Halloween-y or Hallowon’t-y

This is us 2 years ago. A fabulous Children’s Pastor decided to do trunk or treat. Can you guess who that was? It was Daryl, Pam or both of them. I’m not sure who comes up with ideas & who decides, but they started that ball rolling. It was AMAZING! We had such a turn-out. And fun was had by all.

Here’s my van UFO.

See the alternate Alien family in there. Yup, that’s Davynoo, Livboop, & Gabeleck. My third eye is losing it’s lashes, but that’s ok.

And this is our car last year.

Well, you can’t see the car. Hannah & I were hanging out in the cargo area of the suv. In case you reside under a rock & haven’t seen the show, I’m Lola Luftnagle, Lilly’s alter ego.

I guess I showed you all that to tell you how much fun I have dressing up and how much I get into that part of Halloween.

There has been a lot of chatter on the Jesus Blogs I visit about this subject. Churches doing alternative parties, people shunning Halloween altogether, letting your kids trick or treat, the Scare the Hell out of sinners outreach programs and so on.

I love trick or treating.

There I said it.

When I was growing up, Halloween was just a fun time to dress up and get free candy (and a possible trip to the hospital to have it x-rayed). That’s it. It was spooky, but in a fun way and we at it up. Literally.

Our church had a Haunted House IN THE CHURCH when I was little. Not an outreach, but a fundraiser. And not your benign spaghetti noodles as brains and grapes for eyeballs stuff either. It was dark with fog machines, strobe lights and screaming soundtracks. I’m sure there was more, but I can’t remember it all. I do remember being assigned the spot under Dracula’s coffin to grab people’s feet as they came closer for a good look. Yes, it was a real coffin and a real Christian dressed as Dracula to lie in the coffin. Gasp! Oh, the Horror!

AND I trick or treated as a kid. Almost every year. I loved it. Costume planning was a big deal. Come to think of it, it still is. Did you see the pictures?

There was the one year I couldn’t trick or treat because of Mono. I was devastated. As devastated as you can be at the tender age of 8 when putting the cat in the fridge & wearing a slip as a veil for pretend weddings in the hallway are your best pastimes. (Yes, I did both of these, one more than the other.)

So I couldn’t trick or treat. What did I do? I handed out germs candy. I’d like to do a case study to find out if a Mono outbreak occurred just after Halloween in Lake City, SC that year.

That makes me wonder what all of the poor kids with swine flu are going to do this Halloween. Should we run candy under those blue lights they have in the nail salons? Probably not a bad idea.

Here comes the main point. My kids have never had a true trick or treat experience that they remember. My oldest was the cutest superman in the Naval Base housing when he was 1, but it’s been Harvest Festivals ever since. I love Harvest Festivals but I do feel like my kids have missed a great experience. And the fact that we don’t have anything going on at our church frees them up.

So this year I have decided to take them trick or treating. The downtown neighborhood were we live is prime real estate for it. Gabe wants to be a football player. Olivia is probably going as a flu kid with pjs & a flu mask. Davy said he wants a shirt with “COSTUME” on it. I love that all of these are either free or super cheap.

I’m curious. Do you feel strongly either way? What do your kids want to dress up as? And most important, what’s your favorite thing to sneak from their stash? Mine is the Caramels.

The One With the Painted Pumpkins

I'm such a non-crafty, non-home decor kind of girl but I'm attempting to change this. Actually I'm struggling, mightily. And in the spirit of trying to prove this, I'm posting my latest challenge here for all the world (well, for the two or three people who read this) to see.

I saw someone else out in the blogosphere put their house numbers on their pumpkins...so ca-ute! (Sorry for not giving credit, I get a little click happy sometimes and I just keep going and going and I have no idea where I started or where I end up.) I attempted it. I love them! My favorite part is they are painted and if I can keep the stupid squirrels from vandalizing them the pumpkins should last through Thanksgiving.

I also love my authentic apple crate. It's from a local company which makes me love it even more. The name is Wm. H. Boaz, isn't that just fantastic? Why? I don't know, it just is!

So the grand scheme is to get a couple of mums (my budget ran low--darn kids think they have to eat--before I could get them last week) and some corn stalks to finish the 'vignette.'

Here's the full view:

I keep switching the pumpkin in and out of the crate. The goal was to put the mums in the crate, but again, darn budget.

Here's a close up of one of my punkins:

And here they are without the crate....hmmm...

So whatcha think? Got any ideas for how to place them more attractively? Any other unusual fall additions you'd suggest? Any thoughts on how to keep the stupid squirrels from destroying my pumpkins? I prefer cheap or, even better, free options, but all ideas will be appreciated.

So tell me, what's up with you this fall? Attempting anything new or different?

Please forgive my neglect

I know, I know. I have been woefully neglectful lately. I'm sorry, I really am. I have been without inspiration for a while now. (Have you noticed the abundance of pics/what we're doing posts? Well, maybe not abundance, but still...)
Well, it's not any better right now. But I came across this meme today and it looked like fun. Thanks for sharing Homebody.
So without further ado, here we go.

You have to answer with one word. That's it. Copy, paste & play along.

