Funny Friday: Ever Heard of Halloween?

Today’s post is October’s Funny Friday, a regular feature published on the last Friday of every month. Funny Friday is a collaborative project. Each month one of the participants submits a picture, then we all write 5 captions or thoughts inspired by that month’s picture. Links to the other bloggers’ posts are below, click on them and see what they’ve come up with. I hope we bring a smile to your face as you start your weekend.
 

Here’s today’s picture. It was submitted by Someone Else's Genius.
 

 
 
1. Pheasant into his cell phone: Can you hear me now?
 
2. Note to self: Develop a line of camo clothing for pheasants, you'll make a fortune.

3. Pheasant to self: I'd rather be under the shrubs than under-glass.

4. Pheasant to self: But that free app I downloaded said hunting season ended yesterday.

5. Pheasant to self: Hunters? Who's afraid of hunters? If the wife finds out I spent the rent I'll wish the hunters had shot me.

and one more for Halloween:

6. Man yelling out from under the brush while undressing: STOP SHOOTING. This is a costume. Ever heard of Halloween?
Note to self: Burn this costume. 
 
 
And now for something yummy. I chose this dessert for today because it's not only a fun Halloween dessert, but perfect for Thanksgiving too.
 

Ginger Pumpkin Cheesecake Log

 

Click on the links below and let some other bloggers make you smile:

The Bergham Chronicles

Follow me home

Measurements of Merriment

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy 

Someone Else's Genius
 Confessions of a part-time working mom
 The Momisodes
 Spatulas on Parade

 

Ginger Pumpkin Cheesecake Log

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 

Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
1 box (3.4 oz) cheesecake instant pudding
1  cup milk
3/4 cup pureed pumpkin
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 TBSP powdered sugar
Approx 30 - 35 ginger snap cookies

OPT: Pumpkin seeds or your choice of decoration

Directions:
*Whisk together the pudding mix, milk, pumpkin puree, nutmeg and cinnamon for 2 minutes until it starts to thicken. Set aside.
*In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and whip until stiff peaks form.
*Fold the whipped cream into the pudding.
*Along the center of a long serving platter, place a thin strip, about an inch wide of whipped cream mixture.
*Spread about 1 to 1/2 TBSP (approximate, don't bother measuring) onto each ginger snap. Place one cookie on top of another so you have groups of about 5. Stand the cookies, not flat but on their edges, into the whipped cream mixture on the platter. You should have one long log.
*Using the rest of the whipped cream mixture, completely cover the top and sides of the cookie log. Refrigerate overnight.
*To serve, decorate as desired. Slice at a 45 degree angle.

 

Stubble, Rubble, Boil and Bubble

I suck at poems. It's my fault, I jinxed myself in this genre on my very first attempt way back in October of 2012. I wrote what I thought was a humorous piece about my son visiting a jail as a part of a Law Studies class field trip. Somehow the end result was a whole lot of sympathy from friends on the devastating news that my son had been incarcerated.

So yeah, that went over as well as a windstorm in a tornado.

Last year I ended my Halloween blog posts with another poem called Twas the Night of Halloween. I won't necessarily claim that it was successful but at least it didn't garner a plethora of sympathy messages. That's a step forward, right?

 Since Halloween posts appear to bring out the stubborn idiot inner poet in me, I'm giving it another try today. This time I'm dragging a bunch of friends along to counterbalance my poetry suckery. You'll find links to their poems at the end of my post. Yes, first I want you to suffer through mine.

Thanks Robin of Someone Else's Genius for this graphic 

Now I may be obstinate, but at least I learn from my mistakes. You see, my first poem based on nothing but what was in my head was an unmitigated disaster. But plagiarism starting with someone else's idea, now that's a strategy. I need to be careful because, you know, getting my ass sued off isn't on my bucket list. So last year's Twas the Night of Halloween was based on the work of a poet, Clement Clarke Moore, who died in 1863. Today's poem has its origins in a piece by another famous author, this one died in 1616. I figure if he comes after me now I have more problems than basing a blog post on his work.

