View From Under The Umbrella.

Here we are on the way to school. Yes we are walking in the rain. It's not too bad today the wind picked up a couple of times and tugged at the umbrellas. Sorry these aren't the best shots since I took them with my cell phone. The thing I lace best about a rainy day in the Fall is how the changing leaves make a dreary day still seem bright.
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Yes It's as cold as it looks

I'm sitting out here watching my daugher and her team play soccer. As you can see they are in shorts and tank tops and the weather is miserable. Here I sit freezing typing at half time while my poor son plays with his transformers. And complaining that he is cold then complaining that he is hungery. I really wish they had called on account of the weather. All I can think is that if I am this cold then those poor girls must be frozen through!
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Pumpkin Recipes

Ok I got mixed up and posted this on the wrong blog but now I'm reposting it here and I will post all the other tasty recipes here too so Enjoy

I love this time of year when there are lots of wonderful pumpkins around to be made into tasty treats and I know I promised you plenty of delicious recipes for these bountiful orange squashes. I'm going to start off with the two recipes, the first is to get the pumpkin ready for all the other recipes and the second is for a wonderfully tasty snack..Pumpkin seeds.

Now when I do this I do it before making dinner when I will be using the oven anyway. This way I only have to preheat the oven once. (less energy saves money)

Now if this is what your going to do then plan about an hour to and hour and fifteen minutes for each pumpkin you want to prepare and about 20 to 30 minutes for each cookie sheet full of seeds. (about 1 sheet for each pumpkin)Preheat the oven to 350.

Cut pumpkin in half and scoop out the guts. Place pumpkin guts in a container of cold water (I find it easier to separate the seeds from the strings this way) and set aside.
Place pumpkin halves on a cookie sheet and add 1/2 cup water.
Place in preheated oven for an hour. While this is cooking you can get another pumpkin ready or do the seeds.
Pumpkin is done when the shell is soft. Take out of oven if you have another pumpkin to cook then put it in or put in your seeds.
Turn the pumpkins over and let cool. Now scoop out or trim away the shell and smash or puree and its ready for your recipes.

Pumpkin seeds

Separate the seeds from the strings and compost the strings. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with not stick cooking spray. Dry off the seeds and place them on a single layer on the cookie sheet. Lightly spray the top of the seeds with cooking spray and salt to taste. Place in oven preheated to 350. Set timer for 10 minutes. When timer goes off then stir up the seeds and smooth them flat again and wait another 10 minutes. Stir again.... if nice and lightly browned then take out if not browned to your liking place in the oven for 10 more minutes keeping an eye on them. Let cool and enjoy.

Ok so I messed up

The problem with having more then one blog is sometimes you forget things. I promised to post the pumpkin recipes on my gardening blog and I posted here instead. Silly ME

So I"m going to repost the steps for getting the pumpkin ready over there and the rest of the recipes will be posted there. (I have to have something to post on a gardening blog over the winter LOL)

Halloween is coming though so how about a few cheap holiday crafts to frighten up your home.

Go for a grave yard:

Tombstones
To make some tombstones just take several piece of heavy cardboard or Styrofoam and cut into tombstone shapes. Paint them gray and write scary or funny epitaphs on them.

add some

Spider Webs
Using yarn threaded through out your trees and bushes then add some spooky spiders by paint an old ball black add some spooky eyes and black yarn, pipe cleaner or construction paper for legs.

Spooky sheet ghost Take an old rubber ball and place a sheet around it then tie the sheet under the ball to hold it in. Use fishing line to make it invisible or if its a boy ghost try one of dads old ties. Then using the fishing line hang your ghost from a trees and add a couple more lines to hold the sides out like arms.

Then add a few carved jack-o-lanterns and your all set.

Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins

I love this time of year when there are lots of wonderful pumpkins around to be made into tasty treats and I know I promised you plenty of delicious recipes for these bountiful orange squashes. I'm going to start off with the two recipes, the first is to get the pumpkin ready for all the other recipes and the second is for a wonderfully tasty snack..Pumpkin seeds.

