When October Goes...

It is Halloween again! When I was in high school, I remember going to a big Mountain View vs. Westwood game on Halloween. On the way home, my dad played a song by Barry Manilow. "When October Goes" has since become a Jackson family tradition. We listen to it every Halloween after everyone is home from their festivities.

You can listen to the song here, but if not, you can read these lyrics:

And when October goes

The snow begins to fly

Above the smokey roofs

I watch the planes go by

The children running home

Beneath a twilight sky

Oh, for the fun of them

When I was one of them

And when October goes

The same old dream appears

And you are in my arms

To share the happy years

I turn my head away

To hide the helpless tears

Oh how I hate to see October go

I should be over it now I know

It doesn't matter much

How old I grow

I hate to see October go

When I was in China, my dad called me and after I answered I heard this song being played. It was so special to me that my dad timed the call so that my Halloween would be ending, even though theirs was just beginning.

I am just beginning to understand the lyrics to this song, but I know that with each year I live I will appreciate them more and more.

Here is a Halloween a long time ago, when I was in kindergarten. Ciara and Hank are pictured too.

Time goes on. And here I am this Halloween with my mom.

And here I am with my dad.

I hope you've had a great Halloween! I am excited to enjoy the rest of the holidays approaching. I am also anxious to see what the rest of my future holds.

Eye Can See You!

Have you ever seen Pirates of the Caribbean? Remember the pirate who always gets his eye knocked out? This is in honor of him. Oh, and Halloween :)

This is what I was going for:

Here is the official recipe.

I have made Oreo Truffles many a time. So, I applied that recipe to this one. It is almost identical. (With the exception of the eyeball part.)

After the Oreos and cream cheese were mixed together...

Oh, I am still mixing....

I molded them into little cookie dough-like balls.

(photo taken by Jeri)

Then, while they chilled for a little while, I made the iris'. Some are sour and some are plain.

Carla called the sour ones "infected." Not only is it creepy that we are eating eyeballs, but infected ones?? That is just gross...but, hey, anything in the name of Halloween, right?

Here is 2/3 of the project.

Here is the last 1/3. Melted white chocolate. (Regular milk chocolate is used for regular Oreo Truffles. In this case, who wants a black, infected eye? Too much for me to handle this time)

And then...(drumroll) The final product!

I finally came up with a semi-easy way to coat them in chocolate. Usually, it is a challenging task. But, I figured it out! Toothpicks, a large fork, hour of chill time, and a spoon as backup. I promise, it works. That is, unless you drop it. Like I did. Don't do that.

Of course, I had to take a picture like the Disney people did. But, I am no Jeri.

Sugar Cookies

One day, I will master the art of sugar cookie making! Although I must say, these turned out much better than I anticipated.

My dough wasn't quite as cookie-cutter friendly as I'd hoped.

This required more flour (which added a teeny floury taste to the over all cookie).

Finally, I was able to make it roll-able. I was so excited to use my Frankenstein & pumpkin cookie cutters!

Do you see the perfect shapes?? Well, compared to past sugar cookie attempts...almost perfect :)

I frosted them and sprinkled them! And, with the few baking decorations we had, I attempted faces. Didn't work out as great. So, I stuck with plain for the rest of them.

Carla was my helper. As a reward, she got to decorate her own cookies. I think hers were more creative than mine. Notice my other Frankenstein face attempts.

Like I said, plain worked best. Or should I say, looked best.

So, much better than I thought! So proud of them, but I'd like it to be easier and tastier next time. Any pro sugar cookiers out there have suggestions for me?

In Review

Well, here is an update on my "fun" list from my last post...nada. Ok, ok, that isn't completely true, but it felt like it!

Here is how my last two days went:

• devotional at ASU with Sister Virginia Pierce! (loved it!)
• Krazy Sub with Kylie
• Ice Skating with David
• Sprained my ankle
• Got virtually nothing else done

So, there you have it. But, as I thought about it, I did get some fun things done this week!

Here are a few:

I started the week off by hanging up my colorful scarecrow I made during General Conference. This got me into a creative-festive mood!

Next, I found some fabric on sale and made this bulletin board.

Then, I went hiking on the Rim with my mom and sisters. For more pictures and hilarious commentary on that go here. Yay for links!

Then, I finished the middle of the week with this! Thanks to the wonderful girls of Relief Society.

And thanks to this...

I didn't get to my other projects like the one I found here. Provided by Rachael (thanks!)

All in all, it was a good week. Back to the old grind tomorrow. But, stay tuned... fall has just begun and I am determined to find time for all of my projects by their designated holidays!

October Break

When we see the word break--what does that really mean? Of course, I had to look up the definition and found this. Of the many, many definitions of break I finally found it! I found that break can be defined as "to interrupt one's activity or occupation for a brief period" and "to get away by overcoming restraints or constraints." Translation: When I see that October Break is coming, I have every right to assume that I will have a brief period to get away from my occupational constraints. So, naturally, I expect to have time for fun things. Oh, you want to definition of fun? Here you go. It only makes sense that break & fun would go hand in hand.

With this attitude, I began my one week of October Break with a 12 item list of fun things to do! These were the things I really did need to get done, but things that I wanted to get done also. No one told me that I was going to spend three of those days doing homework! Ok, ok, it was my fault that I totally underestimated (since we are defining words here is that definition) the amount of homework I really had to do. As a consequence (ahem) I had to sacrifice my fun To Do list for my necessary (click)To Do list.

Until now!

I am finished with homework this week and I refuse to do any more until next week! Time to celebrate!! I think that I will begin by finally adding another post to my blog. (Hey look, all done!) Tomorrow is Friday. That means I have two whole days (did you hear that people? Two...whole...days!) To start in on my 12 item list. Ah...the sigh of sweet relief. You may say that my break is about to end and, technically, you are right. But, I say, it is just the beginning!

And, if you haven't noticed already, I learned how to use the link feature today! Try me!