Pumpkin Dump Cake

There are so many different types of dump cakes. This one is perfect for fall. In fact, it came from my sister-in-law, Janet in the 1970's. I hadn't made it in years. I made it last week for the farm. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Dump Cake
Make pumpkin pie filling as if you were making a pumpkin pie.
Pour in to a prepared 9x13 pan.
Sprinkle a dry yellow cake mix over the top.
Sprinkle with 1/2 to 1 cup of chopped pecans.
Drizzle a stick of melted margarine or butter over the top.

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes until pumpkin is set.
Cool completely and serve with Cool Whip

You're welcome!!

Some Days are Just Like That

I don't really like to do errands. I put them off until I absolutely have to do them. I have a pretty good Thursday routine---gas (whether I need it or not), nail salon, post office, cleaners, bank---all before playing bridge at 10 a.m. But sometimes, the types of errands I have to do can't be done until business establishments open at 10 a.m. I'm a morning person, so believe me, if businesses opened earlier, I'd be the first one there!

Anyway, my first stop was the Sprint store. I wanted to find out why we pay a little over $200 a month for our phone service when they are advertising a family plan for $100. Well, I pulled up, got out of the car, walked to the door---only to find the place had gone out of business. What??? This is the one and only store I've been going to since my very first cell phone---20 years ago (can it possibly be that long?). I looked around thinking I'd gone to the wrong place. Nope, it was dark and empty. I turned to Siri to "find the closest Sprint store." To which she responded, "it looks like you are there!" I guess that means it just closed at the end of September. Bummer.

Errand #1---unfinished.

CVS Minute Clinic was next on my list. We're going to Costa Rica in February. I had previously gone to the MC for shots prior to going to The Holy Land a few years ago. The wait time was an hour and 38 minutes. No way.

Errand #2---unfinished.

My next stop was Macy's for some makeup. I won't bore you with the details, but they didn't have what I needed despite the computer showing one in stock and the clerks search.

Errand #3---unfinished.

My last stop was a carpet store. I want to have a new rug made for my kitchen. I browsed, I selected, I ordered, I was ready to pay. The clerk says, "okay, it will be 3-5 business days for me to get the estimate. What?? I just wanted to be done.

Errand #4---unfinished.

Turns out, I was gone for several hours and completed absolutely NOTHING on my list. 

Fast forward to yesterday. It's pouring down rain. Of course. Never fails. Now I've had to add a few other stops to my list---in the friggin' pouring down rain! So, what do I do first thing to calm myself down about the unpleasant yet necessary tasks ahead? I start with a Starbucks tea. Yeah, that's the ticket. Venti, iced black, shaken with 3 Equals please! Calms me every time. 

First stop---CVS---again. This time, I get there right at opening and run through the pouring rain. Someone was ahead of me, but the wait was only 20 minutes. I picked up a few things I needed. I got 2 shots---including my flu shot. Texted Morgan who is a big sissy when it comes to shots: "just got 2 shots #imnotababy." To which she responded: "I can only hope to be as brave as you one day!"

Errand #2 (I'm counting Starbucks as #1)---completed! Eureka!

Next on the list was Office Depot for computer ink. It's pouring so hard that I get out the umbrella. I stay pretty dry, but my inside car door is pretty drippy. After slipping on the wet floor inside the store (luckily I didn't fall all the way down) I get what I need and turn in my old cartridges for recycling.

Errand #3---completed. Now I'm on a roll!

The day before, we got a delivery notice from our mailman. I had to stop and pick up from the post office whatever "certified mail" he had for us. Neither Butch nor I could think of what it could be. Actually, I didn't say, but I was pretty certain I had won something---hopefully cash. Again, I ran through the pouring rain only to discover the stupid certified mail was an insurance cancellation notice. Not even a refund check. Huh? We cancelled "YOU!" Why did I have to be "friggin'" inconvenienced to make a special trip to the post office??

Errand #4---completed. Even if it was a waste of time.

Now I'm ready to try another Sprint store. Again, park, umbrella, rain. When I got to the store, there was only one person ahead of me. I waited about 10 minutes. The representative was knowledgeable and helpful. She answered all my questions. Turns out, we're sticking with our old plan. The $100 is pretty misleading---you have to add $15 per phone, access fees, blah, blah, blah---turns out to be more than the $200 we already pay. I did learn one thing though---to upgrade to the new iPhone 6 costs $200. But, the iPhone 5 has retained it's value. If you trade that in, you get $238!!! My 5 is 2 years old, but I love it and do not plan to upgrade. Butch could use an upgrade as he has the 4. His trade in value is 28 bucks! He's keeping it. That brings us to Mindy. She's upgrading hers. She wants more memory, so she's going to owe (after trade in) about $50. 

Errand #5---completed---at least my part. Phone ordered---Mindy to pick up.

The sun came out for about 5 minutes on the way home. Raining when I got there. I had a phone message about the rug. I guess it was a good thing I got that estimate. There is NO WAY I'm paying $1500.00 for a little rug to go under my kitchen table. 

Errand #6---incomplete---and may never be completed if that's the cost of custom rugs. I remember what I paid for the one I'm replacing and it was quite that much. I just wish I could find the right color/size in a pre-made. Oh wait, that's a whole new set of errands! Another day. Maybe when it's not raining.

An "Old" Friend

I say "old" because it's true both ways---a friend from waaayyy back and because she's older than me. I tease her about that all the time. She's a good sport. Seriously, she can run circles around me!