Now when I do this I do it before making dinner when I will be using the oven anyway. This way I only have to preheat the oven once. (less energy saves money) Now if this is what your going to do then plan about an hour to and hour and fifteen minutes for each pumpkin you want to prepare and about 20 to 30 minutes for each cookie sheet full of seeds. (about 1 sheet for each pumpkin)

Preheat the oven to 350. Cut pumpkin in half and scoop out the guts. Place pumpkin guts in a container of cold water (I find it easier to separate the seeds from the strings this way) and set aside. Place pumpkin halves on a cookie sheet and add 1/2 cup water. Place in preheated oven for an hour. While this is cooking you can get another pumpkin ready or do the seeds. Pumpkin is done when the shell is soft. Take out of oven if you have another pumpkin to cook then put it in or put in your seeds. Turn the pumpkins over and let cool. Now scoop out or trim away the shell and smash or puree and its ready for your recipes.

Pumpkin seeds

Separate the seeds from the strings and compost the strings. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with not stick cooking spray. Dry off the seeds and place them on a single layer on the cookie sheet. Lightly spray the top of the seeds with cooking spray and salt to taste. Place in oven preheated to 350. Set timer for 10 minutes. When timer goes off then stir up the seeds and smooth them flat again and wait another 10 minutes. Stir again.... if nice and lightly browned then take out if not browned to your liking place in the oven for 10 more minutes keeping an eye on them. Let cool and enjoy.

The Next Step

Well I've taken the next green step for our. House. I've started walking to work. Of course this will be a weather permitting endevor. I can't.show up to work drenched from head to toe lol. Here is a couple of pictures I took along the way. All in all it's a pretty nice walk.
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Dang the Bad Luck

Here I am in my favorite place the Library. Do you know why??

My old computer has finally had enough! It died so completely that I can't even start it up. IF you hold the button you can here something running but once you let go you got ZIP. It really truly stinks.

I think on of the blogs I visit has a virus or bug because everytime I go blog hopping to all my favorites something goes wrong. So starting today I'm going to have to stop visiting some. I'm going to start with the ones that take a very long time to load and the ones that have popups. After that I'm not sure. I like going around to all the different blogs and to feel unsafe about visiting makes me very unhappy.

Of course I'm going to have to start over anyway since all my favorites were lost when my computer when down. So do me a favor if I haven't visited your blog for a while leave me a quick hello in the comments and I'll stop on by and add you back to my favorites when I get my new computer. ( dang I hate spending money) Until then I'm going to start with the ones I've joined and the ones who have visited me from Entecard and the blog catalog. Well I hope everyone else is having a better day then me.

Today’s Green Renovate is going to be a quick one because I want to visit some of my favorite blogs before I go to work today.

It’s getting to be that time of year when we all want to turn on the heat. But did you know that for optimum performance you should change your filter at least once a month. The clean filter allows air to flow better which allows it to be heated and circulated through your home with less energy used. Now you might be thinking to yourself it’s going to cost a lot to keep changing out the filters on your furnace but they have permanent filters that you can clean and put back in. My suggestion is to buy two of them. When you take one out to be clean and put the other one in this allows you two put the filter in and turn the heat back on while cleaning and allowing the other one to dry. This will also help them to last longer!

Recipes for Congestion

Here is a couple of home made goodies to help when you get congested. You can use them not only when you have a cold but for relief if you have congestion from allergies.

These two take advantage of steam to help you feel better. The first is for when your awake the second is for use with a humidifier.

Take 3 Tablespoons of chopped fresh thyme, sage, peppermint, eucalyptus and or pine needles place in a bowl and add boiling water. place a towel over your head and the bowl and breath for 10 minutes. Repeat as necessary. It can be a little boring sitting there so I suggest playing some nice relaxing music while you do this to help pass the time.

For this one you will either need a cotton ball or a humidifier with a place to put the mixture. Some are designed with a small cup or dip next to the steam vent.

Mix together 2 to 4 drops of peppermint essential oil, eucalyptus essential oil, and winter green essential oil. Then soak a cotton ball and place next to steam vent or put in cup on humidifier.

In both these recipes the steam helps loosen congestion and the herbs and oils helps sooth and relieve the congestion. Just like the stuff you buy in the store with out the gooey stuff on your chest.