Happy Easy Sausage Dip Day!

Authored By: ellie g Author/Writer
October 31, 2011 --2:19 PM

If you are here to see who won the tickets to My Fair Lady, at Hale Center Theater, the winners will receive e-mails TODAY. So check your inbox to see if it’s you. And if it’s not….Hale would still LOVE to have you. (and so would I) They still have a few tickets left for the Thursday night showing. And will give you a $5 discount if you call Melanie @ 801-415-2340. Not sure how many there is. But we’d love to see you!

With Halloween at our house, usually comes a CRAZY day with lots of coming, going, costuming. And CRAPPY EATING! We’ve already done Happy Meals once today. Does anyone else have a hard time working in food on this Holiday?

Well, I want to share a really fun food to get ready, and have available for “eating on the run”. It’s also great for parties, and all the pot-lucks that are coming up over the next 2 months!

EASY CROCK-POT SAUSAGE DIP!

This is seriously the easiest and yummiest appetizer, you guys. And it DOESN’T look appetizing when you put it in the pot….just throwing that out there. So DON’T FREAK OUT! Just trust me.

1/2 lb. cooked and crumbled plain sausage

1 can RoTel tomatoes (I like mild, but whatever your heat tolerance is. For kids, mild for sure)

1 block Cream Cheese

Put it in your crock pot. Stir it periodically as the cream cheese melts. On High it takes about 1/2 hour. But then you’ll want to turn it WAY down. Just to warm.

Serve it with chips. We love the scoop-ee kind of chips because they’re like little bowls to hold the dip.

Your family will praise you, your friends will love you. You won’t have leftovers. You can thank me later.

Hope you have a fantastic Halloween at your house!

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Filed Under: Dinner 'n Treats, so spooky

Halloween, the Sequel-Popcorn Cone Episode

Authored By: ellie g Author/Writer
October 24, 2011 --4:28 PM

Hi LCMF! Were you afraid I had befallen some sort of trauma? I don’t think I’ve ever gone that many days without a post. I just returned from helping my sister with my BRAND NEW NIECE! Aren’t babies scrumptious? We had so much fun dressing her up and taking pics. And I had so much fun sniffing her newborn baby face. It smells like heaven!

If you hangout on the LCMF Facebook Page you’ll know that I have gotten myself into a “creative funk”.

‘Member when my basement flooded? (about 10 days ago) Well….it unleashed 2 loads of washing machine water onto my CRAFT ROOM! In general, it was a best case scenario because the room is tiled, I caught it super quick, and I had JUST cleaned it so everything was in its place.

Also, craft supplies aren’t exactly irreplaceable items. So…..I’m glad it wasn’t photos, or other things that I couldn’t replace.

It’s made it VERY hard for me to “create” though. My poor hubby needs a pair of pants sewn, and I cannot find the needles OR thread in the pile of displaced things. Looking at that mess just makes me want to cry. Sob, actually.

It’s like that time when you and your friend decided to make a SUPER awesome blanket fort in the basement. With every covering available in the house. Plus furnishings. And food.
AND THEN…..
Your Mom said you had to clean it up when your friend went home.
And your tummy felt all queezy inside.

Or was that just me?

Anyway, I’ve got a goal to get my mojo back.
And pump out a couple last-minute Halloween ideas for you this week.

We can still be friends, right?
I mean after all. We’ve been through so much together. Like remember last year when I made these for Halloween?

You don’t? Oh wait maybe you weren’t around for the Halloween Popcorn Cones. And the RECIPE for the super yummy popcorn as well! (2 points to the person who remembers what we call it!)

I’m hoping some of you weren’t around last year, and might LOVE to have this fun last-minute treat idea. (it’s one of our favorites!) I know with Halloween falling on a Monday, we have a LOT of weekend plans. You might want to take something yummy to share.

There’s also a lot of fun Halloween ideas from all over the web on my “This is Halloween” Pinterest page. I make sure to “pin” things that I adore, just in case I need some ideas. I’d love for you to get inspired over at Pinterest as well! (and if you want to you can “follow” Ellie G’s Pinterest board if you aren’t already!)

You go check out these fun ideas, and I’ll go and try to conjure up the energy to uncover both my ric rac, AND my mojo. Then we’ll meet back here tomorrow. Deal?

