FOOTBALL AND PUMPKIN CARVING!!!

Of course it is Sunday, and my big thing was looking forward to the Steelers kicking Brett Favre's butt!! Hooray - it was awesome.

We have found out that thegrandson's elementary school has an outbreak of the H1N1 - and what does he do today - spike a temp of 100.8*. He is lethargic and has a bad headache as well. He will not be attending school tomorrow and possibly for a few more days. We are playing this one by ear. I have the runniest nose - and a headache...but what's new????

Since thedaughter managed to break her arm last year - after carving pumpkins, we took no chances and carried out the process on the kitchen table this year. All went quite well. Thegrandson is not allowed to play with knives yet...so he was relegated to "cleaning" out the pumpkin as you can see from these two pics.

The expressions he was making were hilarious. The upside is - he can't wait till his pumpkin seeds have finished baking, for his consumption.

The "spider" carving, is the same as last year. We lost the template, but I blew up last years picture and made a new template. It looks great. I have combined the pics of the pumpkins with and without a flash. Thedaughter carved the Spider and the Grim Reaper....I carved the ghost on a tombstone. I think we actually did a wonderful job this year, if I do say so myself.




Hopefully, thegrandson will be well enough to Trick or Treat on Saturday evening. Right now, he is plain miserable. He is such a tiny little guy, when he gets a "bug" he can't fight it off well. Now we start the worrying - I have mastered that art over many years.

Now....for more "pretty awful" Halloween costumes:

Poor attempt at humor - or atrocity!!!

Originality counts for something!

"W" never looked better! And I mean that!

(Cough, cough!) This is just plain sick!!

Gonna run for now...hoping the Colts get their butt kicked tonight also! Medication time - ahhhhhh drugs!!!

Have a wonderful evening and I will get back here tomorrow.....sometime.........

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HALLOWEEN COSTUME DECISION...........

This annual decision making process becomes harder every year. Thegrandson has actually had his mind made up for months, it is we, the adults, who kept thinking he would change his mind. NOPE!! He loves Hellboy, and decided that was the costume of choice for this years Trick-or-Treating. I haven't seen one of these movies from beginning to end, but the parts I have glimpsed, were actually funny. There's just something about a huge red man, making jokes and killing the demons, that makes a mother smile!(Ha!)




When hitting the kingdom of Walmart, Target or K-Mart - one typically finds the "costume of the moment", Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Cinderella, Witch, etc....
Hellboy is not on the racks...period. We ended up doing the mail order tact. When the package arrived - thegrandson was on Cloud 9.

The costume included the red head mask w/ sideburns, huge arm, coat and belt. Thegrandson was trying it on and exclaimed "WHERE'S MY DEVIL TAIL???" Damn!! Back to the interwebs and a tail is ordered. I must say he looks pretty good in this outfit - now we just have to hope there is NO SNOW on the 31st. Oh, we have to make some small modifications to the arm, so it wraps "around" his scrawny arm...no biggie there.

Dressing boys for this once a year event is always a huge decision making process as I have mentioned. With my daughter, it was easy, because of all the sweet and feminine choices available. But don't ask her that question. As she reached puberty, I made a simple choice for her - HOOKER!! Hell, with all the makeup available at our fingertips and the avant garde clothing of the time - this was her costume for several years. Cheap (the costume) and easy - and out the door for the goodies. I was certainly a wonderful mother.

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This morning started out, much like every other morning, and as I was having my coffee and watching the morning news, I get a phone call from my neighbor - who never calls this early (just before 9 am). She was asking if I was OK, since there were two emergency squads outside. I told her I was fine, but from where my kitchen in located I actually have no clue what is going on outside. Although, my dog kept running back and forth, whining - I just chalked it up to her being in heat and wanting to go out!

Alas, the squads were at the "new" neighbors house. After 15 minutes or so, when I saw no equipment being carried in or out and the squad guys walking back and forth on the cell phones...I knew there was a death. the father-in-law that just moved in two weeks ago, apparently died in his sleep. I have known Pete for several years and my daughter knew him better, so I'm sure this will be hard on this family.

I contacted one neighbor and we will take up a collection for flowers as we are the "bigger" people here, as she noted. I feel bad for the two grandchildren who are in school and unaware at this point. Again, we get NO guarantees in this world and we have to cherish and hold dear those we love - every second. This past Monday was nine years since my husband passed away, and tomorrow will be two years since my best friend passed. So this is just a depressing time of year for us.

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I will close with pics of some really crappy or interesting (depending on one's frame of mind) Halloween costumes:

MORE PICS TOMORROW!!! TIS THE SEASON.

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