By Sheri Hopkins, Lifestyle Contributor

Hello everyone! I love this weather, and I’ve already got the Halloween blow-ups out! I’ve stocked up with eight cases of cotton candy, Airheads, Sour Punch Straws, Fun Dip, and Ring Pops — I’m ready for all the little trick-or-treaters! I can’t wait. I’ve always loved Halloween. I used to dress up and take my nephews, Michael and Jason, and their sister, Kelly. We had so much fun. Back in the old days, you could give kids popcorn balls, brownies, apples, cookies — all the homemade goodies.

I’ve told y’all before about the time we went to a house that gave us a treat wrapped in tin foil. We couldn’t wait to get home because we just knew it had a brownie in it. Well… we were wrong! When we unwrapped it, it was cornbread. Boy, were we disappointed! The older me would be tickled for a piece of cornbread now.

Y’all know about my weird son, Jacob — the one who wouldn’t take his father’s ashes to Alaska. He never liked Halloween. I mean, I’ve loved Halloween my whole life, and he’s never liked it! I’d get him the best costumes, and he wouldn’t go trick-or-treating. I’d drag him to houses, but I finally gave up — it wasn’t worth the fight. He’d throw a fit and refuse to go. If he hadn’t been the only baby in the nursery when he was born, I’d think he was switched at birth! He was born in a tiny hospital in Mena, Arkansas. He was the only baby there, and they even hired a nurse to come in just to take care of him. You sure don’t get that kind of treatment nowadays! But that’s a whole other story.

Back when I was young, we had a wonderful childhood. My siblings and I have so many good memories. I still remember all our appliances came from Sears — the fridge was gold, the washer and dryer were gold, and then there was that big old Kenmore canister vacuum cleaner. Honey, that thing was an albatross! It had those bags inside it, and my mother refused to get an upright because you couldn’t vacuum under beds or furniture with one. One of our chores was vacuuming and dusting, and I hated both. Dragging that heavy vacuum from room to room was awful. I think that’s why I hate vacuuming to this day — it’s my mother’s fault for having that big thing! I’m not sure I even know how to run a vacuum… just kidding, but I still don’t like to!

It’s been a busy week for me, but I’ll have more stories next week. I’ll leave y’all with one of my Aunt Royce’s sayings they found after she passed: “Gossip is like mud thrown against a clean wall — it may not stick, but it will leave its mark.” Have a wonderful week!

CAKE MIX BANANA BREAD
1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
3-5 mashed ripe bananas (they must be ripe)
1 cup chopped nuts.
Preheat the oven to 350-degree, grease two loaf pans. Mix all the ingredients together until well blended and then stir in the nuts and then divide between the two loaf pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let it cool and remove from the pan. I always wrap my bread in Saran Wrap. If you are going to freeze, wrap in saran wrap and foil. You can substitute the yellow cake mix for a spice cake mix or a banana cake mix.