Nancy is the first person I met when we moved to Nashville nearly 30 years ago. We lived in the same neighborhood and were friends as couples too. She went back to work as a teacher and I saw her at school all the time. But we didn't really do much together outside of couples things. That has all changed since she retired. She is up for anything. Whenever I call, she's willing. We have already had many adventures over the past couple of years. This is just our latest.

This week, she asked me to take her to Sam's so she could buy her bike.

After we picked it up, I suggested she give it a try on the "greenway" since I had planned to do some walking there. I figured, if she had a problem, it would be good to have someone close by for the first time. We pumped up her tires and took off.

She did fine without me. I told her the plan would be to ride for a half hour as I walked. After 30 minutes, we would both turn around. It worked out perfectly. We both got back to the car about the same time. She passed me right at the end, but by the time she went the pathway and I cut across the grass, we finished together.

She said she felt like a kid again. Good! I'll stop calling her my "old" friend. Now I just have to work up the courage to get back on my bike! Last time I fell twice, but both times in the ground cover, so it cushioned my fall. I'm going to practice a little this weekend. It's not the riding that's the problem, it's the turning around. Actually, I need a larger area to turn around in.  Maybe I'll be ready for the "greenway" next week!

Five Things Thursday

How about 5 layouts I've done recently?

 From the postcard swap.

Nearly a Week at the Farm

I love going to the farm. It's about an hour away in Duck River, TN. It's my best chance for uninterrupted scrapbooking. We've gone enough over the past few years to have it down to a fine art. Karolyn brings the Cricut and puts up the sewing machine. Pam brings Quickutz tools and dies. I bring the cutting system, computer, printer, masks and mists (which we pretty much never use). We share the meals. It's 4 or 5 days of doing whatever you want.

Sometimes we work in a walk. I took this picture from the road above the property. Just to let you get an idea of how high up this actually is, my fitbit registered 20 flights of stairs! It's a slow uphill grade that goes on and on.

We usually start our day on the front porch with coffee or tea and a few magazines. We have breakfast on the porch too. Then we start scrapbooking with music in the background. We break for lunch on the back deck. Then we read, scrapbook, and nap in the afternoon---happy hour and more magazines on the front porch. We have dinner in front of whatever television shows are on for the night and we scrapbook late in to the evening.

During our first Happy Hour on Monday, Karolyn spotted this little snake (about 12" long) on one of the stepping stones. We think it's a little garden snake. I don't like snakes. Hence the blurry picture. I was not going to get too close. We left it alone.

We noticed this praying mantis the next morning. It was very big. I think it is carrying eggs. It was not at all skittish.

The only thing different about this trip was that Jeanne and Janet came down from St. Louis to join us. They arrived Tuesday evening.

Bruce came out on Thursday evening to cook a Cajun dinner for us (the Broussards are our Cajun friends and the owners of the farm). We started with cocktails---we label our cups for the week. Janet brought "red licorice" vodka---thus the tiny cups.

We took a ride. Janet (in red), Pam (in the middle) and Jeanne on the end---were on the Polaris. Karolyn and I followed behind in the "gator." After a while, the Polaris started to have some trouble. Bruce took it back to the farm. The girls piled in the back of the gator. Little did we know that they would become covered in dust. You could actually write in the dust all over them. Karolyn and I, who were riding in the front didn't get dusty. Still, seeing them made us all need showers!!

Bruce had brought Hugh (Pam's husband) along to help serve the meal. He made jambalaya, cole slaw and served it with French bread. Delicious! He even stopped at the Loveless Cafe for a chocolate chess pie. They did all of the clean up---an added bonus!

Often times, we each might plan a little something to teach or demonstrate a new technique. Karolyn taught us a new sewing technique---I'll have to photograph it to share here. I taught a new way to do the sunburst technique. Jeanne planned a title page for us.

This trip was nearly 6 days long and still it went by too fast. When we got home on Saturday, Jeanne parked herself on the couch, Janet was in the recliner and I was in my chair. We didn't budge all afternoon. We ordered Chinese food for dinner and got a movie on Pay-per-view.

There's something so exhausting about doing nothing!!!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Karolyn and I frolicked in the rain!!! Neither of us had frolicked in years!! I guess that's what red licorice vodka will do for you!

Only in Nashville...

...can you sit right behind Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in the movie theater! We do not have paparazzi   in Nashville, so the stars can roam freely and have a somewhat normal life. No one bothered them at all. Faith had her hair pulled back in a pony tail and wore a maxi dress. Tim was in jeans and a baseball cap.

Now, there have been all kinds of divorce rumors swirling around---not here in Nashville, but everywhere else. In fact, there's supposed to be an article coming out in National Enquirer. Although I do not place any stock in that paper, often times there is an inkling of truth behind the headlines. I hope it's not true. They are a great couple and well thought of round these parts. We like our stars!!

It seems to me that if you were on the verge of divorce, you would probably not be going out together. They had their heads together talking. They even had one of their daughters with them. They just appeared to be a happy family.

Now for the movie---Gone Girl---sooooo good!! Of course, I loved the book. The movie followed the book pretty accurately. Ben Affleck was perfect for the part of the duped husband.

If you plan to read the book, do that first. Then see the movie.

Hitting the Ground Running....

That's what it is always like when I get home after being out-of-town for nearly a week. I certainly have a lot to report from our scrapbook retreat in Duck River, TN. But first, I want to give a little shout out to my "little" brother.

Matt is an avid fisherman and an ace at that. He has a knack for finding fish. These photos are from his trip to Michigan to salmon fish. As you can see, he had great success!

 I'm not even sure if they are all salmon.

All I know is that they must add up to his weight!! I'm sure he caught his limit! Way to go Matt!!