No Place like Happy for the Holidays 2021

 Well Friends, what started as a blog when my kiddo was young, is back.

The Holidays are HERE: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.

Now, more than ever, we, as a general population of people, need something to look forward to.

Here in Central Pennsylvania, the events are posting; plays, festivals, classes, crafts, so many fun things.

And, I want to do them all.

How bout you?

So, the blog is BACK!

Here is where you can find all things HOLIDAY and all things HAPPY!

Ideas and Fun for all Ages....even my 40'something friends, er, especially my 40' something friends.

There's no place like HAPPY for the holidays!

Stacy

No Place Like Home for the Holidays in Central PA

And I am back....

85 Summertime Fun Ideas...the Dont Be Bored Approach

So I am totally ready for Spring and Summertime fun...for flip flops and sunglasses and flowers.
There are so many things I am hoping to do this summer. Still I know that the days will fly by and we will , at least once a week, be staggering to find something fun to do. So, I made a Fun Summertime Things to Do Jar.
I came up with alot of fun ideas on my own, and then I polled my friend on FB and added a few of those as well.
Here they are, I hope you will be inspired. They are in the order I drew them out of the jar right now.
1.  Lemonade Stand
2. Mechanicsburg Pool
3.  Roast Hot Dogs
4. Sports Emporium
5.  Fill a suet cage with strings and yarn for the birds to build their nests
6.  Haars Drive In
7.  Water Balloon Fight
8.  Luau with Friends
9.  Surprise a friend with a visit and a treat
10.  Hershey Park
11. Tubing
12. Boiling Springs Pool
13. Ice Cream Sundae Party
14.  Catoctin Zoo
15.  Make a Bird Feeder
16.  Nature Scavenger Hunt
17. Wildflower Bouquets
18.  Go fishing at the pond
19.  Paint Rocks for the Garden
20.  Make Smores
21.  Go for a Bike Ride
22. Learn to roller skate
23.  Catch Lightning Bugs
24.  Watch an ant hill
25.  Pedicures
26.  Bowling
27.  Play frisbee
28.  Make a pinata and BREAK it!
29.  Water Gun Fight
30.  Surprise Trip
31.  Make our own Freezer Jam
32.  Make Ice Cream
33.  Tie Dye Tshirts
34.  Sleep in a tent outside
35.  Giant bubbles
36.  Swim at McCormick Park
37.  Go strawberry Picking
38.  Knoebels
39.  Mini Golf
40.  Sidewalk Chalk Art
41.  Picnic at Paulus
42.  Horseback riding
43.  Feed the ducks
44. Amish Buggy Ride
45.  Flashlight Tag
46.  Make Stepping Stones
47.  Indian Echo Caverns
48.  Take Shadow Pictures
49.  Watch  for shooting stars
50.  Lake Tobias
51.  Slip and Slide
52.  Run thru the sprinkler
53.  volunteer day, find a place and go!
54.  Badminton Tournament
55. Picnic in the backyard
56.  Baseball Game
57.  Make windchimes
58.  Wolf Preserve Lititz
59.  Jump in mud puddles on a rainy day
60.  Hopscotch
61.  Pool full of jello
61. Whitaker Center
62.  Go for a Hike
63.  Pine Grove Park
64.  Field Day Obstacle Course
65.  Make a Treat from our Garden
66. Make Sno Cones
67. Hula Hoop Contest
68.  Invite Friends for Outside Game night
69.  Press Flowers
70:  Family and Friend Talent Show
71.  Make a Cardboard boat and Sail it
72.  Flea Market
73.  Harrisburg Senators Game
74.  Dutch Wonderland
75:  Go to the creek and catch minnows and crayfish
76.  Spray Bottle Painting
77. Outdoor Twister Game
78.  Shaving Cream/Foam Fight
79. Make a backyard teepee
80.  Hershey Gardens
81.  Pirate Day with Treasure Hunt
82.  Make a time capsule
83.  Fly a kite
84.  Try a new playground
85.  Land of Little Horses

A Busy Because we want to be Tuesday

Tuesdays are always slow at our house. Audrey is home with me all day. So we are always looking for something yummy to whip up or some new craft to try.
Today, we were in a frenzy...or rather I was in a frenzy while my overstimulated kiddo stared at me.  LOL
I was on a Pinterest Binge this morning, and I thought I could do like 100 things in 1 day...which we know I always try to do, and fail at.  But, wow do we have fun trying.
However, today we made a ton of fun things.
First, Chocolate Chow Mein Bird Nests with Cadbury Chocolate Coated eggs...SUGAR HIGH!
Take 2 bags of chow mein noodles, 1 bag of chocolate melts ( a lil oil to thin) 2 tbsp of PB, melt the chocolate and then melt the PB and then blend together. Mix in the noodles.
I placed them in cupcake liners and made a little middle like a nest.

Then, I filled the nest with 3 coated cadbury eggs.  so cute for a spring party!




