The 46th Parallel

Spiced Pumpkin Cookies

2009-10-26T09:40:00.001-07:00

This recipe was found on allrecipes.com

PREP TIME	20 Min
COOK TIME	20 Min
READY IN	1 Hr 20 Min

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Michael's Halloween Crafts

2009-10-22T13:18:00.001-07:00

If you have a Michael's in your area, go check out their free workshops!

Top Ten Creepiest Places: Travel Channel Style

2009-10-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

With Halloween upon us it is only fitting that the Halloween blogging festivities continue! Here is the Travel Channels top ten creepiest places. Just reading about some of these gave me shivers..... enjoy!

#10: The Bermuda Triangle

A vast space where unexplained disappearances happen, this place frightened me as a child and perplexes me as an adult.

Here is a website dedicated to the phenomenon of the triangle.
http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/

#9: Haunted Hollywood, CA (picture by sexyaleksey)

This includes several supernatural hot spots, including the Roosevelt Hotel where Marilyn Monroe and others supposedly haunt. There is also the Queen Mary, the Hollywood Cemetery and homes of former stars that have been said to be haunted.
Website here: http://www.seeing-stars.com/died/haunted.shtml

#8: Tower of London (picture by hi-fi-killer)

Anne Bolyn, King Henry VIII's beheaded wife, is said to haunt here, as the white tower is where her remains lay. They say she wanders around the white tower with her head tucked under her arm. There are other haunts there as well, so much so that a security guard back in the 1800's died of fright. Yikes!

#7: Mütter Museum of Medical History (picture by brandozim)

A medical museum in Philadelphia, this place is filled with the most disturbing medical oddities. I am including a link below with pictures and warning you to view at your own discretion, as there are some very disturbing images.

Mütter Museum Images

#6: Gettysburg, PA (picture by misaki-chi)

Of course the location of the deadliest battle during the civil war in terms of causalities is going to be listed. Haunts include voices and ghosts and even a tour including an opportunity to make contact. Weird.

Ghosts of Gettysburg Tour

#5: New Orleans, LA (picture by SalemCat)

This picture was taken from the Haunted Mortuary. There were too many things haunting New Orleans to list.

#4: Salem, MA (picture by DethEternl of the Haunted Jail)

Boy does this town seem to play to their witch burning heritage. Here is a link to the story of 'The Curse of Giles Corey'. Their witch parties look like fun now that they aren't burning them at the stake.

#3: Roswell, NM

Not quite sure why this made number 3 on the list. Sure, the whole aliens landed and the government is covering it up is a bit unsettling, but I'd say a few of these other places make me feel creeped out more than this. Maybe it is just me.

#2: Winchester Mystery Home (picture by Green-Ash)

Such an odd story. Wife of rifle maker, Winchester, her husband and daughter died and left with a fortune and the ghosts of people killed by Winchester guns she was told to continuously build a house to appease the ghosts that plagued her. A very strange house with doors and stairs to nowhere. Crazy much?
Guided tours are available HERE!

#1: Lizzie Borden Bed-and-Breakfast

This place evidently reeks of ghostly experiences. The owners were said to be murdered by their own daughter, Lizzie, who most say got away with murder when she was found innocent. Voices and ghastly images, not to mention full on conversations with ghosts happen here. I don't know why this part creeps me out, but it does, you can even stay the night and have the same last meal as the Borden's had of bananas, johnnycakes, sugar cookies and coffee. Ooooh....I just had chills run down my spine. Check out more here: Lizzie Borden Tours

Not So Scary Monsters

2009-10-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

Just perusing the internet and ran across these little guys. It gave me the idea to have a whole collection of little round 'Not So Scary' monsters. The directions for this craft call for stuffing the creature with rags, but I would use a Styrofoam ball to keep size consistent with the mummy's. I am going to come up with some other monsters to make with using the Styrofoam ball and post pics and directions at a later date. If you come up with any let me know!

Directions for this is found HERE!

Crackle.com

2009-10-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

I recently ran into quite a few sites that I had never heard of so I thought I would share my findings. Chances are everyone else probably knows about the sites, I tend to be a bit slow on grasping things. The one featured today is Crackle.com, an alternative to Hulu. This place has a rotating list of current movies and right now is featuring a great collection of Halloween thrillers. Its current list includes Ghostbusters, The Mothman Prophecies, Silent Hill, So I Married an Axe Murderer and more! Click on the pic above to check it out! It also has TV shows.

Halloween Photoshop Brush

2009-10-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

Another great freebie! Use these brushes to create spooky goody bags or party invitations. This freebie comes from ObsidianDawn.com

Free Pumpkin Stencils

2009-10-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

This one makes me laugh, Kanye West "I'm gonna let you finish" stencil

Joker by Blanksofar

Print these up, you may need to increase the size depending on your pumpkin size. You should be able to do this in your printing options. Print, tape to pumpkin, and pin prick dots around the black spaces (for most stencils). Then remove paper and carve away the areas you pricked with a pin.