1.Where is your cell phone? purse
2.Your hair? up
3. Your mother? next room
4. Your father? hunting
5. Your favorite food? dessert
6. Your dream last night? dream?
7. Your favorite drink? coffee
8. Your dream/goal? contentment
9. What room are you in? den
10. Your hobby? gone
11. Your fear? overdraft
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
13. Where were you last night? mom's
14.Something you aren’t? speeder
15. Muffins? cranberry
16. Wish list item? dishwasher
17. Where did you grow up? SCarolina
18. Last thing you did? comment
19. What are you wearing? jeans
20. Your TV? working
21. Your pets? one
22. Your friends? funny
23. Your life? transition
24. Your mood? reflective
25. Missing someone? Pam
27. Something you’re not wearing? earrings
28. Your favorite store? Target
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When was the last time you laughed? earlier
31. Last time you cried? recently
32. Best Friend? Pam
33. One place that I go over and over again? sink
34. One person who emails me regularly? Feedburner
35. Favorite place to eat? mom's

So there you have it. A little more about me. Very little since it's only one word.
Feel like playing along?

Wordless Wednesday - A Day Late

Remember my new chalkboard cookie jar? Jill decided to practice her mad writing skillz:

She was copying her Hello Kitty backpack. Obviously the 'O' just wouldn't fit. It's been a week now and we haven't erased it...what does this say about my family? My boys have also taken a perverse pleasure in showing anyone who walks in the door.

That's right, we got Hell O Kitty in our cookie jar. Beat that!

All the Busy Ladies, All the Busy Ladies

I had some wonderful witty ideas for a new post but I will postpone those until later to bring you these two exciting, life-changing updates.

Disclosure – The above sentence is LIES, all LIES! I really have nothing to blog about, my life is KA-RAZY busy right now with football practices/games, college class, writing papers, revising papers, church meetings, church services. Add the fact I have four human beings I’m trying to mold into some semblance of productive, moral, and kind citizens AND keep the home fires burning in the marriage. Oh my, I am busy. So why do I spend so much time on twitter and facebook?

And truly I have nothing earth-shattering, just a cool trick and a fabulous new recipe. Take it or leave it people, I am too busy to care.

My new favorite find is chalkboard contact paper. Here’s where I found mine. And so far, here’s the only thing I’ve used it for (other than covering the front of both girls notebooks). Later today, I hope to able to erase the sad message (which yesterday read: TOO LATE!) and replace it with ‘peanut butter chocolate chip’.

While Jen and I were having a marathon gab fest (actually she was just bragging, I mean sharing, about the U2 concert) on Friday, I created my most gorgeous loaves of baking genius to date. I made two loaves of braided challah. (Please say it correctly with all due reverence. Unlike myself, I prefer to say it like ‘hol-lah’ with some attitude.) I am in love. Truly, ask Jen, I repeated told the dough, the loaves, and the finished product, of my love for them. They made me so stinkin’ happy. I found this recipe at Tammy’s Recipes. She has really, really good from scratch recipes. D loves the Farmhouse Chicken and the Italian Bread is my go-to bread for spaghetti night (of course I sub ranch for the Italian cuz that’s how we roll).







Isn't she lovely? I giant puffy heart this recipe. And it was so simple!


And here's a pic of what I was privileged to deal with while D and BFF were at the U2 concert. My boys, Jen's boys, and two of my nephews battling it out on the trampoline with the football practice dummies.



Oh do you think I left out an important detail or two? Yes, D and his brother went to the concert and Jen and her hubs but they did all go together. Hee hee, I just couldn't resist the possible shock factor.


I am busier than ever and semi-adjusting to all the craziness of my life, the good news is I still love it! Life is good. Happy Fall!

U2 360 Tour. Oh, yeah. It was EPIC.

I know you think I’m just rubbing it in, Pam.  I’m really not.  It was just so much fun I have to share. 
It was the best concert I’ve ever been to.  Now, since I’ve only ever been to one other, and that one a totally different genre, you can’t really  compare.  But it was just amaz-a-zing.

On the way to the stadium I saw this tow truck.  The tag said              GOT U2.  I just thought that was picture-worthy. 

This is the stage.  It has been dubbed “The Claw.”  Bono called it “Space Stuff”.  With his Irish accent it sounded like he said “Space Stoof.”  The red circle is where we ended up.  This pic was taken from our seats.  I would call that a definite upgrade.  We had to stand the entire time, but that’s a small price to pay.

Here we are in the glow of Muse’s lighting.  I had never heard this band, but I must say I was impressed.  They had a great sound.

This is one of my favorite pics of the night.  It makes me laugh every time I look at it.  Dave snapped it just when I was about to say something.  This was the “intermission” while they changing the stage around for U2.  I took several pics of the roadies but had to later dump them to make room on the memory card for … well…Bono.

This is the bass player.  Adam Clayton.  My Husband supplied that bit of information.  He’s a much bigger fan than I am, but my fandom is growing.   That bridge moved around between the stage & the outer ring.  Pretty cool.

Paul Hewson.  Bet you didn’t know that’s his real name, did you?  We were in an amazing spot.

Dave took this (his finger over the flash).  You can just barely see Bono’s head straight up from my ear.

This girl was so cute.  She originally had a ponytail.  She was jumping around & assaulting her boyfriend with it.  When he said something, instead of not jumping, she put it in a bun.  It just made me laugh.  Not jump?  Never!

I love this pic, even with this lady’s hand in it.  It was very difficult to get a picture without someone’s hand  in the way.  Not complaining, by any means.  You just had to be strategic about snapping.

I think I took this right after they all moved away from right in front of us.  Let me repeat that.  Right in front of us.  It was awesome.

See?

And the best pic of the night. 

We had such a great time.  Our feet were sore and my back and knees were starting to hurt from the standing, but I would do it over in a heartbeat.

A heartbeat.