Three Signs of a Good Halloween

I think it goes without saying that Halloween is good regardless of what happens in a specific year, but I had a few stories I thought I would share just to make to squirm, or laugh, or both.  ;)

First off, I had a jewelry party 2 weeks ago (to be posted about later).  Since it was in October I figured I could get away with doing Halloween treats and decor.  So, I got a small sugar pumpkin and carved it into a vampire face to place outside my parent's, otherwise Halloween-less house.  It remained there until 2 days ago.  I quite enjoyed watching it slowly turn from a scary vampire to an angry old man with no teeth...  In it's decaying state the teeth curled back inside and the skin became wrinkly.  I thought it was quite cute.  Lol! Needless to say, my parent's didn't think so.  His final resting place became the garbage can.   (Only a person like me could find joy in watching this poor pumpkin's gross transformation)

Now for the most dramatic story.  Monday afternoon I was sitting in front of the computer messing around with Itunes.  With that being said, I didn't hear Boo come in through the cat door.  I had turned and saw him in the corner of my eye.  When I turned and looked at him I see my favorite thing...(Not really)  He was devouring a small bird.  I was so angry!  I've had to clean up bird feathers before, and wasn't exactly happy about doing it again.  I was so mad, in fact, that I grabbed a water bottle that had about a swallow of water in it, and threw it at him. I didn't hit him, but it did scare him enough that he ran straight out the cat door.  I took a few deep breaths and walked into the kitchen and grabbed some paper towels.  Now for the worst part.  I get over there expecting a bunch of bird feathers...  Oh no,  this time he left half a bloody wing, a bunch of blood on the carpet, and the head... That's right!!!  THE HEAD!!!  I was squirming.  I just couldn't do it..  I put the paper towel over it, so I wouldn't have to look at it.  I could just imagine picking it up and feeling that severed head, let alone the beak!  But the other hand, I didn't want to leave it there until Houston got home either.  All in all, I finally went and got on heavy duty leather work gloves.  I was able to pick it up, WITHOUT feeling the head and such, but I did squirm and gag, the whole time.   I honestly think, it's Boo's  way of saying, "Happy Halloween, my human caregiver."  It gotta be a good year... it just has to. If I can get through that.

Now for the last, and the best.  Tonight for dinner the choice was either waffles or going out to JCW's.  JCW's won out, considering both of us wanted some sort of protein with our meal. (waffles don't really deliver in that department)  As we ate we talked about our Halloween costumes.  I wont say what they are yet.  I'll post pictures later.  My great friend Brynn, is the Queen of Halloween!  Every year she throws an awesome Halloween party!  She totally goes all out.  This is what our costumes are for.  We sort of always dress to match.  If anything it makes the costume picking easier.  I'm the Halloween freak, so I've had costume chosen since last year. ;)  Okay, sorry rambling.  The reason this is so great is because I think Houston is secretly as into Halloween as I am.  YAY!  WE talked about it for like an hour.  It's going to be awesome!  I'm super excited!

Okay, that was probably hard to follow and totally random, but what else would expect, coming from me.  Only odd things to make the holiday great for me!

P.S.  I have already  decided what I want to be next year.  ;)  Startin' early! 

Kassie's Reception

In case you didn't think that I felt old when I found out my oldest niece was getting married... well, I do. Lol!  Their reception was on October 1st.  Houston had class that morning, so we had to race up after to make it to the reception.  Kassie's husband, Eric's, family is Hispanic so it was a cultural experience for everyone.  Most of the night consisted dancing to some very spirited music.  Eric's family is so talented, they all know how to dance well.  Here are some pictures from the event...

Kassie and Eric cutting the cake...

Shelby, how cute is she!

A lot of dancing!

Even Angie and Brian got into the action....

At least for a second. 

Then there is what's called, The Money Dance.  It's a Hispanic tradition.  In a nut shell, people pay to dance with either the bride or the groom.  Normally the last person to dance with them gets to keep the money, but in Kassie and Eric's case, they just kept the money that was pinned to them.  Pictures below...

Kassie dancing with her father-in-law

This is an uncle, I believe.  Him and his wife were VERY good dancers!