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Filed Under: Dinner 'n Treats, so spooky

Spray Painting Your Glam All Hallows Eve

Authored By: ellie g Author/Writer
October 12, 2011 --10:08 AM

FOR THE WINNER OF THE PICK YOUR PLUM CONTEST…..PLEASE SEE THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST!

I feel like I’ve run a marathon.

For any of you that don’t check in with LCMF on Facebook. You may have missed what I was doing yesterday (instead of doing the post I had scheduled…..)

After last week, when my husband had influenza, and I got a rockin’ migraine…..I thought yesterday would be the day to catch-up, re-group and get goin’. I started a load of washing before I headed out to take my daughter to preschool. And returned home to a basement filled with water. A washing machine full….to be exact.

(only the washing machine is UPSTAIRS….)

And it was dumped on my craft/sewing closet too! So, so very sad.

Crappy morning. Cleaning up 3 inches of water, the day after recovering from a really bad migraine. (which usually leaves me pretty sick to my stomach) In addition, yesterday I didn’t appreciate;

Our bedroom TV quitting
My daughter crying all day long (and deciding that sitting with her nose on the wall was preferable to saying “I’m sorry”)
Our car leaking large amounts of an undetermined (necessary) fluid all over our garage
Breaking my favorite vase all over the aforementioned flooded basement floor
Taking the 30 soaked towels outside (which can’t be washed–on account of the leaking washing machine) and having them rained on.

About 5pm I threw in the proverbial towel. Only my towel was soaked with dirty water. (and tears)

So…….we’ve got a plumber coming, the car is on the way to the shop, I’m out of luck on the vase, my towels will have to wait, the TV remains in the electronics graveyard…..and……

I know. There are certainly bigger problems in the world. Today I have a better perspective on that. Yesterday, I just felt picked on.

Know what I DO have? Halloween Decor that I love! And that didn’t cost me an arm OR a leg. Bonus!! Wanna know some SUPER EASY tricks to turning your old decor into something fantastically glam?

Do you have anything that looks like this hanging around? If not….I bet you can get some for next to NOTHING!! Yep. That’s one of those super cheap light-up pumpkins. Only this one lost it’s light about 3 years ago. The flowers are so ugly that I DIDN’T have those. But bought them for 70% off at Michael’s. I think about $3.

I admit….this one was a find. A SUPER find. I got it at the thrift store (the DI to be exact….) for $1. Yep! Don’t forget to check the Ugly-Left-Over-Decor isle. (okay…that’s not the official name. That’s just what I call it.)

Look what happened to that gold-delight when it met a can of glossy black spray paint, a silver candle, and a wisp of cobweb…..

AHHHH…….

So very “Haunted Mansion”…yes? I LOVE it! One of my favorite new pieces this year. (total cost for this new decor item: about $3)

Then….that spray paint bottle (and it’s cousin, the FLAT black spray paint) Met my pumpkin and tacky silk flowers. They also met a thrifted milk-glass vase….and together they make a delightfully glam/spooky little family!

The Ellie G “inside details”:

The flowers will take quite a bit of paint to get in all those nooks and crannies. And were I to do it again……I’d try to get all deep red flowers. The yellow is really hard to cover.
The more texture in your flowers, the better. They bring out the flat black paint.
Glossy paint makes the pumpkin SUPER chic. A glittered one would be pretty fab too. But I had the glossy paint left from the sconce.
Glossy spray paint can be sorta temperamental. And it doesn’t dry as fast. Especially in lower temps….or very high ones. I find bringing my item inside, after it’s dried a bit…..speeds up the process.

So get looking for some old or inexpensive decor that you can add to your glam Halloween. It can look like a million bucks…..while only costing a few!

THE WINNER OF THE PICK YOUR PLUM GIVEAWAY IS:

Bryn! Who said: I liked Pick Your Plum on FB and now subscribe to their emails!

Congrats Bryn!!! I will be getting your info and sending it on to the Pick Your Plum gals. Don’t forget to check everyday to see what they’re offering. And “Get it before your neighbor does!”

Winner picked via the WP plug-in “And the Winner is”. A random contest winner generator.
The winner will be e-mailed by Ellie G.

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Filed Under: decor diva, NOT crafts, so spooky