Halloween Treats

In honor of the Great Pumpkin's 50th...

... the adorable Peanuts® characters figure rather prominently in our Halloween treats this year.

It is typical for school kids around here to give each classmate a treat for Halloween.  Since my son has several classmates with food allergies, we decided on non-food treats.  Each kid is getting a little Peanuts® bag containing four mini coloring books, a box of crayons, a set of Peanuts® Halloween stickers, and (isinama na rin) an invitation to my son's birthday party. 

 

Nine bags down, one to go.

 

Am pretty happy with my DIY tags.

Happy Halloween!

KonMari

Earlier this year, thanks to Phoebe, the Blogbookers learned about Marie Kondo and her very popular and (fans say) life-changing method of decluttering and organizing called KonMari.  I made a mental note to try it, and yesterday, I finally did.

I began with the family’s most frequently used drawers, those that are opened at least once everyday.  There isn't a “before” photo for each drawer, but let’s just say my husband's T-shirt drawer (below) was among the tidier ones.

Husband's fave Ts, all in a jumble

Here's that drawer "after."

Husband's fave Ts, all nice and neat

Here another of his drawers.  Some shirts remained flat because of the fabric. 

Husband's undershirts, activewear and sleepwear

 Here are the child's drawers.

Child's socks, undies, tops and bottoms

Child's towels and sleepwear

As for this next drawer, you can probably tell to whom it belongs based on the overall lack of color, graphics and prints 😜.

Wait a minute... my stuff needs ironing???

Not bad, eh?  We love our "new" drawers and are now KonMari converts! 

Veggie Garden

To keep things simple, let's consider as vegetables all produce mentioned here even if some are technically fruits. 

In this corner of our backyard is my husband's veggie garden.

He is growing tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, onions and cabbage.

bell peppers are further to the right; onions are in the ground

Here are, almost literally, the first fruits of his labor.

And here is the side salad that went with dinner last night.  I took the largest tomato and the largest cucumber in the photo above; added 1/3 Vidalia onion (store-bought; the onions in the backyard need another week or so to grow), 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper to taste; and chilled the salad for 15 mins before serving. 

Frozen Treats

Ours is an ice cream-loving family.  Regardless of the time of year, even in the winter, our freezer will always have at least four pints.

Right now, there are eight... and as I write this, I am debating whether to have some of the delightful Kulfi-Pistachio Cardamom on the top left, or the divine Caribbean Coconut (a family favorite) on the bottom left. 

Of the various commercially available brands out there, I have a special fondness for Talenti.  It is relatively economical, its flavors are delicious, and its containers can be repurposed like so: