Finally A Family Day Spent All Together !!!

It is Halloween night, need I remind anyone ...... I absolutely LOVE Halloween. The problem is I lost my "take out Trick or Treating kid" last season, as apparently he is too old to go out with his Great Auntie, and now goes out with his friends.  *Sigh*  at least he is too old for me to take and I not too old not to be able to take him.  LOL.

Anyone in need of having their "kid" taken out "Trick or Treating" for Halloween, please let me know as I am in the market for a new "kid" !!!!

What a yesterday we had .... I can not begin to tell you how it felt, not only to have a beautiful weather day, but to be able to make it into a "FAMILY DAY" !!!  It was absolutely "wonderful" !!!

Since my dearest Crabby Cabbie didn't get home until his usual "wee" hours of the morning, the "pack" and I left him to sleep so he could rid himself of any "crabbiness" before he woke up.  In the meantime, Bandit, Lexus, and of course, little Mercedes, all had their times in and out throughout the morning.

In-between the comings and goings of the ins and outs, I managed to pull it together by making ready our dinner of Ham and Scalloped potatoes.  The ham was easy, as it just needed wrapped in foil, put in a pan and popped into the oven.  The Scalloped potatoes are a little bit of work, but really for the time it takes to make them well worth it.

"It all began with preparing the Roux, by mixing equal part of butter and flour together."

"Once the milk, salt, pepper and dry mustard were mixed in and had thickened, it was time to add the grated cheese."

"Um, smooth and thick; all ready to have the sliced potatoes, along with the sauteed onion rings added and mixed together."

"I went a little "light" on the potatoes, so it is very creamy here, but ready to go into the oven for 1 1/2 hours cooking time."

There that was all under control, so what now to do for the next 1 1/2 hours?  Well the Crabby Cabbie had slept off some of his crabbiness, so about the time that had happened the sun was shining in abundance around the 1 pm time of day.

We had a coffee while I convinced my, by then fully awake, Rob it would be a good day to dig potatoes, if they hadn't already rotted into the ground from all the rain we have had the past three weeks.  We gathered up what we needed and headed outside for the garden.

"Yesiree Bob, oops I mean Rob, those are taters we got there coming from the ground."

"Along our way out of the garden, we also picked ourselves a Spanish Onion, as well as a couple of huge beets."

"Rob got the "job" of washing all the mud off from our "booty of potatoes".  That would be "booty"as in Pirate's Treasure people, not potato butts !  LOL. "

"What?  what the "heck" kind of mutation is this?"

"What ever type of mutant potato it is, it sure can give lots to the imagination .... lol."

"Wow, not too bad of a haul from one row of taters, now was it?  Nice mix too with white, red and purple.  The purple potatoes are a "heritage or heirloom" potato, who we were given to by friends.  Just "click" on the highlighted words and you can read all about them."

All three of the "pack" were out and about, while Rob and I were on our Bruce County potato adventure, enjoying the weather as much as we were.  Since it was actually the very first "Family Day" we had since the arrival of Mercedes, I wanted some "family pictures" taken of them.

"Rob was taking the pictures, as I was tried to organize the "pack"."

"Yes, you are both good girls, now just sit and listen please."

"Enough of that, just settle down you two."

"Okay honey, I think we got it ... oh no, Mercedes was acting up again, you say? "

"Mercedes under control; now Lexus you should be setting the example here, since you are almost two years old now."

"Okay honey, shoot, shoot, shoot ..... oh shoot, they were all looking in the wrong direction !!!"

"Now Mercedes cooperates, while Lexus is leaving the "building", and if noticed all along, Bandit has been indifferent to the whole "family" picture taking thing right from the get go !"

 We certainly had a well spent Family Day all together.  I am most certain there will be more of them to come, along with lots of new pictures, I am just hoping there will be more nice weather coming along too!!!

Once we returned back into the house, it was nice to sit down together at a somewhat "normal" supper time together and enjoy a meal.

"What an "awesome" meal it was too.  Ham, Scalloped Potatoes and coleslaw with a twist.  Too yummy it was."

 Coleslaw with a "twist"?  Easy peasy as one-two-three .... just buy a ready made bag of coleslaw, throw in some salt-free sunflower seeds, along with raisins and add some Kraft Coleslaw Dressing ..... not only quick and easy, it is "yummy" too.

After supper, Rob and I got on the "band wagon" by taking Mercedes for her first downtown Wiarton walk.  It was perfect weather for an early evening stroll down and around the streets of Wiarton

I am so pleased, as of this past weekend "Cindy's Recipe Exchange" on Facebook now has 85 group members, with myself included.  Should you have a Facebook Account, please feel free to join us there anytime for lots of, not only "Tried, Tested and True recipes", but most of them being "Easy Peasy as One-Two-Three recipes", as well.  I am always learning and trying out new recipes, so come along and join in on the adventure.

I think I will be checking in with my local Wiarton Weatherman guy to see what he has planned for all those little ghosts, goblins and other delightful beings who will be out there on the streets tonight.

By the sounds of outside my window right now, the rain is coming down pretty steady, however if this forecast can be "trusted", the clearing this afternoon does look to be promising.  Fingers and toes crossed for this one.

I know I haven't been mentioning too much about "housework" in my daily blogs lately, but there is no worries there as I having been using the dust around the house to write my "blog" notes in lately.  Maybe today would be a good day to go around and start erasing some of them?????

I am off and running towards a new adventure in my day ahead, "Just North of Wiarton & South of the Checkerboard".