cherry kingdom

Today's the day little goblin's will come knocking adorned in there finest make believe. I so look forward to those little knocks every year and the little voices shouting "trick or treat." I made pumpkin sugar cookies this morning, so yummy, if I would have brushed them with egg white and super fine sugar they would taste like those shortbread cookies we used to sell a million years ago when we were girl scouts. I say a million because the girl scouts have changed their recipes over the years and the little sugar cookies are just not the same! Don't mess with a good thing! I found this recipe in a Better Homes and Garden Christmas Cookie booklet. It probably came free in one of the magazines or something. I'm not quite sure where I got it, but I've had it for years. For some reason I thought it was vintage, must be the color of the cover and the picture quality...but to my surprise, when I looked in the front cover it said, "first edition, second printing 1986." My first reaction was disappointment, I wanted it to at least be from the 60's, my next thought to my chagrin was, um...it was 23 yrs. ago, which does make it kind of old...uh oh...isn't that funny! Why doesn't the 80's seem old to me??? because I was graduating from high school in the early eighties? LOL. Good simple yummy recipe just the same!

Yummy Cut Out Sugar Cookies

1c. butter

1c. sugar

2 tbs. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 c. flour

Mix the first four ingredients together, then mix in the flour a little at a time. Roll out dough and cut with your favorite cookie cutter. Bake at 375 until edges start to turn golden brown, about six or seven minutes. WahLaa...yummy buttery cookies! Do not however skimp on the ingredients, you have to use real butter and real vanilla to get that delicious wonderfulness! Let cookies cool and frost away!! I love that it takes barely any ingredients to make these!

The other night both the kids came over.

They had to try on mask and play dress up.

Then the madness began. It started with baby boy doing this to his baby sister.

Then he did this.

He thought it was really fun to throw her over his shoulders! I love the shear delight on their faces in this photo. They can't leave their hands off each other when they are together! I have to yell at them sometimes because I think they play too rough!

Remember when I said we went to the beach last Sunday? Well I drove home while American Husband laid in the back seat taking pictures of his feet hanging out the window. (About ten of them to be exact!)

One of the awesome things about living in OZ is you never know what your going to run into...a lot of places here are landmarks for famous movies. Twenty short minutes from us to the coast and somewhere in between is a little town we have to drive through to get to and from.

A charming little town called "Bodega"

Do you know what happened in this town?

I'll give you a hint...

Did you guess?

Potter School.... a spooky little place...

The one and only Alfred Hitchcock movie called "The Birds"

I can remember how terrified I was when I was little and first watched this movie! I think it was a Saturday afternoon, remember the "Saturday Afternoon Matinee?" I think I was about ten yrs old. It gave me a bird phobia! Not joking either!

A family lives in this house now. This sign is right in front of it.

This is an antique shop across the street from it. You can't help but feel a little spooky when you stand on this little street between these buildings. It didn't help that everything was pretty quiet here except a couple of big black crows squawking! Awesome! I snapped the pictures as quick as I could and jumped right back in the car! Baby girl was laughing at me and American husband was laying in the back seat annoyed, still taking pic's of his feet, he was ready to go home after a long fun day at the beach!

That's all I got today! Happy Halloween and have a blessed day (filled with lots of costumed goblins knocking...) good citizens of blog land!

XO Keke