~~~F~O~O~D~Y F~R~I~D~A~Y~~~

FOODY FRIDAY Has returned here at Sarah's Spot! Now, Jenny's theme is party appetizer/fun food etc... Soooooo.... I have 2 for you all tonight....buhaahaahaa.... :-)

1st is what I made for our friend's party tonight, and I made last year for our Halloween party. Now, if you don't fancy making this for Thanksgiving or Christmas, tuck it away for next Halloween!

Spider Web Nacho Dip
Find a large Halloween serving plate. Line the plate with tomatoes and then smear the whole plate with refried (black) beans almost to the edge of the plate. Then smear salsa almost to the edge of the beans, the guacamole almost to the edge of the salsa, and then add your favorite toppings in the center (spicy corn, olives, peppers, onions, black beans, tomatoes... and then sprinkle the whole thing with cheese. Now, the Haloweeney part... put sour cream in a zip lock baggie and squeeze the air out. Cut the tip off the corner and draw lines like you are cutting a pie, and then connect them to make a spider web. The picture below is from a Woman's Day magazine from last year, and my variation of the recipe varied a bit, and so can yours!!! Decorate with fake plastic spiders....Enjoy!!!!!!

Betty Crocker's Oven Caramel Corn
My 2nd Fav fun food is caramel corn. NO recipe is better than the old fashioned Betty Crocker one. This time of year, with apples and candy, I start thinking about this, dreaming about this and salivating for this...

3 3/4 Quarts (15 C. )popped corn
1 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. butter
1/4 C. light corn syrup
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda


Heat over to 200 deg. Divide popped corn between 2 ungreased baking pans, 13X9X2. Heat sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt, stirring occasionally, until bubbly around edges. continue cooking over med. heat for 5 min.

Remove from heat; stir in soda until foamy. Pour on popped corn; stir until corn is coated. Bake 1 hr, stirring every 15 min. Lick spoon :-0 and gobble up the caramel corn!

A lttle parent perspective!

Look, can you see my new tooth coming in??

Dear friends, until now, I never really considered the "reason" that parents all around the world do things for their children. Ok, now that sounds vague. Let me step back. When our babies are born, we feed them, clean them, change them, etc., because we love them and want to take good care of them. Now she is 1-1/2 years old and times have changed! Before when I would see parents taking their children places such as the zoo, or amusement parks, I always just kind of thought that parents did these things because their kids wanted to go, and that they half begrudgingly were taking them. Don't get me wrong, I never considered my parents to begrudgingly do things with us. My Dad used to watch cartoons with us on Saturday mornings and I knew that he liked them as much as we did :-) (This kind of memory makes my heart smile) I was just never aware of the true JOY that parents get when they see their kid's face light up with pure enjoyment, awe, wonder, and happiness!!!! Wow, I find myself wanting to do things that Elle would like, just to see the happiness on her little, blessed, face. Buy a dish of ice cream at the mall (ok, so I just might enjoy that too), take her on a ride at the Mall of America, let her watch Sesame Street for the 5th time that day (ok, not really 5X, but she would if she could) so she can say "la, la, la" with Big Bird and dance during the theme song, read the same book over and over so she can learn what comes next, buy cute clothes for her instead of for myself (kids clothes are cuter anyways), etc....etc...

This may sound obvious to you veteran parents, but a true light bulb came on in my head not long ago. It wasn't until she started to really understand the meanings of things and began to show true excitement and anticipation, that it hit me with full force!

However, with it came the comprehension of the reverse. The extreme sadness of parents when they can't provide the things, experiences that their kids would love to have. It made me think of toys for tots and the angel tree at Christmas and how wonderful it is for parents to have a gift to give their kids, just to see their pleasure. I also thought about how many kids get SOOO many things that nothing is special any more and they begin to EXPECT these things. I realize what a balance parenting is and how I am grateful that we can provide so many things and experiences for Elle. I pray every day that we don't lose perspective of this and that Elle can one day come to understand how much we love providing for her.

Elle digging into the bag of my most recent bargain shopping indulgence for Elle...

A tale of two loves and one CRAZY day!

Elle feeding her doll, we call her "dee", a cheerio.

Elle feeding her doll with her new tea set :-) Lots of tea parties yet to come...

As a child I was a tomboy who LOVED her dolls and shopping. Go figure, I would catch frogs, climb trees, and tear around on my bike, and then turn around and go play with my dolls :-) I still have all of my dolls and my doll cradle. They are primarily the only toys that I saved from my childhood. I am surprisingly happy and proud to say that Elle suddenly has my love of dolls. We walked in the LEGO store (notice my love of dolls is equaled my Bernhard's love of LEGOS) on our way to Chicago and Elle found the only corner in the store with stuffed animals and dolls, sat down and giggled with glee. The fact that we were surrounded by bright colored legos did not seem to occur her. She carries around her little dolls, feeds them, sleeps with them, tries to give them baths etc.

