Rainy Mondays...

A hard morning for all of us, but a hard morning for my boy especially.

It's Monday and back to school. He doesn't want to go. I hurry him along and he complains. I say (shout) you're going to miss the bus. He says it's not his fault. I say back "yes it is". We get out the door and just a I say watch out, it's slippy (freezing rain), there he goes down on his bum. I catch him but still...he goes down again at the sidewalk. We walk on fallen leaves to try to get better traction. The bus is late so we stand in the rain.

I tell him I can't change the weather, and I can't change school; but I can make peppermint hot chocolate for him and his sister when they come home.

Apparently, I can't take pictures today either...but the kids enjoyed the hot chocolate. Now just waiting for my man to get home and all will be well.

Baking Monday

On a chilly day it's so nice to warm up the house with the oven and smells of good food baking. Today I got a few things in the oven: bread, pumpkin muffins and chocolate chip cookies, my man's favourite. And just to get a jump on tomorrow's breakfast, I mixed the dry ingredients for pumpkin scones - yum!

The bread recipe is from my mom, just simple whole wheat with brown sugar and milk. It's got a slightly chewy texture and makes wonderful toast.

I used pumpkin from our Hallowe'en jack-o-lantern that I'd baked up and froze. If you're careful with the candle, there's no black from smoke. If there was, you could always scrape it off before baking the pumpkin. It's not quite as sweet as pie pumpkin but the flavour is still very good and works well in baking.

I have tried for years to make cookies like my man remembered from his mom, the best ever I've been told. I've used recipes from magazines, from friends and the same recipe that my mother-in-law gave me but never quite got it right. (They were all good, especially the ones made with butter.)

It comes down to the fat. When I used golden crisco (normally makes me cringe), the chocolate chip cookies were finally deemed perfect. And it is the recipe from the box, although if you're not so picky as to buy Crisco, use butter and the recipe found here. They are good cookies...

So much for good intentions...

Hallowe'en has come and gone and my plans were mostly just that, plans.

• I never did make a raven or try out the mole recipe
• My pictures from Hallowe'en didn't turn out - camera setting perhaps? I need work on light settings...
• I was such a slacker not posting what did get done...

On the up side:

We made sugar cookies in the shapes of witches,  pumpkins and ghosts

We had  a great time out at the pumpkin farm, getting apples and pumpkins, and looking at their Hallowe'en shop

I did make my boy his dragon costume and update my girl's vampire costume

We did decorate the front yard with a fresh grave, tombstone and candles, spiderwebs, etc.

well, onwards and upwards...