So I'll set the scene, much as Shakespeare did:

A dark night, in the middle of a landscaped yard, on a well manicured lawn, a caldron, boiling. Standing over it, a crazed mom woman dressed stylishly in black. She is chanting:

 Witch's Caldron Giant Cookie

Double, double, toil and trouble,
fire burn and caldron bubble.
Add a bit of teenage stubble.
From upon their floor, rubble.

No eye of newt or toe of frog,
no drop of sweat, they do not jog,
but from inside their bedroom bog
I'll find ingredients for this grog.


A touch of all the things they waste,
From bathroom sinks, blobs of toothpaste.
A wrapper that they drop in haste,
and food on dishes turned to paste. 

Stinky laundry rarely done,
sheets never exposed to sun.
Odors more dangerous than a gun
have them thinking they have won.


I'll teach those boys to stay out late,
lie about the snacks they ate,
do nothing asked without debate.
Their attitude has sealed their fate. 

Bubble and boil,
wisp and coil.
Tonight's spell roil
they cannot foil.

Double, double, toil and trouble,
fire burn and caldron bubble.
Soon there will be no rebuttal.
A bwitch's spell you cannot scuttle. 

Stir together crud and mud,
perhaps a Poison Ivy bud.
Cool it with a baboon's blood,
then pray this spell is not a dud. 

They can't hide, they cannot run.
Wherever they are, this spell will stun.
Just this once they've lost, I've won.
. . . I may be having too much fun.


Just in case my poem does happen to anger a certain long dead Bard, (well, it is Halloween after all, ghost are hardly out of the question), I just want to say for the record {{wink, wink}} that this poem was not based on someone else's work, it was totally inspired by a giant cookie. 

You got my back on this, right? 

For more Halloween fun, click on the links below to read poems by bloggers who actually have talent:

A (Parenting) Halloween Poem by Lydia of Cluttered Genius

Ode to Candy Tax by Sarah of The Momisodes

Ghost, Goblins and Dessert, OH MY by Dawn of Spatulas on Parade 

It Could Happen - A Poem by Robin of Someone Else's Genius 
Of Springboks and Ghouls by Tamara of Confessions of a part-time working mom
Nothing To Fear Here by Sarah of People Don't Eat Enough Fudge
Witches & Vampires by Candice of Measurements of Merriment
Spooktacular Poetry by Jules of The Bergham Chronicles 
The Maddening Mask by Jenn of Sparkly Poetic Weirdo
Cursed By The Devil's Kiss by Steena of The Angrivated Mom  

Happy Haunting.
And BOILER UP!                     

 

 

 

Witch's Caldron Giant Cookie

                                                                        ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1 stick margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
3 - 4 TBSP milk


1/2 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup semi sweet or dark chocolate chips
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2  cups powdered sugar
1 TBSP heavy cream
1 - 3 TBSP milk

red food coloring
yellow food coloring
green food coloring
edible black piping gel
5 almond slices

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a pizza pan (without holes in the bottom).
*Cream 1 stick each of butter and margarine and white and brown sugars. Beat in eggs and 1 tsp vanilla.
*Mix in flour, baking soda and salt.
*Pat out onto pizza pan until the thickness is fairly even.
*Bake for about 15 minutes, till it's lightly browned.
*Remove from oven and cool completely.
*Using the black piping gel, outline a large caldron shape on your cookie.
*White Frosting: Cream 1/2 stick butter with 3/4 tsp vanilla. Carefully blend in 3 cups powdered sugar. 1 TBSP at a time, add in as much of the milk as you need to bring the frosting to an easily spreadable consistency.
*Place 1/4 cup of the white frosting in a baggie, snip the corner and pipe a bone shape onto your cauldron.
*Place 1/4 cup frosting in a bowl and tint it light orange using food coloring. Divide the rest of the white frosting into 3 bowls, tint one green, one red, one yellow. Place all 4 in plastic baggies and snip the corners.
*Chocolate Frosting: Melt the remaining butter and the chocolate chips in the microwave until smooth, mix in the vanilla.
*Carefully mix in the remaining powdered sugar. You don't need it to be completely incorporated, just enough so it won't fly out when you beat the mixture.
*Beat in the heavy cream, then the milk 1 TBSP at a time to get a good spreadable consistency.
*Frost the caldron shape with chocolate frosting. Be very careful as you work your way around the bone. I find it's easiest to work with the chocolate frosting with my fingers.
*Using the red and yellow frosting, make large triangles up from the bottom of the caldron. Spread carefully with a knife to resemble fire.
*Using the green frosting, pipe swirls on top of the caldron and a little down the sides. 
*Using the orange frosting, pipe different sized ovals over the rim of the caldron to resemble fingers. Use the almond slices as fingernails.

