This Perfectly Imperfect Life

For my Cranberry Almond Rounds, you'll need: 1 cup melted butter (which is equal to 15 tblspns) I use unsalted butter 1/3 cup sugar *or* 1/2 that amount in regular sugar & 4 sweetener packets 2/3 cup ground sliced almonds *or* 1/3 cup of the almonds & 1/3 cup of dried cranberries 1 & 2/3 cup flour 1/4 tsp salt 1 cup confectioners sugar 2 tsp cinnamon My step by step appears below in the slideshow. If it moves too quickly for you, just click on it to be taken directly to the web album where you can view each photo individually. You're wondering about the " Happy Accidents In The Kitchen " part?  Well, it all started when I made myself a Bloody Mary (or two!) *before* making these from scratch! Before today, they were just Almond Rounds.  In fact, I posted my bff's recipe for them here for last year's cookie party, but, without photos, which is why I wanted to do them again this year! Well, I messed up today's first batch somethi...

Welcome Friends! It's time once again for A Fanciful Twist Halloween Party ! Warmest thanks to the lovely Vanessa for hosting again this year. My apologies for not having this up sooner, I've been dreadfully under the weather and my helpers have been more of a hindrance! My lovely kitchen witch Helvetica has given up time off and has been cooking & baking away since last night but the skeletons have been eating everything in sight (damn their bottomless stomachs!) though they won't fess up and the invisible man has been raving on and on every time the door bell rings! I do hope you'll enjoy your visit to Pumpkin Manor and have a Happy Halloween ! I look forward to your return. (Slideshow below - if it plays too fast, hover your cursor on it until the <- -> appear & click on them to view what you've missed). To see my previous posts for this special event, please click on the "A Fanciful Twist Halloween Party" label at the very end of this...

Happy October everyone! Thankfully our Autumn weather has returned and is rumored to be here to stay now. Unfortunately it appears the rain is as well. (We're already over 2 feet above our normal rainfall for the year and we've roughly 3 more months left to go!) It's been a busy couple of days, in the garden, out of the garden, haunting the halls & garden (aka decking the halls for Halloween ) and such. The slideshow above gives a hint to the delightfully creepy & magical goings on around here! (More of which is to come throughout this month we call October!) This morning I watched a lovely old suspense/horror movie entitled The Spiral Staircase from 1946 on TCM, a great way to spend the foggy morning of this the 1st of October ! (To view the trailer and other information, just click here ). Today also marks the start of the Countdown To Halloween hosted by The Whimsical Cottage ! (And this is my first post). I hope I'll be able to keep up with post...

I wanted to thank everyone once more for dropping by my 2nd Annual Practical Magic Party post over the weekend! Your kind words make my heart sing and I appreciate them more than you know. What a delightfully fun time it's been again and I look forward to next year's! It was good to see familiar faces and new ones. A big, gracious "Thank You!" to the wonderful Anna of Frosted Petunias for hosting again this year!

It's time for the 2nd Annual Practical Magic Blog Party created & hosted by the wonderful Anna of Frosted Petunias ! My sincerest apologies for getting this up rather late! The adventure that is post Hurricane Irene cleanup & repairs has been taking up too much time recently. (sigh) Things are a mess; I only started decorating for Autumn yesterday and I'm missing Halloween decorations! Luckily my broom is always safe and sound by the front door so at least I don't have to wonder where it is. (Not that it hasn't been known to scamper off now and again - naughty broom). I was afraid, quite honestly, that I wouldn't even get a post up sometime today! I kept hitting dead ends with every other one I tried. But, this morning I sat here at the computer and it flowed. Thankfully! I would have been so disappointed if I'd missed this, it was such fun last year! As some may remember from last years party, while I like the movie, (and love that house!), I love the...

Look at what that crow dropped into my lap as I sat in the yard earlier! He cawed and cawed, apparently trying to get my attention, but look up, I wouldn't and so I believe he got frustrated. Thankfully though, he made his delivery anyway and Made My Day ! I do hope you'll join me , the enchanting Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist and the many others for this annual haunted blog hop! Click here or on the widget in my left-hand column for info!

The 2nd Annual Practical Magic Blog Party created & hosted by Frost Petunia's begins Friday evening, September 23 and officially starts on Saturday, September 24, 2011! I joined in last year, had so much fun and met many wonderful folks. I hope you'll join in the fun with me again this year! For all of the info, click here:

Psst! 'Tis quite a magical time of year ya know! Well, course you do, that's why you're here. How silly of me. What's that? Oh, you'll have to excuse me, had garlic knots with extra garlic for dinner this evening. One can never be too careful at this time of year. Let me go rinse again with some minty mouth wash. Come in, come in! I'll just be a moment. 'Scuse cobwebs but they're in keeping with the season. The spiders are so generous to help with the decorating, aren't they? I've been a tad under the weather anyhoo what with the surgery last Friday & all so I haven't cleaned in a bit. You don't remember? I told you all about it here . That's why I'm not having a tea party here tonight but heading over to Frosted Petunias . You'll walk over with me, won't you? There! I hope that's better. Oh good! I know, the sun is setting and the dark of night will be upon us shortly. I do hope the clouds and fog are good nature...

Welcome & thank you for visiting my post! For more Halloween fun today & throughout the weekend, visit A Fanciful Twist . For more Halloween & Autumn Fun, check out my "Autumn Tuesday" & "Halloween Thursday" posts by clicking on their labels in the left hand column. ~Happy Halloween & Pumpkin Blessings! *Update for those friends wondering, I put this together prior to surgery yesterday to make sure I would be able to post it for today! (Though it didn't post at 12:01am like it was supposed to). Anyhoo, I'm home and resting (uncomfortably). Surgery went well, my kidney tube and stone are gone! I have an internal stent on the left hand side but I'm okay with that because it comes out in the doctor's office in 2-3 weeks (no back to the hospital) and especially because it meant they could take that nephrostomy tube out! (The last nearly 2 weeks of that 15 weeks was rough with that thing, my body was simultaneously trying to heal aroun...

Welcome to my post! To visit other participants, please head over to the Practical Magic Blog Party 2010 blog. I must say that while I think Practical Magic the movie is adorable, I think the novel is incredible. And that is where I gleaned my inspiration from for these festivities. Gardens are mysterious, magical and enchanting, don't you think? Now follow me out into the garden, I have everything all ready for you, including music! (Turn your volume on). *Update: Music has reverted to my regular Fall soundtrack, 9/28/2010* For all of you non Practical Magic Blog Party folks, head on over to NJ Through My Eyes where I've posted 2 new slide-shows today; one is a preview of a new project I'm working on!

Welcome! I'm so happy to have had so many visitors already! I must apologize for not being ready for you earlier! I also apologize for the wacky font sizes throughout my post. No matter how hard I try, I can't correct them. If music doesn't begin playing shortly after your arrival, scroll down until you see a purple music widget begin to load in the left hand column and wait until you hear the music before scrolling back up here. Happy Halloween Fete 2009! Love and Spookiness to All! ~Jo (Continue scrolling down until the end of the post) Outside, it's a gloomy & cold day here on the NJ coast. Many a restless Spirit wander here on days like this. One can never be too sure if the fog & mist are just as they seem. Inside, it is warm yet equally frightful! Creepy crawlies have gotten into the food & drink, I so hope you don't mind! What with all of the party hopping we're doing, I didn't want you to bust a gut, so I've laid out some Pumpkin Cook...