'Sup Over Here

‘Sup is dude language for the greeting: “What’s going on”? Oldest Son’s Facebook Chat gets left on the computer and I have seen: “Sup”? and Ay (meaning “alright”). Then there’s “Ay Bra”, which is short for bro, and not actually a bra.

More dude action……it was a gorgeous weekend which for Hubs means working in the yard, telling the boys to rake up leaves, and then having them clean out the garage. I went outside to gather up all these peppers that keep producing and Hubs tells Youngest, “Show Mommy what I do with the blower” and then I had to run inside and get my camera because this was the funniest thing I saw in a long time:

Then Youngest pointed the blower at himself and did this which made me laugh my head off:

And:

So then Middle School Son joins in and I get this shot:

And Oldest…….couldn’t do it:

And then I really looked at the sky and the foliage for the first time in weeks and saw these Dahlias that are 7 feet tall but are flopped on the ground so I held them up and took this shot:

Later that day Hubs had decided to change the shocks on the vehicle and researched what to do online. Youngest Son is his buddy on car and home repair and gets to ask Hubs his 1,000 questions without hearing that his question-asking-quota is up for the day.

As you may know, I am in the kitchen a lot. Last weekend I made Caramel Dip to have with apple slices. Mid-week Youngest Son wanted more (it makes a lot so ya keep the rest in the fridge) so he scooped out some, put it in a little dish, microwaved it, noticed it was hot, and let it rest awhile. Clearly I gave him many brain cells which left me with fewer, as I then did the same thing in a little ramekin of my own, but after one minute I scooped up some on an apple slice and put it in my mouth. Burning hot caramel was in my mouth and hanging off my lower lip--I leaped to the sink to wipe it all off. It's a week later and part of my lower lip is still numb….but luckily by Halloween it looked normal again, or else I’d have to pretend that the bubble blister was Halloween make-up. I even took a picture of it but Middle School Son urged me to not even think of putting that on my blog. So, no photo.

This Halloween is the first time only Youngest Son dressed up. Middle School Son wore a ski mask and he and a buddy skateboarded from house to house (he scored the most candy). Oldest wore a knit cap with a pom-pom on the end and got some candy but mostly played ping pong at a gathering via his skateboard too (so happy many of their friends are all skateboard/bike-able distance).

So here is our lone spooky guy (who went trick or treating with a friend who’s also the youngest of 3 boys = wanting to be scary like the big brothers ever since age 5).

Here is the recipe for Caramel Dip I found at tammysrecipes.com If you’re in charge of a snack at a Thanksgiving gathering, bring this and a bunch of Honeycrisp apples and you’re set! Or give it away in jars or a ramekin with plastic wrap on top and a bow around it. Put it on top of apple pie. But beware—it gets hot when reheated!

Caramel Dip:

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar (dark brown works well)
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions:

1. In a 2-quart saucepan, melt butter on low heat.

2. Add brown sugar, corn syrup, and milk, stirring to combine. Increase heat to medium (or perhaps just below medium).

3. Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil.

4. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla and cinnamon.