Fly on the Wall: Picture This

Welcome to a monthly Fly on the Wall group post. Today 14 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house. At the end of my post you’ll find links to this month’s other participants’ posts.

 

I keep an eye on PurDude's checking account and saw a charge made by the USPS. That's weird, what could he be doing there?

A few days later I got a package from him. It wasn't ticking so I opened it. Inside was his frat formal class picture for 2014 - 2015.

And, PurDude being PurDude, there was a note. Written in pencil on notebook paper:

"Please do not hang this in a place where people will see it."

So instead of hanging it on my front door or the back window of my car, it's on the refrigerator.

That works, right?

 

 

Like his mom, PurDude doesn't like having his picture taken. I keep telling him he'll be sorry later in life if he doesn't have pictures from all he's done in his college years. 

When he's home, I can sneak some pictures in, but when he's away it's harder, of course. I do bug him when I call and when I text to send on some pictures of his activities, his friends, parties and the frat.

So I was pretty excited when he texted me a picture. Until I saw that it's the door to his room.

Ah, the stuff that memories are made of . . . 

Speaking of pictures, PurDude had a large picture that he had inherited with his room in his frat. The frame was falling apart, and when he went to change rooms this year, he took the picture but had to throw the frame away. The picture is large and not a standard size so he couldn't find a frame locally. When I was talking to him on the phone earlier this month, he told me he'd ordered one through Amazon and he'd have it that day.

An hour later UPS delivered a large package to me. Ooops. 

I called PurDude, who said that he realized that Amazon had our home as his default address, but that he'd realized it immediately, called the vendor and, when the vendor assured him they could change the address on the order, gave them the address of his frat.

Guess that didn't happen. 

I told PurDude to call the vendor. They'd have to send me a pre-paid UPS sticker to send the package to him. Meanwhile, the big box sat in various spots in my kitchen, where I tripped over it regularly.

Five days later I texted PurDude: Did you ever hear back from the vendor?
PurDude: Yes, he refunded my money and told me just to re-order it to the right address.

I sat there fuming for a while thinking "when were you going to let me know this?" And then "what am I supposed to do with this big box in my kitchen?" when suddenly I heard the ding of another text.

PurDude: Happy Birthday, Mom. I got you a picture frame.

Smart ass.

 

On a Tuesday after a long weekend, I'm doing a load of laundry. I'm folding the clothes and something's not adding up.

Hubs' clothes: 3 pairs of shorts, 3 t-shirts, 3 pairs of underwear and 3 pairs of socks. 
OK, makes sense.

My clothes: 3 pairs of shorts, 3 shirts and 3 days worth of underwear.
OK, makes sense. 

College Boy's clothes: 3 pairs of jeans, 4 shirts, 2 pairs of underwear, 7 socks.
Huh?

 

 And while we're on the topics of pictures and of laundry, I did finally get a few pictures of PurDude's room. This must be a guy thing because I'm no interior designer, but I do know where to store items in the home, what should and should not be out in the open. What's in those pictures? Well, a nice decorative shelf on his wall  . . . holding his toiletries. And what do I see right inside the front door?

Apparently nothing says "welcome to my room" like walking into his dirty laundry basket.

 Caramel Ginger Baked Apples

College Boy: I just killed a spider on the stairs.When is that terminator coming?
Me: Terminator?
College Boy: You know the big guy with the huge gun who annihilates all the spiders and then says "ahhhhl be baaaack".
Oh, that terminator.

By now many of you know about the phone call I got on my birthday.
PurDude: Happy Birthday, Mom. I have some bad news. 
          {{Mom starts to freak out}}
PurDude: I don't want you to freak out too much.
          {{too late}}
PurDude: I just got back from the hospital.
          {{did I just sit down, or did I fall down}}
PurDude: I broke my ankle.
          {{Happy Birthday to me}}.

