We closed on our house this morning.

Oh happy day!

We are happy homeowners once again.

 And then I arrived home this afternoon to find that my ‘Magic Mill’ mixer had finally arrived.

I cannot wait to try it out in my new kitchen.

Fresh baked wheat bread, here I come!

Oh happy day…again!

Now forgive me as I yet again neglect my blog so that we can pack up and move in.

The ‘Crafty Crow’ is currently featuring TONS of seriously fun Halloween ideas, with lots of great crafts, recipes, and super fun Halloweenie kinds of things. So if you are looking for some fun ideas for next weekend, make sure to stop by and check it out (although it’s also an awesome site for every other kind of day too!).

Yep, we still haven’t moved. We had yet another roadblock tossed our way, and have yet to close on our house as previously planned. It’s a long, complicated, sorry sort of story. I don’t feel like typing it out. In a nutshell, we are hoping to close on Monday, but I’m not holding my breath. At this rate we may actually own the house by Christmas. Or maybe not. Well, one can still hope. Or one can just pretend that you’re not really in the middle of two different underwriters and their weird requirements, so that if things do finally move forward it will be a nice big surprise. I like surprises. Actually closing on our house would be a great surprise. Ok underwriters, I’m still waiting….surprise me.

In the meantime, hope everyone else is enjoying the beautiful Fall colors and crisp, cool weather, we certainly are!

I am still trying to keep up with my blog but it’s not easy what with my limited access and time to even get near a computer these days, so in a nutshell here is a short rundown of some recent stuff…

I was thrilled to have finally been able to see Dylan’s band (above) when they played at a local venue on saturday night. Of course, they were incredible, and I could not have been any prouder of them and all of their hard work. That’s one of my fave band pics of theirs (aren’t they handsome!).

 I bought 4 sugar pumpkins, which I immediately cut into wedges, roasted and then pureed. I  divided it all up into 1-cup portions in baggies and tossed them into the freezer for later use. This came in extra handy when I made two pumpkin pies for Canadian Thanksgiving later that week. Yum!

I finally found a new purse, with the right amount of pockets, with one the perfect size and location for my cell. No more digging through a black hole looking for my phone as it rings endlessly. Yay! And I finally branched out and away from my standard black color, and went for a lovely burnt orange. Garrgeous!

I am disgusted that Kenley’s wedding dress didn’t raise more eyebrows and ire from the judges. Hello?!?! It’s so obviously a blatant and total copy of Alexander McQueen’s fall ‘08 line (shown on the runway in spring ‘08), a reference which she seemed very aware of oddly enough when it was brought up by Michael Kors. What about her claim that she never looked at other designers collections? Yeah, right. Kenley has talent, I’m just sorry she wasn’t sure enough of herself to stand on her own design. Ok, I’ll keep the rest of my P.R. opinions to myself…

We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving yesterday with all of the family left in town this weekend (although today is the actual day). Everyone contributed so that no one was left to cook the entire meal by themselves, and it was all delicious! James and Cena were kind enough to host the dinner at their house, and we had a really great time eating and just hanging out. The huge playroom in the basement was an instant success with all of the kids, giving them tons of room to play quietly, and sometimes not so quietly. Um, those would be my noisy kids.

And lastly, I splurged a whole $13 at Ross and bought myself this uber cute pair of gray and pink Rocket Dog flats. My favorite part is that the canvas is treated with an oilcloth like finish so they will be easier to keep clean, and they even have a little crown shaped brooch pinned on the front of each shoe. Love ‘em!

 The good news is that I have managed to get both Haven and Gracen’s costumes figured out and ready. Haven is set to be Hannah Montana (sigh) for which I have everything except the long blonde wig (one trip to Wal-Mart and $10 will fix that). She was going to go as Madeline, but once Hannah Montana fever hit a few months ago there was no going back for her. Gracen is still intenet on going as Madeline, and has not deviated from it all these months later. I thought for sure she would change her mind and go as a princess instead, but no, only Madeline will do for her. And (my favorite part…nerd!) I’m even going to draw a little “scar” on her tummy just like Madeline’s. She is going to love it! If I can find some time to sew her a little white nightgown like the girls in the orphanage wear in the book, she could even go to bed as Madeline later than night after all of her ‘trick or treat’ fun. I might be taking this too far…..

The bad news is that I am not so sure what the boys will be dressing up as. Possibly Mario and Luigi? But I am not sure just yet if that is the final plan or not. I wish I knew where their Buzz Lightyear costumes are from two years ago, they would both fit into them perfectly, but as far as I know, the costume tote is buried somewhere in one of our two storage sheds, at the bottom, in the very back, under the couches, beds and tv cabinet.

So, what costumes will your kidlets be wearing? And are any of YOU dressing up? I never do myself, but it’s always fun to hear what everyone else will be wearing.

Last weekend for my husband’s birthday, I surprised him with a night away on an overnight date. We rarely get the chance to spend time together where it is just the two of us, so we really appreciated it all the more. We also were able to find a fantastic deal at a local furniture store that same weekend, and ended up buying a beautiful new king sized bed to go in our bedroom in our new home. We have been wanting to upgrade to a king for a long time now, but held off due to the uber small size of our bedroom in our previous house. Not so with our upcoming home, thank goodness.

We just had the home inspection on Monday, and the report came back with enough good news to keep us moving forward. The majority of the issues are only up keep and maintenance issues, nothing too horrendous or scary, so Craig will have little problem fixing whatever is needed. The yard however will be another story. It has been neglected for about two years and will need some serious work to get it back to it’s original lush green glory. In the meantime, we are still looking forward to our upcoming closing date and anxious for it to all go smoothly. Fingers and toes crossed.

In the meantime, I will try and make some time in the next few days to post some of the fun recipes we have been enjoying, especially the giant chocolate chip cookies, they were a definite keeper. The quiche from the other night was dee-lish, and the peach cobbler was also very good. I also discovered that leftover meat loaf, reheated and thickly sliced, is delicious when served on a bun and topped with your favorite hamburger fixings. It didn’t taste like meatloaf at all, and was so hearty and delicious. I will be making an extra pan of meatloaf from now on just to have enough leftovers to make those meatloaf burgers again, so tasty!