DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

DIY Halloween Bucket  Do you happen to have any of these?  Well with a little paint, a couple jewels and a pipe cleaner.... You can have yourself a fun Halloween bucket.  Super simple.  Super easy.  And the perfect size to fill with just enough candy!

COSTUMED WITH A MEDIEVAL AIR     A sport for all times, the Calcio Storico or traditional football played in costume, in Florence, Italy, dates back to the 15th century. Woven with Italian brain, brawn and passion, the Calcio Storico was played by the aristocratic young noble men in front of the Basilica of Santa Croce and some times in the areas of Via Il Prato, Piazza della Signoria or Piazza Santa Maria Novella in celebration of the Feast of St. John. Held every year on June 24th, the awesome pageant of the Calcio Storico takes you to its ancient origins where ‘calcio in costume’ or ‘costume football’ was played for over 500 years. The playing field     With traditional districts to identify each of the four teams, the Calcio Storico, ‘calcio livrea’ or ‘football in livery’, colors the spirited pageant with the teams dressed in different colors, blue for St. Croce, red for St. Maria Novella, white for St. Spirito and green for St. Gi...

  This recipe comes from  www.sophistimom.com .  Vanilla ice cream, brownies and chocolate, what a combination.  Make sure you have a glass of milk to go with it. Last year, while developing a recipe for homemade Ho-Ho’s,  I accidentally made something more like a thin brownie than a cake. Rather than just eat the mistake plain, the kids and I spread it with vanilla ice cream, and made ice cream sandwiches.  They were chewy, even when the ice cream set. When Katie invited me to write this post for today, it was still cold and rainy here in the Rocky Mountains. But I knew by the time I would I post it,  the weather would be warm enough for something cold and sweet . Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my imagination past the gloomy weather. It still had me daydreaming about macaroni and cheese and apple crisp rather than something you’d eat in the summer. So I turned to my  food  magazines for a little help, as I often do. I f...

    The Badwater Ultra marathon  describes itself as  "the world's toughest foot race".  It is a 135-mile course starting at 282 feet below sea level in the Badwater Basin, in California's Death Valley, and ending at an elevation of 8360 feet at Whitney Portal, the trail head to Mount Whitney. It takes place annually in mid-July, when the weather conditions are most extreme and temperatures over 120 °F, even in the shade, are not uncommon. Consequently, very few people—even among ultramarathoners—are capable of finishing this grueling race. Course     Originally, the run was conceived as being between the lowest and the highest points in the contiguous United States: Badwater, Death Valley (−282 ft) and Mt. Whitney's summit (14,505 ft). The two are only eighty miles apart on the map, but the land route between the two points is substantially longer, 146 miles, because of detours around lakebeds and over mountain ranges. Addit...

    If you’ve seen enough horror movies, you’ll notice that they’ve become increasingly stale nowadays. Sometimes it feels like the characters on screen know when they’re about to get whacked by the psycho killer in the woods, and even they can’t fool the audience. How stupid do some of these movie directors believe the average American viewer has become? The following bag of tricks are currently destroying modern horror cinema: 1.) The Peek-a-boo, I See You     This is the moment when the director cleverly places the actor (usually some blond that can’t stop crying) into the right third of the screen. The camera pans in slowly and the creepy music starts playing. Then suddenly the killer’s face pops out the shadows directly behind the sobbing blonde. Since it would make too much sense for the killer to hack his victim instantly, (as killers in the real world are prone to do, don’t ask me but I know) the director always gives th...

Original "Superman" George Reeves and "Lois Lane" Noel Neill     Metropolis, IL’s biggest week of the year is drawing near. From Thursday, June 9, through Sunday, June 12 the town of fewer than 7000 people will become a real metropolis, or at least close to it, as thousands of visitors from around the country, and even around the world, visit for the 33rd annual Superman Celebration!     "It's a chance for people of all ages to come together and just enjoy a weekend of fun," explained Metropolis Tourism Director Angie Shelton. "You never know who you'll meet... and you never know what you’ll see!"     As always, a big draw for Superman enthusiasts is the lineup of celebrities. Last year's special guests included Laura Vandervoort and Sam Witwer from television’s Smallville; Noel Neill, Lois Lane from The Adventures of Superman; Ilya Salkind, producer of Superman I, II and III; and the legendary comic book artist, Carmine ...

   Father's Day lands in June, but did you know that there is a holiday for every day this month? Here they are! June 1: National Go Barefoot Day  - This shouldn't be too hard to do now that it's June. June 2: Leave the Office Early Day  - Do I need to make up an excuse, or can I just leave? June 3: Chimborazo Day  -Build a science fair-worthy volcano in honor of Chimborazo (in the Andes in Ecuador). June 4: International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression  - It's a long name, but a good cause. June 5: World Environment Day  - Dedicate the day to go green for the world environment. Wait - this should be done every day. June 6: Drive-in Movie Day  - Do they still exist? June 7: VCR Day  - Go back in time by watching home videos on the old VCR. June 8: Upsy Daisy Day  - Every time you royally screw up, say, "Upsy daisy" to lighten the mood. June 9: Donald Duck Day  - Writ...