Obviously PurDude was in a very lot of pain. He had fallen down the concrete stairs out the back door of his frat late at night.
I told him that I hope that some day he'll tell me the rest of the story but he insists he had spent the night with some brothers and had stepped out alone for some fresh air. Well, that's his story and he's sticking to it. Truth is he does have visual/spatial issues and has fallen down stairs regularly his whole life.
I spoke to him a couple of times that night and he wasn't himself, clearly in a lot of pain.
It was a 4 day weekend and I was worried that not a lot of people were around to help him out. The next day I texted him:

Me: Are you any better today? Are you getting food?
PurDude: Yeah, I just had some chinese food.
Me: For breakfast?
PurDude: Even if I had a full set of working legs I wouldn't get up early enough on a day off to eat breakfast.

Yup, there's my boy. He's clearly feeling better.

We were supposed to video chat with him that next day but he had not been able to leave the couch in the frat living room so although he had his laptop with him, it was out of batteries. He had done homework on it and could not get up the stairs to his room to get the cord to recharge it. So I spoke to him instead.

Me: Do you have a ride to the your appointment with the Orthopedic Surgeon tomorrow?
PurDude: When we finish talking I'm going to call and make the appointment so I can ask someone for a ride.
Me: I thought the hospital made an appointment for you.
PurDude: No, they just gave me the name and number of the doctor. I'll call now and get an appointment.
Me: It's 6:00 pm.
PurDude: {{silence}}.
Me: Sunday night.
PurDude: {{silence}}.
Me: Think that might be a problem?
PurDude: {{silence}}.

Who the hell raised this kid anyway?

 

We are now 10 days into the season of the broken leg and PurDude is on his third cast. The first one was a soft cast put on by the hospital, followed by a black cast put on by the Orthopedic Surgeon and a few days ago he got a third cast. There are at least 2 more in his future.

Me: You sent me a pic of the soft cast and the black one, send me a pic of this new one.
PurDude: Why? It looks like the black one just a different color.
Me: I want pictures of all of them.
PurDude: Why?
Me: Years from now we'll laugh about this. I want to have pictures of it all. I'm going to make a GIF. A cast GIF.
PurDude (in his stern, "you're in trouble young lady" voice): No. You're. Not.

Yes I am. Shhh. Don't tell on me.   

PS: I've been getting quite a few personal questions in private messages on my FB page. Somehow, maybe in a moment of low blood sugar or something, I agreed to answer them publicly if I got 20 questions from 20 different people, I'm sure thinking no way I'd get that many, I'd be off the hook. So . . . it's close. Way closer than I ever imagined. If you have a question, PM me on Facebook or email me. I'm a few questions away from dodging the bullet. And a few questions away from biting the bullet . . . Oy.

Now click on the links below for a peek into some other homes:

Spatulas on Parade

Follow me home

Menopausal Mother

Never Ever Give Up Hope

The Momisodes

Someone Else's Genius
Eileen's Perpetually Busy 
Cluttered Genius 
Southern Belle Charm 
Go Mama O 
Searching for Sanity 
Dinosaur Superhero Mommy 
Nichole Mom of 8 

Caramel Ginger Baked Apples

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com


Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
4 apples
1 1/2 cups ginger ale
1 box (5 - 6 oz) Sugar Babies candies (caramel apple flavor or original)
8 Hot Tamale candies
2 TBSP butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger

gummy worms

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place the ginger ale in an 8 X 8 baking dish.
*Core the apples, being sure not to poke all the way through the bottom. Cut around the cored center, taking a little more of the apple out to leave more room for the center ingredients. 
*Place the apples into the baking dish. Fill each apple with 2 Hot Tamales and the sugar babies candies. Top each one with 1/2 TBSP butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and ginger.
*Cover with tin foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for another approximately 10 minutes or until the apples are soft. Garnish with gummy worms.
NOTE: Use caution when they are first out of the oven, caramel center is very hot.