And Brian got in the the action too. 

Julie and Kassie.  So cute together.  And yes, those are Kassie's earnings from The Money Dance.  I heard that they got about $300 between the two of them.  Not Bad!

Houston and I attempting to dance... Lol!  Houston looks quite dashing, if I do say so myself.

A Milestone of the AGES!!!

So, as all of my cousins on here know, I HATED peaches as a kid.  Barfing on my aunt's counter... Yeah...  I would've rather jumped in front of a truck than eat peaches.

Now the milestone.  My mother-in-law LOVES Lemon Elberta Peaches.  She had Houston run over to the local grower over the weekend to get her some.  She was out of town until Sunday, and when she got back these peaches had to be bottled!  She did half yesterday and was going to do the other half today.  She was  going to come home early from work to do them but that didn't exactly work out.  So she asked me to help out.  I didn't really plan on trying any.  I was just going to be the peeler. (A simple job)  She told me that could have as many as I wanted. (I didn't want any)  Lol!  As she was cutting them up to put into the jars, she offered me a slice. I didn't want to be rude, so I took one.  The smallest one, mind you. ;)  I took that tiny bite, waiting fir that ugly face and gag reflex to kick in... And... It never came.  It was actually really good!!  So much so, that I just downed the rest without a thought about it.  We finished filling all the bottles that she had, but there were extra peaches that had been peeled.  So she cut up a few and put them into a bowl.  I thought it was for her, but it was for me.  She put milk on them (She says their better with cream, but there was none).  It was very yummy nonetheless.  I ate it in like 5 minutes.  Lol!  Loved it! 

For all of those who think I'm telling a tall tale. ( I can completely understand.  I don't believe it either)  Here is the proof.....

The bowl is blurry.  Here is EXTRA proof!

It's a miracle! 

Lemon Elberta's= A+

Another Fall Project, and What I Deem a "spring/summer time" Wreath

More projects.... Me!?  Who'd a thunk!  :P

These are pretty easy projects, so this post with be short and sweet.  First off, the fall project.  I have always like cornucopias.  They look cool, and  who doesn't like to say it!?  So, I bought all the pieces at Hobby Lobby.  The cornucopia, itself,  was very loosely woven, so I hot glued a piece of burlap inside to hide all the stems.  Now you can't even tell that it's holy. All the other pieces are just swags.  TO get them to stay where I wanted them I used Floral foam.  My dear niece Phynix helped me put all the pieces in.  Here is the finished product....

The other project...

I wanted to make a peacock feather wreath.  For a "spring/summer time" wreath.  I tried to make it with black boa's.  That didn't work..  The feathers kept coming out and made a pretty big mess. :(  I also wanted the feathers to look a bit nicer than a child's feather boa.  I gave up and used the wreath form (Grapevine wreath) for a Halloween wreath. (To be posted in due course)

Over the weekend I was in Joann's Fabric with my mom and aunt.  I came across the perfect black feather wreath.  ON SALE no less!  It was perfect for my peacock wreath.  I added the peacock eyes and the little green feathers.

Here is what it looked like at first...

Here's the finished product...

 Love love love it!  I can't wait to hang this one up.   I have many projects in the works, at the moment.  So expect more posts such as this one.  :)

Wyoming! August was a Busy One,,,

There is only one more thing from August.  *Sigh* It's has been along time since we've been to Houston's parents' cabin in Wyoming.  I made a special effort to get a Saturday off.  We left on Friday morning and spent the day riding around the dune buggy.

We rode around, up on the hills down in the trees, all around.  We got up on top of the hills, near by, and I told Houston to do something cool for a picture.  Since we were in Wyoming, he found his inner cowboy...

And then there's me... I can't keep my hair out of my face.  Blasted wind!

While up on the hills, We could see what Houston's family calls Dinosaur Ridge.  My dinosaur impression...  (ridge is that small hill under my hands) 

Here is a better picture of it....

There are a lot of flowers... and bugs...

Bugs... more like giant Spider!

 Late Friday night, Sam, Jutt, and Glade came up.  On Saturday morning they their turn on the Dune Buggy...