Then, I took easter place cards and small cellophane bags. I filled some of the bags with 2 marshmellows, folded the placecard over the top of the bag, taped, and wrote Bunny Tails on the card. I filled the other bags with Jelly beans and I am going to take this great "Story of the Jelly Beans" that I found that talks about each color and the significance of Easter and I will put it inside the placecard.

Next, I decided to make Tres Leche cupcakes.  Good idea, until I poked the cupcakes to fill up with the milk mixture and they poured over. so I took the cupcake liners off and the cupcakes in a baking dish and poured the milk mixture over the cupcakes. It makes them easy to serve.  SO YUMMY! Seriously, so yummy! I toasted coconut flakes and put them on top.  It is in the fridge chillin and will be super good for the UAFD boys tonight.

Then, I decided to make an Easter Vase with my kids handprint. I remember reading this poem somewhere about picking wildflowers for Mommy and I cant find it...but I will.

Whew, A day of crafting bliss!

Snow ICE CREAM

In the spur of the moment, when I realized it had snowed last night.. I ran to my PC and typed in: Snow ICe Cream.  My Aunt Linda, God rest her soul, the woman was like McGuyver with a crochet hook, a Guardian Serviceware pot, and a bag of flour, had made me snow ice cream once when I was an adult.
Sure enough, Paula Deen, yep truly, had a recipe for it.
8 cups of snow( the fresh kind)
1 14 oz container of sweet condensed milk
3 tablespoons of Vanilla.
I ran outside, and scooped up 8 cups, thru then in a metal mixing bowl.
Opened and poured in the sweet milk
poured in some vanilla and VIOLA....Delightfulness.
Next, I got the idea that it was so sweet I could easily add Bakers chocolate powder, so I did.
EVEN MORE DELIGHTFUL!
This is perfect for a heavier wet snow...like shaved ice.
DELISH!
Jim enjoyed a chocolate snow milkshake.
Audrey and I enjoyed both vanilla and chocolate bowls of the delectable treat from nature ( sorta).
I posted it on FB and within 2 hrs, I had 3 or 4 friends do the same. Stop complaining about the snow, and EAT IT!

Now the next time it snows, you will to.

ENJOY!

Leprechaun Munch

I love to send goodies to the firehouse for my husband to share with "the boys".
Audrey and I enjoy cooking new things up together, and sending them to the fire station gets them out of the house after we have a small taste.

Today, I took a recipe that I found on Pinterest and put a fun spin on it.
I call it LEPRECHAN MUNCH!

Thanks to the local boyscout troop, I have LOTS of popcorn.This was the main ingredient of my concoction:

1 bag of Kettle Corn, pop it up.
Then, 1 bag of white chocolate melts...I already had green melts left over from Christmas Candy Making...go the green worked out even better.
Peppermint Patties, I broke up a bag full of the small ones
1/2 cupEaster Candy Corn, the stuff my kid wanted last week and I have had to hide from her
1/2 cup MM's, leftover from Valentines Party
1/2 cup Chocolate chips, because I could!

After popping the corn and laying it out over wax paper, I melted the chocolate in the microwave...I always add a tbsp of oil( any kind...to thin it out)
Then, I poured the creamy green chocolate over the popcorn and I tossed it around until the popcorn was completely coated, then I flattened it out. I let it sit for 1 hr. Broke it up off the wax paper into a fun bowl and tossed in all the other goodies.....YUM!!!
All with stuff we had at the house.

Leprechaun Goodness!
Enjoy UAFD Officers.

Small Batch Butter Cream Easter Eggs....hippity hoppity

And Yummity!
I follow recipes...but after making a treat so many times, I kind of fly out on my own and see what happens. Sometimes, it is a true failure. Other times, I am pretty pleased with the change.
I have been making Easter Eggs for like 3 years now. Peanut Butter, Coconut, Butter Cream...all covered in chocolate.
Yesterday, my husband brought home an egg from a local HUGE catholic church, and of course the ingredients were right on the packaging, so I got out what the list said in small portions and went to town.
1 package cream cheese
1 stick softened butter( make sure it is SOFT, it doesnt make for a good consistency if it isn't)
Powdered sugar, I didnt measure, i just know when I mix on high what it should look like...lol...my guess...2 to 2 1/2 cups.
1 tbsp of vanilla
1 tsp of salt
Mix em up... I use a hand mixer and a spatula...make sure it isnt chunky with either butter or cream cheese or sugar...no chunks.
If it seems to "thin", add more powdered sugar.
Spoon a heaping tablespoon onto wax paper, you should make about 12 egg mixtures.
THEN, YOU MUST WAIT!
You have to freeze the uncoated eggs  for a few hours until they are very firm and not sticky, so that they coat easily

Next, pour 1/2 bag of chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl with a little oil to keep the melted chocolate thin. Heat until smooth and think mix.
Plop the frozen eggs one at a time into mix, coat and place onto wax paper to dry.  THEN, YOU MUST WAIT AGAIN! Let the coating harden. No need to refrigerate.
EAT!!