Which Witch

Halloween has brought me clarity. I have human nature all figured out. 

It's all about the witches. 

As with any other subculture, there are those labeled "good" and those labeled "bad". Both groups have specific traits, the way they see situations and what they would do to change circumstances. It's the philosophy, the strategies of these groups with which we identify that make us who we are.

There are the "good" witches: Samantha from Bewitched, Glinda from the Wizard of Oz and the sisters from Charmed, for example. 

And then there are the "evil" witches: The cannibal Witch from Hansel and Gretel, and the Queen from Snow White, The Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz, to name a few.

 

Melting Wicked Witch Cupcakes

Yes, as always, it's about good vs evil. Who do you want to be? What do you want to stand for? It comes down to this: wwtwd (what would the witches do)?

WWTWD:

*Kids who wear their pants around their knees:
     Good witch: gently raise them up to the waist.
          Wicked witch: yank those suckers up over their ears.


*Owners who think I enjoy dispersing their dog crap through my yard with my lawn mower:
     Good witch: make that crap disappear.
          Wicked witch: make all the toilets in their home back up. Permanently.

*Narcissists who take up two parking spaces:
     Good witch: move the car over to a single spot.
          Wicked witch: reduce their car to the size of a matchbox.

*Shoppers with 25 items in the 10 items or less lane:
     Good witch: double the speed of the cashier.
          Wicked witch: tattoo "I can't count to ten" onto their forehead.

*Liars:
     Good witch: change their words to the truth.
          Wicked witch: light their pants on fire.

 *Drivers meandering 20 miles per hour under the speed limit on a 2 lane street:
     Good witch: create. a passing lane.
          Wicked witch: two words: ejector . . . seat.

 *Email spammers:
     Good witch: block their outgoing mail.
          Wicked witch: attach 7 million volts to their "send" button.

 *Shoppers who leave their cart in the middle of a parking space (and always the best spaces, too):
     Good witch: insert the cart into its proper place in the store.
         Wicked  witch: insert that cart into a strategic place where the sun don't shine.

 *Waiting lists, waiting lines . . . waiting:
     Good witch: speed up the wait.
          Wicked witch: obliterate that line. A lightning bolt will do nicely.

 *Happy waker-uppers (you know who you are):
     Good witch: what a lovely trait, lets bottle that.
          Wicked witch: happy waker-uppers, meet witchy morning breath.

 
Which witch will you be? 

As for me, I'm hopping on my broomstick and heading out. Don't want to be late for my appointment with the plastic surgeon, I'm having a wart added to my nose. 

{{flies off, cackling}}

 

 

 

 

Melting Wicked Witch Cupcakes

                                                                        ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
 1 1/2 cups chocolate syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 stick butter, softened
1 container (7 oz) Marshmallow Creme
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 to 2 TBSP milk
green food coloring

1/4 cup chocolate chips 
12 oreos
24 Hershey's Kisses
24 candy eyeballs

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners.
*Beat 1 stick of butter, sugar and eggs until smooth.
*Mix in 1 cup flour, then beat in half of the chocolate syrup.
*Mix in the rest of the flour and the baking soda, then beat in the rest of the chocolate syrup and the vanilla.
*Divide the batter into the 24 cupcake liners. Bake for approximately 18 - 20 minutes, or until the center springs back to the touch. Cool completely.
*Carefully remove the cream center from the oreos. You need only the outer cookies. Unwrap the kisses. Melt the chocolate chips on a plate in the microwave. Dip the flat side of each kiss into the melted chocolate and press onto the center of a cookie. Set aside.
*Beat 3/4 stick of butter and the marshmallow creme until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and green food coloring. Add the milk, 1 TBSP at a time, until it's a good piping consistency. Add more food coloring if needed. Put into piping bag.
*Pipe the frosting onto the top of and dripping down the sides of the cupcakes. Stick an oreo/kiss "witch's hat" onto each cupcake and stick the candy eyes to the frosting, skewed to the side.

Use Your Words: When to Get Away With Murder

Today’s post is a monthly writing challenge. If you’re new here, this is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once. All of the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the recipient will take them. Until now.