And yes, they were the ones who found that monster spider!  Here's Jutt checking it out...

Then there's are birds, and nature, and nature, AND some more nature.  Then there's a windmill...

  We had a nice time hanging out up there. Houston and guys played a game Houston got called Pandemic.  It's definitely their type of game.  Strategy is a requirement.  It is sorta sad that there is satellite TV up there.  We don't have it at home.  So once it got late at night, we watched all that useless TV, we don't have at home.  Lol!

We had loads of fun.  :)

There is this quilt... A quilt sewn by Houston's aunt.  Oh my, is it amazing.  I only wish.

9/11 Get Up Stronger

^^^^^^That is the America we all know and love!^^^^^^^

Those memorial fountains are so beautiful.  You can never forget what was there, and what an awesome way to do a fountain, flowing down instead of up.

Part of what those terrorist were trying to accomplish, actually went to opposite way.  They tried to kill our spirit, and instead we got back up stronger than before.  What a great message to our children.  We have had so many other examples of this in history, such as Pearl Harbor, but this one is for our generation.  I honestly believe that because of how our country views the world, with tolerance and grace where it's due, is why something like this did not bring us down.  And the fact that we can morn with other countries in their time of grief as well.

I didn't post this until today because I wanted to watch all the coverage of yesterday and then give my thoughts on the whole thing.  I was so impressed that almost all of the music played were songs like, "God Bless America" and "Amazing Grace".  I'm glad our country hasn't forgotten who blessed us with this great land that we live so freely in.  I was able to watch the coverage up until church at 11.  Once it was over we were back home in time to see the last few songs that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang for their tribute to 9/11.  How beautiful it was.  They sang Amazing Grace with bagpipes to end the program.  It was so perfect.

We were not the only ones to show respect for this day.  The following are photos from around the world of people showing support for our nation.  What great people their are in the world.

High school students pose for a photo by a damaged replica of the Statue of Liberty in Ishinomaki, Japan, Sunday. As the world commemorated the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, Sunday, September 11, 2011.

Peace activists release white doves during a commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks in Berlin, Germany, on September 11, 2011

Three small stones are placed over a name on one of the plaques in the '9/11 Memorial' outside Jerusalem on Sept. 11, 2011, during a 10th anniversary memorial ceremony marking the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States, which killed nearly 3,000 people, including five Israelis. It is customary at Jewish cemeteries to place stones on the graves of loved ones. The memorial here contains a large American flag made of bronze that appears to be billowing in the wind, and has plaques containing all of the nearly 3,000 names of the victims, the only site to do so outside the one at the World Trade Center in New York City.

Members of Clerkenwell Fire Station's Green Watch observe a minute of silence in London, England, on Sunday, remembering their fellow firefighters who lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York.

I'm SO proud to be an American.  How blessed are we.  I'm glad that we can stand as a symbol of strength, for ourselves, and the rest of the world. 

  I love this commercial....

YES WE ARE!

THANK YOU for keeping this nation free!

 God Bless America

"Glass slippers" Continued....

I know, like 5 posted in 2 days.  I had to get all caught up, and now I am I swear. Anyway...


So, back in March I posted about getting new church shoes and could only find black when I wanted colored ones.  Well,  I have now succeeded in getting 2 new pairs that are colored!

First off is this pair...

Their MIA brand.  The color is called Mushroom Cherie.  Greenish brown, pretty much.  Not really colorful, but the next pair will make up for that.

Enter..... The KING!!!

I'm kidding!  I don't think Elvis would have worn these, but yes these baby's are blue suede.  I have really been trying to appreciate blue more recently.  I really like blue, but for some reason I don't really own anything blue...  That is the one good thing about owning a lot of black clothes though... If you wear all black you can wear whatever color of shoes your little heart desires. ;)

Tomorrow being September 11 I decided that I'm going to pair these with my red, white and black plaid shirt to church.  Dorky, I know, but I want to show my support.  That's the best way I know how at the moment.  I actually remember exactly where I was when the planes hit.  Like it was yesterday.

Anyway, that's my shoe update.  ;)