Now, my other love, is, "da, ta, daaaa," SHOPPING. I do believe that I inherited a love of shopping, more specifically bargain shopping, from my mom. When we walk into a store we don't even notice whats in the entrance of the store, we veer straight to the back, the s-a-l-e racks. Whenever all of my female family members would convene, we would storm the mall and shop all day. I loved it, and still do....however, my shopping has changed a bit.... Rarely do I step foot into a "me" store. I now get excited about sales and clearance racks at Gymboree and Hanna Andersson :-) All you moms out there in cyberspace should understand!!! Now whenever I hold out some clothing for Elle she giggles and runs to hug it. She LOVES shoes. Enough said.

Sooooooo, this leads me to today. My glorious day in Chicago that turned out to be, shall we say a wild goose chase! I had decided that I would have a fun day with Elle. My agenda was:

1) Go to Gymboree I had a $25 gymbuck to spend at Gymboree (the sale started Thurs. and today is Friday...help...burning hole...in my...pocket...must spend...)!

2)Go to Lincoln Park Zoo

3)Go to American Girl Place (help, I fear delving into this expensive obsession...Bernhard actually told me to watch my pocket book! He has NEVER said that before :-0 (note, bargain shopper...American Girl Dolls, not bargains...)

While getting directions to Gymboree, Elle fell off the chair backwards next to the concierge desk. The entire Holiday Inn lobby fell to an instant hush as Elle inhaled deeply and let out a blood curdling cry. Poor dear. Everyone tried to help. Someone brought her ice and a box of Rice Crispies. The Rice Crispies did it :-) She wouldn't let me put the ice on, but the box of cereal sure helped to ease the pain! Me being the determined soul that I am, continued on with my plan for the day. After I wiped Elle's tears and she had some advil, we hopped in the car and drove the 2.34 miles to the store. She was asleep before we left the parking lot. I was paranoid about a concussion, so I was thankful that when she woke up in the store she seemed ok and her pupils were reactive. Anyway, so once we were in the teeny, tiny, city store, I discovered that 15 other Chicago moms with their toddlers were all in Gymboree too!!!!!! AND, there was NOTHING left in her size in the store. Not on the clearance rack OR in the new stuff. Go figure! We left. Better selection on-line. I'll order while she's taking her nap :-) Always thinking ahead.

Well after the morning trauma, I decided to scratch the zoo. After lunch and a nap, (her, not me. I shopped on-line in the comforts of our Holiday Inn room) I was determined to still have fun. So, I decided that we would walk the 1.5 miles to the American Girl Doll Place (I'm sure as much for me as for her...hee, hee). After 35 minutes of walking in high heel boots (all fashion here girls...hah!!) and lugging the stroller up and down steps, we arrived to read "Store closed while we move to a new location." SHUT UP! You. have. got. to. be. kidding me!!!!!! "Ok, calm down Sarah. Have a sense of humor. Let's find Build-a-Bear. That will be fun." Again, I ask you, does Elle really have a clue? No, not yet. Check back with me in a year... At this point, she truly has no idea what she missed. All she knows is that she did a LOT of people watching from her stroller :-) Well, we set off to find Build a Bear, but it was the other direction, away from the hotel. I really did not want to walk even FARTHER. So, we set off to find some dinner. By now it is almost 6, and Elle had been signing "more" to eat for the past 30 minutes or so. I almost settled for Chipotle, but thought, no I can find something better. Just then, Rain Forest Cafe! I wondered if she would be able to eat with all the stimulation, but she loved it. Absolutely loved it. She ate like she hadn't eaten in a week and she was mesmerized by the animals, and even the guy dressed up like a tree frog (phew, her first experience with that). Well, we didn't get to the actual zoo, but we got to eat in a pseudo rainforest surrounded by fish, waterfalls, thunderstorms, fake animals, and lots of other kids mesmerized by the same things.

Now, finally, with aching feet we were on our way back to the hotel. For all Elle knows, we went for a long walk and then ate dinner at a crazy zoo. So, the saying goes, the best laid plans slip right through our hands... My plans did a complete somersault right onto the floor! Oh well, the key to sanity is being able to see the humor behind it all. Vaguely reminiscent of our honeymoon. VERY LOOOOONG story, and a seriously long post in itself!! Keep laughing and save your sanity my friends!

By the way, all of you folks reading this in cyberspace, leave me a comment if you are reading my infrequent, but sincere blogging. I'd really love to know who is lurking out there :-) Thanks!!!!!!!!