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them.
I’m using: snapped ~ company ~ under ~ post ~ wear ~ seen

They were submitted by: Searching for Sanity.

I've always tried to take my responsibility as a moral compass for the boys very seriously. I hope that not just what I say but what I do is an example of how I hope they will choose to act.

But there's one instance, just one time, when my actions were not ones I chose for the boys to emulate. In fact, as much as I believe in honesty, I've kept this isolated incident a secret from them. I was unsure whether to even put this story into my blog post because . . . well, besides the legalities . . . it is something the boys can never know. 

But they don't read my blog so as long as you don't tell, I think it's fair to assume my secret is safe.

This happened many years ago when the boys were in middle school. Hubs was changing careers and I'd been keeping my eye out for a job I might like to do. Something not too stressful and that would have me home at a reasonable hour.

I'd found just the thing. An assistant to a VP at a local company known for treating employees well. I sent in my resume and was called in for an interview.

The day before my interview was laundry day. I had put it off all day and at around 4 pm was finally going to have to give in and get it started. That's when the phone rang.

It seems the VP had been called out of town the next day and wanted to know if I could come in now. Now? Who does that? I can't come in now. I have to do laundry. All I've got left for underwear is an old pair of granny panties and a bra held together with pins.

But, of course, I had to go.

The VP's office was lovely. What a great work environment. His secretary was friendly and kind. I knew we'd get along.

A short time later the secretary's phone rang. When she hung up she looked at me as she started to stand and said "I'm so sorry but I have to get to my son's soccer game. Make yourself comfortable, he says he'll be no more than 10 minutes."

When she left I took the opportunity to use the lady's room, wash my hands, fix my makeup, brush my hair, no toilet paper stuck to my shoe, good to go. I was back in the empty outer office no more than 2 minutes when he opened his door and brought me inside.

Now I'm not bragging, but I have to say that the interview went well. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. This one did. There were no inane questions, just discussion of what he needed in an assistant and what I had done that qualified me to meet those needs.

As I was leaving the room, feeling quite confident I might add, I turned to smile one last time. A parting reminder of my sparkling personality.

When I turned, I happened to see in the window behind him, a mirror-like image of myself. With the most cliche embarrassing moment on the planet. Yes, the back of my dress was tucked into my underwear. My big ugly laundry-day granny panties.

And I just snapped. How to get away with murder? That's just a tv show. But when to get away with murder? Well, he'd seen my ugly underwear. There's no going back. It's justifiable. Good thing the office building was empty 'cause I was gonna have to kill him.

Spaghetti Brains

Links to the other Use Your Words posts:

Spatulas on Parade

The Momisodes
Sparkly Poetic Weirdo 
 Southern Belle Charm
 Rena's World
Confessions of a part time working mom 
Never Ever Give Up Hope 
Someone Else's Genius 
Searching for Sanity 
Climaxed 
Dinosaur Superhero Mommy
The Bergham Chronicles  
The Angrivated Mom 
Eileen's Perpetually Busy  

Spaghetti Brains

                                                                        ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
8 oz spaghetti
1 cup Homemade Marinara: Recipe HERE
1 cantaloupe
2 orange slices jellied candies
2 gummy lifesavers
2 mini M&Ms
1 2-inch piece of twizzler

NOTE: You will need 3 toothpicks
OPT: kitchen knife for presentation

Directions:
*Make sure your cantaloupe can sit on a platter. If not, slice as little as possible off the bottom so it sits flat.
*Cut the top off of the cantaloupe and carefully remove the fruit. Be sure not to puncture the sides.
*Cut the toothpicks in half. Press a toothpick half, from the inside of the cantaloupe, into spots for the eyes and ears. Attach the orange jellied candies to the part of the toothpick sticking out to make ears. Do the same with the gummy life savers for eyes. Fill the inside of the eyes with mini M&Ms.
*Position the twizzler piece where you want the mouth and press into place with the remaining toothpick halves.
*Carefully, avoiding the toothpicks, line the inside of the cantaloupe with tin foil. 
*Cook the spaghetti according to package directions. Toss with the marinara. Place into the cantaloupe, making sure none of the tin foil shows.
*OPT: Place kitchen knife in the top for presentation.