Spooooky!

Well, another Halloween has come and gone, and this year I have made several observations, which I am sure some people will disagree with, but here goes:

1. Where are all the trick-or-treaters? Due to living in an apartment, we never expect too many kids at our door. This year, not only were Mel's girls the only ones who came (and she drove them over on purpose) but we didn't even see more than five kids when we drove across town. We also talked to people who live in neighborhoods with kids, and they didn't have many either. I think that this is sad. Is it too scary to take your kids out trick-or-treating any more? One mom I talked to said that she only took her kids to the houses of people she knew, and that most of her friends did the same thing. Is it like this everywhere now? Anyone? Texas? D.C.? Baltimore? You guys get any kids?

2. SAW is not a good movie. I'm sure that if I had said this in my classroom last year, I would have been yelled at, but that movie did nothing for me. I'm not a huge fan of scary movies, but I didn't even really think it was scary. It was just gross. We watched it for a Halloween night scary movie event (solace for the fact that there were no kids knocking at the door) and I felt like I'd wasted an evening. The hanging out with friends part was great, but the movie? Eh. Give me a Hitchcock or King movie any day. Can anyone explain this to me? Kat? You watch a lot of movies...were we missing something?

3. The love of my life is Pumpkin Carving obsessed. So this year we had a lot of carving opportunities. We were invited to a party devoted to the process (well, that and fondue) but we never got to the actual carving--long story. However, I knew we'd make up for it as we were still scheduled to carve with mom and dad--and no WAY were we going to miss that.
So we carved--it was fun, but C.C. carved for about 45 minutes longer than my dad--who said "Which pattern is the quickest?" (He can only stand so much of the holiday craft fun that the women in our family thrust upon him. He's famous for brown Easter eggs and disappearing when it's time to decorate Christmas cookies.) I even finished about 20 minutes before her. In fact, as I was finishing, she had just finished marking her pattern. However, her raccoon was very intricate, and very well carved. My dad chose a creepy face--Lots of big areas--mom went with the spider, and I chose a cute little punky-devil guy.

Anyways, after that night, we still had two large orange objects 'd art to deal with. Of course, that meant that my love was going to carve on Monday night, too. Football and carving pumpkins--what could be better? She wanted a Mona Lisa pattern, so I spent a while online looking for a free one--no dice. However, I did find a nice golden retriever, and since we love our Buchigross, that seemed to suffice. I finally decided to carve one too, since unlike my dad I can't ignore a craft opportunity--but only after C.C. offered to "scoop the goop" for me. I HATE that part! Anyway, I decided to carve "Frank." I thought all of the pumpkin fun was over, but on Halloween night we had to make a quick stop at the store. C.C. went in, while I chatted with Erin on the phone. As my dear came out of the store, I saw her wander over to the pumpkin display. I was sure she was just checking out HyVee's stock vs. Walmart for next year, but she started pawing through the pile. Soon she was jogging over to me with a huge smile on her face...and 2 more pumpkins! "They're FREE!!!" she said with such delight that I sighed, smiled, and resigned myself to more pumpkin art. Anyone know where I can find a Mona Lisa pattern?

Frank and Buchigross

I'll let you know what the other two pumpkins become!