Heat and Haunt

Dang but it was hot this past weekend.

Our local community held their apple/harvest festival, and basically it was a slew of sweaty, (mostly) smoking folk crowding the streets, looking at "crafts" and eating absolute JUNK. Apart from the smoking part, that included me, too. I'm quite certain my arteries still haven't forgiven me for the elephant ear.

Oh, and we went through the spook house too - - i don't think i've laughed that hard at something that was supposed to be scary in I don't know how long. It was a ride (with tin "doom-buggies") that circled three times past the same (mostly unlit) scenes of skully heads and LOTS of clanging of doors and gears and who-knows-what. Our three year old wasn't even really scared - - granted, she's a brave one.

The rest of the weekend was really just watching, with some astonishment, the traffic (mostly on foot) up and down our street from wherever they were parking to an entry point into the fray.

This weekend - - HalloWeekends at Cedar Point. I have the adult tickets (thanks to discount at work) and we'll be getting the little one when we get there. This is HER trip... and I'm geeked. I know she wants to go on rides. I know she wants to play games (and win a big guitar!). For me? It's watching her learn to love this kind of fun. The weather looks like it's going to be friendly. All that's left is making a warm "costume" for her (a sweatsuit pony maybe?) so she can feel double plus special.

Ok - so that's all the good news for the morning...

in training...

from a short conversation with my 3 year old daughter

me: FooFoo - what is Hallowe'en for?

FF: Scarin' kids.

ah yes, my friends, it's going to be a great lifetime...

isn't it romantic

dunno what it is but there is something about autumn that gets my romance all up and alert. i spend the time fantasizing about hayrides and cool nighttime hand in hand walks, and things that go bump in the night bumping me into the protective arms of my beloved.

funny bit is that it wasn't until i was married that i had an actual grown-up like boyfriend during this time of year (no, i never went to a homecoming dance - or Sadie Hawkins either for that matter) - - which, truth be told, is probably why the whole thing seems/feels so romancey for me. because it's all that fairy-tale without any of the reality mixed in. i suspect when you add up fact that i first met my husband on a haunted house excursion (he was with another girl at the time) and the bonus that he goes out of his way to spoil me for Halloween it all makes sense that all my life Halloween (and autumn) have roused my romantic me. i was just waiting for the right time.

i'm not really a romantic person. i'm practical. i've an overdose of common sense. i'm pragmatic. romance doesn't really fit in with who i am. apart from the autumn there are only two really romantic (and probably these are more Romantic than romantic) moments i clearly recall - one was the day my husband proposed (and no, it wasn't some crazy grand gesture) and the other was the day (night) i first met my daughter. everything else hazes under those...

still - there's a little voice inside my head (or possibly my heart) telling me to grab up my man and steal him away to a corn(field) maze...

hainted holler...

while using television as background noise this weekend, i happened upon this commentary:

"... a place called 'hainted holler' which translated would be 'haunted holler'..."

no.
it's not nice for me to be amused, but i can't always be nice, now, can i?

better early than...

my husband gave me the Make: Halloween issue last night. as an early anniversary gift
there's some really fun stuff in here -- for each of us.
it's JUST what I needed to get my creativity directed in that direction.
woo
hoo
!!!

weenie

so i finished the scarf last night
and i am in a very halloweeney frame of mind.

i KNOW that i should be teaching myself how to crochet so that i can make the matching hat.

i am also working, however, on the premise that she will not be needing hat and scarf until well after the 29th of September - - which is when i intend to start installing halloween at earthburg

between then and now i have to find stuff (i have a lot of cool stuff and heaven only knows where its got to) and paint stuff, and build stuff... there's a lot of stuff going on. mostly good stuff though.

on days when i'm too lazy for that kind of activity, i think i'm going to start working on knitting some skull (and possibly pumpkin) dish cloths for the kitchen. nothing says halloween like hand crafted halloween kitchen items. te he.

and maybe i'll learn how to crochet too - - because, you know, the kid could use a pumpkin head hat...

oooh...

it's all MonkeyButt to me

mostly this means that the day is doing its own thing...
i'll be able, i suppose, to join in again at some later time, but for right now, i'm just bumbling through and trying to appear like i have even the slightest idea of what's going on.

in a half an hour i'm walking around the block (1.29 miles) with my friend belle.
we'll probably talk about marriage and homes and crap like that. the good stuff that gets me grounded again.

in the meantime, i'm just being pleased that my blue-sky wish list of how to make my job more manageable seems doable to my boss... and enjoying an icy cold diet coke (whose rewards code was entirely unacceptable to the folks at coke... i have lodged a complaint).

today after work Foo and i will be digging out a small garden and planting our pumpkins - and maybe the peppers (that in spite of the seeds being harvested from grocery store peppers, are growing well and making flowers, and will hopefully bear fruit later this summer). depending on how we feel after that, we'll likely do a load of daddy's laundry and make some cupcakes, or maybe some brownies... even though our dreamy dinner sounds as much like dessert as anything else (boneless pork chops jubilee - - covered in a tart cherry 'sauce').

