halloween pumpkin

So I love the idea of carving pumpkins but I get too bored too early on in the project. This year I decided to paint one, I think it turned out cute. Please disregard the crappy picture, i have a better one  on my camera but I'm too Lazy to get it off.

PS the backwards writing that my computer camera messed up says welcome to our patch. I saw the idea online and I was gong to trace it when I though thats dumb, I'm sure I can just draw it on so I did, I was pretty proud it worked out (also the real thing isn't missing a toe on its right foot, that's just the picture).

I've also been having some good cooking adventures lately. I'm trying hard to cook as much as I can from scratch (I always have but sometimes I get lazy when I get off work and we get boxed pasta way too many times) I'm also trying to branch out and not get stuck in a food rut. I grabbed my better homes and garden cookbook and made a big long list of things that look good so I can always have a list on hand. I tried to make soup like olive garden's pasta figioli soup but apparently I haven't had it enough to mimic it sans recipe. It tasted good the first day (albeit not like Olive Garden's) but not so much for leftovers which is unfortunate because I made a huge pot of it. I've had a few flops but other things I've had fun making are clam chowder (seriously I think it was one of the best things I've ever made thank you lots of butter :), sloppy joes, homemade meatballs, homemade ice cream, butterscotch ice cream squares, cherry cobbler with real cherries and much more. It's tough making homemade meals when I get home from work and I'm hungry and I know I have laundry and housework and grocery shopping to do but I've found I can get away with only making 2-3 meals a week and then eating leftovers. it's surprising how quick you can make a good made from scratch meal that looks like it took you forever but really its not much longer than boxed or frozen food.
Next on the agenda, ribs with homemade barbeque sauce with red potato wedges and herbs and maple carrots.. I hope this turns out because I've never made ribs. in fact until I got married I'd never cooked much meat because I generally prefer things without meat. Also I've been reaping the benefits of overabundant harvests and now have a huge bag of apples (apple bread and pie to ensue possibly more depending on how many apples I have) and a huge box of good ole idaho grown potatoes. I'm planning on freezing some shredded potatoes, making mashed potatoes, baked french fries, baked potato wedges with rosemary, and anything else I can think of. Any one have any potato ideas??? I've never gotten an overstock of potatoes and its not quite like fruit that you can make into pies, breads jams etc.

We officially got Idaho license plates for the ford.... I hope people don't judge us when we're driving around :) oh and I had to buy a zucchini... Seriously who ever has to buy a zucchini!!!! aren't you usually finding them stashed on your doorstep because everyone is trying to get rid of them?? I was almost too ashamed to walk up to the checkout line with it, but maybe the zucchini epidemic is just a Utah thing. I've also been working out at the ISU gym and it's been really great. The other day though there was a major grunter. He grunted audibly on every single weight lift! I mean really does that help or does he think he's impressing people? I also want to try out the lap swim but I'm scared to because I'm not the best swimmer. We shall see, perhaps it will dredge up horrible memories of middle school lap swimming :)