BOO! SOME TREATS (NEVER TRICKS!) FOR YOU, MY SWEETS........

........and if you're reading my sweet little blog, well, I really do LOVE YOU! I hope you know that. Here's to a wicked (that's how they say "super", here in the Northeast) fun Halloween, full of candy and costumes and sweet little kids knocking on your door!

I have always loved Halloween--just ask my Mom. But here's the thing--I've always loved the innocent, childlike side of Halloween, like this..............

And I've never, ever liked the gory, scary side of the day--you know, like this.....

I mean SHEESH, isn't this world scary enough, as it is?

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Here's a treat for you....I mean to print this out and tack it to my bulletin board, STAT--a friend sent this to me on Facebook recently.............

(I blew that one up extra large, just for you, in case you are as blind as I am. And just so you know, I LOVE my blindness, because it's all part of my imperfect self!).

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Boo! One more treat for you......and I just made this recipe up, all by myself! So, what do you do with your pumpkin seeds every year, after you've carved your pumpkin?..............

Me, I've always liked them tossed with a little bit of oil, then sprinkled with some salt and maybe garlic powder, then roasted. So easy, and Little Miss Thing could always plan on finding a little bag of them in her lunchbox on Halloween day, each and every year.

This year, I decided that I wanted them sweet, instead of savory, so I made up this little recipe, but I didn't write anything down, so I'm going to guess-timate with amounts. It seems that everything I love this time of year has some of this stuff in it, so I started here.......

If you don't have pumpkin pie spice (for SHAME!), you could always make your own with cinnamon, cloves and some allspice. Anyways, I mixed about a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice with about 4 tablespoons of white sugar and about a half a stick of melted butter, then tossed in all of my pumpkin seeds that had been washed and dried, about 2 and 1 / 2 cups. Spread them on a parchment lined (I used a silicone liner) baking sheet....................

Roast for about 45 minutes to an hour in a 300 degree oven (I stirred mine every 20 minutes), or until golden brown and crunchy. Let cool on baking sheet--they will stick together a little bit because of the sugar, but are easy to break apart with a spatula.

I tell you what, these came out so delicious--I think I've created a new Halloween tradition in our home! I hope you like them as much as we do...........

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO YOU, DEAR FRIEND!

TODAY I'M SO THANKFUL FOR......

***Pumpkin Pie Spice!

***My wonderful friends....I don't know what I'd do without you!

***Flannel sheets for our ccccooold nights lately! I've been so snuggly and warm, it's been hard to get out of bed in the mornings......

CRAZY FUN IN THE CALIFORNIA SUN!

Hey you! Got an hour? Good, because that's about how long you'll need to read this post ; I took soooo many fun and beautiful photos over the past couple of days on my whirlwind trip to the Bay Area of Northern California. So sit back and enjoy the ride!

Before I begin, however, I must warn you.....I'm still pretty jet lagged and wiped out, especially after my TWO day return trip home.....due to "technical problems", my flight from Dulles Airport in DC to Syracuse, NY was delayed, then delayed again, and AGAIN, until it was 2a.m. and we weary travelers were told we had to stay in a hotel, then come back the next day....sigh. At least I was able to catch about 4 hours of sleep in my nice Embassy Suites bed, and wash my face before continuing on. And that's all the complaining I'm gonna do here, because I am one blessed girl, and I know it!

Here I go again, snapping photos from 35,000 feet! I think this was taken over the snowy Sierras...........

Oh, and by the way, the apple butter and pumpkin bread made it to California in my luggage, JUST FINE, thank you very much Ricky Ricardo (my husband) !

Here's what I did Day #1 ........

Met my girlie for coffee at the sweetest little cafe by my hotel and her apartment.....

Don't I look happy here? Someday when I die and go to heaven I'm gonna spend all of eternity sitting in cute little coffee shops, just watching the world go by over my spiced Chai latte..........

Here's one of the things we love to do......walk around and look at all of the pretty flowers growing in people's pretty yards...you'd never know it was Fall in California.....wish I knew what this pretty purple flowering bush was called.......

This one I do know....Bougainvillea. This vine climbs all over the homes in California and Mexico.....

Here's Little Miss Thing, stealing a fig out of someone's yard....but Karma came and stung her in the butt, because it wasn't even ripe!.............

Here's another thing we love to do......walk around town and check out all of the amazing food displays....they don't call California the land of milk and honey (or, fruits and vegetables) for nothing....everything for sale is locally grown and organic......hope you're not hungry!...........These are called French Macaroons, according to Abbie....

I just adored this vintage cake holder, with the baby on top!................

Now these next two are from a fantastic candy store that carries all of the fun old stuff, like wax lips, candy buttons and cigarettes......I am SO aging myself again........

