It's Raining, It's Pouring, The Old Man Is Snoring

Unfortunately for me, there's no old man snoring around here, but it was definitely raining and pouring all day long.  That's a good thing ... California needs a little dampness.  I could pass on the four inches of water flooding my flowerbeds, but never look a gift horse in the mouth!!

Speaking of gifts ... have you ever watched the show Fixer Upper with Chip and Joanna Gaines?  They have been fixing things up in Waco Texas, refurbishing houses one at a time, and recently turned three big silos into a marketplace.  They've been getting lots of product in for sale, one of which I purchased ... this beautiful cake stand.

You know how sometimes I take pictures of things a little crooked, just because it makes a more pleasing picture?  That's NOT what I did here.  At first I thought it would be okay, but when I turned it around, I saw this!!  I can't tell you how disappointed I am in the product.  I expected SO much more from them.  I tried to bend it a little, but the way it's made, there's no bending.  It would be great for Halloween I suppose, but today it goes back.

Even the puppies were bored yesterday as I spent more time sewing on the latest quilt.  Good grief ... so many pieces and SO much sewing and ironing!!  After a week, I finally got ONE square done.  I only have 35 to go.  Woohoo!!

With nothing else on the schedule I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  This time I made the chewy version.  The last batch of crispy oatmeal cookies were so hard they almost broke my teeth.  Of course that may be MY fault ... I did overcook them just a tad.

I picked up two more pieces at my favorite Halloween store for the front yard.  I think this one will move permanently to my back yard burial ground.  There's always a vacancy when it comes to my cooking.

I've been scouting around for one more cast iron dutch oven, and found an old high school friend who has several pieces that belonged to his dad, which he is willing to part with.  I'm pretty sure they aren't the Griswold or Wagner variety (the two oldest and best in cast iron), but once cleaned up, they will work just fine.  You can't beat FREE.

After lean cuisine and meatloaf with salad, I've been craving something different.  I hate to admit, but this recipe came from Facebook.  I sure wish there were some decent restaurants around here where I could just buy this kind of good food and bring it home.  Alas, I'm stuck with making tikka masala myself, if I've a hankering for it.  

Super simple recipe here ... chicken, a can of tomatoes, curry powder (to your taste), cumin, cinnamon and a little half and half.  Sounds terrible, right?  Actually it wasn't bad served over rice, but be sure and cook white rice, not brown.  Brown was all I had.  You have to chew each bite for four minutes, it's so tough!!  At least it wasn't meatloaf, which I've had for the last twelve meals.

Today is the day I finally get to set up my front porch for some Halloween fun.  My special music CD should arrive this morning and I'm ready for a test run.  I haven't figured out how I can watch TV and play the CD at the same time however ... maybe I can play it loudly just during commercials.  Halloween isn't until Monday night, so I've got time to experiment!!  

Yes, in the back of my mind I've thought "what if no one shows up"?  Oh well ... I'll have fun anyway.  Maybe "I" can go trick or treating and give candy AWAY instead of asking for some.  Otherwise, I see more burials in my future with Halloween Candy recipes.