have i mentioned that mom and i are doing dream dinners?
once a month we drive an hour or so (the franchise i signed up at is closer to work than home), spend a couple of hours building dinners (usually 72 servings between us), laugh a lot and have some quality us time, pack it all into our coolers, decide what we're going to make 'next' month, and drive home... usually talking about husbands and home and the things that get us grounded again.

this weekend, Saturday, my man (ugh... i still can't find a moniker for my husband that I REALLY like... sigh) and i are going to have an "us" date at Cedar Point. i'm VERY excited. it's the first really fun thing that we've done alone together since our honeymoon... or maybe Lamaze classes (that was a joke, kids). then, on Sunday, because we both feel guilty about leaving foo out of the roller coast (she loves roller coasters - - never mind the fact that she's only 39" tall and can't ride anything but the baby stuff) we're taking her to our favorite Potter Park Zoo. She really enjoys the camel rides, and while it's not a roller coaster, she'll have fun. As an aside, we're taking a 'lesson' from old friends, and until she's taller (and more expensive!) Foo's annual trip to Cedar Point happens during their Halloweekends calendar.

Well, it's time for me to spellcheck and publish so I can get my shoes on and go walking.

Have a better one...

scoop

ok.
so the thing is, the surgery beat me up.
and the recovery made me lazy.

since june 1st, i haven't wanted to work on anything - - well, at least nothing indoors. my garden is pretty. if i weren't so ham-handed with the camera, i would have included a photo. they're all crap.

i'm on (and now off) my third course of 'kicks-your-ass-a-cin' this one is compounded and goes (went) up my nose via ear syringe (lovingly called the 'ball-baster') i'm not on it now, because my ENT is concerned about my lesser ability to breathe since beginning 'treatment'. i get to see him (and have him stick metal sticks up my nose) this afternoon - - to hopefully get to the bottom of what's going on in there.

in happier news, i just did some "haunt my house" shopping. i have an idea (which i'm hoping will grow up into a nice big and strong 'plan') of what i'd like to do. i have to think, seriously, about where i'm setting the bar - - this is our FIRST year in our own place that we can haunt as much or as little as we want. at the same time, i'm so excited, there's a good chance i'll be going too whole on the hog, and blow it for every year henceforth. i'm not too fussed/worried... i mean really, we're only LIKELY to get more technology and with the baby getting older every year, that means we'll have more (useful) hands as our tenure at Earthburg progresses as well (at least for the prep work, it will be a good many years before she's done trick or treating, and who can blame her!). Still, with technological advances, there's a good chance that I'll some day be able to man all of the demons/ghouls and other whosie whatnots on my own from remote control sensors pasted all over the house (and my body - - I mean, I have to still be able to be one of the baddies).

nevermind.

I'm really raving here.

i'm too excited.

see how I am?

Countdown

the deep insanity of the season is upon us...
the remainder of the month is all activity, and apart from the manic nature of it all, i couldn't be happier. ok, i could be happier if each of the next 11 days was full of cool (not cold) sunny days and crisp evenings, and a few thunderstormey nights. but it's not nice to mess with mother nature, so...

yes, when it's all over i WILL have to sit back and heave out a sigh and wonder how i made it through it all with even a shred of sanity left (and then immediately start planning and working toward Thanksgiving and then Christmas) but for now, i am looking blissfully forward to the next week and half... i can feel the energy already building in me and i'm GIDDY.

i think my daughter might actually understand Hallowe'en this year. i still feel compelled to do some test runs of the whole trick or treating thing... and i'm still fairly certain she's not going to want to do any of the pumpkin gut scraping... still, again, whatever.... but she's super plus ready to be a cow...
her moo is PERFECT.

we're working out the bugs of arragning an OFFICIAL at work trick or treating session for my department... i think this might be an actual first in the company... i'm beyond geeked... i'm sure you can guess... odd bit is that I'm not the one who approached the boss about it. i thought about it, but i have something of a reputation as a boat-rocker already... surprise.

ok - that's about it for right now. if it stays low, i might pop in again later... hopefully with a better something to throw your way...

Sunny Monday

In about 10 minutes I'll be free for the day.
Free to wash my hair, take a walk, and possibly go out for some fresh air and fun with my little girl. i'm having a hard time thinking of her as a baby today - - her 2 year molars are finally coming in and she's being WAY more brave than i would be in her shoes.
she's watching winnie the pooh's halloween movie... or at least one of them (i don't know if there are more)

i have been battling agaist the urge to bake up a storm this week... ok, since the beginning of the month, really. i have pumpkin pie cravings, and want to make cupcakes and brownies, and fresh bread, and....

and i'm holding up miserably against my task list for halloween... the front porch is still loaded with summer remnants, and only the pumpkins out there even hint at the fact that we're trying to greet the season. Inside is faring better, with the black curtains up and the birds perched on their respective curtain rods... i may use this afternoon/evening to make my black feathery wreath.

for now, though, i'm going to grab a pawfull of cookies and a cup of tea and rest my weary head.

happy monday!