Amazing heirloom tomatoes.....now THIS is my kinda candy!.............

Have you ever seen a Kumquat? (OOPS, I stand corrected--my Uncle Joe just told me these are PERSIMMONS, not Kumquats!)...........

These cheeses haunted my dreams.............

Mmmmm....me so hungry!..........

You know me and my apples!...........

If you're a real Foodie, you'll love this next shot....the world famous Chez Panisse restaurant....located right across the street from my hotel......someday when I'm rich, rich, rich, I shall dine here (or, at least when we get our college tuition paid off).....

In the afternoon, we decided to stroll around the Cal (UC Berkeley) campus....we could not have had better weather.....almost hot, and not a cloud in the sky. Did you know that one of the 2011 Nobel Prize winners is a Cal faculty member, and that 22 Cal faculty members have won Nobel Prizes? Makes me proud to be the mama of a child who is around such brilliance! Here is some of the campus....love the varied architectural styles..............

Cal is a HUGE school, home to over 40,000 students, all of whom must pass through the famed Sather Gate arches....

I think my favorite structure is the Campanile, or the bell tower......we had great fun with my camera and the Campanile.......

You can actually take an elevator all the way to the top, but seeing that we experienced not one, not two, not three but FOUR small earthquakes during my visit, I chickened out. Wouldn't you?.......

This is my silly brother, Andy...you'll be seeing much more of him later on....

He really isn't as scary as he looks!.....

Abbie and I were so fortunate that Friday afternoon to happen upon a Cal pep rally....Cal has a huge football program, and there was a game scheduled for the next day over in San Francisco. Do you know Cal's biggest football rival? It's Stanford University, right across the bay. Here are the band and pep squad descending upon the quad area....so exciting!.....

Happily, Cal won the next day......go Bears!

I was really excited to meet a lot of Abbie's new friends during this trip....such sweet, smart girls......forgive me, but I cannot remember these darlings name to save my life, but aren't they cute?............

Here's Abbie's cute friend Stephanie, who we met for coffee.....

Believe it or not, she comes from NEW JERSEY...see, we aren't the only crazy ones! Soon I got jealous of these two, and decided to let Abbie sit on my lap, then I sat on hers.....do you think she'll ever let me come back?............

On Saturday we met up with our family....my Uncle and cousin Joe are both Cal grads themselves, and my mom and brother, well, they're just graduates of the school of HARD KNOCKS--hah!.........We enjoyed a fun Chinese lunch.....Here are Mom and "Android", dickering over the bill, as usual.......

Uncle Joe, figgering it all out.......

Doesn't EVERYONE show off their tatts in a restaurant?......I think Andy is starting to look more and more like Billy Idol, every day.......

Speaking of Andy...look how photogenic he is......

Girls, he's single~!........

I call this one "the thinker".....

And I call this one "brotherly love"......

AGAIN with the money thing!.............

I love my family......

Because we're ALL about the food, that night we went to an amazing Greek restaurant with my cousin Joe, pretty much my favorite person on the planet.....we ate until we popped!.....Gotta love that outside California dining.......

On Sunday, we said goodbye to my mom, brother and uncle, and Abbie and I decided to take BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) into San Francisco. Which means taking that train UNDER the bay, in a tunnel.....did I ever tell you how claustrophobic I am, AND afraid of earthquakes? Well, I swallowed my fears and jumped on board....

The day was wicked hot, and we were wicked tired, so we just took it easy, strolling around the Mission District of the city. Had some ice cream.....

Checked out some classic S.F. architecture.....

Just look at these murals!...........

On certain streets in the Mission on Sundays, the streets are closed off to everything except bikes and pedestrians. And well, this wouldn't be San Francisco without the usual cast of "characters".......this gal was really dolled up....

Check out the canoe on wheels.....

And last, just so you'll have sweet dreams, I found Abbie's future husband, on roller skates, grooving to some vintage George Michael......too funny!...

OOPS--wait, wait! Just when I thought I'd shown you everything, I plum forgot to show you the "end of the world" guy we found on campus...he's a disciple of that preacher you've seen on the national news, who says the world is coming to an end..........when I took "Yoshua's" photo, he pointed his finger at me and called me "chimpanzee"!!! I kid you not!

Well, this photo was taken on Saturday....aren't you glad he was WRONG!!! I sure am!

TODAY I'M SO GRATEFUL FOR.....

***My amazingly fun and crazy life!

***My sweet husband, who had to drive 2 hours each way, TWICE, when my plane didn't show up at the airport as planned. And, he NEVER complained! He must love me.

***My sweet inlaws, who met me at the San Francisco international airport with their awesome Hybrid Honda for me to use during my trip. I don't know what we would do without those two!