This past weekend, I was in Sarasota, Florida visiting my grandmother. Her 94th birthday was...

Yesterday, my husband took our kids to work with him to give me a day off from my 24/7 summer of kids extravaganza. God bless him! When the door closed and the house was quiet, I found myself unsure at what to do with my newly found free time! I went for my usual 4 mile walk/jog trying to think of what to do with my day. I showered and dressed. Of course I had a ton of things I should've done, like cook for the blog, write this blog, work on photos of upcoming blogs, and there is always the formidable laundry pile that screams for attention...but no. I sat on the couch and enjoyed the silence. The sheer pleasure of having a quiet house. No kids, no electronics, no TV. It was great! I sat there and did absolutely nothing for a good hour, maybe more. Of course, I felt guilty the whole time thinking that I'm wasting my day. Get up! Do something! But I sat for a good long while until I decided what I would do with myself. I ended up just piddling around the house. I've been on a "lighten the load" kick and have been going closet by closet, drawer by drawer, to clean out the unnecessary! Lighten the load...so that's what I did. I went through two desks, cupboards and a closet to organize and throw crap away! It's amazing how much accumulates in drawers and closets. I dropped off all my discards to the Veteran's Thrift Store and bought myself lunch. For the record, I also went grocery shopping, ran a few errands, paid bills, watered the lawn and cleaned the pool. Do I know how to use my time or what? Anyway, I feel good. I feel recharged, cleansed of the unnecessary and happy to get a little alone time.😁 Next time though, I'll schedule a massage. I could sure use one. Now...back to blogging. Here's a super easy Halloween recipe for the kiddos. My kids love these Rattlesnake Rolls! Happy summer of Halloween! ~Stay tuned for the recipe for Eye of Newt Stew (pictured below)~ Rattlesnake Rolls Makes 12 1 can of Refrigerated Pizza Dough garlic powder 12 chopsticks 1 egg, beaten Parmesan cheese black sesame seeds Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Unroll pizza dough on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and sprinkle with garlic powder. Using a pizza cutter, cut six strips of dough from half the roll. Roll up remaining dough and place in the refrigerator to prevent dough from rising as it sits. Minimize the handling of the pizza dough by leaving it on your parchment paper and cut angles from one end of the dough to make the head of the snake. Starting at the head of the snake, wrap the rest of the dough around the chopsticks. Place black sesame seeds for the eyes. Brush dough with egg wash and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and each tail with black sesame seeds. Bake 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Repeat with remaining half of the dough. Let the dough cool and either serve them on the chopstick or gently remove the chopstick with slow twisting and pulling of the chopstick to release the bread from the stick. Here is my first attempt at making these Rattlesnake rolls made with the fresh pizza dough from the deli case at the store. I must say, that these tasted much better than the bread sticks that come out of a tube, but the tubed dough was a lot easier to work with and there was less variation in the final baked snake. I still think these are really cute. Enjoy! Other Halloween recipes to try: Roasted Roaches Tortured Soul Rolls Antipasto de los Muertos

^^ favorite shoes of my entire life. Sold out at Nordy’s but found them here and they’re on clearance!! ^^ I forced this girl right here to take this trip with me. She helped me with video and photos the entire time, couldn’t have done it without my Leanne! ^^ Tresemmé’s lead hairstyle, Jeanie Syfu ^^ Are...

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