coloring (we used 3 drops of yellow and 1 drop of green in one bowl, and 4 drops of blue in the other) and 2 tablespoons of sugar to each bowl. Stir the mixtures, then allow them to sit uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes. Drain and rinse the pearls with cold water.
3. ASSEMBLE THE DRINK: Spoon 2 tablespoons of pearls into each glass and drop in a gummy fish. Fill the glasses with seltzer water, then add a splash of lemonade. Place a gummy worm around a spoon as shown

It’s really been one of those weeks! I’ve had midterms, term papers, quizes, hyper children, work nonstop, pets going crazy, you name it and it’s probably happened!  I’m trying so hard to find time to blog daily and it’s really not working but bare with me because I refuse to lose the one part of me that makes me feel calm.

School is going pretty good except for my science and lab classes. I hate science, I mean really really hate it! I have never passed a science class in my life. I have to pass this class and I’m trying so hard but it seems like a lost cause.

Work is great. Other than being a really difficult process to learn the job itself is good. I finally don’t dread starting work everyday and I’m finally doing strict costumer service from home which is what I have wanted since I started with my company. I don’t have to push anything on anyone or make any type of sales orders it’s all customer service as in helping the customer and I love it.  With that said, right now with work + school + finding time with family + me time…. I’m losing my mind. I’m having issues with my health that I try to deal with and try to smile through daily but the pain is honestly getting to be too much to bare. It’s hard to sit, stand, lay down, breathe, move, laugh, cough, sneezing is impossible without crying! I’m tired of pretending I feel good so that I don’t become a bother to everyone around me.

Football season is almost over which is sad in many ways, however basketball season follows close behind and this will be our five year olds first time playing any sports and our first time with two kids in the game! At least that’s what we are shooting for but it may or may not end up that way.