Links to more great and free stencils for your pumpkin!

History Channel
Random Stencils
Funny Faces
Pumpkin Master Four Scary Patterns

13 Fun Halloween Movies

2009-10-20T07:00:00.001-07:00

Here is a short list of some movies that I would have on hand to watch on Halloween. I am noticing a trend with so many Tim Burton movies. Gotta love him. These are in no particular order.

The Birds

Teen Wolf

Sleepy Hollow

Shaun of the Dead

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Killer Klowns from Outer Space

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

Hocus Pocus

Ghostbusters

Ghost Dad

Edward Scissorhands

Beetlejuice

The Addams Family

Creative Crafts for Halloween

2009-10-19T17:00:00.000-07:00

I am a sucker for felt projects! Check out and give these crafts a whirl! Click on the links to get the directions.

Candy-Corn Door Decoration (I know, I hate candy-corns, but just the taste of them. They do look cool)

Mummy Heads

Felted Mummy and Skeleton Dolls

Felted Skull Garland (this one doesn't have directions but here is the link to the etsy shop!)

Newegg's Windows 7 Giveaway!

2009-10-19T09:52:00.001-07:00

Windows 7 is here and Newegg is having an awesome prize give away to promote it. Check it out and enter. It takes 2 minutes and you could win one of their awesome prizes, including a free copy of Windows 7! I tried the beta and loved it!

Click Here to Enter!

Things I hate to see in my Trick-or-Treat bag

2009-10-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

I am on a Halloween kick and will be until it passes, so continuing with this theme I present to you a short list of items that did not make the cut when I emptied my trick-or-treat bag.

Image Source: Myszt

CANDY CORN: Did you know that October 30th is National Candy Corn day? Who in their right mind gives a national day to a waxy concoction of sugar and corn syrup (also honey, yet another sweetener). I can count how many people I know who like candy corn on one hand. Maybe there are more people who like it, but they fear to say they do because I usually start out talking about candy corn like so... "I would personally beat anyone who admitted liking candy corn with the end of a dried up corn stalk until they denounced their sickening fetish of such a putrid Halloween treat."

Image Source: InvisibleFire

GOOD & PLENTY: Anything black licorice related is horrible. This is something German's and the elderly enjoy, not children.

Image Source: Brightosquee

PENNIES: Nothing says cheapskate like someone who is not only not willing to hand out candy but gives children scraps from their penny jar. A handful of pennies gets you a handful of nothing...well, it does make your hand smell like a robot.

Image Source: http://www.georgenick.co.uk/Foods.htm

BAKED GOODS: I either have to put this cookie in my bag and have it end up as crumbs and stick to other items, or I can carry it around all night while trick-or-treating, or I could stick it to the window of your car. This also reminds me of the Halloween episode of 'Freaks & Geeks' when the mom spends her day making cookies and this happens......

Jean (the mom): "Here, give these to your children-their homemade."
Angry Mom: "Are you crazy? I'm been lecturing my kids for weeks not to take unwrapped candy. Those cookies could have razor blades in them."

Image Source: Unknown

GENERIC HARD CANDIES: AKA Last resort candy. I find this stuff at least tolerable. Tolerable that is after all other candies have been depleted and there is no other sugar in the house and I am on the verge of a nervous breakdown unless I taste something sugary. Sometimes this will be several months later and I open my bag to find these candies melted together in a crusted mess at the bottom of my bag. I am finding that all these things I hate to see in my candy bag have something in common; they are cheap. Therefore, if you hand out these items you are indeed a cheapskate.

Honorable Mentions: Circus Peanuts, Wax Lips, Candy Apples, Toothbrushes (seriously, what are they thinking?) and Double Bubble Gum.

I will probably follow up with a list of items I thoroughly enjoy finding in my candy bag, but until then, what is it that YOU hate finding in your trick-or-treat bag?

A Brief History of Halloween

2009-10-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

Image Source: Cowardlylion

I kick this blog off with a history lesson about the second highest grossing US holiday, Halloween. I was out shopping for Halloween decorations when I overheard a conversation between two young lads concerning the origin of such a popular annual event. I listened to them mull the question over, never reaching a resolution.

Listening to these children made me stop and think, what do I even know about the beginnings of Halloween? All I could come up with was it had something to do with celebrating the deceased and that it used to be called All Hallows Eve. I humbly turned to the internet once I returned home to become educated on such a lucrative celebration and answer such questions as, why do we say trick-or-treat when going door to door? And, where did the giving away of candy and dressing up come from? Carving pumpkins? Well, the History Channel's website does a phenomenal job at answering some of the season's mysteries. I love the History Channel. Take a look!

http://www.history.com/content/halloween